Episode 2, Part 2: Into an Abyss of Horror [DONE]

[Ancient Gamer]

She seemed all right, but something was troubling him. Though her breasts moved as she breathed, her breath was shallow and her complexion pallid. While checking her breast armour he noticed a shrapnel hole close to the solar plexus. After half a minute of struggling with the buckling, Brevil got it off.

He had believed that most of the blood had belonged to those attacking, but upon removing the breast plate he discovered that the main artery close to the solar plexus had been severed, her life blood even now pumping out. She spasmed thrice, moaning weakly, then she went still. Her breathing had stopped.

*************************

Riv arose slowly, checking out the minigun as he did so. It had been damaged in the blast, though a simple weaponsmith should be able to repair the damaged barrels. Crouching, Riv got a good view under the garage door and noticed the elevator doors open.

A dark figure enveloped in a dark grey cloak exited the elevator. Riv could feel slight vibrations as its feet hit the floor and judging from the size of its steel shoes, it must be twice as big as Ceres.

Then the garage door started opening.

[dark_dragon]

"CERES! CERES! CERES!"

Screaming like a madman, Brevil stood up like a jack in a box: "d**n THIS MOT*#@$%£ING HELLHOLE!"

Ripping out another grenade, and dumping the last one next to Ceres with his bag, He viciously pulled the pin, keeping the spoon pressed tightly against the body. Snarling like a wild animal, he picked up Ceres' P90 in the left hand, more out of desperation than anything else.

Hunching his body low, he approached the raising garage door, until his face was only a few inches to the metal.

Whatever was coming out of these doors would die. Even if it was the last thing Brevil did. He just hoped that Riv would be able to get to the nanite injector before Ceres died.

<ooc>This is not going to end well</ooc>

[Ancient Gamer]

The garage door, or the leftmost one for there were several, opened slowly. Riv caught it all in. Brevil was screaming, his voice full of desperation, while Ceres was not breathing anymore. On the other side of those doors he noticed huge metal clad feet, the rest of the body concealed by a vast dark grey cloak.

The door was half way open when the cloak slid open, revealing a metallic behemot, an armour clad monstrosity, with a minigun mounted on each arm.

**************************************************

The metallic garage door disappeared, lifted above head level, and Brevil stood facing the minigun mounted on its left arm. The familiar buzzing sound of rotating barrels resounded as both left and right minigun started up. In a second or two, thousands upon thousands of bullets would once again devastate the courtyard.

Then he saw the face of the thing; her head and body covered by an open faced high tech armour, the systems boosting her targeting and providing strength beyond what was normal, and for her... Well, Brevil didn't want to finish the thought. The unhumanly mutated face was covered with pins, electric currents jumping from pin to another. Truly a monstrous thing to behold.

Then he understood, recognition dawning upon him. It was her. The research officer from the Last Gambit. Oh, how she had changed. Oh, yes, she had changed.

And it was all his doing.

[Murometz]

A pair of eyes were peaking from between and behind two crates.

Kiph surveyed the chaos silently, afraid to speak or make any sound. In fact he felt paralyzed with fear, as he watched the metal juggernaut emerge from the garage.

Ceres wasnt moving. This made Kiph's weak heart flutter. Riv was insane with rage, and looked as if he was about to shoot everything and anything that moved. Then there was Brevil! Brevil was facing the monstrosity face to pin-implanted face!

Kiph thought his thoughts in a panic. Ceres was safe as long as she wasnt moving, he figured, Riv was ok, but Brevil, the doctor needed help. Usually Kiph would care little who lived and who died, aside from the horned goddess. It was his nature. But now, watching the crazy doctor face such a threat alone, tugged at Kiph's abnormal emotions. The doctor, Kiph decided, was his only link to his own past. The only man perhaps in all the world, who could help him make sense of himself.

But what could he do? His darts were useless, as was his machete, his morningstar, and even his own virulent blood, against a metallic behemoth such as this.

Kiph continued staring in stunned fear, then finally emerged, aching all over, but full of pumping adrenaline.

He climbed out of the rubble and ran toward the garage, the hulk, and the doctor. Though as he approached the pair, still a few dozen feet away, he had no idea, none at all, what he could possible do now.

"Brevil! Run!" he screamed quite uselessly.

[valadaar]

No where to go, Riv thought.  So it ends here? Not while I draw breath!!
He had mere seconds before the gun would spin up. 

"Run Brevil!" screamed the unusually lucid Kiph. 

Perhaps that would be distraction enough?

He charged the monstrosity, firing his shotgun as he approached at the massive creatures closest minigun. Perhaps he could set off the ammo if the drum was not too well armored.

<ooc - will charge and fire until cutdown, fireing at his gun and hoping to set off the ammo...>

Chaaarrggge!!!!

[dark_dragon]

This was it. Something inside Brevil died in that instance of recognition. Today would be the end. The end of what, He couldn't say, But it would end today.

Jumping ferociously on the body of the woman he had once made love to, Brevil was between the two guns, desperately trying to reach the head. Using only his left hand and his feet, he clambered to the head, letting go of the grenade's spoon, and forced it with both hands into the monstrosity's face, hugging her armoured chest with the hope that it would provide the needed protection to his head and heart, so that he would have the pleasure of seeing his work undone, even if just in the last moments of his life. He wrapped his legs around her waist in the ironic travesty of the way she had, so long ago, wrapped hers around him. Shouting more to himself than anybody else: "MORITURI TE SALUTANT"

Knowing the detonation would soon come, He hoped for the terrible pain which would mean he was still alive.

But one way or another He thought gravely. It ends today.

<ooc>s**t, I hope the nanites can bring me back from this one</ooc>

[Ancient Gamer]

"B.... Bre-vil... My... love", she said as the frenzied scientist jumped onto her, stuffing a grenade inside her helmet. Doctor Brevil Cornell, formerly of the Academy, the Warden of Bleak Wood's Faculty of Science, clung to his former love with frantic desperation. For half a second she did not know what to do, then the rotating of the miniguns ceased, and she wrapped both arms around him until the barrels of the two miniguns clanked into each other. She embraced him then, tears running down her cheeks, mucus coming out her nostrils.

"MORITURI TE SALUTANT", Brevil screamed, tears running down his cheeks, piss running down his legs.

"Brevil! I was barren, Brevil, and I took your seed to create a son for us, a worthy heir. I wanted us to be happy, Brevil!"

As she spoke, pins detached from her chin and forehead, blood still dripping, and the ominous electrical bolts hovered into the air, readying for a strike into Brevil's head.

"I still love you Brevil. I always..."

And with that her words died, the explosion drowning all other sound.

********************************

Riv aimed at one of the miniguns, firing shell upon shell, all of them hitting the minigun with expert precision. Then, on his fourth shot, he hit home. Just as the grenade detonated inside the armour of the monstrosity. All of a sudden, all hell broke loose.

********************************

Kiph was sprinting, shouting for Brevil to run away. It was as if he was moving in slow motion, as if he could see every move of the grenade as it bounced inside the visor, falling down inside the armour. From his left side Riv fired shotgun blast after shotgun blast, strafing Brevil's legs, making the scientist cry out in pain.

The monstrosity moved, as if to protect Brevil, lifting a minigun in his direction, the machinery resuming its all too familiar rotation. Her face was locked in an enraged snarl, though her lips still moved, whispering something into Brevil's ear.

"...create a son... a worthy heir... be happy, Brevil..."

Then she detonated, and her minigun too, and then Kiph learnt how the apocalypse must have been.

It was a vision of hell, a fiery conflagration, and Kiph screamed as bullets from the exploding magazine tore into his body even as the blast from the explosion threw him into the air. He landed with his right elbow first, and with a forceful snap it broke. At that very moment oblivion saved Kiph from an onslaught of pain; Darkness had found him at last.

Fragments of meat, a minigun and several bullets, bit into Riv's body, hammering against his breast plate, tearing the skin of his nose and cheeks. For a fraction of a second he stood still, releasing one more defiant shot at the mutant horror, before the explosion threw him off his feet. Riv did not register landing head first onto the hood of the hole ridden Dodge.

[Ancient Gamer]

Painful Awakening
Kiph coughed and spat. Oh, how his body hurt, even opening his eyes proved painful, the left one having been plastered shut by blood and sand. He screamed as he tried to use his right arm, and looking down he noticed it had been broken just below the elbow.

Defiantly, Kiph stood up. His legs were quivering, his breath unsteady as he looked at his bullet ridden body.

It was a wonder he lived at all.

All around him he sensed the aftermath of the apocalypse. His friends lay mutilated, Brevil having been blown into tiny chunks, his head having landed in the lap of Ceres, who lay perfectly still under her blanket of crimson. Her horn was shining it seemed, glistening with blood, but she was dead. No pulse, no life.

Finally he approached Riv. The burning man hippy was moaning on the hood of the Dodge Kiph had hidden behind earlier. There was hope for him, but he was in need of expert help, or failing that a shot of healing nanites.

[Murometz]

Kiph stared at Brevil's head, then at Ceres' corpse, and then at Riv, whose skin was still visibly bubbling from the flames.

"shaaug--hhso, mmph" Riv managed.

"What?" Kiph asked, mockingly, looking down at the pyromaniac.

He didnt receive a reply.

How am I going to take down the Last Gambit and the spacers by myself he thought, though strangely he wasnt emotional. All feeling was gone now.

He approached Ceres body again, and extracted the nanites from her burned pack. He had watched her administer the "magic health"  several times, and now made his way over to Riv again, and shot him up full of "healing".

Pausing, he then looked around once more. The sun was setting over Bleakwood, an explosion of mauve, and crimson, and violet, and burnt orange, illuminated the polluted sky, as Kiph approached Ceres again, and began to drag her body toward the only intact wrecked car he could see. Struggling with her weight, he finally managed to get her body into the pasenger seat of the vehicle. Next, he took Brevil's head and carried over to the same car, placing it, between the driver's and passenger seat. Finally, he half-dragged, half-carried the moaning Riv to the car as well, and squeezed him into the back seat.

Satisfied, he slid into the driver's seat of the old, rusted vehicle, and let out a deep breath.

"Where to, Ceres?" he questioned the unresponsive corpse, then to Brevil, "What say you doctor?" and finally to Riv, "Keep queit back there, I cant hear myself think!"

Suddenly, he got an overwhleming urge to kiss the horned goddess, and did just so, leaning over and forcing Ceres' mouth open with his lizard-tongue.

"I have always loved you." he whispered, then scolded Brevil's head for staring and minding its own buisiness.

Kiph leaned back and closed his eyes now. He was so very tired. Somehow they would ALL pay, he thought to himself, as he listened to Riv moan. Somehow...

Bleakwood was a &^%$@.

[Ancient Gamer]

Riv awoke in a car, half remembering the strangest dream. He had been flying, and Kiph with him, and they had entered the next life, where Kiph and Ceres had wed and then consummated their holy union. It had been an absurd dream, and now he awoke in a the back seat of a wrecked car, snoring sounds coming from the driver's seat. It was dark outside, the full moon illuminating their surroundings in a ghostly light.

As he came awake, Riv could hear radio chatter from somewhere close by, several flashlight beams directed at a building nearby.

I know that building... That garage... I know that hole ridden Dodge too, he thought to himself.

"No sir, the mutant died a while ago. Must have met quite an opponent. Not many are able to dispatch a fully armoured gunner juggernaut", the voice was dark and masculine, coming from one of the eight black clad soldiers at the scene.

"And what a job he did, seeing as how there is nothing left of the mutant anymore, save for a minigun and the left arm armour", a cold female voice replied.

A tired sounding man replied, his voice quivering in the manner of old people, "Jason, you're a strong fellow. Take the gattling gun and the spare ammo. The rest of you check for any clues as to who did this... And don't forget to look for signs of our quarry either".

It was then Riv noticed that the snoring from the driver's seat had stopped.

[valadaar]

Pain is natures way of letting you know you screwed up thought Riv.

Riv kept quiet - he neither wanted to set off the obviously over-the-edge Kiph, nor attract the attention of the soliders.
In so doing, he managed to catch a small snippet of sound nearby the soldier.  They were not alone - someone else hid nearby.

But, again, wanting no undue attention at this time, he kept quiet. Almost as quiet as poor Ceres and the disembodied Brevil.

My god, the freak has LOST it....

[dark_dragon]

<ooc>Posting as Cormac!</ooc>

What the hell is going on here...

Cormac approached the car, peeking inside through the back window. In the dim light, Riv came face to face with a handsome man, his hair deep black, framing rugged features, and surprisingly, his eyes hidden behind a pair of dark shooting glasses.

s**t. Who the hell are these Bozos?

Putting up his finger to his mouth in a sign that meant "no sound" he gestured to the front, where kiph and Ceres's corpse were sat silently, a quizzical shrug crossing his features.

What the hell are they doing with a corpse in there?

Slowly crouching he advanced to the front, where he once again tapped lightly on the window (or what was left of it.).

[Ancient Gamer]

The violent hissing of radio static tore through the night, quickly replaced by a panicking male voice that was patched through to the Last Gambit elite mercenary group.

"Unit Bravo Two, unit Bravo Two, this is Alpha One, Alpha One, do you read me, over?"

The tired, elderly male voice that belonged to one of the black clad soldiers replied immediately,
"Alpha One, this is Bravo Two, I read you loud and clear. State your business, over"

"Bravo Two, you are needed at the Fangs asap. Alien drones have breached through the gate and the north tower has fallen. I repeat; the gate is breached and the north tower has fallen. We have been ordered to retreat and need your assistance. The area will be purged in six hours, over"

The cold female voice cursed softly, quickly followed by her fellow soldiers.

"Alpha One this is Bravo Two. We're heading for the Fangs now, Bravo Two out."

And with that the squad of soldiers stalked away, making less sound than a snake in the sand.

[Murometz]

<ooc>question:  Is Cormac knocking? Or is the Alpha/Bravo crew chatting? Or both at same time? Is Cormac with these soldiers? Did they stalk away, while Cormac is still knocking? Just want to be clear before posting. Are these two things happening simultaneously?</ooc>

[dark_dragon]

<ooc>Cormac knocked while the team was talking, but they have now finished and are moving away. Cormac is still by your window.</ooc>

[Ancient Gamer]

<OOC> What d_d said! Obviously there are some time issues associated with this type of gaming. In non-critical phases such as this one, I allow you to mix a little with the flow of time. For instance: If you wanted Kiph to do something WHILE the team was speaking, well you could do that. If that would affect the reactions of the Bravo Two team, well I'd have to change my post. No biggie.

In combat, however, I am stricter and we follow a round by round sequence. If someone is lazy and do not post during combat, well, too bad.

</OOC>

[valadaar]

This area will be purged in six hours...  That did not sound good....

Riv looked at the stanger at the window.  Did he know how close he came to losing his head?  Only the presense of the soldiers had stayed Riv's trigger finger...

[Murometz]

Kiph was awake but perfectly still. The voices outside confused him at first, but he quickly realized what was happening. He decided to remain motionless, listening to the men outside and to Riv’s muted, rasping breaths. Riv was alive. Good. Anything was better than being alone. I am alive too. Is that good? he questioned himself, but then pushed back at his encroaching dementia, and tried to focus.

Still and focused, he thought. Still and focused. Like a Fatebringer!

Six hours

That didn’t sound good

Suddenly came the soft tap on the car window, and Kiph's nerves tingled.

What to do? What would Ceres do? She would talk all lady-like, and if that didn’t work, she’d probably kill the tapper. Kiph considered his options. He was confident, though not sure, that Riv was awake and coherent now. He had to be. Ceres’ “nannies” had always worked. If awake, Kiph thought quickly, Riv would be ready to shoot or torch anything that moved.

Turning his neck slowly, and tilting his head toward the window, Kiph gave the tapper a dead-eye, empty stare.

“G’Kraun” he croaked then spoke louder, finding his voice, “”We are nomads. Came to Bleak after the big Boom Cloud. Find some supplies....we want” Kiph paused. He wasn’t sure his story was making any sense. It probably wasn’t.

In any case, Kiph figured he had enough of his own tainted blood on him, to have a chance at killing whoever the hell this man was with a surprise lunge, Riv or no Riv.

[dark_dragon]

"Well, Nomad, What's your name?"

Seeing the disembodied head Next to the clearly shell shocked Nomad, Cormac decided to change his approach.

"Tell you what, never mind. You don't look like your with them. Right? Anyways, I'd advise you to get the hell outta Bleakwood. Not a Healthy place to be right now." Even worse in six hours he mused to himself

"Your supplies can wait. Trust me on that."

Listening again to the sounds of the night, and satisfied that the mercs who were after him would not return, Cormac holstered his stolen desert eagle.

Just my luck. He thought I find the only people in all bleakwood who aren't either trying to kill me or turned into zombies, and they've totally lost it.

"Listen. I can help you get out of here if you want. I don't like the idea of moving at night, But it looks like these bastard haven't given us  much of a choice." And hopefully, the more we are, the less likely I am of getting skewered by the G'kraun He thought grimly.

[Ancient Gamer]

Kiiiiiph. Kiiiiph! Do not listen. He is not your enemy, but he is not wise. He is dumb. Man-dumb. Flee and they will catch you. They will corner you.

The voice echoed in his mind, like the words had been shouted out in a canyon.

You know them. Gambit-men. White frocks, needle docs. You knooow them as I knooow them. Enter the bowels, Kiph. Enter the bowels of the Academy. Come rescue me and salvage the equipment of the Warden in the process, and I promise you I will reward you. I will unlock the secrets of your fabulous mind. I will teach you the POWER. I will show you the road to mastery over your fledgling mental abilities!

Beads of sweat formed on Kiph's brow, his cheeks grew red as he listened to the G'Kraun voice in his head. There was fear in it's voice. Fear, not of him, but of something else. The Last Gambit perhaps. Kiph did not know.

No, Kiph. I do not fear the Gambit-men, though they would love to needle-doodle my skin, dissect my brain. Infuse me with pain. No, Kiph, I do not fear that. I fear the otherness. He who turns men and G'Kraun into mindless allies. He who creates the steel pinned drones from my people. I fear the other one, the foreigner, the one from beyond the stars. He is down here, Kiph, and he is hunting me. Come, enter his abyss of horrors and rescue me, Kiph, and I promise you I will reward you greatly. Bring your allies, your pawns, along and they will be rewarded as well. Not in mental superiority, Kiph, for that alone belongs to you. No, their reward will be the spoils of war, and what SPOILS those are, Kiph. Alien technology, spacer technology. Come, Kiph. Come get me before the alien hunter gets me, before the Gambit-men rapes Bleak Wood, the fallen nest of my tribe.

[valadaar]

Rive looked at Kiph - he seemed lost in thought or worse. 

Man, what happened? The last Riv remembered was firing shots into the mini-gun carrying freak, and then waking up here.  He looked into the front seat and saw ceres, and ... what was left ... of Brevil. s**t! Kiph has really lost it...

"K, and just who are you Mister?" said Riv, his hand still on his trusty shotgun.

[dark_dragon]

What was wrong with that nomad?

"Well, lets just say I've managed to stay alive in bleakwood for a while, and I've enough guts to stay alive a while longer."

Lets hope

"Came here as a prisoner, if it matters. Those last gambit bastard were gonna kill me. so I escaped. Good enough for you?"

Well, not exactly an accurate resume, but true. True enough anyway.

"It'll do for the moment. You wanna stay here? Be my guest. I'll be going before things get ugly."

d**n, if only I could get on that mother%$&*#^£ chopper

"Say, you don't know how to pilot a copter, do you?"

[Murometz]

"In fact, he can" Kiph heard himself saying to the man, while pointing at Riv. Kiph himself, had had never operated anything other than a dune buggy, and that huge army truck which served as the companions erstwhile mode of transportation.

Kiph had a new muse now, and the muse was bidding him to go below..below into the bowels of the academy, to unlock his powers, to garner great reward, to--

Riv interrupted Kiph's thoughts with a timely hrrmpph. It was time to act, yet--

"What say you Riv?" Kiph asked the only member of their band left alive. He was having trouble focusing on the here and now, as his brain pulsed with the words of the Thing inside the Academy.

Beads of sweat began to roll down Kiph's pockmarked face. He could not concentrate, nor was he ready to share what he had learned from the Oracle below.

Slowly, aching all over, he opened the door of the car, and emerged, stretching his atrophied muscles.

"I am Kiph. They call me the Badblood. This here is Riv Scarlett. "

come Kiph, he heard just then. Again...come.

"We didnt come back to Bleakwood to run away again. We've fought G'Kraun before, mister, no worse for wear, and we're all still here" as proof, Kiph gestured toward Riv, Ceres, and Brevil's head. "And we'll fight them again, if need be. We have some of our--erm, belongings in there" He now pointed to the academy.

"Help us get 'em. You'll get a share."

[valadaar]

Riv was suprised at Kiph.  He couldn't bloodly well drive a car, much less a copter.  d**n, he never even saw a copter close up. Maybe if it had reins and a saddle he'd have a chance, but he doubted it.

But Kiph wanted to go back in there? d**n.  He figured having to hoof it would not get him out in time, so he was stuck with this crazy @!#$.

Well, there really wasn't many better places for Riv.  The fire likely put a price on his head so going back that way was not a good idea.  Live for the moment, I guess.

Maybe it was landing on his head earlier, but Riv decided to stay with Kiph.  He did apparently save his life after all. 

"Yeah, sorry bout the gruff greeting, but its been a rather rough day.  So, you in?"

[dark_dragon]

Cormac looked at the young fatebringer from head to toe.

"You're fit to fight, you say?"

"And those in the car are fit to fight too, hu?"

Cormac caught Riv's eyes. before returning to the fatebringer.

"Tell you what. How about I patch you up before we go on. hm? That elbow of yours looks broken."

What the hell have I got into....

"Riv Right? Can you get all the gear you have together while I patch him up?"

Looking through the broken window of the car: "You must have some sort of medpack in there. right?"

Pointing to Ceres's medical bag: "Here we go... that pack there. Can I borrow it?"

"After we take care of that elbow and your stomach, we'll deal with your friends in the car, OK?"