01-14-2017, 11:33 AM
The cybernetic warrior was certain that he’d seen a place like this one time or another.
Neon lights. Hover cars. Glittering skyscrapers that seemed to be made of gold. In many ways, it reminded him of West City at the peak of its prosperity, before the final round of inter-city wars. The home of Capsule Corp couldn’t compare with the uber-metropolis that spread out into forever as far as the man could see.
Unsure where to go, the cyborg had remained near the gate. A glance down from the little platform he stood upon revealed an unmeasurable drop that glittered with the underbellies of the palatial structures that dominated the neighborhood around the ‘Nexus’ gate. He had heard that Coruscant was ‘tiered,’ which meant layered in some way. His look wasn’t excellent, but how far down could the place go? Who would go out of their way to build such a place?
Who creates giant stone statues of themselves on the sides of their mountain forts?
“Fucking Omniverse.” Seventeen chuckled as he tapped at his thigh with a few of his fingertips. It wasn’t exactly nervousness, but he certainly didn’t feel entirely comfortable amid the opulent entrance plaza. In his world, he’d met and worked for demigods, but the homes of the kais paled in comparison to this small slice of Coruscant. In his attempt to find something a little more ‘familiar’ and modern, the cyborg had found something that was alien in the most unsettling manner.
With the Dataverse at his disposal, Seventeen knew already that the place was governed by a monarchy of some sort. The shimmering façade was likely to be just that—a layer of veneer to hide a centralized bureaucracy built on strength and suppression of subversives. While the monarch himself—aptly and lazily dubbed ‘The Emperor’—seemed mostly out of the public eye, the state itself was everywhere. Soldiers equipped with black laser rifles and clad in shiny white suits of armor patrolled the entrance to the city. Every now and again, a humanoid buried beneath a set of huge, whirring iron would lumber around, waving a man-sized assault rifle ludicrously equipped with its own chainsaw.
The entire thing seemed almost too ridiculous to be true, but Seventeen had already been to the kingdom of the talking, subterranean reptiles and their bombastic, cult-of-personality master. Given that experience, the cyborg had only been initially shocked by the sudden change from silent, all-white landscape to loud, oppressively bright super city. Something in his gut told him that, sooner or later, he’d have to condition himself to stop being confused, amused, and/or otherwise thrown off balance by how un-real this whole place felt.
He knew he hadn’t been standing there for long, but the moment Seventeen finally moved to leave the elevated platform near the gate, half a dozen of the white soldiers stopped mid-goose step and pivoted to face him. “Halt!”
Brow furrowed at the display, the cyborg lifted up his hands and cracked an awkward smile as two of the soldiers marched over to him. Although he half-expected a vigorous patting down, one of the troopers pulled out a handheld device. “You will submit to scanning.”
“Sure?” Seventeen replied uneasily. In all honesty, the cyborg didn’t know whether to smile, laugh, or stand at attention. “Is that one of those x-ray scanners?”
“I did not ask a question,” the man behind the black eye grooves replied through whatever speaker technology allowed him to talk clearly through the material. “You have one chance to report any illegal contraband.”
“Don’t think so,” Seventeen muttered as he glanced around. He was surrounded by six of the Stormtroopers. The cyborg had taken some time in the Nexus to create a capsule to store the Barrel Train in. Aside from a phone, and some trinkets from the Koopas, the only thing he had on him wa—a
bee bee bee beeep!
The light on the scanner flashed red as all around the cyborg there was a synchronized click of gun safeties.
“WHAT IS ON YOU!” The central trooper barked as he drew a smaller pistol and held it a few inches from the machine-hybrid’s forehead. When an answer didn’t come instantaneously, the warm barrel was pressed into Seventeen’s pallid flesh. “SPEAK.”
“Just a memento from the Koopas,” the cyborg mumbled. “Some lava from their fountains… I didn’t know it would set off your stuff. My bad.”
The answer caused the guard’s posture to relax, but he didn’t lower the gun. He simply glanced at one of his peers. “Cuff him.” He turned back to Seventeen as one of the other soldiers quickly grabbed at the skinny man’s arms and wrenched them behind his back. “On the grounds of Imperial Code 10214, Section 66, I am taking you in for mandatory questioning by a representative of the Empire Peace Division. Resistance is immediate grounds for summary execution.”
“Lovely,” Seventeen muttered as the cuffs closed around his wrists. One hard shove later and he was being marched off into the glittering city.
Neon lights. Hover cars. Glittering skyscrapers that seemed to be made of gold. In many ways, it reminded him of West City at the peak of its prosperity, before the final round of inter-city wars. The home of Capsule Corp couldn’t compare with the uber-metropolis that spread out into forever as far as the man could see.
Unsure where to go, the cyborg had remained near the gate. A glance down from the little platform he stood upon revealed an unmeasurable drop that glittered with the underbellies of the palatial structures that dominated the neighborhood around the ‘Nexus’ gate. He had heard that Coruscant was ‘tiered,’ which meant layered in some way. His look wasn’t excellent, but how far down could the place go? Who would go out of their way to build such a place?
Who creates giant stone statues of themselves on the sides of their mountain forts?
“Fucking Omniverse.” Seventeen chuckled as he tapped at his thigh with a few of his fingertips. It wasn’t exactly nervousness, but he certainly didn’t feel entirely comfortable amid the opulent entrance plaza. In his world, he’d met and worked for demigods, but the homes of the kais paled in comparison to this small slice of Coruscant. In his attempt to find something a little more ‘familiar’ and modern, the cyborg had found something that was alien in the most unsettling manner.
With the Dataverse at his disposal, Seventeen knew already that the place was governed by a monarchy of some sort. The shimmering façade was likely to be just that—a layer of veneer to hide a centralized bureaucracy built on strength and suppression of subversives. While the monarch himself—aptly and lazily dubbed ‘The Emperor’—seemed mostly out of the public eye, the state itself was everywhere. Soldiers equipped with black laser rifles and clad in shiny white suits of armor patrolled the entrance to the city. Every now and again, a humanoid buried beneath a set of huge, whirring iron would lumber around, waving a man-sized assault rifle ludicrously equipped with its own chainsaw.
The entire thing seemed almost too ridiculous to be true, but Seventeen had already been to the kingdom of the talking, subterranean reptiles and their bombastic, cult-of-personality master. Given that experience, the cyborg had only been initially shocked by the sudden change from silent, all-white landscape to loud, oppressively bright super city. Something in his gut told him that, sooner or later, he’d have to condition himself to stop being confused, amused, and/or otherwise thrown off balance by how un-real this whole place felt.
He knew he hadn’t been standing there for long, but the moment Seventeen finally moved to leave the elevated platform near the gate, half a dozen of the white soldiers stopped mid-goose step and pivoted to face him. “Halt!”
Brow furrowed at the display, the cyborg lifted up his hands and cracked an awkward smile as two of the soldiers marched over to him. Although he half-expected a vigorous patting down, one of the troopers pulled out a handheld device. “You will submit to scanning.”
“Sure?” Seventeen replied uneasily. In all honesty, the cyborg didn’t know whether to smile, laugh, or stand at attention. “Is that one of those x-ray scanners?”
“I did not ask a question,” the man behind the black eye grooves replied through whatever speaker technology allowed him to talk clearly through the material. “You have one chance to report any illegal contraband.”
“Don’t think so,” Seventeen muttered as he glanced around. He was surrounded by six of the Stormtroopers. The cyborg had taken some time in the Nexus to create a capsule to store the Barrel Train in. Aside from a phone, and some trinkets from the Koopas, the only thing he had on him wa—a
bee bee bee beeep!
The light on the scanner flashed red as all around the cyborg there was a synchronized click of gun safeties.
“WHAT IS ON YOU!” The central trooper barked as he drew a smaller pistol and held it a few inches from the machine-hybrid’s forehead. When an answer didn’t come instantaneously, the warm barrel was pressed into Seventeen’s pallid flesh. “SPEAK.”
“Just a memento from the Koopas,” the cyborg mumbled. “Some lava from their fountains… I didn’t know it would set off your stuff. My bad.”
The answer caused the guard’s posture to relax, but he didn’t lower the gun. He simply glanced at one of his peers. “Cuff him.” He turned back to Seventeen as one of the other soldiers quickly grabbed at the skinny man’s arms and wrenched them behind his back. “On the grounds of Imperial Code 10214, Section 66, I am taking you in for mandatory questioning by a representative of the Empire Peace Division. Resistance is immediate grounds for summary execution.”
“Lovely,” Seventeen muttered as the cuffs closed around his wrists. One hard shove later and he was being marched off into the glittering city.
![[Image: 17.jpg]](http://omniverse-rpg.com/images/17.jpg)