The Wastes were a harsh, desolate place. For the lone human, it was almost impossible to survive out here. The only people that survived were in groups, be it nomadic or settled. Despite that, it wasn't a very high quality of life and they spent most days wondering if it was their last. Starvation, animals, Malevolent, and so much more were lurking around every corner ready to tear them apart. That was why they were out here, far beyond the safety of the city walls.
Octave sat at the base of a destroyed highway bridge. Huge sections of the highway were destroyed as well for almost a mile down the road, but the section Octave was at seemed to the the epicenter of it all. Atop a pile of rubble unmoved for hundreds of years, there was a fallen fuel truck, any paint or logo on it lost in time. Beneath it was a worn, rusted, and long dead hand belonging to a simply made robot, something once known as a Reploid. Whatever the story was with this bridge, it mattered little now. The long lost war ended in near extinction for humans, and total annihilation for all Reploids. While some cults hold the belief that the Reploids lost in this war were suck up and spat back out by the Domain, Octave never gave it much thought.
The blue, human-sized Robot Master stood back up after crouching to observe the rotted hand. He calmly placed two fingers on the side of his head and walked away from the site he'd just spent of good amount of time observing. "Pasty, this is Octave, come in." Octave called, with no response beside static and bits of unrelated signals. With a sigh, Octave kicked a large rock on the ground in front of him and made for the rendezvous point he and Pastoral had agreed on. the Abel Ruins were a huge place, and though they had look all over the place for human settlements, there were many other places to look. It would be more than a few trips to cover this entire city.
Before Octave could get too far, he heard a large explosion coming from behind him, on the other side of the destroyed highway. Without a moment's thought, Octave ran towards the explosion, going at a low speed to conserve energy in case he had to fight.
Another explosion lit off moments later, the smoke from the first hadn't even faded. After the initial shockwave, Octave could hear faint screaming sounds. [i]human[/i] screaming sounds. With the mission he came out here for now in jeopardy, Octave kicked his speed up a notch, moving at about 75% of his fastest speed, he became a thin blue blur to the human eye. In almost an instant, Octave scaled a building and jumped from rooftop to rooftop until he came to the site of the explosions. To his relief, the impacts were merely on the sides of distant buildings, the large group of humans completely safe. In front of the cowering people were four Malevolent frames, two about the size of a human and the other two much larger. The smaller ones were lighter colored, one pale white with very well-kept armor, likely a New Harmony diserter. The other was a light gray, but his head was covered with a dusty brown cowl that went over his face and down to his elbows. The larger ones seemed to be the brawn of whatever operation they had going on, one was a blocky, brown, brute looking monster, and the other was a purple, well-kept, rusted Malevolent with two cannons for arms.
The Malevolent had the humans cornered in this rectangular plaza-type area. Dead patches of grass in four fields of triangles were surrounded by cracked and aged concrete. Surrounding the plaza on one side was a brick wall, the one which the Malevolent held the human's backs to. The area wasn't too small, but random explosions everywhere could have devastating collateral.
Just as Octave was thinking about how improbable it would be for him to take all four of them on at once, the large brown one and the small white one left the area for whatever reason while they left the other two to mug the humans. After waiting for a few minutes, to make sure the other two were well away from him, Octave came in closer, remaining undetected for as long as he possibly can.
"Please! Just take whatever you want and let us go!" A man from the group of people pleaded on his knees, hands in the air as if praying, to the large purple Malevolent. He stepped forward slowly, gun-arms lowered to his sides, and kicked the man in the torso, sending him flying into another one of the people in his group, blood spilling out of the man's mouth.
"I'll ask one last time," The gray, hooded one started, "have you had any contact with New Harmony Robot Masters." The mysterious Malevolent's voice seemed familiar to Octave, but he was too far away to be sure.
"We saw two pass through the other day!" A woman started, running up to the injured man and holding him. She seemed significantly younger than the graying man, young enough to be his daughter but Octave wasn't too sure nor did he really care. "We hid, we didn't even talk to them!"
Despite his loyalty to New Harmony and the survival of humans, Octave cared very little for the lives of humans. When he was born, he was more curious of the fleshy talking meat-sacks. As he grew older, his loyalties rested more in the New Harmony Robot Masters he'd grown up with and called family. While Octave did care greatly about a few humans, like Doctor Manhattan, who built improved on his frame after Doctor Monday, the man who built Octave's body, passed away. Humans were simply too short-lived to connect to.
"So they're probably nearby. Not good. Glass 'em Napalm." The shrouded Malevolent waved the people off as he began to walk away, and Octave knew he couldn't stand up there much longer.
"WHOA, hey, hey!" Octave cried as he jumped from the rooftop he used as a perch, landing on the ground between the people and the Malevolent. "Why don't we just let the fleshy people go, and we'll talk this out like gentle-" As Octave stepped closer to the Malevolent, he got a look into the cold, gray eyes of the shrouded Malevolent, and the mere sight of him sent Octave to the floor, a sharp pain overcoming his body. His mind suddenly abandoned all else and he remembered spinning and crashing and screaming in an endless whirlwind, two faceless strangers holding Octave close as he saw others who were completely alone. Some grasped at him, but they were spinning around in the typhoon too fast for him to grab hold of them, so all he could do is make sure his grip stayed with these other two as they cascaded in circles uncontrollably. The pain was sharp and unbearable, and the fear and coldness shook Octave to his very core. He'd been there so long that he couldn't remember anything before, he couldn't even remember how he ended up in the tight, caring grasp of these two, all he could remember was spinning and crashing and freezing and hurting, and then the images in Octave's head stopped, and he looked to find himself on his hands and knees, gasping for air he didn't have to breathe. When he looked up, the shrouded Malevolent was experiencing the same, but before Octave could recover, he took of running, leaving the disoriented blue Robot Master with the giant purple Malevolent.
"How dare you interrupt my business you sniveling weakling!" the purple Malevolent exclaimed as he kicked Octave into the wall from the floor, him still unable to recover. Luckily, the people had already used the distraction Octave gave to escape to whatever hole they were going to somewhere in the city. And after this situation was solved, Octave would have to go looking for them all over again.
"You know, you have very nice armor for a bucket." Octave said, weakly, still recovering from the episode he'd just had.
"You will bow before the explosive power of I, Napalm!" The large, rusted purple machine before him stomped up to Octave with a sense of pride, purpose, and weight. Standing feet above the human-sized Octave, Napalm seemed a mountain of insurmountable power and resolve. To the lesser Robot Master, this Malevolent war-machine would seem too great to overcome. However, Octave was far from lesser.
"Right, right, right. Whatever." Octave used the loud enemy's talkative nature to stand up. A smarter foe would have blown him away when he was down. Though, once Octave recovered, he observed the foe, disregarding the threatening tone and large cannons on his chest for the oddity of Napalm's body. The war against the Malevolence has always been quality versus quantity. Every day, hundreds of souls are extracted from the Domain using the Forge, almost all of which are Malevolent. The ratio is so one sided that when two souls qualify as Robot Masters a decade, its considered fantastic. "Where'd you get the body?" every Malevolent Octave's ever faced was a poorly built frame that broke down with little effort on his part. Of course, there's been a few nicer ones, but never this nice.
"I will warn you no more! Bow before me or be destroyed!" Napalm ignored the question as his right arm retracted and transformed into a long barrel aimed it at the unconcerned Octave and readied a shell. "BOW!"
"I just got polished, 'Palmy. Manhattan would kill me if I got scuffed already." Octave brushed off the dent and scuff on his chest from the kick, which annoyed him. But Octave knew very well that his comment would invoke fire from Napalm. As he spoke, Octave's black mouth cover and green visor shot out from the top and bottom of the frame of his face connected to his helmet. He held his right arm out as the cogs and gears became exposed, hiding his humanoid arm inside and revealing his sword hilt connected to his forearm. From the metallic hilt shot forth a blue energy, the same color as Octave's armor, that formed a sword that hummed as it activated. With that process completed in seconds, Octave finished his comment and readied himself for combat.
"How DARE you!" Napalm shouted as he fired his shell from his arm, sending an explosion to the ground where Octave was standing, but by the time it hit, Octave was circling his was to Napalm's right side, moving at a dizzying speed. Reacting just in time, Napalm brought his large foot up to kick the smaller opponent, but Octave was quick, dodging the kick as he passed the large purple Malevolent.
Octave continued out into the more exposed street, which laid shaded between tall but ruined building. The lumbering Napalm ran slowly after him, and when Octave felt the area was more advantageous for him, he turned around sharply and slid as he did. This being a moment of vulnerability, Napalm readied both arms as cannons and fired rapidly, covering the entire street with fiery explosions, breaking away parts of the large buildings to both sides of the street.
"Fool! You were not fast enough for the wrath of Napalm!" The purple giant shouted as he lifted his cannons in the air in celebration of his easy victory. But before he could finish, Napalm heard a cry from the smoke of the explosions and saw the small blue foe running along the side of a building to his right. Octave jumped from the building's wall and landed before Napalm, rolling as he hit the floor. Before Napalm could react, however, Octave slashed shallow cuts into the front of both of Napalm's legs before finishing with an upwards vertical cut going from his groin to the top of his chest, disabling Napalm's large chest-cannon.
"How's that for fast?" Octave teased, not expecting the swiftness of Napalm's retaliation. A long arm-cannon came downward to Octave's side, swatting him to the side and into a downward parking structure beneath a decrepit office building. "Ah!" Octave slid on his back for several yards into the structure until he recovered, rolling backwards over his shoulder and onto his feet.
Octave observed all around him, cars and support beams surrounded him in the dark structure, but no back exit t be seen, only ramps for vehicles to travel upwards and stairs for pedestrians to access. The only way out was the way in, so Octave started sprinting forwards.
As Octave ran to the exit, Napalm stepped forward and took aim. "DIE!" he practically screamed as he began to rapidly fire all around Octave, surrounding the robot in flames as he blew the support beams apart. Realizing just now the possibility of caving the structure in on Octave, Napalm began firing at the concrete beams in front of Octave, a large fragment of one of the beams flying and knocking Octave off balance. Recovering quickly, Octave continued his full speed dash to the exit. Despite his speed, he knew there was no way to make it before all crumbled on top of him unless he stepped it up. "TIME-SKIMMER" Octave cried as concrete and steel surrounded and buried him.
"Scuffed knees are preferable to crushed a Soul fool! I, Napalm, am once again vict-" The victorious purple Malevolent stopped, hearing metal clanking on concrete from the opposite side of the street. "What…?"
"Oh, don't think I'm not pissed!" Octave brushed his shoulder of light gray dust with him weaponless arm. "The amount of buffing my back is gonna need will drive me up the fucking wall!" Octave shouted just before he dashed forward, ending on the opposite side of Napalm. As the large Malevolent went to turn towards his opponent, he fell to his hands and knee, as his right leg was severed completely at the knee.
"My perfect frame! My flawless craftsmanship! The Maker will DESTROY YOU!" Napalm, frantic and livid, began firing from his left cannon while he propped himself up with his right. Missing every shot as Octave seemed to teleport, the remnants of the office building above the destroyed parking structure began to rattle. "How? How do you move so fast! WHO BUILT YOU SO PERFECTLY!?"
"That is called Time-Skimmer, you bucket." Octave started, watching the battery icon on his visor, "It's one of my special abilities built into this body just for me. It amps up my sensory array and movement so high that I move in-between the seconds. When you shoot, it's like dodging a balloon someone threw at me." Octave loved explaining his powers to enemies he knows he'll destroy, almost to a fault. He was a powerful Robot Master and was extremely skilled with his blade, but he was far from the best, despite what he'd tell you.
"ONE of your special abilities?" Napalm asked, still in awe of Octave's pure speed, a skill he'd never seen used practically before. "Are there others?"
"Allow me a demonstration!" Octave shouted, a large smile glowing beneath his mouth cover while Napalm's eyes widened in fear. "HEADHUNTER!" Octave shouted with a mighty echo as he turned to the worn office building. Octave's shining blue sword turned blood red and grew exponentially to about the size of Octave's entire body. In an instant, Octave turned and hacked off Napalm's left arm-cannon and, without moving, he slashed towards the building, a red shockwave shooting forward and demolishing the bottom, just above the filled entrance of the parking structure.
"Bye." Octave waved before dashing a safe distance away from the building. Within moments, the building collapsed on top of the crippled Napalm, and it was more than safe to assume it killed him. Octave was pretty sure a building could kill some of the strongest Robot Master he knew.
Suddenly, the sharp pain shot back again, sending Octave to his knees as the images from before flashed upon him again. This time, however, he saw Pastoral's face in one.
"Who are you!?" The shrouded Malevolent held up a crude, but still deadly buster to Octave from behind, pressing the barrel against the back of his head.
"Shit." Octave hissed under his breath, still loudly enough for the foe to hear.
"What?" The Malevolent asked due to the odd response to his question.
"I was hoping you knew." Octave said calming before jumping backwards, his back smashing into the center of the Malevolent's weight. Octave recovered and turned around and drew his sword in one swift motion, the glowing blue blade drawing as he swung it from his hip to the Malevolent's head. The foe, being quicker than Octave guessed, grabbed the hilt of Octave's blade and pushed it down. Now eye to eye, the sharp pain became almost unbearable for both of them, but they both endured, to falter now would mean death.
"I… Am SaberMan... A Robot Master of New… Harmony…" Octave struggled, attempting to fight the pain while fighting for control of his blade almost proved too much. "Who… Are… You…"
Suddenly, the light gray Malevolent made a face as if he realized something before he said, cryptically;"You can call me 95, Octave." 95 smirked as he finished, and he suddenly flashed blue, the same shade as Octave, and his right hand shifted from being a buster to being a sword almost exactly like Octave's. 95 kicked the shocked Octave away from him and readied a pose for battle.
Octave, eyes wide in amazement, almost didn't react fast enough when 95 shouted "TIME-SKIMMER" and appeared directly in front of him.
The two's sabers clashed, 95 now suddenly faster and stronger and able to use one of Octave's almost [i]unique[/i] abilities. Octave tilted his blade, sending 95's down to the floor from the sheer weight and strength he put behind it. Octave used the shift in 95's weight to kick him across the face and send him reeling backwards, his back facing Octave. He turned sharply, his blade circling around to Octave's face as he did. While, not close enough to actually damage Octave, the energy saber shattered Octave's light green visor and sent the disoriented Robot Master reeling.
As Octave recovered, facing his front once again to meet 95's blade with his, he lifted his saber into the air to strike 95's head, but before he could, the incredibly fast 95 sent his blade into the space between Octave's right shoulder and his chest, almost completely severing the limb.
"Uh…" Octave grunted as his blade retracted back into his arm, his unarmed hand slotting back out as it fell to his side. Overcome by pain, Octave shot down to his knees after 95 withdrew his blade from Octave's arm. The images returned, even more painful and vivid this time than before. Octave could feel each and every body hitting him, feel the screams all around him stab him to the very core as he kneeled there into the street clutching his now limp arm.
"I remember it all now. You will too. Thanks for the sword, brother." 95 said before shifting back to his default light-gray color and buster arm.
Octave's mind was far too consumed with the terrors before him to even consider chasing 95 down. He just stood there, a face full of shock, terror, and pure horror. It was like he was staring directly into the depths of Hell.
A few miles away, a dark brown robot master attempted to respond to the call, but he was too far, and too mired in electronic interference. Octave's rhapsodic, slightly elder brother stood atop an ancient electronics store, his visor down as he scanned the horizon for the nomads he'd seen earlier. He tapped his receiver, attempting to respond to the call.
"Pastoral to Octave. Hey, bro, I can hear you. What do you need?" As he spoke, his communications gave him painful feedback, forcing him to disable them. "Jeez. Must be all these crappy electronics." Pastoral leapt down from the two story building, bending his knees as he landed, his weight shaking the ground and cracking the old, sandy pavement.
As dusty wind blew tiny pebbles against Pastoral's armor, the robot noticed a sudden disturbance in the air. A hot wind blew against his synthetic, lifelike skin, followed by a dull thumping sound. Explosives in the distance. An explosive. Deciding not to leave anything to chance, the robot decided to investigate. Dipping low, Pastoral began a powerful sprint, moving tirelessly towards his objective. As he crested a hill, he jumped, his legs pushing him high into the air. Landing on a rooftop, Pastoral entered the abandoned city where he'd heard the thump. Now, the explosions were much more clear, along with cries for help. Pastoral looked down the road, and spied several humans fleeing from a white android.Malevolent, huh? A pejorative term for thinking robots who chose to harm humans, Pastoral could think of no other word for the attacker, who stridently and merrily pointed an arm cannon at the fleeing humans.
"THAT'S RIGHT. Run!" The robot shouted in a familiar voice, laughing as he shot at their feet. "Hah! Clumsy humans! You think you can escape me?!"
Pastoral prepared to attack, when he realized just who the android was. This wasn't just a random robot. It was the traitor. A robot master who once carried the name Grave. This was someone Pastoral was friends with in times long past. Now, after a series of brutal, cowardly betrayals, and a wound issued by Pastoral's own buster, this robot was only named Skull. His cheek and jaw lacked skin, displaying a skeletal, ceramic steel jaw. His skin was bleached white by a lack of care or maintenance. All Skull cared to repair now were his combat systems and his reactor.
After all, that was all he needed to murder humans.
Pastoral's right fist clenched. Despite being two blocks away and standing on a roof, he drew his right cannon and placed his left hand on it to steady it. He wasn't a perfect sniper, but he primed his precision arm anyway, and fired.
A golden bolt of energy flared straight towards Skull, narrowly missing him. The bleached white Malevolent jumped back, looking up to spot Pastoral, who fired again, issuing shot after shot. Skull smirked. "PASTORAL! It's so good to see you!"
The robot master said nothing in return, as he charged towards Skull with his visor down and his teeth clenched. Springing off of the roof, he ran along the side of a concrete building, his powerful legs shattering parts of it with each step. He wasn't as fast as his brother, but he did possess a speed and strength to be reckoned with. Skull, however, was unphased. They'd done this song and dance before. The robot master sprang off of the building, fist clenched. Skull dove out of the way, as Pastoral's landing left a crater, sending rocks and dust high into the air.
"Whoa. Little mad there, PluseMan?" Skull smirked, drawing his buster and firing the moment he had a clear shot. To the Malevolent's displeasure, Pastoral easily dodged, drawing his left cannon and returning fire. Silver, less precise bolts peppered the ground and buildings nearby, one striking Skull's arm, leaving a crack and a painful burn. "I see you have a new pea shooter Pasty."
Pastoral drew both cannons. "Keep talking big. We both know who's going to run away, Grave." Pastoral aimed, pooling energy into his busters. "After all, that's what you're good at, right?"
Skull smirked. The insult had no sting. "Oh, this time I'm leaving you a goodbye present. MARROW! ATTACK!"
Before Pastoral could get a clean shot, a massive shadow came upon him. Shit! Pastoral hadn't noticed Skull's company. A fist as large as a twin-sized bed struck Pastoral full and hard in the side, sending him rolling along the pavement. He got to his feet not far from the group of humans nearby, turning to them and raising his visor to look them in the eye. "I might not win, so get to safety! Call out if any other robots come after you!" The humans scrambled as the massive robot came barreling towards Pastoral, who stood his ground.
Marrow, a barrel chested, four meter tall, slouching behemoth, didn't seem to have any weapons. He settled for simply swinging his powerful, slow limbs to swat at and punch Pastoral. The agile, surefooted robot master avoided a tree-trunk sized arm, and returned the robot's aggression. He swung his fist, striking the Malevolent's jaw, breaking it. The sound of the trading blows deafened the humans nearby, who covered their ears, crowding into an old, run-down shop.
Pasty hopped off of a wall, firing a volley of kicks, denting the robot's chassis. With a final boot from his right leg, he drove it back against the wall. He drew both busters, firing quick shots in concert, platinum bolts of energy peppering the massive robot and putting small holes in it. The Malevolent, silent from the onset of the fight, simply glared hatefully as Pastoral lowered his visor and went in for the kill.
Leaping, chambering his leg, and throwing a massive side kick, the victorious robot master knocked a hole in the Malevolent's chest, exposing its reactor. The robot was put into stasis, its body too damaged to go on without overloading its systems.
"Octave, I've encountered and disabled a hostile robot. Skull was here." Pastoral grimaced, looking around. The wiley robot was predictably gone. "He got away. Friggin' coward. Anyway, I found some humans, so I'll tear out this guy's integrated circuit once I've made sure the people are alright, hey?"
However, before Pastoral could walk a safe distance away, Skull sprung his trap. Firing, he scored a quick, accurate hit with his cannon, shooting Marrow in the reactor. Marrow reactivated for a moment, grinning with his broken jaw as he stood, his unstable reactor going critical.
Pastoral turned towards the humans, his first thought to protect them. "GET AWAY!" The people obediently hit the deck, as Marrow exploded. The force of the blast shattered windows, and sent Pastoral flying into the building where the humans were hiding. The five terrified people looked up at Pastoral, who was laying down on the floor in the far corner of the room, his armor sinnged.
"HAH! Eat that, Pastoral! Stupid faggot." Skull smirked, turning to leave.
As he walked away, a golden bolt of energy struck the back of his head, destroying his helmet and stunning him. Skull whirled around to see Pastoral standing, his autorepair stitching his synthetic skin back together. He aimed both cannons, his brown eyes aflame with fury.
Before Skull could dodge, Pastoral's arm cannons were fully charged. Both barrels fired a bright beam of energy. The combined blast struck Skull's left arm, sheering it clean off. If Pastoral's optics had been fully operational, it would have been a lethal blow.
"Looks like I disarmed you, Skull." Pastoral smirked. "How rude of me! Stay still so I can hit you in the HEAD this time!"
Without a word, Skull dove off of the roof, and retreated as fast as his legs could carry him. Fortunately, Pastoral couldn't see well enough to fire again. His visor was shattered and his armor was burnt and overheated by the sneak attack. Fortunately, the humans were fine.
"Pastoral to Octave. P-Pastoral to Octave. Skull sprang a sneak attack on me. Humans are fine, but I've taken some damage. G-gotta go home for r-r-repairs. My optics have a lot of b-b-blind spots, and I think my stabilizers are busted." Pastoral stammered as his central processing unit repaired itself, releasing cooling solutions into his systems to attempt to beat down some of the heat. "Dr. Manhattan's gonna be pretty angry at me. Just know before you get here, it's not as b-bad as it looks. At least my face is still pretty."