Nemesis Island and Back, Sunday Sometime After Noon
As two boys played chess on Fandom, Nemesis Island saw another battle continued.
Korr
At Mayor Wilkins' words, Korr launched himself forward, eyes white rimmed, blind to anyone but Jan. Head down, ears pinned, teeth bared, he lunged at his son.
Jan
Alert, having scented Korr before he saw him, Jan was ready, throwing himself forward to meet him, desperate not to let him hurt any of the humans.
Unicorn did not fight unicorn, but Jan had made his choice. He had chosen a side, and it wasn't Korr's.
Korr
They met with a crash, chest to chest, and Korr reared, lashing out with his front hooves to strike at Jan.
Jan
Jan dodged, swung around to catch them on his shoulder, lashed out with his back legs to drum his heels against Korr's ribs.
Korr
The older unicorn fell back to earth, grunting with pain, then lunged again, swinging his horn to slash at Jan's unprotected flank.
Jan
It bit deep, opening a long gash, and Jan grunted, spun, and caught the return strike on the flat of his horn, parrying it, and barrelled forward, ignoring the pain and warm blood running down his leg.
Korr
It took Korr by surprise; he hadn't thought Jan had that much courage in him, and he fell back, pushed by the force of Jan's lunge.
Jan
Jan dug in, pushing, and twisted his body sideways to try and knock Korr to the ground. He was younger, he was stronger, and he had so much more to lose.
Korr
Korr sidestepped, stumbled, and went down on one knee, tossing his head as he tried to get to his feet, leaving himself vulnerable.
Jan
Jan twisted and spun, the point of his horn aimed at Korr's jugular, but he hesitated. This was the only other unicorn, the only one who knew where Jan came from and who he was. The only chance he had of finding his home.
Korr
In the moment's pause, Korr was up on his feet, and striking out with bared teeth at Jan's shoulder.
Jan
As Korr's teeth tore into him, Jan cried out and swung his head at Korr's.
Korr
It hit with a skull rattling crash, knocking him lose.
Jan
Jan struck with the flat of his horn, once more aiming for Korr's head.
Korr
Korr screamed, more in outrage than pain, and pulled back, dazed and shaking his head, staring at Jan with hate-filled eyes.
Jan
Jan snorted, bleeding and sore, and lowered his horn. "Tell me who I am."
Korr
"You are an abomination," Korr spat, eyes rolling to show the whites, and lunged forward, horn driving for his son's neck.
Jan
Jan didn't dodge. He didn't duck or weave or move to parry.
Instead, he rolled back onto his hind legs, teeth clenched, and sprang, every muscle straining, to leap over Korr. It was higher than he'd ever jumped, and Korr's mane brushed his fetlocks, Jan's ears brushed an overhead pipe, but he cleared him, landing lightly, and lashed out with his rear hooves before Korr could turn.
Korr
The crack of breaking bone was loud, and Korr neighed in agony. He stayed on his feet, because if he fell he would die. He knew that. One rear leg dangled uselessly, the bone shattered, and for the first time, Korr knew fear.
Jan
Jan could smell Korr's fear, could feel bone smashing under his hooves, and he shivered.
Korr wasn't moving, and Jan limped forward. "Go. I will not kill you, but I can't speak for my companions. Go, while you can."
Korr
Teeth grinding with rage and agony, Korr went, dragging the useless back leg, hopping on the other. Every stride was agony.
He looked back over his shoulder before he disappeared, intent on paying Jan back in kind. "Even if you remember who you are, you still won't know," he spat. "You'll never know."
Jan
Jan didn't reply, just stood, bloodied and battered, until Korr was gone. He would live or die, and Jan didn't know if it was mercy that stayed his horn, or the desire to leave Korr to suffer.
He blew out a long breath, then turned to help any of his companions who needed it.
Rikku
The hell with it; Rikku was storming through the crowd, trying to reach the door, and woe to anyone who tried to stop her.
Tybalt
Tybalt was many things.
A Capulet. A wild spirit. A dangerous man.
And, yes, also a rather effective distraction, when he cared to be.
Alas, at that very moment, it wasn't that he cared to be. It was more that he felt rather like grumbling, instead of following orders.
"Feeding orders to a Capulet," he hissed, pushing carelessly past the blond girl in a manner most befitting the Prince of Cats, "one might think he figures himself more king than mayor, more divine than politic. If it wasn't for the opportunity to draw my sword..."
Rikku
Okay, some jerk was shoving her, and he --
Capulet.
And he talked just like Romeo did.
"You bastard," Rikku spat.
The door could wait. This was personal.
Tybalt
Tybalt paused in his tracks, casually turning to eye the girl he'd pushed past before.
Cute. Even if she did dress as though a Montague's Hawaiian shirt had exploded and somehow formed a wardrobe all on its own.
"I've been called worse," he mused, reaching into his vest and surfacing with...
A cigar. His gun could wait a moment. This was amusing.
"And what would you make of it if I am?"
Rikku
No attacking him unless she was sure. Maybe she'd misheard him. Maybe the door was way more important than this.
Right. Lots of guys wandering around talking like that, just a coincidence, this totally wasn't the same jerk that shot Romeo.
One way to find out. She lifted her chin, haughtily.
"I took Romeo Montague to the clinic," she said. "He'll live. Your aim sucks."
Tybalt
"The Montague, madman that he is, was hardly worth the effort needed to aim my Sword." He lit his cigar, then, drawing a long, lazy drag from it, and then grinning at the girl like a predator might grin, were it capable, at something it viewed as easy prey. "Blood spilled is compensation enough for a bullet wasted, and his suffering penance for his trespass."
Now, Tybalt was going to idly finger his gun.
Rikku
"Or maybe you can't shoot for crap and you wanna pretend you did it on purpose," Rikku snapped. "This is where I kick your ass for it."
Be warned, fair Tybalt, there is a fist aimed towards thy face, and it's got a spiky Godhand strapped onto it.
Tybalt
ybalt was fond of many things. One of those things, incidentally, was his face.
Which was why there was no ceremony involved in the drawing of his Sword, no reverent kiss placed on the barrel.
There was simply a somewhat desperate dodge to the side, and then his gun was pointed at the girl who would have made an attempt at removing his nose from its spot on his face.
"I suppose I ought to swallow my surprise," he decided, "upon the discovery that a Montague would sway a child to take arms for his revenge. He lives and breathes, as you've said yourself."
He grinned a cruel sort of grin, stepping backward, not daring to divert the aim of his gun.
"A shame."
Rikku
Oh, she hated it when people thought she couldn't fight. Sure, it made beating them up easier, but it also pissed her off.
"He's alive, he's my friend, and you wanna call me a child, that's just gonna make you feel dumber when I win," she said. She put her hands up defensively. "I bet you cry like a little girl."
Now? Now would be a good time for an outside kick, aimed high to the side of his ribcage.
Tybalt
Tybalt caught that kick directly to the ribs, and he stumbled to the side, catching himself and catching his breath and catching his aim somewhere just barely before he could hit the ground.
It would have looked bad had he actually hit the ground.
"You'd be willing to wager that I sound anything like you? A fool's bet, surely."
He didn't have the balance it took to return a kick like that. But Tybalt was something of a thug. He didn't have to kick back when he could simply run at her, shoulder-first, hoping to catch her off her balance, as well.
Rikku
"Only 'cause I'd be betting a f---" Ow. He had several inches on her and way more bulk, so the body slam? That hurt.
She stumbled backwards, losing her footing and slipping to the ground. She was bouncing back up again almost before she'd touched it. Deadpool would be proud. She'd tell him later.
Arms up, not letting her rage throw her around, pay attention, Rikku.
He had the bulk, so she had to hope she had speed. She flashed forward, aiming a tight punch towards his torso.
Tybalt
Again with that... that insane strap-on that she insisted on lashing out at him with.
Tybalt knew better than to allow himself to get hit with that thing.
And so he rolled backward and to the side, snagging his clothing against that claw on the way. He hissed between his teeth at how close she'd gotten to letting his insides loose on the street, and then picked himself up just enough to aim his gun again.
"You've torn my shirt," he stated. It had to be shared. "Shall I return the favour?"
His gun was now aimed for her face.
He wasn't the sort to make a liar of himself when he threatened to shoot. But he would, at least, wait for her to earn that bullet to the brain.
Rikku
Gun aimed at her face: bad news.
Getting killed when she was supposed to be on rescue duty? Worse news. And she'd so get yelled at for that.
And there was a door over there she needed to get to. Then she'd beat the living snot out of this guy. Or else get far enough away to blow him up. C'mon, Rikku, be practical for once in your life.
"Call it a souvenir," she said. "I'll give you another one once we've kicked your island out of here."
Waiting. Just long enough to see if he was going to put his gun down or squeeze the trigger.
Tybalt
Tybalt didn't lower his gun so much as an inch.
But he did take one step backward. And then another. Wary steps, really. Getting out of the range of that girl and that freakish weapon of hers was priority number one.
"I daresay I'm looking forward to that," he decided. "Bang."
And, with another step backward still, he finally lowered his gun and turned to walk away, taking a deep drag of his unscathed cigar. Let the rest of the population of Nemesis deal with the children and their toys. The gremlins could do it, certainly.
Tybalt had to go change his shirt.
Buffy
It was probably a bad thing that Buffy didn't know anything about local Sunnydale politics, or she might know this guy. And think some things made sense.
Instead, guard going up automatically, she said, "...Gremlins?"
Gremlin
Gremlins couldn't talk, but this one's low growl could have been gremlin for: 'yes, gremlins, you were expecting maybe bunnies?'. Or not. Whether gremlins embraced sarcasm was a mystery for the ages.
It leapt at her, claws on feet and hands extended, with plans for a quick disembowelling before it moved on to the more challenging enemies.
Buffy
Well, it didn't look much different than the usual sort of demons she fought back home. As it leapt at her, Buffy moved to extend her leg to try and catch it in the gut before it could get any closer. She was wearing heels too, and kinda hoping that showed it not to mess with her, uh huh.
Gremlin
The gremlin was taken completely, almost comically, by surprise. It let out a great explosion of foul smelling air as the wee blonde girl kicked it in the gut, and stumbled backwards.
Instinct had it swiping at her leg even as it did so, the desire to maim overriding its shock.
Buffy
Avoiding the swipe, Buffy made a face, not even wanting to ask what that smell was. "Excuse you," she said, and went for a nice roundhouse kick to the face this time, having learned that lesson.
Gremlin
The gremlin tried to dodge, but it was so busy clutching its gut, from which a disturbing rumbling emanated, that it wasn't at all successful. A spray of green goop and yet more foul smelling air were Buffy's reward, along with a gremlin staggering backwards.
Buffy
Okay, this was just disgusting. The face she was making seemed to be completely stuck on her face, and she aimed the crossbow to shoot straight at where she thought the heart probably was. "Die over there!" she ordered, not wanting that thing anywhere near her.
Gremlin
Some of the green goo dribbled onto the floor, staining it green, but that probably wasn't what Buffy meant. It let loose another belch of noxious gas, which propelled it back a few more steps.
Buffy
Backing away, she made a 'go away' gesture with her free hand and said, "Over there. Good god, over there."
Gremlin
Confused, it looked behind itself, belching again, and shuffled further away. The pain and the pressure in its gut were growing intolerable.
Buffy
Already covered in more goop than she wanted to think about, Buffy waited till it was further away before lobbing a crossbow bolt its way, if only to keep more ickiness from happening.
Or at least to keep it from happening right by her.
Gremlin
As the crossbow bolt struck it, the gremlin's eyes went wide. Really, really wide. As did its stomach.
It was swelling, ballooning up and, as contents under pressure are wont to do when given an outlet, it exploded, the gooiest of green goo spraying out in a fount before it.
Buffy
That was about the girliest shriek you'd ever get out of Buffy, who covered her face as much as she could to avoid the worst of the goo.
"Okay, not what I signed up for," she grumbled, trying to shake some of the goo off of her.
Marco
< Who ever writes your lines should be fired! > Marco informed the Mayor through thought-speak, and then bellowed as a gorilla for good measure.
Gremlin
A hulking gremlin, one far broader and taller than its compatriots, rushed at him without ceremony, snapping its teeth and bellowing its defiance.
Marco
< Aw, man. You have to be kidding me! > Marco said in a general thought-speak and swung out at the gremlin.
Gremlin
The gremlin didn't bother to dodge, just took the hit, staggered, and bellowed again, driving a clawed fist at Marco's face.
Marco
< Oh come on! Not the face! > Marco whined as he ignored the blood streaming from his face and gave the gremlin another gorilla sized punch to the, well, let's hope it was a boy Gremlin. < Eeew! Years of therapy! >
Gremlin
Eyes crossing, its mouth opened very wide. No sound came out beyond a tiny, high-pitched squeak, and the gremlin slowly toppled over onto its side, curling into a foetal ball.
Needless to say it had very little sympathy for Marco's potential future therapy sessions, and it had no interest whatsoever in trying to stop him. It was just going to lie here and whimper.
Alex
The speechifying almost reminded Alex of the bad guys back home. Which of course immediately put him on his guard. "You're going down!"
Gremlin
One gremlin fixated on Alex, beady eyes narrowed, and it pointed a clawed finger at him, then motioned to him in a 'bring it on' gesture.
Possibly this gremlin watched too many movies. It also wrenched a pipe lose from the wall, proving it wasn't entirely stupid.
Alex
Huh, pipe. A sword would've come in handy now, but Alex didn't have one, so he would just have to attempt to kick the pipe out of the giant gremlin thing's hands.
Gremlin
Oh, well, if he was going to be like that. Shaking its stinging fingers as the pipe skittered away, the gremlin charged, intent on simply ripping Alex's head off.
Alex
Alex ducked away from the charge and any attempted head-ripping and moved to punch the gremlin in its ugly, ugly face.
Gremlin
There was the crunch of breaking bone and smashing scales. The gremlin's head snapped back and it slowly crumpled to the ground.
Unfortunately for the gremlin, in addition to an ugly face it had a glass jaw, and it scrabbled away from the fight, leaving a smeared trail of green goo behind it.
Teyla
Hearing the direction to kill immediately put Teyla on her guard, and she followed the group, not wanting to lose anyone. She hadn't gone far before she noticed someone off to the side, and suddenly her priorities shifted.
Michael
Michael had been eager to assist in the annihilation of those who were trying to stop them, but he was ecstatic when he saw exactly who was among the group from Fandom. "Teyla. What a pleasant surprise," he said.
Teyla
"How strange. I would not call this pleasant at all," Teyla replied, slowly reaching for her weapons.
Michael
"I'm sure you wouldn't. I would have thought you'd be resting after our...engagement," Michael said, not bothered at all by the sight of Teyla arming herself with her precious little sticks. "And yet, here you are. Seeking redemption for failing your people in the tournament?"
Teyla
Teyla kept her expression calm and neutral as she slowly approached him. She was not someone who failed to learn from her mistakes. She knew where she had gone wrong in her first encounter with Michael, and one of the ways in which she had failed was in keeping her emotions in check. Teyla breathed deeply, even as he spoke, refusing to let his words make her blind with fury again. "I merely wanted to help," she said.
Michael
"You realize your efforts here are futile," Michael said. "You will merely be bodies to ship back while the rest of your people leave."
Teyla
"I would not be so quick to assume that you know what will happen here," Teyla said in warning.
Michael
"I can be certain about some things," Michael said. "Like you and I." Unlike last time, he made the first move, swinging his arm to deliver a strong blow.
Teyla
The last time they'd fought, Teyla had gotten so caught up in her emotions that she hadn't defended herself at all. This time, she knew better, and she found that she had little trouble blocking Michael, and punching him in return.
Michael
Michael was caught off guard by her attack, and reeled backwards from the force of her punch. "Perhaps you're right," he said, swiping his fingers over the spot where she'd struck him. "I shouldn't have assumed so easily. I thought you didn't know how to fight at all."
This time, when he attacked her, he didn't pull back, and didn't relent. There were no judges now to stop them, no one to claim that he was not fighting fairly, and that meant he had no issue with being violent.
Teyla
For a moment, Teyla wanted to lose herself in her anger again and strike him the way he was attacking her. But she knew better than to go down that path again, and defended herself instead, blocking his attacks and finding small, quick chances to strike at him whenever she could. She thought about all the people she cared about - even the squirrels - and knew that she could not let him win again.
The longer they fought, the more chances Teyla found to strike, and before she knew it, she had the upper hand and found the breach in his defense. With a swipe of her leg, she sent Michael to the ground, and as she gained the advantage, she threw one of her sticks aside, and reached for the knife she'd brought instead.
Michael
Defeat was not something that sat well with Michael, but he was not about to show fear in front of a mere human woman. "It seems I underestimated you," he said. "You are a truly formidable fighter. A perfect specimen, just as I imagined." He caught sight of the knife and met her eyes with a fierce glance. "Go on then. Kill me. My death will change nothing here, except for you."
Teyla
Teyla held on tightly to her knife, truly, genuinely contemplating ending this once and for all. But she'd barely completed the thought before she regained her senses, and her morals. "You are correct. Your death will not help us in our goal," she said, and she could not keep herself from looking smug, if only for a moment. "For now, you just need to be out of my way." She brought her other stick down hard against his temple, watching with satisfaction as he fell unconscious. Feeling safe for the first time in days, she gathered her weapons, and ran to rejoin the others.
The Control Room
After the dust had settled, one problem remained...
The giant vault-like door.
Cable
The lull had barely set in, or Cable was already reaching into one of the pouches on his belt. "Rikku?" he asked.
Rikku
"On it," Rikku said, kneeling next to the door and pulling items out of her own leg-pouch. "How big a boom do you think we need, to blow this open?"
Cable
"Pretty big," he replied, "But not enough to bring the roof down."
Next, Cable glanced at-- ah, there. "If you've got magic," he said, "I suggest you keep any dampeners on stand-by."
Rikku
"Dampeners?" Rikku asked, setting out a few gems and eying the door again, and grabbing a fourth. "It's not really magic, at least I don't think so. My magic's just elements. You need me to keep the boom low-key, or you want some kind of a protective shield up from it?"
She wasn't up on most of the technical terms, here. But she knew her 'splodies.
Cable
"Just a precaution." Cable nodded at the rest of the group. "A shield would be the idea."
Rikku
She nodded quickly, then grabbed two other items out of her pouch. One antidote, one star curtain, mix them up, shake ... and throw.
There was a light flash and a sizzling noise.
"Physical and magic barrier, just in case," she said, looking back over her explosives again. "Dunno which this is gonna be, can't hurt to have both. You have anything nifty we want to spike this with?"
Tahiri
It was one of the basic techniques every Jedi student learned early on, and it wasn't difficult for Tahiri to reach into the Force and create a force field that shimmered slightly; she didn't have practice at shielding this much of an area, though, and the scars on her forehead stood out a little more palely with the effort of concentration.
"I could definitely use some backup on this . . ."
Eve
Eve raised a barrier spell that more or less ran along Tahiri's force field. "That should help. Somewhat."
Savannah
Savannah stepped up to add one of her spells to augment Eve's barrier spell.
Cable
"Alright." Cable studied the device he'd pulled from his pouches, then shoved it back in. "This is the part where we all stand back..."
Rikku
"That's why this is the fun part," Rikku grinned, adding one last gem and giving everything a vigorous shake before letting the whole concoction fly towards the door. "Fire in the hole!"
There was nothing like the satisfying ker-thump of a well-placed explosion.
"Did we get it?" she asked, squinting through the smoke.
Cable
His left eye narrowed, staring straight through the smoke. "Perfect," Cable said.
He was at the hole in the door in seconds, his hand feeling for the edge of the wall. One step, and he was touching the floor on the other side. "Now move!"
The Control Room
The door blew open revealing a stange mix of technology. Steampipes twisted and turned all about the place while gears and knobs turned around as if controlled by phantoms. In the middle of it all was a console.
The console itself however was covered with... A strange technology. It looked sleek and shiny though it had an almost organic feel to it.
Jan
Jan braced his legs and stayed by the door, sentry in case anything or anyone else should try and stop them.
Unless he was needed, he was not going any further in there, with its disturbing smells and its moving parts and no room for him to move.
Marco
Marco took a minute to morph down from "big hulking gorilla that won't fit" to "small, half dressed boy". "Aw man, this isn't the Cheesecake Factory!"
Cable
The psimitar in Cable's hands was literally smoking with energy by now, little fumes of telekinetic backwash streaming off into the sky. He was sweating a little underneath all the gremlin goo-- it was a lot of a strain, and the techno-organics were starting to wake up in seriousness now.
He pointed the weapon. And fired.
Teyla
Teyla was weary from her fight, but that didn't keep her from going inside and gazing around, trying to figure out what they were dealing with.
Eve
Eve stood there, breathless and fierce, looking around. "Well, doesn't this just suck."
She sent an energy bolt at the console.
Tahiri
Something about that console bothered Tahiri. It wasn't quite one thing, and not quite another, and that unsettled her.
Luckily, the fact that they were here to destroy it didn't give her much room to vacillate, and she thumbed her lightsaber on.
Buffy
Buffy was starting to think she'd brought the wrong weapon when she walked in and saw the console. She didn't get too close, but did peer at it and said, "I think I saw this at the Sharper Image."
Savannah
Savannah looked at the machinery, and then took a breath to gather energy to cast a spell. Focusing herself, she brought up her hands and then cast two energy bolts at the console.
Rikku
Rikku nodded, fishing more goodies out of her leg pouch. Protective barrier, up, and .... a little of this, a little of that, and let's spike the big combo with a Fire Gem. That should make for a good-sized boom.
The Control Room
The harness exploded and the lights began to flicker around the room and then the entire area was plunged into darkness.
A few seconds later a blue console flickered to life.
//STATUS: EXTERNAL SECURITY MEASURES REMOVED
INHABITANTS: CURRENTLY THREATENING SISTER ISLAND
INITIATING RECALL PROTOCOLS...
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE FANDOM CITIZENS. YOU WILL BE RETURNED TO YOUR OWN ISLAND. PLEASE TREAT HER WELL. //
And then there was a flash of light... And the group from fandom was gone.
And that's when the machinery in the heart of Nemesis really began to move into action.
[ and done! credit goes to multi_madrox, nottheclone, the_merriest, spring_lost, firebringerborn, athosborn, walks_two_paths, blackmagic_eve, iruinenglish and morpherboy, with guest appearances by feline_royalty, hybridmaker, guyofgisbourne and notthegoodsib. MASSIVE coding credit goes to the_merriest and firebringerborn, who are made of awesome. nfi, ooc so very welcome ]
Korr
At Mayor Wilkins' words, Korr launched himself forward, eyes white rimmed, blind to anyone but Jan. Head down, ears pinned, teeth bared, he lunged at his son.
Jan
Alert, having scented Korr before he saw him, Jan was ready, throwing himself forward to meet him, desperate not to let him hurt any of the humans.
Unicorn did not fight unicorn, but Jan had made his choice. He had chosen a side, and it wasn't Korr's.
Korr
They met with a crash, chest to chest, and Korr reared, lashing out with his front hooves to strike at Jan.
Jan
Jan dodged, swung around to catch them on his shoulder, lashed out with his back legs to drum his heels against Korr's ribs.
Korr
The older unicorn fell back to earth, grunting with pain, then lunged again, swinging his horn to slash at Jan's unprotected flank.
Jan
It bit deep, opening a long gash, and Jan grunted, spun, and caught the return strike on the flat of his horn, parrying it, and barrelled forward, ignoring the pain and warm blood running down his leg.
Korr
It took Korr by surprise; he hadn't thought Jan had that much courage in him, and he fell back, pushed by the force of Jan's lunge.
Jan
Jan dug in, pushing, and twisted his body sideways to try and knock Korr to the ground. He was younger, he was stronger, and he had so much more to lose.
Korr
Korr sidestepped, stumbled, and went down on one knee, tossing his head as he tried to get to his feet, leaving himself vulnerable.
Jan
Jan twisted and spun, the point of his horn aimed at Korr's jugular, but he hesitated. This was the only other unicorn, the only one who knew where Jan came from and who he was. The only chance he had of finding his home.
Korr
In the moment's pause, Korr was up on his feet, and striking out with bared teeth at Jan's shoulder.
Jan
As Korr's teeth tore into him, Jan cried out and swung his head at Korr's.
Korr
It hit with a skull rattling crash, knocking him lose.
Jan
Jan struck with the flat of his horn, once more aiming for Korr's head.
Korr
Korr screamed, more in outrage than pain, and pulled back, dazed and shaking his head, staring at Jan with hate-filled eyes.
Jan
Jan snorted, bleeding and sore, and lowered his horn. "Tell me who I am."
Korr
"You are an abomination," Korr spat, eyes rolling to show the whites, and lunged forward, horn driving for his son's neck.
Jan
Jan didn't dodge. He didn't duck or weave or move to parry.
Instead, he rolled back onto his hind legs, teeth clenched, and sprang, every muscle straining, to leap over Korr. It was higher than he'd ever jumped, and Korr's mane brushed his fetlocks, Jan's ears brushed an overhead pipe, but he cleared him, landing lightly, and lashed out with his rear hooves before Korr could turn.
Korr
The crack of breaking bone was loud, and Korr neighed in agony. He stayed on his feet, because if he fell he would die. He knew that. One rear leg dangled uselessly, the bone shattered, and for the first time, Korr knew fear.
Jan
Jan could smell Korr's fear, could feel bone smashing under his hooves, and he shivered.
Korr wasn't moving, and Jan limped forward. "Go. I will not kill you, but I can't speak for my companions. Go, while you can."
Korr
Teeth grinding with rage and agony, Korr went, dragging the useless back leg, hopping on the other. Every stride was agony.
He looked back over his shoulder before he disappeared, intent on paying Jan back in kind. "Even if you remember who you are, you still won't know," he spat. "You'll never know."
Jan
Jan didn't reply, just stood, bloodied and battered, until Korr was gone. He would live or die, and Jan didn't know if it was mercy that stayed his horn, or the desire to leave Korr to suffer.
He blew out a long breath, then turned to help any of his companions who needed it.
Rikku
The hell with it; Rikku was storming through the crowd, trying to reach the door, and woe to anyone who tried to stop her.
Tybalt
Tybalt was many things.
A Capulet. A wild spirit. A dangerous man.
And, yes, also a rather effective distraction, when he cared to be.
Alas, at that very moment, it wasn't that he cared to be. It was more that he felt rather like grumbling, instead of following orders.
"Feeding orders to a Capulet," he hissed, pushing carelessly past the blond girl in a manner most befitting the Prince of Cats, "one might think he figures himself more king than mayor, more divine than politic. If it wasn't for the opportunity to draw my sword..."
Rikku
Okay, some jerk was shoving her, and he --
Capulet.
And he talked just like Romeo did.
"You bastard," Rikku spat.
The door could wait. This was personal.
Tybalt
Tybalt paused in his tracks, casually turning to eye the girl he'd pushed past before.
Cute. Even if she did dress as though a Montague's Hawaiian shirt had exploded and somehow formed a wardrobe all on its own.
"I've been called worse," he mused, reaching into his vest and surfacing with...
A cigar. His gun could wait a moment. This was amusing.
"And what would you make of it if I am?"
Rikku
No attacking him unless she was sure. Maybe she'd misheard him. Maybe the door was way more important than this.
Right. Lots of guys wandering around talking like that, just a coincidence, this totally wasn't the same jerk that shot Romeo.
One way to find out. She lifted her chin, haughtily.
"I took Romeo Montague to the clinic," she said. "He'll live. Your aim sucks."
Tybalt
"The Montague, madman that he is, was hardly worth the effort needed to aim my Sword." He lit his cigar, then, drawing a long, lazy drag from it, and then grinning at the girl like a predator might grin, were it capable, at something it viewed as easy prey. "Blood spilled is compensation enough for a bullet wasted, and his suffering penance for his trespass."
Now, Tybalt was going to idly finger his gun.
Rikku
"Or maybe you can't shoot for crap and you wanna pretend you did it on purpose," Rikku snapped. "This is where I kick your ass for it."
Be warned, fair Tybalt, there is a fist aimed towards thy face, and it's got a spiky Godhand strapped onto it.
Tybalt
ybalt was fond of many things. One of those things, incidentally, was his face.
Which was why there was no ceremony involved in the drawing of his Sword, no reverent kiss placed on the barrel.
There was simply a somewhat desperate dodge to the side, and then his gun was pointed at the girl who would have made an attempt at removing his nose from its spot on his face.
"I suppose I ought to swallow my surprise," he decided, "upon the discovery that a Montague would sway a child to take arms for his revenge. He lives and breathes, as you've said yourself."
He grinned a cruel sort of grin, stepping backward, not daring to divert the aim of his gun.
"A shame."
Rikku
Oh, she hated it when people thought she couldn't fight. Sure, it made beating them up easier, but it also pissed her off.
"He's alive, he's my friend, and you wanna call me a child, that's just gonna make you feel dumber when I win," she said. She put her hands up defensively. "I bet you cry like a little girl."
Now? Now would be a good time for an outside kick, aimed high to the side of his ribcage.
Tybalt
Tybalt caught that kick directly to the ribs, and he stumbled to the side, catching himself and catching his breath and catching his aim somewhere just barely before he could hit the ground.
It would have looked bad had he actually hit the ground.
"You'd be willing to wager that I sound anything like you? A fool's bet, surely."
He didn't have the balance it took to return a kick like that. But Tybalt was something of a thug. He didn't have to kick back when he could simply run at her, shoulder-first, hoping to catch her off her balance, as well.
Rikku
"Only 'cause I'd be betting a f---" Ow. He had several inches on her and way more bulk, so the body slam? That hurt.
She stumbled backwards, losing her footing and slipping to the ground. She was bouncing back up again almost before she'd touched it. Deadpool would be proud. She'd tell him later.
Arms up, not letting her rage throw her around, pay attention, Rikku.
He had the bulk, so she had to hope she had speed. She flashed forward, aiming a tight punch towards his torso.
Tybalt
Again with that... that insane strap-on that she insisted on lashing out at him with.
Tybalt knew better than to allow himself to get hit with that thing.
And so he rolled backward and to the side, snagging his clothing against that claw on the way. He hissed between his teeth at how close she'd gotten to letting his insides loose on the street, and then picked himself up just enough to aim his gun again.
"You've torn my shirt," he stated. It had to be shared. "Shall I return the favour?"
His gun was now aimed for her face.
He wasn't the sort to make a liar of himself when he threatened to shoot. But he would, at least, wait for her to earn that bullet to the brain.
Rikku
Gun aimed at her face: bad news.
Getting killed when she was supposed to be on rescue duty? Worse news. And she'd so get yelled at for that.
And there was a door over there she needed to get to. Then she'd beat the living snot out of this guy. Or else get far enough away to blow him up. C'mon, Rikku, be practical for once in your life.
"Call it a souvenir," she said. "I'll give you another one once we've kicked your island out of here."
Waiting. Just long enough to see if he was going to put his gun down or squeeze the trigger.
Tybalt
Tybalt didn't lower his gun so much as an inch.
But he did take one step backward. And then another. Wary steps, really. Getting out of the range of that girl and that freakish weapon of hers was priority number one.
"I daresay I'm looking forward to that," he decided. "Bang."
And, with another step backward still, he finally lowered his gun and turned to walk away, taking a deep drag of his unscathed cigar. Let the rest of the population of Nemesis deal with the children and their toys. The gremlins could do it, certainly.
Tybalt had to go change his shirt.
Buffy
It was probably a bad thing that Buffy didn't know anything about local Sunnydale politics, or she might know this guy. And think some things made sense.
Instead, guard going up automatically, she said, "...Gremlins?"
Gremlin
Gremlins couldn't talk, but this one's low growl could have been gremlin for: 'yes, gremlins, you were expecting maybe bunnies?'. Or not. Whether gremlins embraced sarcasm was a mystery for the ages.
It leapt at her, claws on feet and hands extended, with plans for a quick disembowelling before it moved on to the more challenging enemies.
Buffy
Well, it didn't look much different than the usual sort of demons she fought back home. As it leapt at her, Buffy moved to extend her leg to try and catch it in the gut before it could get any closer. She was wearing heels too, and kinda hoping that showed it not to mess with her, uh huh.
Gremlin
The gremlin was taken completely, almost comically, by surprise. It let out a great explosion of foul smelling air as the wee blonde girl kicked it in the gut, and stumbled backwards.
Instinct had it swiping at her leg even as it did so, the desire to maim overriding its shock.
Buffy
Avoiding the swipe, Buffy made a face, not even wanting to ask what that smell was. "Excuse you," she said, and went for a nice roundhouse kick to the face this time, having learned that lesson.
Gremlin
The gremlin tried to dodge, but it was so busy clutching its gut, from which a disturbing rumbling emanated, that it wasn't at all successful. A spray of green goop and yet more foul smelling air were Buffy's reward, along with a gremlin staggering backwards.
Buffy
Okay, this was just disgusting. The face she was making seemed to be completely stuck on her face, and she aimed the crossbow to shoot straight at where she thought the heart probably was. "Die over there!" she ordered, not wanting that thing anywhere near her.
Gremlin
Some of the green goo dribbled onto the floor, staining it green, but that probably wasn't what Buffy meant. It let loose another belch of noxious gas, which propelled it back a few more steps.
Buffy
Backing away, she made a 'go away' gesture with her free hand and said, "Over there. Good god, over there."
Gremlin
Confused, it looked behind itself, belching again, and shuffled further away. The pain and the pressure in its gut were growing intolerable.
Buffy
Already covered in more goop than she wanted to think about, Buffy waited till it was further away before lobbing a crossbow bolt its way, if only to keep more ickiness from happening.
Or at least to keep it from happening right by her.
Gremlin
As the crossbow bolt struck it, the gremlin's eyes went wide. Really, really wide. As did its stomach.
It was swelling, ballooning up and, as contents under pressure are wont to do when given an outlet, it exploded, the gooiest of green goo spraying out in a fount before it.
Buffy
That was about the girliest shriek you'd ever get out of Buffy, who covered her face as much as she could to avoid the worst of the goo.
"Okay, not what I signed up for," she grumbled, trying to shake some of the goo off of her.
Marco
< Who ever writes your lines should be fired! > Marco informed the Mayor through thought-speak, and then bellowed as a gorilla for good measure.
Gremlin
A hulking gremlin, one far broader and taller than its compatriots, rushed at him without ceremony, snapping its teeth and bellowing its defiance.
Marco
< Aw, man. You have to be kidding me! > Marco said in a general thought-speak and swung out at the gremlin.
Gremlin
The gremlin didn't bother to dodge, just took the hit, staggered, and bellowed again, driving a clawed fist at Marco's face.
Marco
< Oh come on! Not the face! > Marco whined as he ignored the blood streaming from his face and gave the gremlin another gorilla sized punch to the, well, let's hope it was a boy Gremlin. < Eeew! Years of therapy! >
Gremlin
Eyes crossing, its mouth opened very wide. No sound came out beyond a tiny, high-pitched squeak, and the gremlin slowly toppled over onto its side, curling into a foetal ball.
Needless to say it had very little sympathy for Marco's potential future therapy sessions, and it had no interest whatsoever in trying to stop him. It was just going to lie here and whimper.
Alex
The speechifying almost reminded Alex of the bad guys back home. Which of course immediately put him on his guard. "You're going down!"
Gremlin
One gremlin fixated on Alex, beady eyes narrowed, and it pointed a clawed finger at him, then motioned to him in a 'bring it on' gesture.
Possibly this gremlin watched too many movies. It also wrenched a pipe lose from the wall, proving it wasn't entirely stupid.
Alex
Huh, pipe. A sword would've come in handy now, but Alex didn't have one, so he would just have to attempt to kick the pipe out of the giant gremlin thing's hands.
Gremlin
Oh, well, if he was going to be like that. Shaking its stinging fingers as the pipe skittered away, the gremlin charged, intent on simply ripping Alex's head off.
Alex
Alex ducked away from the charge and any attempted head-ripping and moved to punch the gremlin in its ugly, ugly face.
Gremlin
There was the crunch of breaking bone and smashing scales. The gremlin's head snapped back and it slowly crumpled to the ground.
Unfortunately for the gremlin, in addition to an ugly face it had a glass jaw, and it scrabbled away from the fight, leaving a smeared trail of green goo behind it.
Teyla
Hearing the direction to kill immediately put Teyla on her guard, and she followed the group, not wanting to lose anyone. She hadn't gone far before she noticed someone off to the side, and suddenly her priorities shifted.
Michael
Michael had been eager to assist in the annihilation of those who were trying to stop them, but he was ecstatic when he saw exactly who was among the group from Fandom. "Teyla. What a pleasant surprise," he said.
Teyla
"How strange. I would not call this pleasant at all," Teyla replied, slowly reaching for her weapons.
Michael
"I'm sure you wouldn't. I would have thought you'd be resting after our...engagement," Michael said, not bothered at all by the sight of Teyla arming herself with her precious little sticks. "And yet, here you are. Seeking redemption for failing your people in the tournament?"
Teyla
Teyla kept her expression calm and neutral as she slowly approached him. She was not someone who failed to learn from her mistakes. She knew where she had gone wrong in her first encounter with Michael, and one of the ways in which she had failed was in keeping her emotions in check. Teyla breathed deeply, even as he spoke, refusing to let his words make her blind with fury again. "I merely wanted to help," she said.
Michael
"You realize your efforts here are futile," Michael said. "You will merely be bodies to ship back while the rest of your people leave."
Teyla
"I would not be so quick to assume that you know what will happen here," Teyla said in warning.
Michael
"I can be certain about some things," Michael said. "Like you and I." Unlike last time, he made the first move, swinging his arm to deliver a strong blow.
Teyla
The last time they'd fought, Teyla had gotten so caught up in her emotions that she hadn't defended herself at all. This time, she knew better, and she found that she had little trouble blocking Michael, and punching him in return.
Michael
Michael was caught off guard by her attack, and reeled backwards from the force of her punch. "Perhaps you're right," he said, swiping his fingers over the spot where she'd struck him. "I shouldn't have assumed so easily. I thought you didn't know how to fight at all."
This time, when he attacked her, he didn't pull back, and didn't relent. There were no judges now to stop them, no one to claim that he was not fighting fairly, and that meant he had no issue with being violent.
Teyla
For a moment, Teyla wanted to lose herself in her anger again and strike him the way he was attacking her. But she knew better than to go down that path again, and defended herself instead, blocking his attacks and finding small, quick chances to strike at him whenever she could. She thought about all the people she cared about - even the squirrels - and knew that she could not let him win again.
The longer they fought, the more chances Teyla found to strike, and before she knew it, she had the upper hand and found the breach in his defense. With a swipe of her leg, she sent Michael to the ground, and as she gained the advantage, she threw one of her sticks aside, and reached for the knife she'd brought instead.
Michael
Defeat was not something that sat well with Michael, but he was not about to show fear in front of a mere human woman. "It seems I underestimated you," he said. "You are a truly formidable fighter. A perfect specimen, just as I imagined." He caught sight of the knife and met her eyes with a fierce glance. "Go on then. Kill me. My death will change nothing here, except for you."
Teyla
Teyla held on tightly to her knife, truly, genuinely contemplating ending this once and for all. But she'd barely completed the thought before she regained her senses, and her morals. "You are correct. Your death will not help us in our goal," she said, and she could not keep herself from looking smug, if only for a moment. "For now, you just need to be out of my way." She brought her other stick down hard against his temple, watching with satisfaction as he fell unconscious. Feeling safe for the first time in days, she gathered her weapons, and ran to rejoin the others.
The Control Room
After the dust had settled, one problem remained...
The giant vault-like door.
Cable
The lull had barely set in, or Cable was already reaching into one of the pouches on his belt. "Rikku?" he asked.
Rikku
"On it," Rikku said, kneeling next to the door and pulling items out of her own leg-pouch. "How big a boom do you think we need, to blow this open?"
Cable
"Pretty big," he replied, "But not enough to bring the roof down."
Next, Cable glanced at-- ah, there. "If you've got magic," he said, "I suggest you keep any dampeners on stand-by."
Rikku
"Dampeners?" Rikku asked, setting out a few gems and eying the door again, and grabbing a fourth. "It's not really magic, at least I don't think so. My magic's just elements. You need me to keep the boom low-key, or you want some kind of a protective shield up from it?"
She wasn't up on most of the technical terms, here. But she knew her 'splodies.
Cable
"Just a precaution." Cable nodded at the rest of the group. "A shield would be the idea."
Rikku
She nodded quickly, then grabbed two other items out of her pouch. One antidote, one star curtain, mix them up, shake ... and throw.
There was a light flash and a sizzling noise.
"Physical and magic barrier, just in case," she said, looking back over her explosives again. "Dunno which this is gonna be, can't hurt to have both. You have anything nifty we want to spike this with?"
Tahiri
It was one of the basic techniques every Jedi student learned early on, and it wasn't difficult for Tahiri to reach into the Force and create a force field that shimmered slightly; she didn't have practice at shielding this much of an area, though, and the scars on her forehead stood out a little more palely with the effort of concentration.
"I could definitely use some backup on this . . ."
Eve
Eve raised a barrier spell that more or less ran along Tahiri's force field. "That should help. Somewhat."
Savannah
Savannah stepped up to add one of her spells to augment Eve's barrier spell.
Cable
"Alright." Cable studied the device he'd pulled from his pouches, then shoved it back in. "This is the part where we all stand back..."
Rikku
"That's why this is the fun part," Rikku grinned, adding one last gem and giving everything a vigorous shake before letting the whole concoction fly towards the door. "Fire in the hole!"
There was nothing like the satisfying ker-thump of a well-placed explosion.
"Did we get it?" she asked, squinting through the smoke.
Cable
His left eye narrowed, staring straight through the smoke. "Perfect," Cable said.
He was at the hole in the door in seconds, his hand feeling for the edge of the wall. One step, and he was touching the floor on the other side. "Now move!"
The Control Room
The door blew open revealing a stange mix of technology. Steampipes twisted and turned all about the place while gears and knobs turned around as if controlled by phantoms. In the middle of it all was a console.
The console itself however was covered with... A strange technology. It looked sleek and shiny though it had an almost organic feel to it.
Jan
Jan braced his legs and stayed by the door, sentry in case anything or anyone else should try and stop them.
Unless he was needed, he was not going any further in there, with its disturbing smells and its moving parts and no room for him to move.
Marco
Marco took a minute to morph down from "big hulking gorilla that won't fit" to "small, half dressed boy". "Aw man, this isn't the Cheesecake Factory!"
Cable
The psimitar in Cable's hands was literally smoking with energy by now, little fumes of telekinetic backwash streaming off into the sky. He was sweating a little underneath all the gremlin goo-- it was a lot of a strain, and the techno-organics were starting to wake up in seriousness now.
He pointed the weapon. And fired.
Teyla
Teyla was weary from her fight, but that didn't keep her from going inside and gazing around, trying to figure out what they were dealing with.
Eve
Eve stood there, breathless and fierce, looking around. "Well, doesn't this just suck."
She sent an energy bolt at the console.
Tahiri
Something about that console bothered Tahiri. It wasn't quite one thing, and not quite another, and that unsettled her.
Luckily, the fact that they were here to destroy it didn't give her much room to vacillate, and she thumbed her lightsaber on.
Buffy
Buffy was starting to think she'd brought the wrong weapon when she walked in and saw the console. She didn't get too close, but did peer at it and said, "I think I saw this at the Sharper Image."
Savannah
Savannah looked at the machinery, and then took a breath to gather energy to cast a spell. Focusing herself, she brought up her hands and then cast two energy bolts at the console.
Rikku
Rikku nodded, fishing more goodies out of her leg pouch. Protective barrier, up, and .... a little of this, a little of that, and let's spike the big combo with a Fire Gem. That should make for a good-sized boom.
The Control Room
The harness exploded and the lights began to flicker around the room and then the entire area was plunged into darkness.
A few seconds later a blue console flickered to life.
//STATUS: EXTERNAL SECURITY MEASURES REMOVED
INHABITANTS: CURRENTLY THREATENING SISTER ISLAND
INITIATING RECALL PROTOCOLS...
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE FANDOM CITIZENS. YOU WILL BE RETURNED TO YOUR OWN ISLAND. PLEASE TREAT HER WELL. //
And then there was a flash of light... And the group from fandom was gone.
And that's when the machinery in the heart of Nemesis really began to move into action.
[ and done! credit goes to multi_madrox, nottheclone, the_merriest, spring_lost, firebringerborn, athosborn, walks_two_paths, blackmagic_eve, iruinenglish and morpherboy, with guest appearances by feline_royalty, hybridmaker, guyofgisbourne and notthegoodsib. MASSIVE coding credit goes to the_merriest and firebringerborn, who are made of awesome. nfi, ooc so very welcome ]