Cosmic Squadron Stellarman Phase 35: Strain
Disclaimer: I do not own or make any claim of ownership upon the Super Sentai series, which belongs to Toei. Stellarman and its various characters are mine, and if you're interested in using any elements from it, just ask me.
The Truthbringer's taloned fingers would've been useless against StellarFate's shield, but they were proving just as useless against the gigantic robot's ordinary armor. A metal fist capped with a glowing blade lashed out and cut across the monster's cheek. She screamed and took several football field-long steps back.
"My FACE!" Prox Harpy wailed, a flaming gash running up one cheek of the monster's flawless porcelain features. Slowly the contours of her face, her supple lips, those bottomless watery eyes melted away. Her eyes erupted with the same flame as her wound, her perfect even teeth deformed into fangs, and her ivory skin turned a grisly shade of gray.
The talons that sang through the air toward StellarFate were even longer and sharper than before, but its great metal hand seized the monster's wrist before they could make contact with its armor. Another hand shot out, and again StellarFate grabbed it at the wrist.
"You took my FACE!" the Truthbringer howled, even though the wound was closing up as the two giants struggled. The flesh along her back peeled away and two huge bat-like wings unfurled. With a sudden kick she knocked StellarFate to the ground and ascended into the sky.
The Truthbringer went into a divebomb at StellarFate. Its fiery eyes burned even brighter as she came down and the pendulous robot struggled to get to its feet in time to defend itself. The Truthbringer plunged closer and closer, screaming like a banshee which it by then very much resembled. StellarFate had just gotten its feet under itself when something flew into the Truthbringer.
"What?" she screamed just before a row of sharp metal feathers sliced into her chest and face. Their owner, Corvus the crow, flew upward, swooped back down and stabbed at Prox Harpy's face with a sharp metal beak again and again, marring her features even further.
The Truthbringer shrieked so high in rage it would've shattered every window around if there still were any. The cry pushed her attacker back, and the robotic bird tumbled head over feet a few times before righting itself and soaring up, above the assault. Prox Harpy was turning her attention back toward StellarFate below when Corvus shot past and slashed with its razor-edged wings again. Prox Harpy snarled and flew after the bird.
"I'll make you as ugly as meeeeeeeeeeee!" Prox Harpy wailed, and Corvus was buffeted by the scream but dove down and escaped the worst of it before pulling back up and luring the monster farther into the sky.
"Gotta catch me first, freak!" Blue yelled back and sent Corvus into a steep downward bank. Prox Harpy swooped after it, shrieking like a banshee the entire time. Corvus ascended again as the ground loomed up to meet them, with Prox Harpy right behind it and reaching out for the bird's talons with dark, clawed fingers.
Suddenly Corvus spun around and came rocketing back at Prox Harpy, grabbing the monster's leathery wings in its shining talons, and raked her shoulders with its wings when she tried to grab Corvus's legs.
Then, Corvus went into a power-dive, straight toward the waiting StellarFate. Prox Harpy screamed and struggled in Corvus's grip, but within seconds she was within reach of StellarFate's flashing blades.
"Atropos Shear!" Stellarman cried. Their robot's blades flared as it swept them in an outward arc the slashed clean through the Truthbringer. She dissolved into cinders with a last wailing cry.
"That's one less monster we gotta worry about," Yellow laughed, then offered his hand to Red for a high-five. It wasn't taken.
"Yeah, that only leaves about infinity more," Red said wearily. "Or how ever many Vayon can make. Val, come pick us up. We're done here. Nice flying, Blue."
"Thanks," Blue replied as she set Corvus down beside StellarFate. Her voice was thankful, but cautious. A moment later a shaft of light descended and covered the mecha, hauling them back inside the hangar of their mobile base. Red got up silently and left the cockpit.
"Is he still mad about that being away for months thing?" Yellow asked, sounding a bit exasperated. "He seemed okay after we got back."
"He also saw Cape Lombard wasn't the only city Proxordo blew the hell up pretty much as soon as we took our little show on the road," Blue reminded him. "Probably got him to thinking about how much we're really fighting for."
"He IS the leader of Stellarman, you guys," Pink said.
"He's also just one man, Caitlin," Black replied. "Has he ever once come to any of you to ask for help in managing this global alliance he's trying to put together, except to spread out and be the one to ask for their help? Ever asked to help you plan anything out or with other logistics? Or anything? Have any of you actually talked to Erica since we were able to get a link up to Ikardaa?"
"Wait, we've got a link going to Ikardaa?" Pink asked in surprise.
"Only sometimes. Hard to get good reception from the other side of the universe," Black said and faded back to Bohdi. "Anyway, from the little I can get out of him Daniel's been listening to her talk about the problems she's dealing with back there. Something about lazy officials and people wanting to leave. Daniel's probably thinking about what he can do about that, too."
"Oh for God's sake," Blue facepalmed, a position she maintained as she reverted to Aki. "Like he's not coming apart from having one planet to save…"
"Speaking of that," Valentine's electronic voice interrupted over StellarFate's comlink, "We're getting a feed from Agent I. Daniel, can you hear me?"
"I can hear you," he responded over the com as well. "Put it through, hurry."
The others stiffened at the significance of what they were hearing. "Agent I" was Haikoga, the dragon-like being who was an officer in Proxordo. In name, anyway. For the last couple of weeks he'd been feeding them inside information whenever he could sneak away. It was why they'd been able to stop four new pillars from being erected and killed an equal number of powerful Truthbringers. To say nothing of the other teams like themselves and remaining militaries they'd been able to form alliances with.
The thing was, Haikoga couldn't risk an actual conversation with them as he had to keep his messages as brief as possible for the sake of his secrecy. This feed was no different. "Bad news. Vayon's put together some kind of special task force to get rid of you. Don't know specifics, no one does, only that if it doesn't work, Kamandetes is coming up with something even nastier. Keep an eye out." Then the com went quiet.
"So…business as usual," Cliff muttered.
"Sounds like we should get some rest," Bohdi advised the others.
"I'm going to check on Daniel," Aki announced and started out.
"Do you really think it'll do any good, if it hasn't yet?" Caitlin asked.
"How'd you get onto this team with an attitude like that, again?" Aki retorted.
"I'm just saying that Daniel's hard to talk out of something once he's gotten an idea into his head," Caitlin said. "He probably thinks it's what great leaders do, or something."
"Oh, bull!" Aki cried. "When did you start being Cliff?"
Cliff started to open his mouth to refute the statement, but then Caitlin did something none of them but Aki seemed to be expecting. She took a swing at Aki's head, but Aki ducked back and seized her by the arm. They struggled backward onto the gantry leading to the robot's cockpit, with a fierce of long-contained frustration finally seeing release on Caitlin's face.
"Gee, I only came home to deal with that crap every day of my life since I was a kid!" she practically screamed. "Guess it was only a matter of time before it started rubbing off on me!"
The girls struggled until Aki's back was against the safety railing, then she suddenly lashed out with her leg and knocked Caitlin's own feet out from under her. Caitlin was in a team like Stellarman's for a reason, though, and grabbed Aki's arm and pulled her down as well.
"Should we do something?" Bohdi asked
Cliff gave him a bemused look. "Have you even seen two girls fight before?"
Indeed, the struggle was growing more aggressive even as they watched. Crouched on her knees, Caitlin had pointed her fingernails like claws at Aki's eyes, who was jamming her knee up against Caitlin's midriff and holding onto Caitlin's wrists to hold her at bay. Neither one looked anything like the highly-trained combatants that had been going toe-to-toe with all manner inhuman foes. Just two teenagers having a spat.
"Every! Damn! Day!" Caitlin snarled. "You have NO idea what it was like!"
"Oh yeah?" Aki yelled right in her face. "Try having SIX little kids you're supposed to be looking out for! Setting a good example for! And your parents are always breathing down your neck to do a complete 180 with your personality! I bet you know ALL about THAT!"
Caitlin hissed and yanked her hands free from Aki, but instead of going on the attack again rocked backward and stood up, then stomped out of the hangar. No apology, no threats, no words at all.
"Boy, I'm liking our odds against this task force," Cliff sighed.
The wall before Vayon's meditation chamber was, as always, illuminated by a sheet of the Fire of Truth. As always, it showed visions of his followers' activity from afar. But as of late, what he was shown alarmed him more and more.
On the wall was a map of Earth's landmasses, with bright points of light indicating veritium pillars, and shimmering lines running between them back to a meeting point. As he beheld the sight, though, a point in central Russia went out and the lines leading away from it faded as well. Another in southern Africa blipped out of existence as well, and more lines faded.
"Almighty Fire of Truth, show me that which spites our efforts!" Vayon cried out. He reached out with all the capacity to shape the Fire he'd mastered, and the vision on the wall shifted. A giant humanoid machine, the like of which he'd grown all too familiar with over the past year, smashed a giant Truthbringer with a ghostly lion's face that blasted from the machine's chest. That would make it the one they called the Great Bast, the one used by that team called…Felinger, he believed.
Again the images swirled and reformed, and Ted Alcazar's tank battalion destroyed another pillar even as it started to grow. Risen were fleeing in all directions from the artillery fire. Then images swirled away to be replaced by a display of another scene of battle. One going badly for his followers, he didn't need to guess.
A ship full of veritium ore bound for a suitable site to replace a destroyed pillar was shot down by a group of metal dragons and bellied in hard on a stretch of barren land.
Vayon clutched his staff so hard in rage his knuckles would've turned white if his skin hadn't already been so pale. He waved the staff into the visions, dispelling them, then pointed his staff at the doors to his meditation chamber and they swung open by themselves.
"Dione!" he called.
At once his blue-maned confidant was drifting into the room. "Yes, Master Vayon?"
"Has the task force been briefed?" he asked, an angry frown forming on his normally serene face.
Dione took a second to answer, her bronze eyes taking in the sight of her leader's state uneasily. "Yes…they've been briefed. We're just waiting to determine Stellarman's likely next destination before being sent out."
Vayon acknowledged the reply with a terse grunt. "Good. Round up every Risen in the city and get them ready for another scouting mission. Ore supplies are running low again."
"But sir…" Dione started to protest, then stopped herself.
Her leader's response to her protestation was to angrily bang his staff on the floor. Dione shuddered at the harsh, ringing sound. "Yes, Dione?" he whispered menacingly.
"Most of the worlds we've been tapping for ore are mined out. The only ones with any left are the ones we determined to be most inhospitable. This isn't exactly a common good we're tracking down…"
"But it is one we're running out of thanks to those bloody robots," Vayon snapped. "We were only three pillars away from having enough power to finally be able to strike. Now we're sixteen behind."
"If I may, sir?" Dione asked quietly, afraid for herself, but also for her leader. Once, he'd been the very image of a man who really had discovered a higher purpose and left the anger of ordinary life behind him. Lately the strain of carrying out his vision had been wearing at him, as the setbacks continued to pile up that image was slipping, especially around the few members of Proxordo to be taken into his confidence.
"Speak," was the brusque reply.
"Perhaps we can get by with a few less pillars, Master Vayon?" Dione suggested. "The Fire is so potent, surely we can do with a few less emitters."
Vayon snarled. "No, no we cannot. We are talking about changing the face of the entire world, something that requires every bit of power I can marshal. There is no doing this halfway."
"It's just that seeing you in such a state worries me for your sake, Master Vayon."
"Then get out there and do something about the delays," he retorted and turned away. "You waste your time and mine and staying here, distracting me with your pity."
Dione nodded, and then drafted backwards toward the door. "I suppose that's the best thing I could be doing," she murmured as she saw herself out. He was already waving his staff at the wall and a swirl of Fire appeared.
He's right, you know, a snide voice whispered in Dione's ear. You could be doing so much more with your time…
Ordinarily, Dione would've angrily shut down her alter ego's claims, but this wasn't ordinary even for Proxordo. Maybe it was the best way for her to serve their cause after all.
She sped out of Vayon's private tower to where the Truthbringer task force was awaiting deployment.
"Are we ready?"
"Are you sure this is such a good idea, so soon after the last time?" R'kana replied more quietly.
Erica's form twitched a little at the question. It was true she had plenty to think about right there on Ikardaa, but she was getting eager to hear how things were going back home, too. In addition to Proxordo's expanded scope, Daniel had been seeming particularly on-edge when they checked in. Candidly, Erica didn't think much of the chances for Stellarman's plan of a unified front if the ones overseeing things couldn't do so with a steady hand.
And who said it had to be just one hand?
Power flowed from Erica into the machine, and by this point she could feel the beam reaching out across the galaxy to Earth, feel it dispersing into the millions of tiny electronic pathways of Crux's communication system. Then she sensed contact, but was surprised to see who she'd reached.
"Valentine?"
"Hello, Erica. How are things there?" the robot answered.
"They're, well, they're stable for now. I was kind of expecting to see Daniel. Kind of hoping, really."
Valentine nodded slowly, comprehending. "He's not here, he wanted us to personally deal with reports of a Truthbringer in this area."
"How is he, these days?"
Valentine made a noise that it took Erica a second to recognize as a sigh. "I worry about him. From what the others were saying this morning, it sounds like all do. We're making progress, but I don't think it's fast enough for Daniel."
"How bad is it?" Erica asked, hesitantly.
"A lot of cities are gone, like Cape Lombard. Vayon's left most of the world capitals up and running, but anywhere he decided to drop a crystal's just been charred away to nothing. Personally, I think he leveled Cape Lombard out of spite."
"Sounds like somebody who has monsters do his dirty work," Erica agreed. "I really wish I could be there to help you guys."
Valentine electro-sighed again. "It could only help us. I swear-" She was cut off as suddenly all of R'kana's equipment went dark. The drain on Erica's energy to power the transmission was thrown back into her so suddenly she fell to the ground and crouched on all fours panting.
After a minute, Erica had recovered enough to emit a soft violet glow to light up the room, and looked up at R'kana. "What the hell just happened?"
"I think," R'kana said ominously, "we've been found."
All around were the sounds of battle, but StellarRed didn't allow himself to be distracted anymore than he had to be. His enemy was one of the strangest he'd ever fought, and if he let his concentration slip for a second, it could be all over.
"Listen to the screams," the thin voice whispered in his ear. Indeed he could hear screams. Of pain, of fear, of resignation. Fire sizzled, blades rang against each other, explosions burst in the distance. In the distance…the rest of Stellarman was dying.
Red clutched the hilt of his sword and mustered all of his willpower to banish the panic that was brewing in the corners of his mind. He just had to hold himself together a little longer. Until he had a target.
His grip on his sword quivered, and the strength started to leave his legs and slowly Red sank to his knees. His breathing grew slower, and heavier. The sounds of destruction and dying got louder in his ears. Panic crept into his mind. It was hopeless. It was all hopeless. All the fighting with Proxordo, Stellarman had never really had a chance from the beginning. His sword slipped from his hand.
"Marvelous thing, isn't desolation?" a high, nasal voice asked as a shape melted out of a shadow and approached StellarRed. "Expands and destroys everything else in your mind that gets in its way. Confidence, love, loyalty…"
The speaker was a morose-looking man with a shock of unkempt red hair and a long, hooked nose. He didn't bother to look Red in the visor as he continued. "Takes all those niggling problems, drives away. Replaces with the only real certainty, that you'll fail, everything you do is pointless."
Suddenly a streak of gold flew out and the morose-looking man staggered back, clutching at a wound on his chest from which Fire was seeping out. StellarRed was back on his feet, hands clenched around his sword as he dashed forward to press his attack.
"Looks like it even wipes out how to spot an obvious an obvious trick," Red growled as his sword bit into the Truthbringer's shoulder. He yowled in pain and turned to run, already becoming dark and insubstantial as it did, but Red was too fast.
"Horns of Knossos!" he yelled and dashed at the miserable creature. His body burned with crimson Starlight as he rammed into the Truthbringer and shattered him to bits. The screams, the explosions, immediately the stopped.
Red's hand was on his communicator at once, in case the Truthbringer reappeared as giant as they always did. A minute passed. Then two. No giant Truthbringer. The sky was even starting to brighten with its demise. "Vayon's slipping," Red muttered.
Then it felt like five red-hot fingers were sinking into Red's brain. His entire body spasmed with the agony, but he couldn't find his voice to cry out. All at once, the pain stopped.
And standing in front of him was Vayon himself.
The armor was a little different, but the palpable feeling of unshakable conviction and searing power coming off him in waves were the same. Only more intense than the last time they'd met in person.
"There you are," Vayon said simply, much more quietly but just as intensely Red would've expected.
"Finally decided you're done hiding behind all your stupid monsters?" Red asked, leveling his sword at his enemy. His grip was quivering, however. Was he really that scared of Vayon, after everything else he'd been through to make it this far?
"You might say that," Vayon replied, anger creeping in. Red's unsteady grip probably wasn't doing anything to help upset it. "It's always been you and your little group, StellarRed. You were powerful, so I offered to let you join me. You chose to fight me instead, so you became a means to establishing Proxordo's power in the minds of the people.
"Then you were gone, and I was a loss. Nearly a year, I carried on. Cities fell, armies that thought too much of themselves were crushed, and conduits were constructed. Other groups like Stellarman appeared, but every one of them was a pale imitation. Some have even fallen to Truthcraft.
"Now, you're back. Stronger weapons, stronger powers. Setting my work back faster than any of these imitators of yours. Forcing me to send my followers into ever more hellish places to find the means to replace the conduits you destroy. You've even allowed your bodies to be altered to continue fighting with me.
"And I want to thank you for it. Well, you and your whole group of colorful miscreants. I thought I was merely meant to just show how powerful the Fire made me and then I'd simply remake the world as it should be. You and your friends were put here to make sure I'm worthy of my task. Thank you. I'm still going to crush you, and very soon, but thank you." He said as if he was looking forward to the chance.
Red's reply was a wild slash with his sword, but Vayon casually raised his staff and parried the strike. Red drew back and stabbed at Vayon's throat, but the ruler of Proxordo whirled his staff and knocked the weapon from Red's gloved hand.
"Thank you again for showing your commitment to YOUR task," Vayon said. "The Fire will either temper or consume us all. You seem determined to be one of the latter. I'll be happy to oblige you." Vayon clenched his staff.
"Horns of Knossos!" Red growled and charged blindly at his ultimate enemy. A second later he felt himself smash through something. He dared to look back, and saw no trace of Vayon. Just the remains of something that could hardly have been called a brick wall even before he'd hit with his dash.
"Daniel?" Blue's panicked voice called out. She ran around the edge of a decrepit building and saw him there on the ground panting, his sword lodged blade-first in the ground twenty feet away. "What happened? I heard you use two charges…was the Truthbringer that strong?"
"The Truthbringer was nothing," Red grunted. "What about Vayon? Where'd he go?"
Blue looked around anxiously for a second, then back at Red. "Vayon was here? Are you sure?"
"Why do you think I'd do a second charge so soon after the last one?" Red snapped and got to his feet with an effort. "How's everything else?"
"That's part of why I was coming over," Blue said. "There's this-" She started to say, and then had no need to as a dazzling sphere of light shot over the battlefield then started descending.
The sphere shrank and reformed as it neared the ground, taking on two human shapes. Human was too strong for the first one, made up of glistening faceted surfaces with jagged shards extending out form its torso, shoulders and in place of fingers and hair. As the light faded it looked to be made out of solid, transparent ice.
The other, they recognized. It had been a while since their paths crossed, but the red and black outfit, the dark blue hair, and the welcoming smile couldn't have belonged to anyone but Dione. The beacon to lost souls.
"We meet again, Stellarman," she smiled. "For the last time, I'm afraid."