Welp, I'm back after a long hiatus and I have a few chapters to post so watch this space for the next few weeks. Our heroes have had a long enough break. (grins evilly)
Oh well, onto the legal stuff.
Digimon and all related items are the property of Bandai to my current knowledge. If it has changed hands, please let me know so I can alter this disclaimer accordingly.
Eve Online is still the property of CCP Studios.
Matt, dante and Cerberus industries are my properly
Now, onto the main event…
Digital Eden
Chapter 11
She was rarely called away, Lord Sansha preferring to have his precious 'Reaper' commanding the incursion attacks deep into enemy territory. It was rare for her to be called back to the homeworld.
"Ah, dear Juliana, you're finally here. Tell me, what do you know of the terrans?" said the soothing voice of the Nation's recently-returned leader, an elderly looking balding man by the name of Sansha Kuvakei.
"About as much as anyone, they were the progenitors, the root of all races, though they've ceased to exist for millennia," said Juliana.
"Indeed, they came through the Eve gate from Heaven, so the Amarr church would have us believe. It's their technology that lets us create the wormholes and the crippling technical pulses that allow us to launch our incursions into empire space," said Sansha, turning to the viewport where dozens of sansha ships hovered in defensive formation around the homeworld.
"Is there a point to this-" started Juliana before a gesture from Sansha silenced her, quite literally.
"My loyal sons and daughters inside the Caldari state have made me aware of a corporation that seems to be fielding many new devices that seem based off of our ancestors' technology and I believe we have traced it to a source, the new wormhole discovered in Shihuken. You are to go and assess the source," said Kuvakei calmly, before, after a pause, releasing the vocal cord paralysis.
"What defenses should I expect?" asked Juliana.
"There are several sleeper hives in the area...and the corporation, Cerberus, has a defensive fleet in orbit of the planet we suspect is the source of this technology. You will land, gather samples, assess Cerberus ground defenses and then return. The system itself appears to be out of range so you must leave to transmit the data. If this goes right we may finally find what we need to finish this war against the empires once and for all," said Sansha calmly.
"I shall depart immediately," said Juliana.
Sansha made no movement before saying, "Good luck...return soon"
...
The gang had been given plenty of provisions and camping gear for their trip to Scrap City, where some of the other demon data's were stored under the watchful eye of a Mega. The journey looked like a considerable distance. They'd have to pass close to the heart of the Fire Nation before they catch a train to the Metal Region.
"Look on the bright side, a short walk followed by a maglev train trip," said Matt cheerfully.
"What do you mean by 'maglev'?" asked Flare.
"I mean a...you mean an actual pre-flight train...coal and all that," said Matt, he and the kids getting horrified looks as they then looked at the map again. "That'd take days," Ryo said.
"I just hope you don't get a Mystery Train, things tend to get a bit surreal on them," said Lobomon as he walked towards them, holding Impmon by his scarf.
"Oh no, not a chance. We got enough trouble as it is," said Matt, realizing why Impmon was there.
"Hey, I'd rather not be travelin' either, but, uh, the neighbors put in a petition," said Impmon only for a tin can with the writing 'DON'T COME BACK!' to fly over the wall and bounce off his head.
"I can understand that," said Rika, with a chuckle.
"Besides, Stephen here is a well-traveled Digimon," said Lobomon, "He can serve as your guide in many places."
Matt grinned "Stephen?" he said with a chuckle only for a fireball to leave a scorch on his helmet. "Wow...real mature," he said sarcastically.
"I also thought it was wise to inform him of your status," continued Lobomon.
"You sure about that? He's kinda got a big mouth," said Henry.
"He's known for his...flights of fancy. Nomon will believe him should he try to betray you...and he won't cause he knows what will happen should he do so," said Lobomon, glaring darkly down at Stephen the Impmon.
"You coming with us too?" asked Takato.
"Unfortunately, I have to return to my Region," said Lobomon, "There's a Demon Lord whose data would be very bad to unleash. But I think we will meet again eventually."
Matt sighed as Lobomon went off before he turned to Stephen. "Ok, let's be perfectly ice cold clear: I've had the shittiest couple of weeks for a good few centuries, so if you attempt to add to it by for example, sending a 'kill the humans' mob after is, I will have to vent my frustration on you...ok?" he said icily.
Impmon gulped and said, "You know I've heard worse threats from worse Digimon."
"I'm more imaginative though," said Matt with an evil grin.
"Ok, enough of the blustering, we need to get a move on," said Rika.
"The ground's not gonna carry us to where we need to go, you know," said Flare.
"Flare's got a point. Come on, grumpy," said Matt, grabbing Stephen.
...
"So...what will you do once this is all over?" asked Matt, looking at Flare.
"There's a lot of things that have to happen before this is over, like freeing Verda," said Flare.
"That's even if he wants to be saved. He looked pretty comfortable where he was," said Matt, a little nastily.
"There's a chance for redemption for everyone," said Flare coldly, "You of all people should know that."
Matt sighed at that. "True, but even I had my red line...and he's literally tossed himself over to it. He's joined the dark side," he said.
"It's not completely of his own will," said Flare, "You saw it, something was controlling him."
Matt's tone darkened at that, "Oh, I've seen stuff like that...stuff of nightmares."
"Uh, I hate to break up your conversation, but I think we're getting off track," said Ryo.
"Good point. So what are you planning on doing after all this is over, Flare?" asked Matt.
"No, I mean we're literally off track. We're supposed to heading more west than south," said Ryo.
Matt paused to look up at the sun...well...suns, the planet sitting in a binary system. "Wait, this is south?" he said.
"As far as I can tell," said Ryo, "Been trying to match this map with the landscape."
"Great, so where are we?" asked Flare gloomily, everyone falling over as Ryo said "Off the bottom of the map."
Just then, Henry sat up and asked "Do you guys hear that?"
"Hear what?" asked Ryo.
"Henry, with ears your size, you can probably hear the ants moving underground," said Matt, "Assuming they have ants here."
Flare however was also listening. "Trouble...into the bushes, everyone," she said, hopping into a tree.
Matt rolled his eyes as everyone scattered to hide, the bushes too small for him and Rika, who had phase shifted, something that she was getting alot better at. "What about me?" he asked, before pausing, the familiar wailing of dropship engines getting closer. The instinct to hide became a lot stronger and he leapt behind a large rock, hoping it would be enough.
"Matt…Blaze, get up here," hissed Flare, before she tried "Blaze, wake up." Matt reacted faster than he would have though and scrambled up the tree.
Flare sighed at that, as Matt ended up on the branch next to her. This was a sign she'd had herself once when the armor first bonded and sometimes got a little...controlling, though not to the extent of Umdramon or Eclipsedramon's armor.
"Well, at least you're getting in better touch with your armor," said Flare before looking at Matt and noticed a lovesick look in his eyes. "Not that much in touch," she said before smacking his head.
Matt shook his head before saying in a low voice "How did I get up here?"
Flare giggled and said "I'll explain later, here they come." as two dropships, one so low that Matt could see through the side doors as it passed by, flew by.
"Where do you think they're going?" asked Flare.
"Don't know, but I think we better find out," said Matt.
Matt's eyes glazed over again before they became focused. "They're not going to a specific area. It's a search pattern. The same thing that drew us off course, can't you sense it?" he said.
Flare paused before saying, "Now that you mention it, I have been feeling something tugging me towards...I'm not sure what."
Matt grinned, "Let's go take a look then."
...
Following the jets would have been too risky, so Matt and Flare were relying on their instincts, hoping they're being drawn to the same place.
"Guys, where are we...going?" hissed Rika, before she stopped, a feeling of something calling her getting through as well.
"I'm not sure, I'm just following my gut," said Matt, "I hope it's leading me to something else besides food."
The group headed up a hill...and stopped. To Matt and the kids, what they saw was a passable version of a colony storage depot, a chain link fence barely surrounding it, the overgrowth having broken sections.
"I hate my gut!" snapped Matt, glaring at the complex as if it had offended him before everyone noticed Flare heading down towards it in a trance. "Flare? Hey, Flare...bad idea!" he called, running forward and tackling her, a stone rolling forward, hitting something in the grass that went 'clink' and exploded.
The explosion snapped Flare out of it. "What was that?" she asked.
"A landmine, and no, not like what you dig ore out of," said Matt, "There's probably dozens of them between here and that fence."
Matt looked around at the grass, spotting the mines now he knew what to look for. His Digimon eyes were almost as good as his main clone's. "Ok, I see a way through," he said before cutting off any objections with "If we don't go in now and see what's dragging us here, we could end up going in circles."
"He has a point," said Rika, "This thing is like some giant lodestone or something. Not to mention our curiosity will drive us mad if we walk away now."
She turned to see that Matt had already hopscotched across the field and was getting over the fence. "What was that?" he called, the boys laughing while Rika and Flare exchanged the universal woman stare for 'that guys such a moron' though Flare's has the unintended addition of 'he is cute though'.
"You expect us all to hop across that?" asked Stephen.
"Well, we could always throw the light ones," said Rika, picking him up.
Flare however shook her head, spotting the mines herself, aiming her gauntlet and saying "FIRE ROCKET!" several fireballs shooting out and everyone was knocked over as the mines all exploded in a chain reaction. Flare was first up with a dizzy expression to see Matt and Ryo cheering. "Thank you, thank you, for my next act, I'll do the levitation trick," she said in a dizzy tone.
…
The warehouse complex itself seemed to be the best preserved of the ruins the gang had seen so far. "Ok, this could be a good chance for you to get over your fear of looting, Flare, my dear," said Matt, jokingly, "When you're low on food or water, never be afraid to look for any freeze dried stuff. I once found a perfectly edible sandwich in a terran derelict."
Ryo nodded weakly, "The story goes his first clone died from food poisoning as a result."
"I think we were drawn here for a greater purpose than lunch," said Flare.
"Speaking of lunch, you think we can eat soon?" asked Takato.
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" screamed Matt to the skies before saying "The point being is...you cannot overlook possible lifesaving equipment, be it in space or, well...here." gesturing to the buildings. "Let's start with this one," he said, pointing to a door, "Flare, why don't you do the honours?" he said.
"I'm not so sure. This seems rather sacrilegious," said Flare.
"Oh, come on, Flare. Your life may depend on this one day...erm...imagine the door's Stephen," said Matt, thinking after a second for a good way to tempt Flare.
"Oh hardy har-har," said Stephen, "Sure, make me the thing that everyone wants to ki-" He was cut off when Flare kicked him with enough for to open the door he crashed into.
The others stared weakly before Matt looked through the door. "Well, we chose the right first choice. We found a medical warehouse I think," he said weakly.
"Good, cause I need a doctor..." groaned Stephen from his impact in the wall.
...
The search had gone quite well, a few warehouses showing sadly useless vehicles or cryogenically frozen food, still good. There was even a box of something called a 'thermal flare', Matt having tossed some into the supplies. The final warehouse however was locked up tight...but with signs someone had tried to get in very recently.
"I thought we were the only ones to have found this place in centuries," said Flare.
"Well, we're not that far behind," said Matt, "Otherwise they'd have taken everything good before we did."
"Nobody dares though," began Flare before screaming as a blast of lightning hit her in the back, a dozen or so men running into view as she collapsed.
"Guys, think it's time for you to digivolve," said Matt.
"Ah, ah, ah, do it and I'll kill her," said Dante, holding a crackling rifle towards Flare.
"Dante, what are the chances of us running into each other here?" said Matt.
"Boss, you never call, you never write. We all missed you back at basecamp, but I see you found some fun," Dante said, looking down at Flare.
Matt glanced briefly towards Flare and said, "Hey, I might be stuck outside my species, but I still have my scruples."
"Well, she'll be coming back with us. Put these on," he said, sliding several collars over, clicking one on Flare. "Energy dampeners, it'll keep your kids as kids and stops you cooking people," he said.
Matt glared and said, "You really think that these collars would be enough to stop us?"
"Good point, kick his ass," said Dante, nodding to his men, one behind Matt hitting the back of Matt's leg with a stun baton before the others descended on him.
...
They hadn't been the only ones to follow the signal. Umdramon was sitting on the roof of the warehouse after failing himself to get in, watching. "I dunno if to be sad or happy," he muttered, ignoring his host's voice screaming in rage as Flare also got the same treatment as she struggled to stop Dante's men. "I suppose if anyone's supposed to degrade them like that, it's gonna be-" started Umdramon before wincing as not one but three voices shouted in his head.
Daemon's voice said, "No, you're not moving an inch. A group of thorns is about to be removed from our sides and victory will be within our grasp AND WILL SOMEMON WAKE BELPHEMON UP?!" snapping the past part as a rhythmic snoring began to drown him out.
"He's been asleep for many thousand years, I think he can be woken up now," grumbled a more gravelly voice.
"Then do it, Barbamon! The snoring's giving me a headache!" snapped Daemon.
There seemed to be movement in there, as someone was shoving someone else. "Wake up, you lummox!" snapped Barbamon's voice.
There was a yawn before a sleepy voice said, "Is it breakfast?"
"NO IT'S NOT BREAKFAST!" snapped Daemon before sighing, "Look, we're trying to give our pawn orders." before Belphemon's voice interrupted "Oooh...who's the cute Flamedramon? She'd look great with my despair armor."
"Your Despair Armor? I created it, you lazy sod!" snapped Daemon.
"You keep telling yourself that. Hey, where are those creators taking them?" said Belphemon.
Umdramon's eyes focused downwards to see the humans were leading the Digimon away, carrying them in the two Flamedramon's cases.
"I wanna save them. I want to see Eclipsedramon," whined Belphemon, causing Daemon to snap "What are you, 900 years old? Grow up."
"Will you guys please stop bickering? I can barely tell what my own thoughts are anymore with you all-" started Umdramon before a rumbling sound was heard.
Dante glared as the two Flamedramon slowly stirred. "You can walk now. Drop them," he said as the group walked out of the complex gates.
Matt winced as he landed, those bruises really smarted. At least Flare was in better shape.
"Sir?" said a trooper at that, pointing up before everyone threw themselves down at a bronze-coloured ship flew overhead, several spikes running along its 'spine' and down its front before it slowly settled.
"GET TO POSITIONS, MEN!" yelled Dante.
Flare glowered, recognizing a human ship before realizing that if Dante was angered to see it then maybe it as one of Matt's. She turned to Matt, seeing that he looked terrified. She looked back to see several...mockeries of human walking out, covered head to foot in enough cybernetics to make an Andromon jealous, a woman in a hooded cloak walking out. "Matt? What's going on? Who are these people?" asked Flare.
"They're Sansha...True Slaves…" said Matt horrified.
One of Dante's men raised his rifle and fired a burst of bullets, one of the cybernetic humans staggering back as sparks flew, the woman waving a hand dismissively, saying "Eradicate them."
The cyborg raised its wrist at that, a burst of red light shooting out and Dante's shooter screaming as a point on his suit burst into flame, falling dead in a smoking heap. The others ran to various covers, firing as the 'True Slaves' began to march forward, firing laser bursts from their wrists.
Flare was horrified. She knew humans weren't typically the friendliest of creatures, but these...things were worse than she thought was possible.
"Move! Everyone back inside the fence!" yelled Matt as several explosions were set off by the blasts, both sides having forgotten about the group.
...
Dante however was watching as the Sansha crew were systematically wiping his men out. A few of their shots would miss before they hit with unerring accuracy. "Dammit," he swore as an explosion killed two of his men, several of them firing with military discipline from a small hill, not that it did any good.
Dante had heard horror stories about the elite 'True Slave' warriors but now he was seeing them.
This battle was clearly a lost cause so Dante did the only sensible thing: he hightailed it out of there. He had reached the empty transport when he heard the final screams of his men. "You win some..." he began, starting the engines.
...
"Who were they?" began Flare, sounding hysterical.
"Those were real bad guys..." said Matt, panting from running, the kids piling into the warehouse behind the duo.
"I thought those first humans and the Demon Lords were the real bad guys," said Flare.
"Oh, I presume they just wanna rule the world. Sansha will probably destroy it and turn everyone here into mindless cybernetic drones!" snapped Matt, pulling Flare out of sight and slamming the door.
"Are those...things even human?" asked Stephen.
"They used to be. I don't think they count anymore. I think I know whose ship that was though," said Matt, in a terrified voice.
"You're not saying it belongs to...You-Know-Who, are you?" asked Ryo.
"Yup...it's her...the Reaper..." said Matt.
Everyone shuddered at that before Stephen said, "Wait a minute, the D-Reaper's a human? That can't be right."
"What's the D-Reaper? No, the Reapers, Sansha Kuveakei's top dog assassin. Nobody's seen her face. Even I only ever spoke to her on audio only. She killed me twice," said Matt.
"So what is she doing here?" asked Flare, "Why come to this world?"
"Well, asides from all the ancient technology that no one else has that could provide an edge in conquering the universe, beats me," said Henry.
"You kidding? We're walking, talking examples. Imagine what that nutball Sansha could do with an army of Digimon as ground troops?" snapped Matt.
"Assuming he had the tech to transport them to other worlds," said Rika.
"Which probably wouldn't be too hard to fabricate for him," said Takato.
"He has technology that allowed his ships to bypass border defenses. My corps had to defend our core worlds 8 times in the past year!" snapped Matt.
"This does sound like a greater threat than the Demon Lords," said Flare, "But how are we supposed to stop them? I can't get my fire started."
"That would be the collar," said Ryo, "We've all got them."
"Maybe there's something here that we can use?" said Matt, looking around before spotting a crate. "I hope this is the armory," he said, opening it and seeing a sword that was almost as big as he was. "Nice," he said, reaching for it and being shocked. "Ow!" he snapped.
Flare looked at the sword and said, "There's something about that sword that seems familiar. I think I've read something about something like this before."
Matt ripped another crate open and pulled out a scepter of some kind, tossing it to Flare. "You look like a bo staff person," he said.
Flare caught and winced a little. "It's colder than I thought it would be," she said.
"You just hit people with...oh niiiice…" he said, opening a cabinet and pulling a rifle out. "I don't know what this is but I like it already," he said happily before looking up and his smile vanishing. "DOWN!" he yelled, aiming and firing a wild shot. A blue...fireball shot out, hitting the aiming True Slave and throwing it flying. Matt looked down at the gun and said, "Now I really like it."
"That's good because I think you're gonna have to use it more," said Henry as more True Slaves marched in, but there was just too many.
Once the True Slaves had surrounded them, the hooded figure entered. "My, my, what have we here?" she asked.
Matt just stared, the voice shooting through his ears and setting off memories right at the bottom of his mind, causing the gun to fall from his hands to clatter to the floor. "I...wha..." he said in a shaking voice, looking up as the figure dropped her hood.
To their surprise, the figure's head was that of a beautiful young woman...if you consider having three quarters of the front half of your head covered in metal 'beautiful'. Her left eye had been replaced with a red slightly telescopic optic.
It looked like her right eye was also gone until the red visor covering it retracted into a side panel. Asides from her right eye, her nose, mouth, and chin and the skin on the right side between those points, nothing else was organic on the front. The back half of her head was uncovered, allowing black hair to grow down to shoulder length.
Matt just stuttered, taking a step forward, ignoring the whines of the lasers on the True Slaves. "S...sis?" he said, reaching out, causing the 'reaper' to look at him with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"Whatever sort of creature you are, you aren't intelligent enough to differentiate different species when you see them," said the 'Reaper'.
"I...I thought you were dead...they didn't even return the body..." continued Matt, not hearing or not caring what she said. "Chloe...it's your big bro...it's me..." he said, voice shaking.
The Reaper laughed and said, "Oh, that is too funny. I might just keep you as a personal slave once you've all been processed."
"Chloe, please. It's Matthew...it's your brother," tried Matt, this time grabbing her shoulder only for a burst of flame to erupt from his back as a True Slave warrior shot him.
"You presume too much, slave," said the Reaper as she brushed off her shoulder, "Just because you humor me doesn't grant you permission to touch me."
She turned and whistled, impressed as Matt got up, growling. "Chloe...you call your-" he began before three more shots caused him to fall again. "Such a waste. Ship, prepare for dust off. We have live cargo," she said into her comm.
The True Slaves started pushing the others forward, leaving Matt back there. Of course, Flare required a bit more forcing and had to be knocked unconscious.
A minute after the last footsteps had died away, Umdramon literally stepped out of the shadows and looked down at Matt with a grin. "Well...maybe they were useful after all," he said, heading over to a crate and ripping the lid open to reveal a purple metallic scimitar with a barbed edge. "Ah, Krieg, I've missed you," he said before hearing a cough, turning to see Matt.
"By the sovereigns, you have a stubborn streak." he said, walking towards Matt who had rolled onto his back and was chuckling. "I had a feeling you were more than a little half-crazed, but it looks like you've gone completely mad now, doesn't it?" said Umdramon, prodding Matt with his foot.
Matt just laughed before coughing up something red. "Oh, you got no idea...tell me, evil guy...you like Flare as much as your host...correct?" he said.
"I had prefered her as Eclipsedramon, which you spoiled," said Umdramon.
"Will you like her with cybernetic wetware in her brain? Cloned over and over till she's a shadow of her former self?" said Matt darkly, is stare causing Umdramon to step back, "I've seen what the nation does to its prisoners. She'd be better off dead."
There was a long pause before saying, "You humans have hardly been a benefit to our planet. Are you stating this new breed is even worse?"
"They're not human...not anymore..." said Matt, before sighing. "Then again, I'm gonna die in a minute so what do I care? But you...you could stop them...maybe..." chuckled Matt before glaring as Umdramon walked over to a storage cupboard. "Hey...I'm talking here!" he snapped.
"From what I've seen so far, attacking alone will not be effective. If there's to be a chance of success, I will need a partner. And since you're the only one available, as much as it pains, I'll have to prevent you from expiring right now," said Umdramon.
"Screw...you…" snapped Matt, as Umdramon found the cabinet empty. "Stupid creators couldn't even keep sufficient medicine," he said before looking at Matt with a cruel grin. "How badly do you want to save Flare and the other humans?" he asked.
"Enough to put my life on the line," said Matt.
"Enough to make a deal with the devil?" said Umdramon, a dark orb appearing in his claws.
Matt had to consider this for a bit. He wasn't sure if there was an afterlife, but he'd rather going to the place that rewards instead of punished. Then again, he's done enough things over the centuries to pretty much guarantee punishment.
Umdramon didn't wait, plunging the orb into Matt's armor, the armor darkening straight away.
...
"What are you doing, Umdramon?" snapped Daemon.
"You saw what those creatures did. I don't have enough power to face them alone," said Umdramon, "And no, you four don't count since all you can do is bark orders in my head."
"Watch your tone," said a female voice, the only demon lord...or lady in this case that had yet to have spoken.
"Oh, shut up. He knows the workings of these things...and who knows? Maybe he will like the taste of true power?" said Umdramon, calmly as Matt's armor, now fully changed, began to spread down his scales that were turning a similar color, Umdramon noting happily that it was apparently painful.
"He cannot be trusted," said Barbamon, "He'll turn on us the moment the alliance is no longer needed."
"If he does, that means my little trick took and he'll come crawling back not long after," said Umdramon before realizing that he was being held by the throat by the DarkFlamedramon.
Matt's scales and armor had been mostly turned grey, though some of parts of the flame pattern remained red and yellow. The most noticeable changes were the spikes on his shoulders and the changing of his gauntlets that make them more dexterous as Umdramon was finding out.
"What did you do to me?" Matt growled, showing off some much more lethal dentistry then a few minutes before.
"Saved...life...let go...please," rasped Umdramon.
Eventually, Matt released his grip. "If this is some attempt to brainwash me, I'll rip out your brain and show it to you," growled Matt.
"Why bother? That sounded like a good start already," laughed Umdramon, causing Matt to step back in horror. "It saved your life and is healing your wounds as we speak...now I believe we must save my dear Flare," he continued.
Matt sighed and said, "They've probably lifting already...but why am I not hearing their engines?"
...
"What do you mean the engines are dead? said Juliana icily.
"Some kind of local energy field, probably a defense system. It's knocked out all propulsion. I can reboot the system but it'll take an hour at least," came the reply from her engineer, the only other True Citizen aboard.
"An hour? What are we supposed to do for an hour? There is nothing productive to be accomplished here," snapped Juliana.
"Nothing can be done till I find a way to filter the energy field," said the engineer.
Juliana sighed before saying, "Perhaps I should examine that specimen that attempted to familiarize itself with me. It might provide some insight as to what kind of creatures they are."
She turned to a slave and said "Prepare the female reptilian specimen that we recovered for examination." before her implant link to the ship chimed: "Notification: Airlock two has been breached."
"Who would be foolish enough to intrude in a Sansha ship?" demanded Juliana.
"Intruders do not match known empire or pirate organization operatives," chimed the computer, an image of similar lifeforms to the specimen running inside.
"Well, well. All True Slaves in the vicinity of airlock two, converge and contain. I want them alive," she said calmly.
...
"Why waste energy sneaking?" complained Umdramon, as Matt reached up and plucked another lens out a roof corner.
"Trust me, you don't want to take these guys head on, not when they outnumber you," said Matt.
As if summoned by those words, a trio of True Slave warriors marched around the corner, levelling their weapons at them. "Surrender...escape is impossible," said one in a dead tone before Matt literally roared and leapt at them.
A physical rushing attack was so underused in typical combat that the True Slaves hesitated to respond until Matt was upon them.
Umdramon smirked as Matt literally tore them apart. "What did you do?" said Barbamon, sounding just as impressed.
"Oh, I gave him a little push. He's got alot of repressed anger," said Umdramon proudly.
"But of course, but anger is not your speciality, is it, Barbamon?" said Daemon smugly.
"No, but I do nightmares, as Barbamon...or is it Daemon, well knows," said Umdramon, unable to resist starting another round of the long standing argument over who made him. Watching Matt go savage on these robo-humans was just enough to outbalance the headache he was certain to get later.
After a minute, Matt stopped, panting heavily before throwing the last of the dead True Slaves aside. "Fun, isn't it?" said Umdramon, causing Matt to realize what he'd just done.
"What kind of armor is this?" snapped Matt, "What did you do to my head?"
"I barely did anything, just given you an open outlet for your frustration," said Umdramon, "I think even with your species too much pent-up rage is a bad thing."
"Undo it, get this off me," said Matt, angrily, "I don't think so. Not until the job is done. Then we'll see if you even want to take it off," said Umdramon.
Matt glared before saying "There's two possible places; brig...or the science lab. You take the lab, that way." pointing down a corridor, adding "I'll take the brig. That's probably where the kids will be. Meet back here in 20 minutes...and if you don't, I'll find you." Before Umdramon could protest, Matt had already stormed off.
Barbamon's voice said "Anymon feeling he's taking to it a little too well?"
"He'll be easier to warp to my will than I thought," said Daemon's voice.
"Yeah, because that always works out so well," said the female voice.
Umdramon gripped his head and muttered, "Can I be allowed some clarity of thought so I can focus on this mission?"
…
Rika and the others looked at the guards in the brig, them looking impassively at the Digimon. "Hey...are we getting any food?" said Takato.
One of the guards turned slowly to look at the Guilmon. "Nutrient supplements will be supplied in due course," said one of them in a deadpan voice.
"About as charming as an ATM," said Rika dryly.
"Silence," said a red armored guard, one of Juliana's elite proving that she wasn't a fool.
There was a long pause before Ryo said, "I know I should be scared, but I'm mostly feeling bored right now."
A clunk got one of the guard's attention, it striding woodenly over to the door and examining it before a clawed gauntlet tore through the door and the aforementioned guard. The other guards were turning around to fire when they both were engulfed in flames.
The red guard however was barely effected before firing a micro rocket at its attacker, a black armored Flamedramon leaping over the attack into the room. "MOLTEN SLICE!" yelled the Flamedramon before slashing at the red guard with red-hot claws.
The guard staggered back, one of its hands a sparking stump before shrugging and sticking the sparking stump into the Flamedramon's chest and then delivering a jaw-shaking right hook to the Flamedramon's head. The blow and the shock sent the Flamedramon sprawling backwards.
The guard glared, the first sign of any emotion in them and said, apparently to himself "Security drones to brig. We have a new infestation of pests," he said, aiming his rocket gun at the Flamedramon, adding "I am about to remedy the situation."
However, as the guard was about to fire, the Flamedramon's eyes show open and he growled, "Pain doesn't keep me down. Pain just makes me madder!" A swipe from his claws severed the guard's feet.
The guard fell back, saying "Danger...additional security re-" before the Flamedramon neatly decapitated it.
Then the Flamedramon walked over to the cages. "Is that who I think it is?" asked Henry.
"And we just dealt with an evil armor corruption yesterday," groaned Rika.
The Flamedramon growled, "More lip like that and I'll leave you in there."
"Letting us out would be really appreciated," said Ryo.
The DarkFlamedramon glared. "Fine," he said before pausing "Wait...why should I? So you can blame me for every little dose of misfortune?"
"Of course not, right guys?" said Stephen, glaring at the others and motioning for them to play along.
"No, no, we've just been having a long bad luck streak," said Henry.
"Yes...none of it's...really...his...fault..." said Rika with an incredibly strained smile.
The DarkFlamedramon, Matt glared. "Why don't I believe you, princess?" he said, adding the last part like an insult, causing Rika's eye to twitch, repeating to herself "Princess'?" causing Stephen and Takato, her cell mates to scatter.
"Really...I'm being sincere..." said Rika, her eye twitching a bit. Interestingly, her collar was sparking a bit.
"Yeah, of course you are, Amarr," said Matt, scornfully.
"Is there a problem with my being Amarr?" asked Rika, her collar sparking even more.
"Let's test that: how many slaves has house Nonaka got?" said Matt, glaring.
"I don't see why it would be your business," said Rika.
"Oh dear, lost count, princess?" said Matt, scornfully.
"Can you...please...stop calling me that?" asked Rika, her collar developing cracks in it.
"Why should I? Don't like being the one in the cell for once?" said Matt, smirking.
The others could clearly see the veins bulging in Rika's forehead and tried to get as far away from her as possible. And they were shuffling between who would act as the barrier. "Matt...shouldn't we focus on leaving?" asked Rika.
"I'm sorry, I don't let spoiled Amarr BRATS boss me around without payment." said Matt, turning to start melting the lock on Henry's and Ryo's cell.
There was a slight whine as the collar's power was being blown out but that was quickly overshadowed by Rika's scream of fury, the sound of her digivolving, and her crashing through her celldoor to get her fangs on Matt.
Matt however leapt out the way, laughing like a psychopath. "That's right. Anger's good for you, isn't it?" he chuckled. His chuckling stopped when he felt a set of teeth clamp around his tail. "Ouch," said Matt before Rika started shaking and smacking him around, accompanied with some clawing and biting.
"Is that how real foxes kill their prey?" asked Ryo.
"I dunno, but that's more than convincing enough for me," said Henry.
After a minute, a dazed Veemon Matt was slumped against the far brig wall, a dark orb floating before bursting. "Ow...where am I?" groaned Matt.
"Uh, do the words "Sansha brig' ring any bells?" asked Takato.
"Oh...bollocks. We should leave..." said Matt, getting upright before memories came back. "Where's Flare?" he said, digivolving back to Flamedramon in sheer shock and grabbing Rika by her collar and screaming "WHERE IS SHE?"
"Uh, I think she was taken to a separate place," said Rika.
"As I recall, they mentioned something about 'studying a live specimen," said Stephen.
Matt paled as another memory shot back. "Get out of the ship...get out now," he said faintly.
"Hey, we can't leave you alone in here," said Takato, "Speaking of which, how did you manage to get in here and where'd you get that evil armor from?"
"GO!" roared Matt, his eyes and gauntlets bursting into flame.
The kids didn't need a much clearer example and started heading out. Though Rika had to do a bit of squeezing with her Kyubimon form.
...
Umdramon pushed a scientific drone aside, walking through the lab towards a table where Flare was tied down, her armor helmet set on the table aside and a drone trying to cut her right gauntlet off. "If anyone's going to be undressing my mate, it's going to be me," growled Umdramon.
The drones head twisted 180 degrees at that, firing a red beam that he barely dodged, running as the beam tracked along after him. "I suppose it's as good a time as any to see if this is still sharp," said Umdramon as he drew his sword.
The drone turned to follow him as he drew Krieg and aimed a slash. Umdramon jumped back before the drone seemed to rapidly decay, becoming a pile of rusted metal. "I still got it," smirked Umdramon, twirling the blade.
...
Flare groaned as whatever the human...things had shot her full of wore off. "Easy...these humans are dealt with," said a voice.
"Vedra?" she said, opening her eyes and yelping to see Umdramon's mask an inch from her face.
"You know, I think we have extra time. Care to spend it with me?" asked Umdramon.
"Let me go," growled Flare.
Umdramon frowned and said, "Really? We're finally away from all the imposters and humans. Isn't there anything you'd like to do with me?"
"I'd like to tear you off my friend and throw you into the deepest pit of the Darkness region," hissed Flare angrily.
"Oh come on. Just one. I promise you won't regret it. In fact, you'll just want more," said Umdramon.
"I think my opinion's about to come in," said Flare, noticing that the door was melting from heat.
Umdramon jumped to his feet as the door melted and Matt, his eyes literally on fire, walked in.
"Umdramoooooon?" roared Matt, the Dark Armor Digimon trying to look innocent and hopping aside as Matt stomped towards him, backhanding him aside before heading over to Flare. "Oh man...what did they do?" he said, softly before grabbing her face mask and tenderly reattaching it.
"Asides from scaring me into thinking you were dead, not too much," said Flare.
"Oh thank God," said Matt, before kissing her.
There was a second before Flare said softly "Let go...now."
"Uh...right, need to get out of here," said Matt before working on her restraints.
He jumped as a serrated scimitar sliced through them. "Problem solved," said Umdramon, sounding like he was sulking.
Flare got up and said, "Great, now we need to destroy this ship before it can take off, right?"
"I already did something to deal with that. I own one of these ships," said Matt with a smirk before an alarm went off. "All crew...engine operations restored to 100%. Launching in 30 seconds."
"We're running! NOW!" snapped Matt.
The three of them quickly exited the lab. "Which way is out?" asked Flare.
Matt tapped a side panel before firing a Fire Rocket at it, blowing a hole to show the sky outside. "WOO HOOO!" he called, jumping out.
Flare jumped out next. Umdramon was about to join them when the female voice in his head suddenly said, "Wait."
Unnoticed, a dark crystal had fallen out his armor, a unheard female voice snapping "Not on the floor, glitching moron...NOW WHAT?" before she felt a hand grab her prison and a human female voice say "Now what's this? No matter, get us in the air and arm weapons."
...
"Go, go, go!" yelled Matt, spotting the kids and waving for them to run as the Succubus ship took off, several half domes opening to reveal that they were laser cannons, two yellow beam shooting out and burning a trench in the dirt.
"What happened to the 'rig-the-self-destruct' part of the plan?" snapped Rika.
"That was beyond me. I'm not the capsuleer in charge up there. What I did do was some creative re-wiring, NOW KEEP RUNNING!" yelled Matt as another salvo shot down, this one hitting the warehouse of artifacts, a huge column of data shooting into the sky from the blast and flying in all directions, the data shooting into each of the kids and even into Flare and Matt.
...
Juliana was watching the creatures attempt to outrun the guns, for what little good that would do them. But it was still entertaining. She looked at the crystal she picked up and said, "You know, I think I might make a necklace out of this. It goes well with my cloak."
She laughed as another salvo intentionally missed before she felt a twinge from her vessel. She mentally peered into the ship before going pale just as her crew prepared to fire again. "NO, WAIT!" she cried, too late.
...
The ship seemed to shudder before explosions began, from the back running up in a series before the ship exploded violently.
"How did you rig that up?" asked Henry.
"Sorry, trade secret. You're not a capsuleer long enough to know," said Matt.
"And you won't be one for very long," said Umdramon before shooting bolts of darkness at Matt and the kids. Flare got into a combat crouch, holding the scepter from the warehouse in a combat stance as Umdramon noticed. "Oh...where did you find Frost's staff?" he said, grinning.
"Are you crazy?" snapped Flare.
Umdramon smirked. "No, I'm just getting rid of the competi-" he said before the wrecked Succubus landed on him with a crash
Flare blinked before saying, "Well, that was...convenient?"
A faint 'ow' came from underneath as the gang got up unsteadily. "You call it convenience, I call it karma. It all works. Let's go before he gets loose...or the fuel cells explode...whatever happens, we win," said Matt.
"Right...so which direction are we supposed to go again?" asked Takato.
"Let's worry about distance for right now," said Ryo.
...
Kurata walked along, with Dante behind him. "And you're sure that all my men uploaded safely? I'm not completely happy with this," Dante said sternly.
"Don't worry, we're making sure to iron out any deficiencies that the originals carried," said Kurata, "That of course includes the cerebral downloading. After all, a mind is a terrible thing to waste."
"They won't remember the last 3 hours?" said Dante, not wanting super soldiers to remember that he'd left them to be massacred by Sansha warriors.
"A little memory tailoring is simple enough, unless there's something they'll need to know about then," said Kurata.
"What about those kids? You still can't get that thing to let their bodies go, can you?" taunted Dante, as they came to a heavy door with two Cerberus mechs standing on either side.
"Dante, they are made of living data. And everyone knows that data can be manipulated to do anything with the right tools and knowledge. As you will see, we have those tools and knowledge in here," said Kurata as he punched in the number to open the door.
The two jumped back in horror as a very dead Commandramon, the choice for Dante's men, slumped forward. "Oh dear God," said Dante, looking ready to throw up before they looked up to see a LadyDevimon throwing another Commandramon screaming into the abyss that the machine sat in.
The room itself consisted of dozens of pods, only 4 occupied by the human bodies of the kids. A vast cloud of technicolours data dots floated in a magnetic field over a central pillar with other pods, where Digimon formed.
It had been a piece of cake for Kurata and his team to add the programming necessary for it to intercept capsuleer clone jump transmissions. It was clear now that it had backfired magnificently. "Who the hell are you? Droids, destroy this pain!" snapped Kurata, one of the mechs stomping in, intoning "You are in violation."
The LadyDevimon turned and grinned, "Finally, something worth using my power on. DARKNESS WAVE!" With a wave of her arms, she caused what seemed like a swarm of tiny black bats to fly at the droids.
The first droid was torn apart, before the other raised a translucent field around it and fired twin blasts of EM lightning at her.
The blasts actually hit the LadyDevimon and caused her to fall. The droid marched forward and intoned, "Eliminating threat" as it charged up its cannon.
"Wait," called Kurata, "She could be of use to us."
"What are you doing? She just slaughtered my team!" snapped Dante.
"She'll be leading our team now, with your help. Droid, put him in a pod," said Kurata with a smirk.
"What? WHAT?" snapped Dante before the droid grabbed his arms.
"Oh come now, Dante, surely you realize this is the only way for you to keep up with those stragglers," said Kurata.
"No, no, I won't let you, you jerk!" snapped Dante as he was dragged off.
"With a mouth like his, I was expecting a more creative insult," said Kurata before turning to the LadyDevimon and saying, "And what would your name be, my dear?"
The LadyDevimon glared. "Juliana Kavis, also known to CONCORD as the Reaper. I also appear to be someone called Lilithmon...how peculiar," she said in a calm tone, before saying, "Now explain why you should live."
"Because, believe it or not, we're on the same side. I assume your respawning is due to the actions of a group of renegade Digimon," said Kurata.
"So that's what they're called. No...unless they know how to rewire the coolant system of a Mk 3 laser turret system so it destroys a Succubus class frigate," said Juliana.
"I wouldn't put it past impossible," said Kurata before walking over to a computer and pulling up images of the escapees' Digimon forms. "Were these among the ones you encountered?"
Juliana peered closer. "Yes, all of them plus a strange demonic child one," she said calmly, "You do realize that the Nation will come for you for this affront."
"Moi? I wasn't the one who destroyed your ship and killed your crew. In fact, you should regard yourself fortunate there was a facility close enough for you to be able to respawn so promptly," said Kurata.
"This is a terran facility...with Jovian augmentation, which explains how you intercepted a clone signal," said Juliana, looking around.
"And that's not all it can do," said Kurata, "For instance, you've no doubt realized that your new form is much more powerful than your previous form."
"I personally prefer my own," said Juliana, glaring at Kurata before peering closer and grinning, "And it seems I am not the only one with a cluttered mind."
Kurata wasn't sure what Juliana was going on about, but a small prod in the back of his mind told him it wasn't important right now. "Contacting your...people might not be feasible at the time, but perhaps I could assist you in revenging yourself on the ones who trapped you here," said Kurata.
"I need no revenge. I'm a scientist and a capsuleer, but I am also the Reaper...and the Reaper never leaves her enemies alive," said Juliana with a cruel grin.
"And the enemy of my enemy is my friend," said Kurata before extending an open hand, "So, shall we work together to eliminate said enemies?"
Juliana glared until the hand was taken. "And afterwards, we will discuss Cerberus Technologies withdrawing from the area," she said calmly.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Kurata.
Authors notes: Oh boy. As if the gang didn't have enough trouble, now a Sansha's Nation agent is in the mix. This could make things fun. Be sure to tune in, same fanfiction account, same fanfiction website. As usual, please read and review constructively.
