((bear with me here! I'm doin' this so I can combine my fave American made sci-fi animated mini-series with Weiss Kreuz. Why? Because basically I think 'Invasion America' didn't get the showing it deserved (only 4 one hour long epps and 2 two-hour epps once over on Wednesday nights, and then only once over again in half hour stints on Saturday mornings - aimed for kids, not adults like Mr. Speilburg intended.). Also, I love crossovers. Why? Why not! AAAAND I LOVED Invasion America... and I thought last night... 'Dang... I'd like ta see how those Weiss boy's'd do against the Dragit's lackeys and workin' with David and Sonia, and maybe even Jim or Stark and Romar, or maybe even Blue the mangler as well, and goin' up against some bad manglers! Also, I haven't seen the last 4 epps of Weiss Kreuz yet, or the OVAs for that matter either. So for the sake of my sanity, or whatever I have that passes for sanity, its at/near the end of the series and they're also still at the flower shop... Okee... and if you have no idea WHAT Invasion America is check out the Invasion America Database at http://members.xoom.com/invasionusa/))
"Starfall's End"
by Silvernyte
a Weiss Kreuz/Invasion America crossover
***prolog***
Somewhere in space, David Carter looked outside of the spacecraft he was in towards the star that is Earth's sun, reflecting on how much his life had changed in such a short time. And on how much his home would change thanks to his uncle the Dragit. The Dragit, current ruler of the planet Tyrus, who tried to kill his father once, and still continues to, so that his father can't rule Tyrus as he is supposed to. And the Dragit wanted to destroy Earth, his mother's home, and where he grew up, raised as if he were fully human, not half Tyrusian.
But the Ooshati, those who followed her father, Cale Oosha, had a plan. The Ooshati had a few of their members in a few Terran groups, not all working with the law exactly. It was from one of those Ooshati, working for a group called Kritiker, that their idea came from. They needed to get rid of the Dragit and his main followers, and what better way to do such than to use assassins. Not just any of course, but some of the best.
Suddenly Sonia, who was half Tyrusian like he but until recently was helping the Dragit find and kill them, sat beside him. "Thinking about Earth again," she said, as much a question as a comment.
David nodded. "What if he can't be stopped before he ruins Earth? What if he can't be stopped at all?"
"He can be stopped," she said softly. "He's got to be stopped, he's crazy and dangerous to Tyrus as well as Earth."
Elsewhere...
The four guys sat around the basement waiting for the orders for their new mission and wondering just how 'special' this mission would actually be. And wondering why Manx, who hadn't given them orders since Persia died, was giving them their orders this time. Then Manx walked down the stairs, smiling at the palpable curiosity in the air, yet she clutched the video she held closer to her. This was important, and they might not realize how important it really is. Or they might not believe it at all...
"Perhaps you've heard of the house that completely disappeared in Massachusetts, the meteor that destroyed Hoover Dam, or the explosion on the dark side of the moon..." she started, leaving it at that for the moment.
"What does that have to do with us?" Aya asked her coldly.
"More than you than you think," she answered, adding silently 'and more than you can guess.' She popped the video into the VCR. On the screen a face appeared, one violet-blue eye covered by a patch, his dark hair barely hiding his temples, which were further back and deeper than was normal in humans. His pupil suddenly dilated to show a starry expanse of blackness, then returned to normal.
"Greetings. I am Cale Oosha of Tyrus," he spoke. "Almost twenty years ago I came to this world hoping for peaceful contact only to have my uncle, the Dragit, turn on me and attempt to kill me when I opposed his plan to destroy this world. Although I still live he has taken my rightful place as the ruler of Tyrus.
"I am sure you do not believe this," he continued. "But be assured it is true, for the one who delivers this, who you know as Manx, is one of the Ooshati, those Tyrusians loyal to me, as well as a member of the group Kritiker. She has told you by now of three events, the house that totally disappeared was caused by my wife, the earth woman Rita Carter's, attempt to keep both her and our son David safe. The meteors, including the one that destroyed Hoover dam, are part of the Dragit's plan to destroy Earth. The explosion on your moon was caused by my Ooshati destroying the base he was using to send the meteors to your planet.
"In order to save your world and restore myself to my rightful place as leader of Tyrus I have convinced the Dragit to talk with me on your world. I know he cannot be swayed, so the only course left to keep this as short as possible and keep the damage minimal is to have him, assassinated. The place of the meeting will be in the city you are at now, in a building he had built there in case something went wrong in America. Manx will fill you in on the rest."
Then it went blank, Manx took out the tape and looked at the four. "Are you in?" she asked.
They looked at each other, unsure about this sudden revelation, then nodded. They trusted the information Manx gave them to be true, and that combined with the realization that if there was any chance at all of this being true not taking this could doom the world.
"Good," Manx smiled, making a motion towards the stairs. "You'll have someone from the Ooshati who's worked for Kritiker as well like me, only on jobs more like yours helping you."
They looked at the stairs where I dark haired, blue-eyed, short gal appeared. "H'lo," she smiled. "I'm called Raven."
*****chapter 1*****
Raven got off the last step and winked at the guys as that pupil dilated in the Tyrusian greeting before slipping on her sunglasses that doubled as Tyrusian temple pieces to amplify her various Tyrusian powers, most being akin to telekinesis. She moved her eyes behind the shades to at Manx, wondering why she decided to pick her. She'd thought her hatred of the Dragit would put her at the end of the list of possibilities, that and the fact she was raised on Earth.
"Kritiker started working with the Ooshati working outside of the US after we approached them. We knew that as prudent as it is to stop the Dragit we couldn't forget about the problems that stemmed from Earth's natives." Manx said, then looked at Raven. "No matter how much we hate the Dragit."
"I know that," Raven sighed. "And I know you know I got real reason to hate the scumbag. I won't let that get to me enough to endanger the mission, alright." She nervously rubbed her right arm through the sleeve that ended in a fingerless, palmless glove.
The four looked at her, curious of what that little exchange was about. if sensing it she slipped her fingers loose and pushed the sleeve up to mid forearm, revealing almost a mass of scars, making it looked like her arm was totally mangled and reset.
"What the..." they started realizing what kind of damage it would take to cause that kind of scarring on a human.
"My... souvenir... of my time in the Dragit's tender care," she said, bitterness leaking into her voice. "Incidentally Tyrusians heal faster and more completely than humans." She then pulled the sleeve back into its usual position before adding silently to herself 'like that'd help me anyways... I'm just a mixed up Human/Tyrusian/Metamorph hybrid experiment.'
She watched different expressions play on the faces of three of them, the last one's face remaining emotionless and cold, like it was ice and not flesh. Different levels of anger, concern, and - how she despised the next - pity stained the faces of the others. Behind the shades her eyes shut, trying to forget those scars caused her to be pitied. She never wanted to be an object of pity, she just wanted to be able to pretend she was normal.
Suddenly a crash came from overhead, and the four shot up, ready to investigate. Manx sighed and motioned them to sit back down. "Your puppy seems to have followed you," she said to Raven.
Raven took off her shades and brought her left hand to her face as she shook her head. "SPIKE!!! Get over here!" she said in exasperation. "You should at least know how to be QUIET!!" Down the stairs slunk a hideous grey form, its limbs in positions that made one wonder how it could walk, let alone walk with that terrible predatory grace it had. It made a whimper of a growl and tried to knock her over as it slarped her face for forgiveness.
They moved to attack it. "Whoah! Stop!" Raven exclaimed. "This is just Spike. He's a Mangler, and unlike most of the other manglers he's good. He likes me for some reason." She pushed Spike off her. 'Yeah... prolly cuz we both have Kaonian blood... Manglers AND Metamorphs were Kaonian experaments.'
"If there's any damage to your back door..." Manx began.
"Don't worry Red," Raven interjected. "I got the cash to spare. It is my partner's fault after all, and I doubt Spike'd be able to get the cash himself, so it rightfully falls on me."
**elsewhere**
"Dragit! You know it has to be some kind of trap!" one of his generals cautioned.
"Yes," he said calmly. "I do know. I'll just need something to assure my safety. Which is why I found the most interesting little bodyguards and killers on Earth to guard me while I'm there. They even seek the end of their world, so perhaps I can get more use out of them." He smiled. "And it seems one of the later human/Tyrusian experiments did succeed, since the youngest is a hybrid like my nephew's son and that traitor Sonia and her late twin Simon. And he seems to lack any insanity that Simon or the real failures seemed to have had."
"And this group would be?" his general inquired.
"The call themselves Schwarz..."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ next day ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Raven sighed as she helped unload a new shipment and considered the
talking to she'd be giving Spike after work. The dang Mangler had caused
more damage than she'd have imagined, and before this she fixed up some
of the tables Spike had broken so they'd do until new ones came. She let
out a huge yawn suddenly.
"You better finish fixing the tables before you take a break," Aya said
as he walked by.
"Awlraht," she drawled as she stuck her tongue out at him behind his
back. She was gettin' tired, she had to admit, she'd been telling Spike
off all night after she got back to her little pad, then read to calm
her nerves and hadn't got a bit of sleep. She yawned as she tilted the
tabletop of one of the unfixed tables on its top, only one leg of it
still attached. As she moved one of the lose legs to reattach it her
right arm shook, pain lancing through it. She lost her grip on the leg
and it clattered to the floor and she cradled her arm against her.
As they heard the clatter of the table leg Omi, then Ken, and then Yoji
hurried over to see what was wrong. "Raven, are you alright?" Omi
asked.
Raven attempted to blink back the pain. "I'm okay... my arm just....
gives me trouble... especially when I'm tired," she lied around the
pulsing ache. She tried to stand up, and Ken and Yoji moved to help her,
each reaching for a shoulder. As they put pressure on them she let out a
hiss of pain and her knees gave out. "No more... no more..." she
repeated under her breath as memories flooded her thoughts.
~*~She was tied up to a table, topless. The mangling job they did to her
lower right arm was just beginning to heal, encrusted with the blood no
one had bothered to clean off. Her upper right arm was a mass of new
pink scars and scabs that would become huge scars and five clear scars
of a livid purple were on her shoulder where they had sliced through her
skin and through the muscles and tendons.
A handful of doctors and scientists, both human and Tyrusian, studied
her right arm. "Its not healing as fast as it should," said one. "It
seems its healing rate is slowed by its human side," another added.
"Subdermaly its muscles and tendons are healing almost totally, but its
bones and skin seem to be developing scars and ridges that look like
they may be permanent."
"I say we move on to the next experiments on its healing ability,"
another spoke. The rest nodded and readied a laser to see if her left
shoulder would heal differently if cut with a laser and not a scalpel.
"NO!!!! PLEASE NO!!!" she screamed as she tried to alter the size of her
form, the straps holding her adjusting to the slight size change she was
able to do, a bigger size change out of her ability. One of the
scientists grabbed her hair and pulled her head to the right as another
began using the laser on her shoulder... "No more... no more...."~*~
Raven blinked, she was on a couch. "Damn... I must have blacked out..."
she mumbled. Spike was suddenly in her face and slarping her. "Spike!
Stop it!" she protested.
"You're finaly awake," Ken commented as he helped her push away the
large Mangler. "You need a drink or anything?"
"A little water would be nice," she managed to say, grabbing her short
bangs in a nervous gesture. She wasn't use to people worrying about her
after she had one of these spells. She usually snapped out of it and
after Spike slobbered her would huddle in a corner shivering. Since
there was someone around that was out of the question. Shivering would
be too... but somehow that cold, lonely fear managed to pierce her
defenses.
As Ken walked back in with a cup of water he noticed her shivering. "Are
you cold? I could get you a blanket?" He set the cup down and moved to
get one.
"No... I'm not cold," she managed to whisper. "Just bad memories."
"Is that why you were thrashing around and whimpering while you were
out?"
Raven blinked her blue-black eyes. She hadn't realized her little
episodes made her do more than black out. "Yeah." She managed to say.
She looked at him, expecting him to either tell her she had to be
tougher about it or expect her to break down. Instead he just looked at
her with concern - No pity, just concern, her pride was grateful for
that at least. - as if he didn't know what to say about it.
She managed a weak smile before she shut her eyes. "I was remembering
the time after the Dragit's followers caught me. While they held my fate
in their hands for the second time in my life."
"Second?" he asked confused.
"The Dragit," she explained. "He had his scientists working on hybrid
projects, mostly for human/Tyrusian hybrids. All except two or the
human/Tyrusians were complete failures, and one of those two was done in
by his insanity. With the others it was clear they were dangerously
insane within a year or two of their births, it probably had something
to do with the methods used.
"But some of them working in South America, Brazil actually, were
working on a 'tribrid', part human, part Tyrusian, part Metamorph. That
was logged as a complete failure. Only one of those was successfully
born, and she couldn't alter her features much or fully shift to another
form. One of the lesser soldiers working there was told to 'dispose' of
her, but instead of killing her they snuck her out, she was 2 then, and
deserted the Dragit. With the help of a human he lived on Earth and
together raised the little girl, who now goes by the name Raven." Ken
blinked at what she had revealed.
She closed her eyes as she remembered what happened next. "Then, they were killed in an accident. I don't even remember what happened. I was shuffled from home to home, and somehow, when I was 14, they found me . They did tests to see how much I could now shift, how fast I could heal compared to a human, Tyrusian, and Metamorph. What they found had them label me still as a failure as an experiment, but they kept on checking, they almost totally mutilated my right arm, I couldn't use it for almost 3 years afterwards, and began on my left shoulder when the Ooshati and Kritiker raided the facility they kept me at and rescued me."
Tears streamed from her eyes, but she didn't notice. "I was treated like a thing by the Dragit's men. They never used a name, they only used the pronoun 'it' when talking about me, they never talked to me directly. And they never did anything to dull the pain or knock me out when they sliced me up..."
The others had gathered around while she told her tale, each one showing some reaction to the horrible treatment she described. Anger stained Aya's usually cold face slightly, shock froze on Omi's face, Yoji was caught between anger and pity, and Ken, Ken sat beside Raven and held her slightly, careful of the areas that had been hurting her. "Don't worry Raven, we'll make sure he can't have anyone else put you through like that," he told her.
"I don't care if it happens to me again," Raven said in icy anger. "I just want him dead so he can't put anyone or anything through that again. He even does it to Manglers, he starves them, taunts them... they're sentient too... they don't think like humans or Tyrusians, but they're sentient..."
Spike made a growling sound that was meant to sound worried or comforting, but came out only sounding vicious then nudged Raven with its head.
"We will kill him," Aya said coldly...
***elsewhere***
On a com-screen Manx spoke to Cale Oosha. "They have agreed to take on this mission, Lord Cale. I'm worried about Raven though, she's slightly unstable still from what the Dragit's scientists put her through..."
"Don't worry about her, I talked to her before I selected her," Cale assured her. "She wants to see him out of the way more than anyone, she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his death."
"Yes sir," she answered and nodded as her image faded.
"David," he said, turning to face his son. "You and your friends are to have to help keep us all safe. I have no doubt that my Uncle will try to have us put out of the way as well."
"Don't worry Cale Oosha," Sonia said suddenly. "I'll do my best to keep us all safe."
In the other corner where Blue the Mangler sat beside Doc the creature growled and clawed lightly at the ground. Doc chuckled, "Looks like Blue's gonna do his best to keep you and the kid safe. I will too, I ."
Angela Romar and Phil Stark, the FBI agents that had been following them and helped them nodded to let them know they'd help too. Jim, David's friend from Earth moved next to Sonia. "I'm gonna stand by my pal here. It ain't right if I'd desert him now and just go home. Not after what we've been through."
David smiled at his friend. "Thanks."
"No prob," Jim answered. "Remember, I was there when it started, and I'll with ya as long as I can, if not to the end of this." They both thought back to that day at the museum where he first ran into Sonia and her crazy twin Simon, how that incident was the prelude to the events that turned his life upside-down.
But while he knew he could never return to what he knew, he knew that he had something else before him he had to do, something the Dragit wanted to stop. And his life could never be right in any way until the Dragit was gone.