The year is 2015, and I've taken a maybe year-long sabbatical from the Lego Message Boards, and from writing in general. Why, I'm not sure. I don't think there was a reason, aside from the interest just naturally waxing and waning. Regardless, in early 2015, I'm ready to get back into the thick of things. I set out to rewrite my original story - 'The Maelstrom Minifigure' - proving that, for as long as I've been writing, I've had a terrible habit of rehashing the same stories instead of leaving them be and going on to do new stuff. I get cracking - and something funny happens. People start tuning in, leaving comments and support. Old faces, who remember me and are impressed with how much better my writing has gotten. Newcomers who read and enjoy the story, and start following along too. The mods, forever-patient in the face of my determination to include - horror of horrors - kissing in a story on the LMBs! And together, all of these people celebrate as I finish the story - the novel - exactly one year, to the day, later.
I don't think I knew what I was getting into, when I started. I certainly couldn't have imagined that I'd be here, a decade later, working on ANOTHER iteration of the same story, and sticking this old thing up on a website I'd built myself (code-wise, at least :P) for people to read. I couldn't have known that the characters I drew into this story (Aaron, Will, Ana, Plue, Vector, Raelyn) and the characters that I came up with specially for it (Shadow, Rose, Jacen, Gaia, Kaylori) would become so immensely dear to me. And I couldn't have imagined that, from this one narrative, a whole universe would spawn.
Thanks, Maelstrom. Maelstrom Minifigure. Maelstrom version 1/Maelstrom version 2. Your name may change in my brain, but your significance will never change in my heart.
Aaron Wilder, Rank 1 Sentinel knight, sighed in exasperation as he sheathed his basic shortsword. The last stromlings on the Avant Gardens plains had, for the time being, all been smashed and there was nothing much do be done. He walked back inside the Sentinel Base camp, where he handed in his spoils to Beck Strongheart and sat down, taking off his helmet before rummaging through his pack to see what he could find. He heard footsteps, and then his best friend Will crouched beside him.
"Hey." Will said.
"Hey." Acknowledged Aaron.
"You find anything good?" Will questioned.
Aaron kept looking. "No, not really. A few bits and pieces, that's about it."
"Right." Will nodded. "I'm going to race up the monument with the others. You coming?"
"In a bit." Said Aaron. "First, I've got to do a bit more grinding, get a few more tokens-"
"Are you really still looking for loot?" Exclaimed Will, rolling his eyes. "You could easily rank up if you want to, you know that."
"I know Will, I just... I just feel like more needs to be done here. I can keep helping out here." Aaron protested.
Will looked at his friend.
"Fine." He conceded. "But don't be too long. We'll wait at the bottom of the monument for fifteen minutes, max."
"Ok." Aaron said. "See you there Will."
"See you in a bit." Will agreed, and left.
Aaron put his helmet in his bag before stepping towards the wall. The stromlings had inexplicably reappeared, as usual, and there were even a couple of mechs wandering the hills. Aaron unsheathed his sword, before walking boldly out of the gate. A stromling ran at him, but Aaron coolly blocked the blade before running through the servant of darkness with his sword. Suddenly, a strange light caught Aaron's eye. It was a purple glow, and it seemed to be coming from the Maelstrom Mine. Regretfully, Aaron looked back at the monument, where his friends were.
"Sorry Will." He murmured, before walking towards the mine. "But this might take a little longer than fifteen minutes..."
As Aaron walked towards the mine, a sense of foreboding overcame him. Nervously, he raised his sword in front of him before walking into the cave entrance. The whole cave, normally filled with Dark Spiderlings, was empty. This, whilst good news, was one of the most unsettling things Aaron had ever seen. There was no life in the cave at all. No insects, arachnids, infected creatures or plants. It was eerie.
Aaron looked around for what had brought him in, and sure enough he found the source of the purple glow. Sitting in a crevice between two boulders at the back of the cave was a small purple gem. It glinted dimly, and Aaron couldn't help but think how the small glow attracted him in the first place.
Suddenly a terrible screech echoed throughout the cavern, and Aaron spun around as Dark Spiderlings emerged from the shadows. He drew his sword as the lead spiderling shot balls of concentrated maelstrom energy at him. Aaron dodged the first two and deflected the third, before drawing back his arm and throwing his sword into the face of the Spiderling who fired the shots.
The creature screeched in agony, and fell back behind is brethren. But the other Spiderlings advanced, and now Aaron had no weapon. He leaped onto the back of a Spiderling, and clung on as it bucked around wildly. But on seeing the other creatures charge their weapons, he jumped off and let the Spiderling he had just hung on to be hit by the blasts itself.
Abruptly yet another Spiderling rushed up behind him and smacked Aaron's head, sending him sprawling. On trying to rise, a blast of pain shot through his body. Feeling the back of his head with his hand, he detected a large cut that stung like anything. Surrounded and with no weapon, Aaron picked himself up and made a mad dash for the crystal, instinct and some strange gut feeling driving him on.
Behind him, Aaron could hear the spiderlings closing in. Using all his energy in a final leap, he jumped and grabbed the crystal.
Aaron gasped as he sat up quickly, ignoring a "Woa!" from the room. Breathing heavily, he blinked as sweat rolled down his face. He looked around, and noticed he appeared to be in a hospital ward. Parts of his body, notably his head, were wired up to machines. There was even the stereotypical heartbeat monitor beside him. Also in the room was Will, who had started when he woke up and was now staring at him as if he had destroyed Nexus Tower.
"Will?" Aaron asked, trying to rise further but receiving a spasm of pain for his troubles. Groaning, he slumped back down in defeat.
"Aaron?!" Will responded incredulously. "What the brick?! You were smashed!"
"Yeah, I know." Muttered Aaron, not really taking in what Will was saying. "I feel bad enough."
"No, really." Continued Will. "You were gone, extinct, kaput-you just came back to life!"
"Wait- seriously?" Aaron opened his eyes fully for the first time. "Like, actually smashed?"
Will nodded, now deadly serious. "Yeah! The others were so worried; Skipper, Turbo, Suli, Anna, Plue-all of them were in here at some point!"
Aaron looked up. "Really? Even Plue?"
Aaron assumed that if he really had been smashed his girlfriend, Plue, would have moved on to somebody else. Even in a relationship, it was best not to get too attached to a Sentinel. They were always getting themselves killed in stupid yet heroic ways. It was what they were most infamous for, although this was outweighed by the good things about them. Then again, Plue was a Sentinel herself, so maybe...?"
"How are the others anyway? Are they all still good?"
"Alive and kicking, my friend." Smiled Will. But then his positive expression faded. "There is something else you need to know, though."
"What?" Asked Aaron, urgently.
"Aaron..." Said Will, slowly, "you were asleep for-"
"Thirteen days." Came a voice from the door, and Doctor Albert Overbuild entered the room.
"Welcome back, sir." He said. Then he smiled. "We have a lot to discuss."
Suddenly Aaron's voice failed him, and it wasn't due to the fact he had just come out of a coma.
"Th-thirteen months?" He murmured.
"Yes." Said Overbuild. "And I'm sad to say we're losing this war. You had to be moved from hospital to hospital to keep you from falling into maelstrom hands."
Aaron scoffed. "You make it sound like I'm important."
Overbuild looked at him. "Frankly, you are."
"But... what are you doing here? How am I so important...?"
Aaron drew off his speech as Overbuild whipped out a mirror and gave it to Aaron. Aaron looked into it, and the first thing he noticed was that his face looked the same as he remembered. A good start. He then looked around, and saw it.
It was hard to see, but a faint image was reflecting off the window he was sitting in front of. The reflection enabled Aaron to just see the back of his head.
On the head was an ugly purple scar, which seemed to spawn the same kind of mist seen in highly infected areas.
For the second time in as many minutes, his voice failed him.
"I don't... what-"
"Is that?" Overbuild finished. "That is a maelstrom infected wound, the kind inflicted by servants of the maelstrom and is the kind that has been responsible for the majority of our casualties throughout the war. And yet, you have had that scar on the back of your head for over a year, and yet never even come close to being infected or smashing. That," he said, leaning in closer, "is why you're important."
Aaron studied the wound again. It looked like any common-or-garden cut, if a little oversized. But there was something about its nature that frightened him. He looked at Overbuild.
"With all due respect sir, I think this is a little too much for me to take in at the moment."
"Of course." The doctor dismissed. "We can discuss this later. Right now, I'm sure you'd like to say hello to your friends. And be nice..." He leaned in closer.
"Remember, for them... it's been thirteen days..."
A few weeks later, Aaron took a deep breath and stepped outside the hospital doors, into the sunlight. Instantly he sighed in ecstasy. The sunlight was beautiful, and it was a gorgeous day. The sort of day that made you feel glad to be alive. The light that shined down from the sky was just the right temperature, like a warm shower. Birds flew overhead, and on the cliffs Aaron could see a rare heard of Triceratops walking along. There was no trace of maelstrom, and all that could be viewed from Aaron's current angle was green and blue. The air was perfect, a light breeze, and the sweet outdoors air flew into the lungs of all those who breathed it, clearing their minds as well as their respiratory system.
Aaron would have taken in more, but then he saw a group of people at the foot of the stairs. Not wishing to keep his friends waiting any longer, he hopped down the steps 4 at a time to greet them. He walked hurriedly over to his friends, who by now had spotted him and were waving excitedly.
"Glad you could join us!" Exclaimed Will. Aaron laughed as he bounded down the stairs.
"Anytime!" He exclaimed.
"Except the last two!" Someone yelled.
"Ah, shut up!" Aaron retorted. "Least it's not three!"
This got one or two laughs.
"How's the head?" Came a voice. Looking behind him, Aaron saw his girlfriend approaching. Her long blonde hair was in a ponytail, and her warm green eyes sparkled with kindness.
"Plue." He grinned, and the pair embraced. "It's good to see you."
They broke apart, and Plue smiled at him. "You didn't answer my question." She reminded.
"Oh, right." He said, rubbing the scar. "It's fine."
Plue raised an eyebrow. "No pain or anything?"
Aaron shook his head. "Nope. Whatever happened, I'm safe."
She nodded, and chewed her thumb nervously. "Good. Can I talk to in private for a moment?"
Aaron said, "Sure," and led her away from the group. When they were alone, she dropped her smile and stared at him seriously.
"Aaron, I'm really concerned about you." She said.
"Why?" He asked. "I'm fine."
"I don't think you are." She replied. "When you were in the hospital, you kept... your heart kept stopping."
Aaron raised an eyebrow, and placed her hand on his chest. "It's beating now."
She pulled her hand away. "Yes, and that's good, but I'm also worried about something else."
"Okay, shoot."
"Doctor Overbuild."
If Aaron had been drinking something, at this point he would have spat it out. As it was, his mouth flopped open and he had a hard time closing it and saying:
"Overbuild? Why?"
"Why?" She repeated. "He kept requesting permission to run all these tests, programs, simulations - my point is that I don't think he sees you as a human anymore! I think he sees you as an anomaly to be experimented on, and I think you should be careful!"
Aaron smiled. "I will be careful. I promise."
"So you really remember nothing?" Asked Will, not for the first time that afternoon.
"No, nothing! Stop asking me as if it's going to magically improve my memory!" Exclaimed Aaron in frustration.
"Sorry, I'm just curious." Admitted Will.
"I kinda figured that." Sighed Aaron.
It had been a few weeks since Aaron had been discharged from the hospital, and so far it was business as usual; even if Will was being annoying in his persistence at asking what had happened. The pair of them were currently in their Nexus Force lodgings, with Will playing a console game and Aaron reading.
"I told you, I don't remember a thing. Not even what I could feel! All I remember is that I didn't have my helmet on."
Will raised an eyebrow. "How would that be significant?" He inquired. Aaron, in response, turned round and indicated his still glowing cut.
"Ah." Will said, now understanding, and returned to his game.
"Besides, it can't be much of a big deal, right?" Asked Aaron.
"What do you mean?" Returned Will.
"Well, Overbuild hinted that I was important and kept having to be saved. But I feel like that's more to do with "scientific potential," or whatever. I'm smart but I can't figure this out." He sighed, and rubbed the scar. "Besides, it's not like I can do anything special."
"What do you mean by special?"
"Well... I don't know, say.... uh... walk through wall-"
This was as far as Aaron went. As he talked, he had sat up and leaned on the wall beside him. Suddenly, his arm seemed to melt into shadow and he fell INTO the wall.
Will watched in awe as the streak of darkness that was his best friend moved spastically around the wall before ending up on the other side of the room. First an arm stuck out, than a head and chest. Eventually, Aaron reformed into his physical self and leant on his knees to get his breath back.
"Well, you can't walk through walls," admitted Will, "but you can PHASE through 'em."
"What..." Aaron began, before breathing heavily. He tried again. "What was that?"
"I have no idea." Said Will. "You seemed to turn into shadow... or something? It looked like you were phasing. I think. I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention."
Aaron raised an eyebrow quizzically. "HOW were you not paying attention?"
"I was busier wondering how you turned into a shadow." Retorted Will.
Aaron shrugged. "Fair enough." He said. But as he stretched out his hand, what looked like a laser blast fired out of his palm and slammed into a wall, leaving a small crater and a tinge of smoke in the air.
The pair were silent. Eventually Will said,
"Sooo... you can shoot lasers now."
"That's not all I can do." Reminded Aaron, as he phased back into the floor before rematerializing behind Will and tapping him on the shoulder.
"Woa!" Will exclaimed.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this stuff." Aaron grinned.
"What else can you do?" Asked Will. Aaron thought. "No idea. We'll have to do some testing. For example." He finished, before casually flicking his wrist. Instantly maelstrom webbing, the kind you would get from spiderlings, shot across the room and hit the other side of the wall.
"I see what you mean by testing." Remarked Will.
"I wonder..." Murmured Aaron. He rummaged around in his pack, but then he saw something.
"Oh." He said softly.
"What?" Asked Will. "What? What is it?"
"It's..." Aaron's speech failed him. Sitting at the bottom of the bag was the purple crystal that Aaron had seen in the mines. It glowed its eerie purple light, illuminating their faces.
"No. Way." Said Will.
"What..." What IS that?" Asked Will.
Aaron reached into his pack and pulled out the crystal, holding it in his outstretched hand. It was hypnotically fascinating, and he could have stared at if for hours if not for Will.
"Can I hold it?" Asked Will. Aaron turned around and stared at him.
"Will." Aaron said slowly. "This isn't show and tell at a school. This is a strange, powerful crystal that has given me maelstrom themed superpowers."
"I still wanna hold it!" Protested Will. Sighing, Aaron dropped the crystal into Will's hand. Instantly, Will cursed and snatched his hand back. The gem bounced on the floor before Aaron dived for it and picked it up, somehow not phasing through the floor again.
"What was that?" Aaron asked.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" Exclaimed Will. "It started to infect me!" Will held out his hand, and Aaron saw the tell-tale purple mist spreading towards Will's wrist.
"Don't panic." Reassured Aaron. "I've got this." He held out his hand, and the mist immediately left Will's hand and travelled to his own. But instead of infecting him, it seemed to disappear. Aaron himself suddenly felt a rush of energy, as if he had downed a high-energy drink.
Will kept looking blankly around, his eyes flicking from his hand to Aaron's.
"Ha-Aaron... what... the..."
"I don't know." Said Aaron mournfully. "I wish I could tell you I knew, but I can't."
"So now what?" Asked Will.
Aaron shrugged. "We keep testing, to see what else I can do."
"Experimenting?" Asked Will. "You're not a test subject, I'm not sure how wise that is-"
"We need to know, Will." Pointed out Aaron. "This could be- heck, it IS a game changer. It's important that we at least need to know what exactly my limits and strengths are."
"I'm still not really keen on this." Sighed his friend. "But if you want to do it, that's fine, I won't stop you."
"Well..." Exclaimed Aaron. "I can't exactly do this without you!"
"I don't see why." Pointed out Will. "You should be able to write after materializing, right?"
"Write?" Repeated Aaron.
"Right."
"Right, or write?"
"Right. Or maybe it was write."
"Which right is right!?"
"Write?"
"Right! That's right!" Gasped Aaron. Then he composed himself.
"Did you purposefully do that?"
Will shrugged. "Maybe. But I didn't originally intend to start-"
"I don't care." Interrupted Aaron. "Are you going to help me, or not."
Will looked at him blankly. "No." He said. "The powers stuff is cool and all, but REALLY? You want to make some kinda list to know which ones you have?"
"Well..." sighed Aaron. "I like to be organised."
"Too organised." Retorted Will. "You make yourself sound like a test subject, and you're more than that. You're my friend. But if you start treating yourself like..." He trailed off. "Frankly, you're beginning to sound like the side of Doctor Overbuild's personality that Plue warned you about."
"What?" Asked Aaron. "Are you serious?"
"Bro, I was there almost every day at some point." Declared Will. "The only people who were there more than me were Plue and Overbuild. I'm telling you, Skip was so annoyed. The assembly faction fell behind schedule because their leader was watching you take a 13-month long nap. He's really interested in you, and not necessarily in a good way."
With that, Will turned and walked out the door, the wooden item shutting loudly behind him. Aaron sighed, and looked at his hands.
"This is getting serious." He murmured.
The next day, Aaron decided to visit Plue, at her house, to talk to her and see what she thought. There was just one problem. A temporary quarantine had been set up, due to an increase of maelstrom energy in the area.
"Gee, I wonder where that came from." Aaron muttered to himself as he tried to think. The Nexus Force had ordered no-one was to leave their homes, and had stationed guards around the area. That way, the people knew they were serious. But Aaron went by a specific sort of code: If a rule is stupid, ignore it. And he knew that, whatever power he had, it wasn't necessarily dangerous. So there was no need for a quarantine. Thus, it was stupid and he could ignore it.
But he still had to sneak around, undetected. That was where the powers themselves came in very useful. It didn't matter if it was teleporting from one building to another, swinging around on maelstrom webs or phasing into shadow, there were plenty of ways to go around undiscovered. But he had to admit one thing - this who powers thing? It was FUN.
**
There was a knock on Plue's door. It didn't sound forced or imperious, so it couldn't be the Nexus Force. Wondering to herself, her feet pressed down on the cold wooden floor of her house as she walked to the door. But when she opened the door and nobody was there, she grew suspicious. Reaching behind the door, she silently pulled out a katana and held it in front of her, ready to defend herself.
Glancing round, she looked down just in time to see a shadow on the ground that was not her own. She glanced down suspiciously at it. Suddenly it reared up to take human form.
"Oh." Plue sighed. "It's YOU."
**
Aaron arrived at her house around half an hour later, and knocked on the door cautiously.
"Hello?" He asked. "Plue? You home?"
It was at this point that his tapping on the door knocked it over, slamming on the ground. Inside the house, all Aaron could see was a large amount of chaos, damage, and maelstrom.
This was bad.
As Aaron ventured into the house, a sense of extreme dread began to subtly overcome him. Admittedly the rooms weren't completely trashed, but there were still signs of a struggle, and remnants of maelstrom around the place. Lights flickered and sparks flew as Aaron tentatively stepped across the wooden floor through the house, his shoes creaking with almost every step.
There was a snap.
Aaron wheeled around. Nothing. Cautiously, he looked to either side of him. Nothing. Finally, fearing what he might see, he looked up.
Nothing.
Trying to calm himself down and figure out what had happened at the same time, he lowered his head to its normal field of vision. He placed a hand on his chin, and the other in his pocket as he tried to think.
Whilst Aaron had a good sense of humour, and was by no means a mathematical genius, he did have an impressive tactical mind. No-one could beat him at chess, and he probably would have been promoted several times through the ranks of the Nexus Force if it were not for his non-outspoken nature and his inability to get people he didn't know to listen to him.
At this point, the young man thought about all the possible options regarding both the house being trashed and the suspicious "snap" noise he had just heard.
Thinking about the new maelstrom abilities he now possessed, he decided to try and see if they could be any help in the situation. Concentrating, he suddenly felt a flow of energy into his eyes. Upon opening them, he discovered he was currently using some type of X-ray vision. Hurriedly, he looked in all the same directions, now with the ability to see through solid walls.
Still nothing.
Sighing, he deactivated the power until he realised something.
There was one direction he hadn't looked.
Down.
Using his power again, Aaron viewed the ground below him. There were several items of interest for him, but he didn't have long to look at them as the wooden floor below him opened up and he found himself sliding along at an almost vertical angle.
As he slid, he contemplated all sorts of things-instincts, irony and traps. But eventually he landed at the bottom of the slide, and found himself in a small stone room. There was little in it, save for shadows. Sighing, Aaron sat down and leaned against the wall. As he did so, he leaned against the wall, activating a hidden switch. The wall opened, and out popped a worn Television, playing Star Wars Episode VI.
"Now that's just rubbing salt in the wound." Aaron complained, as Admiral Ackbar ranted on.
Suddenly, something flew out of the shadows. Aaron couldn't see it, but the projectile smashed into the Television, sending glass raining everywhere. At the same time, a person stepped out from the shadows. Their identity was unrecognisable, and Aaron wasn't sure he knew who they were anyway. In any case, the figure pulled from their back a wicked-looking blade, with spikes all along the metal.
"As much as I appreciate you turning off the irony channel," said Aaron to the figure, "I wouldn't exactly like to be skewered."
The stranger retorted by lunging with the blade at Aaron, who dodged and watched as the sharp prongs stuck into the wall instead.
"Whoops." Aaron shrugged, and then zapped his assailant with lightning. The attacker flew into a wall.
"My goodness!" Exclaimed Aaron, and approached the stranger, holding out a hand. "I'm so INCREDIBLY sorry..."
The assailant knocked Aaron's hand away, only to have their own hand covered in webbing.
"Oh." Said Aaron emotionlessly, as the shadow tried to free its hand. "At least you weren't dumb enough to take my hand, but still... you're not the brightest, are you?"
The stranger looked at him.
"What? Life is too short to be pretend nice to idiots."
The shadow responded by seemingly looking up, and Aaron was taken aback at the crimson eyes that stared at him from the blackness. Suddenly nervous, he back up cautiously as the shadow stood up.
"Okay." He said. "Not such an idiot then. Could you please tell me exactly WHAT you are?"
There was no worded reply from the shadow, but Aaron's cranium suddenly felt cold, and he had to supress a yearning for it to all be over, and for the maelstrom to win.
He rolled his eyes.
"What a predictable response." He sighed, before holding his palms out. It looked like a placating gesture, and the shadow gleefully swept towards him. But suddenly, lasers shot from Aaron's palms, going right through the shadow. The figure looked at the holes in itself, which were already starting to close, and crossly back to Aaron.
Aaron looked from the holes to his hands, and then into the malevolent red eyes.
"In all fairness, I wasn't entirely sure what would happen and whether it would work, so why don't we just-"
He was interrupted as the shadow dived at him, knocking him to the ground. Aaron gasped as the assailant's hand clamped around his throat, and retaliated by making a fist and smacking his attacker on the back of the head. Amazingly, it seemed to work, and the figure reeled backwards. Grinning, Aaron kicked out and sent the shadow flying. Dazed and wheezing, he climbed to his feet.
Suddenly, the wall opened again and a speaker popped out. For one terrible moment, Aaron imagined the phrase "It's a trap!" Being played, but instead he heard something almost as bad. There was a terrible, garbled screeching. Aaron winced and placed his hands over his ears, so agonizing was the sound. But the shadow stared in... was that horror? The bright red eyes of the figure were widened for the first time in what looked like fear. The speaker stopped emitting noise and retracted back into the wall.
Then the ceiling started to descend.
Will Adalwin, rank III adventurer, finished the call he was taking.
"And that's when I learnt," he said to the caller, "if you want something done right, let someone else do it."
With that, he hung up and leaned back in his chair, his mind heavy. His friend's general attitude towards his powers had definitely fazed him, but in hindsight Will had definitely overreacted. It's just... he had watched Plue get so anxious over Aaron's wellbeing as a result of Overbuild... he sighed.
"I guess seeing Aaron act like Overbuild would was unsettling." He thought out loud.
"What?" A voice asked.
Will turned around to see a young girl standing in the doorway. She was about ten years old, with long brown hair and blue eyes. She had the appearance of someone who would look stunning in a few years' time.
"Oh, hi Anna." Said Will, as Anna approached him.
"Where's my brother?" Asked Anna, walking up to Will's chair and looking fixatedly at him. "Is he out fighting bad guys?"
"Yeah, you can bet he is." Will smiled.
Anna tilted her head slightly to the side. "Is he alright?"
Will's brief moment of peace evaporated into the chill associated with fear. "Why do you ask?" He said slowly.
"You have a special face you make when you're worried about my brother." Replied Anna. "I've seen it a lot over the past year and a bit, after all. I thought everything would be ok now that he's awake again, right?"
"Yes Anna." Will lied. "Aaron's completely fine."
"So, there's nothing to worry about?" Anna persisted.
It broke Will's heart, lying to a child, but the only other option was to tell Anna exactly what had happened to Aaron and what he was currently doing... and he didn't think she was really ready for that yet.
"Nothing to worry about." Will repeated. Anna smiled, content.
At that moment, there was a light knock on Will's front door. He looked at Anna.
"Don't worry, I'll get it." He said.
Will opened the door to find a woman his age, about twenty, standing in front of him. Her caramel-coloured hair went down almost to her waist, and she smiled at him with sparkling amber eyes.
"Hi, my name's Kaylori, can I come in please?" She asked politely.
Will remembered himself, and shook his head slightly.
"Sure." He said, and Kaylori gracefully brushed past him as she entered. Looking round, Will noticed that her attire was assembly themed. Not blatantly obvious like faction gear, but noticeable. The two of them walked into the living room, where Will sat down and invited Kaylori to do the same. She shook her head.
"Sorry, but I haven't come to stay" She explained.
Will raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He asked. Kaylori shrugged.
"I'm Doctor Overbuild's personal assistant." She said. "I've been sent here to fetch. The Doctor wants to have a talk with you.
"I think I know what this is about." Said Will. Kaylori nodded.
"The Doctor told me it was confidential." She admitted.
Will nodded. "It's certainly private business." He agreed. "Okay, I'll come. Just give me a moment." And with that, he walked out of the room.
"Who's there?" A voice asked.
Will turned round and looked down at Anna. "It's a lady sent by Doctor Overbuild. He wants to see me." He explained.
Anna's eyes widened. "Really?" She gasped. Then she smiled. "Yay! You can take me with you!"
"What!?" Exclaimed Will. "No I can't, I-"
"Big brother told us to look after each other, right? In any case, you can't leave me here by myself!"
Will rolled his eyes. "Fine, you're coming." Anna grinned.
Will picked up the young girl and put her on his shoulders, before walking back into the living room where Kaylori was waiting. She raised her eyes to Anna.
"Who's that?" She inquired.
"That's my best friend's sister, and I've been asked to look after her with my life. Is that alright?"
Kaylori nodded. "That's fine. She can wait outside with me while you talk with Overbuild."
A short rocket ride later, Will and Anna found themselves in Nexus Tower. Walking off the platform, Will couldn't stop a sense of awe and comfort as he looked at the enormous structure. As long as the tower stood, he knew there would always be hope. If the maelstrom managed to destroy the tower... Will shuddered. He had a feeling demoralization would be an understatement.
The pair, led by Kaylori, continued to walk through the spotless hallways, occasionally seeing high-ranking Nexus Force members and saying hello. Will wasn't fazed - he was one of them, after all. They kept walking, with Kaylori giving Anna a sort of mini-tour, telling her which area was what and belonged to who, which Will appreciated.
Eventually they ended up in the Assembly area, and by the ramp that led up to Doctor Overbuild's balcony, from which he oversaw the Imagination Nexus.
Will looked back at Anna, who grinned.
"Don't worry," she said, "I'll wait right here with Kay."
"If you're sure." Will shrugged, before walking up the ramp, to where Overbuild was waiting.
The Assembly faction leader was staring at the Imagination Nexus intently, gazing into the wondrous beauty of pure imagination. Will walked up slowly behind him, not wishing to disturb the genius, but the Doctor's mechanical arms tapped Overbuild on the shoulder, and he turned round to see Will.
"Ah, Mr Adalwin!" Exclaimed Overbuild, Adalwin being Will's surname, "It's good to see you!"
"And you, sir." Said Will formally. "Tell me, why-"
"Did I send for you?" Asked Overbuild. "You're an intelligent man, Mr Adalwin. You tell me."
"It's about Aaron, isn't it?" Sighed Will.
"I told you you were intelligent." Said Overbuild.
"What's there to talk about?" queried Will cautiously.
"You know as well as I do the strange effects that piece of crystal had on your friend." Sighed Overbuild.
"And what are you getting at?" Said Will loudly. "What's your point?"
"My point." Said Overbuild, "Is we need to decide what happens next."
"What happens next?" Repeated Will.
"Oh yes." Said Overbuild. "You see, some of the Nexus Force who know about your friend are scared. There is a great deal of power surrounding maelstrom, you know. They might take it upon themselves to eliminate him."
"What?!" Exclaimed Will loudly. "They wouldn't, he isn't infected like the others, he's-"
"He is thousands of times more powerful than any maelstrom creature we've encountered." Countered Overbuild. "Of course some people are nervous. And then there are the Paradox."
Will turned grey. "Oh no." He murmured. "They have hardly ever gotten the chance to study a STROMLING for very long, and Aaron..."
"You see where I'm coming from?" Asked Overbuild. "That, and others still believe he has lost his humanity and is now merely a weapon. And they will try to use him as such."
Will looked into Overbuild's eyes. "What do you suggest we do?" He asked. Overbuild shrugged.
"I'm not sure. Just... lay low. Get in contact with as few people as possible. And keep out of trouble."
Will snorted in derision. "Easier said than done, Doc."
"Do what you can." Sighed Overbuild, before turning back towards the Imagination Nexus.
Will looked at Overbuild. "I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable." Complimented Will. "But I'm going to ignore your advice."
"That's not a particularly wise course of action." Overbuild warned.
Will had turned away and was walking down the ramp, but on hearing this he stopped.
"I don't care." He said.
Overbuild shrugged again. "As you wish." He said blankly, still staring at the Imagination Nexus.
Will stalked down the ramp and began purposefully making his way back to the rockets, followed by Anna. Kaylori, after looking uncertainly at the pair, walked back up the ramp to talk with her superior.
Will walked back to the rockets with his hand on his chin, deep in thought. Anna walked up beside him.
"So what did Overbuild want?"
Will groaned. "It's... it's a long story." He explained.
Anna grinned. "I love stories."
"Wow." Said Will, turning to look at her. "Did you really just... wow..."
"So?" Asked Anna. "Aren't you going to- hey, isn't that Overbuild there?"
Will looked in the same direction Anna was looking. Sure enough, there was Overbuild, racing along the corridor. He hadn't appeared to notice them.
"Where's he going in such a hurry?" Will murmured. He turned to Anna.
"Do you reckon you can watch the rocket?" He asked tentatively. Anna enthusiastically nodded.
"Of course!" She exclaimed. "I'll be fine. Go see what he's up to."
"Thanks Anna." Will smiled gratefully, before turning and running after Overbuild.
Despite the mechanical arms, Overbuild could certainly be quick when he wanted to. Will almost lost him on more than one occasion, and even went in completely the wrong direction at one point. Fortunately, his Adventurer's instinct and a good deal of luck meant that wherever Overbuild headed, Will was never too far behind.
Eventually the leader of the Assembly faction ran up to a panel on a wall in the Assembly Area. As Will watched, the Doctor typed in a sequence of letters and numbers.
Abruptly, Will heard a scraping noise, and turned his head to see a passageway being revealed in the floor. Overbuild walked down it, and Will was about to follow when he heard someone imperiously clear their throat behind him.
"WHAT exactly do you think you're doing?"
Will spun round and did a double take when he saw Kaylori standing there, hands on hips.
"Why exactly are you spying on my boss?" She exclaimed. Will stared at her.
"Instinct." He said finally.
Kaylori kept looking at him angrily. "Sure." She said.
"I know he's doing something weird, Kay. I just don't know what." Will turned back, but the Doctor and the pathway were gone.
Will exasperatedly waved his hands in the air.
"Great. Thanks. No, really."
"I appreciated your gratitude for my stopping you spying on-"
"It's called SARCASM, Kay." Will rolled his eyes.
"I know what sarcasm it, you idiot." Kaylori scoffed. Then she reached out and smacked Will on the head.
"DON'T call me "Kay."" She growled.
Will rubbed his head. "Okay, I won't..." He grinned. "Kay."
Kaylori threw her hands up in the air.
"Why are you so infuriating!" She exclaimed.
"Because I get annoying when I'm concerned." Will sighed, and walked into the control room to see if he could find anything.
Kaylori followed him, still talking. "Concerned? I wouldn't have thought that emotion would suit you."
"It doesn't." Agreed Will. "But that doesn't mean I can't feel it."
"So." Kaylori remarked, watching Will search. "Who are you concerned for? Yourself?"
"Almost." Corrected Will. "My best friend."
"That's weird." Said Kaylori. "Wouldn't have thought you have many friends."
"Even if I don't, one's got to be the best, right?"
"I suppose." Kaylori admitted. "So, why are you concerned for him?"
Will turned around. "You know that "private business" Overbuild wanted to talk to me about?"
Kaylori nodded. "Yeah."
"Well, it involves that." Said Will, before turning back to the control panel.
"Oh." Said Kaylori, watching him. Then she walked forward.
"Here." She gently pushed Will aside before typing on the keyboard.
Will looked at her incredulously. "What are you-"
He stopped as a green light flashed and the entrance he had seen Overbuild walk into opened.
Kaylori stood up and folded her arms.
"I know all the Assembly access codes." She explained.
Will looked at her. "Thanks."
The pair descended down the stairs, and into the darkness.
As the pair descended, Will thought to himself.
"Kay, can I ask you something?" He said.
"Sure." Kaylori replied. Will noticed that, for the first time, she hadn't been annoyed at him calling her Kay.
"What was with the change back there? One moment you were trying to dissuade me, and the next - you're willing to help me. Why?"
Kaylori shrugged. "I don't know. I guess something about you acting for your friend as opposed to yourself... you seemed to change from selfish to kinda noble."
"You flatter me." Will smiled in the darkness. "Also, I notice that you didn't scold me for my use of the term "Kay." Why, is it growing on you?"
"Yeah, like mould." Said Kaylori.
Will was about to reply when the pair suddenly walked into a lit area. Shielding his eyes, Will moved over to where the stairs ended, and poked his head out of the doorway.
The room inside was relatively minute, with stone walls and a metal floor. Although either lit up in grey light or remaining in shadow, the entire area was swathed in a purple fog that impaired Will's vision. However, he was still able to see Doctor Overbuild approaching the centre of the room.
Kaylori peered over Will's shoulder as Overbuild walked up to a strange alter, where the mist was concentrated and heavier than any other area of the room. The mist was the same shade of purple as the rest, but as Will and Kaylori watched, it took on a darker hue and two red slits appeared, looking eerily like eyes.
As Will watched, a whisper started to echo round the room, and a deep voice spoke.
"Overbuild, my friend." It whispered, and the eyes moved. "What tidings do you bare me?"
The Doctor stood in front of the mist. "The one I told you about is awake, Typhonus."
Will looked over at Kaylori, who's eyes had widened to the point of cartoonish proportions. Will imagined he looked the same way.
"My boss..." Said Kaylori. "Is in league with..."
"The Darkitecht." Will finished.
"But How!" Hissed Kaylori, in an attempt to be silent. "He's one of the faction leaders, for goodness sake; why would he be in league with the DARKITECHT! Baron Typhonus?"
"I don't know." Whispered Will. "Now shut up, I'm trying to listen."
Will turned his head back to the pair, who were still talking. Thankfully, they hadn't been spotted.
"If he learns how to use his power, Overbuild -"
"I know, Typhonus. He will indeed qualify for the prophecy made when you became the being you are today. I can't remember the whole thing, but aren't there three people allegedly supposed to be able to defeat you? One with the power of his sworn enemy, one a cyborg, and one who commands all that is good in this world. At least, I think it's something like that..."
"ENOUGH." Said the Darkitecht angrily. "I do not wish to dwell on the prophecy any longer."
Overbuild nodded courteously. "My apologies."
"Instead, we must... oh." The Darkitecht paused.
"What is it?" Asked Overbuild. "What is the matter?"
"You appear to have some uninvited guests, Doctor." The maelstrom said, and Will suddenly found himself and Kaylori pushed by some unseen force into the room, in clear sight of both Typhonus and Overbuild.
"I'll leave it to you." Said the Darkitecht, as Overbuild walked slowly towards the valiant pair.
"My, my, this IS an unpleasant surprise, isn't it? Kaylori, my assistant, I TRUSTED you! And, Mr Adalwin, I really did expect better from you. Pity."
Suddenly the mechanical arms increased their length by several meters. One wrapped itself around Will and Kaylori, whilst the other made a beeline for a control panel in a corner of the room. Reaching it, it pulled a lever and the floor between the duo opened to reveal a seemingly bottomless abyss. All that was separating them from it was Overbuild's other mechanical arm.
"Kaylori, you're fired." Said Overbuild. He then turned to Will. "And, Mr Adalwin... you're falling."
A second later, the arm let them go and Will found he really was.
Will and Kaylori found themselves plummeting through darkness as, above them, the small speck of light that was the room they had been in previously disappeared.
Kaylori didn't stop talking to herself. "The DARKITECHT? Are you serious? I mean, why -"
"Kay." Said Will. "We'll figure that out later. Right now I'm trying to avoid becoming floor pizza."
"What do you mean "floor!?" Exclaimed Kaylori. "There IS no floor! There's just blackness!"
Will shook his head. "Look down." He said.
Kaylori looked, and saw that Will was right. There was ground below them, and it was rapidly approaching. She fell silent.
"Okay." She conceded. "Not hit the floor. Good plan."
Will fumbled around on his back until he managed to grab a whip from around his torso. Pulling it off, he unwound it with a "crack!"
"Alright Kay, we're going to have to-"
Will found himself interrupted as below them a segment of wall was blown outwards. Will heard a voice say "Got it!" and at the same time he acted using the whip, he hooked it round a large spike of debris still on the wall and used the acting force to swing inside the hole. The pair winced, waiting for an inevitable collision with the wall, but Will opened his eyes again when they had been closed for several seconds and they hadn't hit anything yet.
He discovered there was a film of maelstrom energy surrounding them. Controlling that was Aaron, who was standing in one corner with a being who seemed to be made entirely out of shadow and black flames.
The power around them slowly faded, and Will and Kaylori climbed to their feet. Aaron walked slowly towards Will before suddenly pulling him into an embrace.
"Thanks." Grinned Will. "Something tells me we would have been floor pizza without you."
"I don't feel like testing that theory." Said Aaron. "In the meantime, it looks like you've been making new friends as well."
"Yeah, um, about that... who exactly IS that?" Asked Will, pointing at the shadowy figure in the corner.
"Who, him?" Asked Aaron, glancing over the figure. "That's Shadow."
"What?" Asked Will incredulously.
"Well, he doesn't talk, and I figured that was as good a name as any." Aaron shrugged.
Will was about to say something about the disadvantages of giving someone a name when suddenly Aaron's left hand whipped upwards towards Will's face. Aaron coolly caught it with his right hand and threw it back down to his side. It was over in less than a second, but Will noticed it.
"Uh... what was that?"
"What?" Asked Aaron innocently. "What was what?"
"That hand spasm. What was that?" Will persisted.
"I had no hand spasm! You must be seeing things." Denied Aaron.
Will rolled his eyes. "Fine. So, what's Shadow's story?"
Aaron thought. "Well he was all set to kill me, being a creature of maelstrom and all, but whilst we were fighting a speaker popped out of a wall-"
"What?"
"Long story. Speaker came out and basically told Shadow here that the maelstrom was cutting him loose, and it was gonna terminate him along with me, all that fun betray-y stuff. So, we escaped the booby trapped room; which is another long story by the way, and stumbled into this room just in time to catch you. Literally."
"Okay." Said Will, trying to get his head round all the information Aaron had just given him at a rapid speed. "So, Shadow's with us now?"
"Well, he hasn't tried to kill me since we got out of that room." Said Aaron.
"And THAT means you can trust him?!" Exclaimed Will incredulously.
"I don't see why not." Shrugged Aaron, casually. Then he stopped. "Wait, where's Anna?"
"Oh, she's fine!" Exclaimed Will. "I left her with... the... rockets..."
"What." Whispered Aaron.
"She watched the rockets while me and Kaylori here," Will twisted round to indicate his friend "trailed Overbuild."
"You left her... by herself?"
"How was I to know all this bad stuff would be happening?" Protested Will. "I thought we would be in worse danger then she would be!"
As Aaron stared at Will, Will noticed small arcs of lightning leap to and from Aaron's fingertips. Will began to feel seriously concerned, until Aaron made a conscious effort and the lightning disappeared.
"No" Aaron sighed. "You were right to leave her there. I just... I can't stand not knowing."
Will placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll get to her."
Aaron shrugged. "I'm not sure that can be our first priority."
Will looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"
Aaron looked up at Will. "I may be UNSURE that Anna is safe, but I KNOW Plue isn't safe."
"What's happened?" Said Will quickly.
"House destroyed. Traces of maelstrom. Trapdoor that led me down here."
"What!?" Yelled Will. "Who the heck would take the time, after kidnapping Plue, to install a TRAPDOOR in her house?!"
"Your guess is as good as mine." Said Aaron. "But it was probably someone with a lot of resources and time.
"Overbuild." Will muttered.
"Who?" Asked Aaron.
Hurriedly Will explained to Aaron what he and Kaylori had seen before falling to their level.
Aaron stared at them with his mouth open. "No way." He said.
Will nodded. "Yeah."
"And..." Aaron thought. "There was some kinda prophecy?"
"Mm hmm." Will confirmed.
"Wow." Aaron sighed. "That's pressurising."
"So?" Will persisted. "What's the plan?"
"The plan?" Aaron repeated. "We wander around, either finding danger or danger finding us."
Will looked at him, poker-faced. "That's your plan."
"Can you think of a better one?"
"No."
"Then it's what we're doing!" Declared Aaron, and marched to the hole what Will and Kaylori had come through.
"You can't get out there." Said Will. "That's pretty steep and-"
"See ya." Interrupted Aaron as he jumped over the edge.
"Woa!" Exclaimed Kaylori, as she and Will rushed to the edge. Looking down, they saw Aaron coolly freefalling towards the ground. Shadow walked slowly up to their position and, after a few moments, peered over the edge too.
"So, how are WE going to get-" Will began, then paused as Shadow grabbed him and Kaylori, and the air seemed to warp around them. The next moment, they were at the bottom of the shaft, where Aaron had also just arrived.
"Instant teleportation, huh?" Asked Aaron, walking over to them. "Not the way I would have done it Shadow, but as long as it works."
Shadow nodded and then indicated up ahead. There were several more doors, all leading off in a different direction.
"What the heck IS this place?" Cried Will.
"Some kind of underground facility Overbuild must have built." Reasoned Kaylori.
Aaron nodded. "Yes." He agreed. "Where, away from public scrutiny, he could continue with his horrific experiments and maelstrom collaboration-" He paused to notice Kaylori giving him the evils.
"Bear in mind, he was my boss until about fifteen minutes ago." She reminded him.
"Ah. Right." Said Aaron. "Sorry Kaylori."
"So which door do we take?" Pondered Will. Seemingly in response, Shadow levitated off the ground and floated into through the passageway directly in front of them. The remaining trio watched.
"I never knew he could do that." Remarked Aaron. "Well, I guess Shadow knows which way to go! Follow us!"
With that, Aaron marched through the same doorway, leaving Will and Kaylori to themselves.
"Sooo... we follow?" Asked Will.
Kaylori grinned and walked towards the door. "Follow, we do."
Will glanced back up the shaft a final time, where he knew the Doctor was.
"We're coming for you, Overbuild." He muttered, before turning tail and walking out the room after his friends.
As Aaron walked through the narrow tunnel, a slight sense of unease overcame him. There was something about the dark that comforted him and scared him at the same time; that would have been weird enough, except a before his "accident" he had no feelings towards the dark. This meant that his personality was being subtly altered.
"Whopee for change." He mumbled sarcastically to himself. Shadow turned and looked at him. In the inky black, all Aaron could see were the red slits of Shadow's eyes.
"It's fine, buddy." Sighed Aaron. "Don't worry about it." There were a few moments of silence, then Shadow turned around and continued to walk.
Suddenly there was a screech from the darkness, and Aaron reflexively grabbed Shadow before running away from the thing in the dark. Shadow pulled free of Aaron's grip and ran himself. Pointed objects began slamming down beside them from the ceiling, whilst at the same time, Aaron sensed maelstrom energy building up behind them.
Shadow turned to Aaron, who was shocked to hear a small voice in his head.
"You need to cover our escape."
"Oh." Aaron exclaimed. "You CAN talk! Although psychically. Which is fine..."
At this point the tunnel the pair were running through suddenly became a lot wider, which concerned Aaron as whatever was pursuing them was obviously big, and a larger space would enable it more room to move.
"How am I supposed to-" Aaron began.
"Use your powers." Shadow reminded him.
"Of course!" Aaron focused. "Form psychic armour!"
Plates of maelstrom began to envelope Aaron's form, protecting him from the spikes and chunks of rock now raining down upon them. Unfortunately Aaron became slightly carried away.
"Form psychic crown! And a mean hair do! And-"
"We're going to be crushed!" Reminded Shadow.
"Oh, right." Aaron remembered. "MAELSTROM PALMS OF FIRE!"
Aaron conjured up handfuls of purple flames, and flung them wildly at the pursuing creature. The fireballs slammed into the stone walls and ceiling, causing tons of rock to fall down. Shadow and Aaron were knocked over by the shockwave, and for a second Aaron thought it was the end. But after a few moments, whatever had been pursuing them had been blocked off or possibly destroyed by the cave in.
"That was lucky." Remarked Aaron to Shadow. "I wonder what that thing was."
"No doubt the Darkitecht keeps some of his most dangerous creations down here." Shadow mind-spoke. Aaron glanced at him.
"You're REALLY not helping my confidence, you know that?" Aaron remarked. Then abruptly he felt anger surge through him. "In fact, why should I even take advice from you at ALL? You were trying to spike me about half an hour ago! What's to say you won't finish the job when my back is turned?"
"Because the maelstrom, my creators, "cut me loose" as you might put it. I have every reason to hate them, believe me."
"Oh yeah?" Snarled Aaron. "Why is that then?"
Shadow's red eyes stared right into Aaron's, and the thought speech that Aaron was receiving suddenly felt like someone was smacking his head with every word spoken.
"They took my only family. Took my wife away, and infected my young daughter in front of me. I offered myself to them in exchange for my loved one's lives. They kept setting me tasks, and said once the war was one they would undo whatever they did to me and give back my family. Only... they didn't deliver, as you heard."
"Actually, All I heard was garbled... stuff." Admitted Aaron. "But... thanks. And I'm sorry. Do you have a name? One that I didn't give you?"
Shadow looked at himself. "I did. But now, all I am is "Shadow." The name fits."
"If you're sure." Aaron shrugged. "Shadow it is. Now come on, we need to head back and find Will and Kaylori."
"Agreed." Thought-spoke Shadow.
There was one major problem regarding the pair's efforts to search for the others. The entire tunnel, though large, was pitch black. Here they could be ambushed or dragged off in seconds, and chances are the other wouldn't even notice.
Aaron raised his hand, and the purple flames he had thrown earlier ignited in his palm, lighting up the immediate area. He walked with Shadow beside him, but every now and then though he heard another noise- a shuffle, or perhaps a footstep. Uneasy, he continued to tentatively put one foot in front of the other, reassured that he had Shadow with him as opposed to against him.
Abruptly, Shadow stuck his arm out in front of Aaron. Ignoring Aaron's questioning look, Shadow turned round and looked at the area behind them. They stood there for a few moments, and then Shadow thought-spoke again.
"I know where Will and Kaylori are." He said, and Aaron started as he heard the eerie, disembodied voice of Shadow in his head once again.
"Where?" Aaron asked, peering into the darkness.
"That's the bad part." Remarked Shadow, and at the same time Aaron heard a scuffle from in front of them. Something stepped into their field of vision. All Aaron had time to glimpse was a foot of some kind before Shadow pulled him away from it. As they started to run, Aaron heard clunking footsteps pursuing them.
The stone tunnels they were running down seemed to be changing the further they went. As they ran, Aaron used the flame in his hand to observe the fact that the walls, which had previously looked neglected and run down, now looked newer, with less moss and cracks. Eventually Aaron noticed a door, and without thinking held Shadow's arm and ran through it. Flinging his friend into the room, Aaron backtracked and held the door shut by leaning it. He could hear an eerie scraping, and a clawed hand burst through the metal at one point. But eventually, the creatures gave up. He heard them slowly trudging away.
Aaron sighed to himself as the stomping of his and Shadow's pursuers grew fainter and fainter, until it vanished. Satisfied, he clambered to his feet and glanced around the room they were in.
"Shadow?" He asked. "Are there lights in here?"
He received his answer by light flickering on in the walls. He was about to thank Shadow, but the words died in his throat. The whole room was reminiscent of a laboratory, with shelves full of bottles and equipment everywhere. The ceiling, however, was extremely high up, several meters. There were chains hanging from the ceiling, and balconies which led off to more rooms.
"What the heck is even DOWN here?" He murmured.
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Said a voice. Aaron wheeled round to see Kaylori standing there, gazing in awe at the room. But she wasn't the one who had spoken. Behind her was a rank three Buccaneer with two pistols by his side and a cutlass on his back. A small beard desperately clung to his muscular chin, as the buccaneer sized up Aaron and Shadow. He turned to Kaylori.
"These your friends?" He asked her. She nodded.
"Guys," She said, "This is Vector. He helped me out when I got separated from Will in the tunnels.
"Where's Will now?" Aaron questioned. He didn't see his whip-toting friend anywhere, and Kaylori's words confirmed his suspicions.
"There were these creatures that chased us." She explained. "Me and Will split up, and I managed to shake them off. Either we ran really far away from each other, or he wasn't as lucky as I am."
"Great." Sighed Aaron. "Someone else to rescue."
"You're here on a rescue mission too?" Queried Vector, stepping forward.
Aaron nodded. "That's right."
"That's why I was down here in the first place." Vector explained. "Couple of friends of mine were nabbed by the maelstrom in a firefight, and I followed them down here." He looked at Aaron.
"Perhaps we can be of assistance to each other."
"Are you proposing a team up?" Asked Aaron.
Vector shrugged. "We're on the same side in this war anyway."
"Fine." Agreed Aaron. "But I'll warn you, neither me nor Shadow are particularly normal."
"I got that impression." Remarked Vector. Aaron looked in the same direction Vector was looking, and realised that his hand was still on fire, and he hastily waved the appendage around to put it out. At the same time, Shadow slowly drifted around the room, rotating silently.
"You guys are pretty obviously weird." Remarked Victor, not untruthfully.
Suddenly, there was a rending and crashing, and the door to the room began to buckle under stress.
"What the-" Began Aaron.
"Those things are back!" Said Kaylori. "Climb!" With that, she jumped onto a table and managed to grab one of the chains, before starting to pull herself up.
Shadow calmly levitated himself higher, before moving into a seated position and emotionlessly watching the others struggle. Vector started to physically climb up the chains as well, whilst Aaron phased into a wall and rematerialized on the ceiling, his torso hanging upside down whilst his legs remained two-dimensional, anchoring him to the surface.
The door was finally smashed open, and into the room came a number of strange figures. They could have been described as maelstrom, animalistic, mechanical, and demonic, but they seemed to be strange, twisted mashups of technology, biology and maelstrom energy.
One of the creatures, similar to a fox, leapt onto Vector's chain and started to pursue him. Another, reminiscent of a wasp, flew towards Shadow and Aaron. A third creature that looked like a serpent with mechanical appendages began to climb the wall closest to Kaylori's chain. It climbed to her height, then suddenly leapt onto her chain. Kaylori kicked out and knocked it back, but the resultant force caused her to lose her grip.
"No!" Aaron yelled as Kaylori fell towards the ground.
As Kaylori fell, Aaron quickly extended his wrist, and shot a spiderling web at her. The web caught her leg, and just before hitting the ground she was jerked upwards. Aaron was about to pull her up to his level when the wasp creature landed beside him and started swiping at him with its deadly stinger. In defence, Aaron reached into his pack and brought out his trusty sword, Oblivion, the only piece of rank three gear he had. He parried the stinger and started a bizarre sword fight.
The fox was still climbing after Vector, who was only keeping it at bay with a well-placed kick whenever it came too close. But Vector was tiring, and the creature could sense it. It leapt at him, and Vector was only saved by Shadow flinging black fireballs at it. The fox fell down to the ground level, and was about to go back after Vector when it saw Kaylori hanging above the ground by her leg, and went for her instead.
Shadow noticed this, and moved over to defend here whilst she manoeuvred herself towards a chain she could climb. But before he could attack the fox, the serpent leapt at him, swiping him with its tail and sending him flying into a wall. Kaylori finally managed to equip an imagination multi tool, and proceeded to cut the maelstrom web on her leg. Suddenly, the fox leapt and knocked her off again. This time, Aaron couldn't help and she fell into a shelf filled with vials.
As Vector watched, the shelf keeled over and there was suddenly a burst of green smoke. Aaron knocked the wasp creature away and phased back down to the ground, before running to check on Kaylori. Suddenly, Shadow pushed him aside as the serpent whipped its tail at them. The snake hissed and abruptly spat poison at the pair. Aaron quickly pointed his fingertips and small arcs of purple lightning jumped out, vaporising all the liquid heading for them. Shadow then leapt on the snake and started to smack it on the head, his fists wreathed in flame. The serpent shook him off and fled.
As the serpent fled, Vector whipped out his pistols and fired several shots at it. The snake creature cowered from the bullets, and Vector advanced threateningly. Seeing its counterpart attacked, the wasp darted down and grabbed Vector, wrapping its mandibles around him and lifting him into the air. Vector yelled, and Shadow flew to his aid.
Meanwhile, Aaron grappled with the fox. It snapped at him, revealing razor sharp teeth. Unfazed, Aaron raised his hand, and started firing lasers at point blank range. The fox was hit, and fell backwards. Aaron raised his hand again, but just then the serpent lunged at him, hissing. Aaron phased into the floor to avoid the attack, then reformed himself and threw fireballs at the snake. However, the fox had recovered far quicker than Aaron had expected, and lunged at him. With no time for Aaron to phase, he raised his hands in self-defence. But just then, there was a crack, and Aaron found himself several meters away from his previous location.
Before he had time to marvel, the snake slithered towards him, and prepared to strike. What neither of them were expecting was for a large reptilian tail to erupt from the smoke nearby the, wrap around the serpent, and drag it into the green mist. Not willing to complain, Aaron prepared to assault the fox when suddenly Vector fell just beside him. Then Shadow lowered himself to their level, and ignited his palms. The wasp flew to the fox's side.
The stand-off looked shaky, with Aaron, Vector and Shadow facing off against the fox and the wasp. However, the snake was suddenly flung out of the smoke and landed comatose at its counterpart's feet. Realising they were outnumbered a maximum of two to one, the remaining creatures fled, dragging their comrade with them. Instead of running, though, they simply picked up the serpent and dissolved into maelstrom mist. There was a silence. Then Shadow thought-spoke.
"I do not think they will be troubling us again." He sighed.
"Glad to hear that." Remarked Aaron, relaxing. "I wasn't entirely sure we were going to come out of that little scenario."
"Hear what?" Asked Vector, raising an eyebrow, and Aaron realised that Shadow's thought-speech could only effect one person at a time. The next moment, however, Vector's facial expression turned into one of surprise, and Aaron could easily imagine how he might feel as Shadow communicated with him.
Chuckling to himself, Aaron walked over to the area that Kaylori had fallen, to ensure her survival and uninjury. The smoke had about cleared up, and as Aaron approached he heard a groan, and Kaylori rose to her feet in front of him. She seemed fine, if a little dazed. However, there was something different that he couldn't identify.
"You alright?" He asked, as she rubbed her head.
"Fine." She muttered. "I just... I can't remember anything after I fell into the shelf..."
"Probably hit your head or something." Aaron suggested. He wasn't a doctor, what else could he say?
"Probably just that." Kaylori agreed. "So... you guys beat those things, then?"
"Yeah." Confirmed Vector, who was walking over with Shadow. "We could have fared better, but I don't think any of us are badly injured."
"We were lucky." Agreed Aaron.
"I just hope that luck doesn't run out any time soon." Remarked Kaylori.
"Couldn't have put it better myself." Said Vector. "Now, we need to keep moving, before whatever they were come back with reinforcements."
Shadow began to levitate upwards, until he stopped at a balcony, and then proceeded to float into the adjoining area.
"So... Shadow's leading the way again?" Asked Kaylori.
"Yeah." Said Aaron, only half paying attention. He was still trying to mentally figure out the significance of what he had seen earlier. It was only after Vector and Kaylori had climbed to the balcony and left that he understood.
It was only for a brief moment, but he had seen Kaylori's eyes. Normal now, at the time they had been reptilian slits.
The group continued to advance through the area, with Shadow leading the way. However, instead of looking decrepit and under-cared for, the whole place looked new, and active. Whilst the lack of collateral hazards was one good thing about the situation, Aaron duly noted that if this place was in this sort of shape, it was in use. And if it was in use, they could be caught.
Their exact location remained a mystery to him. He knew that there couldn't possibly be this much space under Nimbus Station-not enough for a giant creature, or such a large maze-like area. There was only one possible explanation. The holes that they had fallen into had been teleporters of some kind, and they were in a completely uncharted/unknown area. This did little to raise Aaron's spirits.
"Are you sure this guy knows the way?" Vector asked, glancing distrustfully at Shadow.
"The detention cells are less than half a kilometer from our current location." Shadow replied calmly.
"I'd take that as a yes." Declared Kaylori, as they continued to walk.
There was a brief pause.
"What do we do next?" Aaron asked.
Kaylori thought. "Rescue our respective friends, fight our way back to the surface of wherever we are-"
"No." Aaron interrupted. "I mean when all of this is over. How do we just walk away from something like this?"
Kaylori was saved having to answer that question by Shadow, who held his arm out in front of them as they walked.
"Something's approaching." Said Vector, as the team stood together.
"Or someone." Remarked Kaylori.
"Personally, I'm hoping for something." Sighed Aaron. "Someone might not be..." His speech faded as he stared at what had lumbered out of the darkness.
It was someone, all right.
The figure staggered out of the darkness, swaying slightly on its unsteady legs.
"It's a girl." Said Kaylori, staring attentively at the approaching human.
On closer scrutiny, she appeared to be right. It was a girl, about their age, but extremely malnourished and injured.
"She..." Aaron murmured. "She needs help."
He and Vector ran towards the girl as her legs gave way and she crumpled to the ground. Aaron reached out a hand as she looked up, dazed, her rough black hair hanging down in front of her face.
"Come on." He said. "We're here to help."
The girl, with Aaron and Vector supporting her, managed to get to her feet. She swayed unsteadily, and Vector reached out to support her.
Whilst Shadow hovered above them, making sure they weren't ambushed, Kaylori looked at the girl.
"What's your name?" She asked softly. The girl looked up.
"Roseanne." She said, after a brief pause. "My name... is Roseanne."
"Don't worry, Rose." Kaylori said comfortingly. "You're not alone anymore."
Rose shook her head. "I am."
"Don't say that." Vector said. "We-"
He was cut short, as Rose's arm suddenly burst into purple flames.
"Woa!" Exclaimed Vector, hastening a step or two backwards. Rose swayed unsteadily.
"No-one else knows what it's like." Rose sighed mournfully. "Not really."
Aaron, who had a feeling he knew what she was talking about, placed a warm hand on her icy shoulder. She turned around to see him.
"I do." He declared, before lighting his own palm on fire.
Rose stared, transfixed, at the flames dancing around Aaron's fingers. She looked back at her own, flaming arm, then back to Aaron's hand, then back to her arm. The fire on her arm ceased.
"I'm not alone?" She asked, tentatively.
"No." Smiled Aaron, as Shadow descended to reveal his dark form, "I don't think you are."
The three of them - Aaron, Rose and Shadow - stood on the ground, regarding each other and seeing the enormity of their connection for the first time. They were possibly the first three humans in history to have powers based around the maelstrom.
"Well..." Aaron felt his confidence suddenly waning. "I have loads of powers, but they're basically the power of every servant of the chaos, with one or two unique ones thrown in."
"I can disguise myself as maelstrom" Rose said, smiling slightly for the first time. "Any shape or form, and I can disguise others as well-but it only works if I concentrate. For self-defence, I use spinjitzu."
To demonstrate this, she suddenly whirled into a tornado, which started to spew fire and crystals around the place. She stopped, and looked round, slightly self-consciously.
"That's impressive." Remarked Aaron. "Shadow can... I'm not entirely sure."
"Levitate." Volunteered Rose.
"Yeah, that's true." Admitted Aaron. "He speaks telepathically, and can shoot these black fireballs. He can also summon this mean sword-"
Shadow interrupted him by summoning the deadly spiked blade he had used earlier when trying to smash Aaron. Aaron jumped, and Rose giggled at his surprise.
"That one?" She asked.
"That one." Aaron confirmed.
"Excuse me!" Exclaimed Kaylori. "I don't mean to barge in on your chummy conversation, but I think we have company!"
Sure enough, faint noises could be heard from the darkness behind them.
Aaron was about to yell "run" when Rose grabbed him.
"There are others." She said, hurriedly.
Aaron paused.
"What?"
"I escaped from a... I think it was a laboratory." Rose said, picking at her tattered clothes. "I remember there were one or two other people there that weren't insane."
"And the rest were?" Aaron asked. He rolled his eyes. "This just keeps getting better and better. Can you lead us to it?"
"No!" Rose exclaimed. "I only just got away! I don't want to go back!"
Aaron looked Rose directly in the eyes.
"You may not want to go back, but what will happen to the people still there if you don't?" He reminded her.
Rose looked at the ground in shame. "Are you sure?" She asked quietly.
"Yes. If there is anyone else still really there, we have to help them. It's the right thing to do." He said.
Rose nodded. "Okay."
"Right." Said Aaron, standing up again. "Let's all-"
"Can't do that!" Said Kaylori. "Whatever's out there is coming closer. Me and Vector can lead it away, while you free everyone!"
"Are you sure about this?" Asked Aaron. "We have no way of communicating, and no-!"
"Just go, we'll be fine!" Yelled Vector.
Not wanting to endanger his friend's lives any more than they already were, Aaron nodded.
"Come on." He said.
Rose ran ahead, knowing the way. Aaron was right behind her, and Shadow was flying over both of them, watching the surroundings.
As Aaron ran, he felt both jubilant and trepidatious . The prospect of people like him, with maelstrom abilities, drove him forward.
However, he was drawn back to the present situation as Rose exclaimed "Woa!"
The next second, Aaron skidded to a halt as he saw what Rose and Shadow were looking at.
"You have got to be kidding me." He sighed.
The trio had found themselves in front of a hole that led directly into space.
They seemed to be on another floating chunk of Crux, and right now they were staring into the heart of the Nimbus System. The maelstrom resided, in all it's chaotic glory, in the center of every landmass. With a start, Aaron realised that it was the maelstrom which was ironically keeping the system together. Without it, all the pieces of Crux would have flown off into space long ago.
As they marvelled, a roar sounded behind them, bringing their thoughts crashing back down to the present.
"What do we do?" Cried Rose.
"We have to jump!" Yelled Aaron.
"Into SPACE?" Exclaimed Rose
"Where else?!" Retorted Aaron, before grabbing her and jumping.
Will's eyes snapped open.
Looking around, he seemed to be in a relatively dire predicament. He found himself in some kind of small, transparent tube, which had disabled gravity. After recovering from the sensation of not standing on solid ground, Will took a look at his surroundings. The area he was in was specialized for containment. Cameras, flashing lights and dozens more holding tubes supported this theory.
Will's next move was to turn his head to the right. Through the hazy glass of two tubes, he could see what looked like another person there. He couldn't see much of her features, but it was clear she was not normal. Every now and then it looked like her arms would begin to morph into something else, but then get forced back into position by some unseen force. To his left, he could see some strange creature that was no longer anything apart from a mess of living being.
Will was brought back to the present by a figure walking towards, and then stopping in front of, his holding tube. The person peered into Will's eyes, and through the dingy glass he could see someone in an Assembly uniform staring at him. The person seemed to raise a pad and write something, before placing a pair of spectacles on his head and leaning closer to stare at Will
"I wouldn't try anything if I were you." Said the person.
Will tried to reply, but found himself unable to speak.
"Please." Said the man. "Don't make any attempts to reply. The gas being pumped in your tube, while allowing you to breath, prohibits your ability to talk. Like I said, I wouldn't try ANYTHING."
After seeing that the man was right, will stopped trying to speak.
"Thank you." Said the man. "Now, I've taken the liberty of placing a number of nanomachines inside your brain. One wrong move, and... let's just say your intelligence will drastically decrease. Is that clear?"
Will, glaring at the man, nodded.
"Now," Continued the man, "I want to talk to you. I want to explain a few things to you. Doubtlessly you are confused, and I feel the least you deserve for your courage thus far is a reasonable explanation for what you have seen so far."
"First of all, you're probably thinking: "How is Doctor Overbuild on the side of the Maelstrom? How is one of the faction leaders being controlled by the Darkitecht? The answer, unfortunately, is simple. He isn't."
Will's confusion must have shown on his face, because the man laughed out loud.
"Ha! You're even more confused now, aren't you? I'll make things simple, and give you two piece of information. Number one. The Doctor has seen the chaos of this universe first-hand. He's been on the front lines. He knows the full extent of the maelstrom, and chaos, and he has a very good idea of it's capabilities. Number two. Doctor Overbuild and Baron Typhonus were childhood friends, and the quest to the Imagination Nexus was originally their idea. The only reason Duke ended up in charge was because he was the natural leader amongst them."
As Will thought, the man watched him intently through the glass. There were a few moments of silence, whilst Will processed the information that he had received. Eventually, he put the pieces together, and glanced at the man.
"You've figured it out!" Said the man. "Excellent!"
"The Doctor is trying, essentially, to do good. He believes that with his dreams and imagination, and the Darkitecht's power, he will be able to create a utopia, and bring balance to the Nimbus System. Unfortunately for you, he's convinced a large number of his faction that it's a good idea. At the same time, Baron Typhonus has been corrupting and twisting the Paradox faction. These statistics mean that roughly a one in four members of the Nexus Force..."
The man grinned evilly.
"Are traitors."
Will stared in horror at what the man was saying. It couldn't be true. It couldn't. But he knew that whoever this person was, whatever he wanted, he wasn't here to lie.
The man laughed again at Will.
"Oh yes. And it only gets worse for you." He sighed.
"The faction members who have turned traitor are now guarding the entire landmass you find yourself in. This means that as well as maelstrom to worry about, there are a number of people standing in your way."
"Oh, and before you ask, I'm telling you this because I've been ordered to. Overbuild sent me here specifically to give you this information, to taunt you. He knows you don't have a hope of stopping him."
As Will listened, he vaguely noticed the door open behind the man, who didn't seem to notice.
"That's right again. You're going to be stuck here, with all the Doctor's test subjects, whilst he brings ultimate order to the world. And yes, I believe in what he says. There must be chaos within the order. But this war must also end. The Doctor is the only one who can make that happen. He-"
The man was suddenly cut short. There was a clang, and Will saw a body slide to the floor. He then saw another figure, much smaller, approach the cell he was in. There was a pause, and Will heard a distinct hissing sound coming from around him. The tube suddenly opened, gravity started working again, and Will flopped onto the floor, coughing.
"That." He gasped. "Wasn't a pleasant experience."
"It didn't look very nice." Agreed his rescuer.
Will looked up to see Anna standing over him. He held a wrench in one hand, and Will realised that she had knocked his tormenter out with it.
"Anna?" He asked. She nodded.
"But we left you in Nexus Tower!" Will exclaimed. "How did you-?"
"I followed you when you were sneaking around." Explained Anna. "When you fell down that hole, I used the rocket to track you. Once here, it was only a matter of using the remote tracker I have to find out which room you were in."
"But..." Will still couldn't get his head round parts of Anna's story. "When did you learn to fly a rocket, and hotwire a tracker? And when was I specifically trackable?"
Anna rolled her eyes. "Those flying simulator games I play are based off actual rocket controls, the tracker is detachable, and you're specifically trackable because everyone is. Their Nexus Force equipment is equipped with small trackers in case a situation arises when they're needed."
Will tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I'm in civvies." He pointed out.
Anna raised her eyes. "You never go anywhere without that hat, which happens to be a piece of rank three Adventurer gear. You're detectable wearing that."
"Wow." Said Will, finally at a loss for words. "That's impressive."
"It's not THAT impressive." Said Anna.
"Did you miss the bit where you, a ten year-old girl, whacked a full-grown man on the back of the head with a lug wrench?" Will reminded her.
Anna looked sheepishly at the ground for a few moments.
"Okay, it was impressive." She admitted.
"Yeah, it really was." Will looked at Anna with a newfound sense of admiration. Despite her age, she hadn't only looked after herself, but she had ended up saving him.
It was at this point the wall caved in.
The explosion was so forceful that Anna and Will were blown off their feet. Will quickly sheltered Anna with his own body as rubble fell around them. Eventually the dust cleared, and Will saw three people standing in the hole. There was Aaron, Shadow, and a girl that Will didn't know.
"I sincerely hope everybody saw that," exclaimed Aaron wildly, "Because I will NOT be doing that again."
"Aaron?" Asked Will, rising to his feet.
"Will!" Exclaimed Aaron. "Buddy, it's good to see you." Then a puzzled look appeared on Aaron's face.
"We thought you were captured. Did you escape?"
"Actually, I was freed." Said Will, and turned to reveal Anna standing behind him.
"Anna..." Aaron gasped. Suddenly he was on his knees, embracing his sister.
The five people, now reunited, scoured the room looking for items of interest. Each person there had their own goals and objectives, and looked around for them.
"No sign of Plue." Reported Aaron after all the tubes had been checked.
"There could be more rooms like this?" Suggested Will, half-heartedly.
Aaron shrugged. "Maybe."
Rose had been looking in the pods as well, and now exclaimed, "This person isn't insane!"
"How do you know?" Asked Anna as the group hurried over.
"I was..." Rose faltered. "I was here for a while. I've seen everyone, the best and the worst."
"Well, let him out then!" Exclaimed Will. "We can't just leave a mostly normal person in there to remain a prisoner!"
Shadow immediately flipped a switch on the wall, the tube opened with a hiss, and the man inside fell straight onto the smooth, white floor.
There was a *smack!* as he flopped into contact, and the group winced. However, he picked himself up, brushed down his clothes, and glanced around at the surrounding people. Aaron and Will glanced at each other as he took in Shadow's appearance, Rose's haggard expression and Aaron's left foot being unexplainably on fire from their dramatic entrance without showing any kind of emotion.
"Hello," He said. "My name's Jacen..."
There was a brief pause, and then Jacen slowly fell to the ground once again.
"Is he alright?" Exclaimed Anna.
"Should be fine." Remarked Rose. "People do this when they get out of those after a certain period of time. He's been in here for a while."
"Okay, any others worth taking?" Asked Aaron.
"That one." Pointed Rose, to the tank that Will had been beside. The team watched as the girl inside's arms once again began to polymorph, then return to normal. Will looked nervously at Rose.
"You sure?" He asked.
"Pretty sure." Said Rose.
This time the girl didn't even say anything before falling unconscious.
"That it?" Asked Aaron.
Rose nodded.
"Yeah, everyone else here is either insane, evil, or not really alive."
The group started pulling the comatose subjects out of the lab, but instantly Will could tell there was going to be a problem. They couldn't support two unconscious people without everyone helping, and then they would have no defence if they were spotted.
As they began to walk down corridors, Will paused when he noticed a room that was strikingly different from any other room they had passed. Instead of being clean and light, it was wooden on the inside, filled with dusty shelves, and dilapidated. However, on those shelves Will could see all sorts of equipment and gadgets, which might have come in useful.
"Guys, there's something there." He pointed out, and explained his suspicions to the rest of the group.
"Good idea." Said Rose when he had finished. "We'll hide in this room here. You and Aaron can look for anything that might be useful."
"Works for me." Shrugged Aaron. Anna nodded, whilst Shadow said nothing.
Aaron and Will entered the room, and started looking around the shelves. They stuffed the equipment they found into their packs and prepared to leave, but Aaron stared at the back wall, encompassing the whole room in his vision.
"There's one thing I don't quite understand." He mused. "Just now, a strange smell has appeared. It wasn't hear earlier. And it smells like food. Is it candy? Some kind of consumable? Perhaps even Armour Shine?"
Will turned round, and realised what Aaron was talking about.
"Toffee Apple." He said.
Aaron turned around to see what Will was looking at.
There was a pair of Assembly soldiers standing in front of the entrance. Even as Will and Aaron watched, a third man appeared. Only, this man was almost twice as tall as anyone else in the room. He towered over both Aaron and Will, and the two Assembly grunts, one of whom was holding the tell-tale toffee apple in his hand.
Unfazed, Aaron pointed first at the big man, then at the two grunts.
"Meat?" He asked Will. "Or potatoes?"
"I'm a vegetarian." Will replied, and was about to move when Aaron shot a disdainful glance at him.
"Really?" Aaron asked. "That's your big line?"
Will turned to the Assembly troops.
"Give us a moment."
They nodded.
Will turned his attention back to his stubborn friend.
"Okay, would you prefer "My ten minutes are up?""
"Not only is that one of the most nonsensical things I've ever heard," Aaron declared, "But I feel like that's plagiarism of some kind..."
"Whatever." Said Will, and abruptly doffed his hat and flung it at one of the Assembly goons. It smacked him on the nose, and he reeled as a result. The other one approached Will angrily, only for Will to swing his fist and catch him on the jaw. Unfortunately, the first man recovered and flung himself onto Will's back.
While this was happening, the big man approached Aaron, who looked still unfazed as they stared each other down.
Suddenly, Aaron flattened his hand and started slapping the giant with his palm, catching him several times across the face and chest. The tall man tried to retaliate, reaching forward, but the reaches were clumsy and Aaron easily whacked them aside.
Will found an Assembly fist connecting with his face, and fell backwards before recovering and hitting his opponent so hard, the grunt went careering off to the side. In the meantime, Aaron attempted to whack the big man again, but the giant calmly grabbed his wrist out of the air. This prompted Aaron to sock him on the jaw in an attempt to free himself. Unfortunately, this only enraged his assailant who lifted him clean off the ground.
As Aaron's feet left the wooden floor he couldn't help but squeal in a comedic fashion, before finding himself being flung at a table so strongly that he slid across the whole surface and off the other end, taking every item that was previously on the table with him.
Glass, Metal and Wood showered Aaron as he rammed into the wall. On the other side of the room, Will pulled off his coat and wrapped it round one of the Assembly's head, before grabbing a frying pan from a shelf and repeatedly smacking the goon with it.
As Aaron attempted to struggle to his feet, the big man slowly approached him. Aaron quickly grabbed a metal pole, before stumbling and feigning being dazed.
"One moment please." He slurred to the giant.
"I'm in no hurry." Said the giant, civilised.
Aaron struck fast, first knocking away the giant's arms before whacking him in the leg with the pole. The giant fell, but before Aaron could strike the pole became caught on a support, and the big man grabbed the pole.
Will found himself being strangled by one of the Assemblys, as the other one came at him from behind. Unfazed, Will leapt and kicked the approaching grunt in the face before flipping right over the first, knocking him to the ground.
Beside him, Aaron and the big man were wrestling for the pole, when the giant pushed unexpectedly, smacking Aaron in the face with the pole. Now legitimately dazed, Aaron offered little resistance as he was flipped onto the table, before the burly man started trying to drag him off by the legs.
Will was grabbed by a grunt, and the two made a beeline for the nearest shelf, knocking several glass bottles and items to the floor. Through the gap they had made, Will could see Aaron being dragged along.
"You alright?" He asked.
"Never better." Declared Aaron sarcastically as he held onto the end of the table with all his might.
"Hold still." Ordered Will before punching the grunt and quickly pulling out his whip. Before Aaron could protest, Will cracked the whip and it flew towards Aaron's assailant, wrapping round his arm and dragging him to one side, demolishing a shelf entirely. Unfortunately, the giant didn't seem to appreciate this, and turned to attack Will instead.
After dodging a couple of furious punches, Will appeared to be saved as Aaron leapt forwards in an attempt to tackle Will's assailant. However, the grunts had picked themselves up and now flung themselves in Aaron's way, to stop him from helping Will.
On their own, it didn't take long for the giant to overpower Will, grabbing his neck and shoving him against a wall. Will kicked in retaliation, but he was losing both air and strength fast, so his retaliation attempts amounted to little.
In front of him, he could see Aaron smacking the goon's heads together, and they fell like sacks of potatoes. Aaron then, instead of helping Will straight away, rummaged around on the shelves. Before Will had a significant amount of time to wonder, Aaron re-emerged, holding what looked like a disastrous attempt at the recreation of a tuning fork. However, when Aaron pointed it, maelstrom electricity flowed through both him and it, and struck the big man hard. The giant fell to the ground, comatose, and Will gasped for breath.
"Aaron." He said finally. "What is that?"
His friend held up the device and scrutinized it.
"I don't know." He said at last.
"Why didn't you use your powers until then?" Will exclaimed, realising that the fight could have been a lot shorter and easier. Aaron snorted in derision.
"Plue warned me that Overbuild was interested in me, and now you say he's in cahoots with the Darkitecht. I'd rather not reveal myself in a way which would put us all in more danger than we already were, especially to members of his faction. Kaylori excluded."
"Makes sense." Shrugged Will. "Have to admit, I'm surprised none of them sent out any kind of distress call..."
He trailed off when he saw the body of one of the grunts. On his wrist was a device which was currently showing a red exclamation mark. Abruptly the whole room, and perhaps the entire facility, lit up in a bright red light as an alarm blared.
"You jinxed it." Said Aaron glumly.
Crimson lights and raging sirens shattered the tranquil atmosphere that had previously been the forefront of the facility.
Stumbling, Will and Aaron raced across the corridor and entered the room containing the rest of the group. Kicking open the door, Aaron sprinted inside the close space.
"We need to go, NOW." He said.
"What about Plue?" Asked Will, as everyone frantically began to rise.
Aaron grimaced. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few. Right now I need to ensure everybody's safety, and then I'm coming back for her."
"And... Vector and Kaylori?" Said Roseanne hesitantly.
"I don't know." Shrugged Aaron. "I wish I did, but the truth is they could be anywhere. It would be a waste of time trying to look for them. We just have to hope they made it out on their own."
"We can't just-" Rose was interrupted by the waking up of Jacen and the other girl from the containment sector. Jacen looked round, noted the blaring alarms and flashing red lights, and raised an eyebrow as he looked at the assembled people.
"Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire, what on crux have you been doing?" He exclaimed, amused and annoyed at the same time.
Anna rolled her eyes. "No gratitude. None."
Meanwhile, the other girl opened her eyes drearily, then stumbled backwards, obviously disorientated from her change of location and the sirens/lights
"Who are you? Where am I? What's going on?" She said, her voice growing louder and more inquisitive every yell.
"Not enemies, an underground facility, and we've been discovered." Aaron garbled in response before Shadow grabbed the unsteady girl and placed her over his shoulder in a fireman's lift.
"Hey!" She yelled, but Shadow ignored it and began to fly out of the room.
One by one Shadow (With his passenger), Rose, Will, Anna, Jacen and Aaron flooded into the corridor.
"Exit signs point that way." Volunteered Will, and the team ran down the corridor.
The group sprinted (and flew) down the hallway, as the alarms continued to blare and turn the world crimson. Footsteps sounded as their feet grazed against the metal ground. As fortune would have it, the entire base's security system had also been set off, and even now blast doors were descending and cutting corridors off from each other.
Despite Aaron lazering through one, Will hotwiring another and Shadow slicing through a third, they couldn't keep running and performing evasive maneuverers forever. Their energy was almost expended by this point, and fatigue was beginning to set in. However, as they passed an abandoned security office, an idea came into Aaron's head.
Quickly, he ran into the room and began searching, hoping that he would find the option he was looking for. Suddenly he saw it, protected by a steel case that was only unlockable by a key, which presumably the guards were in the possession of.
After melting the case, Aaron smacked the button and then returned to his friends, who had only just noticed he wasn't among them.
"What was that?" Asked Jacen as they kept running.
"I disabled all holding pod security." Aaron explained.
"What?" Asked Jacen.
"The prisoners are free. With so much chaos it'll be much easier to slip away unnoticed."
"I hope you're right." Sighed Jacen. "Some of those things are hardly people. The Darkitecht's warped experiments were in some of those pods, and now that they're released-"
"Yeah, yeah, I get the picture." Said Aaron hurriedly. "Thanks for the morale boost."
"Thanks for the sarcasm."
"Touché."
Aaron rolled his eyes at Jacen as they kept running, but decided to continue the conversation anyway. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.
"I'm assuming you were a prisoner here for a reason?"
"You assume correctly." Said Jacen. "I happen to be strangely immune to maelstrom infection, so my theory is that Overbuild brought me in here so he could work on a cure for the maelstrom."
"The depressing thing," explained Aaron, "is that would be a really good thing to get behind if it weren't for the whole major kidnapping and experimenting operation."
"Yeah." Agreed Jacen. They kept running for a few moments, before Jacen said "Do you even know where we're going?"
"Not really. My idea was just to blunder around until we found something promising."
"That's not the most effective strategy."
"But it's the story of my life, pal. My life is based on a true story, and this story is being played out now. Which is also my life. Which is the story." He paused for a moment. "I'm thinking I've been messed with by a time traveller."
Will himself was about to butt in, when another security door slammed down in front of them, causing the group to halt and giving one or two members a much-needed chance to recuperate.
"So how do we get through this?" Asked Will, as Aaron and Jacen stepped forward.
"Leave it to me." Shrugged Aaron. But before any lasers could be unleashed, a circular portion of metal inexplicably dropped from the ceiling. Through it jumped Kaylori, Vector, a samurai, a shinobi and another man in vaguely Sentinel-themed gear.
"How?" Asked Will.
"Who?" Asked Jacen.
"Why?" Asked Anna.
Aaron didn't say anything, but rather ran over to and embraced Plue, who had removed her helmet and revealed her identity.
"No way!" Aaron finally yelled when he stepped back. "How did-"
"We find her?" Finished Kaylori. "Not hard. She was in the same cell block Vector's friends were in."
Aaron groaned inwardly as he realised more tedious introductions were soon to be underway.
"I see we've both met with more company." Vector mused, looking at Jacen and the other girl still being carried by Shadow.
"Indeed we have." Said Will. "This is Jacen, who was down here because he's immune to maelstrom infection, and... we don't know who she is yet." He sighed.
"That's because you haven't ASKED yet!" She yelled irritably. Shadow put her down and she turned towards them, brushing her unkempt dark brown hair out of her eyes.
"My name's Gaia, thanks for asking, and as to what I can do... There's polymorphing my limbs, varied control over maelstrom substances such as flames, lightning and mist, and the strength of my powers varies depending on how much maelstrom is in the area. Comprende?"
There was a brief silence, as all the other people stared at Gaia, with the exception of Aaron whispering to Will:
"That was what I meant when I said organisation!"
"Well... thanks, I suppose..." Said Will, unsure how to react to an such an outpouring of information.
Gaia sighed. "You're welcome. I guess I should be more thankful that you're rescuing me-I was there for years."
"Well, at least you're amongst friends." Offered Anna. Gaia shrugged.
"Wouldn't call them friends just yet."
"So who are these people?" Asked Aaron impatiently, indicating Vector's friends. "I'd rather just get this over with, as we are slightly pressed for time."
Vector nodded.
"This is Dilip." He introduced the shinobi, who bowed. "And this is Stu." He continued, pointing at the sentinel who dramatically loaded a gun just after his name was revealed-coincidentally or on purpose, no-one had any idea.
"Nice to meet the pair of you." Said Will politely. "Now can we please-"
Will was cut short by the door opening of its own accord to reveal a small army of mostly Assembly and Paradox soldiers, with a few exceptions. At the head was...
"Doctor Albert Overbuild." Growled Aaron.
"I wish I could say it is a pleasure to talk to you again," sighed Will, "But it really isn't."
"Touché." Said Overbuild. "I'm still trying to get over how inexplicably rude you and my former assistant were, spying on me in the privacy of my own Nexus Tower portion!
"It's not THAT much privacy!" Protested Kaylori. "That place is huge!"
"Silence!" Declared Overbuild loudly. Aaron suddenly felt a wave of rage flow through him, and he felt his fingertips involuntarily catch alight once again. This time, however, the rage was far from inexplicable.
"You have been plotting against the Nexus Force, freeing dangerous creatures and prisoners-"
"I resent that!" Shot Gaia angrily.
"And, if left unchecked, your powers and abilities could bring ruin to all we have built over the years."
The Doctor sounded so passionate that Aaron almost believed him for a moment.
"Sorry Overbuild, but I can't stand hypocrisy. And considering you're in league with the Darkitecht, that is some of the most hypocritical stuff I've ever heard in my live."
As a show of defiance, the people behind Aaron raised their weapons/fists, but it seemed futile. Twelve people, against a quarter of the Nexus Force?
Aaron snapped his fingers, and suddenly a combination of fireballs, lightning and bullets pelted the corrupt troopers, who scattered for cover behind piles of rubble and inside different corridors. Gaia was in front, her eyes burning with a purple fury as she let lose all of her power on her captors. One shinobi tried to impale her from behind, but she swiftly turned around and started a bizarre sword fight with the doubtless confused shinobi.
As the rest of the minifigs attacked, Aaron noticed Kaylori hanging back, her hand on her head. Concerned she might have been hit, he sprinted over.
"You all right?" He asked.
"Yeah, I just feel... weird..." She slurred, still clutching her head. She blinked, and Aaron gasped.
Her eyes were, once again, reptilian slits.
Aaron leapt back in surprise.
"Woa!" He yelled out loud, then immediately regretted it as Kaylori looked up at him, startled.
"What? What is it?" She asked.
"Erm..." He thought frantically. "Nothing..."
He thought Kaylori would pursue the matter further, but to his surprise she just shrugged.
"Whatever. I'll be fine, go and help the others."
Aaron obediently turned around and viewed the fray for himself. He was unsurprised to find absolute carnage, as his group defended themselves with every ounce of formidable strength. Gaia was still leading, with Stu and Jacen backing her up. Dilip and Vector kept the left side open, whilst Rose and Will took the right. Shadow stood in the center with his sword, whilst Plue was protecting Anna from the chaos that was now raging.
However, it was clear that they were not likely to win. They were heavily outnumbered, and the traitors had by this point recovered and were pushing back. Thinking quickly, Aaron used his lasers to carve a hole in one of the walls to the right.
"This way!" He motioned. Taking the hint, the team began to flee into the hole and subsequently into the next room. Shadow grabbed Anna and flew quickly through the doorway. An engineer tried to grab Will, but Aaron webbed the grunt in the face, enabling Will to escape. Once they were all in the next room, Gaia focused and a wall of fire erupted, blocking the way.
"There's not enough maelstrom here!" She yelled, perspiring with the effort. "I can't hold it for longer!"
"Let me!" Yelled Aaron over the roar of the flames. Stepping forward, he began adding his flames to hers, and soon the wall encompassed the entire hole, trapping their pursuers on the other side. The two of them slid to the floor, panting, and Aaron turned to the group.
"Should... buy us some time..." He gasped.
"I sincerely hope so." Muttered Stu as the flames drowned out the yelling of the angry traitors.
"What do we do now?" Asked Kaylori. Aaron glanced worriedly at her, before breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that her eye seemed to be back to normal. Clambering to his feet, he suddenly realised with a jolt that most of the Assembled people present were looking at him, potentially for orders.
"What?" He asked.
"I think they're looking to you." Plue murmured beside him.
"I know that." He muttered back, "But WHY? It's not like I've proved myself the most competent, or strategic, or-"
"All your life, people try to take accomplishments away from you." Plue scolded him. "Don't take them away from yourself. Some of the people here know you already, and know you're clever and resourceful. Most of them trust you, or have fought beside you, and know what you're capable of. People respect power, and you seem to have a lot of it." She finished, giving him a meaningful glance.
Aaron awkwardly put his hand behind his head. "Um, yeah... I probably should have told you sooner."
Plue smiled. "Don't worry about it." Then her smile faded. "One thing though. Don't go out of your way to protect me, or anyone. We can take care of ourselves."
To emphasise the point, Will cracked his whip and Gaia started to allow bolts of lightning to dance around on her fingers.
Aaron nodded. "Fair point. But there is one person whom I insist on protecting."
Aaron outstretched his hand, and felt Anna's tender fingers slip into his.
"Anna stays with me." He declared, and felt satisfaction as he saw the assembled people nod.
"Okay." Aaron said. "I think we need some kind of plan. Does anyone know about Overbuild's plan?"
To his surprise, Will raised his hand. "Yeah, I know his intentions."
"How?"
"Long story.
Aaron folded his arms. "It's a good job I adore stories then, isn't it Will?"
Reluctantly, Will confessed to Aaron everything that the man had told him whilst he was a prisoner, with Anna confirming what he said, having been in the room for the majority of the time. When he finished, Aaron began frantically pacing up and down the floor, scratching his head and obviously in deep thought. Gaia leaned over to Plue and asked:
"What is he doing? He looks like he's having a controlled spasm."
"That's his "I'm concentrating and in thought." motion." Plue explained. "It's how he comes up with strategies."
"Whatever he dreams up, I hope it works." Gaia hissed.
Plue nodded optimistically. "It should."
"And you trust him?"
"I trust him with my life."
"Do you reckon he knows what he's doing?"
There was a brief silence, before Plue admitted,
"I'm not sure I would go that far."
Aaron re-joined his comrades, and signalled for their attention.
"Okay everyone, my though is that we should split into two groups."
The group looked up-this was not what many of them were expecting.
"I've been studying the signs on the floor," He revealed, waving a hand to indicate the lines streaking across the ground. There was a murmur of understanding, and Aaron continued.
"From the looks of it, there's a teleporter not far from here, just a few corridors down. I think that one team should use the teleporter to get back to Nexus Tower, and warn the rest of the Nexus Force about what's going on."
He turned to Will.
"I'd like Will to lead this time. Vector?" He asked, and the buccaneer looked up.
"You, Dilip, Stu and Kaylori go with him." He ordered, neglecting to inform them of the strange lizard-y things he had seen going on. There were far weirder things going on.
"I can do that." Said Will confidently. Behind him, the minifigs Aaron had chosen to go with him nodded in agreement.
"Oh, by the way." Said Aaron. "I want you to take Anna with you."
"What!" Anna exclaimed. "That's not fair, I can help, I can-"
"Anna." Said Aaron slowly, kneeling down so he was her level. He gazed at her lovingly. "You are the bravest person I've ever met. You're intelligent, kind and courageous. And I don't want you to throw that away."
He indicated with his hand to the group he had chosen to go with him.
"What we're doing is extremely dangerous. If we succeed, the war might finish. But if we fail..." He tailed off, unable to put into words what she already knew.
Anna's sky blue eyes lit up. "But then, all the more reason for me to come! You need all the help you can get!"
Aaron didn't answer. Instead he looked Anna directly in the eyes, placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled comfortingly.
"Listen to me. Do you know why big siblings are born? What their purpose is?"
Anna shook her head. Aaron leaned in close and whispered in her ear:
"To protect the younger ones that come after them."
He leaned back, and looked at Anna again.
"That's what I was born to do. And right now, the best way I can do that is for you to go to Nexus Tower with Will, and go to safety. Okay?"
Anna looked at him solemnly, and nodded.
"Okay."
There was a brief pause, and then Anna flung herself into Aaron's arms. Aaron returned the embrace, holding in tears, and murmured,
"Stay safe, Anna."
"I will." She whispered. "I promise."
Aaron rose to his feet again, as Anna obediently walked over to Will's side. Will and Aaron shook hands, and then Will's group walked down the corridor towards the teleporter. Before they rounded the bend, Anna gave Aaron a final, desperate glance. Then she was gone.
For a few moments, no-one spoke. The flimsy ceiling lights flickered as Aaron stood stock still, staring at the place where he had last seen his sister. There he remained, motionless, until he heard the tell-tale energy hum of a teleport. Once it finished, he turned to the assembled people.
"Come on." He said brusquely. "Let's get this over with."
Plue quietly walked up to Aaron's side and slipped her hand into his.
"Did you mean that?" She asked quietly.
Aaron looked down to her.
"I meant every word." He said softly.
"Good." Plue nodded, satisfied, and then re-joined the other people.
Aaron continued staring for a bit, then shook his head and regained his composure.
"Right! Our mission!"
The others all looked at him expectantly.
Aaron wringed his fingers together. "It's essentially taking down the Darkitecht."
There was a minor uproar when he announced this. Gaia shouted "Yeah!" enthusiastically, Rose paled but said nothing, Jacen loudly exclaimed "That's stupid!", Plue gasped and Shadow remained emotionless.
Aaron waved his hands to calm everyone down. "Sorry, sorry, that was a slight bombshell, I know, but hear me out!"
He continued as the rowdy people finally quietened down and listened.
"The way I see it, we have two problems. Doctor Overbuild's allegiance with the Darkitecht, and the Maelstrom's existence. Now, if we manage to sort out the second and latter problem, namely the Darkitecht himself, then the first will no longer exist. Overbuild will be outmatched and we should be able to defeat him with little trouble.
Gaia nodded. "I say it's about time someone did something around here, and that's the particular something I've wanted to do for a very long time."
Shadow said nothing, but merely floated over to Aaron and positioned himself beside him, to show everyone who he supported.
Plue nodded. "It makes sense, I suppose. Besides, I wouldn't back out now that we've come so far."
Jacen sighed, unhappy with the unfolding events.
"You lot are going to be the death of me one of these days, aren't you?" He grumbled. "Fine. I'll go."
Rose glanced around nervously, before slowly shuffling towards Aaron and offering her hand to shake. Aaron shook it warmly, and turned to his team.
"Okay!" He announced. "Follow me!"
**********
"Watch out!" Alerted Jacen. "Patrol ahead!"
Aaron flattened himself against the wall and held his breath as a rouge squad of Paradox soldiers marched past his hiding place. After the footsteps faded, he cautiously stuck his head out of the gap and looked around.
"All clear." Jacen reported over his earpiece.
"Thanks." Aaron murmured back before re-entering the main corridor. Behind him, Gaia, Plue and Shadow emerged from their refuge looking as exhausted as he felt.
"We can't keep this up." Plue wheezed. "There are too many patrols, and we've made little progress."
"That's because of the insane amount of security this facility has." Informed Rose. "We've had to mostly lead you in circles to make sure you don't get spotted."
"Well, we appreciate it, even if Gaia won't admit that." Sighed Aaron. "How's things on your end?"
"Decent." Replied Rose from the other end of the radio. "I have to admit, Jacen's a dab hand with some of this tech. He's successfully hacked the security cameras, the earpieces we gave you, and the door that leads to this control room!"
"I'll admit, it was kind of impressive." Said Jacen, sounding pleased with himself."
"Yeah yeah, great work and all that, where do we go next?" Interrupted Gaia.
"Right." Jacen sounded a little more on task now. "Walk to the penultimate exit on this level and take a left."
As Aaron walked, he heard Gaia say:
"How can you be sure we're going in the right direction?"
"The scanners in here indicate the highest concentration of maelstrom in this facility is located in a specific area. Given what sort of powerful maelstrom-y things are in here, it can only mean the Darkitecht. If you don't trust me..." Jacen tailed off. "I've got an idea. Your powers get stronger or weaker depending on the amount of maelstrom in the area, right?"
"Right." Gaia confirmed.
"Could you use that factor, in any shape or form, to lead the team to the Darkitecht? That way you won't have to rely on me if you don't want to."
Gaia thought about Jacen's proposition, before admitting,
"That COULD work..."
"Great." Said Jacen from the control room. "Now you won't have to listen to me all the time if you don't want to."
"Whoopee." Gaia murmured before switching her earpiece off.
Holding out her hand, Gaia focused and the group watched as a faint mist gathered over her hand. As it solidified, it began to trail off in all directions. But in one direction it started to become more obvious, and less clear.
"That way." Declared Gaia, before marching off in said direction. The others followed suit, save for Aaron who hung back and talked to Jacen.
"This is the right way, right?" He asked.
Jacen nodded. "Yeah, she's going the same way you would have gone anyway."
Aaron shrugged. "Well, anything for reassurance, I suppose."
"You got that right."
Aaron quickly caught up with the others, and they continued to walk through the facility.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps. Another patrol! At the same time, he heard Jacen yell into his earpiece, "Get to cover!"
"There's no time!" Responded Aaron, and a second later a cluster of maelstrom rounded the corner. Aaron winced, and prepared for a massacre.
But nothing happened.
Aside from one or two shifty looks from stromlings, they were completely passed by. Aaron was about to ask what that was, but he looked down and understood.
Thanks to Rose's power, Aaron, Gaia and Plue were coated in a layer of maelstrom which made them look like any old maelstrom-infected being. Shadow remained the same, but Rose obviously hadn't seen any point in trying to disguise him, with his black-flamed form and crimson eye slits.
"Thanks Rose." Plue sighed into her communicator.
"No problemo." Replied Rose's voice, sounding tinny over their communication. "You're almost there, guys!"
"Great." Muttered Gaia. "Now we get morale support."
"Better than nothing, right?" Shot Rose. Gaia sighed.
"I guess."
"Listen, we'll contact you again when you arrive in th-"
There was a sharp silence.
"Rose?" Aaron spoke into the earpiece. "Jacen? Anyone?"
All he heard was a hissing static.
"That." Murmured Plue. "Is NOT good news."
Aaron turned to Gaia. "Gaia. You're on. Lead us to the Darkitecht."
Gaia raised an eyebrow, but it was Plue who voiced what they were both thinking.
"You intend to just leave our friends?"
"I have complete faith that Jacen and Rose can protect themselves." Replied Aaron solemnly. "Besides, we're probably closer to the Darkitecht now than we are to them. Going back would only cost us the one chance we have of ending this war."
Plue folded her arms. "I still say we need to do something."
Aaron rolled his eyes. "Fine."
He then turned to Shadow.
"Find them, and make sure they're safe."
Shadow immediately nodded and flew off.
Gaia stared after him, then turned to Aaron. "You seriously think the three of us will be enough to take down the Darkitecht?"
"No." Aaron replied. "That's why I did two things. Number one, I also telepathically informed Shadow that once he finds the other he should help them come here, and two, sent Will off to fetch the Nexus Force."
"I still have my doubts." Admitted Plue, once Aaron had finished.
"I don't." Replied Gaia. "You're pretty clever, you know that?"
Aaron shrugged awkwardly. "Thank you."
"Now let's keep moving!" Gaia yelled, and marched off before Aaron or Plue could stop her, leaving them with their only option being to follow hurriedly, lest more patrols find them.
"I hope Shadow finds the others with no trouble." Fretted Plue.
"He will." Aaron reassured her. "And we can do this. Trust me."
Plue turned to him. "THAT I can manage."
"Then I shan't ask much more at this time." Aaron replied soothingly. "Just trust me, ok? I'll be fi-"
He stopped as he grimaced and slowed down. Plue turned around and looked at him quizzically. "Are you alright?" She asked.
"Fine." Aaron winced, clutching his chest. "I just... feel..." He paused. Plue waited impatiently for a few moments as Aaron regained his balance. Suddenly, he seemed to recover and began to run on after Gaia. Plue sprinted after him, curious, but all she received was another "fine."
Suspicious, she nevertheless forced it out of her mind as they ran after Gaia, who was eagerly soldiering on ahead. To make matters more difficult, Gaia's excitement soon overcame her to the point where she used the mist to levitate herself to move faster, and any patrolling squads they came across were immediately smashed by the influx of maelstrom Gaia was at the center of.
Finally, they found themselves in front of a huge pair of metallic doors. Plue and Aaron hesitated; Gaia ploughed forwards and smashed clean through the doors, sending one sprawling onto the floor and the other swinging on its hinges.
"DARKITECHT!" Gaia roared, chaos energy spewing from a small tornado around her. The maelstrom presence was so strong here that Gaia found it practically effortless to open her hands and turn them into maelstrom flamethrowers, torching the entire room.
When the flames died down, the trio scanned the room.
There was no-one there.
No Darkitecht, no Overbuild, no soldiers.
Aaron was about to ask what happened, how it happened, what on Crux was going on, when a growl from behind him told him everything he wanted to know.
Another door, stronger, slammed down behind them as the creature-machine hybrids Aaron had fought earlier. As well as the fox, the snake and the wasp, there were several other creatures creeping towards them.
Gaia's eyes burst into flames, and without consulting either of her companions, she leapt into battle.
Gaia moved faster than Aaron or Plue could have imagined. Electricity crackled round her as she sprinted towards the first creature, smashed it across the room, and turned to the next one without even pausing. The snake tried to intervene but received another blast of fire, and it retreated, hissing. The wasp and a falcon both zoomed down from above, but mist enveloped them and they vanished.
A lion, a bear and the fox mashups all charged her at once, but a wall of mist and electricity formed out of nowhere, blocking them off. Perspiration ran down Gaia's brow as she threw everything she had into the battle. Kicking one creature aside, setting another on fire, shocking and paralyzing a third, she fought on. Eventually the snake managed to return and whip its tail across her face, sending her sprawling.
Gaia attempted to rise, but found herself pinned down by two of the creatures whilst the bear loomed over her. Using all her energy, she raised her legs and used her powers to enhance the blow to the extent that the servant of darkness was sent careering into a wall, which bent and broke under the force. The bear dropped to the ground. Gaia turned to one of the creatures pinning her down and, using her eyes as an exit point for the power, she blasted the creature backwards
She stood up, and as she did so tendrils of mist began to rise from the ground, under her control. They grabbed and immobilised the creatures one by one. Bleeding from the cheek thanks to the snake's tail, Gaia raised her head and clenched her fist. Immediately whatever robotics that were inside the creatures failed, and they all dropped, powerless, to the floor. Gaia knelt down and stared at the ground, panting heavily.
"Well done." Came a voice from the shadows.
Aaron shook his head and regained control of himself as the speaker stepped into their view.
It was the Darkitecht.
"Very well done indeed."
"I understand now." Spat Plue, taking a step forward and keeping her hate-filled gaze on the Darkitecht. "This was a trap."
The Darkitecht made no effort to deny her accusation, instead shrugging almost innocently.
"I'll heartedly agree with you. It was a trap. Why not? After all, it appears to have been taken care of by your... friend here."
He walked over to Gaia, who looked up at him with anger and fatigue in her eyes. However, she did not speak.
"I did not predict that she would be with you. I had presumed she would be either still imprisoned or insane by this point." He turned his gaze back on them. "And the others as well, even the turncoat you have dubbed "Shadow." When it comes to gathering allies..."
"You, sir, have truly surpassed my expectations."
Aaron stared at him, emotionless.
"I would say I'm grateful." He declared, "But that would mean accepting a compliment from you, and I don't think I'd like to do something like that."
Instead of losing his temper as Aaron expected, the Darkitecht raised his arms.
"But of course," he crooned, "I apologize for my lack of sensitivity. You are torn, no?"
"Torn?" Aaron repeated, quizzically.
"Torn." Confirmed the Darkitecht. "It must be difficult for you, having the power of your sworn enemy. And WHAT power! One of the most powerful maelstrom creations I've ever encountered, all in that tiny crystal!"
Aaron suddenly drew Oblivion and pointed the razor-sharp blade towards the Darkitecht.
"I am not." He growled. "Any simple "creation.""
The Darkitecht simply looked Aaron directly in the eyes... and then the malevolent gaze moved down to Aaron's chest.
"I wasn't referring to you." He said simply.
Aaron suddenly became aware of a horrible burning sensation in his chest, and he found his legs buckle underneath him. He was vaguely aware of Plue yelling "No!" But that didn't seem to affect him. He was somewhere else, he wasn't here. The next thing he knew, the Darkitecht was standing over him, diamond tipped cane in hand.
Then he felt the strike on his head, and keeled over onto the floor. He realised numbly that he was being hit again and again by the Darkitecht's cane, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. In a vague and melancholy fashion, he concluded that he was currently relying on Plue to assist him, as he was unable to move for some reason, and Gaia has spent all her energy destroying the hybrids.
His faith was not unjustified as he saw, through blurry and sideways vision, Plue step over him with katana drawn, and take on the Darkitecht one-on-one. He tried to tell her to stop, that it was too dangerous, but his mouth wouldn't work. Not only could he not control himself, but he could feel something moving inside of him. It was impossible for him to explain to himself what he was feeling, but he had little doubt there was another force that had been awakened, and one that did not show compassion for its host.
As Plue and the Darkitecht fought, staff against sword, Aaron also noticed Gaia dragging herself towards him. Her dark hair fell around her face, and her eyes revealed a deep weariness and pain as she looked at him.
"Can you stand?" She asked, as he stared at her. "We need to support each other."
Aaron once again attempted to talk, but found himself struck mute. It was as if he had come down with an abrupt case of shell-shock.
"Fine." Gaia grunted, and Aaron gave a small start as he realised that, despite all she had fought, despite her imprisonment and her pain, she was not only walking unaided but actually supporting him as well.
He found the strength to look at her, full of admiration.
"Come on." She muttered.
As Aaron was dragged away by Gaia, he managed to turn around to watch Plue fight.
Despite his girlfriend putting up a remarkable fight, it was clear to Aaron that the fight was still extremely one-sided. The Darkitecht was hardly putting in any effort to fight, casually swinging his cane as Plue attacked ferociously using her katana. She was knocked backwards, but protected herself with a roll, and drew her bow and fired in one flowing motion.
The Darkitecht calmly caught the arrow in mid-air.
He glanced at the flames, and then idly blew on the arrow to put it out. Undeterred, Plue proceeded to fire several more arrows whilst yelling to Gaia and Aaron, "Go! Go! Go!"
Gaia turned to Aaron, and for the first time he saw a genuine sympathetic expression in her eyes.
"Sorry." She smiled, and then Aaron felt himself drop to the ground as Gaia ran to aid Plue.
"Well, isn't that just a punch in the pants." Aaron grumbled to himself. He was still unable to move, and struggled to ignore the sensation that felt like he was at war with himself.
Suddenly, a circular portion of the celling once again dropped down beside Aaron, and down jumped Shadow, Rose and Jacen.
"I'm not going to ask what you're doing down there." Jacen remarked as he glanced down upon Aaron's motionless body.
"Good idea." Aaron remarked. "I'm fine, just go and help the others!"
Shadow immediately nodded and flew towards the Darkitecht, his spiked sword materializing as he went. Jacen reached into his pack and pulled out a space marauder blaster, and Aaron presumed he had stolen it during the brief corridor showdown. With his weapon, Jacen took aim and started to slowly advance towards the fray. Rose, however, nervously glanced over at the fight and then back to Aaron.
"I can't fight." She murmured. "I just... can't."
"...Have to..." Aaron groaned. Rose shook her head stubbornly.
"I physically can't." She confessed. "My powers are for stealth and defence. I'd be useless in a fight."
"Then..." Aaron rasped. "Pro...tect..."
Rose's eyes opened, full of clarity.
"Okay Aaron. I can... I can try."
With that she picked herself up and ran towards the Darkitecht, using her spinjitzu as she did so.
With that dilemma sorted, Aaron tried to regain control of his body, but what he instead found was he had to fight off his own left hand, which seemed intent on strangling him. He was forced to repeatedly smack his own hand with the hilt of Oblivion to prevent it from closing round his throat. Whilst he was doing this, the whole time he felt a burning pain in his chest. which kept spreading all over his body and forcing him to convulse in momentary pain before it faded, only to re-emerge a short time later.
Because of this, Aaron found himself unable to spare many glimpses for the ensuing battle, but he did manage to see, to his satisfaction, his group holding their own against the Darkitecht. As he had suggested, Rose used her powers to shield whoever she could from the Darkitecht's multitude of attacks. Shadow kept lobbing fireballs and hacking at the lord of chaos with his sword, whilst Plue performed a similar routine with her sword and bow.
Jacen mainly stuck to his blaster and other items he had stolen, his only power being immunity to infection. It did come in useful, however, as he had to be shielded considerably less than any of his teammates. Lastly, there was Gaia, who couldn't contribute much due to her low energy levels, but still managed to use fire and lightning to take pot-shots at the Darkitecht whenever he was least expecting it.
Shadow leapt up and scythed his weapon around, forcing the Darkitecht backwards. Plue took the chance to fire a flaming arrow at his back, whilst Gaia blasted him with lighting. The Darkitecht tried to regain his balance but Jacen and Shadow fired at him, knocking him over. It looked like they genuinely stood a chance.
Then things started to go wrong.
As Shadow wheeled round for another attack, the Darkitecht this time was ready and knocked Shadow away. Rose went for him, inside her spinjitzu tornado, but the Lord of Chaos simply reached it and closed his fist around her neck. As Jacen advanced, the Darkitecht threw Rose at him, sending them both to the ground.
The Darkitecht then turned to Gaia, who blasted him in the face with one last magnificent wave of fire - an attack which must have used up all her energy. The Darkitecht simply swatted the flames aside and laughed.
"This is fun, puny people! Do you have any more tricks?"
"Call me the magician." Plue retorted from behind him. The Darkitecht turned around and received a grenade, some armour shine and a few flaming arrows in the face as a reward. He recovered, and advance angrily towards Plue, but Jacen fired the blaster, sending the Darkitecht sprawling onto the floor. He recovered quickly though, and snapped his fingers, tying Jacen and Rose up in electric threads.
Gaia tried to rise, but the Darkitecht waved his hand idly and more maelstrom lightning wrapped itself around her, leaving her immobilised. In one fluid motion the Darkitecht swung his cane, sending Shadow flying across the room so hard when he hit the wall chunks of it fell on top of him, which the Darkitecht used to surround and imprison him.
With just Plue remaining, the samurai raised her katana and whirled it round her head like a helicopter blade. The Darkitecht shot a bolt of lightning at her, but she dodged and flung her sword at him. Just as Aaron thought it was going to hit him, the Darkitecht hit it and it came flying back towards Plue. The blunt end hit her in the stomach and she fell to the ground. The Darkitecht coolly walked over to her and raised his cane, preparing to strike.
This is when Aaron snapped.
However long it was since the group was separated earlier...
Will opened his eyes and blinked, uneasy around the brightly lit Nexus Tower interior when compared to the dark and dingy underground facility he had been in for the last couple of hours.
After several seconds, his eyes adjusted to the light and he glanced at his team. Vector, too, was rubbing his eyes in exasperation. Dilip was on the ceiling (?), Stu was glancing round the room with a pistol at the ready, Kaylori was rubbing her head, and Anna was impatiently tugging on Will's sleeve. He looked down to see her anxious face.
"Help! Remember? Nexus Force! Traitor issues! Come on, Will!"
Will focused himself as he remembered their task.
"You lot!" He yelled. The group immediately stopped faffing around and glanced at Will, awaiting his orders.
"Remember the plan! We need to warn the Nexus Force about what's really happening down there!"
"Good plan, but where do we start?" Butted in Stu.
Will glared at him. "That's what I was coming to. I think we should go to Duke Exeter first. As leader of the Nexus Force, his backing is imperative if we're to take action."
"You sure?" Asked Kaylori. "He might not take kindly to you accusing one of his best friends of collaboration with the Darkitecht. I highly doubt he'd thank you."
"Okay, so there's a risk." Will sighed, his patience running dry. "We face risk all the time. We faced risk there, and it's best we get our side of the story ot Exeter before Overbuild can think up a cover story and make us look like the bad guys."
He waited for more objections, but this time there were none. The group understood his point and were now willing to go along with it.
"Right. Right, right, right." He muttered to himself. Then he looked up to the ceiling.
"Dilip, run ahead and make sure the path is clear."
Dilip nodded before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
"And the rest of us..." Will continued after clearing his throat. "will wait for Dilip."
As the team waited for Dilip to return, Will turned to Vector and Stu, having just figured out what was on his mind.
"Why were you guys taken anyway? It's not like you have an affiliation with the maelstrom, what were you doing down there?
Vector shrugged. "I was down there to rescue my friend, and as for them..."
"We saw too much." Interrupted Stu. "Me and Dilip saw some traitors bundle an escaped test subject to a teleporter. We must have been spotted, because that's all I remember until I was freed. I expect Dilip's story is the same, although I haven't had time to ask him."
Will nodded in understanding as Dilip reappeared in another flash of smoke. However, he didn't bombard Will with information as he had expected. All Dilip said was, "Everyone's gone." and then walked outside the room.
"What do you mean?" Asked Anna, as the people began to leave the room in an attempt to understand what Dilip meant. However, as Will was about to leave; a groan stopped him, and he wheeled round. Kaylori was bent double, hugging herself tightly.
"Kay?" He asked, concerned, as he approached cautiously. "You alrigh-"
He was cut short as Kaylori, with lightning speed, reached out a hand and grabbed Will's wrist tightly. Will looked down and was shocked to see what looked like scales on a patch of Kaylori's hand. She looked up desperately and Will gave another start when he saw her eyes, which currently resembled the eyes of a reptile.
"What..." Will tried to gasp, but the words wouldn't come as Kaylori winced again.
"Those are some... STRONG... chemicals..." She gasped. Then she seemed to focus and looked at Will again.
"Just go. I'll try and sort this out, and then come and meet you."
Will shook his head, of the opinion that leaving her alone was a bad idea.
"Kay, I can't just-"
"GO!" She repeated. Will gave in, and politely averted his gaze from his friend as he quietly vacated the premises.
As Will walked out of the room, extremely unsettled by what he had just seen, he found the others are realised something that almost took his mind off Kaylori's dilemma.
The halls and corridors of the tower were completely empty.
"This doesn't make sense." Remarked Vector. "The Tower's never this empty."
Stu nodded. "Normally there are at least cleaners roaming the halls, even if no-one else is."
"That just makes this all the more suspicious." Remarked Anna.
"Agreed." Added Will, stepping forward. "Something is quite wrong."
"What do you suggest we do?" Asked Dilip. Will shrugged, not knowing a certain answer. Eventually he said,
"Let's head to Duke Exeter's office anyway. Even if he's not there, we might be able to get some answers."
"Is that the best idea?" Asked Vector. "If anyone sees us looking around the Duke's office, chances are they won't ask questions."
"Do you have a better plan?" Retorted Anna. Vector shook his head, and Anna continued.
"They I say we go with Will."
"Thank you, Anna." Will said, appreciating her support.
Sedately, the people began to plod towards Duke Exeter's office. The faint blue walls, ceiling and floor shone with an aroma of cleanliness and purification, with the coloured indicators in the floor the only exception to the blue colouration of the building segment. As they walked past the Imagination Nexus, Will managed to steal a glance at it. it shone in all its magnificent glory through the case, it's light blue glow illuminating the entire room.
Will was glad to look at it, thinking that even the entire force of chaos would have a hard time getting to the Imagination Nexus again. But then he remembered the traitors, and his positive feeling melted away inside of him.
As he passed a darkened corridor, hastening to catch up with his team, a voice called out "Psst!" from the darkness.
Curiosity overtaking him, Will stepped inside the corridor, only to be grabbed by a strengthened pair of hands. He struggled.
"Will, it's me!"
"Kaylori?" Will's voice lowered in shock as he stopped struggling and stared at Kaylori.
"Yeah, it's... it's me." She admitted, and Will could hear her shuffling around nervously.
"What actually happened? It's dark here, and I can't-"
"Oh. Right. Give me a second." She replied. A moment later, the lights flickered on and Will gave a start of surprise.
He was expecting it to be a lot worse, but Kaylori's appearance still caught him unawares. Her height had increased significantly, her skin was a shade of green and scaly, and her eyes were reptilian. The only drastic change was the lengthy tail she had grown, which slid away from the light switch and began swishing around behind Kaylori as if it had a mind of its own.
"That's... not as bad as I expected." He said finally, after several drawn-out moments of silence.
Kaylori snorted with derision, showing her old personality.
"What did you expect? I'm a mutant!"
Will narrowed his eyes and focused on her appearance more.
"Well, you only really got a tail and an extra set of eyelids, so really you're more of a... mini-mutant."
Kaylori rolled her eyes.
"Great. I feel so much better after that unflattering description."
"What did you expect?" Will quoted, and Kaylori smiled for the first time, albeit only briefly.
"I guess I deserved that." She admitted.
"Yes. Yes, you did." Agreed Will. "Come on, let's go catch up with the others."
To his surprise, Kaylori shook her head adamantly.
"I can't. I'm going to try and get used to these mutations MYSELF before revealing them to anyone else."
Will nodded. "I can respect that..."
Then he realised something, and his eyes narrowed.
"Then why did you tell me?"
Instead of giving an answer, Kaylori shrugged cheekily.
"You tell me."
Will thought.
"Because you trust me." He answered.
"Correct."
And because I'm essentially the leader."
"Correct."
"And... because you like me?"
"Don't push it."
Will grinned and hurried after his team.
As the five continued to walk through Nexus Tower, towards Duke Exeter's office, Will felt a subtle sense of unease overtake him as the halls continued to remain desolate and lifeless, save themselves.
"Where's Kaylori?" Asked Anna, worriedly tugging at Will's sleeve again.
"She's fine." Will assured her. "She's just... resting?"
Anna gave him a glance that said more than words ever could.
"I'll tell you later." He promised.
Will's team walked into the control room, and started to split up and look around. Stu began tapping at control panels and pushing buttons, trying to get information. Dilip climbed up a wall and onto the ceiling, in an attempt to get a better look at their surroundings. Vector went to check out the training area, whilst Anna and Will climbed up to Duke Exeter's private balcony/war room.
"Look!" Exclaimed Anna once the two were up there.
"The Sword of Duke Exeter..." Will breathed. Indeed, it was.
The famous, imagination infused blade glowed softly in the dimly lit war room, it's golden hilt a stark contrast to the dull silver and blue of the blade itself.
Will tentatively moved towards the blade, expecting some kind of horrible trap. Nothing happened. Still cautious, he reached down and, through instinct not his own, picked up the sword.
His first reaction was that it was lighter than he had expected. He had wielded several swords over the course of the war, and given the blade's chunky build and extreme length, he had definitely foreseen it being heavier than it actually was.
As a test, Will swung the sword around a few times. He could see why it was so renowned - the blade felt able and dangerous without being cumbersome or unwieldy. He was careful not to raise it too high, as he knew all about the massive blasts of imagination it could unleash.
"Sloppy." Will heard someone say. Wheeling round, he and Anna saw Duke Exeter himself standing on the balcony, blocking their only escape.
"This'll be easier than I thought."
"Duke Exeter!" Exclaimed Will, surprised, dropping the sword with a loud clatter.
"Thanks for stating the obvious." Sighed Anna, dejectedly, as Duke advanced threateningly, cracking his knuckles.
"Wait!" Yelled Will, leaping backwards. "We just came to talk!"
"Then why are you stealing my sword?" Retorted Duke
"I... I..." Will faltered, knowing precisely how bad his circumstances looked.
"He was curious!" Anna jumped in, defending her brother's friend. "That's one of the most powerful swords in the history of the Nimbus System, we find the tower deserted, why WOULDN'T he at least pick it up?"
"The tower," Duke said exasperatedly, "is abandoned because the entire Nexus Force has been ordered to take on the Darkitecht."
"What?" Asked Will. "That can't be right, he... he isn't there!"
"And what makes you so sure?" Asked Duke. "We have dozens of agents who would disagree with you.
"Listen." Will ploughed on. "There's a secret facility, on a chunk of crux, where-"
"I know." Duke shrugged, as if it were no news to him. "Overbuild told me about it. It's a classified Nexus Force hospital, and the fact that you know is... worrying."
"Not as worrying," Anna told him, "As the fact that this so called "hospital" is actually a secret facility where maelstrom is researched. And I'm not talking about Paradox style, I'm talking about messed up, imprisonment style."
Duke raised an eyebrow. "That was never mentioned."
"I'll bet it wasn't" Muttered Will.
As the two men stared at each other, unaware what to say to continue their conversation, Will heard voices as Vector, Dilip and Stu entered the room, and stared at the leader of the Nexus Force as if they were seeing him for the first time.
"Your accomplices?" Duke snarled after a brief silence.
"Accomplice?" Vector scoffed, stepping forward. "I assure you, I am no accomplice."
His proud words rebounded off the white walls, and both Duke and Will shot him an angry glance. Duke's was accusing, whilst Will's expression contained the phrase "not helping."
"We." protested Will. "Are no enemies. The real enemy is operating behind our back, you need to listen."
"I see no reason." Retorted Duke, eyeballing Will angrily. "You come to me with no proof, no plan, and no backup."
"Is that so?" Came a voice from the darkness.
The group looked around, confused, until a familiar tail swiped across the floor and knocked Duke over.
"Their proof," Continued Kaylori, stepping into the light and revealing herself, "is me."
Everyone stared, apart from Will, who flashed her a grateful smile.
"Their plan is to use this golden opportunity fate has handed to us to end this war once and for all." Kaylori continued, her voice resonating with authority and power.
"And our backup?" She finalized, staring directly into Duke's eyes with her own. "We were hoping that would be you."
**********
"I hope you know what you're doing." Remarked Duke. He had summoned the entire sentinel faction to his aid - not wanting to take a chance, even though he was still dubious about the whole story. He had also contacted Hael Storm, who had sent a token force of Venture League soldiers. Duke didn't try Assembly or Paradox. Will had explained the whole thing to him, and the last thing Duke wanted was to risk disloyal troops. Right now, he was busy shouting orders at the troops as they entered the teleporter one by one.
"Okay, your turn Rick! No pushing! Send Damian over there, I'll talk to him later! Stirling, Peregrine is NOT your tackle bag! Jess, WHAT are you doing with that? Yes, that way, how many teleporters do you see?"
Eventually, the soldiers of the Nexus Force made it through the teleporter, and lastly the group entered, arriving back inside the cursed place. Instantly, Will received a message via his communicator, a piece of tech the entire Nexus Force carried. Answering, he heard Rose's voice on the other end.
"Rose? You're alive!" He exclaimed, getting funny looks from several people around him.
"Not for much longer!" He heard her yell on the other side, almost muffled by the sound of chaos. "I hope you brought backup?"
"The entire sentinel faction."
"It'll have to do. Just get down here quickly, REALLY BAD things are going down. You know where we are?"
"Receiving co-ordinates now."
"Good. Now hurry up, please!"
Will switched off the communicator, and began sprinting down the corridor. Behind him, he could hear the sounds of the sentinels and Ventures following his lead.
After finally arriving at the co-ordinates, with Kaylori and Duke Exeter at his side, Will threw open the doors.
Will only needed to take a single look to tell just how bad things had become inside the room. Whilst the rest of the people cowered or were trapped under debris, Aaron and the Darkitecht were having a showdown in the center of the room. Both were harnessing the entire maelstrom spectrum and using in against their opponent. In a few moments alone Will saw mist, fire, webs and teleportation all used. The two sides seemed to be evenly matched - neither could land a single blow on the other, as they were both using phasing and teleportation to escape being hit.
The bad news? Will could sense, could feel, that the Darkitecht was holding back. This was nothing compared to what he and other people had felt when they were close to the heart of the maelstrom, for instance on the Venture Explorer. The Darkitecht was clearly toying with his friend, waiting till he tired and then dealing the finishing blow. Aaron, on the other hand, was quickly expending a lot of his energy, and wouldn't last much longer.
Thankfully, not everyone was as awestruck and paralysed as he was. Duke Exeter stepped forward and roared,
"Concentrate fire on the Darkitecht!"
Instantly the room was lit up as the Sentinels and Ventures opened fire on the lord of chaos. The Darkitecht saw the projectiles aimed at him, and instantly seemed to fold in on himself and disappear.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Yelled Duke, but some of his soldiers had by this point become overexcited and hyper, and with the Darkitecht gone instead aimed their weapons at Aaron. The lasers and bullets flew towards the maelstrom person, who randomly waved his arms and either dissolved or deflected the shots.
"STOP!" Roared Will, and at last the firing ceased.
Will, once the firing had ceased, instantly sprinted over to his friend. But he stopped, however, when Aaron fixed him with a chaotic purple gaze. Will skidded to a halt, abruptly startled into both silence and being stationary. Kaylori sprinted up to him.
"What is it?" She panted, her voice full of concern. "What's wrong?"
"I..." Will faltered, then shook off his paralysis and tried again. "I don't think he recognises me."
Will turned around in an attempt to distract him from his friend, and spotted the other minifigs who had gone with Aaron hiding behind a large chunk of the celling, which had caved in during the fight. Rose took one look at the center of the room, gave a small shriek, and darted back behind the rock as she accidently gave herself the appearance of being infected.
"That's terrifying." Muttered Jacen, glancing at Aaron in the center of the room.
"THIS." Remarked Duke, placing his helmet on his head, "is your friend?"
"Yeah... but something's wrong."
"What gave you that impression?"
"Shut up Kay." Will muttered, approaching his friend slowly.
"Aaron? I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm here to help. Don't worry...."
Aaron, instead of replying, pounded the ground with his fist, causing a shockwave to ripple across the room. Some stumbled - others fell.
Will bit his lip and struggled to control his fear as his friend seemed, in metaphorical terms, to suddenly tower over everyone else in the room. Whilst no match for the Darkitecht, he was still the extremely powerful at this particular moment, and he didn't seem to be in control of himself either. All Will saw, when he looked into Aaron's eyes, was malevolence and hate, so strong he felt as if he could see them in his friend's eyes.
"What happened, do you think?" Kaylori muttered, both of them keeping their gaze on Aaron in case he did anything.
Will shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps the fight with the Darkitecht threw him out of whack-"
Aaron suddenly slumped to his knees and groaned, practically on fire with indigo flames as this point. He looked up, and Will could see his expression soften.
"Will?" He gasped. "What's... I don't know..."
"Shush." Will hissed. "It's ok, right Duke?"
Duke nodded. "I think the crisis has passed." Duke turned on his headset and began giving orders, starting to unposition the snipers stationed around the room. Duke was no fool, and knew what he had been getting himself into, so the second they had entered the room he had sent groups of sentinels around the room, and the upper levels in particular, to act as a safety protocol. Now that it looked like Aaron had calmed down to an extent where he would be willing to co-operate, Duke began acting and calling his troops back down.
However, one trooper remained. He was a rookie, Private Gunnerby, and things didn't look ok from where he was stationed. He intended to obey Duke's order, but things looked suspicious. He could see that maelstrom person full of power, the others cowering before him. However, what happened next wasn't entirely his fault. He couldn't have predicted it.
Gunnerby aimed and fired the sniper rifle.
Directly at Aaron.
The bullet whizzed through the air, heading directly for Aaron's head. It looked like it was going to hit him, but at the last moment Plue leapt in front of him. The bullet smacked into her and the jolt sent her flying off askew, landing awkwardly on the ground like a broken toy.
Roaring, Aaron aimed his palms and fired twin beams of energy that cut through the balcony Gunnerby was standing on. As Gunnerby was about the fall into the lasers, Kaylori leapt up with all the strength in her legs, making a gargantuan leap and catching Gunnerby, before grabbing onto the wall. Aaron ceased his fire as Kaylori leapt daintily to the ground, and the surrounding Nexus Force troops cheered at seeing Gunnerby saved.
Aaron then turned back to Will, and Will blanched as he saw the weakness in Aaron's eyes had completely gone, replaced with confusion and hate.
"You did this." He rasped.
"What?" Gasped Will, waving his hands frantically as he focused on the sight of Kaylori kneeling over Plue, along with the other misfits. "No, no, no, I didn't do this Aaron!"
"You lied to me." Aaron continued.
"You shot at me."
"I didn't shoot at you! We can still sort this out, I know we can-"
"I KNOW." Roared the Maelstrom Person. "THAT YOU'RE MY ENEMIES! ALL OF YOU!"
The troopers, having relaxed, quickly raised their weapons again.
"Nononononono..." Will moaned as he stood between his super-powered best friend and over a quarter of the Nexus Force.
Duke stalked forward, raising his legendary sword as he did so.
"Concede." He challenged.
"I WILL NOT!" Yelled Aaron, rushing forward seemingly at the speed of light with his sword drawn.
Unbelievably, Duke parried the blow, and retorted in kind by swinging his shield at Aaron fluidly, who batted away and shot lighting out of his sword, which Duke countered with a burst of imagination from his own.
"I guess this is why they describe Duke Exeter as "legendary" in the faction briefings." Muttered Kaylori from Will's side.
Aaron skated along the floor, sword drawn, directly towards Duke Exeter, who smashed the maelstrom person to the side before spinning around and knocking him to the ground with one strike. However, Aaron leapt back up into the air, and threw a fireball at Duke as he came back down. Duke blocked the projectile with his shield and swiped again at Aaron, who teleported away and rematerialized behind Duke, prepared to attack him from behind. However, Duke flipped over the sword and kicked Aaron in the head, before blasting him to the opposite side of the room with another burst of imagination.
Aaron, instead of rising straight away, took time clambering to his feet, and stood there, swaying as if there was a breeze. Suddenly a wave of energy flooded the room, causing all thought present to almost fall over, or at least stumble.
"Oh no..." Will murmured as the group regained their balance.
Suddenly Aaron charged, even faster than before. People stood in his way to protect Duke, but in vain.
He Ploughed through Dilip and Stu, effortlessly tossed Jacen away, side-slammed Vector and threw Gaia directly into Rose and Shadow. Kaylori wrapped her tail around his leg, but he just pulled her towards him before knocking her down. Will raised his pistol and stepped in front of Duke, only to be blasted backwards by a bolt of lightning. Duke raised his shield and deflected Aaron's attacks repeatedly. Webbing, lasers and fire were all blocked. But then, Aaron phased into the floor and reappeared behind Duke, before grabbing him and tossing him into the nearest wall. Before anything else could happen, there was an almighty explosion, and the room was revealed to be, once again, directly next to open space. The wall opened up, and sucked several items and people out of the room before any emergency shield activated.
Including Duke Exeter.
All throughout the room, there was silence. No-one could begin to fathom what their friend had just done, what this mean for the Nexus Force. The demise of the leader of the Sentinel Faction and the Nexus Force as a whole would take a long time to rectify, and... the cause was Aaron.
"What HAVE you done?" Someone said, Will didn't know who. Everyone else, even the maelstrom person himself, was lost for words. The fire faded from Aaron's eyes, and when he looked back at Will, Will could see that his friend was back in control of himself. But at a terrible price.
"I... I didn't..." Aaron choked. But Will knew what he was saying. "It wasn't me. I didn't do it. Please."
Will was trying to figure out, whilst everyone else was shell shocked, where the explosion had come from, when suddenly there was a gunshot and Aaron went down, comatose before he even hit the floor. Startled, Will turned to see Doctor Overbuild holding a gun in his hands.
"Merely a tranquilizer." He declared. "Now, what's going on here?"
"Duke Exeter. He... he's gone..."
Overbuild visibly paled, in a performance so convincing Will almost believed it himself.
"Duke? No... no, no... not Duke. Please not Duke."
"I'm sorry sir." Said another soldier. "It's true."
Overbuild shook, then appeared to regain his composure. "Tell me exactly what happened."
"... received orders from Duke..."
"... led down here..."
" ...saw two people fighting... one escaped..."
"... went crazy..."
"...saved..."
"...attacked Duke..."
"... lizard woman..."
"... then..."
"... tougher... explosion..."
"...space..."
"...shield too late..."
"... Duke KIA..."
"...sorry..."
"...sorry sir..."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."
"...my condolences to the sentinels..."
"...now..."
"...should take care of him..."
"... revenge..."
Overbuild stared at Aaron, and narrowed his eyes.
"Take him away."
***
"So... Exeter is dead?"
"Correct."
"This upsets the plan, old friend."
"On the contrary, I believe we can use this to our advantage."
"You think-?"
"I don't think. I know that it is time to put our agent to good use."
"Try and claim the position of leader of the Nexus Force?"
"Exactly."
"This is risky. If he is discovered, and gives us away-"
"Trust me, he will not. Now, aren't there more pressing matters you should be worrying about? Like that prophecy, made all those years ago by that Mythran?"
"I don't believe now is the time for-"
"If now is not the time, that time will never come. I beseech you, tell me this prophecy!"
"..... Very well. The exact rhyme escapes my memory, but I am aware of the contents."
"Do tell."
"The prophecy tells of seven individuals destined to defeat me."
"Any details on who these individuals are?"
"Representatives from the past and the future, individuals imbued by technology and mystic power, the lord of life beyond and the fire of the living, and the second most powerful being in the Universe."
"..."
"..."
"I can see why you're worried."
"I'm not worried! I'm the most powerful thing in creation! Why should I be worried?"
"Because evil will never win entirely. It's not in its nature."
"Whose side are you on? I'm not evil, I'm CHAOS! There's a difference!"
"Exactly. But you must refrain from all out evil, less you wish to bring the laws of the universe upon yourself."
"You cannot restrain me in such a way."
"This is why you need to restrain yourself."
"I shall not."
"Then maybe there will be no deal between us."
"You are already in too deep to back out now, old friend. If you are not in my allegiance by the time this war is over, you will find yourself crushed along with the Nexus Force."
"Then so be it."
Doctor Overbuild turned his back on the Darkitecht and solemnly walked out of the chamber.
"Overbuild!" Called the Darkitecht. Just outside the doorway leading into the chamber, Overbuild paused and listened for his former friend's voice.
"How is... how's Vanda?"
Overbuild turned on his heel and walked back down the stairs, intrigued as to what the lord of chaos would want with his former protégée.
"She's fine. Still leading the Paradox faction."
"Good, good."
There was a pause.
"She's your sister, isn't she?" Overbuild eventually said, voicing what he had suspected for many years.
"...You knew?" The Darkitecht asked, sounding more like the old Baron Typhonus than Overbuild had experienced for a long time.
"I suspected." Overbuild confessed. "But I was never sure."
The Baron sighed. "You never knew her full name until after the war started, did you?"
Overbuild shook his head. "No, you only referred to her as "Vanda.""
"She must have changed her name, then." Typhonus shrugged. "I have a feeling I know her reasoning."
"Do you blame her?" Overbuild queried, tenderly.
"No." Declared the Baron. "Considering her position, I would have done the same thing. Who wouldn't want to sever family ties with the person who was causing chaos throughout the galaxy..."
He tailed off.
"One stupid thing... that's all I did. One stupid thing, and now I'm stuck with this schizophrenia of an identity. I haven't truly felt like myself since before we landed on Crux."
"Well, I'm still working on something to nullify the maelstrom, you'll be able to at least control yourself for longer periods of time."
"Perhaps." Typhonus once again sighed in a melancholy way. "You should go now. Just don't abandon me, Ok? We need each other more than ever now that Duke is... gone."
"I won't. Goodbye, Typhonus."
"Goodbye, Albert."
Plue sat staring at the wall of her, she supposed cell, whilst sitting on the bed also enclosed in the room. It was a wild guess on her part, but she figured she had been sitting in the same position for at least a month, maybe longer. It wasn't that this was what she wanted, but there was nothing else to do. She would hardly be allowed to leave for a long time, courtesy to coming into contact with the Darkitecht numerous times, and being heavily involved with (in a relationship with) public enemy number two, only known as "Maelstrom." Plue continued to stare at the wall, trying to disguise her emotions.
"You promised you'd be careful, you idiot." She spoke, softly. "And now look what's happened."
There was no reply, as she had expected from a small and otherwise empty room. Plue looked down morosely at the numerous cables and wires that she had been plugged into, and absent-mindedly tugged at them. Despite their irritation, she had reason to be grateful to them. They had allegedly kept her alive when she was wounded, so she couldn't be too annoyed. Still, this cabin fever was getting really old really fast, at least in her opinion. She had been here for one of the longest amounts of time - most of the others had been released by now, apart from Shadow, Kaylori and Aaron.
The knowledge that she was, in the eyes of the Nexus Force, was on the same level as a dude made of black flames, a lizard mutant and the second most hated person in the Nimbus System was extremely damaging to her morale, which wasn't exactly high already due to having witnessed the demise of Duke Exeter at Maelstrom's hands.
She hadn't been able to save the faction leader... she didn't even warn him... what kind of soldier was she?!
Suddenly, there was a loud rap on her door, an unbearably loud noise after such a long period of silence. Plue hurriedly stumbled to the door, and opened a sliding panel, to see who was disturbing her.
"Oh." Plue rolled her eyes. "It's you."
"Greetings and salutations to you too." Remarked Gaia from behind the door. "I was only allowed to visit people today, and I wanted to see how you were doing."
"I'm surprised you weren't nabbed yourself," said Plue. "You know, because of the maelstrom and everything."
"They never actually saw us do it." Pointed out Gaia. "They saw you get shot by the Darkitecht."
"Still, I suppose I got off lightly." Plue shrugged. "Considering the omnishambles that whole thing became, I'm surprised the casualties were as low as they were..." She tailed off.
"Sorry about your boss." Gaia murmured sympathetically.
"It's fine." Plue assured her. "At least he was loyal to the end, unlike Overbuild."
"Poor Kaylori." Said Gaia. "In some ways, I think she got the worst of this."
"I see where you're coming from, but I can think of people who fared worse."
There was a brief silence.
"Sorry." Sighed Gaia. "That wasn't particularly sensitive of me, was it?"
"No, but I don't blame you." Plue replied.
"Thanks." Said Gaia. "So, what's going to happen to you now?"
"I don't know." Plue grimaced. "I highly doubt I want to, either."
"Any ideas?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, do you have any ideas as to how you're gonna escape?"
Plue started. "How can I be thinking about escape?"
"I don't know!" Gaia retorted. "Do something active for once! Get on with something!"
Plue placed her hand on her chin. "Alright. Let me think..."
"I'll give you all the time you need."
"Right..." Plue snapped her fingers. "How large are the air vents around here?"
"Large enough to fit a person." Replied Gaia, a grin forming on her face as she caught on.
"Is anyone aware of Shadow's teleportation ability?"
"No, I think he's just biding his time."
"Anything else?"
"I think, once you lot are free, we should launch some kind of all-out assault against the entire tower."
Plue stared at Gaia.
"You might not have lost ALL your marbles, but there's definitely a hole in the bag, isn't there?"
"That's not quite the way I would put it..." Gaia murmured.
"But it is the truth, which one can't argue with. Any genuine ideas?"
"Nope."
"Right. Well, I'll get in contact with the others and tell them what we're planning. Assuming you're in?"
"Why wouldn't I be?!" Gaia hooted. "It'd be worth capture to see the look on Overbuild's face when we bust you out!"
"WE?" Exclaimed Plue incredulously.
"Yeah. I can probably get some other people in on it as well."
"Not too many." Plue advised. "Otherwise it'll be harder to organise."
"Right." Gaia acknowledged. "You think Will, Rose and Vector will be enough?"
"More than enough, but whatever." Shrugged Plue. "I can work with eight people."
"Good." Said Gaia. "Is that everything?"
"Yeah, that's fine." Said Plue.
"Ok." Gaia nodded. "How will you contact us?"
"Just keep an eye on the tower all the time. You'll know when you should get in here."
"Sounds exciting."
"It will be."
"Great. See you then."
"Seeya." Called Plue, as Gaia shut the peephole and her footsteps eventually faded out of sight.
"Right." Muttered Plue. "I guess it's happening tonight..."
Plue almost immediately began looking around her cell, seeing what she could use. There were indeed vents at the top of her wall which could easily fit a person, and Plue recalled that this was in case Nexus Tower was attacked and a soldier needed a quick escape. They clearly hadn't considered that she might be able to use them to escape.
There was scant furniture in the room - merely a chair, a bed and a table, all made of blunt plastic. The only other things in this cell of apparent blandness were, of course, the machines that she was still hooked up to. They were covered in buttons, levers and dials, and Plue didn't feel like tampering with them just yet; she still wasn't feeling quite better, and for all she knew they were still providing her vital life support. However, she could hardly escape whilst lugging around a box of equipment, so something would definitely have to be done.
Curiously, she moved towards the box and looked at the readings coming off it. They informed her that the machine was programmed to remain functional for another thirty-seven hours; assumingly the length of time she still needed it for. Suddenly, Plue noticed that all the wires were connected to a single area or chunk of the device: an area that could easily fit into a pocket of some kind.
Acting quickly, Plue grabbed as many batteries and portable power sources as she could from the machine, and began to conceal them on her person. She then carefully pulled said vital area out of the device, and placed it tenderly in the back pocket of her jeans. Upon noticing it give off a small alarm, she hastily shoved a pair of batteries inside it. The machine quietened down. Breathing a sigh of relief, Plue then pulled the majority of the wires out of her limbs, sticking a choice few into the back of her head and discarding the rest. She waited a moment; she didn't collapse. A minor miracle, considering the circumstances.
She was ready.
Plue lay, in a state of complete disinterest, on the bed in her cell, waiting for any kind of signal from Gaia. She couldn't help wondering what said signal would be, when and where it would appear, how destructive it would be...
The next second, there was an almighty explosion. Plue felt her cell rock backwards and forwards as Nexus Tower buckled. She had found her answer.
"You've got to be kidding me!" She cursed, dragging herself to her feet as she slid across the floor. Suddenly, Plue heard a familiar whirring on the other side of the door, and held the chair in front of her as the metal door buckled and fell as a result of Rose's spinjitzu. Standing beside her was Vector, cutlass in hand.
"Not that I'm not glad to see you, but why was there an explosion?" She asked, dropping the chair and walking over to her friends as the floor stabilized.
"Oh, that was Gaia." Said Rose cheerfully. "I tried to stop her, but... you know."
"Yeah. I know." Plue said. "I thought she WASN'T planning to assault Nexus Tower?"
"You haven't seen her when she's determined to do something, have you?" Groaned Vector.
"That bad, eh?" Queried Plue. "I thought the pair of you would at least be able to keep her and her crazy ideas in line."
"You'd be surprised." Grinned Rose. "Now, what else can we do for you, and who else do we need to rescue?"
"For me, you can't do much else." Plue replied, stepping through the battered doorway. "But there ARE other people who need rescuing."
"Who?" Asked Vector.
"Did you see Shadow, Kaylori or Aaron on you way here?"
"We saw Shadow." Vector informed her. "At least, I think it was Shadow..."
"How many guys made of black flames do we know?" Rose reminded him, exasperatedly.
"Good point." Admitted Vector. "In which case, yeah, it was Shadow."
"Okay!" Said Plue. "Lead the way!"
Plue, Rose and Vector sprinted down the dimly lit, metallic corridors as Nexus Tower rocked from the force of Gaia's assault.
"Where did she even get all the explosives needed to damage NEXUS TOWER?!" Plue gasped disbelievingly.
"I think she found the Nexus Force's private supply after our adventure in the facility came to an end." Panted Vector. "She must have been slowly smuggling it out, right under Overbuild's nose."
"Atta girl!" Cheered Plue as they ran. "Now I don't mind that much that she's bringing down the tower!"
"So, you still mind?" Asked Gaia, who had just broken through a wall and was now levitating alongside them.
"Yes." Replied Rose curtly, before Plue had a chance to do the same. "Next time, perhaps you ought to consider getting us OUT of the tower before bringing it down?"
"Where's the fun in that?" Retorted Gaia.
"You know," said Vector, sprinting along, "I've been meaning to ask. Are you a genius or just insane?"
Gaia shifted position in the air next to them so that she was upside-down.
"Yes." She declared.
Vector moved his eyes to the front of them. "I hate it when people do that. " He muttered.
The group eventually came to a stop in front of a locked cell. Plue banged on the door and yelled;
"Shadow? If you can hear me, we're here to save-"
There was a loud crack, and Shadow materialized behind the group, causing to Rose to scream in surprise.
"I didn't know you could do that." Gaia remarked.
Shadow merely tilted his head. Suddenly, Plue heard a voice in her head, Shadow's voice.
"I did some looking around, and I've found the people who made me what I am." He said, his voice filling Plue with fear and a cold sensation. "You rescue the others. I have my own demons to battle."
"Don't do it Shadow!" Plue warned as Shadow turned away. "It's too dangerous!"
Shadow turned to look Plue directly in the eyes.
"I am prepared to meet my maker." He assured her. "But whether my maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter entirely."
"Shadow!" Plue called again, but the flaming apparition had already teleported away.
"What was that about?!" Complained Vector. "We could have used his help."
"He had... other... things do deal with." Plue informed the group.
"Well, you have to admit that running off on his own tangent isn't exactly selfless." Sighed Gaia.
"I know, but there's nothing we can do." Pointed out Plue. "There's still Kaylori and Aaron, though. We need a way to reach them."
"Give me a moment." Said Vector, and began to pull out what looked like another tracker. Suddenly, a figure dropped down from the ceiling right in front of them.
"Woa!" Started Plue. "Is that Dilip?"
"Yeah. What a coincidence." Muttered Vector. "Dilip, what are you doing here?"
"I was in the tower when you started to destroy it." He said quietly. "I believe that I was on the same mission that you are now - rescuing the others."
"Now THAT," grinned Rose, "is selfless."
"Okay." Said Plue. "Let's keep moving."
"But we didn't see Aaron or Kaylori's cells on the way here." Protested Vector. "They could be anywhere in the tower."
"I saw Kaylori." Offered Gaia. "I took a different route from you two in order to set the explosives, and I passed what looked like her cell on the way here."
"Good." Said Dilip. "Do you remember the way?"
Gaia stroked her chin thoughtfully. "I believe I do. This way!"
The five kept running through the tower, surprisingly seeing few guards on the way. The one member of the Assembly faction who saw them was dispatched by a shuriken from Dilip, and they eventually ended up outside Kaylori's cell.
Vector banged on the door. "Kay? Kaylori? We're here to save you!"
There was shuffling from within, then the eyehole opened to reveal Kaylori's distinctive eyes.
"About time!" She declared.
Gaia was studying the structure of the cell.
"Hmmm... we need to think of a way of opening this gate." She grinned. "I suggest throwing Vector at it."
"Woa, woa, woa." Stuttered Vector, holding his hands up in the air. "What?! How would that work?"
"Whilst I'm hardly at the full extent of my power in here, I can coat you in a thin layer of maelstrom that would both let me fling you around and protect you from any injuries you might otherwise suffice. It's fool proof!"
"I don't mind how you do it." Said Kaylori. "But I would like to come out soon please."
"Sounds good to me." Shrugged Dilip.
Vector looked desperately at Plue, who rolled her eyes.
"Sorry Vector, but I have to admit that it'd be interesting to watch."
Vector's eyes whirled around, looking for another way in as Gaia began lifting him off the ground. Suddenly, he spotted something.
"Or, we could press the button clearly marked "door release" and get her out without any collateral damage."
The others looked quizzically at each other, until Dilip and Gaia both yelled:
"THROW VECTOR!!!
Poor Vector facepalmed.
"I hate you all so much."
Kaylori stepped back just in time as Vector smashed through the door and slammed into the back of the cell. He picked himself up, groaning.
"I thought that the maelstrom was supposed to PROTECT me..." He complained.
"It did, shmoofus." Replied Gaia idly from outside the cell. "Without it, you'd be much worse off."
"Well, Plue was right." Agreed Kaylori as she walked out of the cell. "That certainly was interesting to watch."
Muttering angrily to himself, Vector hauled himself to his feet and joined the others.
"Okay." Said Gaia. "That's three out of four. Anyone have any idea as to where Aaron is?"
"We can check the computers" Suggested Dilip. "There's bound to be some kind of clue towards his whereabouts."
"Good idea." Said Rose. "Where's the closest?"
"There is one that's bound to have some information on him." Said Kaylori. "But you're not going to like it."
"Which is it?" Asked Plue, worried.
"Overbuild's office."
"I hate this plan." Said Vector. He, Gaia and Plue were waiting outside Doctor Overbuild's office whilst Kaylori, Dilip and Rose were in their respective positions.
"Well, I for one simply ADORE this plan." Retorted Gaia, still levitating herself in mid-air for some reason, though no longer upside-down.
"Yeah, only because you came up with it." Remarked Vector spitefully. Gaia was opening her mouth to come back with an intelligent reply, but Plue shushed them both.
"Let's see how well this plan goes before actually judging it." She declared. Gaia and Vector both nodded glumly in response as the door opened and Overbuild stepped out of his room. Almost instantaneously, he activated one of the traps that Dilip had set outside the room, and smoke billowed across the hall. Overbuild, unprepared for the attack, covered his nose and started coughing and stumbling blindly forward. Before he could activate any sort of gadget or arm attachment, Kaylori and Dilip stepped forward. In one swift movement, Dilip sliced both of Overbuild's mechanical arms off before Kaylori wrapped her tail around his body and lifted him cleanly into the air. Plue turned to Vector and Gaia.
"I love this plan!" She announced, before the trio snuck past the others and into the office - though not before Gaia managed to get a smug "Hah!" out into Vector's face. Vector rolled his eyes before following the girls.
Once inside, the three of them wandered around slightly deliriously. The office was plain, with minimal decoration save for an Assembly banner on one of the walls. In the center of the room was a desk with the crucial computer on it.
"Aha!" Gaia said, as if she had just solved the mystery of the first builders. Plue sprinted eagerly to the computer and started searching Overbuild's files and history for anything she could find on her boyfriend.
Suddenly, Plue opened one document and found everything she needed to know. She looked despondently at Gaia and Vector.
"He's escaped."
"What do you mean, "He's escaped"?" Asked Vector incredulously.
"I mean," Declared Plue, "That the files and records indicate he launched his own daring escape a day or so ago."
"He didn't come back for anyone else, or tell us he'd escaped?" Pondered Gaia.
"That's NOT selfless." Said Vector glumly.
Plue didn't want to believe that Aaron would abandon them with such little regard for their situation, but that appeared to be the case as to what happened and, whilst she didn't like it, the evidence suggested that it was the truth.
"Well..." She sighed after several long and awkward moments of silence. "That's that."
"I'm so sorry." Said Gaia, abruptly wrapping her arms around Plue sympathetically. Plue hadn't expected such a display of affection from her friend, and felt herself warmed by Gaia's act of kindness. Vector, too, walked over and placed a comforting hand on Plue's shoulder.
"I'm sure he had his reasons." Vector suggested weakly.
"Yeah." Sighed Plue. "At least he came to rescue me in the facility, so I guess that makes us even."
There was another silence, before Gaia eventually pulled herself away from Plue and regained her composure.
"So... what do we do now?" She asked.
Plue shrugged. "Now, we get the heck out of here."
"With Overbuild?" Asked Gaia eagerly.
"Nope." Said Plue. "He'd just slow us down."
"Agreed." Said Vector. "Let's get the others and go."
Gaia kicked right through the wall of Overbuild's office, the mist wrapped around her leg strengthening the blow. Plue followed Gaia through the hole, while Vector walked up to, opened, and walked through the door.
"And here you are, trashing through another wall! What is with you and your fear of doors, did a door kill your family or something?"
"That would be telling, wouldn't it?" Shrugged Gaia, before wandering off and leaving Vector feeling extremely confused.
Plue marched up to where the other members of their group were holding Overbuild, and held her sword out threateningly.
"Where's Aaron? What happened to him?"
"How should I know?" Spat Overbuild. "He broke out about a day ago - smashed through a wall and took out the guards with ease, even though most of them were at least rank three! Even I didn't foresee that level of power in him."
"Did you have any way of tracking him?" Kaylori asked.
"We did." Replied Overbuild. "He removed it during his escape."
"What?" Yelled Dilip. "I thought those things couldn't be removed?"
"Well, he did." Said Overbuild.
Plue only stepped forward. "Well, do you have ANY idea where he is?"
Overbuild glared at her. "I'm not telling you a thi-" He was cut short as Kaylori tightened her grip on him.
"I'd talk if I were you, boss." She said triumphantly.
Overbuild glared daggers at her, then turned to Plue.
"West." He muttered unhappily.
Satisfied, Plue removed her sword. Kaylori considered for a moment, then swung her tail round violently and slammed Overbuild into the wall, knocking him unconscious. Then, the group fled down the corridor in an attempt to escape the tower.
"He's going to feel that one in the morning." Kaylori chuckled in glee, and she high-fived Gaia as they ran.
"We shouldn't get distracted." Pointed out Rose. "We still need to get out of here, after all."
"True enough." Said Vector. "Let's get on with it!"
"More running down corridors." Sighed Vector.
"I know it's repetative, but we ARE almost out." Reasoned Dilip, as the group sprinted down the bland, metallic hallway.
"What I don't understand," pondered Rose as they ran, "was why Overbuild assumed that some rank threes would be enough to contain Aaron despite Duke Exeter not being able to defeat him."
"Arrogant chump." Declared Plue. "Perhaps he gave them special equipment, or simply believed that HIS troops wouldn't be defeated by Aaron - either way, he was caught with his trousers down on that one."
"I don't have a problem with that." Said Vector. "But, uh, Gaia?"
"Yeah?" Answered Gaia as they ran.
"How badly did you damage the tower? That sounded like a lot of explosions."
"Erm..." Gaia flushed. "Shall we say... a significant amount?"
"I don't like the sound of that." Admitted Rose. "We're not in danger, are we?"
"We're still in danger of being caught, but I don't think the tower's going to fall down - at least, not until we're out." Gaia said, sounding more confident then she most likely felt.
"YOU BROUGHT DOWN NEXUS TOWER?!" Shrieked Plue. They stopped running and stared at Gaia, dumbfounded.
"No, not yet!" She protested indignantly. "I was only trying to distract them, but I think I overdid it, ok?"
"That's an understatement." Said Kaylori.
"We can worry about this later!" Pointed out Dilip. "Right now, we still need to leave before-"
He was cut off as the tower suddenly shook, and the ground seemed to tilt under them, before swaying back to the normal angle.
"That happens?" Finished Kaylori. "We need to go, now."
"Agreed."
One thing Plue would always remember from their frantic escape from Nexus Tower was how the elevator music seemed so out of place.
Considering the fact that the greatest structure ever built by person hands was crumbling with them in it, and had inexplicably been brought down with a seemingly limited amount of explosives, it was soothing to hear the tinny, mundane, and completely calm tune in the lift that they all took to get down to the ground floor as quickly as possible. Well, all of them except for Gaia and Dilip.
The group dispersed in the Nexus Tower welcome lobby just as Dilip arrived on the same floor as them, only outside the building - he had used a grappling hook and shuko claws to his effect. Gaia's landing wasn't so neat. She had obviously overestimated how much maelstrom was around Nexus Tower, and only a combination of a hasty blast of mist that catapulted her back upwards and Vector sprinting through the lobby and breaking her fall with his body saved her from any injury.
"Thanks." She groaned as she flopped off him and onto the ground. "Now I know how you feel."
"No, you don't." Vector retorted. "It only happened to you once."
"I hate to interrupt," Said Dilip, "but we've got a huge problem."
Plue, Rose and Kaylori ran outside just in time to see the tower keel over, still gradual, but picking up speed as it fell.
"I still don't understand how that happened..." Muttered Gaia, as if something didn't make sense to her. "I mean, I thought the tower was a lot more impervious to that sort of damage."
"Apparently not." Said Plue, hauling Vector to his feet, "and we have to go now."
"The shockwave." Said Dilip. Plue nodded.
"How do we get far away enough in time?" Panicked Rose.
"We borrow things." Said Kaylori, with a glint in her eye, as she turned towards groups of spare Nexus Force jeeps.
Kaylori leapt into the nearest jeep and examined the controls.
"They even left the keys in the ignition!" She yelled as the others clambered in beside her, with Plue in the other front seat, and Rose, Dilip and Vector in the rear seats. Gaia clung to the roof, and shouted down;
"Make it fast!"
"Oh, for the love of..." Plue gave up and let Kaylori drive as the tower started to come down faster and faster. Until now, only it's immense size had slowed it down. But now it was gaining momentum, and they had seconds to preserve their lives.
"Go, go go!" Vector yelled. Kaylori put her foot down, and the jeep scorched out onto the rocky wasteland that was Crux Prime. They rushed past a confused-looking Nexus Force security guard, and drove up a ramp-like formation of rocks which led to a seemingly impossible jump right over Sentinel Point Zeta.
For Plue, everything seemed to happen in slow motion as the jeep went off the rocks and ungracefully flew towards the cliffs on the other side of Point Zeta. She recalled screaming - everyone was except for Dilip, who was looking at their potential doom in calm silence. The jeep slammed onto the rocks and continued to move along, which was most likely a surprise to everyone.
"Did we make it?" Asked Rose tentatively, opening one eye.
"Don't worry!" Said Vector, sounding extremely relieved. "We made it Rose!"
Everyone started to cheer, but that was cut short by an almighty crashing sound. Turning around, Plue saw Nexus Tower hit the ground with the sound like explosives going off in her ears.
Plue stared in horror as the tower slammed into Crux Prime, sending millions of tons of rock flying through the air. The impact was so astronomically powerful that an immense wall of dust began to spiral up into the air, and flew in all directions.
As they watched, a large chunk of Crux Prime broke off from the original landmass and began floating out into space. However, the shockwave remained, and spread throughout the entire hunk of planet. With a start, Plue realised that it was heading right for them. She turned to Kaylori.
"Get us out of here. Right now!"
Kaylori got the message, and gunned it. The jeep sped forward, now pursued at a distance by a wave of dust and seismic energy. Plue, against her instincts, stuck her head out of the window and looked behind them. She could see the shockwave behind them, and watched in disbelief as it vaporised everything in it's path - stromlings, people and even the landscape.
"Are we clear?" Kaylori shouted.
"Not even close! Keep going!" Replied Plue in terror.
They shot forward even faster, but it was clear to Plue that they had minutes at the most... and seconds at the least.
Suddenly, Vector pointed his hand out the jeep window.
"There!" He exclaimed. Turning, Plue saw groups of Nexus Force jets rising into the sky. There had to be a jet or two to spare.
"That way." Plue indicated, and Kaylori obediently turned in the direction of the supposed airfield. The bad news was that the angle at which they were driving meant that they were no longer heading away from the shockwave, instead going sideways.
"Faster, faster, faster!" Encouraged Rose from the back, almost as if it were a victory mantra.
On the roof of the jeep, Gaia stood up.
"Let's see if I can be of assistance." She said, before focusing. Mist began to gather around the car, propelling it forward. Slowly at first, but it began to pick up speed. She then raised her hand and shot the jeep's electric engine full of lightning, giving it a boost.
Kaylori slammed her heel on the brakes as they skidded towards what looked like the last vacant jet in the airfield. Breathing a sigh of minute relief, Plue bundled on board along with the others. This time, it was Gaia who took the controls of their escape. She flipped some switches and pulled on the throttle, and in no time they were airborne and streaking safely away from Nexus Tower.
"You can fly a plane?" Asked Rose, incredulously.
"Fly, yes." Gaia informed her as they rose higher. "Land, no."
Rose turned pale.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Declared Plue. "Right now..."
She turned and looked out the window in dismay as a good third of Crux Prime, including Nexus Tower, floated towards and was eventually sucked into the gaping maw of the maelstrom. With no protection, the Imagination Nexus looked small and insignificant next to the primordial sea of chaos. Plue angrily pulled the remaining wires out of her head, upset at the fact that she had been unable to save her boyfriend.
"Shadow was in there." Said Vector, to add to the melancholy mood.
"He found a way out." Plue assured him, despite not believing it herself.
"Where too now, boss?" Asked Gaia from the cockpit.
Plue remained silent for a time, before realising that she was expected to answer.
"Oh, um... Nimbus Station and surrounds, Gaia. I think it's time for us to go home."
"Great idea." Gaia applauded, dangerously taking her hands off the controls. "Hey, is it alright if I crash at your place for the time being?"
"You can stay as long as you like." Plue said generously, before turning to Rose. "So can you, if you want."
Rose nodded gratefully, and Plue began to look out the windows again, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach that was telling her that some kind of countdown had begun. A countdown to the end of the war.
Aaron was lost.
Geographically, he had no idea where he was. Mentally, he was in complete disarray. He couldn't even remember what he'd been doing the past couple of days. All he remembered was waking up on the rocks of Crux Prime with no memory as to how he might have arrived there. He had considered going back to Nexus Tower, but had eventually decided against it. The last thing he needed was Overbuild looming over him, saying over and over again what a terrible thing he 'd done and how disappointed in him he was. Aaron knew.
Duke Exeter was gone because of him.
As he walked further, still clad in the remnants of some space ranger equipment he'd "borrowed" over wearing nought but a hospital robe, he was shaken from his thoughts by the sound of a rending and a crashing. Looking back, he saw Nexus Tower begin to fall to the ground. With no idea as to what was going on or why the tower was falling, he began to run blindly over the rocky wasteland; despite knowing deep down that he was far too late and would be crushed as soon as the tower hi the ground.
Suddenly, he saw a sign embedded in the ground; beyond that, there was a seemingly bottomless abyss between him and the next landmass. Driven on by a primordial instinct to survive, Aaron ran to the edge of the canyon and jumped. It was an inhuman jump, and for a brief moment, Aaron thought he might make it. Then gravity took ahold once again and he began to plummet. Reaching out desperately, his hands grabbed onto the other side of the drop. Unfortunately, he couldn't pull himself up and his strength was lost. He was contemplating letting go when a firm pair of hands grabbed onto his wrists and began pulling him to safety. He gratefully pulled himself up, and managed to ask the question:
"Where am I?"
Just before he lapsed into unconsciousness, he received his answer.
"The other side of Rivendark Canyon."
Aaron didn't feel alive.
If he had survived, why was everything so dark? And he was in some serious pain as well. No thanks to Overbuild for all the testing, chemicals and negativity.
Then someone put jumper cables on his brain and restarted his life.
He leapt upwards, gasping for air as if he had just run a marathon, before sinking back downwards again as whatever meagre energy he had previously recovered left him quicker than a cough expelled from the lungs. From the bed - as he was in one - he found himself seeing a small room, almost entirely white. To one side, there was a bedside table covered in various bottles of liquid, and beyond that a small wooden chair; the only object in the room that didn't look futuristic. One glowed a crimson red - another a crystal blue. When he turned his head, he saw an armour stand, upon which had been placed his stolen space ranger gear. He himself was dressed in his casual clothes - red jeans and a torn up blue shirt. They must have been retrieved from his pack, which was lying at the foot of the armour stand.
Abruptly, Aaron was flung out of his thoughts as the door to his room opened and in came a woman, carrying a plate of food and consumables. Her attire didn't match the room at all - she wore grubby trousers and a significantly weathered shirt, and her skin was covered in scars and grease. What caught Aaron's attention, however, were her eyes. They were a startlingly bright shade of blue, and looked to be almost glowing. She laid the food down on his bedside table and turned to him.
"Awake at last?" She asked, tilting her head sideways. Whilst not unkind, there was a hint of mockery in her voice.
"Yes, what of it? Would you rather I continue to use up this space and bore you with my distinct lack of personality whilst unconscious?" He retorted.
She stared at him, before laughing.
"A sense of humour. I like you." She decided, before sitting down on the chair.
"So, what's it like being a mortal?"
"Oh." Aaron said, secretly glad for the brief explanation. "So... how were you created, if you don't mind me asking."
"Not at all!" Exclaimed Nyssa cheerfully. "Before their civilisation fell, the mythrans wanted their legacy to continue in case such a thing would ever happen. In a controlled enviroment, they created our species and put us here on Crux, giving us all their history to safekeep. When they were destroyed, we - that is to say, the legacy of the mythrans - survived, and live on to this day."
"Okay." Shrugged Aaron. "Uh, I should probably tell you that I-"
"We already know about your powers, it's fine!" Nyssa said, and Aaron breathed a soft sigh of relief. "We're hardly normal, so we generally know better than to judge people based on anything other than personality."
"Well, that's a relief." Said Aaron. "It just feels really..."
He trailed off. He had been meaning to talk in a greater depth about his abilities and actions, but something stopped him.
"That's not a good idea.They may not judge, but if you reveal too much, you will reveal all our secrets." A voice seemed to say in his head.
"Our?" Aaron thought, but there was no immediate response. He would have persued his thoughts more, except Nyssa was still watching him impatiently, looking for an answer.
"Never mind. So, what happend? It looked like Nexus Tower fell down, but I don't know for sure."
"Oh, it did." Revealed Nyssa. "At the moment, our third of Crux Prime is spiralling off into space, towards the maelstrom from the look of it." Her smile faded. "Our top scientists are working on a way to halt our movements, but... I think it's a case of "out of the frying pan, into the fire" for you. Sorry."
"It's not your fault." Aaron assured her. Nyssa nodded, then stood up and began to leave the room.
"Wait." Aaron said. Nyssa paused.
"Yes?"
"What's the kid's name? For future reference."
Nyssa grinned again, and gave her answer before leaving the room.
"His name is Lux."
It was sometime later that Aaron decided he was feeling well enough to rise. It turned out he had broken a leg during his escape, presumably when he had landed badly, and a broken arm for good measure. So he looked like a war veteran - which, technically, he was.
Nyssa hadn't given him any information regarding places he could or couldn't go, so he went for a walk to clear his head. It took hours, but he eventually made his way up a rocky outcrop which overlooked the whole Minithran civilisation. When he first caught sight of the view that had been made available to him, he stared. Then blinked a couple of times to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
They weren't.
What he, and all other people, had assumed was maelstrom-y rock and barren wasteland was actually a thriving town, a utopia in the chaos. The buildings were white, and pure as freshly-fallen snow. All the surrounding light sources were an electric blue. They were also shaped like dug-in spheres, or igloos, so from afar it looked like the System's largest snow town. On the normal side of Rivendark Canyon, the maelstrom had amassed in droves as a result of the destruction of Nexus Tower. With a start, Aaron realised that the Minithrans lived life on a knife's edge, with every day containing the possibility of being their last. It was only the high amounts of imagination in the area that kept the maelstrom on this side at bay, and only their signal that stopped the rest of the system from finding out about them. Chaos and Order, Good and Evil, Isfet and Ma'at, in a precarious balance that could at any moment end.
Aaron decided that he had never in his life seen anything so beautiful or terrible.
As Aaron overlooked the Minithran civilisation, he suddenly felt a shiver on the back of his neck, the same feeling that one would experience if someone had just exhaled on that spot.
"H... hello?" He asked, cautiously. He hoped it wasn't anything maelstrom related - he would be completely helpless with an arm and a leg out of commission.
Suddenly, he gasped and stumbled on his crutch as he felt a wave of pain course through his head. He could almost hear a voice, enraged, screaming inside his skull. He placed his hand on his head and tightened his grip, as if trying to pull the voice out.
"A futile gesture." It hissed, almost apologetically. "But we are now one."
"What ARE you, and why are you in my head?" Retorted Aaron, grimacing once again.
"I intend to help both of us." The voice replied. "But I can only take control when you are OUT of control."
"Way to answer a question without answering it."
"I've been picking up some tips."
"I resent that."
"I'm sure you do. Anyway, let's say that I've only been in control once before... when the life of one you loved was threatened."
"Then... you... it was YOU who was responsible for Duke Exeter's demise! Not me!"
"Correct."
Aaron could feel his anger rising at the revelation, but he tried to control himself and continued his questioning.
"You still haven't answered my question. What are you?"
"The gem that you got your hands on is no ordinary gem. Where is it?"
Aaron's good arm suddenly acted of its own accord, reaching into his pack and pulling out the purple gem that had given him his powers.
"Yesss... Now, your friend mentioned Overbuild and the Darkitecht referring to a prophecy?"
"What are you getting at?"
"This gem is part of said prophecy. A long time ago, a civilisation that existed before the Mythrans forged the gem using raw elements as ingredients. Things like air, time, fire and so on. There were- are seven in total."
"Before the Mythrans?"
"Correct. The same way Minithrans are the legacies of Mythrans, the Mythrans were themselves legacies of another race."
"Which race was that?"
"Alas, even I do not know their official title. Anyway, their power was so great that if they were alive today, you would consider them Gods."
"With such power... what happened to them?"
"They fell... to darkness."
"How can that be? The maelstrom was only created recently, by Baron Typhonus-"
"I find your ignorance both amusing and concerning. Think about it. There could not be that much chaos in the mind of one man. The maelstrom was not created - only summoned."
"So... the maelstrom has always been here."
"Light cannot exist without darkness, the same way that darkness cannot exist without light. There has always been the maelstrom, but it is usually dispersed, and scattered so far throughout the universe that it cannot form any coherent power. At least, until the man you know as the Darkitecht visited the Imagination Nexus. The dark ideas and images in his mind were like a beacon to the maelstrom. It condensed into one place... and became powerful enough to threaten the light."
"I see... you say this has happened before?"
"Yes. The civilisation before the Mythrans fell to its power."
"Then... how are we here?"
"You think you are the first people to fight for what you believe in? You think you are the first heroes? There were great heroes before you - far greater than anyone you know, I daresay. They defeated the maelstrom with their backs to the wall. They were on the brink of defeat... and they came back to achieve victory. The first builders were the greatest heroes the universe has ever seen."
"So, THAT'S how they're connected to all this."
"Yes. Perhaps you are not so stupid after all."
"Thanks."
"Don't get too overconfident."
"You still didn't answer my final question, by the way."
"My identity? It's difficult to explain."
"I have plenty of time. Does time even exist in this mental conversation?"
"Yes."
"I still have plenty. Now, answers?"
"I am the gem."
"...."
"I told you it was complicated."
"You're the GEM?! The gem has sentience?"
"Yes, yes I do."
"Now I'm REALLY confused. I need more expository dialogue!"
"The good news for you is that I'm the only gem which is technically alive."
"How many gems are there?"
"I don't know. I remember that there were originally twenty gems created."
"Why twenty? That's a very specific number."
"Well, there could be more. My memory's a little fuzzy, it's been thousands of years."
"Which ones do you remember?"
"Hmmm... well, I was once plasma, till I was infected, given a consciousness and became a gem of overall maelstrom."
"Plasma's an element?"
"Hey! Don't diss plasma!"
"Okay. Sorry."
"Anyway, there was also light, fire, earth, water, metal, sonics, air, time-"
"TIME?"
"STOP INTERRUPTING ME."
"Heh-heh. I'm sorry."
"As I was saying, yes, time is an element, psionics, plantlife, shadow, ice, stone, lightning, magnetism, gravity..."
"That's only seventeen. Also, aren't magnetism and metal the same thing?"
"No. Magnetism is actually more similar to gravity and psionics than metal. Everything has a magnetic field, right?"
"Point taken. So, last three?"
"Let me think. There's void... lava... and smoke."
"They just ran out of ideas, didn't they?"
"I wouldn't know."
"So, we can use the power of the gems to combat the maelstrom? Is that what you're saying?"
"Perhaps. But from what I am able to sense, there are only seven gems left. This includes myself."
"Firstly: that sucks. Secondly: how can you tell?
"All the gems are linked."
"Okay. So, what's left?"
"There's me, maelstrom... There's also light, air, time, fire, shadow and lightning."
"Not an ideal selection."
"It's also curious. In the aforementioned prophecy, it's those elements that are specifically highlighted."
"What are you saying?"
"You, and six others, are our only hope of destroying the maelstrom for good."
"That's... more than a little pressurising."
"I have a tendency to be brutally honest."
"You are SO evil."
"Yes, I am - literally."
"I could do with some advice."
"Give up."
"I'm sorry?"
"Let me take control again. I can let you just rest for a bit, while I-
"No." Aaron realised that he had spoken out loud. "I won't have you destroying the Minithrans for fun in my body."
"What makes you think I'd do that?"
"Looking through people you're bonded to is a two-way street. I can see just how malevolent you really are."
"Very Well. But you would also know that I would not do a thing like that without your consent, because I want the best for both of us. Upon my honour, if you let me control-"
"Still no." Declared Aaron, speaking with his voice again. "You're the one who needs to give up."
"Huh?" Came a voice from behind him. Aaron turned to see Lux behind him, staring.
"Oh." Aaron realised just how strange it must have been to see him talking to himself. "Nothing."
"If you're sure." Lux shrugged, before staring across the land.
"I love this view." He sighed.
"Same." Aaron said automatically, before realising that he genuinely did.
"I just..." Lux hugged his knees - a gesture Aaron recognized. It was the sort of thing he would do when he was feeling uncomfortable. Suffice to say, there had been a lot of knee-hugging during his time in Nexus Tower.
"I just wish I knew who my family was." He finally admitted. Aaron raised an eyebrow.
"So... you know you're not a Minithran, then?" He asked.
"Yeah. After a while, it became kinda obvious." Lux admitted.
There was a brief pause.
"I'm sorry." Aaron finally said, if only because he didn't know what else to say.
"Don't worry about it." Lux flicked a rock over the ledge, and the two of them watched it tumble down the slope. "It's hardly your fault."
"I guess." Aaron agreed.
Aaron and Lux sat on the ridge for a few moments longer, in silence.
"I sort of have a family." Aaron eventually said.
Lux didn't take his eyes off the view
"Define "sort of.""
"Well, we're not related to each other." Aaron explained.
Lux looked confused.
"Then how can you be family?" He protested. "Aren't families supposed to be related?"
"Well..." Aaron thought. "That's how some people see it. The way I see it, families are the people you're closest to in your life. The people you trust, the people you love. Does that make sense?"
"Kinda." Admitted Lux. Then he smiled in a self-satisfactory way, the sort of smile that is smiled when someone has an idea.
"Who's in YOUR family?" He asked.
Aaron sighed. "Well, first there'd be my sister, Anna, who's the only biological family I know. She's tough but kind... she'll probably be a bit of a tomboy when she's older... and she means more to me than anything else in the world. And then there's my best friend Will, who I've known since the two of us were three weeks old. We were born one day apart in adjoining hospital beds, and from there..."
Without even realising it, Aaron began to talk about all the people in his life who he considered family. it was therapeutic, as he hadn't even realised how much he had missed them since this had all started. He also missed the people he had met recently, or in the facility, for an inexplicable reason. Maybe it was the sensation of comradeship he had felt when they fought at each other's backs. Whatever the case, he didn't even know how long he'd been talking until he paused and saw that the sun was almost down.
"That... was moving." Lux said after a while.
"Thanks." Aaron grinned.
"You know," offered Lux, "when I want time to think, I go in there."
The boy indicated at a cave in the rock.
"They call them the Crystal Caves." He informed Aaron. "It's beautiful in there."
"I'll keep that in mind." Aaron said, stealing a couple of glances over Lux's shoulder into the caves. There was definitely SOME sort of light coming from there, but he wasn't too keen to enter - the last light he had found in a glowing cave had been the gem, after all.
"Ok." Lux said. "Uh... what... what are you gonna do now?"
Aaron shrugged. "There's not a lot I CAN do with two broken limbs, is there?"
"I guess not." The boy admitted. "When they're healed, then."
"I suppose I'll try and find a way back to Nimbus Station." He said. "My friends and sort-of-family are there, after all."
"How would you know something like that?" Lux questioned.
"A bit of logic, a bit of reasoning - and a gut feeling." Aaron explained.
"Oh." Lux said slowly. "What do you think is going to happen now the tower is destroyed?"
"I don't know." Aaron admitted. "I guess it would be too much to hope the maelstrom gives up and goes away."
"Almost definitely too much." Agreed Lux.
"Well then," Aaron declared, "in that case, I think it's safe to assume that there's going to be some major trouble ahead. For all of us."
"I don't mean to sound rude, but I hope you're wrong." Lux said.
"You don't - I feel the same way." Aaron replied.
"That's good." Lux shrugged. "I'll see you later?"
"Sure." Aaron confirmed, as Lux began to walk back down the hill.
After Lux had gone completely, Aaron looked back at the cave. It was still glowing its eerie light.
Perhaps, Aaron thought, there could be some answers in there.
"Well," He said out loud, "I have always been intrigued by inner peace..."
"Don't count on it."
"Shut up."
Taking a deep breath, Aaron rose, (wincing as he manoeuvred his broken limbs,) and began limping towards the cave.
"Well." Plue finished. "That happened."
She was in her apartment, talking to Will; who had arrived shortly after she did. Gaia and Rose were currently sleeping in Plue's spare room, whilst Will and Plue themselves were talking in her living room.
"So... Nexus Tower's gone now?" Will asked.
"Yeah." Plue admitted. "I don't know how, but..."
"Well, you know how it happened." Pointed out Will "How did Gaia even get those explosives...?"
"They wouldn't have been enough to bring down Nexus Tower anyway." Said Plue. "Something else happened - I just don't know what."
"Right." Will muttered, clearly not convinced. "Well, we have bigger problems right now."
"Like?" Plue said sarcastically. Will threw a newspaper at her. Catching it, she saw the headline:
Overbuild elected leader of the Nexus Force.
It was all she needed to see.
"You've GOT to be kidding me." She groaned.
"I wish." Will sighed. "Everything seems to get worse and worse. Aaron's criminalized, the only faction leader who was our ally is gone, Overbuild and consequently the Darkitecht have taken control of the Nexus Force..."
"Will." Plue muttered. "Shut up."
"Right." Will muttered. "Shutting up."
"We have to decide what we do next."
"What's there to do?!" Will protested. "We're finished! Kaput! I'm sorry, but I don't see how there's anything we can do at this point!"
Plue slapped him. "For goodness' sake Will, pull yourself together."
Will just grinned. "You remind me of my sister."
Plue stopped, and stared at Will. "You have a sister?"
Will shrugged. "Used to." Noticing Plue's expression, he sighed. "I'm pulled together. What's the plan?"
"Okay..." thought Plue. "The plan... the plan... we need to find out what Overbuild's planning, right?"
"Right." Will agreed.
"And, we need to prevent that from happening, right?"
"Right." Will repeated, wondering where Plue was going. Neither of them spoke for a moment.
"How do you propose we go about doing that?" She said finally. Will threw his hands up in the air.
"I give up." He sighed.
"If Nexus Tower's been destroyed..." Plue continued, ignoring Will, "where would Overbuild be, anyway?"
"Somewhere secure, right?"
"Exactly. What secure places do we know?"
Will thought. "Not many actually. Nimbus Station, the latter half of Avant Gardens... that's about it. Everywhere else we know is in constant danger of being overrun."
Plue snapped her fingers. "Exactly. So, he's got to be in one of those places, right?"
"He could have a place we don't know about, like the facility." Pointed out Will.
"He wouldn't." Reasoned Plue. "He's nothing if not intelligent. He knows that if the Nexus Force leader spends periods of time missing, people will get displeased. He's got to remain in the public eye, and the only way he can do that is by living somewhere well known."
"Nicely reasoned." Complimented Will.
"I've spent a LOT of time with Aaron." Sighed Plue. "I guess that's rubbed off on me."
"Well, it's a good thing too." Will declared. "Otherwise we would be..."
"Less decisive right now?" Sniggered Plue.
"Yes, actually." Said Will imperiously.
"Sure." Came a voice from behind Plue. She spun round to see Gaia standing in the doorway.
"Because decisiveness is SO important." She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, people, sometimes you need to just go with it!" She wandered up to Will and rapped her fingers on his head. "Stop THINKING so much!"
"I resent that, I enjoy thinking!" Protested Will, holding his hands on his head - for once, he wasn't wearing his hat.
"I'm gonna have to agree with Will on this one." Admitted Plue. "We're going to need to to a lot of thinking to overcome Overbuild."
"Alright." Gaia shrugged. "So, what do you have in mind?"
"Well, the first thing we're going to need is a definite location." Said Plue. "The sooner we can pinpoint Overbuild, the sooner we can make a plan against him."
"Oh, that's easy." Declared Gaia, before reaching out and grabbing the remote control to the television.
"Uh, what are you...?" Will began, before Gaia switched on the TV and turned it to the news channel.
"He's bound to crop up here eventually, oh look!" She exclaimed in mock surprise as Overbuild appeared on the screen.
"Fair enough." Said Plue. The screen's caption read Overbuild takes up residence in Nimbus Station.
"So... how are we going to handle this?" Wondered Will out loud.
"Well, we now know where he is." Said Plue. "Our next step would be to make a plan."
"I don't like plans." Complained Gaia.
"Two votes against one, Gaia." Pointed out Will. "So please be silent."
"Whatever." Gaia grumbled.
"Right." Began Plue. "There's probably going to be a lot of security surrounding his residence."
"So, what do you suggest?"
"Diversion." Declared Plue. "Gaia, would you like to..."
"WOULD I EVER!" Gaia yelled, jubilantly.
"Right, that's settled." Plue supressed a laugh. "Once the guards are distracted, me and Will can sneak in and find any information we can. Our goal is to figure out Overbuild's ultimate plan."
"Question." Said Will. "How do you know he even HAS an ultimate plan?"
"Will, Nexus Tower has fallen and the Imagination Nexus is now unprotected." Pointed out Plue. "Trust me, we're entering the endgame now. We just need to find out what the endgame is."
"Well, what if there's automated security?" Asked Will. "A diversion won't be very effective against that."
"I think I can help."
"Will people PLEASE stop saying something dramatic before entering the room?" Asked Plue, exasperated, as Jacen walked in.
"NEVER!" Yelled Gaia. Plue rolled her eyes.
"I can make EMPs." Filled in Jacen, sitting down at the table. "Any electronic device can be disabled while you two sneak in-"
"Okay, okay, before we continue." Said Plue, holding up her hands, "I'd like to ask you something. Namely, HOW DID YOU GET INTO MY HOUSE?!"
"I let him in." Said Rose, who had also appeared in the door way. Plue began smacking her head against the table in frustration.
"Is the table making that wooden sound, or is that your head?" Quipped Will. Plue straightened up and shook her head.
"Ok... anything else I should know? Are there hidden cameras? Come on out, guys!"
"Plue, Plue! It's okay. Really. There's no-one else." Will assured her, the smile sliding off his face. "Don't worry about it."
"Okay." She sighed. "Right, so... um... where were we?"
"Jacen was going to make EMPs for us, he and Gaia were going to cause a diversion, me, you and Rose were going to sneak in and find out what Overbuild is planning, and then we're going to gather everyone together and stop him."
"I don't remember a lot of that..."
"Well, you'd better, because it's what's happening. Oh, and we have a direct location as well. Just FYI."
"Oh. Good."
It was hard to aim in the dark. It was even harder, Plue thought, to aim a bow and arrow in the dark. And the hardest thing to do of all is to aim an arrow that is supposed to hit a very specfic target; i.e: get caught by a hand, when you can't see what the flying heck you're shooting at. Nevertheless, Plue managed quite well, firing a flaming arrow across the courtyard into Gaia's hand. The group had made their way to Overbuild's "Cottage." In reality, it was a mansion that came complete with dozens of guards in a tangerine box - and a fair amount of robots, too. So far, Jacen's EMP device had worked perfectly... now was the moment of truth regarding Gaia and her planned diversion.
"Hello pedestrians!" She shouted into the night. Plue heard footsteps running towards the spot on the grounds where herself and Jacen were currently stood.
"What are YOU doing here?" Asked a voice.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Taunted Gaia, swinging the arrow idly round in her hand.
"Yes, that's why I asked." The speaker replied.
Gaia shrugged. "Well, it all started with - HEY! I don't have to tell you anything!"
Angrily glancing around to see who spoke to her, she threw the arrow angrily up in the air, and it's pilot light of a flame revealed Jacen, using a pair of stolen rocket boots to hover above the ground.
"Hey." He said, emotionlessly. "I'm an intruder. I guess you had better come stop me."
With that, he turned and flew away, followed swiftly by Gaia, waving over her shoulder. Suddenly, there was a mad stampede as every guard stationed in front of or inside the mansion left and pursued the pair, leaving Plue, Will and Rose on their own.
"Well." Rose remarked. "That was surprisingly efficient."
"Agreed." Declared Will. "Now, let's get inside. Quickly."
Plue and Rose both nodded, and the trio sprinted across the courtyard of the mansion. They came to a halt at a large wooden door, and Rose held up her hand as an indication of requested silence. As Plue watched, Rose walked up to the door and knocked on it. Within moments, it had been opened by a security droid - doubtlessly one of the only ones to stay behind despite the diversion. When it saw Rose, it looked down on her, and Plue figured she had about three and a half seconds to think of something.
"Hello!" Rose grinned, and waved.
"Why are you here?" Asked the robot.
"Well, why did you invite me?" Asked Rose, feigning a look of bemusalment.
"You have not been invited." Replied the drone.
"Yes, I have!" Protested Rose. "See here, I'm on the guest list."
"There is no guest list."
"Yes, there is. Here."
"That is not a list of any kind. That is a clenched fist-"
Rose punched the bot, causing its head to spin around in circles before coming to rest at a lopsided angle.
"Unacceptable." It declared calmly. "Repair in-"
That was all the thing was able to say, as Plue charged from her hiding place, drew her sword, and sliced the thing in half before it could react.
"I figured you needed something a bit stronger than a punch." She declared as Will walked over
"Much appreciated." Thanked Rose. "But shouldn't we get moving?"
"Yes." Agreed Will. "My thoughts precisely."
With Will in front, the three began roaming the hallways, looking for a room or office belonging to Overbuild.
"I think I've found it!" Said Rose. She was standing in front of a door with the words "Doctor Overbuild's Private Office" engraved on the door.
"Really?" Asked Plue. "What tipped you off?"
Rose opened the door and stuck her head inside the room.
"We're all clear." She revealed. "No-one's in."
"Good." Plue nodded, satisfied. "Will, you stand guard out here. Warn us if someone's on the way."
"You got it." Will nodded.
"Come on Rose." Plue said, and the two women entered the office.
Inside was what could only be described as an organized mess. Papers and files strewn everywhere, buckets of LEGO and various laptops were left hanging precariously off desks. One of the walls was just a shelf covered in books, and there were also paint canvases, pots of pens and pencils, and generally enough random items for a scatter-brained genius to do about twenty things at once.
"Where would we find the evil plans?" Wondered Rose. Plue thought.
"I'd say... the most heavily guarded folder, or storage container, or whatever."
"Then this looks promising." Rose pointed out a small metal box on one desk, with a padlock conjoining all the chains wrapped around it.
"I'd agree." Said Plue. "But that looks problematic."
"Yeah." Agreed Rose, forlornly. "No key. How are we supposed to access it?"
"We need to get that safe out of here." Stated Plue.
Rose shook her head adamantly. "I don't know about you, but I don't think I'd be able to carry that if I tried."
"You're right." Admitted Plue. "We need-"
"This?" Asked Doctor Albert Overbuild, stepping into the room. In his hand was a key; doubtlessly, the key to the safe.
"Overbuild!" Spat Plue.
"What are YOU doing here?" Gaped Rose.
"I knew that your friends were indulging in... diversionary tactics. It was a simple matter, figuring out that you would find this room."
Suddenly, Plue was hit with a stark realisation. "Where's Will? What have you done to him?"
"Oh, Mr Virtue?" Overbuild stepped back, to reveal a pair of security droids holding Will. He was barely conscious, and looked like he'd lost a fight.
"What did you... is he-" Rose gasped, staring horrified at her friend.
"Dead?" Finished Overbuild. "No, I believe he's still alive. However..." The doctor walked over to a shelf and picked up what looked like the blade arm of a stromling. How he had obtained the weapon, Plue didn't know, but she could be sure of his motive. "This can be rectified."
"No!" Plue ran forwards, but the next second found herself restrained by his robotic arms.
"Rose... help!" She coughed. Rose span into a tornado, and charged at Overbuild. The tornado sucked up items from various nooks, crannies, desks and shelves inside the room and flung them towards the doctor, but one of the security droids held out its hand and emitted a shield that deflected all the items. Books, bricks, balls, and undoubtedly some items that didn't begin with a "B" flew everywhere. Straight afterwards, the other security droid threw some kind of device inside Rose's tornado, resulting in a burst of electricity that sent Rose across the room, slamming into a wall before dropping to the floor unconscious.
"Rose!" Plue yelled helplessly. Overbuild waited for another moment, then threw to the floor with his arms, watching as she hit the ground with a slam. Blowing her hair out of her face, and through her blurring vision, Plue saw Overbuild stroll casually over to Will, and, after seemingly pondering his actions for a brief moment, leaned down and scratched him with the blade. Plue saw the cut on his arm glow purple, and knew, with a deep, tragic certainty, that Will only had a certain amount of time left on his clock.
"That should do it." The doctor muttered, before turning back to Plue, and giving her a sad little smile. "Maelstrom infected wounds." He said, softly. "responsible for the majority of our casualties throughout the war."
"NOOO!" Plue yelled and, in a burst of adrenaline, ripped herself free of Overbuild's arms, picked up her sword and in one fluid movement sliced through both of the arms before pointing her sword at Overbuild's neck. Overbuild held up his arms, and the pair of security droids moved closer; ready to strike.
"I should finish you here right now." Plue spat. "For Will, for Duke Exeter, and perhaps for Aaron and Shadow, too."
Overbuild merely shook his head as if she were an imbecile.
"That wouldn't solve any of your problems." He replied. "We've been planning this day for over ten years - you won't be able to avert fate's now."
Plue was just about to come back with a sniping retort when the door opened and Vanda Darkflame rushed in
"Doctor! It's Hael!" She yelled. "I went into his office to ask him something, and he..."
She trailed off when she clapped her eyes on the unfolding scene.
"Al?" She asked cautiously. "What's... happening?"
"Oh, I can answer that." Said Overbuild, remaining frustratingly stoic. "The two of us are engaging in a minor dispute over the ambiguous fates of her boyfriend and another companion of hers, the certain fate of Duke Exeter, and the fate which has just befallen her friend over there as a result of my actions."
"What?!" Spluttered Vanda. "Albert, are you saying-"
"WHATEVER YOU THINK IT IS, IT'S FAR WORSE!" Plue roared, shaking Overbuild's lapel to shut him up. "HE'S RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE SUFFERING INFLICTED IN THIS WAR, AND HE'S IN LEAGUE WITH THE DARKITECHT!"
"Oh, come off it!" Protested Vanda. "You seriously believe that Albert Overbuild is responsible for the demise of-"
"Hael Storm." Interrupted Overbuild. Plue and Vanda both turned to look at him. Vanda's face drained itself of blood in an instant.
"Albert." She said, almost whispering. "What did you say?"
"Hael Storm." Repeated Overbuild. "You were trying to tell me about Hael in his office? That was me, Vanda."
Plue's grip on Overbuild went slack, but she didn't care.
"No." Said Vanda, slowly backing away. "No, no, no."
"I'm sorry." Said Overbuild, not sounding so. "But he always was an arrogant loudmouth."
Vanda slumped against the wall and slid down it, dropping her swords.
"Told you so." Said Plue glumly, before one of the security droids hauled her off Overbuild.
"Now..." He said, brushing down his overcoat. "Where were we?"
Suddenly, the office's window burst open and Gaia and Jacen zoomed through it. Glass spewed everywhere as the pair flopped onto the ground. Behind them, Plue heard a multitude of gunshots from the pursuing security guards.
"Was our diversion long enough?" Gaia asked, before seeing everyone in the office.
"What do YOU think, genius?" Jacen remarked.
"Fine, I get it." Gaia sighed as she pointed a hand towards the whole, and blind-firing a small amount of lightning outside.
"Out of juice?" Asked Jacen.
"Don't blame me!" Protested Gaia. "This place is too clean!"
"Excuse me!" Said Plue. "I hate to barge in, but... the safe!"
"What? Oh!" Jacen realised. "On it!"
He whipped out a pistol and began shooting up the door of the safe. One of the security droids tried to run at him, but Gaia raised a fist and sent the robot flying across the room. The other droid held Plue in front of itself, but the next second a whip wrapped itself around the bot's neck and pulled backwards. Plue turned around to see Will leaning on a wall, whip in hand, panting. The cut on his arm glowed a deep purple, but Will seemed to be neglecting it for the time being.
"What did I miss?" He grinned.
"Look out!" Plue replied. Will turned in time to see Gaia tackle Overbuild, who had been about to attack Will from behind. Jacen watched Gaia retaliate.
"Aim for the jugular!" He advised.
"The what?" Gaia asked, still punching the doctor.
"THE JUGULAR!" Yelled Jacen, still shooting the safe.
"I don't know what that means!"
"Oh, for the love of... punch him in the throat!"
"Oh." Gaia obeyed, and shut Overbuild up. "Well, why didn't you just say so?"
"I di... you know what, never mind." Said Jacen.
"Jacen, do we have a way out yet?" Asked Plue, hoisting Rose onto her shoulder. Rose groaned feebly.
"Yeah." Jacen replied. "They should be-" He was interrupted by the whirring of helicopter blades. Outside, a Nexus Force chopper was hovering by their window, slightly above the ground. The security guards stopped what they were doing and stared in outraged awe.
"-just here." He finished.
Plue turned to look at her team. "Everyone on board, now!"
Jacen shot the safe a final time before pulling out a wad of papers and sprinting for the helicopter. Behind him, Gaia blasted any guards who tried to fire at him or the machine. Will began to limp towards it, followed by Plue carrying Rose. Suddenly, Plue was hit with a realisation, and she turned to look at Vanda. The Paradox Faction leader was still slumped against the wall where she had fallen after Overbuild's revelation.
"Um, guys?" Plue said.
"Yes?" Will rasped.
"What about Vanda?" Plue queried. There was a moment of silence. Then Will swore and began to haphazardly run back to the building. Plue dumped the unconscious Rose onto the chopper, and began to head back as well, when she saw Will stumble out of the window supporting Vanda.
"Help me with her, she's in no condition to walk." Huffed Will. "Neither am I, for that matter."
Plue ran the remaining length of grounds, and the two of them were able to haul the shell-shocked faction leader back to the helicopter. Once they were on board and the doors were closed, their saviour lifted the chopper off the ground, and the group made their escape.
"Thanks" Will panted.
"No problem." Replied Vector, leaving the cockpit and joining the rest of the group in the back. "I owed you guys anyway."
"Wait - who's flying this thing?" Plue exclaimed. Vector laugher.
"Kaylori is. Turns out driving a helicopter isn't so different from driving a jeep."
"Um, actually, it is." Kaylori filled in. "I'm just good at getting the hang of things. Where too now?"
"My property!" Plue replied. "We need to regroup and-"
"Oh no." Jacen muttered. All eyes fell upon him as he lifted some of the papers they had taken from the safe. "I know what he's after."
"What?" Gaia pressed, shoving her face into Jacen's.
Vector pulled her away. "Let him speak." He suggested.
Jacen, pale by this point, nodded his gratitude to Vector and began to read off the sheets.
"It looks like... it looks like some kind of bomb."
"Define bomb." Ordered Will.
"Well, it's built in a not dissimilar way to the bombs we normally drop on the maelstrom, but this... it seems to expel some kind of matter that destroys imagination."
"That's not good." Rose voiced the general opinion.
"it gets worse." Jacen whined. "It looks like this thing uses... uses the Imagination Nexus as a power source. Most of its been pre-programmed into the Nexus, so all Overbuild has to do is flick a few switches..."
"And it's "goodbye imagination."" Plue finished, grimly. "Forever."
The silence was deafening.
"What do we do?" Asked Rose after a short time.
"Isn't it obvious?" Pointed out Vanda.
Everyone turned to look at the faction leader, who had been silent until this point.
"We get there first." She declared. "I'll rally all the remaining members of the Nexus Force-"
"About a quarter of them are traitors." Protested Vector. "Manipulated by Overbuild and the Darkitecht.
"Then so be it." Vanda said. "Now that they've been exposed, they'll have to join the maelstrom openly. Hiding won't do them any good any more. But if we can get to the tower first, then we can set up a defence, and we'll have a fighting chance to stop them."
The young faction leader raised her haggard face to look into the eyes of the assembled warriors.
"This is it." She muttered. "The confrontation that decides the war."
"Then let's make sure we have front row seats." Plue said, and the group flew. Towards the Tower.
"Wow..." Aaron breathed, stepping into the open space.
He had, for lack of a better thing to do, wandered into the crystal caves in an attempt at exploration. After hours of combing plain and uninteresting tunnels, he had finally arrived inside a huge open chamber. As Lux had described, it was filled with fluorescent white crystals that jutted from the ceiling, walls and floor. The entire thing had a circular shape, and there was a crystal-free patch of ground in the middle. Beckoned on my curiosity, Aaron limped towards the center of the room.
"What... what IS this place?" He breathed, not expecting a response.
"I'm not sure." The gem replied. "I kind of remember this place, but when you're thousands of years old, everything sort of blends together after a while."
"Ugh..." Aaron groaned. "Are you still here?"
"Yep. Symbiotic bonding and all that, remember?"
"Ok... well, as long as you're here, you might as well make yourself useful. Is there anything you know about this area or these crystals at all?"
"Hmm... well, you know how there are areas that have really high concentrations of maelstrom? Like the central vortex, or the plains of crux prime?"
"Yep."
"This is an area that has the opposite. A really high concentration of imagination."
"Is that so?"
"Mm-hmm. Such a dense cluster of imagination could obliterate any maelstrom being too close, even-"
"Even you?" Aaron asked. The gem fell silent.
"I wouldn't recommend that course of action."
"Is that so?" Aaron began to make his way towards the nearest crystal. "Why?"
"You could destroy both of us."
"I'm willing to take the risk."
"You would destroy the prophecy."
"What do I care."
"The maelstrom would win!"
At this, Aaron paused.
"I thought you would want that." He said, cautiously.
"Hardly at all." The gem replied. "I'm viewed as an anomaly by the Darkitecht. And, well... we saw how he dealt with anomalies."
"Yep." Aaron agreed. "First drop a ceiling on them - and then a tower."
"Precisely." The gem said. "We've both made enemies of the maelstrom, despite the way we're connected to it."
"Yeah..." Aaron sighed, and drew his hand away from the crystal.
"We're going to have to work together if we are to survive." The entity continued. "For starters, we need to-"
At that moment, Aaron turned around swiftly and dived for the crystal jutting out of the wall.
"No!" The gem yelled, but it was too late. The tip of Aaron's finger made contact with the crystalline substance, and the whole world changed. There were flashes of light and shadow, and it was hard to see exactly what was happening. An eternity passed in no time, and suddenly Aaron reeled away from the light cluster, gasping.
"What... what WAS that?" He panted, trying to keep his balance with his broken limbs.
"I'm not quite sure." The gem replied. "When light and shadow are combined in such a way, all sorts of things can happen. I once knew of two entities, one of light and one of shadows. When they were briefly combined, they became the strongest being in their univers-"
"Answer me!" Aaron snapped, shaking. "The things I saw... the people I saw... it was..." He trailed off.
"I'm sorry." The gem seemed to sigh, almost unexpectedly. "I'm so sorry."
"What? Why?" Aaron queried.
"From what I was able to see through you, I don't think those were any random images." The gem confessed. "I think that we were shown the future."
"Then... that all happens?"
"Yes. I'm afraid so."
There was a brief silence.
"I have to go."
"What? Where?"
"Back to civilisation. I have to protect them, I have to-"
"Listen." The entity interrupted him. "One often meets their destiny on the path they take to avoid it."
"I don't care." Aaron snapped. "I can't just sit around and my friends be... you know."
Aaron heard a sighing noise in his head.
"Listen, I may not be able to stop you from going back... but at least let me help you."
"How can you help me?" Aaron wondered.
"I'm glad you asked."
"Why are you-"
This was all Aaron had time to say before the entire scene changed again. Blinking against a sudden bright light, he looked up to see not the caves, but rather a seemingly infinite expanse of white. There were no discernible boundaries, and the area seemed to go on forever. Upon moving, he found that his arm and leg were no longer broken, but freely movable.
"Where am I?" Aaron said out loud. "What is this?"
"It's called the mindscape." A voice behind him said.
Aaron turned around to look at the speaker, and then stopped cold.
Standing before him was a woman unlike any he had ever seen. Her hair was long, right down to her waist and hanging loose - and the richest shade of purple. Her eyes, too, were the same shade of purple. Her facial features seemed impossible to identify, as if she were some kind of angel. But at the same time, Aaron could instantly sense that something was wrong. She had a threatening aura, and flames danced in her irises. She was beautiful in the way a significantly sized explosion was beautiful.
"Who... who are you?" He finally managed to say. She laughed; a cruel, kind laugh.
"What's the matter?" She chuckled. "Am I too stunning in person for you to think?"
Suddenly, Aaron realised that she was wearing exactly the same clothes he was.
"You're the gem?" He asked. The gem's smile slid from her face, to be replaced by an expression of mild indignation.
"You expected something else?"
"I didn't expect ANYTHING." Aaron emphasised, regaining control of himself. "I had no idea you would be able to create a physical body for yourself in this... whatever it is."
"Don't treat your mind so!" The gem chided. "This is where you'll learn how to control my power."
"I can control- wait, this is my mind?"
"Yep."
Aaron narrowed his eyes, and looked around again.
"Should I be happy that it's so big, or concerned that it's so empty?"
"Neither." The gem replied. "Just be thankful you have one."
"True." Aaron agreed.
"Right!" The gem said, clapping her hands together. "To business. First thing on the list is the memory transfer."
"The what?"
"Oh, right." The gem placed a hand behind her head. "It's... um... just come here."
With that, she grabbed Aaron and pulled him close to her.
"Firstly..." She muttered. "General experience." And with that, she pulled his head and her own head back, and smacked their foreheads together.
"Gah!" Aaron reeled away, clutching his forehead, but he suddenly felt his mind flood with memories. He saw the initial creation of the gems by the first builders, and their use against the maelstrom. He saw eons of peace, before the entity known as the Darkitecht was created and threatened the balance of order and chaos once more. He learnt lessons and morals, stratagies and facts in an instant.
The gem watched, amused, as he staggered round the empty space of his own psyce, clutching his forehead.
"How do you feel?" She smirked.
"Wiser." Aaron replied, before wincing. "Was that necessary?"
"Yes. And it's not over." She declared. Before Aaron could stop her, she had pulled him in again.
"Next... combat specificities." She declared, and slammed their heads together again. This time, it hurt even more, but Aaron again experienced thousands of years of battle experience in an instant. When he came too, he was lying down on the ground, with the gem standing over him.
"Pathetic." She said, grinning, before helping him to his feet. "If you can't take a headbutt, how do you expect to defeat the maelstrom?"
Aaron glared at her. "Keep being annoying and I'll show you, Mrs Mccrabby."
She folder her arms in disdain. "That is not my name."
"Well, what IS your name then?" Aaron asked, exasperated.
"I... I don't actually have one."
"You're joking."
"Nope. Should I have one?"
"Unless you want me to come up with nicknames for you."
"Then yes, I really do. Um, names... names..."
"How about... CRYSTAL?"
"Never in a million years. I'll think of one... whilst we train."
Aaron ungraciously flung himself backwards to avoid the oncoming blade. As the metal skimmed past his chest, he reached the peak of his arc and bounced forwards again, lunging at his attacker. He was countered, and a sword shot towards his face. Flailing in panic, his right arm seemed to spasm, and he whacked the sword so hard that he let go of his own blade. Both swords flew away from the combatants and skimmed across the floor before disappearing back into the mindscape.
"Not bad." The gem remarked. "I expected better, but you didn't get hit, which is something. I guess you're more of a defensive person."
"I have to be good at dodging." He replied. "Will and Plue both get physical when they're angry, and even Anna can ambush me from time to time if I'm not careful."
"I know all that." She snapped. "Just don't disarm YOURSELF next time you disarm your opponent, alright?"
"Would you lay off?" Aaron shot back, unhelpfully answering a question with a question. "I've got thousands of years' worth of memories bouncing around in my head! Funnily enough, I don't think the ones that teach me how to swordfight are going to be immediately accessible!"
"How would you know!" The gem retorted. "You've never done this before?"
"Have you?"
"Yes!"
"So SHOULD they be at the forefront of my mind?"
"YES!!"
"WELL, THEY'RE NOT!" Aaron yelled, gesturing dramatically "They're not working for me, I can't use them, I can't-"
He stopped, as he found himself being hugged by the gem.
"Um..." He muttered. "I take it you know girls were never my strong point?"
She ignored him.
"Listen." She said. "I'm not going to mince my words. I don't care... at ALL... about your friends."
Aaron listened as she continued.
"They mean nothing to me personally. I haven't even met them - at least, not personally. But..."
She trailed off.
"But I've met you." She said at last. "Now that we're bonded, I know you very well. And I know how much you care about them."
"So let me help you." She finished, stepping back and smiling at him. "If you can't access the memories... I'm going to have to externally activate them."
"Ok..." Aaron said, hesitantly. "How are you going to do that?"
He immediately regretted asking the question. The mindscape blurred, and both of them received swords again. Before he had time to react, the gem leapt at him ferociously. He dived out of the way as her sword slammed into the ground, and pointed his at her respectively. Not giving him time to wait, she went straight to the offensive again, lunging at him. Aaron managed to counter, but her sword instantly swung back around, shaving a bit of hair off his head. With a start, Aaron realised that she wasn't holding back any more.
Gritting his teeth, he unsteadily charged with his sword held in front of him. It took very little effort on the gem's part to knock his sword out of his hand, letting it get absorbed by the mindscape once again and leaving him defenceless. He looked up, expecting lenience. All he received was a blade heading right towards him. Starting, he scrambled backwards to avoid it, before climbing hastily to his feet. Now, he was unarmed.
Suddenly, his head began to burn and he bent over, clutching as his vision began to fill with memories that were not his own. Whilst one part of him wanted to reject the memories, he controlled himself and allowed them to slip into his psyche. Immediately, the knowledge that he had been taunting himself with was his to savour. He saw every swordfight the past wielders of the gem had partaken in, and he was taught how to manipulate the mindscape, bending it to his will.
The gem was about to charge again, when she noticed a change in the air. Looking at Aaron, she saw him hold his hands together as energy began to materialize from seemingly nowhere, zooming towards his hand. There was a blinding flash, and she was forced to cover her eyes. When she looked up, Aaron was holding a new blade.
The sword that Aaron now wielded was glowing with power, a violet aura surrounding it. Not wanting to give him time to rest, the gem lunged at him. She wasn't surprised at the fact that he countered. She was surprised at the ease with which he countered her attack. Aaron's wielding had abruptly changed from experienced yet unpolished to efficient and almost effortless. Grinning, she lunged again, only for Aaron to knock her blade away again. She then cut for his stomach, but he smoothly countered and slid his blade along her own, sending sparks flying. She hastily backed away to avoid the attack, marvelling at the fact that she found herself on the defensive.
During the duel, Aaron didn't even look like he was concentrating. He had a dazed and far-away look on his face, and seemed to be almost marvelling at his own actions. He lunged at the gem, who countered and tried to kick him away. Swiftly, he grabbed her leg and pulled her over; she fell down in a clattering of armour. Before she even realised what was happening, Aaron was holding the sword to her throat.
"Better?" He asked.
She smiled, not unkindly.
"Better." She confirmed. Aaron held his hand out, and she brushed it away as she climbed to her feet.
"So, how are they? The memories, I mean."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, those. They're... fine."
"Define "Fine.""
"Well... it's weird. I just feel so much older, and more experienced, and more..."
He shuddered. "Mature."
The gem couldn't help but laugh.
"Well, I'd say there could be worse side effects to learning thousands of years' worth of warrior skills, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah." Aaron shrugged. "I guess. So, what happens now?"
The gem tilted her head sideways.
"Now, I guess I get you out of the mindscape so you can run off and save your friends."
As she said this, the entire mindscape began to glow a brilliant white.
"Wait!" Aaron said, as he felt himself returning to the real world. "Did you decide on a name?"
The last thing he saw was the gem-entity's smile.
"Raelyn."
The mindscape faded, and Aaron found himself in the crystal caves. The first thing he noticed was the fact that his limbs were completely healed. As he tested them gingerly, he noticed another thing: he still had the memories of a thousand years in his head. Whilst still unsteady over them, even he had to admit the fact that it was a much better feeling than himself and Raelyn fighting for headspace.
"Raelyn..." He murmured out loud, holding the gem in his hand, grateful for now being in possession of a name for the gem...
"You act as if I'm gone." He suddenly heard inside his head. Now that he had met her in the mindscape, the pitch of her voice had become a lot more recognizably feminine.
"I wish." He remarked.
"Yeah, okay, I'm going to ignore that." She said. "Isn't there stuff you need to get on with?"
"Indeed." He said, getting up and beginning to run to the exit.
When Aaron arrived back in the Minithran settlement, he noticed that there was a commotion in the center of the town. Pushing his way through the crowd, he saw the Imagination Nexus, now unprotected by Nexus Tower, on the very edge of Crux Prime. Around it. he could see ships flying in from every direction. Beyond them, the maelstrom had amassed. The entirety of the great and terrible power of the maelstrom had gathered, and it was advancing on the Imagination Nexus.
Realising that time was of the essence, he scanned the crowd until he spotted Nyssa and Lux, and hurried over to them.
"I need a ship." He stated as he arrived.
"Uh - of course." Nyssa said, visibly perturbed by his healed limbs. "Why?"
"There are some people I need to save." Aaron replied. "And some I need to avenge."
"Of course." The Minithran bowed her head to show that she respected his wishes. "Will you return?"
"Perhaps." He said.
Nyssa directed Aaron over to a Minithran craft, which came with a robotic pilot.
"Be safe." She advised him. As the door slid shut, she heard his quippy response.
"I don't do requests."
Will stood beside Vanda Darkflame, looking over the Nexus Force from a makeshift stage. Vanda had sent out a signal which had alerted all members of the Nexus Force to the situation, and many civilians had also joined them. The rest were cowering in their homes across the Nimbus System, afraid to fight and afraid to run.
Will inwardly sighed. Just more people to protect, then.
"Are you alright?" Vanda asked him, shaking him out of his thoughts.
"I'm fine." He replied, absent-mindedly rubbing his arm.
Vanda's expression hardened. "After all this time, we don't have the means to prevent such a simple occurrence. I'm so sorry."
"It's alright." Will assured her. "I didn't think I was gonna make it through this war anyway."
Vanda looked like she wanted to press him further, but obviously decided against it.
"I'll talk to you again after I've addressed the crowd." She said, before striding out onto the stage and beginning to speak.
As Will watched, he heard a noise behind him and turned to see Plue, Kaylori and Vector standing at the edge of the stage.
"Hey." He greeted them and walked slowly over.
"You ok?" Kaylori questioned.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" He joked. "I'm fine."
"I don't think-" Kaylori began, but Vector shook his head.
"Kaylori, I think it's best if we don't worry about Will's... issue right now." He said. "We have bigger problems."
Plue nodded, and indicated the mass of maelstrom that was approaching.
"That force is going to be on us in less than an hour. Are you sure the defences are in place?"
"What defences?" Exclaimed Will, spreading his arms out wide. "We've erected a rickety stone building around the Imagination Nexus, and we're going to get the remaining three quarters of the Nexus Force in a defensive position around it. That's literally all we can do right now. The rest is up to fate."
"Are you disappointed?" Asked Vector. "About how everything we've worked so hard for is falling around us?"
"Disappointed?" Will repeated, laughing. "I think it's hard to be disappointed when your expectations are so low they're next to dinosaur bones. Like I said, I wasn't planning on walking away unscathed."
"But that doesn't mean you can be casual about it!" Plue told him. "This is a big deal!"
Will placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I know it's a big deal." He said, softly. "But not only is the war is the war coming to an end, the fact is that in all my life I've never felt so calm, so... so right. This is the perfect time to die. I'm ready."
"You shouldn't be!" Plue hugged him. "We've known each other for so long, and now that Aaron..." she sniffed. "Now that he's gone, I don't know what would happen if I were to lose YOU as well."
"You don't know that he's gone." Will told her, hugging her back. "He'll show up."
"How can you be so sure?"
"It's being a hero, you know?" Will smiled. "All that "nick of time" stuff."
"But what if he doesn't come back?" Plue replied.
"He will." Said a voice.
All eyes turned to look at Anna, who was standing resolutely behind Vector and Kaylori.
"I know he will." She continued. "He wouldn't be my brother if he didn't come back."
"You see?" Will grinned, breaking away from Plue. "We know he will, don't we Anna?
"Yeah." She smiled. "He's gonna return and kick some maelstrom butt."
"My point exactly." Said Will. "So why don't we-"
He was interrupted as the sky seemingly exploded. Looking up, Will saw pieces of the swarm of maelstrom break off from the main group, and fall to Crux. Where it fell, the ground fractured and spawned minions of darkness everywhere.
"Get ready." Will finished, glumly. On the stage, Vanda finished speaking and the assembled warriors hastened to their posts. Vanda herself ran over to the group.
"Well, this is it." She said. "The final confrontation is upon us."
"Good luck everyone."
What was left of Crux Prime shook once again as the maelstrom forced it's way through the very surface of the landmass. The rock crumbled like wet clay as wave after wave of stromlings, spiderlings, horsemen and dragons emerged. At the very back of the maelstrom army, Will could see some uninfected figures watching the chaos unfold in front of them.
"Who..." Plue began, having noticed the same thing.
"Who else? Overbuild." Will spat. "His traitors and him are staying out of the fight. I don't think he wants to get his hands dirty."
The Assembly faction leader was soon lost, however, in a sea of purple, black, red and white. It was clear to Will that the maelstrom was leaving nothing in reserve. It intended to completely obliterate the Nexus Force, destroy the Imagination Nexus, and crush any remaining resistance in one fell swoop. They were the only barrier between it and universal domination.
"We might have a tussle on our hands." Vector remarked. They watched as around them, the Nexus Force and the volunteers took up defensive positions and waited for the first attack.
"That's an understatement." Will said.
"This is how it ends." Kaylori declared, darkly.
Plue's response was to grin and raise her katana.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." She declared. Will nodded.
"Anna, stay back." He told the young girl.
"Trust me." Anna said. "I'm not going anywhere near that lot."
"I don't blame you." Said Vanda, marching forward with her swords in her hands. "I'm scared myself."
"We must remember." Said a shinobi beside them. "We're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one."
"Dilip?" Will exclaimed, recognizing the voice. The shinobi nodded, and Will could see him smiling behind his mask.
"Did you think I would be anywhere else?"
"I wish we could say the same about the others." Kaylori said. "I haven't seen them for hours."
"I'm sure Gaia's coming up with some kind of stupid plan to save all our lives." Will assured his friend.
"Emphasis on the word "stupid."" Plue pointed out. "No offence to Gaia, but her plans aren't exactly known for working out in our favour."
"Fair enough." Will admitted. "But now isn't the time."
The first wave of stromlings began to advance, sprinting towards the Nexus Force defences. Clambering over each other in their haste to destroy, Will heard ghostly howls and moans as the terror approached.
"STEADY!" Vanda yelled. The troops held their ground as the stromlings rushed ever closer.
Seconds passed.
"FIRE!" Vanda roared, and the Nexus Force unleashed hell onto hell. Weapons lit up, bullets and lasers flew towards the enemy lines, and grenades were sent screaming through the air, sending up hellfire wherever they landed. The stromlings were cut down, only to be surpassed immediately by their onrushing brethren.
"FIRE!" Vanda shouted again, and another volley of projectiles made their way across the battlefield. Space Marauders wielding wormholers sent crystalline shards of power at their enemies. The Sentinel faction fired flaming arrows and lasers, whilst the Venture League kept to more old-fashioned weaponry - firing bullets at the stromlings. From the side, Assembly faction turrets cut down the maelstrom forces where they stood whilst demon dogs fired at the flying hammerlings above. Giant insects simply cleaved apart any stromling that managed to make it to the defences, and the Space Rangers used their high-tech equipment to shield as many of their fellow warriors as they could. In the midst of all this, people who belonged to no faction fought using whatever weapons they had scavenged before the fight began.
Will watched all of this happen in an instant, and realised that they couldn't last. The maelstrom would just keep on pushing, and eventually-
Will lost his train of thought as he saw a Nexus Force jet screech through the sky, avoiding blasts of flame from dragons - that is, until it was hit and began to plummet towards the battlefield.
As Will watched, the jet began to plummet towards the battlefield. Smoke curved around its structure as it fell, the wings burning and the engines spluttering.
Suddenly, the rear hatch opened and Will saw four figures begin to plummet out. With a feeling he knew who it was, he began running past troops in order to get to the front line. Getting close, he was abruptly knocked backwards by a maelstrom ape that had broken through the front lines and was now rampaging, sending troops flying. Without hesitating, Will jumped up and leapt onto the creature, wrapping his whip around its arm. This turned out to be a bad move, as the ape roared and began flailing its arms wildly. Will was forced to cling to the whip for dear life as he spun around, not knowing which way was up.
He was saved when Vector arrived and fired upon the ape with a broadsider. The ape roared in defiance and tore the whip off its arm, sending Will to the floor. It raised its arms to try and crush him, but at the last second Kaylori darted in front of its fists and caught them in her palms, stopping them from connecting. Dilip jumped over Will and Kaylori, and dealt the creature a final blow using his katanas. The beast toppled over, and Will rose. Hurrying to confirm what he already knew, he raised his head to the sky and saw Gaia, Jacen, Rose and Shadow fall the last few feet to the ground.
There was an almighty explosion, and stromlings went flying. In the center of a sizable crater the four stood. Jacen raised a pair of pistols, Shadow summoned his sword and Rose took up a fighting stance. Gaia's eyes glowed, and a vortex of energy began to form with her at the center. Stromlings everywhere were sucked in and disintegrated, and only by staying in the eye of the storm did her friends survive. A dragon flew at her, but Gaia raised her hand and unleashed a jet of fire upon the creature, eliminating it almost immediately.
As Will watched, the vortex began to travel across the field of battle, bringing destruction wherever it went. Gaia levitated in the center, with her friends below her, trying to sustain the storm and control its direction at the same time. Purple lighting struck any entity that ventured too close, and the maelstrom began to scatter before her.
Plue whistled.
"Dang." Vector muttered. "I thought she was powerful before, but this... this is something else."
"Indeed." Said Vanda.
"Don't get any ideas." Kaylori hissed. Vanda rolled her eyes.
"Please." She scoffed. "I've been put off experimentation for life after you filled me in on what Overbuild had been doing all these years."
"I'd like to think so." Kaylori replied.
Will sighed inwardly as the two continued to snipe at one another, and turned his attention to the battlefield. Gaia's storm seemed to be losing power, as its creator's energy was drained. Even Gaia had her limits, it seemed.
Wincing, he rose and began jumping over the rocky outcrops to make it to the group in the storm. His friends ceased their activities as they watched him journey.
"Come on!" He yelled when he realised that they were watching him.
They looked at each other. Then Plue began sprinting after him, quickly followed by Vector. Then Dilip, then Kaylori, then Vanda.
The six continued to run closer to the vortex even as the entire structure flickered. Like a hologram with no power, the entire storm seemed to pause once, for a couple of seconds. Then again, for longer, all the power disappeared before returning. Then it dispersed for good, sending a minor shockwave over the battlefield.
Gaia, exhausted from the effort, began to fall out of the sky as the last remnants of the vortex evaporated into the dusky air.
The second Gaia dropped out of the sky, the group that had been with her began to move. Shadow launched himself off the ground and managed to catch his falling comrade before she hit the ground. Jacen said something to Rose, who seemed perturbed by his words, but nodded. Will then saw Jacen turn around and begin run towards the wreckage of their jet, with Rose covering his flank.
The maelstrom restarted it's advance, and Shadow, after placing Gaia on the ground, levelled his sword, before suddenly vanishing in with a loud crack. Will continued to run, as he saw stromlings in the crowd beginning fall for no particular reason. Chaos began to spread amongst the maelstrom's ranks as Shadow teleported from place to place, cutting down stromlings and then vanishing before anyone could identify his position.
A stromling ape began to stampede towards Jacen and Rose, who were still running towards the wreck. Rose turned around for half a second, saw the ape, and instantly entered a spinjitzu tornado. Zooming towards Jacen, she grabbed him and tossed him towards the wreckage before hastening over herself. Will still couldn't see what they were really doing, not being close enough, but Jacen seemed to be entering the jet whilst Rose was standing guard outside.
Knocking aside a couple of stromlings with her spinjitzu, Rose was grabbed by the ape and rendered helpless by its extreme strength.
"Jacen!" She shouted, and her friend emerged from the wreckage holding a Space Marauder-class wormholer. The techie opened fire on the ape with the weapon, sending a wave of maroon crystals into its gargantuan frame. The ape roared and tried to slam Rose into the ground; Shadow teleported in, grabbed Rose, and vanished just as abruptly. Without Rose at risk, Jacen was able to attack in force, pushing the ape back with a wave of crystals before bringing the chainsaw edge of the weapon above his head and down onto the servant of darkness, destroying it.
Jacen raised the wormholer, panting, as the body of the ape disappeared into nothingness. There was a cracking noise, and Shadow reappeared, holding Rose. Rose turned around and hugged Shadow, who's eyes betrayed the slightest hint of surprise.
Will smiled upon sight of the brief exchange, but then turned his attention to Gaia. The maelstrom was starting to notice that she was in their midst, and was advancing quickly.
"We need to protect Gaia!" He yelled. The group nodded, and jumped of the final ledge keeping them from the maelstrom army, dropping into its center. Instantly pandemonium broke out. Will sprinted towards Gaia, whilst the rest of his team began battling to hold the maelstrom back. A spiderling hissed from right in front of Will, but the next second Vanda launched herself into it, knocking it aside. Will dodged a laser that had been fired his way and lowered his shoulder as he ran, barging past a few stromlings.
He finally arrived at Gaia's position, and saw that she was still unconscious. Grimacing, he gritted his teeth and whipped out his guns. A stromling ran at him, but it's head was destroyed by Will's first shot. He kept the maelstrom in a circle around him and Gaia by firing his guns frantically. Stromling after stromling fell, but more simply took their place. It didn't help that Will was tiring. One pistol ran out of ammo, and the other was knocked out of his hand as he took time to aim.
Cracking his whip, Will ensnared a stromling and lifted his arms with all his might. Perhaps it was the maelstrom inside him compromising his body's imagination flow and messing around with his muscles, but he was able to lift the entire stromling off the ground, over his head, turn around, and use it as a flail to knock a spiderling aside. However, his energy was failing and he was knocked onto Gaia.
"Hey!"
An indignant yell informed Will that she was awake, and he indicated with a hand.
She simply grinned.
"Fun." She murmured.
"This cannot be good." Raelyn muttered inside Aaron's mind. Aaron himself was staring out of the spacecraft's window at the battlefield - and he could see everything that was happening on the ground.
"It definitely isn't" Aaron confirmed out loud.
"So, what do we do?" Raelyn asked him. Aaron considered.
"We can be the most use dealing with Overbuild." He eventually decided, indicating with his hand where Overbuild was stationed behind the forces of darkness.
"Define "deal with."" Raelyn told him. Aaron picked up on the quiver in her voice, and thought quickly.
"We're not going to fight him - not yet." He revealed.
"What." Raelyn sounded disbelieving, and Aaron reckoned he had a few seconds before the surprise gave way to anger.
"I don't want anyone else to die, not even him." He told her. "We're going after him, but I'm in control, so we're doing it MY way."
"I don't like your way."
"Oh, you wouldn't like ANYTHING I came up with."
"True."
Aaron turned around and looked at the robot who was piloting the jet.
"Hey robot? You got a name, or designation, or something I can identify you with?"
"No sir." The bot replied. "My sole purpose is to fly you to where you want to go."
"Well, I'm gonna call you Maddox." Raelyn said using Aaron's mouth, before he could stop her.
"Very well sir." "Maddox" said. Aaron nodded, then turned around and began smacking his own forehead.
"Raelyn... WHY?! What kind of name is MADDOX, anyway?"
"The first one I thought of."
"What possessed you to name him?"
"We're keeping him."
"WHAT?"
"I'll explain later, but the gist of it is I have a plan. Now, where's Overbuild?"
"We're just about to fly overhead now."
"Perfect."
"Maddox!" Aaron ordered. "Open the doors!"
"Opening doors." Maddox responded, and the sliding door retracted. Before Aaron had time to steel his nerves, his legs moved of Raelyn's accord and he flung himself out of the craft.
"If we die I'm blaming you!" Aaron yelled as he plummeted through the air.
"If we die I'll accept all responsibility." Raelyn replied. "Which is precisely why we're NOT going to die."
"We need to come up with a way to collaborate, because there's no way in a frozen maelstrom vortex I'm letting you take full control again." Aaron declared stubbornly.
"I'll get it one day."
"What was that?"
"Erm..." Raelyn hesitated. "Nothing?"
Aaron rolled his eyes. "We'll discuss it later. Right now, we need a landing strategy."
"Got it."
Aaron felt his body warp through space as Raelyn used his ability to teleport and he ended up... higher up in the air
"WHY?!" He shouted angrily as he began to fall again.
"I need time to think!" Raelyn said.
"Oh, for goodness' sake!" Aaron ignored Raelyn and focused on the ground where he was going to land - right at Overbuild's feet.
"Goodie." He and Raelyn both said, before acting as one. Aaron focused, and warped into shadows at the last possible moment before he hit the floor. His shadow flickered, and then he flew upwards as if he had been birthed from the very ground. Landing in front of Overbuild, he drew his sword and, in one swift movement, swept his blade around, knocking all the traitorous people that had been surrounding Overbuild aside. Before the doctor could react, Sentinel was at is throat.
"Don't." Aaron growled. "Move."
"What a surprise." Overbuild said, completely deadpanning his words. "I thought you had perished."
"I kinda did." Aaron reasoned. "But I'm here now, and I'd quite like to avenge myself."
"You'd do well to restrain yourself, and whatever's in your head." Overbuild told him.
"I can control it." Aaron retorted.
"I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not. After our experimentation was finished, it was a pathetic creature. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did without a host."
Aaron had to stop Raelyn from unleashing a slew of curses.
"Well, it did. More fool you, I guess." He managed to say.
"Do you even know what's going to ha..." Overbuild's words died as Aaron pressed the sword closer to his neck.
"Don't try and distract me. You're going to go to your troops and tell them to call off their advance, now!"
"Why would I do that?" Overbuild asked.
"Because if you don't," Aaron told him, venomously, "I'm going to right all your wrongs here and now."
The doctor laughed. "You think killing me will solve all your problems?" He asked, seemingly ridiculing the young man standing behind him.
"What are you talking about?" Aaron spat.
Overbuild's laugh died, and shreds of what sounded like pity entered his voice.
"Look around, boy." He said, his voice abruptly very soft; Aaron had to listen closely to his words. "Look around at the Universe we live in, and tell me that it's worth fighting for. Tell me that it's worth protecting. We've been fighting this war for thirty years, and for what? To save the Nimbus System? What's the point of it all? Most of the people here were people who migrated here after the explosion! It shouldn't mean anything to anyone! This entire "Universe" that we strive to protect consists of several hunks of rock with different habitats on them. Is it worth all that we've sacrificed? Is that worth all the resources we've given up? Is that worth all the lives that have been lost? Of course it isn't."
Overbuild smiled as he continued to speak. "That's why the opportunity I've been presented with is so brilliant. The Darkitecht has ultimate power at his fingertips, and he's my FRIEND. I can use it to better our lives, and help people. I can harness the chaos to do what no-one has ever done with it before. With him as my ally, we can wish all our problems away. We can create what I've strived for for so long..."
He spread out his arms.
"Perfection." He whispered.
"You think THAT'S perfection?" Aaron almost laughed. "People give your intelligence more credit than it deserves if you really think that."
"FAR more." Raelyn agreed.
"Of course THAT isn't perfection." Overbuild grinned. "But it CAN be."
"No, it CAN'T" Aaron told him. "You're delusional."
"I-"
"Let me ask you something." Aaron said, his voice as cold as steel. "Have you ever seen war?"
"What?
"Have you ever seen what it's like there? On the battlefield? When you're not in complete control? When it's just every man for himself, and in a split second you can go from winning to dead? Have you experienced the rage and the pain of comrades falling next to you, and all you can do is stand there, and think to yourself, "Glad it's not me?" Have you ever even FOUGHT before? Because, let me tell you, it's one thing to plan a battle. It's another thing to participate in it, good Doctor. You have no idea what you're doing and how, despite what you might believe, it's not worth it? For all we know, this little war could have been OVER by now, but SOMEONE thought it would be a good idea to fraternize with the enemy!"
Aaron began to lose his composure, a fire flickering in his eyes. He withdrew his sword and kicked Overbuild away. The Doctor landed on the ground and Aaron stood over him.
"You thought that you could save lives? Well guess what? YOU'RE JUST ENDING THEM, OVERBUILD! YOU'RE BEING MANIPULATED INTO HELPING BRING ABOUT OUR DESTRUCTION BECAUSE? BECAUSE WHY? YOU CAN'T LET GO, THAT'S WHY! YOU REALLY THINK THAT THING THERE IS STILL YOUR FRIEND? HE'S PULLED THE WOOL SO FAR OVER YOUR EYES YOU'RE BEING SMOTHERED WITH IT, GENIUS!"
Aaron suddenly stopped, and sobbed once.
"You've not alone, Overbuild - I'd be just as lost as you if I lost MY best friend. But this isn't the remnants of grief! This is not letting go! It's just a delusion! Have you even THOUGHT about the paradise you want to create?"
Overbuild said nothing.
"What will the rules be? What will it look like? YOU DON'T KNOW, DO YOU?"
Aaron glanced towards the battlefield.
"I'm going to right your wrongs. But I need to know one thing first."
He grimaced.
"You coming?"
Plue gasped for breath as she pulled her sword out of the last remaining spiderling on the battlefield. All around her, Nexus Force troops sat, licking their wounds, as the last traces of the maelstrom's first wave was destroyed.
"Well, we didn't do too badly." Vanda said, sauntering up behind her.
"But can we survive another attack like that?" Plue asked her, indicating the carnage. Vanda stroked her chin.
"Not without activating the tower's emergency defences." The faction leader replied.
"Huh?" Plue asked. Vanda sighed.
"Nexus Tower used to have what was essentially a force field emitter as part of its defences."
"But... wasn't the tower destroyed?" Plue wondered. Vanda nodded.
"Yeah. But unlike most of the defences, which were a part of the structure, the force field was embedded into the Imagination Nexus itself, in a way not dissimilar to the way the bomb is embedded." She revealed.
"Offence and defence." The samurai mused. "Okay." She stood up, and began walking towards the Imagination Nexus. "Let's go."
Vanda nodded, and the two strode towards their final beacon of hope.
"How long do you think it'll take you to get it set up?" Plue asked. "Less than half an hour would be best."
Vanda grinned in response, and cracked her knuckles.
"Don't underestimate me." She chuckled. "Me and my team can have the shield up and running within a couple of minutes, provided nothing's broken."
"Great." Plue said. "We'll stand guard here in the meantime, until-"
She was cut off as a horrible roar echoed across the battlefield. Turning around, she saw the ground buckle and break apart as more maelstrom forced its way to the surface. A dragon slithered out of the ground headfirst, before stretching its wings and screeching again. Plue drew her sword, fear creeping into her psyche.
"Suddenly, a couple of minutes is looking like too short a time." She admitted.
Vanda sprinted inside the tower Plue raised her weapon. Vector raced up to her. He had lost his broadsider, but had unsheathed his cutlass by means of compensation.
"What's the plan?" He yelled over the cacophony of noises now coming from the battlefield.
"We hold them off until Vanda can activate the emergency defences!" Plue said, her voice eerily quiet.
"What emergency defences?" Vector asked.
"You'll see in a bit." Plue answered.
Winged hammerlings began to plummet from the sky, screeching with the voices of banshees as they went on the attack. Without hesitating, Plue unslung her bow and fired a flaming arrow towards the nearest creature. It exploded in a ball of pink flame, but was instantly replaced by two others. Plue raised another arrow when she saw Jacen at her side, wormholer at the ready. Next to him stood Dilip, shuriken in hand.
"Get inside." Jacen ordered.
"What?" Plue asked.
"Trust us." Dilip told her. "We can fend them off."
"Why the heck is that necessary?" Vector asked him
"Because," Dilip said whilst throwing a star, "when the shield goes up you're only going to have a few seconds before it's closed, and it's best to be inside when that happens."
"But we can't just-"
Plue was interrupted by Vector grabbing her arm.
"Vector - what?" She gasped, trying to break free, but the buccaneer was too strong. He turned to Dilip and Jacen.
"Promise you guys'll get in here as soon as you can?"
"Promise." Jacen nodded, before smiling wickedly. "After all, I've got some pent-up anger left over from years of captivity I need to release."
"Fine." Vector began dragging Plue towards the Imagination Nexus as, all around them, troops began to fall back.
"No!" Plue resisted every step of the way. "They won't survive if it's just the two of them!"
"They're right." He replied. "We need to get inside before it's too late."
Jacen activated the wormholer, and the sound tore through the battlegrounds.
Plue eventually stopped resisting Vector, and the two ran to the Nexus as the Nexus Force and allies grouped together in anticipation. She risked a glance over her shoulder and almost ran straight into Vanda, who was carrying a wrench.
"Vanda!" She yelled. "How's the defence system going?"
"Great!" Vanda replied, giving her the thumbs up. "Any moment now, we should-"
She paused as a brilliant humming started, and the air turned electric.
"See something like that happen." Vanda finished. Plue was about to celebrate, when she remembered Jacen and Dilip.
"Guys!" She yelled. "The shield's almost up!" You need to get inside, NOW!"
"She's right." Dilip admitted, shaking Jacen. "Come on."
Jacen nodded, and the two of them began to sprint back towards the Imagination Nexus and what was left of Nexus Tower. Plue heard the troops around her begin to cheer for them, and joined in vigorously.
They were about fifty feet away from the cut-off point when a translucent, light blue barrier appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
"RUN, YOU GUYS!" Vector roared.
"IF YOU DIE, JACEN, I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Gaia added viciously.
The two continued to run, but it was clear that they wouldn't make it in time. Jacen even dropped the wormholer, trying to lighten his load, but it was no use.
"Looks like this is the end for both of us." Jacen remarked grimly as they ran. Dilip looked at him from behind his mask pensively, as if making a decision, before stopping and pulling out a Nexus Force grenade - nicknamed "the big one."
"No." Dilip said, as stoic as ever. "Just for me."
With that, the ninja threw the grenade onto the ground. The shockwave was immense, and Jacen was blasted forward faster than he could have possibly run, slamming into Gaia just as the barrier closed.
Dilip, on the other hand, was knocked in the other direction, right into midst of the stromling horde.
Plue had to turn her head away.
Jacen gritted his teeth.
Rose gasped in horror.
"NO!" Kaylori yelled as she pounded a hand on the barrier.
Vector wiped a tear from his cheek.
"He - he knew it was either both of them... or just him." He managed to say, his voice cracking.
The next moment, Vector was tackle hugged by Gaia.
"VECTOR, I'M SO SORRY FOR YOU!" She yelled, burying her face in his chest.
"It's... it's fine, Gaia." Vector smiled through his tears. Plue couldn't help but smile as well, though that quickly faded when she turned back to the barrier. The maelstrom horde had slowed down, and were walking almost casually towards the Nexus Force.
"What are they doing?" Plue wondered out loud.
"Waiting." Vanda spat. "They know they can't get through the shield, so they're waiting for it to run out of power."
"And will it?" Rose panicked.
"No - at least, not for a while." Vanda explained. "The Nexus can last for a very long time, but we can't. It's not like we have supplies in here or anything."
"So, I guess it's a siege." Will declared.
As Plue was about to say something, her eyes wandered to the surrounding cliffs before widening. Standing atop one of said cliffs were a handful of figures that looked heavily armed.
"Guys... do you see that?" She asked, pointing.
"Yeah." Will said. "is that who I think it is?
Aaron, Doctor Overbuild, and a crack squad made up of Assembly and Paradox troops flung themselves right into the midst of the stromling horde. There was an explosion of raw power, and everyone inside the barrier had to look away. When Plue looked again rubbing her eyes, she saw Aaron surrounded by stromlings wielding a massive greatsword that looked oddly familiar. His eyes glinted with the dreaded purple glow, but she saw no signs of him losing control as he tore into his enemies. If that sight wasn't strange enough, he was fighting back to back with the leader of the Assembly faction, Overbuild, who was using his mechanical arms to their full effect.
"Shortest siege in history." Gaia said.
"What the heck's going on?" Vanda yelled, pushing her way to the front.
"I don't... I don't know." Plue admitted. Will just stared.
"Neither do I, but it looks AWESOME!" Gaia yelled, pumping her fists.
"What on Crux?" Jacen wondered.
Outside the barrier, it was clear that a furious battle was taking place. Aaron swung the greatsword and it cleaved apart a spiderling that had dared to stand in his way. A group of dark ronin tried to advance on him, but he outstretched his hand and sent a combination of fire and lighting heading their way, frying them before they could get close. Assembly troops build constructs and machine-gunned the maelstrom, whilst Overbuild created an enormous monkey wrench construct out of imagination and slammed it down onto the battleground, sending the forces of chaos flying in all directions. As the wrench dissipated, Aaron fired a beam of light from his hands into the sky, and out of nowhere a dragon fell to the ground, crushing stromlings, a hole blasted through its wing.
Aaron then placed the sword on his back and began to run towards the barrier. Everyone inside gasped and muttered to themselves.
"What is he-" Vector began, before they heard him yell.
"The barrier!" Aaron roared as he advanced. "TAKE DOWN THE BARRIER!"
"Is he crazy?" Vanda exclaimed. "We can't just take it down!"
They didn't hear what Aaron said next, but they knew what he did. With a roar, Aaron slammed right into the barrier... and smashed through it. Everyone stared as pieces of the energy shield rained down on the ground like bits of broken glass. As Aaron stumbled through, Overbuild and the people followed suit before the barrier fixed itself behind them.
Aaron stood up and brushed himself down.
"Never mind." He grinned. "I didn't know I could do that."
There was a silence.
"What." Will managed to say.
"Good news!" Aaron declared. "We know how to save you all!"
"What."
"We'll use the bomb!"
"WHAT."
"I have so many questions right now." Plue admitted, holding her head in her hands.
"Okay, quick breakdown." Aaron said, waving his hands in the air excitedly. "I now have thousands of years of battle experience thanks to the gem who by the way you should treat with respect because she's alive and her name is Raelyn but she's also kinda evil so be careful. Anyway I found this civilisation populated by beings that are like a cross between us and Mythrans it's kinda weird and I came back here and essentially gave Overbuild here a verbal slap in the face which made him be not crazy evil and we went to his armoury where he gave me the sword of Duke Exeter as well as some other cool gadgets. While I was figuring out how to use them he came up with the idea of reversing the effect of the bomb he'd previously set up to destroy the Universe's imagination which is a pretty dumb plan if you think about it but yeah he can apparently reverse it's effect and have it wipe out all the maelstrom instead which sounds much better if you ask me."
Aaron proceeded to hold up his hand, breathe in for several seconds, and then sighed.
"Any questions?"
Will punched him in the shoulder.
"NOT HELPFUL!" He shouted. "TOO FAST!"
"Sorry, shall I-" Aaron was cut off as Overbuild placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Leave it." He said, before turning to the assembled people.
"Whatever you have to say to me, I'd be more than willing to hear it after this whole situation is sorted." He said, awkwardly. "But right now, I think you'll agree that we have bigger problems than my foolishness right now."
"You'd described it as FOOLISHNESS?!" Vector roared, attempting to march up to Overbuild. Gaia grabbed him and had to hold him back as the buccaneer waved his arms angrily.
Aaron facepalmed, and turned to Overbuild with as exasperated look on his face.
"You couldn't be more clueless, could you?"
"We can discuss Overbuild's cluelessness later." Will said, stepping between Vector and the Doctor. "Right now, we need to... to..." He stopped, and placed a hand on his forehead.
"Will?" Aaron stepped forward cautiously.
"I'm fine." Will lied. "Just feeling kinda off."
"Will." Aaron said, as stromlings clawed at the barrier. "The last time one of us said that, a whole bunch of bad stuff happened. Stuff that I certainly don't want to go through again. Tell me what's wrong."
"It's like this." Will admitted, beginning to roll up his sleeve. "I-"
Suddenly, the barrier flickered for a moment. Everyone stared and saw why - the maelstrom had been attacking so vigorously whilst they had been talking that they were breaking through the shield.
"Impossible." Vanda muttered as the energy flickered again.
"Not in a place with such a high concentration of maelstrom." Said Overbuild, before turning to Will. "I need you to get to the Imagination Nexus."
"Why him?" Plue asked the former faction leader.
"We need someone to stay by its side until I can reverse engineer the bomb." Overbuild said, with a meaningful and apologetic glance at Will. "Better the one who is wounded, no?"
"Wait, what do you mean "wounded?"" Aaron blurted, stepping forward.
"I'll explain later Aaron." Will said, beginning to back away towards the Nexus. "Right now, I think you've got a fight on your hands." With that, he turned and sprinted unevenly in the direction of their last defence.
"What did he..." Aaron trailed off as the barrier was completely shattered, and the maelstrom swept inwards in one all-engulfing wave. The team immediately broke apart and began to battle on their own, as the Nexus Force struggled to hold back their enemies once again. Aaron pointed the sword of Duke Exeter as a group of stromlings and grinned as they were blown away by the blast of pure imagination energy unleashed from the tip of the sword.
Looking back, Aaron saw his friend battling as well. Grinning, he placed the sword on his back and began to build up Raelyn's power inside him.
"Careful!" The gem hissed. "Didn't I teach you control?!"
"Actually... you didn't." Aaron pointed out.
"Good point." Raelyn admitted.
It didn't matter. The maelstrom coating the area was enough to power him up, and he let lose a roar of satisfaction. A wave of energy knocked the stromlings back, and everyone turned to him.
"Alright you guys!" He yelled over the crackling of electricity. "If you all use all your power, and I hit these jokers with a million volts of lighting, we'll teach 'em never to mess with the Nexus Force again!"
"Right!" Gaia shouted in return. "Fireballs a'coming!" And she started punching the air, sending flames scorching towards the stromling lines.
"This is for Dilip!" Vector bellowed as began shotgunning the maelstrom with his broadsider.
"I STILL HAVE PENT UP RAGE!" Jacen shouted, shaking as he used the wormholer.
"You'll rule the day you manipulated ME, Darkitecht!" Overbuild created a new construct - an enormous hammer - and slammed it into the maelstrom lines.
"Ninjaaa....go!" Rose knocked aside several stromlings. "Ugh... why is shouting that necessary to do spinjitzu? It's... so corny!"
Predictably, Shadow said nothing as he cleaved apart waves of stromlings.
Kaylori nimbly dodged several shots from stromling mechs before raised her hand and using brute strength to rip them apart.
"Okay..." She muttered. "Maybe these mutations aren't so bad?"
Suddenly, a spiderling reared up behind her, only to be struck down by a flaming arrow. From behind Kaylori, Plue grinned.
"I've got your back!" She said.
Just as she said this, Aaron indicated with his hand and another dragon that had been about to dive towards the two was destroyed.
"And I've. Got. Yours." He said firmly.
Plue nodded at him, smiling, and the group continued to fight.
The end was near.
"Aaron!" Overbuild called, constructing a machine gun that blasted a stromling ape into oblivion. "Come with me!"
Aaron threw a dark ronin off his sword, and watched the armour fall to the ground. "Where are we going?"
"To the Imagination Nexus!" The doctor said, turning around and beginning to run towards the light. "We have to arm the bomb!"
"Arm it... so it'll blow away the MAELSTROM, and not the IMAGINATION, right?" Aaron placed the sword on his back and began sprinting to catch up with Overbuild.
"Precisely." Overbuild replied. "I only hope we can get there in time..."
"Wha- why wouldn't we be in time?" Aaron asked, catching up with Overbuild.
"I just realised." Overbuild panted as they ran through the ruined metal hunks that were once Nexus Tower, "we've quite possibly fallen for a classic case of misdirection."
"You think the Darkitecht's there now?" Aaron gasped, before hastily grabbing the hilt of his sword.
"I hope not." Overbuild sighed. "We'll have to see."
"Here's to you being wrong." Aaron muttered, as the two approached the barricade that had been constructed around the Nexus. Not wanting to waste any time, Aaron stretched out his hand and blasted a sheet of metal away with lightning, creating an entrance for the two. He then dived straight through, sword at the ready.
"Still as headstrong as ever." Overbuild muttered, before jumping through as well.
Inside, Aaron felt a serenity overtake him. Arcing infinitely into the sky stood the Imagination Nexus, shining just as brightly as ever despite the destruction of the tower that had surrounded it. A number of devices were somehow connected to the flow of the imagination, and standing in front of them was Will, who turned around on Aaron's dramatic entrance.
"Aaron!" He grinned and waved, holding his side. "Glad to see you."
"The feeling's mutual" Aaron smiled in reply.
"Sounds like the battle's getting worse." Will remarked.
He didn't notice the shadow appear behind him, ready to strike.
Before anyone else could react, the Darkitecht raised a shadowy arm and swatted Will into a nearby wall. The adventurer yelled in pain as he slammed into the cold metal before sliding to the floor.
"Will!" Aaron yelled, holding his sword out in front of him. "You're going to pay for that!"
"And who's going to make me? YOU?!" The Darkitecht snorted, incredulously.
"Sort of." Aaron snarled through gritted teeth. He could feel himself losing control, and spoke.
"Overbuild, reverse the bomb's polarity before setting it off."
The doctor nodded. "Right."
As he ran off, the Darkitecht laughed.
"So, that's your little plan!" He guffawed. "To be honest, I was expecting something more than that. Ah well. I suppose I shall have to stop you anyway, correct?"
"You aren't going to. You won't be able to." Aaron's voice was a shout by this point. "Everything you've done the past ten years will be avenged THIS DAY!"
"Oh!" The master of chaos unleashed yet another skeletal grin with his crimson features. "I'm shaking in my boots."
"Raelyn..." Aaron murmured, closing his eyes. A second passed, and then they snapped open, now a deep indigo.
Raelyn could still hear her comrade's departing words floating inside their headspace.
"I won't hold you back."
"LISTEN UP!" Raelyn pointed the sword at the Darkitecht, who's smile faded. Despite the physical features remaining almost unchanged, the villain knew that he was no longer speaking to Aaron.
"I have half a mind to slay you, here and now..." Raelyn continued, before tilting her head to the side, and grinning an almost psychotic grin. "And the other half agrees!"
With that, the maelstrom person leaped towards the Darkitecht. Sword met staff, and the battle began.
Overbuild hurriedly pressed button after button on the various consoles and machines spread throughout the room.
"Almost... there..." He muttered over the clashing of blades, as the combatants fought in the middle of the room.
The Darkitecht swung his staff right at Raelyn's head, but she ducked and in turn attempted to skewer the Darkitecht on the sword of Duke Exeter. The Darkitecht, however, simply leapt to the side and the blade passed. by. Raelyn laughed.
"Tell me, baron." She chortled. "Why is it that you're made of shadows, yet want to dodge my sword? Are you possibly... NOT invulnerable, as you've been built up to be all this time?"
"Silence, you persistent twerp!" The master of chaos roared, no longer playing games. A bolt of pure black lightning shot from his cane straight towards Raelyn, who did nothing but smile as it created an explosion and a large cloud of smoke. When it clear, black sparks were dancing around on Raelyn's outstretched palm.
"You'll have to use something other than my own attributes to end me, Darkitecht." She spat, before her eyes spewed out pink lasers. Instead of striking the Darkitecht, he moved his arm and they curved to the side, slamming into the walls.
"I could be telling you the same thing. In fact, I-"
"I'VE GOT IT!" Overbuild shouted, before covering his mouth.
"What?!" Gasped the Darkitecht. Before he could do anything, Raelyn tackled him to the floor.
"Then do it!" She yelled. "Now, Overbuild!"
"Right!" Overbuild hastened towards another control panel.
"Don't you DARE, Albert!" The Darkitecht screamed.
Overbuild found what he was looking for, and turned to the Darkitecht.
"I'm sorry... Eric." He said, before flicking a switch.
Nothing happened.
"No!" Overbuild ran around the Nexus until he saw a single cable that wasn't connected to the Imagination Nexus.
"Plug it in already!" Raelyn roared, as the Darkitecht rose from the ground with Raelyn clinging onto his shoulders.
"But... it'll..."
"DO IT!"
Overbuild sighed. "Fine."
He bent down
The Darkitecht stretched out his hand.
"I WON'T LET YOU!" He roared, before letting lose a burst of energy that knocked the doctor directly into the Imagination Nexus.
No-one knew what would happen if someone were to touch the Imagination Nexus. But the truth was that, after the summoning of the maelstrom, the Nexus had developed a way of defending itself from all contact, and this was what Overbuild experienced. There was a blinding flash, and Raelyn was forced to close her eyes. When she looked again, she saw a very familiar pair of cracked goggles fall to the floor. That was the only sign of him.
Overbuild was gone.
Before she could react, she was seized by the throat and the Darkitecht lifted her into the air.
"Such a pity!" He crooned. "You came so close, but in the end, were thwarted by the very thin you were trying to protect!"
He leaned in closer to Raelyn, his skeletal features illuminated. "Isn't fate artistic?"
"I guess you could say that."
Both chaotic entities looked and saw Will standing by the loose cable.
"What do you think you're doing, BOY?" The Darkitecht hissed in contempt. Will's gaze remained steadfast, despite his weakening by the infection.
"Protecting my friends." He said, before walking over to the cable.
"Don't you know why Overbuild hesitated?" The Darkitecht asked, slightly frantically. "It can't reach the Nexus. You've have to become a living electrical conduit - in other words, die - to power that machine."
Will looked up at him.
"I'm dead already." He declared, before picking up the cable. Then he turned to Raelyn.
"I know that you're not Aaron." He spoke softly, mournfully. A single tear trickled down his face. "But I want you to tell him... that life ends too quickly, and heartbreak lasts too long. So he shouldn't dwell on what's going to happen. Understand?"
Tears in her eyes, Raelyn nodded.
"YOU CANNOT!" The Darkitecht yelled, but Raelyn was still holding him back.
"I never thought this'd happen so soon." Will muttered. "I always just assumed I'd live a good, long life." He sighed. "The folly of youth, I guess."
Will reached out...
and touched the Nexus.
Plue clashed swords with a pirate stromling when she felt the air turn electric. Turning around, she saw the Imagination Nexus flare brightly - and then explode outwards in a burst of energy.
As the wave expanded outwards, all the maelstrom inside it was vaporized, leaving nothing but bemused people standing with weapons in hand, wondering where their enemies went. Even the clouds that had gathered above Crux Prime were temporarily dispersed, and for the first time in over ten years, the Nimbus System saw the sun.
Plue would have observed these happenings, but all she could do at the moment was fall to the ground, as she felt as if her insides were burning up. When the Nexus had passed over her, she had felt so energized that it hurt - and she felt as if she was changing, or transforming in some way.
"Please don't let me end up like Kaylori." She thought, before silently scolding herself for being so selfish. Nevertheless, all she could do was wait the pain out.
What felt like an eternity passed before her pain suddenly subsided, and she was able to rise. Hastily, she glanced at her hands and then looked at her reflection in the blade of her katana. She saw nothing different. Looking around, she noticed that many other people were sharing her haggard expression, and she began to suspect that what happened to her was far from an isolated incident.
Suddenly, a cheer rang out. Then another. Before long, every assembled person was cheering. The long-awaited destruction of the maelstrom had finally come to pass, and Plue couldn't help but smile. After ten long years, the residents of the Nimbus System could finally live their lives in peace. Remembering where she had seen Aaron and Overbuild run, she began to hasten towards the Imagination Nexus, which was brighter and stronger then it possibly ever had been. However, whilst she ran, she spotted someone lying on the ground, very still.
"No." She murmured.
Plue rushed over to Anna, and hastily checked the girl's pulse before breathing a sigh of relief. She was safe, albeit unconscious. Almost crying with relief, Plue picked Aaron's sister up and cradled her close to her chest before continuing to make her was towards the Imagination Nexus. There was a certain fatigue and sadness in the air, and Plue found herself sick with worry. After what felt like a century scouring the rubble, she came across the barricade that was around the Nexus. Before she could look for an entrance, a sheet of metal was blasted away from the structure and a solitary figure stepped out. It was the hairstyle that Plue recognized.
"Aaron!"
She placed Anna on the ground before sprinting towards her friend, hugging his back as she arrived.
"I thought you were dead, I thought - I thought I'd never see you again!" She cried.
Throughout her outburst, Aaron remained entirely silent, not speaking a single word.
"A - Aaron?" Plue whispered nervously. She then gasped out in shock as Aaron fell to his knees.
"What's the matter?!" Plue gasped, crouching down.
At first, she thought that Aaron was laughing - his shoulders were shaking, and a muted sound was coming from his nose and lips. Then she saw him put his hands to his eyes and lurch over like a doll - and realised that he was crying.
She had never seen him cry like that before.
It was the quietest crying she had ever heard, like a whisper. She suddenly drew back, before looking towards the Nexus with dread. She knew that what was left of her samurai armour would not protect her from what she might see - but she had to.
She cautiously took a step forward, when Aaron spoke.
"Don't go in there."
She paused and looked back at him. He didn't look at her, though he was speaking to her.
"It's Will."
Plue felt like she had been struck on the head with an anvil. She sat down, panting.
"You don't want to see it." Aaron told her, before continuing to whisper-cry.
"But... what happened?" Plue asked.
"I..." Aaron couldn't speak as Plue wrapped her arms around him.
"Okay." She murmured. "You don't have to tell me now, if it's-"
"No, I'll... I'll tell you." Aaron raised his head and looked off to the horizon.
"Me and Overbuild went to set off the bomb, and Will was already there, but then - but then the Darkitecht appeared. And I saw Overbuild, and felt Raelyn, and.... everything went black."
Plue didn't understand a lot of what her friend was saying, but she continued to listen intently.
"When I came too, no-one else was there. I couldn't see the Baron, and there was... there was Will... a-and I found these."
He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out Overbuild's glasses. Cracked and sooty, their appearance had one simple implication.
"Oh no." Plue gasped.
"Yeah." Aaron nodded.
The two sat side by side, staring at the first sunrise in a decade for many minutes longer. Eventually, Plue spoke again.
"Aaron?" She said, almost afraid of the question. "Who's Raelyn?"
She saw him pale.
"She's... uh... it's..."
"What is it?"
"A long story, but in a nutshell..."
He showed her the purple gem he had, and they watched as it rolled around in his palm.
"That's Raelyn."
Plue stared for a while. "So... that thing has a consciousness?"
"Yeah."
"And it thinks of itself as female?"
"Apparently so."
"That's bizarre." Plue muttered, and she couldn't help but laugh slightly.
"Yep." Aaron said, popping the P. There was another silence.
"Plue?" He eventually said.
"Yes?" She responded.
"I... I know it sounds stupid, but I feel like I'm the one to blame for all of this. If I had just stayed out of the caves, none of this would have happened."
Plue held his hand in her own, full of nought but sympathy.
"That's survivor's guilt." She said. "You'd feel it even if you weren't involved at all. It's just something we all have to deal with."
"I guess so." Aaron admitted. His friend smiled at him.
"I KNOW so."
It was a reflection of the friendship of Aaron and Plue that nothing was said for a great deal of time after Plue's declaration. Like only the best of friends, they could be satisfied with just each other's company, and not conversation. But Plue was nothing if not business-like, and despite her best inward attempts, she could not stop herself from asking:
"So? What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know." Aaron replied almost instantly. "I've thought about it all my life, that someday this war was gonna end. And I was always faced with the fact that, frankly, we're soldiers. What do WE do afterwards?"
But he looked down at his hands.
"But then... then I got these powers. Then I met Shadow, and Roseanne, and Jacen, and Gaia. Then Raelyn told me about how there were other gems; gems that needed to be given to other people. Then there's one other thing that she told me, as we were heading towards the Nexus."
Aaron turned around here, and looked at Plue.
"Imagination is a very volatile substance. There's no telling what that blast might have done to the people that were caught in it."
"What are you saying?" Plue asked, remembering the pain she had felt earlier and becoming worried.
"I'm saying that people all over the Nimbus System have most likely been altered by that blast. Given abilities most only dream of. Not just powers related to maelstrom, but... I don't know... anything."
"Has this happened to everyone?" Plue asked him.
"No." Aaron shook his head. "Not everyone. But... a significant amount of people."
"So?"
Aaron narrowed his eyes. "The Darkitecht's not gone, Plue. It might take a very long time, but the maelstrom was too concentrated to be destroyed by that blast - I can feel it. He will return."
Plue couldn't stop herself from shaking in fear.
"So... what are you going to do?" She repeated.
Aaron stood up, and looked at the horizon for what seemed like an eternity.
"I'm going to be ready." He stated.
"The battle of Crux Prime." Gaia mused. "Whaddya think?"
"It has a decent ring to it." Jacen admitted. "Rose?"
"Yeah, but... it's not the most creative name, is it?" Rose said softly, twisting her hair round her finger nervously as she spoke.
"It'll do." Gaia shrugged. "We have more important things to worry about - like how WE'RE GOING TO LIVE FOREVER!"
"For the last time, Gaia." Jacen deadpanned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We're not going to, as you put it, "live forever.""
"Yeah." Rose nodded. "Those Paradox guys clearly said that we, uh, were going to receive extended lifespans due to our overexposure to pure imagination, because it's the same substance that essentially keeps us going."
"IMMORTALITY IS MINE!" Gaia roared jubilantly. "If there was more maelstrom around I would totally be breathing a jet of fire into the air right now!". Rose screamed softly and hid behind Jacen, who was watching with a pained expression on his face.
"I'm going to regret living for longer, aren't I?" He muttered.
Nearby, a discussion was coming to a close between Vanda Darkflame, Kaylori, Vector and Plue.
"So, these are the best locations for settlements?" Vanda asked, indicating a map of the Nimbus System that was spread in front of the four.
Kaylori nodded. "Yep. The data your scouts brought back suggested that these areas are the most defendable from potential maelstrom attacks."
"Apparently, it's already starting to creep back in." Vector growled. "I'd have hoped it'd be gone for longer than a few days."
"We must take the small blessings we have." Plue told him. "Now, I suggest that we start telling people about these plans of ours, and find leaders for the settlements."
"Aye." Vector nodded, and the four faction representatives parted ways, Vanda taking the map with her.
Plue shook her head, smiling, as she walked to where she knew Aaron would be. Sure enough, she found him meditating by the Imagination Nexus.
"Aaron?" She asked, kneeling down so she was eye level with her friend. His face was serene, and his eyes were closed.
"Anybody in there?" She rapped impatiently on Aaron's skull, receiving no response.
"Okay... here goes." She grimaced, before clenching her fist and punching Aaron in the stomach. Immediately his eyes snapped open and he groaned, tilting sideways.
"Was... that... necessary?" He choked.
"You always take your time getting out of that mindscape place." Plue pointed out, not untruthfully.
"Ah, that's because Raelyn never lets me leave straight away without getting a final round in." Aaron laughed.
"You sure it's your psycho trainer and not just your procrastination habits?" Plue ribbed him.
"Both are true." Her boyfriend admitted, smiling guiltily. The pair rose and began to walk towards the makeshift camp the Nexus Force had set up after the blast.
"So." Plue said, wringing her hands as they walked. "I heard about Anna."
Aaron sighed through his nose. "Yeah. As if I haven't suffered enough already... But she's going to be alright though."
"Yeah, but... no memories?" Plue couldn't help but feel concerned as she repeated the diagnosis. "That's got to be hard, right?"
"Not necessarily." Aaron said. "She's gone through a lot of stuff that no child should have to go through. She's smacked people with monkey wrenches, seen her own brother possessed and attack people, and sat on the side-lines of the largest battle the system's ever seen. Perhaps a clean slate is just... what she needs."
"Well, that's certainly the silver lining in that cloud."
"I'd rather not dwell on the fact. But I do know where she's going to go, and it's not with me or a care home."
"Oh?"
"There's this place I know - she'll be safe there. I know for sure she'll find a friend there, and I can watch over the two of them."
Plue stopped walking and raised an eyebrow. "What place are you talking about?"
"That would be telling." Aaron replied coyly.
"Whatever." Plue waved her hand dismissively. "I trust you - she is your sister, after all."
"You're not wrong there." Aaron grinned, prompting Plue to do the same. After all that had happened, she was glad to see her friend finally begin to smile as well.
Aaron glanced over his shoulder, and suddenly his face contorted into a surprised expression, as if he had just remembered something.
"Plue, will you... uh... will you excuse me for a moment?"
Plue nodded, and Aaron sprinted over to a group of people who seemed to be causing quite the raucous.
"Greetings, friend." Shadow thought-spoke as he arrived. Aaron nodded acknowledgement and turned just in time for Rose to speed behind him.
"Aaron, she's gone crazy!" She garbled. "Please help!"
Aaron laughed. "Rose? I think Jacen's got it under control."
Rose looked and, sure enough, Jacen was holding Gaia's arms to their sides. Gaia was shouting at him angrily, but nothing seemed to be happening on a powers level.
"See? Nothing to worry about."
Rose just shook her head and ducked back behind him.
"She's still scary!" She mumbled.
Rolling his eyes, Aaron whistled to attract their attention. Ignoring Rose's protests, he purposely walked towards them, Shadow at his side.
"Alright, team, listen up!" He declared loudly, not missing a look of confusion that passed between Jacen and Rose.
"Now that the maelstrom's left for a bit, I say that our first order of business... should be building some kind of headquarters!"
"Huh?" Jacen said out loud.
"Now that people are going to start developing powers all over the place, we need to be ready to take them in and teach them if we have to." Aaron said. "Not to mention, we have to start getting things ready for when the other people connected to the prophecy might arrive. AND we're going to need to help hold the maelstrom back until we have the ability to destroy it for good."
"Aaron?" Jacen interrupted. "What are you on about?"
"I'm talking about kicking off our own, SPECIAL organization." Aaron fist pumped the air with a grin.
Instantly, he received a high five from Gaia.
"Aw yeah!" She yelled. "What are we gonna do?"
"All sorts of hero-y things!" Aaron responded.
"Will it involve breaking stuff?" Gaia asked loudly.
"Why, yes it will!" Aaron declared, and Gaia threw her arms in the air, cheering.
Rose had now taken to cowering behind Jacen, who was watching this entire scene unfold in a grim silence.
"They're BOTH scary..." Rose muttered.
"Oh my goodness." Jacen spoke slowly. "We're doomed, aren't we?"
Aaron shook his head.
"Not exactly, my friend. Now you all need to come with me."
Leading Rose, Jacen, Shadow and Gaia behind him, Aaron walked over to a humanoid figure that was standing beside a group of aircraft.
"Hey, Maddox." He greeted the robot, whom had landed safely after the battle - the same could not be said for the craft he had been piloting, however. "You chosen a ride yet?"
"Yes." Maddox nodded slowly. "I believe that this one;" he pointed at a sleek-looking craft, "fits the requirements you gave me."
"Fast, powerful, and awesome-looking?" Aaron mused. "Good enough for me. Everybody on board."
"I CALL SHOTGUN!" Gaia yelled as she sprinted up the entrance hatch, followed by a reluctant Jacen and Rose. Shadow and Maddox brought up the rear.
Realising that Aaron had yet to board, Rose turned her head.
"You coming?" She called.
"Yeah, just a second." Aaron grinned and sprinted off to the makeshift medical station that had been set up.
"I need to fetch someone..."
And so, one fetched amnesiac sister and a speedy getaway later, the team were laughing together as they flew over Rivendark Canyon and into whatever adventures awaited them in the future, knowing that they would face them together - they, the bane of pandemonium everywhere. One could almost call them... Pandemonium's Bane.
Aaron stood outside the crystal caves, arms folded over his armour in satisfaction. A light wind caused the black cloak on his shoulders to flap slightly, and he couldn't resist a toothy grin as he looked down on the Minithran civilisation. He had dropped his sister off with the Minithrans and Lux, knowing that they would take care of her as they had taken care of him.
His light brown hair no longer stuck up as much, with several strands now hanging in front of his forehead, and his eyes, a shade of blue-green reminiscent of an ocean, were filled with many emotions, all underneath a disguise of happiness. Putting a face smile on his scarred face, Aaron decided that there was one last order of business that needed attending.
"Your name?" Raelyn asked him, still slightly incredulous.
The two were back in the mindscape, and the apparition of the gem was staring at him, unsure of what to say.
"Yeah." Aaron rubbed the back of his head. "I've changed a lot, and not just because I'm stuck with you know. Whoever I was before... I don't think that's me anymore. I'm a different person, and as such, a different persona needs a name."
Raelyn rolled her eyes. "Not a great idea, but if we have to, I'd go with-"
"I'm not calling myself that." Aaron interrupted, glaring at her as she chuckled.
"It'd SUIT YOU!" She mocked him, but Aaron merely smirked.
"No, as a matter of fact..." he paused before continuing. "I've had a name in mind for a bit now."
"Okay, well, I'll just see what we're thinking, and..." Raelyn trailed off before looking up at him in surprise.
"What do you think?" Aaron spread his arms wide. Raelyn stared, before smacking her forehead into her hand.
"What kinda stupid name is Dante?" She exclaimed incredulously.
"Unless you've got a better name than Raelyn, I suggest you leave the name stuff to me." Aaron threatened. Raelyn looked as if she was about to say something, but stopped."
"Fine."
Aaron closed his eyes.
Dante opened them again.
"Thank you." He said.
Once out of the mindscape, Dante spared a final glance at the Minithran civilisation before walking back into the depths of the crystal caves, ready to begin the next stage of his life. Walking slowly, he looked over the walls of the caves as the lights coming from the main cavern grew brighter and more prominent.
About to enter the main open chamber, Dante gave a start as he realised that he sensed a presence.
Directly behind him.
Wheeling around, Dante raised his hands, filling them with maelstrom energy in the time it would have taken to snap his fingers.
"Didn't even have time to make this place habitable, and I'm already being invaded." He muttered. "Who's there?"
"Impressive perception." A voice said. From the shadows appeared a tall, lean figure. They were clad in a cloak the colour of the darkest night, and... the more Dante observed, the more he realised that he could tell very little about this person. What was perturbing was the fact that he couldn't see any part of their body, only their cloak.
"Who are you?" Dante pressed his visitor.
"I have many names." The figure said. "But to keep things simple, I shall describe myself as... how about... the one who claimed your friend."
Dante's eyes widened, but he held his ground. "What are you talking about?" He spat. "If this is about Will, no-one took him anywhere. He's gone."
"Exactly." The figure said, before raising their arm. Dante blanched when he realised that a skeletal hand was emerging from the robe and pointing towards him.
"You may know me... as Death." The figure said, and Dante received the impression that they would be smiling if they could.
"We have a great deal to talk about." It declared.