11-28-2016, 10:55 PM
Cade slid out of the vehicle he’d just parked to see the other four secondaries loitering around. He couldn’t help but notice the wide grins on their faces. He was surprised it had taken this long. Great, here we go.
“I know what Cade wants to be when he grows up, now,” Grace pondered out loud as the dark-skinned Stormtrooper joined them.
“That Space Marine had you a bit rattled, huh?” Hunt commented as he chuckled.
“Man, those guys are bad to the bone, huh?” Cade retorted with his own question, just embracing the fallout. “Can you imagine what they have to do to get to that point, if they’re not just all specially summoned for that role? No thanks.”
“They are far from impressive,” Zedd announced as he looked at the dilapidated building they’d arrived at. It wasn’t much to see, simply a crumbling shack in the midst of an already desolate area. He shifted the subject of their conversation to something more relevant. “This is where Hibernius’s information is housed?”
“Yep!” Graowr chimed in as she skipped over to Zedd.
“Says the guy in here got spooked and tried to go into hiding over what he saw the Vorticons up to,” Hunt relayed what he could remember.
“We’ll need a bit of a delicate touch to get him to talk to us,” Laci reasoned. “If he’s just scared…”
“…Then he is weak!” Lord Zedd interrupted the blonde Stormtrooper as he marched towards the door.
Graowr opened her mouth to protest, but couldn’t get a word out before Zedd had violently kicked the door in. Zedd stomped into the crumbling house and scanned the area, noticing a trembling man in the corner.
“I am Lord Zedd, the almighty and future...”
The sound of gunfire caused him to stop, and he noticed that the scared individual was pointing a gun at him. And had shot him. How frustrating. Zedd looked to the impact point on his shoulder, having never flinched from shot. He simply turned back to the even more horrified man, and tightened his grip on his staff as he contained his indignation.
“Let’s brush past that,” Zedd said as he took another step inwards.
As he did, the five Stormtroopers burst into the room, their rifles leveled and their helmets finally on. Clearly, they didn’t have a clue what was going on and their response time had been delayed by actually getting their gear ready, but Zedd was satisfied enough with the fact that they had responded at all.
“Imperials!” Knox announced as they spotted the man.
“I’m sorry!” the raggedy looking individual shouted as he dropped the gun and raised his arms in surrender. “I thought you were one of them.”
“The Vorticons?” Grace asked, glad to know he was willing to speak of them so freely.
“Yes! Yes, they’ve been hunting me. Please, you have to get me away from them,” the man begged. “They want to kill me for what I know.”
Laci pulled her helmet off and kneeled beside him, placing a comforting hand on his knee. “We will, we just need to know who they are and what they’re doing. Can you help us?”
The man finally stopped trembling, reassured by Laci’s warm smile. He truly believed her. Cade and Hunt exchanged glances, even through their helmets able to tell what the other was thinking. They guy wasn’t entirely stable. Still, he was willing to help. At least, he was until Graowr entered the building.
The blue skinned girl looked around, her face painted with confusion. “Who shot a gun?”
Unfortunately, her blue skin was all the terrified would-be informant needed to see. Upon laying eyes on the Time Patroller, he broke into a fit of terrified screaming that Laci couldn’t snap him out of even as she shook his shoulders. This had a chain reaction, causing Graowr to elicit a matching scream for several seconds.
“Hey, hey! It’s alright!” Laci tried to snap the man out of his terror. “She’s not a Vorticon, she's with us!”
Zedd decided to take a different approach, and swung his staff upwards, catching the man under the chin and bashing his head against the wall. Laci gasped in horror at the attack transpiring before her, but Zedd merely grabbed her shoulder and threw her backwards.
“Enough of your cowardice, mongrel!” Zedd roared as he grabbed the man and hoisted him to his feet. “I want to know everything about the Vorticons, and I want to know it now.”
Knox helped Laci up, and they watched as Zedd shoved the informant against the wall and held him there with his free hand. Hunt once against looked to Cade, and the Stormtrooper that knew Zedd just shook his head. Zedd’s squad had expected this reaction.
“I told Tiberius, I don’t want anything to do with this!” the man stuttered. “As soon as I can get out of Coruscant, I’m gone.”
“That didn’t sound like information about the Vorticons,” Zedd snarled. “Was I not clear?”
The man gulped, shaking in primal fear in the deposed warlord’s grasp.
“Please, these things are horrible,” the man said. “You don’t know what you’re getting into.”
“Then why don’t you explain it to me?” Zedd retorted. “I’ll give you five seconds.”
“They’re on the seventh tier!” the man finally broke. “There’s a whole collective down there, it’s like a hidden civilization. No one ventures into that tier without very good reason so they’ve risen in secret.”
Graowr started to walk towards Zedd, but then stopped and listened. Was there something else here?
“What are they doing there?” Zedd slowly and deliberately asked, almost in a mocking tone.
“They’re building…they’re building a weapon. The Vortilaser,” the man replied, pausing for emphasis.
Zedd groaned. Had his schemes sounded so ridiculous from the outside, too?
“It’s a weapon that can drill through the tiers, straight into Palpatine’s palace,” the man said. “They’ll throw all of Coruscant into utter anarchy.”
“If someone were capable of shoving a spear up the Emperor’s sphincter from his basement, it would have been done a long time ago,” Zedd replied, wildly unimpressed. “Is this ill-fated Vortilaser the extent of their plans?”
“I don’t know, they’re…” the man began, but then caught a flash of blue from one of his windows. He paused in fear. “Oh my God, they’re here! They found us!”
Zedd removed his hand from the man’s chest and let him slide to the floor, while Laci quickly replaced her helmet. He scoffed as he marched towards the door. They had simply brought the information directly to him.
“I want one alive,” Zedd announced as he marched out the door, thinking nothing of the potential dangers these shadowy figures presented.
The Stormtroopers were shocked to see Graowr skip out after him, still a beacon of exuberance. The five of them hesitated for a moment before following the two primes.
“I know what Cade wants to be when he grows up, now,” Grace pondered out loud as the dark-skinned Stormtrooper joined them.
“That Space Marine had you a bit rattled, huh?” Hunt commented as he chuckled.
“Man, those guys are bad to the bone, huh?” Cade retorted with his own question, just embracing the fallout. “Can you imagine what they have to do to get to that point, if they’re not just all specially summoned for that role? No thanks.”
“They are far from impressive,” Zedd announced as he looked at the dilapidated building they’d arrived at. It wasn’t much to see, simply a crumbling shack in the midst of an already desolate area. He shifted the subject of their conversation to something more relevant. “This is where Hibernius’s information is housed?”
“Yep!” Graowr chimed in as she skipped over to Zedd.
“Says the guy in here got spooked and tried to go into hiding over what he saw the Vorticons up to,” Hunt relayed what he could remember.
“We’ll need a bit of a delicate touch to get him to talk to us,” Laci reasoned. “If he’s just scared…”
“…Then he is weak!” Lord Zedd interrupted the blonde Stormtrooper as he marched towards the door.
Graowr opened her mouth to protest, but couldn’t get a word out before Zedd had violently kicked the door in. Zedd stomped into the crumbling house and scanned the area, noticing a trembling man in the corner.
“I am Lord Zedd, the almighty and future...”
The sound of gunfire caused him to stop, and he noticed that the scared individual was pointing a gun at him. And had shot him. How frustrating. Zedd looked to the impact point on his shoulder, having never flinched from shot. He simply turned back to the even more horrified man, and tightened his grip on his staff as he contained his indignation.
“Let’s brush past that,” Zedd said as he took another step inwards.
As he did, the five Stormtroopers burst into the room, their rifles leveled and their helmets finally on. Clearly, they didn’t have a clue what was going on and their response time had been delayed by actually getting their gear ready, but Zedd was satisfied enough with the fact that they had responded at all.
“Imperials!” Knox announced as they spotted the man.
“I’m sorry!” the raggedy looking individual shouted as he dropped the gun and raised his arms in surrender. “I thought you were one of them.”
“The Vorticons?” Grace asked, glad to know he was willing to speak of them so freely.
“Yes! Yes, they’ve been hunting me. Please, you have to get me away from them,” the man begged. “They want to kill me for what I know.”
Laci pulled her helmet off and kneeled beside him, placing a comforting hand on his knee. “We will, we just need to know who they are and what they’re doing. Can you help us?”
The man finally stopped trembling, reassured by Laci’s warm smile. He truly believed her. Cade and Hunt exchanged glances, even through their helmets able to tell what the other was thinking. They guy wasn’t entirely stable. Still, he was willing to help. At least, he was until Graowr entered the building.
The blue skinned girl looked around, her face painted with confusion. “Who shot a gun?”
Unfortunately, her blue skin was all the terrified would-be informant needed to see. Upon laying eyes on the Time Patroller, he broke into a fit of terrified screaming that Laci couldn’t snap him out of even as she shook his shoulders. This had a chain reaction, causing Graowr to elicit a matching scream for several seconds.
“Hey, hey! It’s alright!” Laci tried to snap the man out of his terror. “She’s not a Vorticon, she's with us!”
Zedd decided to take a different approach, and swung his staff upwards, catching the man under the chin and bashing his head against the wall. Laci gasped in horror at the attack transpiring before her, but Zedd merely grabbed her shoulder and threw her backwards.
“Enough of your cowardice, mongrel!” Zedd roared as he grabbed the man and hoisted him to his feet. “I want to know everything about the Vorticons, and I want to know it now.”
Knox helped Laci up, and they watched as Zedd shoved the informant against the wall and held him there with his free hand. Hunt once against looked to Cade, and the Stormtrooper that knew Zedd just shook his head. Zedd’s squad had expected this reaction.
“I told Tiberius, I don’t want anything to do with this!” the man stuttered. “As soon as I can get out of Coruscant, I’m gone.”
“That didn’t sound like information about the Vorticons,” Zedd snarled. “Was I not clear?”
The man gulped, shaking in primal fear in the deposed warlord’s grasp.
“Please, these things are horrible,” the man said. “You don’t know what you’re getting into.”
“Then why don’t you explain it to me?” Zedd retorted. “I’ll give you five seconds.”
“They’re on the seventh tier!” the man finally broke. “There’s a whole collective down there, it’s like a hidden civilization. No one ventures into that tier without very good reason so they’ve risen in secret.”
Graowr started to walk towards Zedd, but then stopped and listened. Was there something else here?
“What are they doing there?” Zedd slowly and deliberately asked, almost in a mocking tone.
“They’re building…they’re building a weapon. The Vortilaser,” the man replied, pausing for emphasis.
Zedd groaned. Had his schemes sounded so ridiculous from the outside, too?
“It’s a weapon that can drill through the tiers, straight into Palpatine’s palace,” the man said. “They’ll throw all of Coruscant into utter anarchy.”
“If someone were capable of shoving a spear up the Emperor’s sphincter from his basement, it would have been done a long time ago,” Zedd replied, wildly unimpressed. “Is this ill-fated Vortilaser the extent of their plans?”
“I don’t know, they’re…” the man began, but then caught a flash of blue from one of his windows. He paused in fear. “Oh my God, they’re here! They found us!”
Zedd removed his hand from the man’s chest and let him slide to the floor, while Laci quickly replaced her helmet. He scoffed as he marched towards the door. They had simply brought the information directly to him.
“I want one alive,” Zedd announced as he marched out the door, thinking nothing of the potential dangers these shadowy figures presented.
The Stormtroopers were shocked to see Graowr skip out after him, still a beacon of exuberance. The five of them hesitated for a moment before following the two primes.
![[Image: zedd2018.png]](http://epiqz.com/mysigs/zedd2018.png)