Disclaimer: See ch.1
A/N: Here we go the beginning of the crossover. From here on out everything is about to go AU. As usual, if you see (#), then there will be a short description at the bottom of the story. 000000 denotes a scene or POV change. Also, if you want some good background on Rifts you should read the story Crossroads (another rifts/eva x over), unfortunately it looks like its been discontinued. Without any further ado (looks cautiously around room), lets begin this chapter. (Cheering heard from outside of window) Ah! Why won't you people just leave me alone!?
Of Rifts and EVAs
Book 1 of the Heaven's Storm trilogy
Chapter 3: Dude, where's my dimension?
Dimension: Rifts Earth
Location: Auberge research facility, Magic Zone, former USA
Date: June, 30 109 PA (Post Apocalypse)
When one looked at the Auberge research facility, one would wonder if the name were perhaps a joke. How could a structure such as this be tasked with something as mundane as research? However-as was usually the case on Rifts Earth-looks could be deceiving.
The Auberge research station was a large pyramid, which had been built over a nexus (1) point. The construction had been done by an Atlantean Stone Master (2), who had owed a rather large favor to the owner of the facility. The pyramid-like most of the others of its kind-calmed and channeled the raw energies generated at the nexus point. The excess P.P.E could then be channeled towards the needs of the facility.
The pyramid was very large; but was hidden away from prying eyes by powerful spells and enchantments. From the meeting room-near the top of the pyramid-one had to admit that the view of the surrounding area was quite beautiful.
'From this high up, why should it not be.' Damon Auberge-owner and leader of the Auberge research facility-thought to himself. His lean 6'2 frame was outlined against the window by the sunlight that was filtering through it.
A polite cough from behind Damon brought him out of his musings. He turned around to face the long oval table which dominated the room, and to the people who sat around that table. With but a wave of his hand, Damon willed the window to go from clear to an opaque black. Now-without the light blocking the view-one could see the rest of Damon quite clearly. At first glance he looked to be about 25-30 years old. He had white hair which he wore long, and usually in a stylish ponytail. His eyes were hard and seemed to hold a good deal of wisdom within them, though those that knew him well knew that his eyes could also show reassuring warmth. Other than a scar across his left cheek, his skin was unblemished and well-tanned. He was quite handsome, and many a women had fallen in love with him. All had been politely rebuffed. His excuse was that-at the moment-his work was very important to him, and he just didn't have time for a relationship.
Damon quickly inspected his subordinates; making sure they were all here.
'Hmm... Thorson, Mal'ec, Red, the twins, Val, Fenix...'
"Scott, where's Marc? He's not alone in the labs again is he? You remember what happened last time." Damon said, addressing one of his Techno-Wizards (3).
"He said he would be along in a minute, and this time I left Spark with him so we wouldn't have a repeat of the last time. I don't want to have to rebuild our lab again." Scott Fenix stated.
Any further comment was cut off as the doors slid open, and Marc Fitzler sauntered in.
"See I told you it wouldn't happen. I didn't blow anything up this time. Not that I could have with the mother hen over here constantly watching my every step."
The mother hen in question-actually a round, floating robot-hovered quietly into the room after Marc. The product of much experimentation, the TW (Techno-Wizard) Autonomous Assistant Bot was one of the earliest successes to come out of Scott and Marc's section of the research facility. Damon had listed it as a failure because it was not capable enough for what had once been its primary function. Scott and Marc, loath to waste such a capable design (its AI alone was years ahead of most other known designs), and needing another set of hands to help in their lab had simply retasked the prototype-now known as Spark-into an assistant. In this field it seemed that the little bot excelled, and there was talk of producing more for the rest of the facility.
"Alright, now that everyone is here lets get this meeting started." Damon said as he sat down at the head of the table.
"First things first. Circe, are you online?" Damon asked, directing his question to the view screen attached to the wall opposite him.
"Yes sir, how may I be of service?" A pleasant female voice answered Damon, coming from the speakers cleverly hidden around the room. Circe was the base computer, and was practically one of the researchers herself. She was a sentient, self-aware computer program. She ran all systems in the base and was 100% reliable. It had been she who had programmed Spark's AI core; it had been one of her first assignments after her installation.
"Alright Circe who won this time?" Damon asked the computer.
"According to R&D reports and specs submitted to me for overview," As this was said the view screen came to life with a simple bar graph, "it looks as if we have a tie."
Two of the bars on the graph-larger than the others, but equal to each other-were enlarged. At the bottom of each, the department symbol was listed. One was a pair of crossed axes over a flaming gauntlet. The other was a clockwork dragon in flight.
"It would seem that Scott & Marc have tied with Grunir for first place."
Both parties looked to be quite disappointed at this turn of events. Scott and Marc had been leading for awhile, and didn't want to lose their winning streak. Grunir Thorson-the dwarfish Techno-Wizard-looked as dour as he usually did. The dwarf showed his nervousness by raking his hands through his red beard; a common sign of agitation made by the dwarf.
"Okay Circe, tie breaker time. Which of the two projects looks better for our purposes?" Damon asked.
On the view screen, schematics and notes quickly revolved across the screen, "At first glance, Grunir's project seems to be the best. It's cutting edge stuff, and could yield great potential when it's completed."
Upon hearing this, a grin cracked the dwarf's craggy face; and the looks of disappointment deepened on Scott and Marc's faces.
Circe's next words quickly changed all that, "However, the cutting edge nature of the work is also the short-coming of this project. While it is viable and should not be discarded, the time needed to build a prototype and test it in the time frame we have is simply not cost effective, and may lead to problems which could have been avoided."
"Scott & Marc's project-while not as cutting edge-is far more cost effective, doubly so because it seems they already have a prototype ready to go. With enough resources, mass production could begin in as little as 2 weeks. The conversion of the Coalition Skelebots to TW devices has proven as effective as they predicted. Even if the risks to their own lives far outweighed the benefits at the time."
Both of the young Techno-Wizard's winced at the tone of Circe's voice.
"Sorry mom." Marc said.
"Okay, so the winners are Scott and Marc. Mark it down in the log Circe. Now let's get to some real business." Damon said, opening up the folder on his desk.
Before he could get started though, the Elven Shifter (4) Kurnus Mal'ec cried out in pain. His hands clutched the sides of his head and his face contorted in agony. However, by the time Val Nostrom-the base's resident healer-got to him, the pain seemed to have gone away.
"What was that all about?" Damon asked, concerned for the well being of one of his employees.
"I don't know, it felt like the same sensation I get when I sense a rift opening, but amplified a hundred times over." The elf brushed his raven black hair out of his face, and spent the next few seconds reorganizing himself.
"Whatever it was, I want you to report to the medical center when this meetings over." Val said, her voice brooking no disapproval.
Once again, Damon tried to get back to business, and once again he was interrupted.
A powerful tremor shook the building, and what sounded like an explosion echoed in the room. All at once, every eye in the room turned towards Marc.
"It wasn't me this time, I swear." Marc said quickly.
"Sir, I just detected a type 5 dimensional anomaly occurring in sector...wait...make that two anomalies one in sector 5c and another in sector 1b." Circe reported.
"Sector 1b, that's right out in front of the facility. Circe reroute security camera feeds of that sector to the screen." Damon ordered.
The view screen quickly changed from the day's reports to an image from right out in front of the pyramid. At first nothing could be seen; there was too much dust in the air. However, it was a windy day, and the dust was swiftly cleared away to reveal an amazing site. There, lying not two hundred feet from the entrance of the pyramid, lay a giant robot of some sort. It had a primarily blue coloring, with white highlights. With its one eye it resembled power armor a Cyclops might have worn; if that Cyclops were nearly a hundred feet tall.
"Circe, what are your scanners telling you?"
"I am having trouble scanning the robot; it is giving off a strange signature. I am however detecting 5 other life signs near it. Preliminary reports suggest they're human. My sensors don't have the range to give a detailed analysis of sector 5c; However, I can tell you that at least two more of these robots have landed there."
While everyone else in the room began discussing what had just happened, Damon began to quickly think out a plan. An incredible gift had just dropped into his lap, and he had to grab it before someone else did. He immediately went into quick thinking mode.
"Mal'ec, will other shifters have been able to sense what just happened?" Damon asked the elf.
"Yes." The elf replied.
"Alright people, here is what we're going to do. Val, I want you, Grunir, and Marc to head out to sector 5c and check out the site there. I don't care how you manage it, but I want those robots brought here. Take whatever equipment you need; you might not have a lot of time."
Damon then turned to Scott, "Scott, I want you to head up operations for the robot outside; check out those life signs and then find some way to get that robot off our door step." Damon ordered.
"Everyone has their orders, now get moving."
0000000
Location: Sector 1b
Scott looked at the giant robot in awe. It was even more incredible up close than it was on the view screen. He was tempted to run back inside, grab some more scanners and have a field day studying it. Unfortunately his fun would have to be put on hold.
"Spark, start a search pattern. See if you can find those life signs Circe was talking about." Scott ordered.
"Beginning search pattern." Spark replied cheerfully. The little robot then zipped off into the forest which surrounded the research facility.
Scott whipped out his deep scanner and got to work on the robot.
"Circe was right; this thing is giving off a weird scan. I wonder... if I were to try a psychic scanner, maybe I could get a clearer scan." Scott quickly put up his scanner and pulled a strange headset from the carrying pouch at his waist. The headset was nothing more than a lot of silver wiring and a glowing crystal set into the front of the headset. Scott slid the headset on, making sure the crystal was lying on his forehead. When he had finished adjusting the headset, Scott then closed his eyes and focused on the robot.
This time there was no distortion. With the psychic scanner, Scott could see the different auras that surrounded all creatures.
"Ah, that's better. Now let's see what we can see." Scott happily murmured to himself.
"Whoa. That things giving off two auras, which can only mean that there are two life signs. I'm guessing the bigger one must be the robot; well if it's giving off a life sign it's probably not a robot. So that means the aura in its back must be the pilot. Of course, I could be mistaken."
Scott opened his eyes and looked at the robot closely.
"Yeah, that back plate there could be a hatch of some sort, I think."
After a few seconds of internal debate, Scott leapt on to the robot and made his way to the suspected hatch. Upon reaching it he examined it closely.
"I wonder why it has this big cross mounted on it." Scott wondered to himself.
Scott then noticed a seal on the back, "Well that explains it. NERV: God's in his heaven, all's right with the world. Well, if all is right with the world, why do you need this big ass robot?" Scott was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice the handle until he tripped over it.
"What the hell did I just trip on?"
Scott looked at the handle and saw the label right above it.
"Emergency release, just what I was looking for."
Scott grabbed the handle and pulled it out of its socket. He then turned it ninety degrees, as the instructions ordered, and then pushed it back into the socket. Scott smiled as he heard machinery start moving, and then cried out as he was launched into the air as the back plate popped open. He landed hard somewhere near the head of the robot.
"I'm thinking a stand clear warning would have helped there." Scott muttered to himself. He picked himself up off the ground, dusted off the dirt on him and then cast a simple levitation spell on himself. He floated back over to the back plate, which was now open and extruding a very weird looking cylinder.
"The writing appears to be Japanese; well that's what these are for." Scott said as he pulled out a pair of ordinary looking glasses. He put them on and then used some of his P.P.E to charge them up. The glasses contained a spell known as the Eyes of Thoth. With these glasses, Scott could read any language, though he couldn't speak it.
Using the glasses, Scott read the writing on the capsule.
'Entry plug, Unit-00. Well, I'm guessing that this is the entry plug, but what is a unit-00?' Scott silently wondered to himself.
Scott circled the "entry plug" looking for a way in. He soon found it.
'Another emergency hatch, huh. Well this time let's hope it doesn't pop out.'
Scott grabbed the handles and easily pulled them out. He twisted them around and then hopped back, just as a precaution. He need not have been worried, as the hatch slid open spilling a strange orange liquid as it did.
'What's this stuff? Best get a sample off it.'
Scott was filling a specimen tube with some of the liquid, when he heard a noise from inside the entry plug. Scott's hand dropped to the holster on his thigh and drew his .44 cal. "Thunderer".
"On second thought, a stunner would be a better choice." Scott quickly re-holstered the handgun and then drew a much lighter gun from inside his jacket. The TW "Nerve Jammer" was something he and Marc had recently come up with. The gun converted magic energy into psychic energy, which was then fired at the target. The psychic bolt would then hit the target and-in essence-jam their nervous system. It was painless-something he had learned from experience-and had many settings for the different foes one might face on Rifts Earth. Scott set it to the lowest one, assuming for the moment that the target was indeed human.
Scott quietly moved over to the entry plug. On the count of three he grabbed the top of the hatch and lunged in, gun training on the pilot. However, he promptly forgot about the gun when he got his first look at the pilot. The pilot was human alright, and she was quite beautiful.
The girl looked to be 18 years old; she had blue hair, pale skin and was-by Scott's judgment-probably 5'10 or 5'11.
'Plus check out that figure, that suit she's wearing leaves nothing to the imagination.' A voice in his head stated. Scott immediately pushed the thought to the side (even though he did agree with it).
However, Scott did take another look at her suit though. It seemed like maybe she had been in a battle or something; there were little rips and tears on it.
'Those tears are in some of the most interesting pl...' Scott quickly stamped down on that thought.
Scott pulled a simple med scanner from his belt, and stepped into the entry plug. He moved over to the pilot and moved the scanner over her, checking for any injuries.
'She looks fine.' Scott thought when he finished his scan.
'You got that right.' The voice said, popping back into his head.
'Oh, would you shut up!'
Scott was so lost in thought arguing with himself that at first he didn't hear the soft whisper. However, he did hear it the second time. Scott looked at the pilot and saw that her eyes were open. Her eyes were red in color.
'Well, that explains the pale skin. She is an albino.'
0000000
Location: unknown
Rei had been drifting in a sea of darkness. She didn't know how long she had been there, and could only vaguely recall how she had got there. She remembered a blinding light, a maelstrom of wind, bolts of energy and then nothing.
She probably would have stayed in this sea of darkness if not for the cool breeze which had wafted over her, bringing her out of unconsciousness.
When she had opened her eyes she had immediately recognized her surroundings; she was in unit-00's entry plug. Looking around, she saw that the breeze had come in from the open emergency hatch. Wait, who was that standing over her?
His head was bent down as he looked at some odd hand device. He had a far away look in his ice-blue eyes; a look that reminded Rei of when she stared out the window in class. He looked to be older than her, probably 19 to 20 years old.
"Who?" Rei's first attempt at speech came out as a barely audible whisper. The man didn't notice at first, so Rei repeated her question a little louder.
That time the he did hear her, and looked up to her face.
"Who?" Repeated Rei a third time.
The man looked at little puzzled, and then mumbled something to himself in what sounded like English. However, the next words he spoke were in a language Rei had never heard before. He then spoke to her again, this time in Japanese.
"Is this better?" He asked in Japanese. At that moment, Rei could have sworn she saw blue sparks fly from his mouth.
"My name is Scott Fenix, welcome to Rifts Earth." The man said with an amused expression on his face. Rei-of course-did not understand the humor.
Rei had many questions floating through her mind; however, before she could ask them unconsciousness claimed her once more.
00000000
Scott watched as the girl once again drifted into unconsciousness.
'Good going Fenix, great first impression.' Scott mentally berated himself.
A buzz from his comm.unit interrupted his thoughts.
"This is Scott."
"Sir, Spark here. I have located all five of the life signs. They all appear to be human, and scans report them to be in good health." Spark reported.
"Excellent job, Spark. Plant locator beacons at their coordinates and then summon some medics from the facility. I've found the pilot to this robot, and I'll bring her in myself."
"Oh, so it's a female is it? Maybe I should head over there and keep an eye on you two." Spark responded, humor coloring its voice.
"Make anymore comments like that and the only place you'll be going is the scrap heap." Scott retorted.
"Heh, heh, we'll see. Beacons have been planted and medical assistance summoned. Spark out." With that Spark then broke the connection.
"Uppity robot, Marc has obviously corrupted him."
Scott then stepped over to the pilot and gently picked her up. Scott then climbed out of the entry plug and off of the robot. He then proceeded back to base, his destination: the medical wing.
00000000000
Location: sector 5c
It had been the pain that had called him here. He couldn't understand it at first, but now he knew why.
Standing before him were two giant robots. They were obviously gifts from the gods. They were the sign he had been waiting for, that his mistress had been waiting for. He quickly turned and ran back into the forest; anxious to inform his mistress of the weapons that the gods were gifting her with.
000000000
Next chapter...4: Discoveries
Special thanks: Eternally Lost Zeppo, my pre-reader who pointed out to me a serious flaw in this chapter which I would have completely overlooked, thanks.
A/N: If parts of this chapter seemed vague, there are two reasons for it. A) Most of this chapter was typed after midnight and, B) I was being intentionally vague in some parts. I intentionally changed Rei's age, it will be explained in ch.5, and as you will see in ch.4 it wasn't only Rei who was changed. Well, that's it for this chapter. Please R&R. 'Til next chapter.
(#): Definitions
Nexus- A point where two or more ley lines converge. Rifts tend to open more frequently on nexus points. Magic energy is stronger on these points.
Atlantean Stone Master- A magic user and former inhabitant of Atlantis, who uses magic to shape stone. Also have other abilities that have to do with stones, and gems.
Techno-Wizard- A relatively new form of magic. Only recently started in North America, and is nearly unknown in the rest of the Megaverse. Techno-Wizard's combine magic and technology into devastatingly effective items. Many TW items require that you be a magic user to use them. However, a number of new inventions, such as the TW P.P.E clip, allow non-magic users to use TW devices.
Shifter- A form of magic. Shifters are the premier travelers of the Megaverse. No one else understands rifts and dimensional travel better than they. They can sense the opening of rifts within a 10 mile radius.
Review responses-
Isamu- Glad you could review. I read your story and it kicks ass. If you need any help or motivational ideas just e-mail me.
vcharlie-Thanks for the overview of Tokyo-3. However, in the world of Rifts all those anti-angel defenses are not going to be as effective against the foes that Tokyo-3 will face. However as you will eventually see, this will not be a problem. I plan on giving a good background for Rifts earth in ch.5, and character flashbacks will also start in that chapter or in ch.6. If you can't wait, read Isamu's crossroads (another rifts/eva fic), his first chapter has a great overview in it.
Andross937- Thanks for another great review. I have to say I am a little flattered. Thanks for pointing out that SD/MD thing (Never knew that). As for the e-mails, I have no problem waiting for a reply, I'm a patient person.