Reticence Saga
World of Grey
Chapter 12: The Warden
(Chapter type: Original)
Techo, Draco, and Chip had arrived at Solitude the day after Matt, Contrinus, and an unknown Argonian had gone underground to Potema's tomb and the guys they could find there were in a state of near-panic.
"Nobody's seen any of them for hours. They never came back from the tomb, though apparently they did the job," said Tiatara.
"How would you know they did the job?" asked Chip.
Iguanus looked up at that. "I asked around. People at the temple saw them go in. There was no way back past them and even if they came back from the outside, the guards there never saw them either," he said
"So nobody at all returned?" asked Chip.
"Nobody, they clearly finished the job. The Hold mage dropped off their reward with us," said NegaMorph, holding up a sack of coins.
"And where were you during all this?" asked Draco crossly.
"Oh trust me...their little friend...urgh…" said NegaMorph.
"So you left Contrinus's safety in the hands of a complete stranger?" snapped Draco.
NegaMorph stopped at that, turning to look at Draco with a look that caused the experiment turned Argonian to gulp and step back. "There is nothing...we can do. We have bigger problems. This team has scrabbled ENOUGH!" he said, his voice echoing darkly.
"Agreed, we're too badly split up as it is," said Chip, "Not only are Matt and Contrinus still missing, but Chloe still has amnesia, Chris still has to look over her, Lumina hasn't resurfaced, and we don't know what's happened to Kala."
"All I know is that she's completely off the map," said NegaMorph.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Draco.
"I mean I can't sense her at all on this planet. She's not dead, but she's not anywhere near here," said NegaMorph.
"Ok, if we don't find them soon, we won't be a team any...more," said Draco, pausing as he noticed that everyone was leaving in a surprising hurry.
"What? Was it something I said?" asked NegaMorph.
"I...we need to leave," said Tiatara, sounding terrified.
"Why? What's going on?" asked Chip.
The doors opened at that...as did the kitchen doors, what looked like monks coming in. "What's with all the friars?" asked Draco.
"Yeah, what is this? A burger joint?" asked NegaMorph.
"Not exactly, general," said one of the monks, NegaMorph pausing.
"Oh shit," he said before a blue blast blew his head off and all over Tiatara who got the suitable shell-shocked look. "Not the mouth again," gurgled NegaMorph as his head reformed.
The others turned to see the 'monks' were toting the sort of firepower that would make Matt jealous. "Hands on your heads...NOW!" snapped one of them.
"Hopefully we'll at least get some answers," said Chip as he complied.
There was a flash of light and the group, with their new guards, were on a snowing mountainside, a stone church in the distance. "Move it, cons!" snapped one of the guards.
"Cons? We're not-" started Draco before a shot nearly hit his foot. "I mean...yes, sir," he said slowly, the group being frog marched up the street and into the church, several monks walking back and forth.
"Hey, aren't you holy men?" called Iguanus to the monks, "Aren't you supposed to help those in need of help?" When there was no answer, he stomped past the suddenly-unresisting guards and pushed one of their heads back, to reveal a metal grinning skull, with red eyes staring at him, before it backhanded him flying.
"What are those things?" asked Tiatara.
"If I had to guess, the external defenses for the warden's office," said Chip.
"T-850's, Darkrift don't have tech restrictions," said one of the guards, pushing them towards an apparent wall. Tiatara tried to dig her paws in to keep from pushed into the wall, but she was just pushed through as if it weren't there, which it actually wasn't.
The others, bar Iguanus who had never seen a holofield, simply walked through, into a far more high-tech corridor, a heavy vault-like door with two guards on either side in view. An automated voice said, "Convicts will move forward for processing."
"But we aren't-" started Draco only for one of the 'monks' who escorted them in to jab him in the back. "Oh, come on!" snapped Draco, before there was a buzz.
"Encoding detected...administering reality burst," said the disembodied voice.
"Wait what?" asked Draco before everything seemed to literally ripple. When the rippling stopped, Draco and NegaMorph were back in their normal experiment forms much to the Argonian twins' shock.
"Erm...tadaaaa." said NegaMorph a little weakly...before the computer said "Hostile combatant."
"Ah shit," he muttered before hidden defense guns blasted him..
"I'd let myself out of my suit now, but I don't want anyone to shoot me," said Chip.
The hatch opened at that, a splitter walking through. "Well, well, so you're the ones causing trouble in my prison. Let them in, I think we can trust some of Jookiba's work and Commander Lynch's personal team," he said.
"Then why did you blast me?" grumbled NegaMorph.
"Just in case our news checks were false and you were still Empire," said the splitter, before looking at the twins. "And timeline specifics, they must be brave to have stayed even when our psykers terrified every local into leaving that area."
"Or we've possibly gone mad," said Iguanus, who was looking a little twitchy.
"I'm afraid not, but we will have to wipe all of your memories. You are all technically convicts now," said the warden calmly.
"Hey, we tried to go through the proper channels," said Chip, "Things just haven't been...working out."
"You wouldn't have found this place. We pride ourselves on being able to neutralize any threat, which is why raiders do not attack our facilities. Now then, how would they react if they knew there were things we couldn't kill?" said the warden.
"I'd think they'd start by wondering what you couldn't kill," said Draco.
"Then it would be open season for every facility we have in the badlands," said the warden darkly.
"Well, we weren't planning on springing any of your unkillables," said NegaMorph, "The one we're after wasn't dumped here by you."
"Miss Lynch, yes. We've been monitoring her for some time. However she's fully encoded, we cannot take her out." said the warden calmly
"C'mon, she's obviously had her mind messed with by Betrayl," said NegaMorph.
"Rules are rules. We only have one comm satellite so it'll be a few days before we can call your ship but once we can, you will leave," said the warden.
"Oh c'mon, there has to be some way we can get Chloe back," said Techo.
The warden gave a derisive snort and said, "You couldn't even keep the people you came with from going off the rails." The group glared at that. "By the way, we already have one of you in custody. She's been asking for Draco?" the warden said.
In the blink of an eye, Draco had several hands grabbing the front of the warden's uniform as he yelled, "Where is she?!" The warden didn't look too worried, instead grabbing Draco's arms and throwing him into a wall.
"Draco's been a bit on edge regarding Contrinus. That is who you have here, right?" asked Chip.
"Yes, severely encoded, but we fixed that. Though we cannot separate the secondary personality," said the warden.
"The secondary what?" asked Draco.
"Did I forget to mention that she was possessed by a local ghost?" asked NegaMorph.
"Oh, that, our records say a local species calling themselves the Ideal Masters removed that ability by force," said the warden, before saying "Follow me please."
With little alternative, the group followed the warden deeper in. As they proceeded, they passed by cells that were occupied with some unusual-looking characters. Some were in stasis cells, most cells with heavy guns pointed at them, some looked like locals, being dragged or locked into what looked like electric chairs, technicians apparently reinforcing or in the process of wiping their minds.
This obviously made the extraterrestrial members of the group rather nervous, seeing what could potentially happen to them. The Argonians were blissfully ignorant about what the procedure was about, but they were intimidated nonetheless.
As they passed, one creature ran into them, Draco recognizing it as a Shar-Virk. "Get back, I'll kill them!" he yelled, grabbing Draco in an arm lock, before a blue beam hit him and he literally turned to dust.
"Uh...I think I need to use the bathroom," said Draco nervously.
"I'm so sorry, some of these scum seem to think they have rights," said the warden, lowering his pistol, before they were led further inside, towards a guarded door, the troopers opening the door...and a birdlike experiment tackling Draco so hard they were sent down the corridor.
"Bushi buuuu," said Contrinus happily.
"Contrinus, you have your feathers back," said Draco with delight.
"Yeah, but only here, they said they'll call the ship," said Contrinus happily.
"Yeah...about that," said Chip, "As much as I'm looking forward to getting off this backwards rock, we've still got way too many loose ends."
"Wait, they said they'd be looking for the others," said Contrinus.
"Well, that would certainly save a lot of time," said Chip.
"Assuming they're going to be bothered about Chloe," said NegaMorph.
"We aren't. Miss Lynch is technically a local now," said the warden.
"Yeah...we haven't gone through one tenth of possible options with getting her old memories back," said NegaMorph, "We don't care how furry she is now. We know people who are even hairier than her."
"General, if you continue to push I might remember that there is still a place for you in the general population," snapped the warden.
"I'm not a general anymore," said NegaMorph, "Besides, there has to be something that can undo Betrayl's mojo."
"And another thing, I highly recommend you do not mention her in any way," said the warden, "Subject alpha, your meddling caused her to escape."
"I didn't even realize it was time travel back then. I thought I was in her dream or something," said NegaMorph.
"Doesn't matter, you leave in three days. Anyone not here by then is part of the prison," said the warden, walking out.
There was a long pause before Techo said in a mock-cheerful voice, "So, all we have to do is round up Matt, Chloe, Kala, Chris, and Mina, fix Chloe's brain, and be back in time for the ride home. Sounds like a no-brainer."
"Warden's teams are looking for them. We might get lucky," said Draco before a guard walked in.
"The warden wants to see you all."
"Already? But I didn't do anything yet," complained NegaMorph.
"It's not that. We found your captain," said the trooper coldly.
The command center for the prison was quite well equipped and fully staffed. The warden was on a pedestal/command platform overlooking everything. "Ah...general," he said as the group were frog marched in, "Your captain, he was never very safe, was he? Didn't one of your imperial reports call him a 'mental chemical factory that was one step from disaster'?"
"Oh yeah, that was a clever description," said NegaMorph.
"Well, that disaster's arrived. Last night, we came across a small farm. Every living thing in it was dead. No, not dead, torn apart and covered in weapon-grade plasma burns," said the warden.
"This is because he used those Shar nanites, isn't it?" asked Chip, "This is why we do proper lab tests, not use ourselves as guinea pigs. Not only did he put untested nanotechnology into himself, but he picked perhaps the worst planet to visit first."
"We're tracking him. He's headed for Whiterun. Do you want to help us? Or should we send in a kill team?" said the warden.
"We'll take care of this," said Draco, "I've got a bit of payback for him."
"Uh, Draco, once you leave this base, you're an Argonian again," pointed out Chip.
Draco glared at that. "You don't think I didn't see the scar from nano surgery on my bushi bu?" he snapped angrily.
"Is it that noticeable?" asked Contrinus.
"Of course I can tell. Matt did it, didn't he? Or Draconus...or whatever today's brain break is called," said Draco angrily.
"It's Kreinsosjun, a local dragon spirit who's somehow gotten into Matt's body," said Contrinus, "Only now it's apparently not Matt's body because they split or something."
"I don't care. He stabbed you," said Draco angrily.
"It wasn't Matt who actually stabbed me," said Contrinus.
"Doesn't matter. Even if it wasn't him, he still left himself open to let that other guy do. He has big karma to settle and I'm the one who's gonna settle it," snapped Draco.
"He can go with the team. Dead or alive, this guy's killing my inmates," said the warden.
"Draco, at least try to bring him back alive," said Chip, "He's a colossal idiot, I know, but he's our idiot." Chip paused and said, "Something about that sentence makes me think we've forgotten something relatively important."
"Ok lad, this is 629. From what I read, he's a badass. He's our heavy hitter for this op. Keep that reality collar on him at all times," called the kill team leader inside the dropship, the team being sped over the countryside below.
"Uh, I'm 628, he's 629," said Draco, pointing at Chip.
"Who cares? 2 minutes, we stop him here no matter what. Whiterun's a huge settlement," said the trooper.
"Remember, if he has his old plasma powers back, whatever you do, don't try to use plasma-based weaponry on him," said Chip.
"We have arc rifles, nano arc grenades and deathstone cannons, the last are a final resort," said the trooper.
"Well, I'm hoping he'll be cold-blooded again," said Chip.
"But ice breath gives me a pain in the back of my neck," said Draco.
"Just like laser vision irritates your eyes, telekinesis gives you a headache, and camouflage makes your skin itch," said Chip, "I don't think Jumba was putting in enough efforts for your special powers."
"Coming up on operation zone..." said the pilot before the side of the dropship exploded out. "Shit...plasma fire...bail, bail!" snapped the pilot.
"Geronimo!" yelled Draco as he jumped out.
"Uh, maybe I should assist with-" said Chip before NegaMorph kicked him out.
"I'll meet you back at Whiterun!" he called before jumping into a shadow portal.
The other troopers calmly jumped out as the pilot pulled his ship out, the group landing in a clearing on the plains near Whiterun. "Ok, spread out, guns up, shoot first. He will not hesitate so you do not either," called the trooper.
Draco sniffed the air and said, "He's pretty close. I can smell him. Not that hard admittedly. Don't think he's been trying to wash off the gore that gets on him."
Chip nodded. "He's keeping to the shadows, using the cover. I don't think he's mindless," he said carefully, before a plasma bolt shot out from a nearby outcropping, almost hitting him. The troopers quickly opened fire at the outcropping, shredding part of the stone it stood upon. "Only arc rifles, eh?" said Chip scathingly.
"They're just using the heavy stuff to draw him out, I think," said Draco.
"Well, we better get him properly drawn out before they perforate him," said Chip.
"They already ran ahead," said NegaMorph dully before something flew out the dark and bounced off him.
"I thought you went to Whiterun," said Chip.
"I wanted to, but somehow they put up a limiter on my shadow portals," said NegaMorph.
Draco, however, had picked up the item that had hit NegaMorph before showing it. It was a head...still with helmet. "I think we're alone on this."
"Big shocker," said NegaMorph, "They probably sent us with the dregs."
"NegaMorph, focus, it's three of us now," said Chip.
"Not for very long once Lynch remembers I'm made out of bendable plasma," said NegaMorph.
On cue, he started to glow. "Me and my big MOOUUUuuuu-" he said, screaming as he was shot into the sky.
"Ok, what's your best strategy?" asked Draco.
"Don't use your plasma breath, don't let him bite you, try using ice breath as much as you can," said Chip. A second later, a boulder smashed into Chip, knocking him down, a figure visible in the shadows, two glowing green eyes staring.
"Ok, Matt, it's time we settled some of your bad karma," said Draco.
A rasping voice simply said, "Hostile identified...assessing." from the figure.
"Ok, that's not the usual banter I expected," said Draco.
A second later, the figure was running at him, bent low to increase speed, before leaping just as Draco tried to swipe, causing him to miss, before planting a taloned foot on his main jaw, actually causing pain. Draco squirmed to get out from under the foot until he grabbed at the leg with the extra hand on the end of his tail and flipped the figure off.
The figure however turned his fall into a backflip, bringing his clawed hands up in a double blow, slicing up and leaving several rows of 'papercuts' before backflipping out of range. Draco's vision finally switched proper to show it was Matt in his anthro form, though his eyes were little more than robotic, no emotion, no reaction...nothing.
"Uh, Chip, maybe you should start working on an override code or something," said Draco.
Matt turned to look at where Chip was, before igniting a plasma ball, his intent clear from the fact the plasma was null plasma. "I think he needs to be weakened a lot further before I can have any effect, uh oh," said Chip before turning to run.
Draco stared before lunging, only to be grabbed by the throat and lifted, Matt turning to look. "Experiment 628...strategic weakness...emotional attachment to experiment 629...logical course...remove 629," he said coldly, before Draco managed to kick him, the shot thrown off, though the orbs blast still tossed Chip through the air like a ragdoll. Draco would have yelled...had Matt not been strangling him.
"Secondary weakness, vulnerability to low temperatures, solution, thermal-drain plasma," said Matt coldly as pale blue flames appeared in his free hand. However, Draco wasn't about to wait for that and zapped Matt with his laser vision. A force field sprang up, Matt's eyes narrowing in apparent annoyance. "Reassessing," he said, before punching Draco in the gut as he let go, sending Draco flying back.
Draco eventually opened his four wings to right himself. "Ok, time to get rough," said Draco before opening fire with his fire, lightning, and ice breaths.
Two energy blades ignited over Matt's hands at that, Matt blocking or deflecting the blows with ease as he closed.
"Ok, I guess blasting him isn't gonna be that simple," said Draco before flying over to a large boulder. "Let's see him block this," said Draco before picking up the whole boulder and throwing it at Matt. Matt tilted his head before the boulder apparently flattened him. "Ok, hopefully Matt's not gonna be too damaged under there," said Draco.
The boulder was starting to smoke at that. "Oh boy," said Draco before flying towards the boulder. He used his telekinesis to try and keep it down until he could put his own weight on it.
A second later the rock blew apart, Matt shooting out and burying one of his energy blades in Draco's shoulder, removing it before roundhouse kicking Draco across the snout again. Draco winced before saying, "Ok, that does it. You want to roughhouse? Then come here!" He leapt at Matt and punched him several times with his multiple arms.
Matt staggered back a little before he suddenly grabbed Draco's third arm. "Removing advantage," he said before driving his knee into Draco's elbow, causing a sickening crackle. Draco gritted his four sets of jaws before another blow sent him bouncing across the field. "Your third arm is broken in two places...one of your ribs is cracked. You are no longer combat capable," said Matt coldly, striding slowly forward.
"I got seven more arms were that came from, nine if you count my backmost legs," said Draco, "And you should know that experiments aren't programmed to give up."
"This is why you will be eliminated," said Matt, readying a null blast that he aimed, Draco just managing to roll aside, the blast carrying him into cover.
"Ok...what would Chip do?" he said, before remembering how every time Matt dealt a blow, his impacting fist or foot glowed... "Wait a minute, you're using magic! That's cheating!" snapped Draco.
A second later, a blast of plasma nearly removed his head. "Ok, rules don't apply, ok, fight magic with magic. Ok, what magic would work on this guy?" muttered Draco trying to think hard. But the only thing that was springing to mind was how abysmal he's always been with magic.
On cue there was a crunch above him, Draco looking up to see Matt couched on the rock above him, a curious look on his face.
"Ok, Draco, now or never, you need something that can even the playing field," muttered Draco. Matt was already lifting his claw before Draco managed to toss a fireball in his face. "Ha, direct hit," said Draco only for Matt to shake his head and rid himself of the flames, "Ok, that went well, plan B." This time he managed to conjure up an icy wind. "Yeah, there we go," said Draco only for the wind to start to spin on itself and pick up strength. "Oh no," said Draco just as he was sucked into the freezing tornado.
Matt leapt back, before sending several blasts into the tornado, several flashes seen before Draco was tossed out and into what was left of one of the troopers. "Ok, I obviously don't have the brainpower to be a competent magician," groaned Draco before noticing something on the trooper's belt. "Hey, what are these?" asked Draco, pulling off the palm-sized devices. He thought back to his adventure in the center verse before grinning. "It's time to crash some nanites," he said with a sneer
He heard Matt snarl as he started towards him. "Ok, Matt, prepare to get some laser-guided karma," said Draco before priming the timer and tossing the device at Matt. Matt reached out and grabbed the grenade before crushing it. "Ok, note to self: don't mention you're doing a finishing move before it works," said Draco.
Matt glared, tossing the grenade remnants aside. "New tactics noted...ending combat," he said icily, making it clear that the 'ending' referred to Draco's health.
Draco thought desperately. "Ok, there's gotta be some way I can get this thing to go off while he's in the right range. Maybe if I stuffed it into him," he muttered. He thought about the two most obvious 'insert slots' before chuckling and saying, "Would be funny, but probably shouldn't."
He then got an idea, just before twin blasts hit him in the chest. Draco writhed around on the ground at that, make very loud gasping sounds he lay flat, his four tongues hanging out.
Matt walked forward, looking closely before kicking Draco a couple of times, before being apparently satisfied, before pausing, and sending a blast out just as Chip lunged at him, before grabbing the descending NegaMorph and throwing him at Chip.
"Experiment 628 was the only one with significant strength among you," said Matt as he advanced on Chip and NegaMorph, "You two will be eliminated even faster."
"Not fast enough," said a voice behind before something was slapped onto Matt's back right between his wings which was impossible for him to reach on his own.
Matt turned to glare at Draco, who was bleeding from his lips and the cuts and saying calmly "Checkmate", before finally screaming as energy arced over him, his form turning to dust and leaving a semi-conscious human Matt.
"Is the danger over?" asked NegaMorph.
"Yep, Matt's just a little regular human now," said Draco. Then Matt screamed before lunging at Draco and trying to gnaw one of his arms off. "He might be a little crazy for a bit," said Draco, "That normally wouldn't hurt, but that's my bad arm he's chewing."
Draco's next word was a gibbering as Matt headbutted him right between the eyes before lunging at NegaMorph, proving that his higher thought processes weren't present.
"I wish I could give him that detailed scolding I've been preparing regarding the importance of lab testing and safety procedures, but I don't think he'd understand a word of it right now," said Chip. "He probably won't understand a word of it when he's normal," said Draco.
Several troopers staggered up at that, Matt having apparently just knocked them out. "You get him?" asked one of them.
"Yep, Matt's back to being depowered like he should have been before this entire snafu started," said Chip.
"Ok, control, port us back," said the trooper.
"Well, at least it won't be a long trip," said Chip with relief.
There was a flash of light as the group appeared, the three experiments gibbering before falling over, smoking gently. "I hate this planet," groaned Chip.
"Get the captain to a secure medbay," snapped one of the troopers, glaring at Draco.
"Hey, he forced me to be rough with him. But at least I wasn't trying to kill him," said Draco.
The trooper glared. "From what we saw and scanned, every blow you tried to deal could have killed him," he snapped.
"Matt's a lot tougher than that. You haven't seen him when he's really in dragon mode," said Draco.
The trooper scanned Matt. "Three ribs gone...internal bleeding..." he said, causing Draco to realize he'd done that with the few blows he'd gotten in.
"Ok, I might have gotten a bit rougher than I intended, but he wasn't holding back," said Draco.
"You could have restrained, explain yourself," said the warden, who was somehow behind the gang.
"Ok, ok, I got carried away. I was just so burned up about him hurting Contrinus," said Draco.
"No excuse," said the warden coldly.
"Hey, anyone would have wanted to pound Matt into the ground after the way he's been acting," said NegaMorph, "The guy's screwed up a lot of things since we came to this system."
"It doesn't matter. You and Mr. lynch are going to the medbay," said the warden.
"You did take a rather brutal beating," said Chip.
"Oh, stick my arm in a cast and I'll be fine- OW!" yelled Draco as NegaMorph poked one bruise on his body.
"Oh, this is gonna be fun, pokey-pokey," said NegaMorph to himself before poking Draco again...before the wakened Matt tackled him and began bouncing his head off the transporter pad.
"You were informed that Matt's brain is out to lunch, right?" asked Chip.
"We saw the files. We have a secure medical bay," said the warden, plucking Matt up with one arm.
"Well, I hope your men will be able to find the others before too long," said Chip, "Because Matt and Draco aren't going to be able to help anyone for a while."
"I don't think so, unless Contrinus's reputation is a load of hype," said the warden.
"Oh, right, I forgot she has access to her real healing powers now," said Chip, "We've spent too long on this planet."
Contrinus looked through the doors port at Matt, who was hunched in the corner, a mad stare on his face, as well as the bruises and bandages. "I thought you weren't gonna go revenge on him," she scolded Draco.
"The guy was shrugging off everything I threw at him," said Draco.
"His busted ribs say otherwise," snapped Contrinus.
"It would have helped if he reacted to his own pain," said Draco, "The guy was like a literal killing machine.
"That's because he was. He's like that cause his brains literally stressed out. His nanites were in control. I saw it too many times with Pan Pacific," snapped Contrinus.
"Well someone could have pointed that out earlier," said Draco.
"Would you have listened? Tell me the truth," said Contrinus harshly, Draco pausing before saying quietly "No."
Contrinus sighed and said, "I appreciate that you want to avenge me, but you're focusing your wrath on the wrong guy. It's Kreinsosjun that stabbed me, not Matt."
Draco glared before saying, "Well he tried to eat me and actually attacked NegaMorph. I'm not letting you near hi-OI." he snapped as Contrinus opened the door, Matt looking up.
"Matt, it's me, Contrinus, you remember me, right?" said Contrinus. Matt glared before slowly heading forward.
"Careful, Contrinus, he could be wanting to bite your head off," said Draco.
Matt turned to growl angrily at Draco who actually growled back, Contrinus glaring and fireballing them both. "ENOUGH!" she snapped, "There is absolutely no reason for you two to keep fighting with each other. Draco, your quarrel with Matt is over."
Matt just twitched before Contrinus's eyes glowed blue, Matt stiffening as his eyes did the same. "What are you doing?" asked Draco.
"Shh, I'm diagnosing Matt," said Contrinus. After a while, her eyes stopped glowing and said, "Matt's been a prisoner in his own head for quite a while. He's been unable to stop Kreinsosjun from doing what he pleased. The experience has had a bad impression on him." She turned to look at Draco, actually looking sad, "It's no wonder he went mad, let the nanites take over. He saw everything go to pieces and couldn't do a thing."
"Ok, can't stay mad at him holding out on the nanites after that. Is there any way to fix him?" asked Draco.
"I'm not sure. What he needs is our support. He didn't want any of this. He wanted to protect Kala," said Contrinus before her vision went over Draco, Draco feeling like he was frozen in time before she snapped, "And as for you, I'm surprised that you managed to walk back."
"Well, we were actually teleported back, not very smoothly," said Draco.
"I'm talking about the fact that most of your secondary ribs are having to fully regenerate and I now know why you tucked your secondary arms away. Bones shouldn't look like that, you reckless hero," said Contrinus.
"I'll be fine. I just need to wear a few casts," said Draco.
"Ok, just...be careful..." said Contrinus, hugging Draco gently before shutting the door, sealing herself fin with Matt who was glaring at her. "Now, Matt, you need treatment. I don't know how much of your mind I can help, but I can at least mend your body," said Contrinus.
Matt glared before lunging at her. Contrinus easily flew over him. "Boy, I'm really glad to have wings again," she said.
Matt span on his foot before simply standing up to grab at her. As soon as Matt grabbed at her leg, Contrinus sent golden healing power through into his body. Matt was thrown back at that, the energy focusing around his head and eyes, before looking blankly ahead.
Contrinus was panting lightly as she landed. "Well, it's going to take a couple of sessions to repair everything," she said, "But we are making a start."
Matt twitched at that before his eyes went wide and he started screaming. Contrinus covered her earholes as Matt wailed on. After a minute, she looked over to see Matt rocking back and forth, hyperventilating.
"Uh, Matt, do you need more healing?" asked Contrinus.
"Wh...wh...where..." Matt managed weakly.
"You're at the Darkrift center. It's not quite as bad as it sounds," said Contrinus.
"D...Dark...rift..." managed Matt, just staring straight ahead.
"We're not under arrest yet, though they are saying we need to get everyone gathered up so we can leave," said Contrinus.
"K...Kala...where…" said Matt weakly.
"We're not sure about that," said Contrinus, "NegaMorph said that for some reason, she's completely off the map."
"Kala...want Kala…" said Matt dully.
"We'll find her. We're doing all we can to locate everyone," said Contrinus.
Matt turned to glare before lunging at Contrinus. "KALA!" he yelled, the door opening and two troopers pulling him down.
"He's still recovering from his mental trauma," said Contrinus, "Hopefully he'll get better once Kala is here."
The response was for one of the troopers to push her out, the last thing she saw was the troopers readying stun batons as the hatch closed. "We are definitely not seen as welcome guests here," said Contrinus with worry, "Getting Chloe back is going to be more difficult than we expected."
Ra'mige had spent her time, while the others were predisposed, exploring, restocking her potion supplies and trying to work out how to dodge the guard and work out how to turn this entire situation to her own liking. To that end, she was headed for Dragon Bridge, in the hope of finding a quiet place to meditate. She didn't really care one way or the other about Matt's girlfriend troubles. It was meaningless in the end anyways. That poor girl wouldn't stand a chance.
What was bothering her was the fact that she had a horrible feeling she had forgotten something. Sometimes she would swear to the Nine that she was wearing some...Redguard style clothing before seeing it was the same as before. "Perhaps it is time I start moving to warmer climates," said Ra'mige.
She paused as she noticed a red glow from up ahead, lightning arcing into the sky. "Hmm...what is going on over there?" she asked before she started heading in that direction.
She walked around the corner, before jumping back, seeing a glowing red rift before the one called Lumina was bodily tossed through.
A second later, a white blob fell through. "Aw...I get it. It's tag...and I'm it!" he said cheerfully, jumping back through, something in a demonic voice screaming "NOOOOO!" before the portal resealed. Ra'mige paused at the most unusual spectacle and wondered for a moment whether or not it would be easier if she simply walked away and pretended she never saw it.
Mina solved that, getting up unsteadily, Ra'mige noticing she looked...different. Her hair had stripes in it now and she looks slightly more mature...plus she had some daedric armor on. A second later she was covering her ears as Mina saw her reflection in a pool and started screaming.
Deciding that she had to do something or lose her hearing, Ra'mige threw a powerful Pacify spell at Mina. The spell caused Mina to stop screaming before she started giggling. Evidently, Ra'mige put in a put too much power into that because Mina soon toppled over. Ra'mige walked over to her and noticed she was changing in her sleep. Her body returned to her previous proportions as the stripes in her hair faded away.
"Hmm...some form of spell...something to examine later on," she muttered to herself. At this point, she was closer to Dragon Bridge than Solitude so Ra'mige start carrying Mina with her, though she wasn't certain why she was bothering.
Mina was still laughing. "Have you noticed how like...everyone has like...haaands?" she said happily, Ra'mige actually pausing at the randomness of that as her brain tried to process what had been said...and giving up. She made a note to herself to start honing her Illusion spells more thoroughly so she can avoid these unintended reactions.
"Heeey...your head's like a bit cat," said Mina happily, poking the side of Ra'mige's head.
"Yes it is," said Ra'mige absently, getting more annoyed as Mina kept feeling over her head.
"Wow, you are so soft," said Mina as her hands went down Ra'mige's neck and onto her shoulders, "You're, like, furry everywhere."
Ra'mige tried to ignore until Mina's hands started feeling her chest. "Stop that!" snapped Ra'mige.
"Kitty angry," said Mina dizzily, prodding Ra'mige on the nose, which for some reason brought a flash of some...blue person that she remembered really annoyed her.
"Kitties start scratching when they're angry," said Ra'mige through gritted teeth.
"Boop," said Mina happily, prodding Ra'mige's nose again with a goofy grin.
"Urgh, it's not worth it." groaned Ra'mige darkly She wondered what it was about this girl that the others valued so highly. Perhaps her spell was a large part of it. She had of course, sensed the curse the minute they had met, hanging like a black octopus in the girl's mind, its tendrils reaching for every part of her being. However, now it seemed to be larger, as if it had fed. It couldn't be a coincidence that she had just fell out of an Oblivion gate while wearing daedric armor as well.
At that point there was another 'boop' and Ra'mige snapped...as like Matt, she had a 'three times' rule.
When Mina eventually regained her senses, she was aware of three things: she was in an inn's room on a bed, she had a terrible aftertaste in her mouth, and her face really, really stung.
"What happened?" he tried to say, though it came out 'wog abbened' due to her swollen jaw.
Ra'mige said dully, "When people poke me one then three times...terrible things happen."
"Julth lige Mabb," said Mina as she tried to get up.
"Yes, whatever. They've been looking for you for a week. Where have you been?" asked Ra'mige.
Mina paused before saying, "Ah canb rumumbuh."
Ra'mige sighed before pulling a red potion out her satchel. "Drink this, all of it. It may taste like raw slaghterfish but it will fix that jaw of yours."
"Flanks," said Mina before slowing pouring it into her mouth. She winced as her jaw reset itself and the dozens of scratches mended, not that she knew about the later.
"Now then...where have you been? And do not say 'I do not know' as you got that daedric armor somewhere," said Ra'mige.
Mina looked down at herself with confusion. "Where did I get this?" she asked.
"You came out the Oblivion Gate wearing it, screamed at your reflection then fainted," said Ra'mige.
"Did I?" asked Mina before trying to remember, "My last...clear memory...were a pair of Redguards calling me Inma. Then...just blurs of colors and sounds..."
"Hmm...I guess the Redguard assassins have been dealt with then. Well done," said Ra'mige.
"I guess, but why am I here? Where have I been?" asked Mina.
"That is clearly a question for another time," said Ra'mige.
"Yes, for right now, I must..." said Mina as she started to get up only to slip.
"I think you need to rest before you consider doing any kind of questing," said Ra'mige, "The inn has a tub, why don't you take a bath?"
Mina looked over before pausing, her nanites displaying a message, Ra'mige's face appearing next to what could only be called a rap sheet...a very long list of crimes, along with the final message, 'mandatory mind wipe'. Mina found it rather hard to believe that such a kind and considerate person could be such a serious criminal. Did that mindwipe really make her into a better person?
A second message appeared at that that caused Mina to pause, a shiver running down her spine. The message read "Mindwipe deteriorating...contain or neutralize."
"Here, let me help you out of that armor," said Ra'mige as she started working on the clasps.
"Oh, no, that's not necessary. I'm sure I don't need a bath that-" said Mina before Ra'mige partially opened her chest armor and a fetid stench wafted out. "Phew, I guess I do need a bath," said Mina.
Ra'mige paused, her more sensitive nose picking more than just the stink. it seemed that wherever she had been, she had enjoyed herself. "Yes, I think a bath is the first order of business," said Ra'mige as she covered her nose.
Mina nodded, making gagging noises before heading into the washroom and shutting and locking the door.
"Hmm...what were up to, dear Lumina?" asked Ra'mige to herself. Whatever the girl had been doing, it probably fed the corruption that was nested within her. She reached out with a spell to scan the armor and was literally thrown back by the backlash from the armor.
Ra'mige's head swam as the dark magic that had flared up started to settle back down again. As her head cleared up, Ra'mige found it was much clearer than before, far clearer. All her false memories have been swept away and she was able to recall her true past.
For a start, Ra'mige was just an anagram of her real name. Secondly, there was a potential victim to practice her craft on in the washroom. Ra'mige grinned malicious as she prepared a fireball in her hand. Or she tried to. The fireball she had been wanted didn't appear at all.
A voice in her head spoke at that. "Prisoner 465. Your mindwipe has fractured early...please remain where you are...a Darkrift team will be with you in: 12 days," it said, saying the last part in a deadpan voice.
"Darkrift? Who is Dark...wait, I remember," said Ra'mige with a low growl.
"Another FAILURE! My entire plan, my Slumbergath, gone!" snapped what looked like a Khajiit in Egyptian garb, walking down a portal tunnel to her home.
However, unlike the Suthay and Cathay, she was a considerably different breed of Khajiit. Her feet were flat like the races of men and elves, but she showed no signs of having ever had a tail.
The portal opened out into a throne room at that. "Still...they cannot be lucky forever..." she said to herself before pausing. Usually by now, her fire cats would be greeting her. Her eyes also took in small discs fitted to the walls and ceiling.
"Has Fasir been in my lair?" she growled, "That old fool needs to stop bothering me." On cue, each of the discs began to slowly light up, one after the other, small spikes extending from their sides and middle. "What is this?" she demanded. The discs seemed ready to answer that question...by each of them firing a lightning bolt at her.
Now as any magic user knew, lightning was the best form of energy around...even the best human mage couldn't survive more than a couple natural lightning bolts and the cat-woman was being hit by 40 of them, quickly being brought to her knees. She managed to look up to see black-armored figures walking out of doorways. "Bast of dimension 5574?" said one of them.
"My name...is..." she said weakly.
"Yes, yes. Your actions have been deemed a threat by the NSC Council and the Combine Confederal Senate. We've come to...relocate you," said the armored man.
"I will be held prisoner by no one!" she yelled as anger gave her new strength. Green flames leapt up to incinerate the armored men. She was forced to teleport aside as the others opened fire without a second thought, the rounds tearing the room apart.
Her eyes blazed green as she yelled, "Arise, my El Katib! Destroy these intruders!" A few shadow portals opened up, what looked like humanoid furry goblins or sort clambering out, though not as many as the figure would have liked before they urged at the troopers, who ignited energy blades and attacked right back.
The cat-woman wasn't stupid, otherwise she would have been permanently contained long ago. She slipped aside, trying not to be worried by the fact that the fight seemed to be ending far too quickly. Her realm was extremely vast, if unremarkably empty save for the uncountable floating rocks. It was quite easy to hide from prying eyes here.
She ran out to see, to her personal anger, several metal...monstrosities, like something that foolish Greek human would make hovering among her space. As she waited, one shone a light onto her.
She sent a wave of green fire from her hands, but the fire did not burn their metal hulls. A second later, a yellow beam lanced out, forcing her to throw up a shield, leaving just the ground she had shielding with her after the blast cleared. "Extinguish your weapons, you are under arrest," said a magnified voice.
"I will never surrender to mortals!" she snapped as she sent out beams of pure destruction.
The beams again were stopped as the ships slowly peeled aside, a light shining on the ground in front of her before a draconic figure appeared, if the wings were any judge. "This is your third and final warning: surrender or face brutal consequences," said the dragon.
"Hah...ahahahaha. You think you can stop the ruler of the realm of-" began the figure before pausing, her eyes turning to pinpricks as the draconic figure's eyes glowed purple.
"You like peoples' fear, don't you? That's why you do what you do. So I thought...maybe you would like some fear of your own..." sneered the dragon.
"I fear nothing!" she spat.
"Really? Let's examine that claim," said the dragon.
With that his eyes blazed and for the cat-woman, every personal nightmare that she thought she had long suppressed came screaming back up as a psychic attack blasted down her mental defenses like an explosion through a wooden wall. She screamed loudly as the strength totally fled her body. She was lost within her own nightmares and completely cut off from the world around her.
After what seemed like years, reality slipped back in, a dozen black troopers aimed at her and her finding herself strapped into some sort of device, a dish pointed at her and the draconic lifeform, a black scaled dragon smirking at her. "Welcome to the last world you'll ever know. By the way, we added the death of Sgt. Yamako to your crimes too," he said.
"Release me! You have yet to see the full power of my wrath!" she yelled.
"By all means, try. We chose this world because it has a unique mana signature. You have about as much power as a sponge," said the dragon, a technician programming something in. She glared as she tried to conjure up her evil flames, but nothing appeared but a few normal embers.
"If you want magic, you have to go back to school, not that you'll remember any of this. Your inmate name will be Ra'mige. We thought it would be fun and ironic," said the dragon, making it clear that for once she was trapped.
"If it takes a thousand years, I'll be revenged on you all!" she snarled.
"Actually, you have a lot less time than that. You're mortal now and you have a remaining lifespan of about...70 years if you practice good health," said the dragon.
"What? What did you do?" snapped the new 'Ra'mige'.
"It's what we're about to do. It's called reality encoding. On the plus side, you get to keep the fur," said the dragon, before nodding, a black beam shooting out from the dish and into her.
"They took everything! I won't even have my immortality back until I am home!" Ra'mige snapped, sweeping the table clean in anger. Fortunately, Ra'mige was not completely powerless, but it was a mere fraction of what she used to possess. It certainly wasn't enough to extend her lifespan.
"Urgh...it seems I will have to continue this charade. If these people are from the void too, they can get me home...with some suitable manipulation," she said with a smirk.
For instance, the girl in the adjacent washroom, she was practically born to be manipulated. Whoever had planted the seed of evil in her had done a fine job so far, but she could do a lot more, little though she had right now.
She paused at she remembered how Mina had talked about this 'Matt'. He sounded like he had the annoying do-gooder view of the street rat without the side effect of being self-retraining. If he caught her, he would no doubt simply kill her and be done with it. This would careful catlike treading, the accidental pun made her whiskers want to curl.
The door opened at that as Mina walked back in to see the mess. "Oh, by the Guardians, what's happened? Are you ok?" she said, seeing a cut on Ra'mige's head from where she had been blasted back.
"Oh, I just got tripped up," said Ra'mige, "The Nords of this land don't design their rooms for the Cathay-Raht to walk in them easily."
"Yeah, I can guess. Most people don't create good rooms with fireproofing too," said Mina, more to herself, before saying, "I said I was sorry about sneezing."
"It does not matter," said Ra'mige, "Tell me, do you find your companions to be...oppressive?"
"Oh you haven't seen anything. There was this one time..." said Mina.
"Was anyone expecting to run into Mantichrome out here?" asked Draco, "I mean, am I only one who had Mantichrome the furthest from their mind when expecting an attack?"
"I was starting to think he was overdue for an assault," said Chip, who was also tied up like everyone else, "It seems like we've only been dealing with Ghoulwyrm lately."
Mantichrome, who was trying to hack the door code to the North Star's computer, glared at that as he got another 'denied'. "Oh shut up the lot of you. I do not want to talk about that organic reject necromancer. For once I win...and when I get control, I'm going to vent the atmosphere and watch you all choke," he snapped.
"Well, at least he's straightforward," said Draco.
"Yeah, Ghoulwyrm tends to draw things out," said Chip.
"SILENCE WHEN I'M MONOLOGUING!" Yelled Mantichrome, bringing one of his fists down on the control board, smashing it.
Matt twitched at that, his back to the damage. "What was that? I heard smashing."
"Meh, just a little collateral damage," said Draco.
"Damage?" snapped Matt, Draco and the other experiments exchanging smirks.
"Oh you should see it. Mantichrome really isn't very careful. It could take days to fix it," he said, elbowing Chip.
"Yes, wherever will we get the replacement parts? Especially after Mantichrome's done trashing the place," said Chip.
"TRASHING?" yelled Matt, Mantichrome saying "I'm smashing what now?"
"Boy, I hope your insurance covers this," said Chip.
"We have insurance?" asked Draco.
"They're lying...wait, why am I scared of him? He's depo-" Mantichrome began before hearing the snap of fracturing bonds, and turning to meet an extinguisher tank coming the other way at extreme speed.
"Wow, didn't think Matt was that strong without dragon powers," said Chip.
"Never underestimate the power of anger," said Draco.
"He actually upgraded our computer if we'd lock Matt in his quarters for 3 hours to let him get away," said Mina happily, before noticing Ra'mige was staring in horror. "Oh, wait, you haven't any idea what I was talking about, do you?" asked Mina.
"I got the basic idea," said Ra'mige weakly. Mina nodded before walking out, Ra'mige managing, "Great darkness...and I thought Chaos was unstable."
Mina poked her head in, "Oh yeah, there might be a psychotic chaos monster who sees him as her stepbrother." before leaving again.
If Ra'mige hadn't caught the word 'her', she'd extremely anxious then. Even so, that was enough to make her sweat bullets...except felines can't sweat, but the expression on her face would have matched the description anyways. She looked around before chewing on her claws. If this chaos thing was anything like the one she knew, if Matt was...inconvenienced in any way...well.
"You know, I wonder if she has the same crush on Chris that the real Chloe had," said Mina thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" asked Ra'mige.
"Oh, everyone could see there were sparks between Chris and Chloe, though Chris was showing it more. Chloe's...got a hot and cold thing, kinda hard to predict her," said Mina.
"Urgh..." muttered Ra'mige to herself. It seemed star-crossed lovers got everywhere.
"It could be the same way for that doppelganger. I wonder what would happen if the two of them started fighting over him?" mused Mina.
"The end of the world," said Ra'mige absently.
"Nah, Chloe's not that powerful, not right now at least," said Mina.
Ra'mige breathed out finally in relief. "Well, why don't you...go pay for the room? I shall prepare our things before we head to solitude to find the others."
"Good idea. I've been away too long. They must be worried sick," said Mina.
Mina walked out the door...and collapsed as something poked her, a Breton walking in. "Knockout code epsilon 12," he said calmly. If her mindwipe were still in effect, this would be the part where Ra'mige would be collapsing into a senseless heap. But she decided to play along this time.
"Control, I'm with the prisoner now...no, I don't need backup. I'll have her mindwipe topped up in a few minutes," he said, pulling what looked like a crown ringlet before Ra'mige shot upright and slashed across his throat.
"Oh, it looks like you needed backup after all," said Ra'mige mockingly. She looked up before dragging the guy into the washroom and locking it, but not before taking his blaster, her newly-returned memories allowing her to know how to use it. But even if he didn't call for backup, others will be wondering where he was at some point. It was time to leave.
She arrived at the door just as Mina came in. "I finished pa-" she managed before Ra'mige pushed her out the door.
"No time like the present," she said
"Shouldn't we-" started Mina.
"We're been keeping the others waiting far too long," said Ra'mige, "They've probably already left without us." Mina managed a 'what' before she was pushed out the door, Ra'mige pushing her forward. "Now come on, it's at least an hour's walk to Solitude," said Ra'mige.
"I...wha?" snapped Mina as she was dragged along before pausing, sure she heard a scream from the inn.
"Let's get moving," said Ra'mige before zapping Mina with a compulsion spell. Mina twitched before grabbing Ra'mige and shooting off up the road. "I really need to work on controlling those side effects," said Ra'mige as the wind blew her mane back.
There's another chapter. We're having a temporary break away from the usual gameplay. Mainly so we take care of some very important plot points such as Matt and Mina's conditions. I think it ought to be very obvious who Ra'mige is suppose to be, so obvious that I'm not gonna bother with saying it. Anyways, the next chapter should be continuing this short trend. Keep an eye out for it and please review.
