Chapter 1: Rebirth, Segment 2: Converging Paths

The Haktu were an insectoid race of sentient miners, warriors, nobles, factory-workers... drones of all kind, and the Matriarch. The leader of the people and the recently united Hives of the Haktu in the wake of extra-planetary travel. The bulk of Haktu profits were from the slave trade, which, while unofficial politically, was still common knowledge by this point, given that the race was nearly wiped out because of it in a war with a race that refused to submit.

The Krand were a human-like warrior people from the planet of the same name, united only in their shared appearance of hereditary white hair and ashen or bright grey eyes as well as each one of their "talents". While many Krand were shopkeepers, farmers, hunters, merchants, mercenaries, soldiers, slavers, mechanics, or even politicians in some way, they each knew how to fight and kill with calculated ease. When threatened, a Krand may enter what they call a "Bal'eeth" mode of enhanced adrenaline, strength, speed, awareness, and reaction time. The term "sneak up on a Krand" was coined after the fact that few could assassinate a Krand easily.

Many millennia ago, an offshoot of the Krand species presented itself on the planet Faerigan, where a race of equally skilled warriors emerged. Through time and evolution thanks to the harsh terrain and wildlife of the planet, these people grew physically dense, bulky, and powerful. Muscle and bone were grown to devastating degrees and might was held in high regard in a people born into constant strife and war. These people were known as the Eckari.

The Haktu, after failing to subjugate the Krand, never truly learned their lesson and, instead, pursued the less-tactical race of the Eckari on Faerigan. The proud warrior race did as the Krand did but were not as advanced or tactically efficient as their predecessors. And while some successes were had, little could hault the ever-advancing, quickly-reproducing Hives of the Haktu.

But the wars on Faerigan were taking too long, and the Matriarch began growing impatient. Even eradicating the leaders of the Eckari, the Council that lead the various tribes, did not stop the passionate fury of the Eckari, whose size, strength, and domination were tripled during their "Berserker" modes, a similar biological evolution to the Krand's Bal'eeth. These "Berserker" modes made the Eckari twice as large and twice as furious, making entire waves of Haktu become nothing but Drak'til food in a matter of minutes.

After the deaths of the Council Heads, a new leader rose to battle and glory in the form of the Haktu-Bane, Echanu Han. The man, riddled with hatred for the species since his birth into the war, lead raids on their camps since age nine. At twelve, the Eckari warrior single-handedly decimated a Haktu line, slaughtering over a hundred drones. By age sixteen, the fearless warrior claimed a massive territory on Faerigan as a sanctuary from the Haktu's shock-whips, a mountain that came to be known as "the Glory of Han".

The Matriarch, after having to put down several slave revolts on her own homeworld of Marash Ke'ral thanks to the renewed vigor and bravery brought on by the hero's successes, decided the Eckari had to be dealt with lest the honour of the Haktu people be slandered by a second failure at conquest. By utilizing the sciences of the Tyranian Miners Guild and the Human Expansionist Program, the Haktu built a massive drill that was able to bore into Faerigan's core and ignite it, causing the destruction of the entire planet and the genocide of the Eckari people. But before all of that could happen, a notable Haktu-Eckari hybrid by the name of "Kor", made a swift and powerful move by capturing their leader and hero in the name of her people. Broken, defeated, and lost, the remnants of the glory once had in the Eckari people now lay in the now disgraced leader of their people... Echanu Han.

Bitter Enemies
Sadow-sama

The recently-promoted Haktu Field Commandant, Kor'ziela, stepped into the exo-skeletal cargo bay of the ship, the Heart of the Matriarch. There she grinned in success at her newly-acquired prize; Echanu Han. She spoke in mockery in the Eckari's language, drilled into her brain at birth from the Nurse-Mothers on Marash Ke'ral "Poor Echanu Han... Why so melancholy? You should be glad! The war is over! Of course, not how you expected it to end, but... Still! Peace is something the Eckari can embrace, right?" She smirked down at him, gloating and spiteful to her bitter enemy. Ever since her birth, her objective was Echanu's capture or death. And now that she had him, securely bound in the Embrace of Suffering, a torture-like cage that brought on a slow but aching pain that was meant to demoralize slaves, she felt she could safely break the beast she had stalked all these years.

Gecide

Echanu Han, the once proud commander of the now-annhilated Eckari, looked up at his captor. Though he was bound to this machine, his spirit was still free, still unbroken. He spat a reply in his own language. "When these hands are crushing your throat, your dying breath won't be an appeal to your god. It'll be a thanks that I am ending the pain I will inflict upon you, abomination." A doctor with a large syringe and an overly-pleasant grin on his odd face suddenly appeared next to the bound Echanu.

"Oooooh, me'sa nevah' SEEN such a fine spec'mine such as dis one, no, NEVAH'!" The doctor said in a voice that was as nails on a chalkboard. The voice made Echanu grit his teeth in annoyance and anger. "Now, this may huwt JUUUUUUUST a bit, but don' wowwy, it's a' jus' gon' huwt for a min'!" Echanu suddenly snorted loudly and inhaled, then spat a huge spit wad full of mucus and other various debris from his nose and throat at the creature. It deftly ducked, and the spit flew across the room, hit a pan, which flew into an old scientists' head, causing him to crumple to the ground with an audible grunt. The odd scientist looked at Echanu and scoffed. "How wude! How VEWY wude!"

"Free me from this chair, and fight me honorably!" Echanu screamed in his language at the scientist creature. However, instead of releasing Echanu, the scientist shoved the needle into the side of Echanu's neck and pushed the plunger in, injecting a tiny nanomachine into him. The nanomachine moved, unseen, through Echanu's bloodstream until it reached an area to where it can easily access his spinal cord and attach itself. It immediately began sending electrical pulses into Echanu's brain, overriding certain pulses stemming from his brain. Echanu suddenly stiffened and stopped struggling. His mouth opened and a growl escaped, but nothing more. He was completely complacent and under whoever was controlling the nanomachine's control. Echanu Han, the once proud commander of the now-annhilated Eckari, was now nothing more than a puppet.

Aug-Battle
Sadow-sama

The Urge, a prominent but lower-level Aug with connections to many underground circuits and Tech-Gangs of the area brutalized a fellow Aug's face with his mechanized fist, it making a mechanized wheeze every time he pulled his arm back for a punch. After successfully knocking the man unconscious, he turned to see three other Augs trying to gang up on one. Maybe this was that Woods punk who beat the notably tough "Overkill", a giant of an Aug who held the title for one of the strongest and most advanced in the circuit.

The on-hand gang-provided medics carried the knocked-out bitch off the arena as the Urge turned to his new target; these last four Augs. Winning this would secure him an ass-ton of bucks to secure a deal with the local Blitzkriegers, a German-themed Tech-gang with connections to the Broken Fang Syndicate, a top-tier criminal organization with supposed government-level connections. If he was to make it into the big time, he had to take down these last four punks. He'd wait and watch out for an opening. Best to let these kids take each other out first before moving in to strike.

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Gecide

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All in all, there were five opponents. Immediately, two of them went after each other, and one known as "The Urge" quickly dispatched the other. Matt knew of him. Low level Aug who just wanted to get stronger, much like Matt. Only Matt was better. Three Augs suddenly rushed Matt, bringing him out of his thoughts on the Urge. He would get to him later. All these low level Augs were nothing to Matt. He could beat them all in a matter of seconds, if he were to activate his adrenaline, turn his strength enhancers and endurance enhancers up, and delve into the military training that he had programmed into his mind. But, apparently, there was quite an audience tonight, and Matt would get paid double if he were to make the match last. So, he would just have some fun with these guys.

The first Aug swung at him with a right hook, which Matt was able to easily dodge. The second tried a kick, but Matt caught that and set him off-balance. The third rushed him, which he grabbed the Aug in a frontal headlock and delivered two swift knees to his stomach and shoved him away, having him land on the second Aug. Matt looked at the first and grinned. "Now, don't be scared! I'm not gonna hit'cha."

The Aug grit his teeth at this insult and tried another right hook at Matt, which, using a method of self-defense called "Jyuken", used an open-palm technique to divert the Aug's hand behind Matt's body. He then twisted it behind the Aug's back and shoved upwards, hard, effectively breaking the arm. As the Aug screamed in pain, Matt grinned once more. "Oooh, loophole, bitch! I shoulda' been a lawyer!" Matt shoved the guy forward, and that's when he felt a fist in his back.

Normally, Matt turned his pain receptors off before entering a fight, but he decided to keep them on before this one. Why? He didn't know. Just seemed like the thing to do. The painful strike in his back caused him to take a step forward, which was halted by a kick to the stomach. Each strike rang out like a metal baseball bat hitting a concrete wall. Another fist caught him in the temple, disrupting the song he was listening to and causing his vision to momentarily blur. It was the two Augs, ganging up on him. They continued pummeling away, the only thing Matt being able to do was defend. Suddenly, a voice popped in Matt's head. Need some help?

Suddenly, Matt blacked out. In reality, he stopped the fist with his left hand and the foot with his right. A panel opened on Matt's right side, revealing a black opening. Ten tiny metal balls shot out with a great force and pounded into the Aug's stomach who was kicking him. They went straight through the Aug and embedded themselves in the wall behind him, leaving a bloody patch. At the same time, Matt's arm blade swung in a wide arc on his left arm, quickly decapitating the Aug who was punching him. As Matt dropped both the fist and the leg, he turned to the Aug who's arm he had broken. He swung his right arm forward and grabbed hold of the Aug's head. His fingers extended, using several ball-joints that was included in his military-Auged arm, and secured themselves around the Aug's face and head. He turned his strength enhancers all the way up and swung the Aug into the air and behind him, while at the same time using a rotor in his hand to twist his hand in continuous 360 degree motions. The Aug was already dead and nearly decapitated by the time he hit the ground. The death of the three Augs happened in a manner of less than seven seconds.

Matt put his foot on the shoulder of the Aug who's neck he had broken and pulled upwards, ripping his head off. He looked at the Urge, the pussy who had stayed back, and threw the head at him. He calmly walked forward and pointed at him, staring at him with unnatural orange eyes. "You... You're next. You better start praying to whatever god you choose."

Sadow-sama

The Urge practically shat his pants. Outright murder, even in an illegal Aug-brawling circuit, was out of the question. It meant being kicked out of the circuit indefinitely, and the circuit itself having to take measures to stay underground and hidden further from the police. The crowd around them gasped and some even screamed in terror at seeing death itself. The Urge, himself, was visibly shaken but resolved himself to fight. He'd be tangoing with fuckers like these if he made it into a Tech-gang. He had to beat this bastard to prove himself and earn his keep.

Raising his fists to fight, he activated his B-rank motion compensators. He'd be able to react to whatever this bastard had to throw at him. The compensators seemed like an upgrade to adrenaline; slowing down time and vamping up reaction time and perception so he could better react to an opponent's moves. Not only that, but he if he needed to, he had an ace in the whole. Not legal, even in the circuit, to have or use but... he knew a guy. Slowly taking a few steps forward, he waited for this crazy bastard to make his move so he could counter it.

Zexeos

Deep breaths.

Arra slowed her breathing and made each breath fill her chest and stomach, letting the clean air flow into her. The hot sunshine warmed her dark skin, and the smell of fresh cut grass helped her relax. This park was certainly her favorite place in town, and she often came here to meditate and relax.

As he opened her eyes, the sunlight stung the blue orbs as they adjusted to the brightness. She unlocked her legs from sitting Indian-style and stood up, and the soft grey blanket underneath her kept the hard grass from picking her tender feet. The blood returning to her legs made her dark legs feel pins and needles, but despite the tingling, she still slid on her sandals, and pulled up her blanket, quickly folding the fabric. She was here for about two hours; it was time to go home and, much to her own annoyance, go get ready for work.

<...>

Aaaahh, the Spaceport. Arra resented this place with the intensity of a thousand suns, but hey, it was work. Her enhanced strength made her ideal for helping new arrivals load up or unload luggage. Bile rose in her mouth- she was above manual labor. Such is the way of humanity… Always willing to do anything for that green stuff. At least the labor let her mind calm and settle, and just think. There was a procedure to putting away luggage onto the carts to be rolled out with the customers, and Arra has done it for about a year. Enough to go on “auto-pilot” and not have to think about the process.

“Ms. Sans.” A strong voice altered her attention to her boss, Mr. Sanders, walking towards her. The tall and intimidating man was certainly not happy, his expression hard and unfriendly. “You’ve been assigned to the ship in Bay 19- why aren’t you there?!”  No need to tell her twice. In a flash, she was off, running to her missed opportunity for commission.

Never before had she seen a ship of such grandeur. It was massive! She looked in awe for a few seconds before noticing the dark grey-skinned lady struggling with luggage. A bit of pity filled her- that was her job, not the visitor’s. “Hey! Sorry for being late, something came up!” She exclaimed as she quickly came to the lady’s aid. Pointed ears led Arra to assume elf. A shuffle of footsteps led her to look to her left to see the other passenger.

Well, hello there.



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Gecide

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"Ohh, are we going to fight back, hm? Well now, this makes things a bit more interesting." Said Matt. Two tiny holes opened in his elbows, and a thick fog sprayed out. By this time, there were already guards clamoring to get to the stage, so Matt had to make this quick. The guards had done nothing to him, but if they got in his way, they would end up like the other dead Augs. By the time the arena filled up with the thick, gray fog, Matt heard a female voice in his head.

"M-Matt? What are you doing?" The voice belonged to Angelica.

"Hm? Oh, Angelica! So lovely to meet you! Hacking into Matt, I see?" Matt thought.

"Meet? Wait...No...Y-You're hacking Matt?!" Angelica said over the microphone on her personal laptop she was using.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Oh, you could say that...Now, sweetie, I'm going to have some fun. After that, we can talk. Promise." Matt's voice said aloud. After that, he shut off the microphone in his head, muting Angelica. Crafty girl. She may not have had any Augs, but she was a master hacker, a prodigy, especially for being so young. She had found a way to remotely hack Augs, but she only did it with Matt, at his request. She could control his other Augs in a situation while he was focused on something else. Two minds, one body sort of situation. The man controlling Matt had always admired that.

<p class="MsoNormal">Now, back to business. A visor shot over Matt's eyes, built into the side of his head, displaying a Heads-Up Display. Even through the dense fog, Matt could see the Urge and the guards now in the arena. He quietly made his way to Urge, his armblades already out. Once only a yard behind him, he pulled back his arm, poised at the man's spinal column, then thrust forward.

Sadow-sama

Earendur smiled at the dark-skinned human. She was like a Reyiel, a dark-skinned race of Elf native to Thyraesal's desert plains, though without their universal pointed Elvaan ears. Strangely, her left hand was made of metal. Apparently, this was a common custom for humans. He tried not to stare at it and simply bowed his head formally in front of her "Mey'riel evlaaving, hoo-min." He opened a small flipbook and eyed it for a bit, hoping his practice in the English language will pay off "I... aaam... Earendur Surion. Howareyou? Fine, shank shoo." While Elves were a literate and perceptive bunch, mastering a whole language over the course of a few weeks was troublesome, especially for a Sage of Procrastination such as Earendur.

Tamuríl couldn't help but slap her charcoal-skinned hand against her face in shame. She had managed to perfect her understanding of the language as well as overcome the Elvaan accent's tendency to slur words over a week of practice. Earendur was shameful as an ambassador, but she couldn't help but admire him at times. The Telrúnya House were a proud noble family in Drow culture that, after a huge war and a debt being paid for with generosity from the High Elven House of Surion, the House of Telrúnya had sworn fealty to the Surions and would serve them unto death to repay them for saving them from death.

Besides the noble history, Tamuríl grew up alongside Earendur and was his closest friend and confident as well as his trained bodyguard and servant throughout the years. The two can often talk casually and Earendur can confide his greatest trust in her, though as his friend she often has to chastise him and warn him against reckless actions.

The Urge smirked. His motion sensor scanned the use of Augs through the steam cloud and could trace the punk's movements. While he did want to get the hell out of here, he'd miss out on his chance of killing this kid and, as a result, landing his spot in the Tech Gangs. He decided he needed to end this quickly before this kid could draw out any other cards from his deck. He'd use his last resort weapon; The KLRX-V11 "Hornet", a dart filled with an expensive and deadly Neurotoxin that acted more as a necrotic-acid, melting flesh and bone instantaneously. Jumping forward to avoid the strike the kid made, he whirled around and aimed his wrist at him, intent on ending this fight and securing his future.

The top of his mechanized wrist lifted like a lid and shot out a dart filled with the dark-green Neurotoxin, the tiny jet propelling the dart forward at high speeds to lodge itself into the brat's neck. Hopefully the jugular. His scanner on his eye opening up the tracer program immediately upon firing it, the dart soared forth with guided aim and precise measure. No way this kid would live to tell about this!

Sadow had driven to his destination on his red hoverbike, parking it atop an apartment complex and concealing it with a dark green tarp cover. He pulled a heavy briefcase from the back of the bike's cargo attachment and clipped it open, revealing the parts necessary to quickly put together a sleek, silenced tranquilizer-firing Sniper Rifle. Once everyone in the docking port across the street had been knocked unconscious with the sleeper darts, he'd move in quick and quietly to secure the target. Quick, clean, and without commotion. And a big payout.

Zexeos

<p class="MsoNormal">Arra couldn’t help but smile at the elf’s broken English. She bowed back to him, and, in a way that was hopefully not insulting to this elf, tried to repeat what he had said to her.

<p class="MsoNormal">“May-reel elv-aang, elf.” She slurred, trying to make her poor imitation somewhat understandable. She had seen elves pass this strange greeting between each other before, each one repeating the bow and saying the phrase. She hoped there wasn’t social status tied to it or anything- making a fool out of herself, or even offending this guest, was not on her to-do list today. She stood up and continued loading the heavy luggage onto the cart for Arra to take to the cab service later. After loading each suitcase, she turned to the darker elf.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m Arra, and I’ll be your intergalactic bellhop today.” She said with a smile. “Do you have a hotel reserved for your stay? If not, we have several travel agencies within the lobby that will be more that willing to accommodate you. You luggage will also remain in our secure bagging facilities until you call for it, and you can feel free to retrieve it at any time.” Arra droned, repeating the script that was mandatory. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small card with the spaceport’s number on it, and the extensions for both the bagging facility and Arra’s business phone, should they have any questions. With a smile, she handed it to the dark elf, and the turned around and activated the cart, getting ready to take it to the appropriate bay.

<p class="MsoNormal">

Fire

Shade pulled up to the front entrance of the space port and parked his bike. The moment he swung his right leg over the bike, he almost instantly associated himself with a different persona, no longer the daredevil merc but one more fitting for a government agent sent to pick up a visiting royal from beyond the stars. As an afterthought he checked his identification for any possible flaw that could throw off his mission. It was, superficially at least, a perfect replica of an upper-echelon agent, with just the right clearance level to act as a security agent. One final inspection of his side-arm, a red, nine millimeter pistol, affectionately nicknamed Scarlet, and he was ready.

In the back of his mind, he wondered why the Gentleman had chosen him and not, if stories of his wealth were true, an actual, bribed, government lapdog. The answer echoed inside his head, almost as unbidden as the question itself: Because a government servant wasn’t exactly the sharpest knife. They had little true experience dealing with assassins dogging them, trying to kill a diplomat. A CIA agent could give you all the theory in the world but compared to a man who had once served on the assassin’s side of the line, theory counted for little, just like close only counted in horseshoes and hand grenades. Theory, for what it was worth, would only lead to death, perhaps not one’s own, but death all the same.

A moment later, he strode into the lobby of the space port, confident that everything was perfect and would go according to plan. As expected, the lobby was crowded as ever. Thankfully, everyone was reasonable and all he had to do was flash his badge to get up to the front desk in only a few minutes. It was amazing how humans can be so simply tricked, blinded by respect for a man in a suit with a badge, a respect so easily and often misused.

Reaching the front desk, Shade sighed. All the worry about how authentic everything was, and he didn’t even think to check what time his target, whom he still had no concrete information on, would arrive. Finally, after a moment of quick thought, he made a move. Holding the desk to keep himself steady, he leaned forward. “Sorry to be rude, but I’d rather not get too loud in here, ya know?” Not waiting for an answer, he continued, “I was sent here to pick up a diplomat who was supposed to arrive today. I forgot his name though. All I remember is my superiors told me he was Elvish. Any flights come in that may have ferried him?”

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Gecide

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Stepping lightly through the dense fog, Matt came into view of Urge. His hand was near his neck, holding the tiny dart, the afterburners still going. After a moment, the thrusters puttered, then stopped, out of fuel. He grinned a devilish, cheshire grin as he spun the dart between his fingers. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now Bobby, this is a very dangerous thing you're using. You think just because you killed that homeless man a few weeks ago that that makes you a killer? A 'hardass'? No..." Matt said as he walked towards Bob "Urge" Sanders. He suddenly leapt forward and jabbed the dart into Bob's eye. "THIS is what makes a man a cold-blooded killer. Will you fly with the angels, Bobby? Or burn with the demons?" Matt grinned as he stepped away, becoming enshrouded by the fog.

After a few seconds of stepping into the fog, screams from the guards could be heard and blood could be seen flying above the fog, creating a bloody path toward the exit. As this was going on, Urge began convulsing and gurgling as the poison in the dart was injected into his eye. His eye became nothing but goo as it slid out of the socket and down his cheek, the dart falling out as well, but it was too late. All of the poison had already been injected. His face seemed to cave in on itself and crumble, then his neck, then chest, then the rest of his body. Within a matter of fifteen seconds, the man known as Bob Sanders, the man who had forced himself to kill an already-dying homeless man to convince himself he was tough enough for the Tech Gang, the man who visited his grandmother with dementia every week in the nursing home, was now nothing more than a puddle of red and bubbling goo.

As Matt stepped out of the fog, covered in blood and gore, he was greeted by a screaming crowd all trying to get out of the door, however they were blocking themselves in. Matt chuckled to himself, but was cut off by the sight of Angelica, standing at the steps leading to the exit. She was holding her laptop to her chest and had tears streaking down her cheeks. "Who are y-you?" She asked, trying to sound strong but failing.

"Oh, dear, sweet Angelica. You may call me...Jareth. Yes...Jareth." Jareth said through Matt.

"Jareth? W-why did you k-k-kill those people?!" Angelica cried.

"They got in my way. Now, sweetheart, we need to go." Jareth replied. He held up his hand at a wall, targeting a weak point. His hand flipped down, revealing a black cylinder where his wrist connected to his hand. A huge shell fired out of it and exploded against the wall, creating a nice exit. Jareth flipped his hand back up and activated his speed booster, grabbing Angelica as he ran and jumped out of the hole, landing on the sidewalk outside of the building.

Once outside, he looked left, then right. He spotted a nearby spaceport and began hustling toward it. They needed to lay low for a while, and the people who ran the Brawl knew where Matt and Angelica lived, so that wasn't safe. They could hitch a ride off planet as stowaways, then return in a month or two. Angelica began to say something, then bit her lip. Jareth led Angelica by the hand to the spaceport, expecting an easy ride from here.

Sadow-sama

Earendur smiled and nodded at the dark-skinned human girl. Her attempt at Vaardenvalian was adorable but he was sure his attempt at English wasn't nearly as such. He began to follow her out of the spaceport, Tami following close behind, appreciating the help with her lord's luggage.

It was when the trio were passing a massive crate being unloaded by several dock workers that Earendur discovered Earth might be more hazardous than he thought. Bursting out of the metal box was a massive, lumbering muscle of a man. Arms larger than Earendur himself, a wide torso that boasted a thick, rough skin that looked as hard as stone, and a fierce fire in his eyes like that of madness. Earendur had never before seen one of these creatures and was stricken with a terrible fear at the sight of one, for his rage and ferocity looked like an inextinguishable flame or a never-ending storm before the marginally smaller Elvaan diplomat.

What came of this storm of rage horrified all present: The Eckari literally tearing the crew apart. Gripping a man with both hands, the massive creature ripped him in half with blood staining the concrete ground. The shrilled scream of the crew members as well as the sight of the violence ahead made Earendur freeze where he stood and grow pale. He had never seen bloodshed of this intensity before and the sight of it so suddenly made him feel sick and weak.

Tamuríl quickly readied herself for the encounter by dropping the luggage and pulling out an advanced Drow Commando Cthath-Palar energy cannon, which, while being able to be used as a handheld weapon, is more often mounted on the shoulder-pads of Drow armour. Aiming it at the Eckari as he noticed them, she began to charge it, a blue swirl of energy forming inside the barrel.

Sadow kept his rifle level, looking through the scope down at the exiting trio. His target matched up with the description and picture provided by his client. All that was needed now was for him to tag 'em and bag 'em. According to his client, a Point Cell by the Gentleman, the Gent himself has people on the move for this guy but Sadow needed to tag him first. A rogue Point Cell might be trouble for the Gent in the long run but so long as Sadow's discrete, he might avoid discovery. The last thing he needed was trouble from his boss.

Before he could make the shot, however, a nearby cargo crate burst open and an enraged Eckari began ripping the crew apart that were unloading it. Sadow's eyes widened in shock at how easily the beast of a man tore those unfortunate men apart. He quickly realized, upon seeing the Eckari notice the trio, that if he didn't act soon, his target would die. He fired a single tranquilizer dart into the back of the neck of the Eckari but was amazed to find it didn't debilitate him in the slightest. Cocking his rifle, he fired another. Then another. And another. Before long, the Eckari had eight fully-drained darts in his back and was still charging toward the group. This was bad.

The Haktu Matriarch, Ozi'ya'ah, observed the Planetary Annihilator Drill provided by the mixed efforts of the Tyranian government as well as the Gentleman's funding and science teams. The Drill was the laser able to reduce the entirety of the planet, Faerigan, into nothing more than an asteroid field. Her black eyes narrowed as it orbited their planet, Marash Ke'ral, along with the remnants of the once great Haktu Fleet, now only a quarter of its original size thanks to the wars with the Krand.

Turning, she addressed her aide, Kil', asking with a refined tone in their native, click-sounding language "Has the Eckari-breed Cell landed, yet?" Kil' bowed and confirmed "Yes. Kor'ziela and Rei have released the Eckari in the spaceport as the pointed-ears ambassador landed." The Matriarch smirked "Very well. Inform them to keep the Eckari restrained and to only detain and capture the pointed-ears ambassador. When that is done, have them all return here to me." The prize of the Elvaan ambassador would be information leverage against the Elvaan as well as a possible bargaining chip against the Gentleman. She only hoped the collateral damage caused by the Eckari was minimal. She'd have a hard time convincing the Gentleman of funding their expansionist program if an entire city block was destroyed on his planet.

Neif could just feel the expenses coming her way. The money from the smuggled Ruun totems as well as the Tyranian rocks will both need to pay off the repairs to her ship. Hellbane's wrist rockets sure packed a wallop... One more hit and she would have been toast. Luckily, she thinks his wrist rockets ran out of... well, rockets, after the first one. Still doesn't mean he didn't place a tracking device on her ship though.

Clumsily docking in a city's spaceport, she groaned as the engines died upon landing. "Well... at least you got me here, girl..." The Silver Talon wasn't really as glamorous as the name describes but it was tough, sturdy, and able to fit alot of cargo. And that's all a Smuggler really needed, apart from a few escape tricks up their sleeve. That being said, as soon as she stepped off the ship, she heard the blood-curdling roar of an Eckari nearby. Never would she try to steal from them again after the incident with the Paktol' dung.

She heard loud thundering sounds, pained screams, and the sound of things being ripped apart. Sure sounded like an Eckari. Adjusting her wide brim hat, she stooped low as a cat would and snuck around the wall separating the docking bay where her ship was and the one in which the Eckari was fucking shit up in. She peaked over to see a trio about to be pulverized by the mad giant; a dark-skinned chick with a robot hand, an elf dude, and an elf chick with skin as dark as charcoal. Well... she couldn't picture this kind of chaos in her head when she thought of Earth, though it was pretty wild when it wanted to be.

Neif unholstered one of her blaster pistols, ready to defend herself if the hulking giant came her way. As she did this, however, she heard a droning buzz flying overhead and looked up to find a strange Mantis-human hybrid flying overhead, landing in front of her with a smirk "Step away, kitty cat." Neif smirked back in return "Or what, may I ask? You'll pray for me?" Kor flipped her revolving-biological Mantis-blades around so that they can be used as arm-attached swords "You'll find I'm not that religious, but I'll try to make your death quick~" Neif looked amazed at the feat but returned to her cocky demeanor "Alright, then~ Bring it on~"

Two men in black cloaks with wide, black hats and cloths concealing their faces stood atop a skyscraper, watching the events unfold into chaos. Sweet yet bitter chaos. The kind of sensation that made the heart feel heavy with every beat and the blood warm and thicken. One of the mysterious figures was extremely tall and boisterous in width but not as much as the Eckari. He spoke in a deep, stern voice "Is it time yet...?" The smaller, more youthful character nodded "The target has arrived. Let us bring the beautiful gift of death to all the unfortunate beings here~"

At this, the taller figure activated his own internal media player, being an augmented cyborg like Matt, playing the song "Broken English" by Schaft as the smaller figure leaped off the skyscraper, activating a hover-board and surfing over the skyline toward the distant docking bay. The taller figure raised his right arm, revealing a massive mechanical one. His wrist and muscular opened up to reveal a multitude of seismic missile launchers, all firing onto the city streets surrounding the docking bay. Police hovercars, underground thugs, even innocent bystanders were caught in the seismic blasts that rocked the entire district, shaking distant houses like an earthquake.

The younger figure swerved past the wreckage and speeding hovercars to make his way to the docking bay, reaching into some heavy satchels tied to his utility belt and pulling out wind-up ball toys turning the keys on them, letting them go as they vibrate loudly only to explode in the car seats of passing hovercars, destroying them and the people inside. The Brotherhood of Bast has come, and their Dark God would reign merciful death on all the Brotherhood would find.

Zexeos

Arra couldn't hear the screams of the passersby and victims of this hulking beast over the sound of her rushing blood and beating heart. Years of programming over her body and mind, and her combat instincts, made all of her muscles tense with energy. She was bred to be a predator, a warrior, and she was coiled like a spring and ready to strike. Her blue eyes dilated and without even thinking she ran right towards the big, angry beast charging for her.

With a roar, the monster intertwined his large fingers and slammed both hands down on Arra's head. Her hands had risen up to meet and stop them, but the initial impact had brought her to her knees as she barely kept the beast from crushing her with his massive weight. And that weight was just his hands! Arra hated to know how much the whole package weighed. She hissed through clenched teeth, and against all odds, summoned every ounce of strength in her body to start to push the fists upwards and off of herself. Arra's back and shoulders screamed out in pain as she started to stand up, her legs shaking a layer of sweat covering her face from the sheer effort of the act.

"Hernia, here I come..." She hissed as she forced herself to stand up even more. She was off of her knees and standing, but her arms were folded and just barely keeping the pressure off her head and neck. The beast roared in what seemed to be frustration, and lifted his hand off her quickly and stepped back, reading another attack. Arra stumbled forward, and her body screamed for her to stop, but if she did then she would be nothing but a chew toy. Using nothing but sheer willpower, she forced her exhausted legs into a sprint forward, and once she got within striking distance, she leapt up as high as she could, and kicked the ugly beast right in the jaw. Years of training was hard wired into her superhuman body, and she was almost acting on an autopilot, with the only command being not to survive, but to win.

She was bred for war, afterall. A survival instinct can't exist if it means the success of the operation. She landed on all fours, and leapt up again, doing a flip kick into his jaw, but hitting it from below and smashing his jaw into his skull. A thought entered her mind about the fact she was, indeed, wearing her work uniform, meaning that she had a skirt on. Meaning everyone probably saw her polka dot panties.

Good, she payed $20 for them and they were cute.

Fire

Every muscle in Shade’s body tensed as he heard the screams and explosions. Gone in an instant was the look of innocence he wore into the spaceport, replaced with the stone-cold gaze of a killer. Everyone in the lobby was already in a panic, which would make restoring some form of order harder than what it needed to be.

Not once did his voice waver as he gave the woman behind the desk explicit instruction. “Barricade the front door. We can’t let more people in.”

With that said, he began sprinting to the docks, hoping and praying that his words would be obeyed. He could feel it, the fear of death wash over him. With every step, it crashed upon him like a wave. And yet, nothing else could give him such a thrill. The truth was, Shade enjoyed putting his life on the line. That moment where life and death were but two sides of the same coin, a coin only just flipped, there was no finer joy than when one was chosen by fate to live.

Shade made it to the final hallway just as the defense mechanisms were triggered. Said defense mechanisms consisted of heavy steel plates slowly creeping from crevices in the walls. Only a few steps were between him and his goal. In his mind, he saw what would happen if he made it only to find the doors were locked. Knowing that fate was only seconds away, he pulled out his gun and unloaded the clip, shooting through the glass doors he wanted so desperately to breach.

It was now or never. With a final burst of speed, he busted through the glass and out onto the docks, the plates slamming shut behind him. Taking deep breaths, he took a glance around. What he saw astounded and terrified him, the man responsible for more deaths than he cared to count. A giant of a man (if it was even a man) was tearing up the docks with impunity, hover cars being blown up as regular as clockwork. This was no ordinary crime. It was full blown terrorism.

Shade remained where he stood, gazing around looking for what he could use to turn the tide in favor of saving those yet still alive. Finding nothing, he went for plan B, getting behind the monstrous behemoth and putting a few well placed rounds in the back of its head. With a quick, well practiced motion, he pulled a new clip out of his coat, ejected the old from his pistol and inserted the new one in the space of seconds.

Sticking to the wall of the building, he began his slow, careful march, praying that there’d be a distraction to make his life easier. If his target so much as turned the wrong way at the wrong time, it was over.

____________________

Gecide

____________________

Hearing an explosion, Jareth stopped in his tracks. Angelica took a stumbling step forward, then took a few cautious steps back, away from Jareth. She looked confused, but the look on Jareth's face was one of concern. An explosion? That wasn't normal.

"What happened?" Angelica asked, gripping Jareth's hand for the first time since leaving the Brawl.

"The spaceport's being attacked. Let's take a look." Jareth said with fascination in his voice.

Angelica was about to say something but stopped short upon Jareth leading again. A few minutes of jogging and they were there just in time to witness a behemoth of a creature using a hoverbike like a club and swinging it at multiple people. Jareth blinked rapidly at the sight and turned to Angelica. "You, stay here." He said. She nodded and half-crawled to the cover of a cement blockade. Jareth turned back to the creature and began jogging toward it, then running, then sprinting. As he ran, several things went on in his mind.

First, he activated his military-grade Reflex Booster augment, making everything seem like it was slowing down around him. Secondly, he ran a full scan of the creature. Preliminary scans revealed it to be an Eckari, a race of giant warriors from the planet Faerigan. They were truly barbarians. How had one reached Earth? Traders knew better than to go to Faerigan, and capturing even a young Eckari was a daunting challenge in itself. Secondary and more thorough scans revealed that the beast weighed well over a thousand pounds, and he had roughly 2 percent body fat, and towering at 9 feet, give or take a few inches. No augmentations, however there was a small electrical pulse coming from the top of his spinal column. A tracker? A control device? Jareth had to get closer to be sure, and that was exactly what he was doing. In fact, he was a mere 5 meters from the beast.

Crouching low from his sprint, he sprang high into the air and delivered a powerful spinning kick to the beast's jaw. It recoiled, but only slightly. Jareth landed on the ground, then decided to test the waters. He brought his fist back, then sent a powerful punch into the Eckari's stomach, Jareth's arm twisting in a damage-maximizing manner. And...Nothing. The Eckari roared loudly, a deafening and terrifying noise. As Jareth removed his fist, the creature swung the hoverbike at him, yet Jareth dodged. If not for that Reflex Booster, he would've been crushed. Deciding to take a similar approach as his last action, Jareth again reared his arm back and activated small rocket thrusters in his elbow, propelling his fist forward at sonic speeds. As he hit the Eckari's stomach this time, the Eckari recoiled a bit, but not enough. This beast was gonna be a pain...Suddenly, a beacon appeared in Jareth's HUD. That small transmitter...Every time the beast moved, it sent out and received a signal. That thing was the key to bringing down the beast.

~=~ The Genocide Brothers ~=~

"Awwww, c'mon, Cide! How much longer is this gonna taaaaaake? I'm soooooo booooooored! There's even an excess of voooooweeeeels in my wooooooooords because I'm so boooooooored!" A man with long, white hair wearing a formal business suit whined.

"Shut up, Geno. Our flight's almost here. Then, it's off to bigger and better things." A man with short, white hair wearing an identical business suit as his long-haired counterpart said.

The two white-haired men looked very similar. Both had white hair and were roughly the same height and weight. The only differences were that the whiny one had long hair and a good looking tan and the more serious one had short hair and was quite pale. Both were sitting next to each other at the spaceport, waiting on an off-world shuttle.

"Flight 1093, right bro? I can't wait! Earth is so been there, done that! But, why are we wearing these suits? It looks so weird on us!" Geno whined again.

"Because," Cide replied, "this is a business trip. This is to make quite a bit of money, and our employer is someone very important. So, we need to look our be-"

Cide's sentence was cut short by an ear-splitting roar and a series of explosions. They both stood at the same and looked around, both immediately standing back-to-back. They each gripped a briefcase in their left hands. Scanning the area carefully, the next explosion alerted them to the area. It was right outside the window they were sitting next to. Cide grit his teeth as Geno gasped.

"Cide, Cide, CIIIIIIDE!!! Lookit that! It's huuuuuuge! It's...It's...Beautiful...I wanna...I wanna hug it...Hey, look! There's people fighting it! We should help them!" Geno ranted.

"Wait, why should we help them?" Cide asked, looking at the other man questioningly.

"Because...Ass." Geno replied.

"...Ass?" Cide asked, his eyebrow cocking slightly.

"...Ass." Geno repeated, continuing to stare out the window.

"...Fair enough." Cide nodded.

They both ran out the door in enough time to see a young woman flip-kicking the beast in the jaw, flashing her pretty panties. Geno grinned wolfishly and sprinted toward the group, ripping his suit off as he ran. The entire suit came off in one rip, revealing only a pair of rubber duckie pajama pants and his bare muscular torso. He tossed his briefcase in the air and it popped open. Several daggers fell out and Geno jumped into the air, catching them all in his hands, joints, and mouth. He flipped several more times, turning into a human buzzsaw and sliding between the creature's legs. As he appeared from the other side, he slammed onto the ground, holding his hands over his eyes.

"OH MY GOOOOOD!!! HE'S NOT WEARING ANY UNDERWEEEAAAR!!! I JUST SAW HIS JUNK!!!" He screamed. He pointed to the young woman, then said in a normal voice. "You there! Give him your underwear, then do that flippy kick thing again!" As he spoke, his mouth turned into a cheshire grin and his eyes widened.

"Goddamnit, Geno..." Cide muttered as he stayed back, calmly yet quickly opening his briefcase and assembling the assault rifle that was hidden within. Within a matter of a few seconds, he snapped the scope onto it and leveled it at the beast. Just then, another man ran in and kicked the creature in the jaw. "Well, don't we just have a gagglefuck here?" Cide said to himself as he continued watching through the scope, his right finger resting on the trigger and his left index and thumb fingers resting slightly over the opening of the barrel of his weapon.

-

Sadow-sama

-

Chaos had ensued over what was once a bustling spaceport. Burning wreckage and debris littered the docking bay from the scrap Earendur was witnessing unfold as new participants entered the ring. Tamuríl was charging her Drow Blaster Cannon and readying herself for battle while ushering Earendur behind a supply crate, despite his insistence on aiding them. Earendur was highly impressed by his human escort's combat ability but his attention diverted to a quick glance at her pantaloons as she flipped, the sight of which causing Earendur's nose to bleed as he smiled goofily in perverse bliss.

Tamuríl recognized the stare and comically reprimanded him in English, both of the Elvaan deciding that they'd speak mostly-to-only English during their stay on Earth "Stay in cover and quit touching yourself, young lord!" At this, she fired a blue, fiery ball of plasma at the raging monster, the distorting ball burning into the creature's back but, like with the gunshooter in the business suit and the metal-man, it had no effect. It was like this creature's skin was a hard stone. Bullets bounced off, metal hit it like a brick wall... Even energy-based weapons did little more than piss it off. What could they do against such a monstrosity?

And as if things couldn't get any worse, more assailants showed up.

-

Sadow watched as the events unfurled. He recognized the man in the suit as none other than Shade the Illusive, a title earned after the mercenary dispatched an entire penthouse of Triad. Yet the man still remained a mere D-class enforcer who still was barely above taking jobs for the Mob and higher-tier Tech Gangs. If he was here, it meant the Gentleman was also taking a personal stake in this Elf. That or someone else wanted in on the action. If it wasn't for money, Sadow didn't know why a guy like Shade would be here.

This was all too bad. The beast was tearing up the docking bay, the local police couldn't divert any attention because, for some reason, explosions were happening throughout this entire district so safety and rescue measures were being taken rather than immediate action against whatever was causing this mayhem. And like that, one of the bombers arrived on schedule. A man in a black long-coat with a chin-high collar, sleeves long enough to conceal his entire arms, a black cloth concealing his mouth and nose, and a wide black hat similar to a Japanese straw hat in design tied to his head to conceal his eyes. He spoke aloud "The Brotherhood of Bast sends its regards."

Sadow stood to face this cloaked terror, not able to discern from his heavily-concealed self what weapons he might have "Never heard of ya'. You a terroristic cult trying to make a name for yourselves...?" The man leaned his head up, revealing stern, sharp eyes... those of a killer. "Not quite." At this, he reached up with one of his arms and, out of his long sleeve, came three spheres of some hard plastic material. The assassin threw them toward Sadow's feet and, as they landed, they each burst in a small explosion like firecrackers made to distract the mercenary. Looking up from the distraction, Sadow found the assassin mere inches away from him, rearing his other arm up with a blade coming out of the sleeve to slash at him.

Leaning back to avoid it, Sadow carelessly fell off the side of the building and broke his fall, and nearly his back, on a dumpster before rolling off and onto the wet pavement. He groaned in agony as the assassin stood, perched over the edge of the building, turning his attention away from Sadow's aching form to view the battle going underway. Bast would not go hungry this night, it seemed.

The heavier assassin, Axel, used his jet-boosters in his leg augmentations, concealed beneath his metal boot-like feet, to fly toward the scene of the battle. With the area in temporary disarray, they can make with the killing of Captain Neif quickly and be gone before anyone knows different. Upon landing at the scene of the battle, Axel looked up to see an Augment, like him, attempting different attacks on an Eckari with little result. With Augments like his, no wonder he wasn't achieving much. Before Axel knew it, the Eckari threw a rather sizable dumpster at the Augmented assassin, who used his Rank-A Level 3 strength Augment in his right arm to smack the dumpster away with ease, glaring at the brutish giant.

He pressed his metallic thumbs on concealed buttons on his palms to emit a sonic screech as the Eckari began to lumber toward him. The power of the screech was enough to bring the Eckari down to his knees. It was then that Axel noticed it; a rather sophisticated and lightly-modified Bythurian transmitter located at the base of the creature's spinal column. An Electro-Magnetic Pulse with enough kick should solve that. He reached forward to grip the monster's neck and release the shockwave that would deactivate the transmitter, hopefully rendering this Eckari conscious enough to witness Lord Bast before he met his end.

---

Neif delivered a hard kick to the rib-area of the Haktu bitch, sending her flying into a nearby loading crate. The vicious half-breed then attempted to slash down vertically on Neif, who used her durable pistols to guard against her "As much as I'd like these for opening my beers, I wouldn't exactly use them in a fight..." At this, she kneed Kor straight in the abdomen, sending her stumbling back and coughing for breath. Neif smirked down at her and continued "...at least, not until I've sharpened 'em first. Your twirleys are too dull. I bet they could barely cut through a sweatshirt."

Kor coughed and wiped spittle off the side of her mouth with a glare up at the feline-humanoid "Good thing you're not wearing a sweatshirt, then, par'ak." Aiming a quick stab at the cat, she was satisfied by the feeling of puncturing her body and the sound of her yip of pain, as well as the sight of her blade piercing her shoulder. Neif, canines gritting in pain, aimed her blaster at the head of Haktu. Before she could end the fight then and there, however, her blaster was shot out of her hand by a nearby, other Half-breed. One more petite and cockroach-like than the other Mantis one. This one, immediately after shooting Neif's blaster straight out of her hand, looked with shock and amazement "I... I hit it! I landed a perfect shot!" Kor reprimanded her for her carelessness "Idiot! Don't get so excited! You forgot she has a second gun!" At this, Neif aimed her other pistol at the cockroach-girl and shot the pistol out of her hands in a similar fashion she did to her previously.

The cockroach-like female raised her arms in surrender "I give up!" Kor, with her free hand, slapped her insectoid hand against her face in shame at her partner's stupidity.