10-21-2017, 11:09 PM
"Well? What do we do then, my all-seeing ally?" Keldor snorted, keeping a wide berth between him and the Toa of Ice. He still didn't trust Kopaka, and with good reason. It seemed that engaging against Blizzarman had snapped something deep within the biomech, and that the elemental warrior's patience for teamwork was fickle at best. The servos within the magnifiers of the infected Kanohi Akaku whirred and clicked noisily as Kopaka stood silently amidst the warming breeze. Billowing clouds of pyroclastic fury and fiery doom loomed heavily on the horizon. The swirling fire and volcanism reminded him of someone...distant. Alas, though he had at least regained his sensibilities for the time being, Kopaka could feel his memories and identity being gnawed at by the Darkness which now sat within him. Perhaps under different auspices, the Toa may have felt fear at the clear choice which had been laid before him, but the heavy blanket of murk made his already repressed emotions nigh inaccessible.
"You wield the power of telekinesis, yes?" Kopaka said, his vocalizer having resumed its normal, smooth composure. Keldor confirmed the query as Weiss stood by, looking impatiently at the decaying landscape around them. Swarms of baddies and uglies was something she could handle any day, but at these times when the world itself needed to be sculpted, she felt uncomfortably impotent. Kopaka brandished the Ice Sword at the thick coils of metal that ran limply down into the misty gorge before them.
"If you call these cables back out of the depths, I can use what remains of my elemental power to fix them in place." the Toa offered, turning to glance at the other two. The Schnee girl shrugged helplessly, leaving Keldor to weigh in on the plausibility. The finicky warlock fidgeted in place, but let out a long sigh after just a moment.
"Haste gives us few alternatives, ice-shaper. Just don't go keeling over half-way done!" the sorcerer snapped, striding towards the edge of the ravine with a dramatized posture. With great theatrics, Keldor jabbed his Ram's head staff at the inert cables, and demanded them to coil into life like ferrous serpents. The glowering orange light of the ambient cataclysm reflected on their polished strands, making them appear as if they themselves had become ember-ridden within these suicidal mountains. Kopaka holstered his sword and shield as he sucked in a deep breath, digging deeply into his elemental reserves. All Toa were capable of purging the extent of their charge in the form of a violent blast, but even then, such an expenditure usually only disconnected them from channeling that power for a few days. Now, here, in this dying world, the Toa of Ice dug deeper even than that.
With finality of purpose, the biomech allowed the icy power to flow out from his entire body like a river, coating and entwining itself around the core of metal that Keldor was calling upwards. It was slow work, at least in the sense that moving any slower would surely result in their deaths. Keldo moved ahead of Kopaka, keeping his arcane focus on the whipping and snapping coils, while the Toa marched behind him, casting the physicality of his very soul to keep the makeshift bridge in place. Only Weiss, who was walking patiently behind Kopaka, could see him beginning to stoop and stumble part of the way across.
Despite the strength of the bionicle's ice, the span groaned and crackled under their unsure footsteps. By dint of that fact, it was all the more concerning that Kopaka was the first among them to stumble, considering that it was impossible for him to lose his footing on ice. As if some sort of geological portent, the thunderous eruption of some distant peak sounded across the chasm as Kopaka fell to one knee, nothing but chilly vapors falling from his body. Keldor clicked his tongue impatiently and turned back to look at the haggard biomech, who leered at him hatefully from beneath the Kanohi mask.
"Out of luck already, eh? Fine mess you've put us in, robot!" Keldor cackled, despite it being the honest truth. It was a hollow mirth, borne from the lack of superior emotions that might encompass the hoplessness of the situation. Weiss hesitantly walked up to the fallen bionicle, and placed a hand on his...warm...shoulder. Kopaka panted heavily, not turning back to look at the bleeding heart of a girl he had come to so deeply resent. Yet, all the same...he was doing this for her and Keldor.
"Kopaka, it's okay. We'll figure something else out...we...we're most of the way across so..." Weiss said, swallowing sharply when she realized she had already reached the capacity of her placations. The Toa raged inwardly, and he could feel the Darkness within his soul, goading him into a new option. No. He wasn't doing this for them. He was doing this to satisfy his need to carry out his Duty. The Darkness...that noisome aspect of Teridax and his ilk...it might rob him of his sense, his memories, and his emotions, but it would never rob him of his Duty. Perhaps it was time the shadow gave something to him, instead. The Toa reached outwards, as he would on any normal summit, and tried to call the spirit of ice into his body. As usual, the only thing that reached him was the bitter numbness of this despicable Nebula un-snow. Ever since they had breached the gateway to this Nebula Space, he had recoiled from that feeling and this hateful slush.
But now he was beyond the point of caring. Kopaka demanded its power, smashing through his own inhibitions and sanity, calling its perverted elemental potency into his soul. Darkness deepened and fury ripened, but Duty rang true. With a scream of self brutalization, Kopaka let a new surge of power out of his body. This ice was not pure and blue like his natural constructions, but black and bloody, resembling solidified pain. Both of his allies were too stunned to move at first, at least until Kopaka roared at them.
"SUMMON THE CABLE, WRETCH." the Toa shrieked. Keldor was too cowed by this new ferocity to retort in defense of his pride, and continued his telekinetic engineering. The tentative march resumed, Kopaka becoming worryingly silent until, finally, the span was complete. Keldor leaped the last few meters to the edge of the far canyon, placing hands on his hips and cackling madly.
"NYAHAHAHA! All too simple for the likes of..." Keldor started, before catching Weiss's eye, "...the likes of US!" he finished. Weiss remained by Kopaka's side, though until now her attention had been on casting worried glances towards the nebula forces fleeing in every direction. Now that she look back towards the Toa, a hand shot up to her mouth as she stifled a small scream. The infection, that rusty, rough coating that Kopaka's Kanohi had been growing, had come to coat most of his upper body. Where previously there had been gleaming white and silver, only brown and black remained. A premonition of dread welled up in her gut as Kopaka turned to look at her, his optical lights illuminated with a pestilent yellow color. The feral Toa was too quick as he grabbed the Ice Blade and swiped at Schnee all in one, lightning movement.
Schnee was far from the type to be caught off-guard twice in one day, however. With dextrous agility, she ducked under the wide executioner's swing and slid to the far end of the cables, joining Keldor's side. Kopaka seemed to take a moment before realizing that he had not, in fact, killed Weiss. His sword arm lowered, holding the immense blade limply as he stared into the disintegrating horizon.
"Can you detonate the bridge?" Keldor whispered to Weiss. The dancing warrior gave the sorcerer a double-take, before realizing the gravity of his concern.
"I mean...maybe? Let's give him a minute." the girl whispered. The Toa had managed to come back to his senses the first time, right? Then again...he had become much more deeply infested in a short span of time. Kopaka, of course, could hear their speech just fine. He stood like a statue on their improvised bridge, the last testament he might ever have to his commitment to a job well done. He had accused the Schnee girl of being a liability not so long ago...now it seemed as if it was he who was the impediment. It begged the question of how many chances he was willing to give himself before...
Before what? He could feel the tendrils of darkened insanity clawing their way up his spine, gleefully seeking any way to finally win this colossus of Duty over to the side of violence and fury. It was an insidious influence...and...
...and...
Ruminating was becoming difficult. If he could no longer maintain coherent thought, then he was truly already dead. Maybe he should just kill them. No. That...wouldn't...NOT kill them. Per se. Duty directed him to...make sure very basic guidelines were met. Enemies needed to be slain, and enemies were things that tried to kill him. Which was them. No. It was him. To them. Killing. It was very important right now that he...killed...something.
He had to kill something.
Right now.
Kopaka turned and glanced at his allies briefly before the entire span of the ice bridge gave way at once in a violent, shattering bang. Schnee's voice hit a new pitch as she screamed 'NO!', watching the darkness infested Toa plummet into the nebulous depths below. Even Keldor had taken a step forward to try and do something, anything, to save their comrade, but it had happened too fast. Keldor could already feel the despair welling up inside the Schnee girl, and though he was far from anything that might be considered soothing, she was too valuable to have in a state of stunned shock.
"Weiss! Weiss we must flee! We can mourn properly later, now is the time for running!" Keldor shouted, grabbing Weiss by the shoulder and gesticulating in exasperation at the summit. Weiss suppressed a few, panicked breaths before her years of training took over. She nodded silently, and the two remaining Liberators started jogging up the shifting, perilous ski slopes. One thing was bothering Weiss, however.
"His eyes..." she murmured. She hadn't expected Keldor to hear her, but he did.
"Eh?" the warlock intoned. Weiss didn't slow her pace, nor did she allow herself to be distracted. She simply said what she had to and got back to the task at hand.
"His eyes, when he fell. They were blue."
"You wield the power of telekinesis, yes?" Kopaka said, his vocalizer having resumed its normal, smooth composure. Keldor confirmed the query as Weiss stood by, looking impatiently at the decaying landscape around them. Swarms of baddies and uglies was something she could handle any day, but at these times when the world itself needed to be sculpted, she felt uncomfortably impotent. Kopaka brandished the Ice Sword at the thick coils of metal that ran limply down into the misty gorge before them.
"If you call these cables back out of the depths, I can use what remains of my elemental power to fix them in place." the Toa offered, turning to glance at the other two. The Schnee girl shrugged helplessly, leaving Keldor to weigh in on the plausibility. The finicky warlock fidgeted in place, but let out a long sigh after just a moment.
"Haste gives us few alternatives, ice-shaper. Just don't go keeling over half-way done!" the sorcerer snapped, striding towards the edge of the ravine with a dramatized posture. With great theatrics, Keldor jabbed his Ram's head staff at the inert cables, and demanded them to coil into life like ferrous serpents. The glowering orange light of the ambient cataclysm reflected on their polished strands, making them appear as if they themselves had become ember-ridden within these suicidal mountains. Kopaka holstered his sword and shield as he sucked in a deep breath, digging deeply into his elemental reserves. All Toa were capable of purging the extent of their charge in the form of a violent blast, but even then, such an expenditure usually only disconnected them from channeling that power for a few days. Now, here, in this dying world, the Toa of Ice dug deeper even than that.
With finality of purpose, the biomech allowed the icy power to flow out from his entire body like a river, coating and entwining itself around the core of metal that Keldor was calling upwards. It was slow work, at least in the sense that moving any slower would surely result in their deaths. Keldo moved ahead of Kopaka, keeping his arcane focus on the whipping and snapping coils, while the Toa marched behind him, casting the physicality of his very soul to keep the makeshift bridge in place. Only Weiss, who was walking patiently behind Kopaka, could see him beginning to stoop and stumble part of the way across.
Despite the strength of the bionicle's ice, the span groaned and crackled under their unsure footsteps. By dint of that fact, it was all the more concerning that Kopaka was the first among them to stumble, considering that it was impossible for him to lose his footing on ice. As if some sort of geological portent, the thunderous eruption of some distant peak sounded across the chasm as Kopaka fell to one knee, nothing but chilly vapors falling from his body. Keldor clicked his tongue impatiently and turned back to look at the haggard biomech, who leered at him hatefully from beneath the Kanohi mask.
"Out of luck already, eh? Fine mess you've put us in, robot!" Keldor cackled, despite it being the honest truth. It was a hollow mirth, borne from the lack of superior emotions that might encompass the hoplessness of the situation. Weiss hesitantly walked up to the fallen bionicle, and placed a hand on his...warm...shoulder. Kopaka panted heavily, not turning back to look at the bleeding heart of a girl he had come to so deeply resent. Yet, all the same...he was doing this for her and Keldor.
"Kopaka, it's okay. We'll figure something else out...we...we're most of the way across so..." Weiss said, swallowing sharply when she realized she had already reached the capacity of her placations. The Toa raged inwardly, and he could feel the Darkness within his soul, goading him into a new option. No. He wasn't doing this for them. He was doing this to satisfy his need to carry out his Duty. The Darkness...that noisome aspect of Teridax and his ilk...it might rob him of his sense, his memories, and his emotions, but it would never rob him of his Duty. Perhaps it was time the shadow gave something to him, instead. The Toa reached outwards, as he would on any normal summit, and tried to call the spirit of ice into his body. As usual, the only thing that reached him was the bitter numbness of this despicable Nebula un-snow. Ever since they had breached the gateway to this Nebula Space, he had recoiled from that feeling and this hateful slush.
But now he was beyond the point of caring. Kopaka demanded its power, smashing through his own inhibitions and sanity, calling its perverted elemental potency into his soul. Darkness deepened and fury ripened, but Duty rang true. With a scream of self brutalization, Kopaka let a new surge of power out of his body. This ice was not pure and blue like his natural constructions, but black and bloody, resembling solidified pain. Both of his allies were too stunned to move at first, at least until Kopaka roared at them.
"SUMMON THE CABLE, WRETCH." the Toa shrieked. Keldor was too cowed by this new ferocity to retort in defense of his pride, and continued his telekinetic engineering. The tentative march resumed, Kopaka becoming worryingly silent until, finally, the span was complete. Keldor leaped the last few meters to the edge of the far canyon, placing hands on his hips and cackling madly.
"NYAHAHAHA! All too simple for the likes of..." Keldor started, before catching Weiss's eye, "...the likes of US!" he finished. Weiss remained by Kopaka's side, though until now her attention had been on casting worried glances towards the nebula forces fleeing in every direction. Now that she look back towards the Toa, a hand shot up to her mouth as she stifled a small scream. The infection, that rusty, rough coating that Kopaka's Kanohi had been growing, had come to coat most of his upper body. Where previously there had been gleaming white and silver, only brown and black remained. A premonition of dread welled up in her gut as Kopaka turned to look at her, his optical lights illuminated with a pestilent yellow color. The feral Toa was too quick as he grabbed the Ice Blade and swiped at Schnee all in one, lightning movement.
Schnee was far from the type to be caught off-guard twice in one day, however. With dextrous agility, she ducked under the wide executioner's swing and slid to the far end of the cables, joining Keldor's side. Kopaka seemed to take a moment before realizing that he had not, in fact, killed Weiss. His sword arm lowered, holding the immense blade limply as he stared into the disintegrating horizon.
"Can you detonate the bridge?" Keldor whispered to Weiss. The dancing warrior gave the sorcerer a double-take, before realizing the gravity of his concern.
"I mean...maybe? Let's give him a minute." the girl whispered. The Toa had managed to come back to his senses the first time, right? Then again...he had become much more deeply infested in a short span of time. Kopaka, of course, could hear their speech just fine. He stood like a statue on their improvised bridge, the last testament he might ever have to his commitment to a job well done. He had accused the Schnee girl of being a liability not so long ago...now it seemed as if it was he who was the impediment. It begged the question of how many chances he was willing to give himself before...
Before what? He could feel the tendrils of darkened insanity clawing their way up his spine, gleefully seeking any way to finally win this colossus of Duty over to the side of violence and fury. It was an insidious influence...and...
...and...
Ruminating was becoming difficult. If he could no longer maintain coherent thought, then he was truly already dead. Maybe he should just kill them. No. That...wouldn't...NOT kill them. Per se. Duty directed him to...make sure very basic guidelines were met. Enemies needed to be slain, and enemies were things that tried to kill him. Which was them. No. It was him. To them. Killing. It was very important right now that he...killed...something.
He had to kill something.
Right now.
Kopaka turned and glanced at his allies briefly before the entire span of the ice bridge gave way at once in a violent, shattering bang. Schnee's voice hit a new pitch as she screamed 'NO!', watching the darkness infested Toa plummet into the nebulous depths below. Even Keldor had taken a step forward to try and do something, anything, to save their comrade, but it had happened too fast. Keldor could already feel the despair welling up inside the Schnee girl, and though he was far from anything that might be considered soothing, she was too valuable to have in a state of stunned shock.
"Weiss! Weiss we must flee! We can mourn properly later, now is the time for running!" Keldor shouted, grabbing Weiss by the shoulder and gesticulating in exasperation at the summit. Weiss suppressed a few, panicked breaths before her years of training took over. She nodded silently, and the two remaining Liberators started jogging up the shifting, perilous ski slopes. One thing was bothering Weiss, however.
"His eyes..." she murmured. She hadn't expected Keldor to hear her, but he did.
"Eh?" the warlock intoned. Weiss didn't slow her pace, nor did she allow herself to be distracted. She simply said what she had to and got back to the task at hand.
"His eyes, when he fell. They were blue."
C O L D