Shadows of the Nexus [Open]

[Lucas Kellan]

0800 Hours- Vektan Time

A hologram on the giant digital plasma screen showed a headline:

“BREAKING NEWS: HERA VISARI SPEAKS ON NEW HELGHAN POLICIES AND MUCH MORE.”

More to come, later in the day.

The ISA reporter cleared his throat and moved his orange handkerchief to the side.

“In other news, today’s Vektan City forecast is hot and sunny, with slight chance of rain”

_________________________________________________________________________

Thomas Sinclair turned his eyes toward the holoscreen after the brief new newscast about New Helghan had been read.

“Alright, Lucas. I’m expecting you today to find some ISA stuck in a hostage situation. You know what to do and what happens should you get captured.

Lucas was quiet. His bluish eyes were cold and calculating as he tried to observe his father figure’s movements. After everything was explained, something happened.

The Shadow Marshall was about to head out for the mission when he just …

Disappeared.

Where to? Nobody knows.
_____________________________________________________________________

Lucas found his sight returning slowly. His vision was blurry as he tried to gather his bearings.

“Shit. This is bad timing, Hey, you hear me?!”

Nothing responded.

This was bad. Where was he? Was this New Helghan, was this Vekta?

He grew tense as he looked up to see a bald headed figure.

“Who are you?!”

“My name is Omni. This is not the world you know. This is the Omniverse. You interest me, so I have made you part of it. The Omniverse is a place that reflects the wishes of those who are part of it. But! There are rules. I will explain them only once, so listen carefully.”

Omni hands you a glimmering orb in which all the colors of the rainbow coalesce. “This is Omnilium. It’s what ties the Omniverse together. Without it, you are nothing. With it, anything you desire can be yours. But you will need more than this. If you desire it enough, you will find it. You will find that using it comes naturally. Just think of what you desire most.

“You will not be alone in the Omniverse. There are others. Of course, they, too desire Omnilium. Do not fear death. For as long as you interest me, you will be reborn.

“That’s all you need to know right now. You’ll figure out the rest soon enough. I’ll be watching … and waiting.”

Lucas grabbed the ball of shimmering OM, as the bald headed man said “Anything he desired, he would get.”

He didn’t quite believe him but he closed his eyes and thought of a small item first.

A picture.

It fell into his hands.

Lucas looked up in shock. “It worked, it really worked.”

The bald man did not respond, instead Lucas found himself back in the Nexus.

“So this is the Omniverse… noted for later.”

[Lucas Kellan]

The Shadow Marshal moved a hand toward the top of his eyes, the piercing white irritating him, making his eyes water. eH winced over to see if he could spot anything in the endless blank white space in the distance but nothing he could pick around him alerted him to anything in his presence.

One of these days he’d have to learn to lessen his tech dependence but right now wasn’t the ideal day.

This was bizarre.

Lucas considered eying at the summoned picture and picked it off the ground. The picture of him and Echo seemed etched into his mind like a burned image on a television screen. The memories of the Helghast spy played out in his head.

She hauled him out of his thoughts even though she was meant to be on the other side of the war. He shuffled his feet, thinking about it after staring at his photo. This one was created from his own imagination.

Preferably, he forced himself to look elsewhere, slipping the photo away and slip himself back into that same mindset Sinclair had drilled into his head,

“Anything” repeated in Lucas’s mind as he narrowed his eyes, remembering a vehicle named a “Intruder”. Don't know why the Vektans decided to name it that, but he wasn't one to question debatable names at the time.

Why did this vehicle have to bring old memories back?

He didn’t gain any time for sitting around, debating old memories, allowing the “Intruder” vehicle to appear in front of him, grinding to a halt.

He took one last look over at the electronic tech and bent over, looking at the conventional vehicle. It never held a set location and none of this “Omniverse” was set on here. So he would fix that.

He revved the smaller flying vehicle and set it to the setting ??? to see where it would take him.

[Lucas Kellan]

That’s when odd things started to happen.

The Interplanetary Strategic Alliance Invader hovered lower to the ground, causing Lucas to eye it again, from his relaxed pose.

He had wondered why it stopped as it was at a fountain of some sort. A odd, fountain of clear, clean water bubbling right in front of his face?

He checked the screen on the side, as he landed the smaller transport, checking out the fountain in front of him. He decided it was a good time to load up on fresh water, and supplies such as canteens and filled the summoned items with cold water to last him for hours, maybe days if he had to.

He sighed and bent over, resetting the device and getting back on, as the device lifted up again, annoyingly rocking Lucas almost to the side.

He hated these things at times.

As it finally rocked the right way, he sighed mentally and eyed the gate above him that read “Endless Dunes.”

[Lucas Kellan]

Lucas eyed the gate and turned to the other gates and the two white armored men standing next to one of the gates which read "Coruscant."

These men were unfamiliar to him, but their armor almost reminded him of another race's: Helghast.

The Helghast armor was black, and had breathing masks, however these soldiers wore different masks and had different weapons.

He turned the Invader and moved toward the Coruscant gate as he lowered the vehicle.

Two of the stormtroopers stared at him and sighed "Regular or Fresh Prime?"

Lucas frowned and just was silent "I ain't talking to you, Helghast."

Officer 334 just raised a eyebrow "Helghast, what the hell is he talking about?"

433 muttered "He must have a few scr- Never heard of any Helghast."

They muttered something about "Fresh Primes" and looked at the Shadow Marshal, "Follow us, we need to get you registered in Coruscant's Systems."

Lucas didn't respond. He simply followed the two "White armored Helghasts" as he called them toward a registration office.

Sinclair would of waved his meaty finger at the man for trusting these guys so easily.

[Lucas Kellan]

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

The whiteness of the new place made the red hooded figure otherwise known from the Visari clan known as "Echo" looking for a man named Lucas, for somehow she had lost his path. Though, strange as it was, Echo was always on her feet. Part of the job at hand. She eyed the area to find out if there was something more than endless "white."

It was more walking, and more walking.

Echo held her hand up and frowned "Hey, anyone out there?!"

[Ash Williams]

In the distance, a car could be heard traveling over the white horizon with the exhaust spewing out with little smoke coming from the gasoline being burnt by the engine. The radio of the vehicle was turned up loud playing Hair of the Dog by Nazareth that caused the speakers be booming with rock and roll. Behind the wheel, Ash popped open a foaming cold beer can that he got out of a cooler in the backseat and started drinking it while driving. No care was on his mind about drinking while driving since he was in the empty blank Nexus after all the verse was lawless. There were also no roads to worry about driving off into a ditch. After taking a drink of his beer, he set it in the cupholder and turned up the volume to the stereo even more. While having alcohol in his system, he sang the lyrics to the song with no worry in the world. He didn't suspect anything bad to happen to his car, but his tires ran over a piece of shrapnel laying on the ground. Still, Ash kept driving with no stress on his mind about anything.

After a mile more of driving, his tire went flat and cause the car to jerk. His reaction to the action of the vehicle, made Ash do little swerving from left to right and stopped the car by pressing the brake pedal hard. The tires squealed as the car halted, making the suspension bounce the car a little. Ash raised his right hand that was stirring the wheel with annoyance and the hand lightly slammed down on the stirring wheel but not in anger. The Darkshire defender put the car's transmission into park and killed the engine from the key turning away from ignition. He took the key out of the ignition and put it in one of the pants pockets. His radio went silent too, cutting off the hard rocking lyrics of the song.

He got out of the driver's side and left the door open while he checked his tires. While checking out his driver side tires from a couple feet away, the driver's front tire went flat with no air in it. Ash grabbed his omnilium out of his pants pocket and focus on summoning a new tire on a wheel that fitted the Oldsmobile and had the factory rim. It took a minute for the object to appear out of thin air that the omnilium used its sparkling particles to make it, coming out of the rainbow orb.

Little did Ash know, he wasn't alone in this part of the Nexus but focused on getting the new wheel on the front. The evil dead slayer went behind his car to open the trunk by his keys. After unlocking it, the trunk opened by him with his arm supporting it to stay open. His prosthetic hand reached in to grab a jack and set it down next to him, then he went for the tire iron. After getting those objects out from a trunk filled with junk such as ammo, Adult XXX magazines, and other misc. items, Ash slammed the trunk shut and went over back at the front of the car to put the new wheel on. As he started the process to take the tire off. A newly secondary approached the only human that was near her vicinity…

[Lucas Kellan]

Echo never thought of herself as the usual “secondary. The Helghast spy eyed the banner on her arm as she blinked, the whiteness of the area making her eyes water as she pushed them out of the way.

Her first memories were of Lucas and helping him out, trying to finally stop the war against both sides.

She felt slightly on guard and unprotected, seeing she was without her normal weaponry.

But her senses picked up that she wasn’t alone in this place. She had to take caution when she noticed the old fashioned vehicle. This guy wasn’t from Vekta or New Helghan.

The man seemed to be fixing the wheels below with the rainbow substance in his hands

The woman made notes in her head “Prime.””

She eyed the wheel and then the car, looking at the man.

“Need some help?”

She figured she could help at least until she could pick something up to protect herself in this new world.

A picture was nearby that someone left behind, it caught her attention.

“What’s this?

She looked at the picture, her stopping.

“Lucas.. He was here….”

She closed her eyes for a second.

[Ash Williams]

Ash was startled by the hooded woman's question and made him drop the tire iron that made a loud dinging noise from the metal object hitting the Nexus's smooth surface.

"J-Jesus!" Ash stammered a little with his head turning around fast to see the secondary that just spawned.

The helghan hybrid backed up a little away from Ash while her mind raced with possibilities that he may be hostile.

"My bad about my answer, I was focusing on trying to get this wheel changed. Sure, if you want to. I won't bite," Ash apologized and granted that he didn't mind having some aid in this task.

He paid attention to her appearance and figured that she may be been here before since she does remind him on the attire of some people back in Coruscant. She walked up to him and kneeled next to him on the opposite side of the wheel. Ash grabbed the tire iron off the ground and started to take the lug nuts off. She was silent around him and didn't really say a word since she asked if he needed help. The evil dead slayer thought that it would be less awkward he started a small talk with her.

"So… what verse did you come from?" Ash started as he took the wheel off and handed to her so that it could be placed out of the way.

"Verse? I come from Vekta," Echo answered while setting the flat tire on the ground away from them.

"Ah, so you're new here," Ash replied while getting the new wheel ready to put the lug nuts back on with the tire iron.

"I'm still confused about what is going on here and why I'm brought here. What's even happening? Is this real?" Echo said with her mind baffled on why she was brought to this strange place.

"Ok sweet cheeks just remember if you had a talk with this Omni guy before you were here," Ash tried to calm her down from this situation that's hard to take in.

"No, I don't remember someone called Omni," Echo responded with calmness in her voice as she watched Ash tightening the lug nuts on the new wheel, one at a time.

"And my name is not sweet cheeks, call me Echo," Echo introduced her name to Ash with a little annoyance in her voice, so he wouldn't call her that anymore.

"Alright Echo, you must've been summoned as a secondary from a prime," Ash explained to Echo as he finished putting on the remaining lug nuts.

Echo knew it was Lucas all along who summon her, and she was determined to find him some time here in the Omniverse. She was thinking since they were in this plain whiteness world, it should be easy to find him.

"It's Lucas. He summoned me here, I know it would be him. We need to find him now," Echo ordered as she stood up as Ash finished mounting the new wheel on the Oldsmobile.

"Hold up for a moment, finding him is like playing Where's Waldo here. The Omniverse is way complex then you think it is. He could blend in easy from all the many primes that settle here and your talking to one right about now." Ash said in a charismatic way to win the heart of the Vektan hybrid soldier which she ignored his charm to focus on an important goal.

"By the way, what's your name?" Echo questioned about the Darkshire Defender's identity that introduced her to this new world.

"The name is Ash; Ashley Williams and I've been here for a while now," Ash answered while laying on the ground to drop the car down with the jack as he held the handle to position it that the jack would make the car descend to the ground.

Once the car was on all four wheels, Ash rolled the Jack from under the car and picked it up while holding the tire iron. Echo helped him lift it up in his hand and as he stood, Ash walked toward the back of the car to put the tools away in the trunk.

"Well Ash, I would be pleased if you help me find him," Echo asked as she followed Ash while he walked to the trunk to put the tire iron back up.

"I wouldn't mind helping a pretty face like yours since it's wrong to do so," Ash responded with that charm of his again as he put the tire iron and the jack back in the trunk but what he said to her, made Echo rolled her eyes.

Ash wasn't really her type, but she knew it would be a slim chance to find another person out here in this empty white world to help her out if she thought about ditching him.

"Oh, I see. You two have a thing going on with each other." Ash realized as he chuckled a little from his remark while slamming the trunk shut that locked.

"N-no we do not! Were just allies." Echo replied with a little nervousness about Ash thinking they were in a loving relationship.

"Okay, I get it. Well, the Oldsmobile is ready to rock and roll so your welcome to catch a ride. I'm heading back to the Pale Moors which is a verse that doesn't fit most people's type from the dreary weather and horrible monsters. If you insist going somewhere else instead, I don't mind giving you a ride. So, what will it be?" Ash mentioned about the car being ready but questioned if Echo still wanted to go where he was heading to while leaning his hip against the driver's front door with his arms crossed, facing Echo as she faced back at him.

[Lucas Kellan]

Echo eyed the everyman with a worried glare.

“I don’t have any weapons to protect myself should something go wrong. I’ll come with you on your ride, if you summon something so I can protect our asses.”

Lucas would have to wait for a bit. Plus it was better to get some experiences in the Omniverse to truly wonder what she faced ahead.

“As long as you don’t mind a Helghan hybrid spy along for the ride.”

[Ash Williams]

"Relax sweetheart, I'm quite armed myself too if we get in a hairy situation but if you really want one badly, it won't cost me a leg nor another hand," Ash responded as he opened the driver's door while Echo walked around the car to get the front passenger's door.

He used his omnilium again to summon a weapon for her to use so she would feel comfortable arming herself.

"Here," Ash said after finishing to summon a handgun then tossed it to her, over the car's roof.

She catches it and examined the weapon in her hands to see what kind of gun she'll be using. The gun wasn't a Helghan firearm but appeared to be older technology compared what she was used back on Vekta. She holstered the weapon on her right hip and opened the car's door. They both got into the Oldsmobile and Ash cranked the car back up again with the engine sputtering then coming to life as before. He put the car into drive and they drove onward. The radio played loud with his mixtape he made a while back that consisted of classic rock from the sixties, up to the eighties. As they drove, Echo wasn't familiar with Ash's taste in music since the timelines they lived in were way further apart.

While driving, Ash put one hand on the wheel and reached back to his cooler to grab another cold beer to drink. He opened the can and took one swig of the beer.

"Ahhh, nothing beats a day as living like a king. Your welcome to grab a cold one out of the cooler," Ash offered a beer to Echo but she refused it politely

"No thanks, I don't drink much." Echo said to Ash while looking out her window to see the more of the empty whiteness landscape.

Ash set the can of beer in a cup holder near the center console, so he could have both hands on the wheel.

"Yeah, I don't mind giving any rides to anyone as long they don't turn into a deadite on me," Ash spoke to break the moment of silence as he drove.

"Deadite?" Echo questioned with her head turning back to Ash with a confused gaze.

"Something you don't want to be a part of. Trust me, honey, I've already had some dates that turned on me. Next moment your laying eyes on a foxy blonde then next thing you know she's trying to bite my head off," Ash continued while he looked back at Echo quickly then his eyes focused on driving.

"Yeah, well I doubt I'll turn into an enemy that you know well of." Echo replied while facing her gaze at Ash as they travel across the white environment.

"If you want to summon more weapons for me to handle, you can do so since I'm a marksman when it comes to shooting a sniper rifle and I'm also an expert to using a knife at close quarters." Echo continued about the past skills she had obtained on Vekta.

"Yeah, sure." Ash agreed on when the time came if they get into a fighting situation.

They continued to drive across the smooth unearthly ground of the Nexus while the Oldsmobile's engine hummed with life and revs.

[Lucas Kellan]

Maya blew off dust on the weapon she received and looked it over. Everyone was from different timelines and she would at least give hanging with this guy a chance. She looked up from hearing on Ash’s mixtape “Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple” to blinking “So you know what the pale moors is like, Ash?”

She was interested to hear what might be in store for them in this place, but she only had to question the name to figure it out.

“So, this place is grey and dreary like a nightmare?”

[Ash Williams]

"Yeah, just a no man's land full of monsters and rare human civilization. For a while now, I been fitting in there while helping the town of Darkshire which is the last remaining major town. There are some settlements in the Pale Moors, but they have become abandoned or destroyed by Dracula's goons. There is one small settlement I have been to and save it with couple other primes from a dark force." Ash explained about the Pale Moors to Echo while he pressed the gas pedal, making the car accelerate more.

"I can handle the Pale Moors. From my training, I've been through the most difficult environments that we, Helghans would be thrown into combat." Echo mentioned with confidence about taking on the Pale Moors.

"Well that's good you sound like you got the guts for it," Ash said to Echo as one hand was on the steering while the other reached for his beer that was sitting in the cupholder.

Ash took another drink of his beer and set it back in the cupholder while steering the car.

Both remained silent as they listened to Ash's mixtape that was playing on the stereo. Sometimes Ash would sing lyrics to the song while this was the first time that Echo hearing this music. The evil dead slayer finished his can of beer while driving and crushed the empty can with his metallic artificial hand with powerful strength. He threw the crushed can in the back seat and continued going fast in the Nexus toward the Pale Moors gate.

Finally, Ash broke the silence while he drove, and it helped the mood.

"At least I don't see too much patrolling going on with from those bucket heads," Ash said but Echo never heard that kind of term or people before.

"Bucket heads?" Echo questioned in curiosity what that meant.

"I'm talking about Storm Troopers, they're soldiers of the Empire which is one of the biggest armies in the Omniverse. I just came from their capital that is named Coruscant, it's a humongous sprawling city that looks like it's from the future and far advanced. Compared to me, it's a city I don't dream to live in but it might be a place you would be comfortable with. Some people either hate them or like them here but I rather not get in trouble with them since they put out bounties constantly," Ash talked about the Empire and their capital which did peek Echo's interest.

"Sounds like Vekta but Lucas and I call it home," Echo spoke remembering of her home planet and was sort of becoming homesick but there was also the cold war that the Helghans and Vektans were involved in which made matters worse.

"Yeah well, I been wishing for some time I would go home too since when I was first dropped here, but it looks like I may never see my old life again," Ash said with no hope of getting back the normal life he lived.

"But that's life, and I've learned to deal with it for some quiet time here now," Ash continued while facing his attention ahead of them.

The Oldsmobile engine hums while they sped through the great white plains of the Nexus.

[Lucas Kellan]

Maya found herself looking out the window, listening in to the Deadite hunter and his experience on the pale moors and Coruscant.

A pulling of strings in the Halflings heartstrings only made the homesickness worse. What made her stomach the Cold War between the Vektans and Helghast? One, peace didn’t feel right to the elite spy. Two, a creeping sense of dread made her hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

The Omniverse felt like a prison.

[Ash Williams]

"Well, here's the gate to the Pale Moors," Ash spoke while they pulled up to the gateway of the Pale Moors.

Maya blinked a couple of times while she gazed at the grey stone and dark moss-covered structure that had a swirling portal in the middle. This was the first time that the Helghast spy saw a verse gateway. She stared at it for a minute then looked back at Ash who turned the car off when they parked the vehicle about a couple hundred feet away from the gate. Both opened the doors and shut behind themselves after getting out of the Oldsmobile. Ash looked upon the portal to the gloomy verse as they walked and stopped at the front of the old car. The deadite killer stretched his limbs from driving for a while. Maya still stared at the gateway and thought this was a crazy way to travel to other places.

"I know what you're thinking and yeah I had second thoughts about touching portals around here when I first arrived. Don't worry, you'll get a weird feeling after leaving the portal for your first time. I got used to it after a couple of times." Ash said, breaking the silence between them which grabbed the hooded Helghast hybrid woman's attention.

The Darkshire defender stepped forward to the gate but Maya didn't move and was concerned about going. He realized she wasn't following along and turned back to her with a question.

"What's wrong? You aren't afraid, are you?" Ash wondered why the secondary stood there with hesitation.

"I think… it's best to find Lucas first before I venture out to an unknown place. Is that ok?" Maya questioned her choice and hoped he wouldn't be offended.

"Yeah, that doesn't bother me, but I really must get back to Darkshire. I'll summon something for you to travel fast, here." Ash agreed with and focused on his omnilium for her transportation.

A motorcycle seamed it would be a perfect fit for her if she knew how to drive one. After a couple of seconds, a modern blue sports motorcycle appeared in front of Maya.

"You know how to drive a motorcycle?" Ash questioned with concern on his face about her driving abilities.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Maya responded while getting on the motorcycle with confidence.

"Groovy, well I'm going to leave now, and it was nice to at least meet someone in the Nexus," Ash said with a charisma smile while leaving to the portal.

They wave goodbye to each other before Ash entered the gateway. After the evil dead slayer left, his Oldsmobile disappeared and Maya sped on the motorcycle, away from the gateway to go find where Lucas would be in the Omniverse.

[Lucas Kellan]

The Half Helghan/Vektan “red riding hood” type spy revved the almost primitive motorcycle her companion had summoned for her while waving back. She didn’t mind. Everyone came from different lands and times, but there was one common factor. You either lived to tell the tale or died another face in the crowd.

Echo had no hard evidence that Lucas had even come around this area. He didn’t want attention or something was wrong.

The motorcycle sped from the Nexus, the wheels squealing, she cloaked herself and the bike as she past two stormtroopers who just looked confused.

“Hey #23, what was that?”

“Probably another annoying pest.” Number 42 elbowed the other

“Right, well it can wait another day.” #23 smirked

Echo passed right into Coruscant, Tier 1. She kept the summoned motorcycle nearby just in case she would need it again.

[Lucas Kellan]

This place reeked of corruption much like New Helghan. She eyed the landscape of the scanners up front, scanning all who went inside. A line of various creatures lined up and was checked for weapons of any types or bounties.

She caught herself staring as she remembered a few stray Vektan citizens were being unruly on New Helghan that day and the families were torn away from them and forced to watch them being shot, almost daily by her own people.

It was hard to overlook corruption on both sides of the boat.