Author's Note: Okay so close to my normal now, which while good is not good enough, so hopefully once that is done I'll have another idea of a story ready to go. In the mean time Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!
Chapter 58: The Definition of the Hood Family
With a loud bang a target had been destroyed. With one click a metal tube with one side blown off and with the second a new one was loaded into it's place. The lightning arced out from the front of the weapon and formed two relatively straight lines before the next round was loosed. The ball connected with both of the lightning lines, pushed forward with vastly greater speed, but smashing through the next target and causing it to disintegrate. Sparrow pulled the rifle up and took a moment to examine it.
"So this is the same kind of Rail Gun's that your mom had in her tower?" Sparrow was hoping that he could get his hands on one of these, but there was still another problem.
"Yeah. Didn't even scratch the one that appeared in the monster realm." Raven replied bitterly, a wad of Kleenex in her nose as it still bled from where Sparrow had punched her earlier on.
"Do we know how they are protecting themselves? I've never traveled between the realms before but I assume that it takes a fair bit of protection." Sparrow asked as he looked over at the splintered driftwood that made for a poor stand in for the Lithilid flying creatures.
"What are you talking about?" Apple asked suspiciously. "I use Morgan's realm travel room all the time these days and I never needed protection."
"Do you even know what the void between world's look like?" Raven asked suspiciously. "The realm Travel room is your shield, it's protecting you from the gap of the void."
"Protecting us from what?" Apple asked looking concerned with Raven's explanation.
"Nothing." Raven replied plainly.
"So now there's nothing to worry about?" Apple asked looking confused.
"No she means that the nothingness is what you need protection from." Sparrow stated cluing in and Raven nodded her head in agreement.
"There is a realm called Niflheim with a ammonia based atmosphere. When you step onto that realm unprotected your body is crushed from the pressure that it produces. But what do you think happens when one of the natives of that realm step into this one?" Raven asked as she magically deposited another target for Sparrow to demolish.
"I can't imagine something durable enough to survive a crushing atmosphere like that having any problems with ours." Apple stated prompting Raven to shake her head.
"They explode. In order to deal with that atmosphere their bodies put just as much pressure going out to keep themselves from getting crushed. Just as how we equalize the pressure with our atmosphere to keep us from getting crushed." The concept seemed to horrify some of the other people present, but Dexter caught on faster than most.
"The atmosphere putting pressure on our bodies is a odd concept, but it must be more pressure than some place that has no atmosphere at all. Like the void." Raven wagged her finger in acknowledgement of Dexter's point.
"But what about the Lithilid ship creature?" Apple asked in concern.
"You mean the Leviathan." Everyone turned their attention to Duchess who it seems since some time ago was leaning against the wall. "It's a accurate description and rolls off the tongue better than 'Lithilid Ship creature.'"
"Right." Raven decided to ignore Duchess's presence. "If it is a living creature, which we should assume it is, then it can't survive without air." Raven explained as she held her chin.
"They didn't seem to have a problem crossing into our atmosphere from the void either." Darling pointed out distinctly remembering the sight of the Leviathan landing and taking off again.
"Then it's creating it's own atmosphere." Daring stated prompting wide eyed looks of surprise from the others. "What you got a better explanation on what they're doing?"
"...No. We're just a little surprised that you were the one who came up with it." Sparrow stated causing Daring to look like he had been insulted.
"Hmm. If they're oxygen based life forms then they could be using their abilities to split carbon Dioxide into Oxygen for them to breath." Raven stated scratching at her chin.
"So that means that their atmosphere is almost pure oxygen then?" Sparrow stated as a evil Grin stretched across his face.
Morgan was still in Niflheim's lab as she studied the materials she had been given by her allies. Of particular note was the dead Lithilid's Corvo had brought low, the use of reanimation magic to bring them back to life was facing interference from somewhere else and Morgan had an idea. Concentrating she unleashed a powerful curse onto the heads of one of the prisoner Lithilid's, the dark colored smoke mixed with his psionic field and ultimately caused the two to burst knocking the Lithilid back and slide across the ground.
"You are fighting me every step of the way aren't you?" Morgan asked scratching her chin. "I can use that to my advantage though." Morgan loosed another mass of cursed black smoke, this time with the principles of point mixed in. The smoke bounced, inside of the protective barrier was a mass of crisscrossing darkness fighting for a way to get out, but it was fighting to stay in harder, striking at the Lithilid repeatedly until he had enough. The barrier was dropped but a new one was put in it's place, wrapped around his body like a set of armor.
"Are there anymore pitiful tricks that you wish to try cretin?" The Lithilid asked glaring up at Morgan with hate in it's eyes. "You are our prey. We will take your, and subject them to all the horrors this galaxy has to offer and dine upon them like a fine wine! The strongest we will take and implant our young, and we shall make you watch as they are eaten from the inside out!"
"Oh I have plenty of 'tricks'. I was thinking for starters that I would see how closely related you freaks really are." Morgan stated as she held up one of the tadpole parasites she had collected. "You recognize your own offspring don't you." Morgan could see the tentacles of the Lithilid attempt to lash at her. "You're a good mother, whatever you are. In order to ensure the prosperity of your off spring you are willing to kill the child of another in the cruelest manner you can imagine." Morgan glared the enemy Lithilid in it's eyes as a green mist consumed the tadpole which Morgan then tossed to the Lithilid. "But you see: I'm a good mother too. And my capacity for cruelty is much higher than yours." The green mist traveled from the Tadpole, the tadpole corpse to be more accurate, and entered into the body of the Lithilid.
"Gou! GOU!" A coughing sound came out of the Lithilid as it bowled over. "What did you do?"
"Oh you like it? 'Rothbart's Burning.'" Morgan held her hands out as if she were framing the name of some kind of ominous thing. "The Genocide Curse. The people of my homeland, back before when we were a bunch of psychopaths trying to burn our neighbors as efficiently as possible, we invented this little number. It's a curse that travels up and down your bloodline, first it kills your children and your parents. Then it kills your grandparents and your grand kids, then your siblings. You curse one person, and you wipe out your victim's entire bloodline." The concern on the face of the Lithilid was obvious even with the tentacles. "It burns through your life force looking for those related to you, uses it as fuel to transmit itself over to the next point over. The curse itself wasn't even what killed most people involved, entire families butchered each other just trying to stop it." Credit where it's due, who ever came up with this one was truly a sick man. "And now I get to watch the rest of your kind burn for it."
"RRRAAARRRGGGHHH!" The eyes of the Lithilid glowed a vicious red glow, energy climbed up his body, the green of the curse dying blood red, before it all entered the creature's mind and caused his head to explode in the process. "Well that was climatic." Morgan commented as she brushed the bits of the Lithilid off of herself before looking down at the headless corpse for a while. After some time Corvo dragged it back to it's cellmate. Through their telepathic connection it already knew about it's companion's death, but Morgan and Corvo were just letting it sink in for a while. Morgan wanted them to let that sink in, let the creatures who bragged about how horribly they were going to torture and kill them know how they knew how horribly they knew to torture and kill. The message was loud and clear: do better. "Now that that's been taken care of what's my daughter doing?"
"How exactly do you know how to make bombs?" Raven asked one part suspicious and two parts slightly upset as Sparrow played around with suspect chemicals and loaded the concoction he was making into a hollowed out cannon ball.
"It's the only thing I know how to make. I suck so bad at Chem-myth-ry I make baking soda and vinegar explode." Sparrow stated as he chose to check the contents of one vial by sniffing it, and became disgusted by the results.
"Vinegar and Baking soda is suppose to explode when you mix it together..."
"You're supposed to mix it together?" Sparrow asked legitimate surprise all over his features, leading to a horrified look on Raven's face. "Alright this is done. Now than all we have to do..." Sparrow noticed that Raven was gone, far away. "Hello?" Raven had taken the liberty of hiding behind a barricade with Sparrow's classmates.
"Is it really as bad as you guys are making it out to be?" Raven asked deeply concerned.
"What exactly do you think we're hiding behind?" Dexter whispered clearly trying not to be overheard.
"Didn't you set up the barricade for your heroics class?" Raven asked confused.
"It's not a barricade, it's part of the old chem-myth-ry lab that Sparrow blew up with one of his god-mother forsaken potions!" On that note a clay pot was chucked over the barricade and smashed open on the ground in front of them releasing the contents of a powerful stink bomb with explosive results.
"I may suck at Chem-Myth-ry but I'm very good at ruining people's day!" Sparrow snapped tossing a balloon filled with ominous liquid up and down in the air. "Now get out here and help me try this or I'll throw the one that dyes all of you purple next!"
"Grrr...!" Once again Raven had to keep Nevermore from trying to eat Sparrow.
"I probably should punish her when she gets back but honestly what Sparrow's doing now is probably good. Rather than tormenting her myself it's better if she understands that this is what's going to happen if she recklessly goes there by herself." Once again Morgan established herself as a shrewed planner. "Enough out of you. I finally got something like a vaccine going to deal with those squid heads." Soak the Tadpoles in Alcohol, extract the bacteria and inject it into a creature with a strong immune system, if the bacteria is dead then it can't do anything to the victim, but it will still trigger the production of antibodies, and after a few days they should have their vaccine.
"Is there anything else you'll need?" Corvo asked cocking a brow suspiciously.
"I'm thinking I'm thinking." They'll need a volunteer with a strong immune system, a large size will reduce the chance of surviving Lithilid bacteria from taking over, and will help them produce a large amount of anti-bodies. Morgan seemed to reach a conclusion after a few moments. "We'll need Brogan."
Giles was in his office enjoying his afternoon cup of tea and looking outside down at the courtyard. He spotted Sparrow as he lined up a shot with a target that was floating in the air via Raven's Magic. Well as long as the boy was going to practice with rifles then it was important that he learned how to fire one properly thus Giles observed him closely. He felt the bang before he heard it, felt lodge shards of glass in his body, felt himself slamming against two inches of solid oak that was the door, felt blood trickle down the side of his head from ruptured ear drops, shards of glass, a concussion and who knows what else before he lost consciousness.
Sparrow had it worst, being on the ground and holding the thing that exploded, his knack that constantly makes things explode had a reaction to the concoction he put into the gun and it showed. Showed in the numbness of his right arm that was severed at the shoulder, in the shattered rib-bones that were sticking out of his torso, and in his rapidly dwindling blood supply. Again Raven had to be grateful for Nevermore's fast reactions shielding herself and some of her classmates with her own massively more durable body.
"Everyone okay?" With the exception of one the answer to Raven's question was yes. "Crud! Nevermore we have to get him to the infirmary!" Not a concept that amused Nevermore, if her lack of reaction was any indication. "I know he's a ass now come on and help!"
Reluctantly Nevermore carried Sparrow off to see the three army doctors. Raven herself ended up serving as a impromptu medical tool magically extracting and welding together bone trying to put Sparrow's ribcage back together. Though that was the plan Raven only got a single Rib Bone put together before Morgan showed up to take over to the relief of Raven's frayed nerves.
"What was Sparrow trying to do with this thing?" Ruby asked looking down at the mangled mass of wood and metal left in the epicenter of the explosion. "The explosion severed his arm so..." Ruby lined up the mangled mass with her own arm and quickly came to the correct conclusion. "This is a gun? Did Sparrow try to use his explosion knack to enhance this thing?" Not a bad idea on paper but there's no way that a civilian model of gun can stand up to someone who once demolished a building trying to mix together baking soda and vinegar. It would take some hard core modifications or significantly stronger materials to stand up to Sparrow's sheer talent for destruction and sabotage. "How does someone who comes from a family that specializes in stealth end up with a knack in explosions anyway?"
"If you believe that then I have failed you as a teacher." Ruby turned around to see Professor Hood, her father, standing behind her. "Our specialty lies in the art of guerilla warfare, of striking crippling blows to the enemy and leaving before they can strike back. Some times that demands stealth, other times raw destructive power. Sparrow was made for the latter."
"Yeah but unless he gets some new weapons, the only thing he'll be cut out for at this point is a suicide bomber." Ruby pointed out aiming the explosively umbrella'd barrel of the rifle at her father. "Then I'll supposed Morgan will just have to build something for him."
Review Section:
ChimaTigon: Eh. He's done a pretty good Legendary Godzilla and Behemoth I would like to think.