How's it going Fanfic enthusiast? Nibbles here, the 3rd installment of the "Clock Struck Midnight" series has finally arrived. A couple of questions have been brought to my attention and I'd like to point said questions out in my "Fanfic FAQ.":
Q: How many OC's are in this story?
A: There are (So far) quite a few. Ben is an OC; Cassius, Vexus's new right hand man is an OC (It shall be explained); Gerardo will make his second appearance in this installment, as will Mr. Black and an additional OC Mr. White. So… a lot…. And more to come :D
Q: Who is Ben Supposed to represent?
A: No one.
Q: Be honest.
A: That wasn't really a question, more of a demand.
Q: Okay, who does it REALLY represent?
A: In a minor way, he looks like me. And I know that's the a-typical Fanfic strategy, and that wasn't my goal. 1) I'm not THAT "ruggedly handsome", nor badass. 2) Jenny in my Fanfic may be attractive, but I still imagine my dick in a garbage press. So I really wouldn't want to date her. (Though I did date a girl named Jenny o.0) 3) my voice is like Bob Dylan w/ throat cancer, nowhere near "harp" level. 4) I'm not a [+++Deleted by Inquisition+++], and whistled for a baboon.
Q: How often were these questions asked?
A: Once, by me.
A: No
Q: Is it true that you are psychic?
Q: I'm going to the Store do you want anything?
A: Nah, I've got enough turtles already.
Now without further ado, "Chapter III: Deeds of Crimson" Enjoy, C&C, etc.
PS: Disclaimer: I do not own MLAATR nor Warhammer 40,000. As well, this story is intensely graphic an is not for the faint of heart. (Consider that a constant throughout ANYTHING I do.)
It was late. Jenny shouldn't have made this trip so late at night. If her mom finds out that she snuck out at midnight, she'll be off-lined in a heartbeat. But she felt ready for this procedure, and she wanted to get it done specifically for Ben, and herself. He pig-tail jets carried her at mach speeds over the US plains. She had reached the Seattle metropolitan area in less than 20 minutes. The clouds suddenly converged on her, moisture built up on her white, metal body. The thick, grey rain clouds blocked her vision. She had to slow down and go into the lower atmosphere.
She came to a dead stop, the broken sound barrier caught up to her, the sound boomed into the massive city that engulfed modern Washington. The sonic boom blew the clouds and rain past Jenny, drenching her. She felt nothing, her clothes, however, were now sopping wet. She wore black boots with a decent heel to them, a light blue summer dress, and a heavy black trench coat over that. The water cut through her coat like it was nothing, soaking her dress. She grunted angrily but didn't fret long; she was on a time limit.
Her internal map navigated the massive city of Seattle. A holographic image of the city appeared within her eyes. She saw a specific building highlighted red as opposed to the neon green of the rest of the town. She followed the map to her target location; she recognized the area all too well. It was slummy, gangs ran ramped through the town, illegal alien species roamed through the dimly lit district in large packs.
Jenny Roared over head until she saw the building that matched the glowing red one. It was a pub for mercenaries and alien refugees. She landed outside the door. A huge robot stood outside, bouncing people from the premises. He was shelled in a massive, purplish-grey hull, with a bulky chest of black that resembled a wife-beater. He looked at her, his glowing orange eyes instantly recognizing her cute-pee face.
"Go ahead Jenny" the automaton boomed, stepping aside to let the teenager through.
"Thanks, Rex." She said, giving a slight smile as she stepped through the portal.
The group within varied greatly. Some large, some small, some were alien, somewhere human, some were robots. All carried a similar trademark; they all had a biotic of some sort, whether it is a limb or an eye or a series of internal organs. The man who did all of this work was one of the best, also the most wanted by the Federal Government.
Jenny stepped up to the bar, its bartender absent. She leaned on the bar naively, sticking her rear out a bit. The mostly male crowd turned their heads in intrigue. A few threw their keys onto the floor to get a better view of "the goods", but disappointedly saw nothing. Jenny knew what they were doing. It turned her stomach a bit, but also flattered her surprisingly. She's never turned heads before, that was, until Gerardo came in.
A chitinous, bi-pedal, bug creature immerged from the back room. It too recognized the robot girl. Jenny gave it a nice, but uncomfortable smile as it approached her and spoke:
"Back so soon, Jenny?" its mandibles clicked.
"Not for anything big, I just need to talk to Gerardo." She said.
"He's in a meeting, but I can tell him you're here." The creature clicked
"Sure, thanks." She said, again with a grossed, awkward smile.
The creature returned to the back room after filling up some glasses with some questionable fluids and passing them to a robot waitress. Shortly after the creature left, she heard the whirl of Gerardo's bone saw, followed by the screams of his half-conscious client. Jenny, yet again naively, removed her sopping wet jacket and trapped it over her arm, revealing the spaghetti straps that held her dress up. This caused one extremely drunken man to gain the balls to approach the famous robot girl, despite the warnings of his friends.
"Hey, baby," Slurred the drunk "What is a fine specimen such as you doing in a slummy part of town such as this?"
"I'm seeing Gerardo." She said emotionlessly to the man coming on to her.
He was a hideous thing; his right eye was replaced by a grievous bionic one that engulfed most of that side of his face. His teeth were sparse, his head was balding, and his skin was dirty. If she had them, her senses would have been primly offended.
"Hun, you don't need any bit of work on that fine body of yours" he slurred, eyeballing her features.
"Thanks," she said coldly "You do."
"Hah! I like 'em feisty!" The man boldly grabbing her mechanical bum, Jenny yelped and the bar averted their gaze from what Jenny might, and could do to this man "Whatdaya say we blow this joint and you come back to ma place? It ain't far."
"Sure," Jenny said smiling.
Her smooth, white hand lightly grazed the man's crotch. His eyes widened with excitement. A small probe rose from Jenny's forefinger and sent 1,000 volts of electricity into his genitals. The man grabbed himself and fell to the floor in agonizing pain.
"Call me when you can get an errection in 6 months." She said coldly, turning her gaze to the door the bartender-thing disappeared into. The drunk's buddies dragged the man back to their table, which of which was losing consciousness. Rolling laughter filled the bar at the man's expense; the few women (or woman-oids) applauded the mighty XJ-9. Jenny didn't pay any attention; she just looked at the door, waiting for the bartender-thing to return. After a few more moments, the bug-man emerged from the door.
"He's ready to see you, Miss." Its mandibles clicked.
Jenny said thank you as the bug lifted the panel keeping separated the bar from behind the rest of the room. She walked through the rotted, wooden door and found herself in a gritty dark holding room. A corridor on the right was illuminated, the whirring of machines and running water coming from deep within. She followed the whirring down the corridor; it was dimly lit by lamps that were attached to the ceiling. She walked past several rooms, in some people were resting, in others, she could hear the moans and screams of sexual activity behind closed doors. Finally, the second to last door was where she wished to be. This one was brightly illuminated, and the whirring had finally become quite loud. As she turned the corner, she knocked on the open door, politely.
"Come in, Jennifer," Spoke the Irishman within, as if through a fan. "You know you're always welcome here, lass."
"Hey Gerardo. How are you?" she said
"Deadly, and yourself?" responded the man, his voice metallic
"Fine".
As she turned into the room, she saw a very muscular man hunched over a sink. He was tan, and extremely tall. One would assume his hair was black and done into corn-rows. But upon looking closely on this individual, one would notice that he has no hair at all, but they are, in fact, black wires that are leading from his neck and upper back into his brow and other places. He stood shirtless, several black ports jutted from his back, they had been sealed with a low-cost synth-skin, and appeared to be gruesomely scabbed over. A massive mechanical limb was extended over his shoulder and into the sink, where he was washing the blood off.
The second thing Jenny saw was a dentist's chair that had been modified for Gerardo's needs. It was doused in blood and chunks of meat. Her faux senses could tell that the air was thick with elements consisting to that of a meat packing plant. This information made her tense up as her mind perceived the room to smell of meat.
"Sorry, Jennifer, I just barely started cleaning up. You can take the weight off your legs if you'd like." Said Gerardo
"N-no thanks, I'm okay" she stammered attempting not to be rude to the bionic surgeon, for not understanding him.
"I mean sit down, you bloody knacker." Spoke the machine man sarcastically, still washing his tools.
"Oh," said Jenny embarrassed. "I'm good."
Suddenly she heard a distinct sound of buzzing flies. She stepped closer to the gore covered seat. On the other side, a collection of flies has begun to buzz. She peered over and clasped her hand over her mouth in horror. Several human limbs and organs were sitting in a tin bath, soaking in their own blood.
"Whoops," said the Irish semi-human kicking the tin bath with a booted foot under a desk. "Sorry about that, lass."
Jenny looked up at the half breed and her face tweaked as it always does when she sees his face. From the nose down, his flesh, muscle and all, was removed leaving only a bleached skull and several wires in its place. His left eye had been replaced by a large tri-focal, each of the three green eyes rotating to perform specific task. His right eye was all that remained of his human flesh, and the single hazel eye that shown he was still human, or at least humanoid.
"Please, sit." He said, throwing a large towel over the blood stains.
She sat and crossed her legs daintily. He too, pulled up a chair and sat.
"What's the craic, Jennifer?" he asked, putting his massive black boots on the end of the dentist's chair.
"Well, I was asked out today," she giggled, quick finding a link to Irish Idioms "So I guess that's good news."
He nodded and his eye squinted. A gesture that she could only perceive as smile.
"So what's that got to do with the price of tea in china?" he asked rudely.
"I… I think I want… to go through with it." She said, beginning to blush. His eye widened.
"The procedure… the one we spoke of?"
She nodded.
"Jeanie Mac!" cursed the Irishman, standing up grabbing his head-wires "You realize I can triple my bounty if I did that?"
"I will pay you the dividend, and-"
"Listen, Jen," interrupted the man-thing "I like you. You're my favorite client and my biggest success story."
A long pause brought the grimace on Jenny's face to a mile frown.
"But I don't think you're ready for such a thing. I mean, according to your design schematic you're only 17. Legally I'm only aloud to do this risky, delicate and… sexual procedure to 25 year olds."
"Since when does legal matter to you?" barked Jenny.
"When it involves Earth Defense Unit XJ-9, that's when!" the amplifier on the speaker within his skeletal jaw shot up. He twisted a black knob on his chest and a resounding "whoop" of his speaker followed. "Just because the Cluster fell doesn't mean you aren't still wanted by the bloody federal shinners."
"So you're saying you won't do it?" Said Jenny disappointedly.
"I'm saying you're not ready," Gerardo sat next to the robot and rapped his mechanical arm around her. "You're willing to literally transform your body for one lad? He can't be that worth it. And what about that other feller you spoke of. You know, the one we did all this to impress"
"He is! He's absolutely perfect and…" she paused and hung her head low "I'm nothing,"
"Listen, love," the Irishman said, sliding away from Jenny "You're a nice gal and all, but I'm not really good at this kind of stuff. It's all high school mumbo-jumbo anyway. You'll forget about this lad in a few short years anyway."
"That doesn't explain why every man in my town turns their head to me and but the only one I care about. And finally I found a guy who likes me for who I am. Don't I deserve that?"
She looked up at him, her eyes were distressed. If she could, she'd be crying.
"Feckin'-A," cursed Gerardo, he gazed into her eyes. "Fine, I'd prepare the nerves for next weekend. The synth-flesh won't be here until then, regardless."
"Oh, thank you!" Shouted Jenny throwing herself into Gerardo's arms, her voice seemingly cracking "You're my hero."
"Aye," patting the extremely heavy girl on the back.
Jenny stood up and grabbed her coat, looking back at Gerardo. She had a huge smile on her face, her bionic eyes seemed to glimmer as if full of tears. She gleefully turned on her heel and clacked down the hallway. After a few short moments, he heard her soon-to-be-removed pigtail rockets lift her into the sky.
"Take care, Jen," he whispered to himself.
Gerardo walked over to the mirror. He saw the reflection of his misshapen self. He thought, Funny, she wanst desperately to be human and I want to remove this vile skin. He chuckled and turned around, grabbing his red robe from his coat rack. He walked to a seemingly normal closet and opened it. He put on his robe and closed the door behind him. He knelt down before the shining idol in front of him, and began to mutter a few words of prayer at the massive idol. The language he spoke was rare, and almost dead, but not to him. Not to the followers of the Omnissiah.