02-18-2016, 07:54 PM
As I mulled over the information given to me by the Oracle in my mind, I cut across the massive room of the Goldwater Resort to get back to the entrance. I could've maybe appreciated the place, obnoxiousness and all if I wasn't so desperate to escape the Omniverse to go back home and I didn't want to waste any more time with distractions. By that point, the advances to sell me overpriced beers and a night with questionable women of different shapes and races only annoyed me. The farther I got away from the clunking of slot machines and the smell of cigar smoke and closer to that gate the better.
But a glance over to one of the floors above me saw a familiar face that I didn't think I would see again: The scrawny look of one Roger Mills, one of Lt. Jones' warbuddies and last I remembered an agent of the Empire. Him being here raised my eyebrows as far as they could, and I could only ask why. I jolted up the nearest flight of stairs, and when I made it to the floor I saw him duck into a room. When I got to the same door I already expected some other aspect of hedonism sold at full price to sad men and women. So it didn't surprise me when I walked into the equally dark and overly bright setting of a strip club.
Much like the rest of the floating casino, there was a lot of effort given to please every taste. Each "stage" was separated with mirrored walls, with no overlap allowing every audience member to stick to their own particular fetish. My target seemed to have something for short and stacked, as he took a seat next to where a curvy goblin shook her badonkadonk. Roger was completely distracted, not that I could blame him; so much so that he didn't notice me even when I took the seat next to him and sat not even a foot away from him. It wasn't until I tapped him on the shoulder that one of his brain cells managed to rub against another to make him turn his head towards me.
When we saw each other face to helmet, his eyes grew like that of a deer's in the headlight of a tank.
He tried to jump straight up, but my arm was already over his shoulder before he could even get further than an inch off his seat, forcing him back down. He tried to say something, but I firmly wrapped my elbow around his neck, the only thing coming out being a few gurgles and squeaks. I gave a sadistic smile behind my helmet, and while he couldn't see it we both knew how "happy" I was to see him.
"For a supposed spy, you are horrible at staying hidden," I said as I flexed my arm, choking a little more air out of him. He couldn't even breathe in oxygen, let alone speak words. "Didn't I say I was going to kill you the last time we met? Now, I'm a man of my word, and I have a mind to off you right now."
I squeezed him a little closer, his shoulder crushed into the side of my armor. "If you tell me what you're doing here, then maybe I'll let you go." He tried to say something, but it wasn't until I finally loosened my grip that he managed to answer me.
"I'm not doing anything," he managed to squeak out after he inhaled as much air as he could.
"Bullshit."
"It's true! We left the Empire after you broke Impel Down. There was no way they wouldn't trace it back to us!" I did actually expect that, but it didn't answer my question. Even if he wasn't working for the Empire anymore, I wasn't about to let him go without knowing a few things.
"Then why are you here?" I asked, and applied a bit more pressure to his shoulders.
"We left with the ship when it headed to Bilgewater. We figured it would be safer leaving before waiting to see if you would succeed"
"We? Then Jones is here?"
At that point, he clammed up, but I already knew enough "You're also really bad at keeping secrets"
The makeshift interrogation was abruptly halted with I heard a throat cleared above the both of us, and I looked away from the possibly ex-Empire agent to see that the goblin stripper stood over me. She was fairly annoyed, her eyes aimed squared at my visor and with a pout that might have been cute to anyone else at the table. It was an odd look to get from someone who was half naked and what was left nothing to the imagination anyway. She was brave, i'll give her that, since I would have still towered over her even with her on the stage. The others stared me from their chairs, although they weren't quite as courageous.
"Could you pah-lease not harass my customers" She demanded, and with little complaint I let go of the spy and got up from the chair before security go involved. Rogers let in a huge, painful gulp of air and a coughing fit followed after. The entertainer went back to her job and the audience went back to watching.
"Tell Jones I wanna talk to him"
"He doesn't want to talk to you"
"That's too bad. He knows my number" And with that I left the strip club and got out of the resort. I had one more thing I needed to take care of.
----
I had taken a walk around the docks that Choprot had dropped me off at to find a unoccupied spot on one of the long piers. When I considered the logistics of the journey to the gate, not to mention that no captain here would risk their ship and crew for my crazed plan. I was going to have to get my own. Even if I could afford one, and I admit I had no idea how much OM I had, I doubted there was any at the island's shipyard (if they had one) that would fit what I needed. Something that could travel for a long time, something sturdy and packing with big guns. This verse's tendency for the pirate age style ship didn't give me a lot of hope that I would find what I needed outside of stealing one of the steel hulled battleships of the Empire.
I needed to make one.
It wasn't something I had ever thought about. I knew I could summon with OM, I had done it a few times before. But it had been mostly in experimentation and restocking my ammo, never anything bigger than a room. Let alone a ship. It seemed like something way beyond my scope.
And yet, I felt like I could do it. There was a certainty to it. I had become strong since I was pulled into the Omniverse. Apart of me just KNEW I could do it. Maybe that part of me was full of shit, but there wasn't anyway to know until I tired.
It had been a while since I arrived at Bilgewater, the sun was near setting when I stood at the end of a long and largely decrepit pier. The tide was coming in as the moon started to rise in the blackened sky and I felt the salty sea breeze over my scarred skin. I focused on the senses around me, the lap of waves and sound of the people behind, and tunes them into a beat and rhythm. I held my hands out, imagined the ship in my mind, and felt the omnilium roll out of my body.
More and more Omnilium appeared, it sapped away from me in a massive swarm that congregated into the iconic orb. I keep on my feet, but it was strenuous to my body and my mind as I tried to force my will on the malleable substance. I thought of what I wanted. I wanted a ship that was as tough as I was. It would never stop until it reached Omni. I imagined the rolling green hills of earth again, the feel of the grass as I laid in it and watched the clouds roll by. To hear kids ride past on their bikes, and the laughs of my fellow soldiers after another bender at the bar. I remembered the soft fur of Daisy around my fingers and the time I spend fighting for humanity.
But as the memories passed on, I also thought of what had happen on phobos. The yells of terror and pain, eyes of an unearthly fire burned onto me as the monsters that rose from the corpses of my old comrades level their guns at me. Hellfire and razor claws that tore into me as I fought my way through the sea of imps and pinkies. I felt anger as mancubus and arch-viles light the world aflame in their quest to destroy all that was good, the frustration as arachnotron and lost souls chased me through ruined streets and the fear that clutched my heart as the Cyberdemon towered over me and let loose a beastral roar. And I remembered the sorrow as I found the familiar head of my pet rabbit affixed to a spike as I walked out from hellgate.
It was painful to remember what had happened, but it was the demons that gave me this purpose. I wanted to see that that one man war that I waged against Hell was not for nought. And nothing, not the sea or Omni would stop it.
I fell down to one knee as it finished. How long did that take? Minutes? Hours? I didn't notice, I had been so focused into the task. I felt a few hands grab me by the shoulder to pick me back up, and when I glance back I saw that I had drawn a crowd of gawkers. I turned back forwards and saw why: the massive carrier that was now stationed outside the port, guns gleamed in the moonlight.
"The OVS Hell's Bane" I read the identification printed across the bow in white block letters "It's got a ring to it"
I then felt my pocket vibrate. I fished the PDA out of the pocket it was hidden in and pulled up my email.
"That was fast" I thought that Jones responded to my demand, but when I looked at the new message I saw that it was from someone I never heard of before "Who the fuck is Sylvia Black?" as if any of the people nearby would have know. But my heart jumped up my throat as I read the contents. Guu was under attack the Nexus.
My mind told me that it would have taken forever to get to the gate form here, that I didn't owe Guu anything and saving her butt wasn't worth my time. But my body was way ahead of it as I sprinted up the ramp into the ship towards what I knew was in there and what I needed.
But a glance over to one of the floors above me saw a familiar face that I didn't think I would see again: The scrawny look of one Roger Mills, one of Lt. Jones' warbuddies and last I remembered an agent of the Empire. Him being here raised my eyebrows as far as they could, and I could only ask why. I jolted up the nearest flight of stairs, and when I made it to the floor I saw him duck into a room. When I got to the same door I already expected some other aspect of hedonism sold at full price to sad men and women. So it didn't surprise me when I walked into the equally dark and overly bright setting of a strip club.
Much like the rest of the floating casino, there was a lot of effort given to please every taste. Each "stage" was separated with mirrored walls, with no overlap allowing every audience member to stick to their own particular fetish. My target seemed to have something for short and stacked, as he took a seat next to where a curvy goblin shook her badonkadonk. Roger was completely distracted, not that I could blame him; so much so that he didn't notice me even when I took the seat next to him and sat not even a foot away from him. It wasn't until I tapped him on the shoulder that one of his brain cells managed to rub against another to make him turn his head towards me.
When we saw each other face to helmet, his eyes grew like that of a deer's in the headlight of a tank.
He tried to jump straight up, but my arm was already over his shoulder before he could even get further than an inch off his seat, forcing him back down. He tried to say something, but I firmly wrapped my elbow around his neck, the only thing coming out being a few gurgles and squeaks. I gave a sadistic smile behind my helmet, and while he couldn't see it we both knew how "happy" I was to see him.
"For a supposed spy, you are horrible at staying hidden," I said as I flexed my arm, choking a little more air out of him. He couldn't even breathe in oxygen, let alone speak words. "Didn't I say I was going to kill you the last time we met? Now, I'm a man of my word, and I have a mind to off you right now."
I squeezed him a little closer, his shoulder crushed into the side of my armor. "If you tell me what you're doing here, then maybe I'll let you go." He tried to say something, but it wasn't until I finally loosened my grip that he managed to answer me.
"I'm not doing anything," he managed to squeak out after he inhaled as much air as he could.
"Bullshit."
"It's true! We left the Empire after you broke Impel Down. There was no way they wouldn't trace it back to us!" I did actually expect that, but it didn't answer my question. Even if he wasn't working for the Empire anymore, I wasn't about to let him go without knowing a few things.
"Then why are you here?" I asked, and applied a bit more pressure to his shoulders.
"We left with the ship when it headed to Bilgewater. We figured it would be safer leaving before waiting to see if you would succeed"
"We? Then Jones is here?"
At that point, he clammed up, but I already knew enough "You're also really bad at keeping secrets"
The makeshift interrogation was abruptly halted with I heard a throat cleared above the both of us, and I looked away from the possibly ex-Empire agent to see that the goblin stripper stood over me. She was fairly annoyed, her eyes aimed squared at my visor and with a pout that might have been cute to anyone else at the table. It was an odd look to get from someone who was half naked and what was left nothing to the imagination anyway. She was brave, i'll give her that, since I would have still towered over her even with her on the stage. The others stared me from their chairs, although they weren't quite as courageous.
"Could you pah-lease not harass my customers" She demanded, and with little complaint I let go of the spy and got up from the chair before security go involved. Rogers let in a huge, painful gulp of air and a coughing fit followed after. The entertainer went back to her job and the audience went back to watching.
"Tell Jones I wanna talk to him"
"He doesn't want to talk to you"
"That's too bad. He knows my number" And with that I left the strip club and got out of the resort. I had one more thing I needed to take care of.
----
I had taken a walk around the docks that Choprot had dropped me off at to find a unoccupied spot on one of the long piers. When I considered the logistics of the journey to the gate, not to mention that no captain here would risk their ship and crew for my crazed plan. I was going to have to get my own. Even if I could afford one, and I admit I had no idea how much OM I had, I doubted there was any at the island's shipyard (if they had one) that would fit what I needed. Something that could travel for a long time, something sturdy and packing with big guns. This verse's tendency for the pirate age style ship didn't give me a lot of hope that I would find what I needed outside of stealing one of the steel hulled battleships of the Empire.
I needed to make one.
It wasn't something I had ever thought about. I knew I could summon with OM, I had done it a few times before. But it had been mostly in experimentation and restocking my ammo, never anything bigger than a room. Let alone a ship. It seemed like something way beyond my scope.
And yet, I felt like I could do it. There was a certainty to it. I had become strong since I was pulled into the Omniverse. Apart of me just KNEW I could do it. Maybe that part of me was full of shit, but there wasn't anyway to know until I tired.
It had been a while since I arrived at Bilgewater, the sun was near setting when I stood at the end of a long and largely decrepit pier. The tide was coming in as the moon started to rise in the blackened sky and I felt the salty sea breeze over my scarred skin. I focused on the senses around me, the lap of waves and sound of the people behind, and tunes them into a beat and rhythm. I held my hands out, imagined the ship in my mind, and felt the omnilium roll out of my body.
More and more Omnilium appeared, it sapped away from me in a massive swarm that congregated into the iconic orb. I keep on my feet, but it was strenuous to my body and my mind as I tried to force my will on the malleable substance. I thought of what I wanted. I wanted a ship that was as tough as I was. It would never stop until it reached Omni. I imagined the rolling green hills of earth again, the feel of the grass as I laid in it and watched the clouds roll by. To hear kids ride past on their bikes, and the laughs of my fellow soldiers after another bender at the bar. I remembered the soft fur of Daisy around my fingers and the time I spend fighting for humanity.
But as the memories passed on, I also thought of what had happen on phobos. The yells of terror and pain, eyes of an unearthly fire burned onto me as the monsters that rose from the corpses of my old comrades level their guns at me. Hellfire and razor claws that tore into me as I fought my way through the sea of imps and pinkies. I felt anger as mancubus and arch-viles light the world aflame in their quest to destroy all that was good, the frustration as arachnotron and lost souls chased me through ruined streets and the fear that clutched my heart as the Cyberdemon towered over me and let loose a beastral roar. And I remembered the sorrow as I found the familiar head of my pet rabbit affixed to a spike as I walked out from hellgate.
It was painful to remember what had happened, but it was the demons that gave me this purpose. I wanted to see that that one man war that I waged against Hell was not for nought. And nothing, not the sea or Omni would stop it.
I fell down to one knee as it finished. How long did that take? Minutes? Hours? I didn't notice, I had been so focused into the task. I felt a few hands grab me by the shoulder to pick me back up, and when I glance back I saw that I had drawn a crowd of gawkers. I turned back forwards and saw why: the massive carrier that was now stationed outside the port, guns gleamed in the moonlight.
"The OVS Hell's Bane" I read the identification printed across the bow in white block letters "It's got a ring to it"
I then felt my pocket vibrate. I fished the PDA out of the pocket it was hidden in and pulled up my email.
"That was fast" I thought that Jones responded to my demand, but when I looked at the new message I saw that it was from someone I never heard of before "Who the fuck is Sylvia Black?" as if any of the people nearby would have know. But my heart jumped up my throat as I read the contents. Guu was under attack the Nexus.
My mind told me that it would have taken forever to get to the gate form here, that I didn't owe Guu anything and saving her butt wasn't worth my time. But my body was way ahead of it as I sprinted up the ramp into the ship towards what I knew was in there and what I needed.
![[Image: oGzCtPC.png]](http://i.imgur.com/oGzCtPC.png)