Warp was dragged over to the floor quite some distance from the throne, the last round of torture featured logs and his entire body ached from the various types of torture that the android had done. His chest felt sore, all that laughter, wheezing, from hearing the evil emperor curse at him. His shoulders ached the most, sore, sharp pain whenever he moved them. There had to be some serious damage to his shoulders that the evil emperor had neglected to have noted and fixed with the sheer determination to get the data out.
Zurg had made him walk on logs as part of a innovative machine that sorted out material, for roughly a couple hours, the Space Ranger enjoyed the nice walk with his thoughts to himself rightfully angering the Evil Emperor Zurg. That was before the emperor shoved Warp out into the open, on a sea of logs ready to give out and fall down into a empty lake bed, being beaten up by logs in the process, tangled in said logs with only his head peaking out of the sea of logs when the evil emperor approached him for that same question. Zurg's curses only made it better.
Warp hadn't had this kind of fun in a long time, in hindsight.
"What is the anniversary about?" Zurg asked, calmly.
"The day that you . . ." Warp let it hang.
"That I-what?" Zurg leaned, on the edge of his seat, his attention held.
"-were made." Warp's features became somber then looked aside as his shoulders lowered. "Unfortunately."
Zurg stood up from the chair, his hands clenched, anger radiating from his optics.
"Hornets, put a rock on him until he says uncle!" Zurg ordered.
"Buzz would have already told you by now." Warp acknowledged with a smirk.
"He would have said uncle," The evil emperor pointed back at the Space Ranger. "anniversary's are less dear to them than access codes are!"
Warp felt a weight applied to his back then winced feeling old wounds flaring up, squeezing his eyes shut. He was close to spilling the beans. Incredibly close. He opened his eyes then looked toward the laughing emperor and his strength to not tell became renewed. Hornets continued piling up rocks on his back as the emperor came down the steps then over the curved bridge rubbing his claws together.
It was better than dying in the field when the chances of turning thins in his favor becoming razor thin and his team getting to see him fall in action. Better than taking him back to Star Command, and hold a funeral, be remembered with Buzz Lightyear, and the battle against Zurg continuing with a new generation of Space Rangers following in Buzz's footsteps. Long as his body never returned, Buzz Lightyear would be the one celebrated for all the right reasons.
"Curse you, Warp Darkmatter!" Zurg swore at the Space Ranger then set his hands on his hips. "For being so defiant like Buzz Lightyear."
Warp bore a grin looking toward the looming android, fondly, full of amusement.
"Comes with having a great partner who taught what inner strength is in the face of you."
Darkmatter traveled through the facility, bored, out of his mind, his eyes had adjusted well to the lack of lighting. The first time that he tried to get out, he was met by space then being flung back into the facility. He tried, over and over, and over, to withdraw a chair and sit down, getting angry. Why was Star Command afraid of a little unpredictable Zurg? They were all scaredy cats.
Buzz was going to come back early.
And Zurg was going to help him out, as usual, soon.
"I'll ask you again, Ranger Darkmatter, what is the anniversary about?"
Warp was standing up, holding himself, in a one hundred-three below degrees cell that was gray, stripped of clothing. For a Ipsedan, this was equivalent to standing in the center of a cold cell that was fifty degrees and only that. Being a member of a species that flourished in the cold came with it's advantages not that the emperor cared much for apparently.
"It's about . . ." He were breaking. "moving on. . ."
"From from from from from?" Zurg drew closer.
Zurg loomed over the man who then proceeded to smirk with a chatter from his teeth clicking together.
"What ever from?" Zurg asked.
Warp loved being himself.
"From the likes of your ilk, Evil Emperor Zurg." It had been years since he said that and he took glee in the way it were delivered, taunting. "And more evil."
The evil emperor was ready to burst, to erupt, his glare hardening upon the Space Ranger.
"CURSE YOU, WARP DARKMATTER!" The evil emperor exclaimed then turned away with his hands clenched into fists. "Hornets make it boiling!"
Warp watched the door close then leaned against it and waited for the steam to build up.
"This is the best time that I've had in years." Warp said, sporting a grin, relaxing.
A silver van came to a pause across from the portal lingering there in the Alpha Quadrant. Nana Lightyear stared at it, it was precisely large, big enough for a shuttle, she looked down toward her box then up, as the great grandchildren in the back were playing with their Disney toys making noises for sound effects. They were in their junior space suits, tailored, bought, and worn. Quark stared out between the uber driver and nana, his jaw fallen, his eyes were big as saucers.
"Okay, granny," The uber driver said then glared back at the old woman. "Why are we in front of a portal?"
"Some investigating." Nana said, simply, observing the portal. "For my entertainment."
"Make it quick, this is the wild area." The uber warned the older woman. "If we remain here longer than five minutes then we might be issued a ticket for entering in this section of space without a permit by a Space Ranger!"
"I was thinking you do that, child." Nana cast her gaze upon the uber with a smile. "For this old poor lady, would you?"
"Alright, alright, Mrs Lightyear." the uber driver said. "Can't say no to a old face like that."
The uber driver exited the shuttle with suit on then approached the portal, no reflection, staring out what looked like a almost identical area of space. Save for lacking his vehicle. He shifted toward the ship then slid his arm into the portal and waved it. The old woman only gave a thumbs back then the traveler returned.
"Happy now?"
Her glasses glint.
"Very."
"Nana, what's that?" Gamma asked.
"A tear drop in space." Nana said
"OOOoooohh, it looks cool!" Quark chimed in.
"Very cool, dear." Nana looked toward her great grandchildren. "You're going to meet your uncle Warp very soon."
"SINGING SPACE RANGER!" the Lightyears cheered.
Darkmatter stared at the doorway, his arms waiting, impatiently. It had been two weeks since Star Command had aimed at him, the lack of hearing people, talking to people, being seen, was getting on him. The mercenary heard a beep. Evil Emperor Zurg! He ran for the sound running on through tables, desks, and equipment until coming to a halt.
"Evil Emperor Zurg, I knew you would-"
It were just the computer.
"I can't take another week of this!"
He turned away from the machine then tried to initiate contact.
"Warp Darkmatter to Star Command, can you hear me, can you hear me?"
The screen sizzled. And he were all alone with only his voice for company.
And he had done it all to to himself.
Darkmatter stood there, horrified.
Warp stood there, content. His hands were bound behind his back, on a Zurg authorized cruise ship, the hornets were sprawling all over the place, enjoying the fresh air. He admired the comforting blue scenery, the sight of the familiar blue sky in the distance, the white clouds hanging in the sky distantly. It was healing being on a hospital class m planet and uplifted his spirits.
He was guided to the edge of the cruise ship, right at the back, the sound of the waves crashing against the cruise ship were loud. He looked over in the direction of the emperor, resting in a chair, gripping the arm rest, beckoning the two hornets behind the Space Ranger to act. He looked across, where his old partner would be held normally, visualizing Buzz Lightyear being restrained by two hornets, greatly concerned for his friend, demanding this charade to end before someone got killed. Warp could only smile. I miss you. He turned his attention away from the transparent visual.
Then he heard a snap and he were chucked off the edge of the cruise ship with a long blood curling scream. There was a fine thick cord wrapped around his waist as he were were slammed against the hull, repeatedly. Then after a time, he were lifted up, his head aching, fingers aching just the same, then dropped to the ground. The Space Ranger coughed as the evil emperor rushed over to his side.
"WHAT IS THE ANNIVERSARY ABOUT?"
"You don't deserve the truth!"
"I do!"
"You don't! You can't handle the truth!"
"I can handle the truth! Handle it every day, Warp Darkmatter. It's how I live!"
"How you live?" Warp laughed, dryly, his figure trembling with laughter. "You never live," His mood darkened as he stepped forward, his glare darkening, quickly dispatching a hornet. "You just operate!"
"You flourish in evil, swim in it, daily, nothing changes, well, guess what, change has to hit you eventually! Star Command is not always going to be there with your reckless arrangement in lairs, how you disregard safety of others that aren't in your inner circle, how everything will come to a end with everyone making it out!"
"Change punches you in the face, it attacks you brutally when you realize that everything is different now! It can never go back to the way it had been before! Losing or winning, it happens every day, replacing your environment with new things, new conditions, getting stronger, clever, and new faces!"
"At the end of the day, I pity you." Warp pointed at the evil emperor. "Because you're not like me."
Warp used the chair beside him to stand up.
"You're just gonna live, survive, out last us, evil has a history of doing that. . . and you're going to call out names of people who died because of you, only, you're not facing them, you're facing someone else, who is following their footsteps, you get over it easily in the first five minutes with these newcomers, but for those who saw them replaced, it's never easy! They're always going to be alive to you, still around, in your memory processor! Still going to call them out! And we can't see them again unlike YOU."
then he sighed, getting that off his chest, shaking his head.
"And that, Evil Emperor Zurg, is why I pity you."
"Why . . . why. . ." The emperor came closer to the Space Ranger, curious, only slightly concerned, his optics squinting. He were close to the answer. ". . . does it sound that there was a drastic change where you're from?"
"Not that drastic."
Warp smirked in response as he started to laugh as the evil emperor was starting to shake with fury at the trick.
"Everything is the same; exactly the same, same person, same fight."
"WHAT IS THE ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATING THEN?" Zurg yelled.
"The day Buzz Lightyear won a chess game against you."
"Curse you, Warp Darkmatter!"
Zurg threw a ball of electricity back at the Space Ranger knocking him down to the ground.
"Warp Darkmatter, let's try this again."
Warp groaned, lifted back up to his feet by the hornets, blue blood trickling down the side of his face.
"Haven't you wondered about your mercenary?" Warp taunted, only a little curious. "Star Command is going to figure out quickly why your attention is being held elsewhere." Then motioned his head. "And Buzz Lightyear must be very concerned about your lack of activity in his life."
"Warp Darkmatter is busy having personal time," Zurg turned his back toward the Space Ranger as he walked back to the chair then sat down. He clasped his claws together, evil radiating from him, then made a hand gesture. "I have everything that is needed."
Warp was thrown off the boat as it clicked to him. Hell really comes from Venus.
A clicking sound echoed in the facility, unheard to the typical ear, but one that was heard by Darkmatter. One click. Two clicks. Three clicks. Four clicks. Five clicks. It was a sound that he repeated every few hours not to feel alone. He had his back to the wall, waiting, to talk to someone. Anyone, didn't matter what they were, who they were, he wanted to be touched, to touch someone, to feel another presence other than him.
There were no women around, no men, no creatures of other worldly origin. The facility had to be kept under lock and key, the coordinates lost to average travelers. He sighed with some difficulty, his eyes unable to cry after hours of crying, his yellow eyes a nice shade of red. A mistake that he were paying big for.
Is that all it took to break him?
Loneliness?
Yeah.
