Voyager Saga
Change of Soul
Chapter 7: Weakness of the Flesh
It was the same dream again. The same one that haunted him at this time of the year. The screams of his squadron mates over the Starfury's comm...the green flashes of Combine pulse beams mixed with the orange flares of their exploding targets...and in the middle, the looming shape of the insectoid-looking Combine cruiser in the centre of the destruction. Matt knew this too well, events that he wished he could forget. It was the next part he wanted to forget...the barely lit room...the searing pain of the Psy-blader device...and the single aristocratic voice asking over and over "How many...and when are they coming?"
"For the last time, there's no attack fleet coming," groaned Matt. This just simply earned him another burst of pain from the torture device.
The shadow of his tormenter sighed. "Again...put it up to level six." The next burst of pain made him feel like he'd been hit with a flamethrower at point blank range...the shock waking him.
--
Matt shot up right with a half-yell.
"Matt? Are you ok?" Matt looked over to Kala in bed next to him.
"Oh, it's nothing, just a nightmare," said Matt. Kala smiled and turned over, going back to sleep again. Matt sighed to himself. "Yeah, a nightmare."
Suddenly the door burst open and both Matt and Kala sat straight up, Kala taking the sheets to cover her bare chest. Standing at the door was Chloe, a look of both anger and disgust on her face. "Ok you two, get your butts into my room, now!" She looked at the scattered clothing on the floor with even more disgust and said, "And put some clothes on for Christ's sake!"
--
About 20 minutes later, Matt and Kala were in their armor in Chloe's room...and they were not alone. Contrinus and Draco were there too. "I thought I was captain. I'm supposed to do the yelling," he muttered to Draco, making the experiment-turned-gargoyle smirk.
Chloe was pacing angrily in front of them. And as an even more curious sight, NegaMorph was also in the room, in what appeared to be a transparent glass box.
"Ok...Chloe? I am the boss of the Bladestorm last I looked. Is there a reason you're being the inquisition all of a sudden?" said Matt.
Draco also added "And why is NegaMorph in that box?"
"Oh, this is an Observation Prism," said NegaMorph, "It's completely unbreakable from the outside, so it allows spectators to watch interesting scenes without being hurt. Only you have to smash your way out so they're only good for one use."
"Wuss." muttered Contrinus.
Matt sniggered. "Least he's learning the ins and out of ship-board survival," he said.
Then Chloe commanded their attention. "Do you have any idea what you've guys just done?" she demanded.
"Rest and relaxation?" suggested Matt.
Chloe rolled her eyes and said, "You've never read the manual regarding 'disrespectful actions' have you?"
"Uh, not really," said Matt, "I kinda zone out after the first three pages."
"Then allow to provide that," said NegaMorph as he pulled the book out. He flipped it open to the right page and said, "Chapter 13, Section 4, Subsection 6; Any commanding officer caught doing unpermitted sexual actions is to be held under inquisition by their second-in-command."
Matt glared at NegaMorph. "So...what's the penalty? Thumb screws at dawn?" he said sarcastically.
"Not really, if the second-in-command deems the offense creditable, they are subjected to either 8 points of conduct or whatever punishment the second-in-command finds acceptable."
"Well, we don't get paid so points of conduct don't matter. That means...oh crap..." said Matt before saying "Chloe? We're brother and sister, please don't do anything you'll regret."
"I'm considering it," said Chloe sternly.
Draco, in an attempt to change the topic, said, "You ratted us out, didn't you?"
"Not me," said NegaMorph, "Ariana saw Matt and Kala going into Matt's room, then she told Greame, Greame told Brooklyn, Morph overheard, and it kinda spread out from there."
"Why me?" muttered Matt gloomily
"And us?" demanded Contrinus.
"Heck, nearly everyone knew about you," said NegaMorph, "As a matter of fact, there was a bit of betting to see when the Lynches would find out. I bet Matt would find out about your forsaken virginity the same day he'd forsake his virginity. Got a big payload from that."
Matt turned to NegaMorph and sighed, saying, "Ok, how much did you win?"
"Quite a lot," said NegaMorph as he pulled a couple bundles of dollars, "The question is what to spend it on."
Chloe stopped smirking at NegaMorph before turning back to the group, frowning again. "Look, do you have any idea what could happen? To both of you two couples?"
"Actually, I've taken the liberty of having Dr. Willis check some blood samples from both parties," said NegaMorph as he pulled out some medical reports. "It says here that there's no threat of STDs or possible bodily rejections."
Chloe upped the glare some more. "You realize you could have actually...started a family? I doubt even Sue could have gotten you out of trouble then."
"Well, that's the beauty of gargoyle physiology," said NegaMorph, "Females are only fertile once every 20 years. Nevertheless, I did have Dr. Willis check out both Contrinus and Kala." He pulled out two more medical reports and said, "Contrinus is in the clear and Kala... wait, what's this?" He looked closely at the report and said, "No wait, just an ink smudge, clean bill of health all around."
She looked back up to see both Kala and Matt had fainted...though Matt seemed to have fallen asleep again instead judging from the snores.
"Uh, you might want to wake them back up," said NegaMorph, "Sunrise is coming I think we want to wrap this up now than later."
Chloe sighed and electrocuted Matt and Kala till they woke up. "Look, just...lay off the couple stuff, ok?" she said
"Fine, fine," said Matt, somewhat nervous that he narrowly dodged two bullets.
Then Chloe turned to NegaMorph and asked, "By the way, is there anything about the betting table about me?"
"Nope," said NegaMorph, "Practically everyone thinks you're so picky, you'll end up a lonely old crone." He paused and said, "Or is that Talia I'm thinking about?"
Chloe turned on NegaMorph who looked smug. Almost every light burned out as Chloe absorbed the electricity. "Erm...take cover?" suggested Matt. The group dived for cover just as a blast of lightning shot into the prism...and through it...and NegaMorph.
When the smoke cleared, NegaMorph groaned, "Last time I buy from eBay," before passing out.
--
In another part of New York City, a group of various villains were well into the careful art of plotting. "As soon as night falls, we shall attack the castle from the sky," said Ghoulwyrm.
Omnirus shook her head. "So? I bet all my alien forms that Matt and his men will be on guard. I dunno about you, but I have no urge to meet the receiving end of 40 pulse rifles."
"Which is why we're going to have Mantichrome broadcast a fake Shar-Virk signal from the other side of this planet," said Ghoulwyrm, "That should lure away a majority of Lynch's forces and we should be able to overwhelm the rest."
"I doubt that'll work, given that Techo or Chip would spot a fake from the other side of the galaxy," said Omnirus
Suddenly a snowball hit her in the back of the head. She turned around glaring to see Loki whistling innocently. "Nice try, but I've got eyes on my back, remember?" she growled.
Loki smirked. "Why so negative about the chances? Anyone would think you wanted them to win," he said.
He tilted his body slightly to avoid the fireball Omnirus threw at him. "You think you're really funny, don't you?" she growled.
"Oh, I know I'm funny." retorted Loki.
Mantichrome sighed, "I can handle Chip. An attack just before sunset might work, catch them when they're tired."
"That method has been tried before," said Garlon, "Very recently, in fact."
"I'm guessing it didn't go well?" said Omnirus, smugly.
"It seemed it might at first," said Garlon, "but reportedly, Hyena tried to rip the side of an alien girl and a black demon-like one came out when he heard her screams and drove them off."
Omnirus started laughing. "General NegaMorph's signed up with Matt? Oh, this is golden," she said, falling down from laughter
A deep growling made Omnirus stop laughing. Ghoulwyrm's were starting to glow with angry purple light. "NegaMorph and his niece," he growled, "The former gave a rather painful injury once and the latter ruined two of my potential fodder troops. I'll have to settle that score with them."
"You'll get your chance." said Garlon
"How much longer will this planning take?" demanded Sekhmet, "It's hard enough to believe I'm fighting alongside mindless machines, even ones who share a grudge with our enemies." She gave an unsavory glance at Mantichrome and Coldsteel.
Mantichrome said something in splitter. It was a certainty that it was not a compliment and it was probably a blessing that it was untranslatable too.
"The attack is to take place after sundown, so we must use the time till then to streamline our plan," said Ghoulwyrm.
Sekhmet gave a haughty sniff and said, "I don't need to take orders on how to fight from anyone, particularly a rotten corpse."
Chang glared. "You will respect the new Dragon of Darkness," she said angrily.
"Ooh, such an honorable title," said Sekhmet, "The only Dragon of Darkness I know is Apep, and last time I checked, he didn't look like a one-monster horror museum."
"Ooh, nice one," said Loki, clapping a little bit.
Chang hissed angrily. Ghoulwyrm was sorely tempted to let them fight it out. "Look, ladies, there's enough of me to go round." The next instant, he received two spell blasts to the face. He coughed up a little soot and said, "Perhaps I should have phrased that more properly," he said.
Mantichrome nodded. "Yeah, even I could tell that," he said.
"Now then, back to business..." started Ghoulwyrm but was cut off when a spitball flew straight into his ear. He gave a yelp of discomfort and snapped, "Loki!"
Loki actually looked innocent. "It was the Care Bear wannabe," he said, pointing at Leroy who was also looking innocent.
"Well, anyways..." started Ghoulwyrm as he used one of his claws to try and fish the spitball out of his ear. Then Leroy took a peashooter out and shot off several more spitballs, several of them landing on the fae's faces, particularly the redcaps.
"Who invited this unrefined beast?" asked Garlon with annoyance.
"I think Omnirus has something to do with it," said Bananas B.
The alien group watched with the embarrassment of relation as the redcaps tried to beat Leroy up. "Omnirus, do you ever regret letting Leroy out that cell?" asked Mantichrome.
"A little bit," said Omnirus as she ducked to avoid a flying club, "Perhaps I should turn down his mischievous factor a notch."
Loki smirked. "Say what you like. He's my kinda person," he said and dived into the melee himself with a cry of 'DOGPILE!'
Ghoulwyrm rubbed his temples and groaned to himself, "This is going to be a long day."
"Well, well, well," said Sekhmet sarcastically, "Look who just got to the party."
Ghoulwyrm glared at her and said, "Don't start with me, woman."
"Start what? Who's starting?"
Mantichrome sighed to himself and said, "If this going to involve indoor theater, I'm gonna get some oil."
"I'll accompany you," said Coldsteel. The two robots left as a redcap's shoe flew over their heads.
Manitchrome glared at where Leroy appeared to be getting the upper hand against the redcaps, via using one of their own as a club. "These disgusting organics. Makes me sick to my waste files."
Coldsteel cleared his throat and said, "May I remind you that I was once flesh and blood?"
"And that's the only fault I find with you," said Mantichrome, "I find your appetite for vengeance and power matches my own in a rather fellowship way."
"I might take that as a compliment," said Coldsteel levelly, "In any case, do you believe your forces shall be able to deal the clan a harsh blow?"
Mantichrome shrugged. "Sure, after the kinda luck I've had recently I could do with some time to unwind," he said, actually making Coldsteel shudder a bit as he envisioned what Mantichrome might think of as 'unwinding'
"But you said your mechanical sharks have failed to slay them before," said Coldsteel.
"The Sharkticons would have been able to perform their job, if the NSC hadn't barged in at the last minute," said Mantichrome, "While they might not have the same field advantage as before, they are quite deadly on land."
--
Matt was sitting on the ramparts, looking at the stars. He couldn't get over the feeling that he and Kala had played with guns and nearly got shot as a result.
"Ironic, isn't it?" said a voice. Matt turned to see what looked like Draconus, "You've faced all sorts of alien monsters and gave them lip without breaking a sweat. And now you nearly had a heart attack at the thought of knocking up your girlfriend."
"Get lost, Draconus, back in my head," Matt said in a dangerous tone of voice.
Draconus smirked, "Not likely, so what's with the Star wars style battle in your dreams?"
"If you were really me, you'd know," said Matt, "And even if you didn't, I'm not up to talking about it with anyone."
Draconus smirked "I'll find out sooner then- WHOA!" he said, vanishing as Matt lunged at him, falling down the parapet stairs as a result to come to a halt at Lexington's feet.
"Uh...hey Matt," said Lexington as he looked up at where Matt had been. "Uh, what were you doing up there?"
"Nothing...just thinking," said Matt, getting back up.
"About past injuries?" asked Lexington.
Matt looked at Lexington and said, "How did you-" Then he saw his cybernetic eyes and said, "Oh, I guess you can easily recognize that sort of thing."
"I guess so," said Lexington, "So my guess was right?"
"Yeah, I don't like to talk about it, but it's kinda almost the anniversary," said Matt, sadly.
"The anniversary of something awful?" asked Lexington, "Yeah, I get that feeling when I think about the massacre here."
"Guess we all have our demons," said Matt.
"Guess so," said Lexington, "Only, in your case, I think they're a bit more real."
Matt turned to go when his comm started beeping. "Hello? Lynch Taxidermy, you snuff em, we'll stuff em," he said
"Cute, Matt," said Chip's voice, "Now if you're in the mood, we've just picked up the Shar-Virk's signal."
"What? They're dead. We saw the ship go down ourselves...hell, we're gutting it," said Matt.
"We didn't see them die," said Chip, "And according to the laws of probability, that meant they might not have died."
"Plus there's our luck to take into account," said Matt, sighing, "I suppose we'd better check it out. Where's the signal coming from?" said Matt.
"Uh, would you believe Indonesia?" asked Chip.
"No," said Matt simply before sighing again. "But then again...suppose we can't risk it." Matt considered a moment and then said, "We'll have some of the crew go check it out. It's possible they may be planning a sneak attack here."
"You're sure you're not being paranoid?" asked Chip.
"Hey, remember the last time I was called paranoid? We had to attack a hugeass battlecruiser in the Atlantic. What fun it was," Matt retorted sarcastically
"Point made," said Chip, "Who shall we send and who shall stay?"
"Send Chris, Wilson, Techo, and Talia with Delta squad, they're the most rested," said Matt.
"I shall arrange for that," said Chip, "and what about our side?"
"Sunup's only half an hour away," said Matt, "We're gonna have to beef up security while the gargoyles sleep."
"I'll see to that," said Chip before signing off.
Matt turned to Lexington and said, "You might as well get ready for sleep. By the way, when you sleep, do those implants turn to stone too?"
"Actually, they kinda go into sleep mode, like a computer," said Lexington.
Matt pondered this for a minute and said, "Why the heck not? Coldstone's got so many cybernetic implants, he doesn't turn to stone."
--
Matt and the group stood watch around the castle as the dawn slowly approached. "Can you imagine we just narrowly avoided be keelhauled by Chloe?" asked Draco.
"Narrow doesn't cover it. I'd tell you what happened when we had that special operation in New York, but she'd rip my vocal chords out and strangle me with them," said Matt
Draco gulped audibly and said, "Yikes, hate to get on the wrong side of her anyways. How comes she's taking this so seriously while everyone is basically passing it off?"
"Erm...it ended badly for her. She's sore about it," said Matt, looking around in case Chloe was in earshot
"Out of curiosity, have any of you guys ever thought of having a child?" asked Contrinus.
"Maybe, when everything's settled down and we're not being chased by psychotic hamster emperors then yes...a family would be nice," said Matt before adding bitterly, "It's not like the A-001 barriers going anywhere."
Draco looked thoughtful and said, "Well, I may be interested, but not like this. Being a father's ok, but I don't want to wait 10 years for my egg to hatch."
"Well, you two do make a cute couple but you're right. Ten years is TOO long," said Matt.
"Of course, I can't feel comfortable with this until I'm sure Virustoxico won't be there to threaten my family," said Draco.
"I hope that day may come sooner than later," said Contrinus, hugging Draco's chest.
Kala walked up behind the hugging duo and said, "What a coincidence," exchanging an evil smirk with Contrinus and winking at her before saying, "What do you think are good names, Matt?" Matt however seemed to have gone catatonic and was making a funny bubbling noise in the back of his throat.
"Oh, not Matt Jr.," said Contrinus, "Way too egotistical."
"I was kinda hoping that we'd have a daughter," said Kala.
Around then, NegaMorph came outside and noticed Matt's pale complexion. "Hey, are guys messing wtih Matt's psyche?" he asked.
"A little bit," said Kala, "Mostly about future families."
"Can I join in?" he asked.
"Sure thing," said Draco, "You think Matt would make a great father?"
Contrinus however noticed Matt had started to giggle faintly...always a bad sign. "Erm, I think we might be going too far," she said.
"Hang on a sec," said NegaMorph, "I haven't had my shot yet. Personally, I'd hate to be him when the baby comes due. Kala's gonna crush his fingers into a pulp."
This was the final straw as Matt shrieked, blasted NegaMorph and ran off. The others looked down at NegaMorph. "Contrinus did warn you. Oh I hope Matt doesn't happen to someone," said Kala, looking in the direction Matt had ran.
"Ow..." moaned NegaMorph. He looked up at Draco and Contrinus and said, "Well don't you two lovebirds just stare, help me find the pieces of my legs."
--
Meanwhile, Matt had managed to find the way to the courtyard and had screamed a bit till he felt alot better. A family was a nice thought, until your friends used it to try and send you crazy...er. As such, he was in a good position to see Omnirus X0 land in front of where he was in the shadows.
"Guards probably haven't all left yet," muttered Omnirus to herself, "But I bet Ghostjaws can help me find one of those inhibitors. At least then I'll be able to shift back to my male form."
"You know, stealing really isn't your thing," said a draconic voice behind her. Omnirus turned to see Matt in dragon form come out from the shadows.
Omnirus growled angrily at Matt, but something felt wrong. She definitely hated Matt as much as before, but seeing him in his dragon form and not raging against her made her insides feel all soft and squeamish. Omnirus had enough genetic programming to realize what was going on. "Oh no, please, anything but that and anyone but HIM!" she said as she realized she'd been stuck in X0 form so long that draconic hormones were kicking in.
Matt raised an eyebrow and asked, "Do I want to know what's going on in your head right now?"
Omnirus glared. "No, not really," she said and spat an exploding fireball at him. Matt easily dodged it and was getting ready to respond with his own fireball. "Uh, you I would rather ask anyone in the universe besides you," said Omnirus, "But you don't have a spare inhibitor lying around, would you?"
Matt stared. "What? You came to trade? Why should I give you of all people an Inhibitor?"
"You have any idea what it's like to have a male mind inside a female body?" asked Omnirus.
"Briefly," said Matt, not wanting to go into details.
"Well, it's not fun for me. People don't take me seriously, going to the bathroom's always awkward, and I think my sexual attraction's starting to shift."
Matt grinned evilly. "And so the worm turns... I, the person who you have chased and at one point tried to lobotomize last month, have the only device that may help you. Hmm...let me think..." he said.
Omnirus leaned forward eagerly. "Well?" she said.
Matt smirked. "Closer," he muttered and Omnirus leaned closer only to have Matt yell as loud as his draconic body would let him, "NOT A CHANCE IN ANY Z CLASS DIMENSION YOU CARE TO NAME!!!"
"Oh come on!" whined Omnirus, "I wish I didn't have to, but I'm begging you. All this stupid estrogen is driving me insane!"
Matt laughed nastily. "Shoulda thought about that before you tried to kill me and my sister and my friends. Now smeg off before the gang get here."
Omnirus growled and said, "This all you and your sister's fault. If you had cooperated like I wanted, I'd have your AI and be able to reach my ultimate form without looking stupid."
"Yeah...and I'd be a vegetable," said Matt, pushing Omnirus down and baring his teeth. "Now go away before I show you how much damage dragon teeth can do."
Omnirus's eyes started glowing as she said, "You're not the only one with dragon teeth." To prove this, she sank her fangs into his arm.
Matt roared and fell away, allowing Omnirus to fly up and away. "This isn't over!" she yelled before yelping as Chip and Chloe came out, shooting. Before Chip could a good fix on him with Chase's targeting system, Omnirus disappeared.
"Stupid invisibility," grumbled Chloe. Then she noticed the bleeding wounds on her brother's arm.
"I'm fine, it's just a scratch," said Matt, turning back to human. "I think her form trouble's getting to her," he said before telling them what happened. Chloe was clearly having trouble keeping a straight face. "Go ahead and laugh," said Matt, "Won't bother me." Chloe complied and started rolling on the floor.
"You know, I kinda sympathize with Omnirus," said Chip.
"What? You were stuck as a girl once?" asked Matt.
"I'd rather not talk about it," said Chip.
"Fine, can someone help Chloe so she can breathe," said Matt.
Chip picked up Chloe and asked, "So, do we still want to send out that party to investigate the Shar-Virk?"
"No. Call the teams back. Omnirus is more than capable of sending a fake signal on his...her own," said Matt. This promptly started Chloe laughing again and Chip started shaking her to make her stop. Suddenly, Chase started beeping something. "What the heck is your R2-D2 clone saying?" said Matt
Chip listened for a second. "It's a communication from Chris's team."
"What does it say?" asked Matt.
"It says that they're being held back by some really bad weather. They won't be going anywhere for a while," said Chip.
"Crap, it's just us...wait, what kind of weather?" said Matt.
"They say it's a violent blizzard, which is odd because I thought the region they'd be in would be too warm for snow," said Chip, still shaking Chloe around to shake all the laughs out of her.
Matt gulped. "Remember the pointy eared weirdos?" he said
"Yes," said Chip, "You don't think that..."
"No, too much coincidences tonight for me to feel comfortable...and for heavens sake stop shaking Chloe, she's turning green," said Matt.
"Oh, right," said Chip as he put Chloe back on the ground.
Chloe immediately fell over. "Urgh...make the world stop spinning," she said.
"Too bad it's daytime," said Chip, "We'll have to make sure that no one smashes the gargoyles."
Matt shrugged. "Who'd be stupid enough to take us on?" he said.
Just then, what looked like a crate harnessed to a giant helium balloon started floating down into the courtyard. "Ok, is it someone's birthday?" asked Matt. Chase wandered up to the crate and lasered the lock off. The crate immediately fell apart to reveal half a dozen Sharkticons. "Oh no, not these guys again," said Matt, firing his blaster.
The Sharkticons quickly scattered, intent on chewing up anything they could get their jaws around. Matt blasted one trying to climb up to Greame's rock form and Chloe managed to grab another, plunging her ion blade into its head. One of them ran after Chase who ran back to Chip. Chip picked him up and converted him into his gun mode before blasting the Sharkticon that was chasing him.
The last three scattered, trying to break into the ventilation system. "Stop em! If they get in there, we'll never stop them," said Matt, throwing a plasma orb at one.
Chloe tried to electrocute them, but that just made them charge her. Chip picked one up by its tail, but it chomped onto one of his arms. It gnawed away hungrily at Chip's arm, trying to tear through the armor plating. It suddenly went limp...Chloe had torn its CPU out. "Thanks for that," said Chip.
Matt was getting another plasma orb ready for the last one when it opened its mouth wider, revealing a drill where its tongue might be. The drill began to spin, emitting a dreadful whining sound, but that wasn't the worst. The displaced air was like a suction pump, drawing Matt towards the deadly drill. Matt tried blasting it, but the disturbed air was throwing off his aim. He finally scored a hit that caused the drill to go askew and rip through the top of the Sharkticon's mouth, destroying it. "Bloody seafood," muttered Matt, "Is that all of them?"
"Yes," said Chloe, "and I thought those guys were bad in the water."
Matt nodded. "They were the last time. Hey Chip, you ok?" he said.
"I'll be fine," said Chip, "I think it's just a flesh wound. Well, relatively speaking." Suddenly the wound in his arm started giving off marigold sparks and all of Chip's body started to twitch. Then it let off a large wave of indigo energy.
The group all jumped. "CHIP!" yelled Chloe before they had to dodge Chip's falling form.
Matt managed to flip Chip over and opened his chest panel. "His Spark's okay," said Matt, "I think he's just out cold." Matt turned to his wristcomp and gulped. "Hey, my comp and inhibitor are dead. Is anyone's working?" he said. A quick check confirmed that every piece of electrical equipment had been forced into Reboot mode.
Chloe checked hers and said, "Mine's dead too." Chase was on his side, completely immobile.
Just then Xanatos came out. "What's going on here?" he demanded, "I heard fighting and suddenly everything downstairs just shut off."
"We noticed. Somebody just dropped an EMP on us. Everything's dead," said Matt, pointing at Chip and Chase for emphasis.
Chloe was still tampering with her wristcomp. "Not an EMP," she said, "It was some kind of a viral wave." She managed to get her wristcomp on briefly, just long enough for a marigold symbol shaped like an eye to appear.
Mantichrome," said Matt angrily, recognizing the symbol from Paris.
"And with Techo stuck on the other side of the globe and Chip in stasis lock, it's gonna take us hours to debug the whole place," said Chloe.
"Well, we better get started," said Xanatos, "Because I'm willing to bet my ridiculously enormous salary that we're going to be attacked soon."
"We need as much defenses rebooted as soon as we can. Start with security and work your way up. Purge the system," said Matt.
Chloe noticed a couple of storm clouds in the distance. "I'm guessing that's no coincidence," she said.
"If I know my meteorology," said Xanatos, "Those'll be on us by sundown."
"Great, any advice on battling demi-gods?" said Matt sarcastically.
"A little bit," said Xanatos, "Oberon himself tried to breach this building and he eventually succeeded. But he wasn't able to do so easily. Of course, we had the advantage that Oberon and his kind are vulnerable to iron. I don't think whatever's coming is all fae, and I'm not referring to the changelings."
"Yeah, seeing how Omnirus was here and how Mantichrome's apparently sent those infected Sharkticons, I guess we can expect more company," sighed Matt, "Can this get any-"
Before Matt could finish the sentence, Chloe tackled him and tried to cover up his mouth. Xanatos looked on with puzzlement and a bit of amusement. "Bad things tend to happen when Matt says that statement he was about to finish," she explained.
--
Meanwhile, Omnirus was getting a chewing-out from Ghoulwyrm. "What did I say about not attracting any attention?" demanded Ghoulwyrm, "You should have remained invisible at all times."
"How was I supposed to know Matt would be lurking in the shadows?" protested Omnirus.
That earned her a prompt slap to the face from Ghoulwyrm. "That is precisely why you should have stayed invisible," he snarled.
Omnirus rubbed her cheek and said, "Well, sorry. I just wanted to get an inhibitor so I can get out of this stupid female mode."
"And another thing," said Ghoulwyrm, "You were only supposed to be there to check on how many people are left guarding it. I couldn't care less about your physical appearance, but I do care that it's causing you to skip out on your missions for something so trivial."
Mantichrome chuckled and said, "Well, what can you expect with a gender-confused hodgepodge like her?"
Omnirus glared at Mantichrome, but her angry retort was stolen by Ghoulwyrm. "And you, what were you thinking sending a crateful of Sharkticons drifting down with a balloon?" demanded the dracopyre, "We've got enough attention as it is without you practically sending a billboard to let them know we're here."
Mantichrome huffed and said, "Unlike our malformed companion, I had a more prudent objective regarding that. I've inserted a virus into the Sharkticons so that when one of them bites Chip, which has happened according to my readouts, it will cause him to release an electronic viral wave that will take everything electronic in the Xanatos building offline, including him."
This made Ghoulwyrm pause a moment to consider this. "So their defenses are neutralized?" he asked.
"Not permanently," admitted Mantichrome, "But without Chip or Techo there to fix the programming, they'll never be able to have it all up by the time we strike."
Ghoulwyrm smiled and said, "You see, Omnirus, this is called 'thinking ahead'. Something you need to practice more. You have done well, Mantichrome."
"It was a clever move," admitted Sekhmet, "With their defenses weakened, the castle shall be much easier to take."
Ghoulwyrm's grin widened further as he said, "And then we will be able to pick them all off, one by one."
There's another chapter. I find this chapter to be rather entertaining, particularly the part about Omnirus' suffering and Matt being teased. I think this chapter also cements the relationship between Matt & Kala and Draco & Contrinus. But of course, there's a rather serious part in this chapter. With defenses down, Chip out cold, and about half of the Bladestorm's marines stuck on the other side of the world with Chris, Wilson, Techo, and Talia, the gang and clan are going to have a very tough fight up ahead. This is truely the calm before the storm. The next chapter will entail the battle, so you will definitely not want to miss it. Not sure when it'll be up, but I'll being having the first chapter of a little Halloween story up soon. Until then, please review.
