BDAL3 - Evolutions (Invite Only)

[Sparx]

Trask sat rather comfortably on a heaped and mangled heap of an assault car, a cigarette lit, and sitting comfortably in between his lips as he relaxed. Battle data was already sent to the station orbiting the planet's moon, and was beginning to enter the databanks of their machines for further enhancement of the suit's battle capabilities. It was something they had insisted upon. They insisted upon having actual field test data to further enhance the suit series, and this latest amount of transmitted information would do those wonders. Well it was what they were after anyway.

Taking a deep breath Trask blew out some cigarette smoke and crunched the butt of the fag into the ground under his heel before taking another from the dispenser at his hip and placing it between his lips. He customary patted down several areas of his self looking for a lighter. And after a few seconds of searching he found what he was looking for. Handy thing that? Being able to take a lighter from someone when they weren’t looking - but pick-pocketing? It wasn’t exactly Trask’s preferred style of working. Ask anyone and they would say that Trask was brutal and knew what he was doing, but ask the man himself and he would tell you that he was as subtle as a 20 pound sledgehammer to the face – if you managed to last that long at least. He was beginning to get a little weary of all these damned news crews pointing their cameras at him and taking photographs. All he wanted to do was eat and have a rest now, but they weren’t allowing him to, as the constant flicker of cameras and photo-lights all taking images of him sitting quietly contemplating the carnage.

Secretly Trask was pleased with the amount of carnage that was caused – after all they did interrupt his dinner didn’t they? Trask shrugged and lifted up one of the auto-rifles and chambered a fresh clip and stood up, and in the light of the still burning fuel, he cut an imposing yet impressive figure.

The rustling of the media began to cease as Trask shot out one of the spotlights of one of the media cameras. He wasn’t set out to kill these innocents, but they were beginning to bother him and he was getting hungry.

Turning after shooting out the spotlight, Trask began to make his way away from the burning heap of scrap. He was almost halfway from the heap when a destructive concrete breaking crunch penetrated the silent burning night.

“What now?” Trask sighed wistfully as he discarded the auto-rifle and carefully made his way around to the area of newer devastation. Luckily it was a large open lot car park that was empty. Well it wasn’t a car park anymore as it was now a full blown crater that measured shallow. Trask’s internal optic scanners scanned the crater and found that it was traversable. At only forty feet deep, the crater was a gradual incline not too steep, not too shallow – but at the center of the crater was a capsule, a glowing hot capsule. Trask knew… he scanned it, but the scan shown something peculiar. There was a life form inside. Alive and well. Trask was concerned, for there was no warning about any spaceship battles or such.

“Someone somewhere must not like what I’m up to…so they’ve sent their lapdog to clean up a little mess that they can’t handle! Phhft cowards!”

There was a hiss and the capsule opened, and much to Trask’s surprise the person inside the capsule was armed to the teeth ready to kick ass – Trask’s ass!
Trask radioed to headquarters.

“This is unit 0 to command…”

There was a burst of static before a crisp response into Trask’s inner ear.

“This is command…” spoke the cool smooth voice of the CIC.

“Situation has changed…repeat…situation has changed. Unidentified craft has landed not more than four meters from position. Scans show no identifiable content. Unknown whether hostile or not. Proceeding to approach…”

With that Trask deactivated his comm. and began the approach towards the capsule. It was only then that the capsule sprung into life as the heat-proof shielding dissipated and the thermite glass began to retract, revealing a man wearing silver battle armour - but because of the heat slowly dissipating from the pod - it looked almost bloodstained. Trask stood and glared down at him, wondering what the hell was going to happen now, and as Trask looked down, his hands lightly twitching ready to draw incase a fight broke out – and he had that itchy feeling up his spine that it was going to happen – while the other person looked up towards him. But even in the smoky gloom of the half morning Trask’s magna-vision was able to make out the person’s eyes narrowing, sizing him up for a conflict.

[Misato Anami]

"Ar..gh...."

Misato's eyes opened slowly to a dim and dark area. Laindrius must have pulled her off of Firewing's ship and taken her back with him. Her body was sore from the confrontation with Laindrius. Misato could feel the pounding from where Laindrius had struck her.

"Ah, so we see you're awake Miss Anami"

Misato stopped and turned to see Laindrius standing by the only window in the room. Two other men accompanied him, seemingly higher in authority than him. "So this is her Laindrius?"

"Oh yes sir, if you'll notice," Misato went to stop Laindrius, when she suddenly realized her body straddled a chair and her arms were shackled to the other end of the table. She could barely sit up without feeling the stretch in her arms. Laindrius and the two men walked behind her and she felt Laindrius' grimy fingers against her skin as he traced along her scars. In a way, Misato had felt so violated. Her body had felt that way before, and Misato cringed at the feeling. A time when her body was taken from her by an enemy that she herself destroyed. Of course, they were only looking at her scars, yet it felt as though they had trespassed into her past, a past she only shared with Rydius, and her friends. The one she hadn't known had spoken to her.

"Well, Misato Anami, what did you plan to do? Awaken and everything would be the same?"

Misato looked up, the man was standing above her. A rugged look he had, but he seemed to hold much more authority, the way his head was held, his chin pointed towards her in disgust, the look in his eyes were full of wonder, yet they also told her she was unlucky for getting caught. "I didn't expect much, just to find Rydius still in the tomb, where he should have been!" Misato tried to rise, but her hands kept her still. "Rydius was awakened early, what do you expect!? He doesn't have any recollection of me, or his past! You took a good man and changed him to be what you wanted!! You took my life from me!" Misato lunged at the man and was jerked back with the steel of the shackles. Her wrists bled a bit and her hair whipped around but she didn't care. She knew who took Rydius from her, and they were going to pay. The man looked at her and smiled.

"Hmmm, you do seem to get prettier everytime you get angry. We'll make sure you're put somewhere where you'll never see him again, at least until we can be sure he'll never know who you really are again..."

"You can't do that! Wife or stranger, my life has been devoted to Rydius Scarwing or Firewing to you. I'm still his guardian none-the-less and whether you take him from me or not, I'm still to protect him if it costs me my life!" Misato's eyes flashed and for a moment the room shook. The table shook and the men put their hands on the wall for what seemed longer than it was. The noise and shaking stopped and Misato stood breathless. The men looked at her. Laindrius grabbed Misato by the back of her head and wrapped his other arm around her. "Foxxis, let me have some time with Miss Anami. I should be able to make her see that she's only a nuisance to Firewings life."

"Foxxis... you.. you're the reason! Don't you leave me with Laindrius. He has only proven to be a lackey of some sorts. I know theres more than you're telling me!" Foxxis merely smiled as him and his accompaniment walked towards the door.

"NO.. Get back here Foxxis!! Why do you want Rydius!! How is he so important to you!!!" The door shut with a simple 'click' as Misato knew she was getting nowhere. Her body slowly lowered to the ground and she leaned her head against the side of the table. She wanted to cry... She knew now that something was definitely wrong, but how could she prove it? Firewing had no recollection of being Rydius and her telling him wouldn't help much, he'd have to learn it on his own...

"Get up Anami... its time to take you away..." Misato opened her eyes. Standing slowly, Misato stared at Laindrius. With arms folded, he looked at her with a dangerous look in his eyes. Misato noticed the chain had been slid under the table and she was able to freely move with the shackles on her arm. With a quick thrust, Misato threw her hands to both sides of Laindrius' head, knocking the chain against his nose, causing it to bleed. Laindrius threw his hands to his head. Misato knew he could fight, but she had to use what she had on her. Using the shackle on her wrist, Misato knocked it against Laindrius' head and sent him falling against the wall. Misato noticed the window and broke the glass with the chain of the shackles, only to find Laindrius stand up once again. He was more used to pain than she knew. Misato went to kick his chest to send him down, but Laindrius grabbed her foot and spun her into the table. Jumping up as fast as she could, Misato dodged as Laindrius swung at her. Then pulling out a dagger from his boot, Laindrius went at her again, this time catching her thigh. The cloth ripped and started to stain with crimson blood. Misato's eyes flashed again and a soundless thunder caused Laindrius to be thrown against the wall. Apparently out, Misato ran to the window and looked below. She was fairly high, a good thirty stories from the ground. Before she jumped, she felt a sharp pain in her right hip. Looking down, Laindrius had thrown a shard of glass at her and Misato's blood covered the shard. Misato put her hand to Laindrius' face. Her eyes flashed its crimson red as heat began to emit from her hands. Sparks emitted as a sudden flash of fire swamped around Laindrius. With a scream from Laindrius, Misato moved to the window and noticed only the top left of his face was scarred. "Now we'll see when people touch your scars, how you feel..." The door knocked open as Misato jumped out the window. She heard shouts as she began to free fall.

Foxxis had reentered the room only to find a shadow of Misato as she leapt from the window. Ignoring Laindrius, Foxxis ran to the window to watch her fall. "She'll never do it.. It'd give her up easily"

Misato closed her eyes. Within seconds, her body began to float in the air. She felt good again. A smile swept across her face as she realized she was flying again. Her wings, an echo of her past, shined brightly as she sped towards her destination.

Foxxis watched as Misato got away. Walking over to Laindrius, he grabbed him by the arm and threw him to his servants to help heal his burns. "You let her get away!? Do you realize that we have to work harder now to keep those two apart!?" The servants swiftly took Laindrius away as Foxxis remained in the room. "You managed to escape this time... next time I see you, you shall be ready for death.." Walking out of the room, Foxxis went to order some men to head towards the cavern...

Misato landed on the lush grass as she realized she was still bound to the shackles. With a quick force, Misato was able to melt the chain and wring herself free. Her wrists were caked with blood from the struggle. Her side still held the shard of glass in it and Misato knew she had to prepare for if anyone came for her. Not minding the mess she must have looked like, Misato quickly pulled the shard from her body and with a quick yelp, she managed to cover it up and wrap it quickly. Standing, Misato began to recompose herself. She closed her eyes to find out where Frey had gone to. Her eyes jolted open as she realized that Frey was still upon the ship. It had landed and Frey remained in the ship.

'Frey... go find Rydius... Go to him and bond with him, help him if he needs it...'

Leaving Frey to do what he was told, Misato stretched her wings. It had been quite a time... she remembered releasing them to help Firewing out... Firewing.. what purpose did he hold with those men? What did they want him for. Why would they purposely try to keep him from his past?? This was all Misato could do...

Walking towards the cavern, Misato noticed no one else had been there. She had to do this to keep them from doing anymore damage. Going to the area where she was found, Misato found two lances hidden within her tomb. Pulling them free, Misato set them against in the main room of the cavern.

Once in the ground... Misato stood there atop the cavern waiting for whomever would come. She would protect this sanctuary until Firewing returned....

[Trigon]

Part 9: The Dark Awakening

As the smoke from impact began to clear up and Firewing took a step out from the assault craft, he was instantly aware of someone looking down onto him and slowly raised his head to look back. The person above him was wearing the experimental 'terminator armour' and it looked like it had been modified slightly with most of the armour plates smoothed out rather than being bulky like the MK.I model. However it looked like they hadn't found out the flaws in the plan's yet. Firewing shook his head and raised an arm, pointing at Trask for a second.

"So you're the one causing all the trouble here I presume?"

"Trouble? It's them that won't leave me in peace to eat."

The audible ***** of guns loading was heard while Trask spoke back, but he couldn't see where the guns were. Sure there were plently inside the craft behind this guy, but he hadn't brought any out with him. So where did that noise come from?

"Well in any case, I've been sent here to stop you causing any more damage."

Before Trask knew what was happening, the gauntlet that covered the arm that Firewing had been pointing at him opened fire, sending sparks flying from his leg armour as he lept out of the way. Trask cursed under his breath as he ejected his own guns and returned fire, only to find that Firewing was no longer there. A quick glance to the left made him realise that his opponent was now sprinting up the side of the crater away from the media.

Turning, Trask fired in the direction Firewing was sprinting in before giving chase. It seemed like he was taking the fight to one of the buildings that had been damaged in the last explosion, with shots being sent towards Trask with ferocity that the security forces had been unable to muster. Trask grinned as this was a blatant challenge to him, one that he would gladly accept. Meanwhile in the hidden space station above Vilant, the CIC was discussing things with a couple of his men.

"What the hell just happened there?"

On one of the monitors, a newsfeed was being shown with all the latest developments in the incident on the planet. Right now it showed the two warriors commited in a firefight with the occassional bout of swearing and taunts being thrown about. And while this was going on, they were trying to find out who the corporation had sent in while gathering observational data on the fight.

"Sir! We just found out who that guy is."

"Well spit it out. We don't have all day."

"It's Firewing."

The CIC groaned. This was something they didn't need right now. Firewing was known to be one of the corporation's elite warriors, only sent in when it was deemed that there was no other choice. His past was a complete mystery as he had only shown up a couple of years ago and had taken out a complete resistance group with no mercy. How was this one going to turn out?

Back on Vilant, Trask and Firewing were sending shots with unerring accuracy at each other. Trask's armour was slowly beginning to be riddled with scratches, dents and bullet holes while Firewing's seemed to be taking no damage at all. However if you looked closely enough, Firewing's armour had also taken a beating, but had yet to take any bullet holes since he was behind cover while Trask was still in the open. 'Damn that armour's tougher than I thought' Firewing thought while leaning back behind the remains of a brick wall.

Trask continued to send a hail of bullets at that wall while trying to work out what was going on. When he ceased fire for a brief second to reload the clips in his pistols, Firewing lept out from behind the cover and opened fire, each shot sending one of the pistol's flying from Trask's hands making him shout out in surprise.

"Oh FRAG!"

Grinning like a maniac, Firewing raised both arms and pointed them directly at the areas where the weak points were on the plans. But when he pulled the triggers inside the gauntlets to fire, all that was heard was an audible click. He pulled the triggers again and was greeted by the same click, signifying that he was out of ammo for the time being. Trask breathed out with this development before each of them glared at the other.

Firewing nodded his head as a mark of respect while reaching to his side where a small compartment popped open briefly sending the hilt of his beam sabre out into his hand. With a quick spin of it, he pressed the activation switch which activated the beam which crackled into life. Raising it slightly, he charged towards Trask who was grinning all the while. When Firewing was close enough, Trask brought his right arm up as if to cower under the blow only to block it when his hard wired beam sabre sprung into life.

As the beams clashed, Firewing was visibly surprised and even more so when Trask's left fist came up and punched him in the face. As he staggered back slightly, Trask attacked with his own blade only to have it blocked by Firewing's blade followed by a savage kick to the midsection making Trask stagger back slightly from the force of the blow. Both of them looked at each other before throwing themselves into the frey, each slashing and throwing punches and kicks wildly.

The CIC groaned. It was bad enough watching Trask have his guns shot from his hands, but this? Although it was unheard of, they were getting good data from the close combat. But it was more than likely they would have to repair Trask's armour when he got back from Vilant. He heard one of the men visibly wince from just watching the fight as Trask punched Firewing in the gut followed by a blow to the face. Then it finally happened.

As Trask lashed out with his sabre to capatilise on the vicious blows he had just inflicted, Firewing swung his own sabre on instinct catching the hard point that Trask's was attached to. The result was a small explosion that sent a severe shock through Trask's system while sending Firewing flying back with the force, his own sabre now useless. Firewing began to pick himself up off the ground while Trask clutched his right arm in pain.

Capatilising on the moment, Firewing launched an assault of his own using his gauntlets as oversized boxing gloves to land blows on Trask's face, chest and abdomen. In no condition to retaliate, Trask staggered back taking every punch, knee and kick Firewing threw at him until he could take no more. Roaring at the top of his voice taking Firewing by surprise, Trask threw a devastating right hook with his damaged arm sending Firewing back several yards.

Following the right hook, Trask lept onto Firewing with a frenzy that no-one could have expected. Blows were rained upon Firewing with unrelenting fury until Trask picked him up from the ground and threw him through a brick wall into the generator room. This had two effects. The first was that Firewing was electrocuted when he hit the generator. The second was that the generator started to spark wildly, but Trask failed to notice this as when Firewing was electrocuted and failed to move afterwards, he had left to pick up his guns.

"Damn. I'm going to need this suit repaired big time when I get back. Gotta hand it to him though, he put up a good fight."

Saying this, Trask started to walk away when the generator finally exploded (sending him to the ground with the force of the blast), but not before a bright light had shone out from the building itself. Turning around after picking himself up and whistling at the devastation the explosion had caused, he noticed something walking towards him.

"Oh man. Can't you stay dead..."

Trask's voice trailed off when the object walked out of the flames that were surrounding the building. What was walking towards him was not the warrior he had fought moments ago, but was what you could call a demon of sorts. The skin was crimson and scaly looking with two gigantic wings protruding from it's back. It's eyes were red as well and as he watched, the skin's colour changed to a dull red as it roared out loudly, the word 'Arkon' being heard.

"If it's a fight you want..."

Trask didn't get to finish his statement as the beast charged at him swiping viciously. Trask lept out the way as it sped past, thinking he had gotten out of the way just in time before hearing ammo scattering onto the ground. A quick glance told him that one of the shoulders where the ammo was kept had just been sliced open. Spinning round and swearing loudly, he found it charging again, only this time it tore into his left side, making him cry out in pain.

Taking both pistols, Trask unloaded everything into the beast as it dug deeper into his side before he felt himself being tugged away, before falling onto the cold steel floor of the space station. Back on the planet, the beast shook it's head having felt some pain and discomfort from the focused shots that Trask had unloaded into it's chest. In anger, it roared again before storming away, stopping briefly in front of a young woman before flying away...

[Andromeda]

(OOC: I don’t like controlling other peoples characters, but there is a piece that I’d like to do that I need to work with me. It’ll just be a short little thing.)

Firewing, or the winged beast that he was, ran off down the alley that Andromeda was knelt in. She had heard the sounds of a fight near to her through the echoing walls. The flames around her began to fade away as she focused on him. It was a strange thing she saw, not sure what to think, whether it be another dream of hers or something else, an illusion. Though it was briefly before her and then gone. However, as Firewing began to spread his wings to fly off he felt a sense of lightheadedness, he struggled to push his wings down to give him flight. As he reached into the air the feeling left him.

Andromeda watched as the winged person or beast or whatever it was left her and then she felt the stabbing pain in her head again as her thoughts returned to this, this thing that had happened to her. She did not know what it was that was affecting her, was it part of the experiment that she was part of or something else. Her mind could not think straight, as crippling pain brought her to the ground breathing heavy.

Flames erupted around her again the heat started to warm up the ground and surrounding things. Boxes that lay discarded burst into flames from the proximity of the flames, the heat grew stronger without control. Andromeda fell to the ground cuddling up with herself screaming into the flames. The flames pulled back for a moment but burst outwards again. The alley was becoming a burning field with a power not natural, an understatement…perhaps…or something else. Andromeda tried to stand, but the pain only grew worse, what was this that was happening to her. What was this uncontrollable thing about her, she saw the scene lain out before her at the library, it was the only thing her mind could focus on. She just wanted the pain to leave, she needed some control over herself. Before this all everything seemed so simple to see, what was this… It was beyond what she could understand, but this…pain persisted…"Why?!?". She had to try to forget the pain, but it seemed to grow around her unable to leave her. What is it about this that it could not escape her?

Her mind traced back to the dream, that woman was like herself, that burst of flames that came from the woman’s hand. Though it was not like what she had done, it was more of a stream of flames that had come out of her hand. She put her mind upon that thought, hoping that a focused thought might be able to calm the pain that had stricken her. Andromeda forced herself up to her feet screaming through the pain that bit at her legs. It was just that thought that she kept to her within her mind and tried to push back the pain. The flames started to calm as her pain began to melt away to her surprise. She stood up straight breathing a heavy sigh of relief as it seemed to go away on it own. There did not seem to be a reason why, but she was glad to have it gone, as where the flames that faded away leaving a few echoing around her as she started to walk away.

As she walked the corner of the alley she saw rubble and flames everywhere and in the distance lights. She could not make out what it was, but she continued to walk towards the destroyed building in curiosity, this had been where that beast-thing had come from and all that noise. What happened here, her bare foot stepped on something round almost tripping her. She looked to find a large amount of bullets laying across the ground, they were unused, in a pattern like they had been spilled out of a box or something. Her only guess what that there was someone shooting at that winged thing, from the sight of the number of spent shells she soon saw all around the area, it must had been several people.

A cracking of stones as a small pebbles fell down came from next to her. She saw a bleeding arm coming out from a rock, or probably more accurately a piece of the building. The hand twitched and then the fingers pulled together making a fist, whoever it was that were still alive. Despite the fact that she wanted to leave and be rid of this, she found herself bending down grabbing the rock off his hand and then the one off his body. Blood was beginning to pour out from his wounds as she scanned over his body. Her hand touched his chest where it was bleeding profusely testing him, his mouth winced in pain. She pulled her hand back quickly and looked around at the lights. If those lights had people that they were hiding maybe one of them could help her. "Is someone there?" she yelled, "There is a man hurt badly here, he needs help!"

The man’s hand came up the her grabbing her wrist, she jumped back in surprised, blood staining her hand. She bent back down over him, her mind flashed back to the doctor as he died there in front of her. She cried out to anyone for help, "Not again…not again…Not again!" Her hands pressed down on his chest trying to stop the bleeding, but it was not the only place. Her mind shuck turning to each side trying to think, struggling to think. She needed to know what to do, but she had no idea, she was scared. Andromeda did not want him to die, not another one not again, no more for her. She wanted to destroy death at that moment, her eyes turned white. Death would not win, not again, the doctor was too much, innocent was not what death wanted. She was what death craved for, it wanted her, she knew it and she had thought that it was going to have her before. It was something that she begged for, but death did not seemed to wanted her as desperately as she wanted death. She cried there over the man, a man she did not know, she did not even know why she was there, why she did not want him to die. But death would not have its due just now, she would find it someone else. He was living, her hair streaked white quickly changing to pure white as a warm glow came about her.

Her mind felt calm and soothed, there was something comforting around her as she could feel this strange presence about her. It was a comforting feeling that she had never felt before, she could not describe the feeling, it was something new it seemed better than that second of pleasure she got with those people. It even lasted longer, a smile something that seemed foreign to her face crossed as she opened her eyes to see the man glowing and that glow following her hands up around her.

His face that had once been cut and bruised, was healed, gone as though he had never been hurt. The twisted expression of pain that was painted on his face as thick as the blood that painted the ground melted away. He looked at her blinking as the glow came away from him. His eyes widened as he saw what seemed like a glowing woman, he smiled back to her. "…an angel…" he whispered softly. Andromeda mouth fell open as she was knocked back in surprise by the word. She quickly realized afterwards that they were not alone anymore, there were cameras and news crews all around them. She wondered how long they had been there, her mind had just come out of the hazy feeling, no telling how long that they had been there recording. Andromeda looked at her hands searching for the answer to her question that she knew could not be answered by anything within them. What was this, it was a different feeling, what was she…the man then stood up giving her a hand. She took his hand letting him pull her up, her mind was confused and lost most of her self-defenses were mixed up that she did not what she was doing anymore.

News reports threw microphones in her face asking her questions that she could not answer.

"What was that you just did?"

"What is your name miss?

"Are you some government experiment?"

"Why were you glowing?"

"Miss, what is it that you did for the man?"

"Miss…" The man pushed the microphones away, Andromeda’s head was turned down staring away.

"Can’t you people see she is tired."

"Sir, how do you feel?"

"Do you feel any different?"

"Did that light change you in anyway?"

"Was it painful?"

"Sir, what can you tell us?"

"It is a plain as you saw, she is an angel."

"An angel…"

"Sir, can you please explain?"

Sirens in the distance began to be heard, becoming louder as they drew closer. Before anyone knew, policemen lined the edge of the destroyed building, guns clicking almost in unison across the edge. They only took a second to jump to conclusions and arrested both Andromeda and the man. Reports chased them even as police worked to hold them back. Andromeda was so confused and out of it that she did not even feel the cold touch of the cuffs around her wrists and the push into the back of a van. The man tried to comfort her, but she did not see much of anything.

A shadow that loomed behind a desk looked at a screen, its glow casting the only light in the room. The door slid open revealing a man in a suit. He approached the shadow, the man that was cast in the darkness of the room. "Sir, something you might find interesting."

"I said do not disturb me."

"Many apologies, but you will want to see this."

"What is it?"

The man in the suit pushed a button on the desk opening a panel on the wall as a screen flickered on, coming to life. He pushed another button selecting a channel, the number "59" appeared and faded away as a news broadcast came through. "It has been eight hours already since the destruction in downtown and many are dead. But one man survived. Yes, according to reports on site, a woman had came from no one glowing in white saving this man’s life. The woman’s identity is still a mystery to us, as no one seems to be able to find a record of her. Some have already started calling this mystery woman the Angel of Heaven. However, not long after the miraculous event that saved this man’s life did police show up and arrest the two. Police are reporting that there had been a showdown with a man not far from the scene and arrest him believing him to be the man that killed over a hundred police officers. They had not reported to us exactly why they arrested the woman other to say that she could be the man accomplice.

"However, not more than four hours after their arrest did people having seen the broadcast start appearing around the station where they are held. We go live now as the morning rises to the Fourth District Police Station where thousands of people have gather protesting the arrest. Susan, what can you tell us?"

"As you can she here, thousands are massed in the streets all demanding that this mysterious woman be released. Many are religious figures that are claiming her to be some angel or saint come to peacefully to bring the light to us. Others just seemed to have followed them outraged by the kindness she had shown to us only be arrested. The police have refused to comment on anything as of yet and the doors have been locked since the first group of people arrived and were removed from the station. This standoff seems surreal, almost something of fiction. Back to you Kim."

"Thank you Susan, it seems strange indeed that the police have locked themselves within their our station as though holding hostages. The roles have taken a very ironic twist have they not Paul?"

"Yes, you are right Kim, this is a strange move for the police. Though the situation seems to be strange for itself too. A glowing woman, religious subtext, angels, it is very strange indeed."

"The woman as we can see in the footage from last night, came out of a shadow walking towards the scene. As cameras got closer after the fight ended this angel of mercy came to the man’s aid. Despite the shaking in the camera, it can be seen the glowing figure that is the woman. We have been finally able to capture and clean up a frame of her glowing. As you can see here…" the sound muted as the broadcast continued.

"Andromeda…"

"Yes, it would seem so sir."

"Very, good." The shadow stared at the still of Andromeda glowing. "You have something else?"

"Yes, long range scans reported a ship familiar ship entering orbit." The man in the suit pulled out a couple transparent flexies that contained stored images on them with data. The shadow figure picked up the flexy, "Hmm…Rydius…"

"It would seem so sir."

"And the other, his protector?"

"We don’t know yet, we know that history of the Legends Era speak of the protector that was at his side."

"Yes, it has been two years, one would assume that the protector would appear."

"Sir."

"We must move our hand carefully, it would seem there are more sides than originally foreseen."

"Yes sir."

"Leave me." The man walked back out of the room leaving the shadow alone again. The figure walked to the window looking out on the stellar sky that could be seen on the moon. He placed his hands together behind him, staring out at the rising glow that was the moon’s mother, Elysion. "So it is coming true after all, we cannot be so arrogant as to believe that prophecy is coming that can be changed.

"And the twilight would fall upon the third river,
Water would flow backwards and the first river
Shall be restored. Tears shall be poured filling
The second river and the merge all.
The shall two that call upon the wings of the
Hard edged river, fast and swift, violent and
Painful. A shadow from the second shall be
Reborn in within a cast shell of bonds an ally
Of rivers and foe. And one shall rise from the
First river, from the streams that were cut and
From all that the other rivers have its life.
The heavens shall spread tears of blood across
The land and the stars will revenge. The wings
That bare flight shall break and the flood of the
River shall engulf all rivers.

"Andromeda lets see what is your true strength, Daughter and Son of the river, the first river, the true river…Rydius your legend is about to end…"

Andromeda sat in a jail, the man that she had saved in the cell next to her. She was still a little confused about the whole thing that had happened, but she was becoming more certain as the time had passed. The trip to the station had been fuzzy in her eye, she had been still trying to figure out what was going. In the interrogation room she had sat there blankly for an hour as the police officer screamed at her, his throat had gone sore and left while she sat there staring the metal table. Now behind bars, she was being to show some life, the words that man had said still spooked her "…an angel…" it was so contradictory to what she really was. Everything had just overloaded her mind.

She turned to see the man sitting there content for someone who was in jail. Andromeda heard shouting from out the window, as she approached the barred window she looked down to the ground to see thousands of people outside. She could see a signs, posters and banners being carried by the people. "Was there someone here that the people were angered about being jailed?" There were people in robes, some seemed holy or religious, was it a religious protest maybe. Then she looked at the banner closely, "Free the Heaven’s Angel." "…an angel…an angel…an angel…an angel…" Andromeda rushed backwards hitting her back against the bars making a noise that made her the focus of attention.

"You’re awake!" the man said.

"Wha…"

I never got to give you my thanks for your miracle. You saved me in more ways than one."

"Huh?"

"I never thought that I would see an angel, but I am a believer now."

"I…"

"Shut up already, dam* how many times do we have to hear you going on about her being an angel."

"Its true!"

"Yeah sure, whatever," the other prisoner said laughing.

A guy across the cell acted as though he was whispering, "Hey man, give me some of that stuff…must be good if you are seeing angels." He laughed as the others joined in.

"Show them miss. Please show them how you healed me."

"But I…"

"Maybe we should spill your blood, maybe she’ll perform then."

"You don’t believe, if you saw what I did you would too."

They just laughed at him until one of the police officers came in.

"Miss Angel you are quite popular, got the chief worried." He dropped a few newspapers at her feet through the bars. She looked down staring at them, the headlines read "ANGEL ARRIVES ON VILANT!!" "GLOWING WOMAN BRINGS DEAD BACK TO LIFE!!" "ANGEL WOMAN COMES TO SAVE US ALL!!" There were full color pictures of her across the papers, one of them was even a paper flexy with the camera from last night repeating the scene over and over again. She was everywhere, her hidden life was gone and everyone knew her, most importantly the ones she did not to want know. Andromeda crawled up into the bed putting her arms around her legs.

The police officer started to walk away, "Better not sit like that Miss Angel, your virgin image might be too much for the guys."

"Wha…" The guys laughed as they were staring at her, she then realized that she was still wearing the hospital robes. She quickly turned her legs down against the bed and pulling the robes down over her legs as best as she could. She could see the men staring all at her, their hands scratching their pants. Andromeda turned away in disgust and embarrassment.

"Such pretty white hair," one of the men in the next cell over said. There were two in there for some reason, she pulled away from them, but her hair was long and one of them grabbed it. She yelped as he pulled at her hair. The man she had saved was fighting through the bars in vain, his arms making threats on them. They just laughed and the other pulled more of her hair. They dragged her closer to them, until one of them could pull her arm. They pulled her against the bars quickly, one of them feeling on her breasts. She screamed out for help, hoping that a police officer would come, but there was no one. The saved man looked in horror as the two men molested her.

Andromeda screamed as they pulled at her hair and bruised her back against the bars. The laughs of the men echoed around her as something within her snapped, her eyes turned black and her screams stopped…

[Sparx]

The last thing that went through Trask was a violent cold spasm as he was yanked through the immaterium, and then a hard wet thud as he hit the cold hallway floor. The CIC was already there, and his expression was a blank one, yet he was seriously pissed off. Trask, his finest creation was a mess, a walking mess. The armour was shredded, and in the brilliant white light, Trask could see the extent of the damages to the armour, and he could list them on one hand – well almost one hand. His Hud Flashed an annoying red as Trask looked up with wide hot-cool eyes while the stone-face of the CIC looked down at him – unbridled fury blazing in his crystal cold eyes as the following list of damaged areas scrolled up on Trask’s vision

Damaged Hard-Point: Beam sabre attachment
Damage status: Severe

Damaged Ammo hopper: Right Shoulder
Damage status: Moderate

Damaged Armour Plating: Torso Area
Damage Status: Critical – Internal servo’s and neurone ports damaged. Heavy bleeding internally and externally detected.

Sub Damaged Areas include:
Neurone ports five through fifteen
Left respiratory device
Internal power route damaged
Sub power router damaged
Cracked R-5 and R-7

‘Terrific’ Trask thought ‘First day on the job and I get messed up royally’ He glanced down through the flashing warning messages and lists that appeared on his vision and sighed deeply – the armour was pockmarked with bullet holes and small cracks in the once smooth surface. It almost brought a tear to Trask’s eyes, but the real people in tears were the Servitors who were wailing over the damage done to their suit. Trask just rolled his eyes and mentally cursed. He was bleeding profusely and needed to get the suit off.

The CIC looked down with an almost infinite unpleasantness as the Servitors busied themselves with removing Trask’s damaged armour; they needed to get that transporter fixed soon. It had been once too many that it had dumped Trask in the wrong place – only this time it could have proved fatal. Trask was bleeding all over the place and blood took a while to clean off of the smooth metal structures of the space-base, and dried blood took even longer, and the CIC knew it from experience. It took them almost a full year to clean the entire space station of dried blood, and even then there were areas which hadn’t been properly seen to as there were still some greasy smears of blood in certain off limit corridors. Those were places no one dared venture just yet as the laser slicing torches for the deeper bulkheads hadn’t been properly configured.

The CIC mused slightly thinking about the stories that new recruits had went under about those corridors; the sounds of haunting voices, the eerie creaks and groans of the sleeping metal. All things used to scare the hell out of the new members, or those transferred from another station.

The scuffling sounds in front of the CIC brought him out from his revere as the Servitors took away the armour and carefully placed it bit by bit onto one of their gurneys and wheeled it off to the technical station four floors below their current location. This only made the CIC shake his head as he saw the groaning form of Trask hauled onto another gurney and pushed through the doors into the medical wing. The CIC followed as he saw Trask hoisted up into a large disc and strapped into a crucifix position above a gravitational plate as the medical staff and droids began to remove Trask from consciousness before they could get to work repairing his internal organs and systems and replace the damaged neurone ports.

The CIC looked up to the sleeping face of Trask and smirked slightly. He hated to admit it but Trask had done a good job in procuring the data that they needed to further enhance the armoured suit that Trask was 100% compatible with. But there were still a few flaws in the suit, and no one except the suits original creator – Doctor Dravis Omotsu – knew where they were. Although the CIC had the Servitors apply different stress levels to every area of the suit and yet it came up as flawless. But the weak points did exist. Were they right under their noses and didn’t realise it? Only time would tell.

Meanwhile on a very different planet, Elysion, the corporation headquarters shone in the half light of the day, a standing testament to the achievements of the company itself. However in some circles it was whispered that it was not the proud and humanitarian front that had won them the high glittering glass and steel structure that was crested with a carved eagle, but it was clack and dagger deviancy, lies, murder and treachery that had won them the top rankings. However without solid proof, those accusations – true or not – were of slanderous material and in the final analysis the corporation would have the backing of almost every legal and supportive group that there was.

However interesting the public and corporate front seemed, the real workings of the Corporation’s system were in heated discussion in the penthouse of the building.

“You don’t seem to understand do you?” barked the man behind the desk at the figure standing looking out of the reinforced glass window.

“Oh I understand perfectly. But…”

“No buts, you almost cost us the fuel recycling facility in the eastern sector. A valuable commodity that brings us billions every year and…”

He was cut off when the figure at the window whirled round, one eye glowing red mirroring his anger.

“…And where hundreds of kilos of Narthium are also formulated and packed ready for selling to the Gang leaders of Crowe on the eastern side of the continent raking in another forty billion every half year.” The person snapped.

The man behind the desk sighed and cracked his knuckles before standing and turning on the bank of monitors on the far wall. Each of them flickering into life showing the various offices and operations rooms of the corporation’s building. The man wasn’t paranoid; he was just making sure that everything was running in the right way.

“That is beside the point Vorpal, you should know that if someone comes snooping around our establishments looking for something to pin on us, they have to be taken care of.”

“That’s exactly what I have done!”

“AND YOU ALMOST BLEW UP THE ENTIRE FACILITY!” snapped the man who’s voice rang with unbridled anger

“And who would you send in place of me? That rust-heap Tank who can’t hit one thing without demolishing another, or would you send that bimbo Skye who’s more concerned if she breaks a nail rather than take care of an intruder? Face it Foxxis, I’m the only good soldier you have, and those two dolts can fight but only when I motivate them!”

“You’re an idiot Vorpal; you don’t seem to understand how delicate these situations are. Tank is about as subtle as a Mardavian Mastodon; Skye is tenacious and is ruled by her hormones half the time, and you…well you just love inflicting damage and causing an arse load of pain…” Foxxis paused and looked at one of the monitors showing a news feed from the previous night.

“The other three units aren’t ready to be deployed yet Vorpal, so it is with every assignment I send the three of you on, I expect crisp clean results. But as a result of your over zealousness, we have had to cover up this incident with reporting a terrorist action. It’s not exactly a lie and it’s not exactly true either, but I don’t want any more over zealous behaviour from now on. Understood?”

Vorpal hissed through his teeth and clenched his fists tight. He so wanted to beat the life out of Foxxis there and then. But he relented, knowing full well that he could be scrapped and rebuilt, Foxxis spoke again studying the monitor with the close up of Trask on the screen.

“Vorpal…you Skye and Tank are all bio-roids created and integrated with a more advanced version of the armour developed by the good doctor, correct?”

“Why what of it?”

Foxxis pointed to the screen, a dark look on his face as he scowled.

“Because HE should not be able to wear it!”

Vorpal Laughed

“You mean that punk? That half human? Boss he’s half machine!”

“That’s not the point! He’s still wholly human, and he’s wearing the armour without any side effects!! It’s like a second skin to him!”

Vorpal frowned and looked at the screen.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing for the time being…” Foxxis began as he returned to his seat “… we wait and see what becomes of this.”

“What if there is?” Replied Vorpal “It’s not like we can get him to side with us, and even if we did I wager that Skye would not be able to keep her hands off of him.”

“You have just given me an idea Vorpal”

Vorpal grinned understanding what Foxxis was suddenly referring to.

Back on board the space-base, Trask was fast asleep in a hospital bed, his body covered in a fresh sheen of sweat. The operation had been a complete success, and the replacement of the damaged neurone ports had been completed. They had upgraded the units to 2.0 I/O devices and let him rest to recover not only from his injuries sustained in the battle, but to recover from the gruelling surgery. It would be at least another seventy two hours before he could don the armour again and move around in it. Trask moaned gently in his sleep, while tossing and turning in the bed. He was having a restless sleep. His nightmares were not pleasant and it was one that he was continuously facing. It was a perpetual loop, and he wished it would end but it wouldn’t. Whatever it was wouldn’t let him escape from his dream.

He was running and running as hard as he could, his armour was broken and non existent, and it was just him in his jumpsuit, boots and gloves, running from something. Something big demonic and full of pure evil was following him. He turned and looked in the direction of the thunder crashing roar and suddenly felt a jarring tearing pain in his side. He looked down to see his side torn open, blood and transmitting fluids flowing from him, the neurone ports were sparking wildly and the over flow of damage data was beginning to make them glow insanely before two huge plumes of energy erupted from his back like angel wings and the center of his chest erupted out like a giant beam of power before it shot back inside him and he began to slowly vanish from the feet upwards as if he was becoming a ghost. Trask cried out in rage and despair before waking up his body covered in sweat and the bed sheets soaked.

“What the frag just happened? “ Trask breathed while looking at his hands and then out of the large window into the peaceful calm of space where a shooting star shot through the starry sky. Trask closed his eyes and made a wish before opening them again and stepping out of the bed and pulling on his red jumpsuit and his boots before approaching the window.

A monitor whirred into life behind him and a soft female voice spoke

“Having nightmares? Do you wish to have something to help you sleep?”

“No thank you” Trask replied, his throat dry “I…I’ve slept enough”

The woman bowed her head slightly and the monitor went black. Trask stood alone in the room and lightly touched the large neurone port in the center of his chest feeling it click slightly as it responded to him.

“I’m becoming more machine than human” At this thought his skin shone softly with the blue light of all the neurone ports connecting themselves and activating, the power coursing through him allowing him to feel better.

Trask hung his head quietly and let a shaky breath escape his lips as he felt tears run from his eyes. He was nothing more than a freak. He wanted to die. There was a soft sound of movement behind him and Trask whirled on the spot ready to defend himself, the brief moment of sadness forgotten as quickly as he saw nothing there except the moving figure of someone walking away from his recovery room. Someone had been watching him and Trask took off as fast as he could to find out who it was.

“Bastards…” Trask breathed as he ran down the corridor afther the person.

[Trigon]

Part 10: Rydius, The Goddess Evaine and Lost Legacies

"Rydius your legend is about to end..."

With every story there is a beginning and end. Within these stories a great battle rages on without stopping. The earliest to memory is that of the "First River", but there are many more since lost to time. And the one that holds the most meaning to everyone that can remember is the "Legacy of the Goddess".

The Goddess that the tale referred to was known as Evaine who was the keeper of the balance, she who had the power of both the light and dark and used them to make sure that the people lived in peace. There were those that protected her known as 'Guardians' and it was a chance meeting between Evaine and a newly appointed Guardian that led to her taking a journey and falling in love.

After a long time, they had children together and it was this that started off a whole chain of events that would end up causing a legend to begin. For Evaine had granted each of her two children a portion of her powers, the power of darkness to her son and the power of light to her daughter. But that power was never meant to be rejoined at all and even though Evaine had explained this to her children, over each generation the warning was forgotten.

With Evaine's words forgotten, a chance meeting between Alucard Scarwing and Alexia Brisaine forced fate into playing it's hand in the Goddess' legacy. Because unknownst to them, each were the heirs to Evaine's power and when they fell in love, they had a child - Rydius Scarwing.

Problems soon arose when two countries declaired war on each other. Alucard had to leave his wife as they were both from opposing sides and he had to take his place as the Guardian of Solin. The good thing was that the war took several years and by the time that both sides were ready to end it, Rydius had already risen through the ranks and taken up the post of Guardian of Aenuric.

During the battle Rydius faced against Alucard in a duel to end it all. However neither of them recognised the other due to being apart from a long time and when Rydius struck the fatal blow, their connection was revealed and Rydius had to take up the position of Guardian of Solin since he was Alucard's heir. Rather than see his own power be used as a tool on both sides, Rydius chose to be sealed away for eternity.

Time passed and Rydius awoke to find he was needed to end another pointless war between Aenuric and Solin, this time finding allies in Kharn, Nighte, Alias and Misato. The battles were long and eventually they were successful in destroying the evil that had been brought upon everyone by Arkon. Rydius was once more sealed away only to be awakened with Akron's return and subsequently killed Akron in battle, but at a heavy cost. Rydius died from his injuries and only by timely intervention from Misato was he saved. But he had to be sealed away to recover...

- Between Darkness and Light: Legacy and Wings of Hope

__________________

The water dripped off the broken drainpipe onto the face of the unconscious man that was lying on the ground below it causing him to stir slightly. His eyes opened to reveal that they were blue before he pulled himself up into a sitting position, wincing since every inch of him was hurting. He wasn't sure of how he had gotten here and wondered how the battle had ended.

Standing up and taking a few uneasy steps, he soon found himself in the thick of things with people crying out loudly about angels and fighters destroying buildings with little care of anyone nearby. Nodding he made his way through the crowds towards the airfield to where his ship would be by now, unaware that some people had spotted him and recognised him from the battle that had been shown across Vilant, Elysion and the moon.

"Hey! It's that guy that was on the video feed!"

Turning to see what they were talking about, he realised that they were crowding around him and trying to get a hold of his armour. In instinct, he quickly checked the ammo feeds and noticed that the ammo had been reloading itself in the time that he had been out, bringing his arms straight up and firing a volley into the sky. The crowd quickly moved away and watched him move onwards, an evil glare escaping his eyes.

Soon he made it to the airfield with no further problems since everyone had gone towards the police station for some reason, but he paid no heed to this and boarded his ship and collapsed on the couch, thinking that Misato would probably still be using the sleeping area. He slept for a few hours, fleeting images passing him by before one very clear image of a clawed hand being thrust into someone's side.

He awoke crying out surrounded by a bright light...

Sneak Preview: Part 11

There is a secret held in the Corporation's HQ, one that is only known to those of higher rank. It is also known to someone in their subconscious and the secret is about to reveal itself...

[Misato Anami]

Misato opened her eyes. The night had already passed and still no one. Firewing had yet to return and Misato bonded with Frey. He still wasn't there. The sun began to rise from the distance. It was perfect timing. Misato's anger rose as she saw the shadows of those after her arrive. Small at first, MIsato only made a few out. But she then realized there was more after her this time. Her silver eyes swirled to a flurry of crimson as she leapt to the grass. She then went into the cavern and stood between the lances she put in the ground. They were centered by Rydius' tomb and Misato was ready. Minutes passed. Her body remained rigid. Nothing was going to stop her. This was her only chance.

More time had passed, and Misato had not moved a muscle. Her clenched jaw then relaxed as she heard the scuffle of feet from afar. Without Frey near, she had to rely on her hearing to get her through. Closing her eyes, Misato stood calm and relaxed as the men reached the passageway into the main area. They looked at her and was a bit caught off guard by her stance. She seemed to have either given up, or had more up her sleeve.

"Seems like the lady is hiding..." said one of the soldiers.

"Shut up...you impudent fool...." Misato's eyes opened at the voice. At the voice of Foxxis, Misato's stare grew deadly. The soldiers stepped back as Laindrius and Foxxis drew to the front of the group.

"Can't lead your own men Foxxis? Have to hide behind them in case I've set a trap or something? How pathetic..."

"Whats pathetic is this setup in here. What do you think you're going to do? Bring back his memories because you put some sticks in the ground? Or that Rydius Scarwing and Misato Anami will fight evil again? You are far more naive that I even thought you could be..." Misato's jaw tightened. "But oh, you didn't know how much I really know about you do you? Lets see... orphaned because your lovers father made you one. Tortured by him in your training days because of his obsession with the protection of his son. Raped by one of Alucard's lackeys. You two aren't even married... are you? Hah... you won't even bare his child now... " Misato recoiled at the remark. She had remembered the day she imagined having a child with Rydius... but now even she knew that might not ever happen. "And he doesn't remember any o