Chapter 14: The Warrior Apprentice
Location: Munitions Marketing District
Urbania
The Munitions Marketing District was just a simple offshoot of the Main Road, and played host to many firearms companies. From the ever loud Torgue Corporation offices, with its explosions and absurdities, to the various thermal guns of Salarian make, to the incredibly large and often overpopulated Mann Co. storefront. Everything sold guns, even the vending machines sold pistols instead of snack foods. But among the more glorious sights in the District was the massive Ultor Tower, the intimidating red and black skyscraper belonging to one of the IDA's biggest financial and military backers, the Ultor Corporation. The company responsible for numerous pieces of the IDA's arsenal, ranging from special operatives, guns, and clothing line, had one of the greatest landmarks in all of Base Prime. It is here that, after a long walk, the four men of the Heart of Steel finally arrived, whilst amidst a conversation.
"And so I've got my sword running right through her abdomen and she's bleeding all over me," Travis said, recounting one of his older missions. "But that bitch wouldn't let up and just starts wailing on me with her baseball bat." Eddie let off a long whistle, while the Overlord and Jack looked disinterested.
"You serious?" Eddie asked, the No More Hero giving a solemn nod. "Damn, and I thought the guys I had to put up with were nuts."
"Tch, I live in a world with carnivorous unicorns and succubi harems," The Overlord scoffed. "That is nothing." The four men approached the wide glass doors to the building, where Dane Vogul currently lay in a dire hostage situation. Travis attempted to open the doors, only to find them locked tight.
"Damn, we're going to have to bust in." Travis muttered. "Alright, who wants to-?" The immediate sound of shattered glass and the Overlord bellowing loudly silenced Travis, who turned and saw the sizable hole where the door once was. "Good work team." Jack grumbled, stepping through the hole with the others in pursuit. The entered the pristine white lobby of the Ultor building, surprised to find most of it intact compared to the rest of the Tournament area. The only notable things that stood out was someone had apparently spray painted a black and white mask over the Ultor logo on the floor.
(Rick: I actually frequent Ultor for their clothing line-up.)
(Slick: They sell suits and fancy stuff, more up my alley. You dress casually.)
(Rick: Oh, you're one to talk, Mr. Turtle Necks.)
"No guards, how odd…" The Overlord muttered, dusting the shattered glass off his shoulders. The four men began to wander about, searching for any signs of conflict. Eddie checked to see if the elevator was working (because there was no way in hell they were going to climb up sixty flights of stairs), and sure enough, they were. Eddie chuckled, glad that things were actually going his way for once, but his thoughts were disrupted when he felt something sticky land on his shoulder. The Roadie turned and saw that large gob of something landed on him, suspiciously like saliva. Carefully, Eddie looked upwards to the ceiling, and found that they were not alone.
"THE FUCK ARE THOSE THINGS?!" Eddie shouted. The others looked up at the ceiling and saw eight strange people dangling from the ceiling by hooks on their hands, each one disheveled and bearing a psychotic look and bandages all over their arms and bodies. They could only be one thing.
"Splicers!" Jack barked, revving his chainsaw. "Spider Splicers!" The Splicers cackled, each dropping from the ceiling and circling the four men, raking their bloodied hooks. The four men drew their weapons, startled at the arrival of these lunatics, but took notice that each of the Splicers bore a white mask icon on their shoulders, much like the graffiti on the floor.
(Slick: I wasn't aware that Splicers were allowed to compete. Those nuts from the undersea city of Rapture are even more unhinged than Fiends, due to the fact their bodies are pumped to the brim with a gene enhancing drug called ADAM.)
(Rick: If I recall correctly, the IDA plays host to a few of the Rapture Family Splicers, but the fact they're bearing marks is a bit unusual, even for them!)
"Lookit here, mates," One of the Splicers, who wore bandages over his face, snickered in a Cockney accent. "We caught ourselves a bunch of fishies here." The other Splicers maliciously chuckled. "Probably here to rescue the big fish strung up top, aren't they?"
"What's it to you, Splicers?" Jack questioned. "Why would you drug addled fucks want anything to do with Ultor? Vogul doesn't have anything involving that gene-enhancing ADAM crap, so why go after him."
"Shut it, ya limp shits!" Another Splicer snarled, scraping his hooks on the floor. "Say anythin' smart again and we will kill your dicks!" Travis, for one, looked appalled.
"Kill our dicks?" Travis repeated. "What the hell's that supposed to mean? We'll kill your dicks! How about that?" Jack merely cupped his face into his palm.
"That is the stupidest thing to come out of your mouth to date." Jack grumbled. "Yet oddly familiar." Jack shrugged it off, and returned to the situation at hand. "But seriously, what the hell do you want?"
"Normally, we wouldn't give a flying piss what goes on outside of our own hobbles," The first Splicer explained. "But that scary bint with the glowing skewer offered us five oil drums filled with ADAM if we played Scotland Yard." He held up his hook hand, pointing at Jack. "And we aim to get that bounty." Rolling his eyes, Jack simply reached out with his metal arm, grabbed the hook, and twisted the weapon between his fingers. The Splicer yelped in surprise, while Jack yanked him over, held the arm behind his back, and rammed his chainsaw through the Splicer's torso. The crazed man fell dead on the ground, a gaping hole in his body spilling blood, while the other Splicers looked both horrified and furious.
(Slick: Epic fight time?)
(Rick: Epic fight time.)
(Slick: EPIC FIGHT TIME!)
(Recommended music: NMH from the No More Heroes OST)
"Let's rock." Travis said, and immediately dove towards a pair of Splicers, Tsubaki Mk. III glistening its green hue. Before the attackers could react, Travis sliced them clean down the middle, their top halves falling to the ground while the legs crumpled in a heap. Taking initiative himself, Eddie readied Clementine and hammered out an Earthshaker wave, knocking the Splicers back a bit and giving the others some breathing room.
"Rip their innards out and hang 'em with it!" A Splicer yowled, bounding on all fours like a rabid animal. Eddie quickly swapped his guitar for his axe and delivered a critical blow to the charging Splicer, cleaving him in twine. The other Splicers quickly got wise and started climbing the walls, eager to get away from the dangerous men. Eddie and the Overlord, however, were on it. Those that weren't fast enough to avoid the Overlord's fireballs found themselves burnt to a crisp, practically fused to the walls. Those that escaped were forced to fight the winged Roadie, trying to knock away the Separator with flailing hook swings. Eddie clashed with a particularly stubborn Splicer who dangled from the ceiling by both his legs, spiked boots digging into the ceiling. The Splicer managed to get a small scratch on Eddie's arm, to which Eddie promptly responded by dismembering the Spider Splicer at the knee.
"Incoming asshole!" Eddie shouted, watching the Spider Splicer drop like a sack of shit. Travis saw the falling foe, and decided for a little pizazz at the moment. He quickly slashed the Splicer he grappled with and ran towards the plummeting idiot with his blade raised above his head. The Splicer was speared right through the abdomen, gasping in pain as Travis smirked in triumph.
"Gene Junky Kebab!" Travis laughed, tossing the corpse of his blade. The Splicers were almost dead, but the sound of the elevator opening brought great worry. Ten more Splicers piled out, each carrying an automatic rifle or Tommy gun, aimed right at the fighters.
"Leadheads!" Jack called out, tossing a dazed Splicer towards Travis. "Take cover!" Bullets erupted from the mouths of the gun, roaring loudly as they tore the room apart. Jack shielded himself with his arm, Travis hid behind his new human shield as the Splicer was filled with more holes than a poorly written novel, Eddie simply flew about, dodging as many bullets has he could, while the Overlord simply stood there and took it like a man, the lead ammunition simply bouncing off the durable armor of the dark lord. The live fire went on for a full minute, until a total of ten guns coughed air as opposed to bullets.
"Oh shit with a side of spaghetti." One of the Leadheads muttered as the Heart of Steel charged at them, weapons drawn and ready to kill. The skirmish lasted a mere fifteen seconds, and soon all the Splicers were reduced no nothing but corpses and stains on the walls.
(Rick: Why would anyone want shit with a side of spaghetti?)
(Slick: Isn't that what you make for brunch? *self-high five* BURN!)
"That takes care of that ambush." Jack said, wiping blood off his goggles. "But why the hell are a bunch of Splicers competing in the Tournament?"
"Yeah, Rapture's one of those 'do not disturb' spots," Eddie added, adjusting the strap on his guitar. "Weird seeing as we just saw a Moonlight Butterfly, also."
"I don't think there's a connection," Travis responded, lifting up the severed arm of one of the Splicers. "These guys all have this weird mark on them, and 21 told me someone from Lordran sold them that Butterfly." The assassin tossed the limb aside. "There's something else at play here."
"It's not important," The Overlord grumbled, standing by the open elevator. "Let's just focus on getting Vogul and dealing with the matter at hand." The others turned to each other and shrugged, joining their ominous companion in the elevator just as he pressed the button to the roof. While the small compartment rose to the top, the four men stood around in relative silence, listening to faint elevator music. "So, inform me about this Vogul person. I'm not well versed in your advanced types of storefronts."
"Judging from that thing with the ECHO earlier, that's not surprising." Travis muttered under his breath, quiet enough not to anger the evil menace.
"Dane Vogul is the CEO of the Ultor Corporation," Jack explained. "A company that has its roots in the same universe the Saints come from, but has grown so influential that it was the first company to open up offices and a storefront in another universe. He was apparently killed by the leader of the Saints way back and was stuck in Hell for a while, until the Boss was kidnapped by the Devil and Vogul struck a deal with one of the Saint lieutenants to start a hostile business takeover, a guy named Johnny Gat."
"I recall meeting a Johnny Gat on my way to Lookout Watch." The Overlord mused.
"About a year after that ordeal," Jack continued. "The Saints joined the IDA and became one of their larger forces. Thanks to that, Vogul was able to use the Saints as backing to become a Gem Body and expand his storefront. Now Ultor exists in most IDA-protected Universes, and happens to sell a bulk of the IDA's munitions supplies comparable to the shit the gun companies from the Vault Universe churn out." Jack plucked a cigarette and gave it a quick light. "Vogul is one of the biggest financial players in the IDA, making him almost as big as one of the Upper Council members." The Overlord gave an impressed sigh, the conversation abruptly ending as the elevator finally came to a halt. "Game time, boys."
The elevator opened with a soft ding, allowing the four men to walk out onto the large concrete rooftop. Like the rest of the building, everything was emblazoned with the red and black Ultor logo, even the three helicopter pads. Travis mentioned something about the Company being way too damn pretentious before exiting, keeping an eye out for the target. Sure enough, sitting tied to an executive swivel chair was a man in a black business suit with sandy blonde hair. It could only be none other than Dane Vogul, the normally smug and confident business mogul who bought out hell itself looking irritated behind the cloth gag in his mouth. The Heart of Steel ran to the tied up man and began undoing his bindings.
Dane Vogul, Ultor CEO
Has Good Taste in Scotch
"Took you long enough!" Dane grunted as soon as the gag came off. "Did someone finally get their head out of their ass and send the cavalry or are you all I got? Because if that's the case, I'm kind of concerned on how you made it this far."
"Vogul, keep talking shit and the gag goes back on." Jack firmly said, breaking the bindings on his hands. "Now, focus more on the important stuff, like the 'some mysterious punks kidnapped you' part, because shit's been turned on its head ever since you got captured."
"I thought you didn't want me to talk, Cayman." Dane playfully teased, only to earn a glare from the DeathWatcher. "Alright, jeez, it was a joke. Pull that rod out of your ass sometime."
"It's really far up there, Vogul," Travis said, keeping an eye out. "It'd take a miracle to accomplish that."
"Travis, for the love of god," Jack grumbled into his hand. "I will throw you off the roof if you don't shut up."
"Anyway, I didn't really see much," Dane explained, dusting his suit off. "Given I was conducting a Sponsorship Deal with the Saints to avoid getting shot in the face, someone snuck up behind me and black-bagged me. Then I got hit in the face, someone bound and gagged me while I was out, and I wake up inside a dark room surrounded by a bunch of shadowy figures."
"Shadowy figures, eh?" Eddie asked, rubbing the scruff of his beard. "How many were there and what did they look like?"
"They looked like shadows, pal, I couldn't see." Dane said, incredulously. "But I think there were eight of them, three were definitely women, and I think one of them was a small unicorn."
"Unicorn?" Travis asked, perking his head up. "Does that mean Equestrian Unicorn?"
(Rick: To note, the representatives of Equestria are, in fact, competing in the Ultimate Tournament.)
(Slick: Who says that pretty pink ponies can't be badass? I will fight ANYONE WHO DISAGREES!)
(Rick: Put down that crack pipe, you dim bulb.)
"I wasn't aware Equis was even competing," The Overlord mused. "Given the violent nature of this Tournament." Dane coughed loudly, directing the attention back to him.
"Back to my story, okay?" Dane interrupted. "So the two calling the shots were a boy and girl, teenagers I think, said they wanted by nuts for a hackey-sack because someone wanted me out of the way, but they decided to dump me on this rooftop before they could finish the job. They kept up bringing up a 'Mask' every now and then, but bing-bang-boom, they dropped me off here and I've been stuck here since. Also, I really gotta piss."
"The guys downstairs all had white mask emblems on their persons," Eddie said. "And you say these guys are on about 'Mask'…" He spat on the ground. "You were targeted by the Army of Abominations."
"Shit, I forgot the other Universal Powers were competing." Travis said, shaking his head. "Now we've got Mask and his freaky servants to deal with? Fuck!" He angrily kicked over a box. "I've still got a score to settle with those Blight bastards!"
"The Blight Family?" Dane asked, quirking his eyebrow. "You crossed those psychopathic siblings or something?"
"Wouldn't be surprised." Jack grumbled, rolling his shoulders. "Travis' motor-mouth has gotten him in more trouble than I can count, given our history together." A smirk crept onto his lips. "Probably hit on the sister and got the two brothers all riled up." The four men shared a laugh at the assassin's expense, while Travis fumed in silence.
"Go to hell, Jack." Travis spat, a vein dangerously close to bursting on his forehead visibly showing. "And no, I didn't flirt with that bitch or piss off her homicidal brothers. It's that they are dishonorable fighters!" He plucked his Rose Nasty from his belt and ignited the beam katana, the red blade glowing brightly against his face. "Roven Blight is one of the few shitheads in the Nexus who I've fought in battle and lost to." He sported a look of raw fury. "We've fought eight times in the past, three of them were because he called his brother and sister into the fray just because he didn't want to get his scarred hands dirty." He held the blade in a samurai pose he was fond of taking. "But one day, I'll beat him, fair and square, and when I do, I'll run my blade through his heart, one stab for every defeat. I swear it." Jack was surprised, he had never heard this kind of attitude and commitment come from a jokester like Travis before. It was almost refreshing, and brimming with determination.
"Quite a vow, Travis," Said a sarcastic voice of a young woman. The Heart of Steel and Dane reeled about and saw, standing in front of the elevator, was a sinister looking woman. She was a fairly beautiful young woman, her auburn hair done up in four small pigtails that looped around her ears, adorned in black robes that concealed a dark brown futuristic sleek armor. A notable accessory were the two black and silver cylinders resting on her hips, not unlike Travis' own beam katana, and the same white mask mark on her shoulder like the foes downstairs. "Shame you'll never keep it."
Mikali Blight,
Youngest Blight Sibling and Sith Warrior
(Slick: Hoo-boy, now we're getting into the REAL shit here! Especially if the Blight Family is competing!)
(Rick: Right you are, Slick. For those of you unaware, this year's Ultimate Tournament is the first to allow other Universal Powers to compete, and among them being the ever infamous Army of Abominations.)
(Slick: The Army, and their creepy leader Mask, are a group hell-bent on domination, believing that control is the only means to survival and thriving. And Mask is willing to do anything to get it, including acquiring the services of the infamous Blight Family.)
(Rick: The Blight Family is an 'out-of-time' case that the Army happened to take full advantage of. Hailing from the year 3640 BBY from the Universe of the Force, three siblings under the Sith Empire flag fell through a Rift that opened above the skies of the planet Balmorra and wound up in the custody of the Army. The horror that followed, none could forget.)
(Slick: The Blight Family consists of three siblings, two brothers and a sister. Right here we have the youngest of the family, Apprentice Mikali Blight. According to reports from that era, Mikali is an incredible fighter with her twin lightsabers, a dangerous user of the Dark Side of the Force, and not too polite, if you catch my drift.)
(Rick: She's skilled enough to be a Dark Lord or even a Darth on her own, but the one thing stopping her… is her Master…)
"Hello, Mikali…" Travis growled, the glow of his katana reflecting in his sunglasses. "I'd say it's nice to see you again, but it isn't nice to lie to a lady. You are a lady, right?" Eddie and Jack stared slack jawed at Travis' sudden bravado, while Dane leaned over to the stoic and silent Overlord.
"Where did he get the stones to back talk a fucking Sith?" Dane whispered, slightly worried. The Overlord simply shrugged, finding the whole scene amusing.
"How's being Roven's boot-licking apprentice treating you? Still getting a turn on by the electro-shock treatment that he's so fond of using?" Mikali flinched, her face furrowing in anger.
"Do not disrespect Darth Erisen, Touchdown!" Mikali shouted. "You are not worthy to so much as spit on the stones my master uses to scrape excrement from his boots!"
"Yak-yak-yak," Travis taunted, using his hand as a puppet. "That's all you Blight siblings ever do, prance about with your big talk and then play dirty in fights just because you can't win fairly." He jabbed a thumb towards himself. "I may be a homicidal assassin with more blood on my hands than a butcher, but at least I do things with honor."
"Tch," Jack scoffed under his breath. "Says the prick who left me for dead more than once." Travis shot the DeathWatcher a slightly irritated glance.
"Shut up, Cayman," Travis growled through gritted teeth. "I'm doing a thing." Travis turned back to Mikali, a stern look on his face as he readied his stance. "I will take great pleasure in cutting you down!" Mikali simply glanced bemused at the two red swords, then walked over to a small podium that sported a small red button.
"Why don't you prove it then, Crownless King?" Mikali said, slamming her hand down on the button. Red blaring alarms went off as the building began to shake, startling the Heart of Steel while Dane simply looked blanched and upset.
"Shit, she just started the Sponsorship Challenge." Dane muttered, rubbing his face. Four large pillars shot from the corners of the roof, stretching about twenty feet into the air. Large discs popped from the tops of the pillars, revealing to be large fan blades that activated at absurdly fast speeds. Various circular panels opened up all around, exposing red targets like pepperoni on a square pizza. To top it all off, emerging from the elevator was once again the Black Baron, accompanied by Angry Tiger, twirling his cane and smiling wide.
"That's right, pimps 'n playas," The Baron announced, smiling at the arriving cameras. "The Heart of Steel has just triggered another Sponsorship Challenge!" Travis quirked his head to the side, pointing at the Baron.
"Wait, didn't we see you get shoved into a wood chipper?" Travis asked. He was ignored, however, as the Baron continued his tirade.
(Slick: I saved that scene on replay.)
"Y'all know me, the Bishop of Blood 'n Carnage, the Black Baron!" The Baron proclaimed, giving his coat a flourish. "And weather reports are callin' for a bit of a chance of cloudy skies and Crimson Rain!" He leaned towards Angry Tiger with a wink. "See how Ah worked both the title 'n the song in there, kitty?" Angry Tiger simply giggled as the Baron continued walking about. "The game itself is about as simple as getting' high as a kite, which is what y'all will be doin' to the dumb as hell druggie Splicers that'll be crawlin' all over like a bitch after one too many." He walked over to a red circle and gestured towards it with his cane. "These little spots are spring-loaded catapults that snatch any shit that so much as puts a foot on 'em, then blasts their asses up into those industrial strength helicopter blades up there. Ya get points for every idiot made into a smoothie, just watch where ya step, ya hear?" The Baron started cackling, as though he told the funniest joke in the world, but didn't notice Angry Tiger stick her foot out, causing the pimp to trip and land face first on a spring pad. His legs started flailing as his upper half was stuck inside, but was soon granted his freedom… sort've. "AW HELL NA-!" He shot upwards, right into the blades, getting torn to shreds.
"Angry Tiger roar!" Angry Tiger proclaimed, striking a cat-like pose before running off to who knows where. Mikali activated her lightsabers, twirling the crimson blades between her fingers.
"This should be easy," Eddie remarked. "It's four against one, we can beat this easy."
"Eh, not exactly." Dane hesitantly stated. "The challenge is restricted to a limit of two fighters at a time." Just as the Ultor Exec said this, glass walls shot up and trapped the Heart of Steel (sans Travis) and Dane inside a box. "And we have to watch." Jack and the Overlord started pounding on the walls, attempting to escape, but Travis raised a hand to stop them.
"Don't." He commanded, a clear intensity in his voice. "This is my fight, Mikali and her brothers are my own bane, and I'll see them taken care of for good." He shot a cocky glance at his partners. "I'll win this for you guys." Jack glanced to his other allies, seeing Eddie cheering him on and the Overlord once more in his stoic state, the DeathWatcher faced the assassin and offered a simple thumbs up. Travis smirked, watching as Mikali took her place and Splicers began to climb the building.
"3…2…1… GO!"
(Recommended Music: Crimson Rain by Ox from MadWorld)
As Spider Splicers began swarming the rooftop, Mikali and Travis immediately dove to opposite sides of the area and began their killing spree. Three Splicers were immediately felled by Travis' blades, while he quickly moved to shove a charging foe onto a spring pad. His foe was immediately trapped, and in a matter of seconds, the Splicer shot up into the air, screaming all too briefly before the blades tore him to shreds. Entrails and gunk rained from the sky, but Travis didn't have the time to marvel at his work, as more and more Splicers began to surround him.
"Having trouble, are we, assassin?" Mikali taunted. Travis turned and saw the Sith woman standing over ten dead Splicers, each bearing burn slashes across their bodies. "Maybe you should just do everyone a favor and get launched." Travis growled, dropping to his hands and delivering a roundhouse kick that knocked all the other Splicers away, a few of them landing on spring pads. From the sidelines, the rest of the team stood watching Travis and Mikali competing, with differing expressions on their faces (except the Overlord for obvious reasons).
"This isn't good." Eddie muttered. "Mikali's racking up a higher body count than Travis. If she wins…"
"Don't worry, guitar guy." Dane said, his smug look showing once more. "The Blight girl may have more kills, but she's not playing her cards right." The three men quirked their heads at the Ultor Exec's peculiar statement, but their trains of thought were derailed when a Splicer planted face-first onto their glass chamber. "They are really ugly up close." Said Splicer was peeled off my Travis before being flung into another Splicer, the two getting tangled up and stuck in another spring pad. Travis smirked, counting at least twenty bodies' dead, many in pieces, thanks to him. If he kept this up, he'd finally have a mark on one of the damned Blight Family. In a show of bravado, Travis began fighting his way towards the Sith Warrior, watching as she continued to slice up opponents like a hot knife on butter. Once he felt himself close enough, Travis leapt up and swung his red blades down upon the Sith, but Mikali was faster, quickly moving to block.
"Quite the move, Touchdown." Mikali said, feigning her pleasure. "But you have no chance of beating me." Mikali drew one of her blades away and attempted a slash at the Crownless King, but Travis was lithe enough to dodge. A real battle formed between these two, sparks of red littering the rooftops as the lightsabers and beam katana struck against each other, with Mikali clearly having the upper hand. With every swing of her blades, Mikali struck with the ferocity of a freight train, but Travis' own stubborn tenacity and battle-hardened skills (thank you, Thunder Ryu) managed to allow him to hold her back. "I'll knock you down!" With a thrust of her arm, Travis felt himself violently pushed back by an invisible force, impacting extremely hard on the railing of the roof.
"Bitch!" Travis swore, coughing up a gob of blood. "Of course you'd cheat and use the Force! That's all you Blight's ever do: cheat, lie, and act like shit!" Mikali roared in fury, sprinting towards Travis with both her sabers poised to strike. Quickly rolling out of the way, Travis succeeded in dodging as the Sith plunged her blades into the ground. "Gotcha!" Mikali looked up in confusion, but then took notice that the surface of where her feet were placed seemed softer than the Sith followed her legs, saw where she stood, and shot Travis the most hateful gaze ever.
"I hate you, Travis Touchdown." Mikali Blight growled. In an instant, she was trapped by the spring spot, and an alarm blared, signaling the end of the game. The fans ceased rotating and retreated back into the building, the surviving Splicers fled, and the spring spots sealed up, with the exception of the spot housing one furious Sith.
Winner, TRAVIS TOUCHDOWN!
The glass box containing Vogul and the three other men vanished, allowing the rest of the team to congratulate the No More Hero.
"That was awesome!" Eddie exclaimed. "Seeing you dodge and roll like that, holy crap I wish I could move that fast!"
"Gotta admit," Jack said, puffing his cigarette as a smirk wormed onto his face. "Didn't expect you to pull off a ballsy move like that, Travis." He gestured to the struggling Mikali in the ground.
"Eh, it was mostly improv," Travis admitted, dismissively. "But still, feels good to take a Blight down a notch." Dane Vogul approached Travis, clutching a suitcase in his hand.
"Congrats on your win, pal." Dane said, a genuine smile on his face. "For the record, if the Sith didn't eliminate herself by accident, you would've won anyway for following the rules." Both Travis and Mikali sported confused looks. "The rules were to kill as many people by using the blades above, hence the name Crimson Rain. You did just that, while Mikali Blight just killed assholes willy nilly." He held the suitcase up to Travis, hand on the latch. "In honor of your win, the Ultor Corporation would like to present you with one of our latest weapons." He opened the suitcase, revealing the unique contents within. It was a highly advanced beam katana, a black and red design with a cross-guard in the shape of the Ultor logo, and what appeared to be an attachment slot on the pommel.
"Is that…" Travis said in awe, picking up the new weapon. The grip of the katana felt evenly balanced, and very refined, almost like a rapier. The assassin ignited the blade, unleashing a long purple blade, going at about four feet in length, ending in a fine point at the top.
(Rick: That is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.)
(Slick: It's enough to make a grown man cry….)
"May I present the Ultor BK-8911 Beam Katana," Dane introduced. "Or as we like to call it, the Deal Breaker." Travis gave it a few flourishes, the lightness of the blade opting him to take a stance akin to a fencer as opposed to a samurai. "When Ultor got a look at beam weaponry, we wanted to come out with a toy that was more suited to mano-a-mano type skirmishes, so the Deal Breaker was designed with classic fencing as its base."
"I get it," Travis said, deactivating his new weapon. "So it's a beam rapier instead of a beam katana." Dane nodded, continuing his explanation.
"It won't help out against lots of baddies," Dane said. "But it's great for going against other swordsmen and single opponents. You've got the exclusive edition that allows attachment upgrades, compatible with most weapon based technology. And now that's settled…" He walked over to where Mikali continued to struggle. "Care to do the honors and get the loser off my property." A lever popped up from the ground, while Mikali's expression continued to grow more and more furious.
Travis chuckled, cracking his knuckles. "With pleasure." Placing his hands on the lever, Travis glanced down at Mikali and kicked some dirt in her face. "Tell your brothers that they're next." The No More Hero yanked the lever down, and Mikali was immediately shot into the air, screaming profanities and flying high into the sky, before vanishing in a speck of light. "Let's get you back to Lookout Watch, Vogul. Cinder will draw up the Sponsorship Contract when we get there." Dane sputtered at the mention of Cinder's name.
"Please don't tell me you're referring to my ex-technology division's head, Luke Cinder." Dane groaned. "That guy's a dick." Jack put a hand on Dane's shoulder, nearly crushing the Exec under the weight of the metal.
"Believe me," Jack said. "We know…"
Author's Note: Explanation! Mikali Blights (as well as the soon-to-be introduced Blight Brothers) are Star Wars: The Old Republic OCs created by the one of the IDA Editors, HellBrooke. You can find them in the Ebon Hawk server, if you're lucky. So now that Dane Vogul's out of the way, who can guess where the Heart of Steel will go next?
EDITOR'S NOTES/ALERT: The IDA would like to take a moment to state that while most of us are talented with writing and content creating, absolutely none of us are able to draw so much as a stick figure decently. So, we'd like to put out a call to all artists out there, we'd love to see whatever work you've got! We're not requesting anything, just curious. Who knows? Maybe you might impress the Heads enough to get credited and promotion! Good luck and enjoy the read.
~IDA Officials, Head Writer Mask and Assistant Editor HellBrooke