*Camera turns on*
*Amaris, Venat, and Chapter Master Neodek Sharriar are there, although Amaris is the only one actually sitting*
Chapter Master Sharriar: "...So, our only goal here...is to sit here, and talk about the chapter of our journey that is about to be shown to the…'readers'?"
Amaris nodded. "Yes: everyone else except for the Shepherds that're here, barring Aria, and Alma who isn't in either of the stories, has already done so…"
Venat: "I see…"
Amaris: *turns to Venat* "By the way, I have been wondering...why do you speak differently than in the story?"
Venat: "Ah, it is quite simple...This speech pattern of mine is but a mere act, a jest: I don't do't because I needeth to, but rather, since I enjoy it so... hither, for reason, it doth take more effort to maintain than I'd like, so...I spend my time here talking normally…"
Chapter Master Sharriar: "And what will occur in this chapter?"
Amaris: "Well…" *turns to the reader* "We'll just have to find out…"
…
Chapter Master Sharriar: "...Why are you looking that way?"
Amaris: *meekly* "...Just start the chapter…"
Venat: *Begins explaining the Fourth Wall to the Chapter Master*
*Chapter 9: Engaged!*
Chapter 9: The Day We Fight Back
(Daniel Mitchell's Point of View)
...Alright, we're back in Blacklight, the city in an ill-at-ease state, over allying with a faction that had technically attacked us, while we were in a state of crisis...honestly, I don't blame them...
Currently entering the Courtyard of the palace… … ...hmmm…
"...Something's not right…"
"Why do you say that? All I see is a courtyard palace...Is there something odd going on?" Connor asked.
"...Normally, Ophelia acknowledges me when I return, but this time, nothing...what is she doi-"
*CRASH*
"HEY! MASK-FACE! YOU AND I HAVE A SCORE TO SETTLE!"
That's Ophelia's voice! Why-...
...Looks like Ophelia took care of that project I wanted her to do...Massive pod-like body, cockpit in the front, four massive cannons on the back, two additional cannons (one on each arm as a 'hand'), and two squat legs…
...Yup, Ophelia finished Project Odin… … ...why'd she bring the Odin here tho-...OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH…Unless he can talk his way out of this, Connor's in some DEEP shit…
...Connor doesn't seem worried...or anxious at all… … ...it's almost like he's in the same mode he was in back at the plateau...
"Hello again, Ophelia. It's odd...meeting you like this." HOW IS HE SO FUCKING CALM?!
...Ophelia's now aiming all of the Odin's guns at him...
"So, I take it you want to settle something between the two of us?" SAME TONE! DAFUQ?!
"EXACTLY!"
"And you do realise that you are currently aiming those weapons… not only at me...but in the same vein, also at Daniel and whoever else is around here?"
"You should also know that you are about to attack a ally of Daniel...Who's also the leader of the army that infiltrated this place."
"Not to mention, I can see the raw firepower of this machine you are in...It would be sad to see this courtyard get destroyed."
"So...You got a choice. Either you find a more suitable form to talk to me with, or you can fight me. I suggest you take the first one...because if you fight me, I'll make sure those two over there are going to be my shields." ...Wait, he's-
Wait! WHAT?! "WHAT THE FUCK?!" I can tell Amaris is now hiding behind me.
"You need to decide, Ophelia. Pick wisely."
"...Only other suitable 'form' I have is Daniel's other Power Armor suit…"
"If that's all you got, I'll take that form over this machine. If you switch over to that, I'll make sure we settle things between us. Sound fair?"
...Wait...that sounds like-
The ejection seat in the Odin activated! And… … …
...I guess she didn't actually have a complete uplink in the thing, since it looks like she just ejected while piloting my old suit of Power Armor...She's just landed in front of us, in some kind of knelt pose...she's getting up…
"Okay. So….Ophelia. What do you want to do right now?"
Ophelia's approaching him...and...OH! Punch to the gut! Knee to the face… … ...OOOOHHHHH! Don't wanna be kicked there by Power Armor!
"...Ok, I guess we can call it even…" Ophelia replied.
...Well...it did SOMETHING: he's high-pitched now… "By the way, I wasn't actually going to use Daniel or his companion as a shield. That was entirely a bluff that I didn't want you to expect me to do."
...Looks like he has something else to say..."Go on without me. I'll catch up after the pain subsides." Now he's on the ground...
"...Alright then… … …" Ok, moving on then...hope he doesn't take TOO long…
(Connor Thomas' Point of View)
A few minutes later…
Man...that still hurts. If there's one thing I didn't miss, it was that feeling you get after getting hit "there" really hard.
I picked my face off the ground and there was no one around me. Great...Now to begin the search to go find them inside this palace.
After finding the nearest entrance, I stumbled throughout the palace… with the first place to check being the command room.
The command room was easy to find...for me at least since I remembered the layout when I had to sneak around inside this place.
After entering the room, I spotted Daniel looking over a device while his companion switched between looking at him and it. Said device had a mini projection of a massive city. Then I saw Zeldane just standing around on the opposite side of the room, already looking at me.
I spoke up dryly saying, "Sorry for taking so long. If I knew that I was going to get attacked, I would have asked for it to happen in here just to save us time."
No one decided to comment on that and I just walked over to join up with Zeldane and wait for the battle plan to start.
"Well, glad you managed to make it…"Daniel stated. "Anyways…" He activated something on the hologram device, showing several groups on the hologram. He continued with, "According to Sturnn's Guardsmen, enemy forces are preparing to push at these locations…" while pointing out critical areas involving the west, south and northwest part of the city.
I kept paying attention as he said, "Guardsmen, Tau, and Avalonean forces are currently holding the town at the West, Southwest, and South sectors, and the Southwest sector is where the defenders are having the most difficult fights at. Venat's forces are enroute to reinforce their positions, but it won't be enough, with the numbers Solsteir is sending…" at which point the hologram map expanded out, displaying several massive groups of the enemy. I could tell it was the enemy because of the stone creatures and walking armors and whatever else they had following the solders.
It was clear that if it was only by considering quantity, they would wipe out anything in their way. Daniel seemed to have the same idea when he said, "As you can see, they got enough quantity to beat our quality, here…"
"And I assume that advancing force needs to be addressed with. I take it you got something to deal with them?" I said, wondering what he was going to say.
"Well, needless to say, the arrival of Chapter Master Sharriar's forces is most fortuitous: Space Marines are known to be capable of taking on millions of lesser opponents themselves...the problem is the fact that I need a force to help push the enemy out of the city…" Daniel stated.
"And that means you need my help since I got the thing you are looking for. Is there anything else that you need us to do besides pushing out the enemy?" I responded with as I thought about which divisions of the Ptolemaic Army to send out.
"Not entirely...our primary objective is liberating the capital of Amaris' Kingdom…" Daniel said, saying the name of the young gal hanging around him at the moment. He followed up with, "Then, we have some other issues assailing the Imperium I need cleaned up..."
Yeah...even with taking care of the Capital, he still has more problems to deal with. Well...better to take a step forward instead of trying to skip ahead.
"Okay. The Ptolemaic Army will help clear out the capital…On one condition that shouldn't be a issue." I retorted while waiting to elaborate the condition I came up with.
"...And that is?" Daniel asked.
"Simple, you let me go out and join the Ptolemaic Army as they clear out the city. " I stated.
"...That shouldn't be too problematic...I will be leading a strike team personally moving to purge the Nocturne Palace of any Solsteirian forces that managed to infiltrate it…" Daniel noted in response.
Hmmm...Makes sense that he would do that. I should probably… ...nah, I'm going to be near there somehow. I could...Yeah...that sounds like it could work.
I guess I was grinning for too long when I though out a way to cross paths with Daniel and the strike team because it was hard not to notice.
"...And what're you grinning about?" Daniel asked.
"Nothing...Just thinking about a joke I remembered. It was a good one." I said and lied at the same time while maintaining the grin.
I stopped grinning as I asked a question, which was, "So...unless there is anything else you need to say about the plan, when are we going to do this?"
"...As soon as we can organize our forces…" Daniel stated.
Well...I told the Ptolemaic Army to be ready...but that means I got to get back to them. And...I still got send those files over. Better get that out of the way before I forget to do that.
"Well...If it's ASAP, I'll be on my way… ...But before I go, I should make sure to hand over the 'gifts' I brought with me." I said, not clarifying what I mean straight away to get their attention.
"...And they would be…?" Daniel asked me back.
"I thought I repay you with several key pieces of Ptolemaic Data to help offset what I got from you. Most of it should be about the designs I managed to get and which ones were used and not used. The rest should be anything they have on "yours truly" and you get to see it first before I do." I said while giving the cue to Zeldane to be ready to send the data over.
Zeldane did as she was prompted, which resulted in, "I got the data ready to be transferred. Just tell me where to send it, Mr. Daniel."
"Ophelia can help you with that," Daniel replied back. I think I heard Ophelia complain or mumble about something while she helped Zeldane send the files over.
"And it's done. Is there anything else you need me to do, Connor?" Zeldane asked me after the transfer was over.
"Yes, there is something. Can you send a signal to Ptolemaic HQ to get their fastest Hover Bikes over here?" I asked.
Zeldane just nodded back and sent out the signal. I followed up by saying to Daniel, "So...you mind not shooting down the ride I need to use as it gets here?"
"...Alright…" Daniel said.
And that was about what I needed to be here for. Now to get back to the base.
I quickly turned towards Zeldane and told her, "C'mon Zeldane, we need to get ready to leave...And by the way, thanks for agreeing to come with me."
She didn't say anything, but I had the feeling she appreciated what I said. We started leaving, before I turned back for a second and waved Daniel goodbye.
In hindsight, I kinda regret doing that because I ended up hitting the corner of the doorway. What happened next was that I tumbled out of the doorway and collided with something and made a large racket.
Zeldane just remained silent as she helped me up and we started running just in case we broke something...Which I'm sure nothing did… Possibly.
We left the palace and after like 30 mins passed, we got the Hover Bikes that were delivered and took off towards the Ptolemaic base.
(Daniel Mitchell's Point of View)
"... … ...Why would he just give such data away to allies he JUST made?" I turn to Ophelia and Amaris.
"I...honestly have no idea…" Amaris replies to me.
Ophelia's adding something. "... … ...Dunno…"
(Connor Thomas' Point of View)
It was long after I left Blacklight to get the Ptolemaic Army ready to fight. I take a second to look down towards the ground before I look back up.
I should probably explain what was going on…
Well...I was currently in the air, driving a modified hover bike wearing Power Armor that did not belong to me, leading a small squad driving similar machines...towards a Capital being attacked by medieval soldiers and magic creatures. I think the worst part of it all was that we weren't anywhere near it yet.
The reason being very simple. They had a wide variety of Anti-Air defending their position in the city. Most of it was magical stuff that I couldn't really figure out from looking at it.
The point being they had Anti-Air and they had to get taken care of...Which did happen. Several of the Valkyrie Dropships got shot down, which got the enemy fortifications to continue to fire after noticing them to take a few more ships down.
Then just like that, a… I think it was called a "Thunderhawk". The Thunderhawk blasted many of those Anti-Air weapons into oblivion, allowing an opening to form. What followed next was that...Did I forget something?
Yeah.. I did. I forgot to say that the Thunderhawk that did that was Daniel's dropship...And there was also a squadron following him. But back to the point... Uh… They split off and allowed other ships to get inside the city to let the armies get into different sections of the city.
Though I did see Daniel's ship and a good chunk of the squadron following head off towards the palace. That's about all I can say at the moment….
Then Zeldane yelled in my ear, "CONNOR! DODGE!". I did as she said by making moving the bike in a split second.
A very large blast of purplish magic just almost hit me… ...I was lucky that Zeldane managed to warn me. And of course, the small squad behind me dodged it as well.
Activating the machine gun on the front of the hover bike, I started attacking as the enemy as I made my way past them. I ended up getting past the defenses and into a alley that was big enough to get my hover bike in to stop and catch my breath.
I look behind to see that my squad was still nearby, except most of them have shut off their machines and got on the ground armed with their weapons. Of course, these soldiers were part of the Overkill division, which meant they had some of the really good equipment.
One such piece of equipment was the modified "Hellgun" prototype. Taking a few pages from the weapon design itself (and a lot of modifications to make sure it was safe to use), the R&D department made their own version. Dubbed the "Hell Mag Gun", it was quickly and carefully produced to be the primary weapon of the Overkill Infantry.
I ordered the soldiers to send out a scout to see if the enemy was heading towards us. One of the soldiers activated the invisibility on their stealth suit and headed out. This gave us some time to double check our current location. We were somewhere near the southwest section of the city.
The scout returned saying that a large group of enemy soldiers were heading towards our location. I told the men to spread out and get ready to fire on my command and we waited…
Just like the scout said, a large gathering of Solsteirian soldiers were moving down the street that had the alley we were hiding in. There were also some of those golems and magical armors mixed in with them. Not that those things would help them for what was going to happen next.
I yelled out "NOW!" as they got into the right position. The squad got out of their cover and opened fire. The "Hell Mags" fired out their projectiles, which struck the frontmost soldiers down, and continued to mow down the second row, third row, fourth row...Look, the coordinated fire took almost everything out.
The only things standing were the golems and magic armors and even they took a lot of damage. Instead of firing off another volley, the squad deployed several roller bombs down towards the remaining threat.
And as soon as the bombs were close enough, they exploded. That finished off the golems and armors, allowing us to gain control of the street for the moment.
We set up a coded beacon to let the Ptolemaic Army know they can begin dropping off troops, tanks, and mechs into this part of the city. With that set up, we had to start expanding outwards to ensure that we control this area we were in.
That is what we did as we searched throughout the area, picking off any Solestiran forces that crossed our path. At some point, I started seeing several Ptolemaic mechs quickly moving throughout the nearby streets. It helped that I decided to stick to my hover bike and use it as a way to see the city above the ground.
I told my squad to head off on their own and offer any assistance to any of our fellow allies if they needed it. As for myself, I took this as my opportunity to "wander" around the battlefield and see what I can get myself into.
(Battle: Ptolemaic Army)
I stuck around the southwest section of the city to see how things were going before moving to a different section. I saw a lot of interesting sights involving the Ptolemaic Army and our allies.
One such example was when I saw a few Ptolemaic Ruin Division soldiers clearing out debris blocking a major road. They disposed the debris by either picking up what was carryable and moving it out of the way, or they just blew it up into even smaller pieces and moved that out of the way. They definitely did more of the latter than the former.
When they got the road cleaned out, this massive tank started rolling through the path. The Ptolemaic soldiers had to leave the street and go into the alleys because the whole thing took up the entire length of the street, and it was a big street. Of course, I did hear some of the Ptolemaic troopers loudly complain about the tank taking too long to move, or about how they seen bigger tanks than that monstrosity.
Speaking of which, I did learn the name of that gigantic tank. The reason being that I heard a Imperial soldier yell out, "IT IS THE BANEBLADE!"
Then I heard over the comm (that I left on to keep in contact with the Ptolemaic Army), something I didn't expect to hear. Somehow...I managed to catch the driver of that tank yell out,
"READY TO UNLEASH ELEVEN BARRELS OF HELL!".
I immediately shut off the comm to stop hearing all of that yelling. I mentally made sure to note that the Ptolemaic Army needs to work on keeping interference and other noises from getting into the comm channel.
For some reason, I thought a more fitting name would be "CRUSHNATIOR EXTREME!" or "Tiny Tank" if they wanted to be funny somehow. I still think "Baneblade" is not a fitting name… ...What was I talking about? Oh right...
The next sight was the one involving several Ptolemaic mechs. I was turning a corner when I saw a few Gunner, MG, and Claw Mechs fighting off a group of golems. Some of the golems were getting torn apart due to the concentrated machine gun fire from the MGs. The rest were taken out by the cooperation of the Gunners and Claws. The Gunners would rush the golems and get their attention while the Claws used that to their advantage to land heavy hits on the golems.
With the last golem turned into a pile of rocks, the Mechs took a moment to give each other some version of a high five before they started moving again to find more Solsteirians to fight.
The last sight had more Ptolemaic involvement, except this one was about the Ptolemaic Vehicles. Girdia-Os, Di-Cokkas, Bradleys, Sarubias, and a few APCs were in the middle of a little skirmish between several Solsteirian soldiers. The soldiers were trying to blast the vehicles with magic, but they were moving too fast to get hit. In response, they sent out cannon shells, homing missiles, roller bombs, and a few bullets respectfully.
These were more than enough to take care of the Solerstrian attackers. They drove off down west to continue cleaning out the city. And that was about everything I saw flying around the southwest section.
Now I wanted to go explore a different part of the capital...Maybe I'll start with the area around the palace.
The...Capital of Nocturne looked like it was more torn apart compared to when Mark and Trevor fought here. At least back then, most of the buildings were in decent condition or were somewhat damaged. Instead...right now, it was hard to deny that most of the buildings were now rubble.
I ran into more Solsteirian soldiers and I took care of them. Mainly by stopping the hover bike and using the machine guns in the armor's arms to attack them. At some point after that...I think I got bored fighting like that. So I changed it up.
"Zeldane, can you control this hover bike for me?" I asked.
"I can do that...But why do you ask, Connor?" Zeldane answered with a confused tone.
"I need you to drive the hover bike while I hang upside down from the underside of the vehicle. And don't worry about me, I'll be fine as long as you keep it in the air." I noted.
Zeldane sighed a bit before replying with, "I'm in control of the hover bike now. You can move to the underside now."
I activated the adhesive mode on the armor when I got in position. And...now I'm hanging upside down with the feet of the armor attached to the vehicle. Now I was ready…
The palace was coming into view...And that also meant I saw more Solestrians. They were swarming in the streets leading up to the palace, looking to amass a large enough wave to charge at it.
Unfortunately for them, I happened to show up. Still hanging from the underside, I order Zeldane to fly over the massive crowd. She hesitated, but decided to go with my plan.
As we flew by the soldiers, I activated every ranged weapon on the armor and started firing into the crowd. Bullets started flying out and the soldiers started dropping onto the ground. I continued with this method of attacking as we sweep through the streets around the palace.
(Daniel Mitchell's Point of View)
My squad's been going through the palace, uprooting and smiting the Solsteirian forces that have tried to entrench themselves in the palace. While the majority of the Solsteirians are still out in the city, multiple elite forces managed to get into the palace, so now we have to clear them out.
With me, in my Cataphractii Terminator Armor, alongside Amaris, is Ophelia piloting my old suit of Power Armor, Agalan Phez, a Tactical Marine Veteran of the Cryptic Dragons; Venat's Viper King, a cryokinetic snake-like creature; and a squad of Kasrkins assigned to us by Sturnn.
Now, we just need to-hold on.
"STRIKE THEM DOWN!" Charging and cleaving through a Solsteirian Knight with my new Lightning Claws...didn't stand a chance. The others are also taking down their targets: Amaris is eliminating a knight with her magic, Ophelia cleaving through some soldiers with my sword, Veteran Phez is pelting a squad of soldiers with his bolter, a knight now has a bolt in its head due to the Viper King, and the Kasrkins are unloading their Hellguns into the remaining soldiers.
Sighing…"There can't be THAT many more of these guys… … …"
...Alright, Amaris appears to be using her magic to scan the immediate area… … ...can tell since she's standing as she said she would when using that particular spell (or 'Rubric', as she called this type of magical ability).
"... … ...INSIDE the palace, we just have the commander and his forces in the throne room…" she says, "...We still have that large force in front of the palace to contend with, though…"
"We'll handle those bastards once we retake the throne room…" I say, "Let's get going…"
Alright, we're going… … …
...Alright, we're just outside of the throne room. "...Alright...let's do this!" Kicking down the door...wait, what's that over the-...and the mysterious cloaked guy is gone… … ...great, now I know something's up…
Anyways, the commander's there. "Great...so the heathens have returned, along with their little orphaned Moon whore…"
...Alright...that's it: this fucker's gonna DIE!
Wait...Amaris is-OH THIS FUCKER REALLY IS GONNA DIE NOW!
"Milord! Calm yourself: giving into his taunting will NOT do us any good!"...As much as I hate it, Veteran Phez is right, maybe-
"And you quote-on-quote 'Imperials', with your false 'God-Emperor'? You should just crawl back into whatever hole to crawled out of, before the might of the sun incinerates you!"
"... … ...As I was saying Milord, we should utterly and thoroughly grind this Heretic into the dust!"
Scowling…"My thoughts exactly…"
*KABOOM!*
WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED THERE?! Roof's falling in...coming through…
...Is that a...hovering box with a bike seat on the back? I can also see Trevor's power armor in the seat…What the-
"Sorry for dropping in unannounced...I just got done clearing out the streets around the palace. I even took care of the soldiers out in the front… … ...Hey...Is everything alright?"
It's Connor...and it looks like he's just noticing something's up...
Looks like the enemy commander took notice. "And so, you have people dropping from the ceilings as well...very well: when I take care of the Moon Whore and Deluded Fools, I'll take care of this rabble!"
"And that's all I needed to hear…"...looks like Connor understands what the hell this FUCK said…
His bike turns towards the Commander and his retinue and-WHAT THE FUCK?! That laser just swept through the retinue and wiped them out...looks like the commander evaded, though...
Snarling...now that damned Commander's retinue is down..."So...time we finish this…" Time to get serious… … …
Concentrate...concentrate…
…
...RAWR!
(Connor Thomas' Point of View)
I...Am I seeing things right? No...I must...OH.
I...I...just saw him transform.
Daniel...changed into some kind of...beast. This beast was...rather large and it had metal armor on it. It was four-legged, had a very long tail, and a very...disturbing face and mouth. And HERE I thought he was just a guy in a suit of Power Armor. Now I know that I REALLY shouldn't mess with him...
The massive beast...I mean Daniel roared out, "LET ME SHOW YOU...TRUE POWER!", as some arcane circle showed up around him. What emerged from it was...some tall, robed figure that looked like some kind of sorcerer. Except with grey skin, odd ears, long back hair, and glowing red eyes that just looked...so unnatural.
Daniel roared again, this time saying, "COME, MALPHAS, LET US SHOW THIS CREATURE HIS FOLLY!"
The sorcerer responded back with, "Of course, milord...of course…" in a gravely voice.
I still can't believe what I'm seeing...The man I allied myself with is now a gigantic beast with...a sorcerer of death at his side...from what I could tell. I'm glad I was not that commander right about now…
The beast…Daniel roared once again, this time, the sorcerer floated forward. Malphas...I just got his name down… launched several fireballs at the commander. The unlucky commander tried to fight back after getting hit by the fireballs...but to no avail. The sorcerer was unharmed by the commander's attacks...probably due to the fact he seemed to be undead and really powerful.
With the commander weakened...Daniel attacked him...and got the commander to be clenched in his jaws before violently shaking his head and throwing the commander away like a ragdoll.
And just when I thought it was over...
Daniel chuckled as the commander fell to the ground before saying, "Amaris...since this filth invaded your home, I believe you should do the honors…"
Amaris took a moment to collect herself, before nodding, a ball of baleful pale flame appearing in her hand. As she approached the commander, the man spat, "So...what...if you kill me...this just means...you...finally show your...real colors to the world…"
"...Why not? You've already shown yours…" Amaris declared through her tears, "We...are just fighting back…" And she cast her spell, the ball of pale fire engulfing the man, rapidly burning him to ashes.
She sighed, and slumped, as Daniel, who rapidly shifted back to human form, came to her side, accompanied by the undead sorcerer. "...It shouldn't be long now," Daniel said, "With him gone, no doubt the enemy force will fall into disarray...we'll have the city back in no time…"
Amaris looked at the ashes, before looking up at Daniel, and giving a small smile. "...Thank you...for everything…"
Well...that was certainly something I won't forget. There's also the swarm of questions I need to ask to understand what I just saw…
Just not at this moment…
Some time later...
The battle is over...With that commander defeated, the enemy continued to get destroyed. Whether it was from Ptolemaic, Imperium, or whoever else was fighting against the Solsteirians, the capital was eventually retaken.
Of course, this meant that the whole city was in ruins because of the fighting, but it was finally free.
I was still on my hover bike...except very high up in the air as I looked down below at the city. I wanted to see what happened… and I felt something. It was that feeling you get when you realize that what happened felt pointless.
Now, I'm not saying that what I did was pointless...It did have a purpose. No...What I was referring to the enemy. I had no idea why they did attack this place and take it over...It just seems like it was done for an unjust reason.
I sighed before heading back down to the ground to regroup with the Ptolemaic Army. We had plenty of work to get done...even with this event taken care of.
(Daniel Mitchell's Point of View)
I see Amaris looking over her destroyed city… … ...I can hear the sniffling from here. Walking over. "Hey…" Guess I startled her, since she jumped. "Sorry… … ...you...ok?"
She's turning back to the city. "... … ...My capital...my home… … ...why did they have to attack us?"
Shaking my head. "...We both know this would happen eventually… … …"
"...So much destruction…"
"...Only the buildings: we saved the people…" I assure her, "We can rebuild it...bigger, stronger, more durable...you've been trying to incorporate my tech into your people's lives for a while now: if anything, we can rebuild the city with the new infrastructure built in, rather than having to retrofit it."
...She's nodding...can see tears being flicked away as she's blinking. "...Yes...thank you…" Then...HOLY CRAP: SHE'S HUGGING ME!
...This...actually feels kind of nice...I hug her back. "...My pleasure...always was…"
Chapter Master Sharriar: "And while all this happens, my Battle-Brothers and I engage in glorious combat against the armies of those vile Heretics."
Amaris: "At least I got my city back…"
Venat: "And it appears you and the Emperor are getting closer…"
Amaris: *blushes* "L-L-Lets move on!"
*Connor wanders into the room, interrupting the commentary*
Connor: "Sorry about barging in. I...got something you guys need to hear about."
Venat: "And that would be?"
Connor: "I was hanging out in my room in the living quarters when I heard someone make some racket down the hall. It turns out that Leon opened the door to his room and a giant pile of money spilled onto the floor."
Chapter Master Sharriar: "...What?"
Connor: "There's more. After I helped Leon get to his feet, Triple M was walking by before he noticed the cash sitting in the hall. He quickly told me and Leon to leave as he would take care of the mess. However, the moment we left, he barricaded the door leading into the private quarters."
Amaris: "But why did he do THAT?!"
Connor: "That's the problem. I don't know why he did that. And until whatever he is doing is over...We can't get back into our rooms. Otherwise, that's all I know so far."
*Connor looks around for a moment before saying, "Uh...Well...you guys just got informed. I'll be heading off and spreading along the news."*
*Connor leaves the room shortly after that.*
Amaris: "...So...now what?"
Venat: "We don't have much else to talk about…"
Chapter Master Sharriar: "...Then this is where we'll leave it off...Farewell readers, and remember: The Emperor Protects."
*Camera shuts off*