Broken Shield (Bleeding Rose)

The night was black as death on the Atlantic ocean that night. The members of The Bleeding Rose had taken a hard hit on their last mission, of all the members MooK felt the worst. Being at the center of it, and almost getting Dakka killed in the process due to her lack of skill overall.

MooK went over the events of yesterday in her mind again, trying to see where she could've done better, given her circumstances she at a loss for positivity. The mission was over, they had driven back Corporates forces long enough for the Government to come in with a fleet of core Grinders. What wasnt expected was Corporates special forces intervening towards the end. MooK had been in the forward most position of the others. After getting stunned she had been taken captive by CSF, and if it hadn't been for Dakka and Breech working together MooK would've been executed under Corporate law or used as a bargaining chip for damaged caused.

was there somewhere in there MooK could've done something different? if she wasn't at the front with nobody to cover her, she wouldn't have been taken with such little effort. Kata said it was important for them to work in pairs whenever possible to keep situations like this from occurring. MooK was determined to show her worth by covering a wider area and pushing the enemy further back. She had her riot shield and her Remington, all was going well. She heard over the communicator she had that Royal grinders were en route to her position, but over the gunfire and rattling of her shield the warning didn't click with her until she was being looked down on by one of the most effective combat vehicles in the field, the most simple and easy term to say was, giant robot. Almost as tall as a house with a shield of its own and a sword equal to that of a rapier she had been bested. Infantry came and took her away, but not before she sent a distress call. By the time she sent the call to the time she got back to the aircraft carrier she lived on it was all of fifteen minutes, but to her it was more of an eternity. MooK had been placed in a transport and was almost off the field when a giant robot came to rescue her. Not as impressive as the Royal but their Bowler was a machine to be reckoned with. Almost all of it was comprised of parts from other grinders, Dakka had named it Chaos cause that was the exact purpose it had.

Dakka ripped the top of the truck off and pulled MooK out, From there on it was a mad dash to the harbor. Bouncing and rolling and dodging everything that was thrown at them Chaos made some fancy footwork in their escape, but superior weaponry got the best of her more than twice. By the time they set foot on the harbor ground Dakka and Chaos were in pretty bad shape. MooK who had been carried like an infant in the arms of Chaos was for the most part unharmed. as the two of them were about to set foot on their ship a Royal had engaged them, determined to stop the Neutral group from getting away. Dakka had fended off the enemy for a mere matter of seconds before being impaled through the back. The way the grinders are set up is that while piloting a grinder you are synchronized with it and feel that you are the grinder and not a pilot sitting in it, Dakka felt the pain in double as Chaos was struck and Dakka herself was struck, all in the same move.

its been two weeks now and Dakka is still in the medical wing, the ship had become overridden with an air of tension and melancholy. MooK had gotten her ass chewed out by Kata, the unofficial leader of their group. unofficial in that no one was of a higher rank than the other in technical terms but considering she had been doing this the longest of everyone on board she gets looked up to for instructions, and she is more than happy to give them. MooK was in need of a morality boost, and the best place to go for that was the repair and storage wing of the ship.

She opened the door and the first thing she heard was the passionate crying and yelping. Ratchet was off in her own world as she worked on Chaos. MooK never thought that a mechanic could be so passionate, so engaged in their field as to chop off their own arm and replace it with a limb made of metal and wire so to be closer to their work on a more personal and spiritual level. Ratchet was a one of a kind, she was the one person who seemed to not quite fit into this group. Being so positive and happy and all around good natured and yet willing to lob her own arm off to make a new metal one to become more in touch with herself and her work, there has to be something a shade of dark under her tough, near unbreakable positive demeanor. Ratchet was dancing and singing as she worked over Chaos. She leapt back and twirled like a ballerina.

"OH hi MooK how are things?"

"hello Ratchet, Kata really drove into me so I thought I would come down here to get a picker upper" Ratchet's eyes widened almost as wide as her glasses. she mashed a button and one of her 'toys' rolled over and unfolded.

"you havent lived until you've had one of my Super Omega Screwdriver Deluxe's, you'll be feeling like a new set of air tools" Ratchet tossed her tools to her assisting toys and stopped to make her favorite drink. MooK took out her packet of snuff and inhaled a pinch for each nostril. Ratchet on the other hand once done with the drinks prepared her favorite pipe.

"there you are MooK, one Super Omega Screwdriver Deluxe, drink one of these and you'll be running on the deck nekkid screaming that all the dry land is gone" Ratchet took a long, delicate sip of hers and reared her head back. MooK watched the technique and followed suit. MooK had never had something so strong, there was so much mixed in she couldn't tell what was there. After a few seconds she didn't care what was in it, her shoulders started to get heavy, her elbows and knees started to feel like they were loose.

The main door opened, Kata strode down the large hallway and MooK's relaxed state became an immediate panic, she thought they were in trouble. Kata's posture and expression looked like she might be mad or she might be stressed or she might be concerned. Once she got to the two girls she remembered what a smile was.

"feeling relaxed are we?" Ratchet answered without missing a beat.

"as snug as a bug in a rug... care to join in?" MooK was white as a ghost, she thought they were dead for sure. Kata looked back and forth between them, grabbed a glass and poured in a clear drink.

"as long as I don't have to have that nasty concoction of yours Ratchet" MooK didn't quite get that things were okay for a second not until she watched Kata finish a glass. Then she remembered about Dakka.

"um... Kata... is, Dakka going to be ok?" MooK hid behind her glass as much as she could, afraid of what might happen next.

"Dakka is born from a family of tanks, it'll take more than getting stabbed in the back to put her down. Another week and she'll be as good as new" MooK didn't know if it was the alcohol but she felt better. Kata wasn't mad anymore and Ratchet was cheerful as always, she was happy here she was home.

The Grim Reaper: Valley (Death Inc)

Although I find myself walking in the valley of the shadow of death, I did not fear the evil that surrounded me. It was there, no doubt about it, but I was exempt from all it was capable of. I walked through the valley and I remembered the few names it went by. the valley of the shadow of death, the river styx, or simply just Death Incorporated, thats what it was called in the Netherworld. The world of the living had a different name for it... Times Square, you decide which one is best or even, appropriate.

I just called it home, for it is here that I live, and work and train. I am the Grim reaper, that is the title given to me. is it a good title? that all depends on your definition of whats good and whats not. For me it was good and bad, I had a purpose, I was able to put myself to good use, keeping the universe's from falling out of balance. But on the cynical side I wasnt even praised for my work. I did the jobs and got new ones immediately after, I was always on the move. I was a tool shown in its purest of forms.

I may call it home, but I was never around long enough to take in its feel of home. he who calls me daughter says that he loves me, but he has no true understanding of the word, but he does his best. Sometimes it feels like I only get to see the darker side of him, a dark and cynical side that has no feeling, even when I deserved it. I cant complain though I did save the worlds afterall. A single pathetic excuse for a man tried to claim to be the one true deliverer. With my given abilities I ground him down into dust good enough for me to walk upon. that was just the beginning of my test, and I passed it with flying colors. Flying, flaming, roaring, screaming, exploding colors. I was too good, not that he would tell you that, he would probably say something along the lines of "good for shit that is" it made my blood boil, and made my skin tremble. when he said that to me I wanted to take this silver hammer of mine and make a new place for him to put his puzzles. but no matter how much I was motivated to do it... I found an outlet and it ended up putting me on more solid ground with him, few instances he would say "That was impressive" and I felt like I could take on the whole Holy Order again... by myself.

the shuffle of the rubix cube was branded into my skull, the one sound he always enjoyed making was the one that drove me insane. I had even made a word for it...'shirk' I could enjoy the rest of my existence without ever hearing that dreadful sound again.

I looked at the time, I was going to be late. I hobbled my way into the building in the center of the river styx, the valley of the shadow of death. I wasnt afraid, my work was done, better than expected. he would be happy. the shuffle of my blazer was heavier than normal, my Kel-tec was joined by extra ammo and my 74u. I even had to change the silver hammer into the sleeper.

my joints felt like they were as rusty as the castle I came from. I was tired, but that wasnt even an excuse in his mind. fatigue meant nothing to him. I trudged through the building and found the empty desk in front of his office again, I've never seen who it was that sat there, it made me curious every time I walked past it. I put my hand on the brass handle and walked inside the dark room, the first thing I heard was that sound I hated so much... 'shirk' I figured it was going to be a hard day, and that was all the proof I needed.

Highwayman Series: The Bleeding Rose

looks like I'm back again with more info on my latest universe. I've done a lot of thinking and turned out lots of results. I added another character, worked a little more on the purpose of the robots, and come up with an acceptable idea for how the characters came to be.

A new character I added is Ratchet (not the transformer) aboard the ship of Bleeding Rose. she is the go-to for ALL forms of repair and mechanic work

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Meganekko

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GadgeteerGenius

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WrenchWench

Ratchet is absolutely absorbed into machines and technology she willingly applied it to herself by creating absolutely, the most perfect replacement for a hand she could think of. capable of doing nearly everything she could possibly need for repair and construction. she sports a pair of huge glasses (which is where the Meganekko comes into play) which are a pair of smart glasses, capable if feeding her real time information on anything she looks at or whatever comes into view of the lenses (exactly like my smart shades in the Empire) whenever Dakka returns from the field with her beaten mecha (known as Khaos) Ratchet is MORE than happy to fix the machine and usually makes a few upgrades every time she fixes it.

another character I've been working with is called Delta a man with one of the smallest mecha in the story and universe. a one man wrecking machine capable of walking in, causing disaster and leaving without a trace.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BadassLongcoat

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PoweredArmor

Delta does the same job that Bleeding Rose does but instead of having a team of people with varying levels of skill and a designated job, Delta can do everything with style and get the job done. he has a small arsenal of weapons but what he does have is deadly and able to do multiple jobs. his primary weapon is essentially a blanket, just a basic cloth type of material, but with his suit and training he can manipulate the cloth into whatever he needs. applying technology he can make a drill/sword/lance/shield/crowbar/axe. by selecting a layout the fabric will harden and shape itself to his needs, this usually gets wrapped around him like a trench coat (which is where badass longcoat comes in) his other weapon is a few different firearms all designed to work with one another so he can have basically any kind of gun by mixing and matching.

the mecha is my next stop (known as Grinders in the story). Khaos is the lead combat Mecha for Bleeding rose. the style of machine is called a Bowler type, meaning that Khaos can mildly transform from a walking machine into a ball and roll around like a bowling ball. and it can perform just like a bowling ball, its designed to crash and collide into things with nasty results left behind. the controls in the mecha of the universe are complex and pilots capable of operating them are hard to come by. a mental and physical bar must be met in order for someone to be put through the Synchronization surgery and training. syncing combines the pilot with the mecha they operate, making the pilot feel as if they have become the actual mecha, they sync up (to a certain degree, depending on the mecha) and its as if their having an out of body experience, you lift your arm and its a metal limb you walk and leap better than your original body. the actual controls in the mecha barely make any movements at all, the actions of the body are monitored during synching and the action thats requested is performed through the small adjustments in the cockpit, the pilot thinks they are the mecha so full swing controls would make issues for synching.

thats all for now, ill post more later

Back to thinking

The Highwayman Universe

like I've said before, I'm always thinking. thinking about my surroundings, thinking about the various characters and stories I make. always thinking.

For a while now, at least two months, I've been working on the idea of a new character for a story (up till a while ago I had no idea where this character would fit, which universe she would be used in) and after some thought, it hit me.

It was about a week after I saw District 9. The scene with the alien mech was awe inspiring for me. The character I was working on has Multiple personality disorder, but not in a normal sense (as far as I'm concerned) the personalities she took were related to Anime character types such as the ones in this link http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main.AnimeCharacterTypes

at random times, when nobody was looking she would go from one personality to another, carrying a trait that particular character type would have (ex. as a Tsundere she would have a long ponytail and as a Meganekko she would have big glasses and so on) and along with that she would use a form of fighting that type would use (ex. a Yandere would have big kitchen knives while a Tsundere would use a hammer or a sniper rifle)

like I said I had no idea where she would turn up. Then I got it, there was a universe I made about mech's and giant robots, then I started thinking of other characters that led into a mercenary type of group (I ultimately decided to make all the characters within the group girls cause... well... I wanted to) then I started to think of names. Normal names didnt seem to fit. then I remembered my favorite website for research into writing, TV Tropes, then I started to research. The names the characters take on are relative to the style of combat they prefer.

The main character who is the multiple personality is called MooK http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mooks?from=Main.Mook

mainly because she is the newest member of the group and has the least amount of experience, which makes her an easy target. but when another personality takes over she becomes quite the competent fighter (even going further than some of the other members in style) her signature weapon is a shotgun

Kata http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main.GunKata

is the unofficial leader of the group, a level head and one of the first to become a member, she uses a pair of Glock 18L's

Dakka http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoreDakka

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HumongousMecha

has two perks, she is an automatic weapon expert and is a skilled Grinder(mech) pilot. she has an unbelievable combat high, in which she pretty much dances while killing her enemies, she enjoys what she does... a lot. her signature weapon is a custom AK-47

Eddge http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PowerFist

is a sword and melee expert, dealing in weapons with no means of firing projectiles, she is quiet but quite possibly the coldest member of the team. she sports gauntlets with powered claws the size of medicine balls (while their fists) for weapons

Dust http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main.RevolversAreJustBetter

the western style gunslinger, she enjoys teasing and gambling in combat, usually making work into a game for her. she duels in the midst of combat... simply to show how good she is she gambles on situations like a ricochet shot to save an innocent. she has multiple revolvers hidden in her duster trench coat.

Breech http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FriendlySniper

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BadassDriver

along being an excellent driver (usually delivering Dakka and her mech to points of interest) she is the designated sniper for the team. she has replaced mechanical parts and is synched with her weapons so she can fire them while she isnt even near them, she can also defend herself quite well up close. her signature weapon is a Dragunov

thats about it for characters. still working on that.

the universe is The Highwayman which is about giant robots and flashy combat. this set of characters and plot is designed for another perspective on the universe, what mercenaries and PMC's see. the darker grittier side of the war's (whereas the other perspective is from corporations and governments and their military force, the combining mech's, and their task in the war which is televised)

the girls work for "the bleeding rose" and live on an autonomous battleship, complete with everything they need. the symbol of their group is a nightstick with a glass midsection holding a red rose, which they sport everywhere they go and doubles as a weapon obviously.

everyone who becomes a member is chosen for a specific reason, a talent they have that gets applied to the combat. these used to be regular people doing ordinary things. when they get selected, all of the past is forgotten except the last thing they remember (ex. MooK's last memory was holding hands with someone and their grip fading. Dakka's is an audience and the limelight)

thats the most of what I have gotten, Ill work on this more as I usually do and if I feel like posting more about it ill do it as I feel. whether or not I get a story together is dependant on whether or not I can get inspired and confident enough.

till next time

The Girl of the Decaying Driller (The Highwayman)

The sun was bright, and uninterrupted by the clouds for a brief moment. The girl with the Codename of Pestilence made her way to her secret hiding place. The hospital has an underground garage with many hidden areas that were built during the War of Iron. Within one of the hidden rooms was the pride and joy of Pestilence.

Well, it was becoming that. With slow but sure progress. Pestilence dashed into the garage, the new parts she carried wore her down a bit. The work she went through to get the parts she needed next was near impossible. The Gearheads were going to be upset for more missing tools and replacement parts for the Street Thugs and the other Grinders at the headquarters.

Pestilence ran down into the garage. A few cars were rolling about, looking for a place to park. They wouldnt pay any attention to her, but she would have to be cautious when she ducked down into the secret area, the last thing she needed was to get caught for stealing power from the hospital. She dragged her hand across the hollow wall. Once she found the hidden panel a section opened up and she slipped through. The darkness inside the secret area swallowed her whole. Pestilence slid her fingers across the brim of her hat and a flood lamp erased a section of the black. Pestilence walked down the narrow hallway and into her secret room.

Multiple cables and computers lie about the room, all centered around a single thing, a single person. The giant, blank eyes of a girl stare off into infinite possibility. The gathered pieces of a girl with a fraction of a body, connected to all of the hanging cables. An upper torso, arms just short of the elbows, and artificial hair attached to the head for an extra power supply. The one part that was pretty much complete was the spine and brain collection. For reasons unknown, Pestilence was unable to activate the mind without the spine, regardless the spine was built to act as a limb till the arms were assembled. Pestilence set the parts next to the body, and powered up the computer.

"rise and shine Anna, good morning" the eyes of the hanging body went from large and grey to a refined and lime green color. Anna started to speak like a tape recorder set twice as fast, checking programs, setting security, after a few seconds Anna was wide awake.

"Master? Master your here, that makes me happy" Anna was so excited she started to swing from her cables and hangers.

"Hi Anna, be careful okay, you dont need to disconnect yourself and fall down from getting all worked up" Pestilence pulled the parts out of the bag.

"I'm sorry Master, I just cant help myself sometimes, having you around just makes me so happy, you dont know" Anna's spine dragged along the ground, the end of it wagged like a dogs tail.

"Its alright, and guess what. I have some new parts for you"

"You do really?! I'm so happy, and before long I will be able to walk beside you Master, that... makes me happy" Pestilence started attaching new parts to Anna. Her phone started to ring.

"Master, one of your good friends is trying to talk to you" Pestilence pulled her phone out, it was HQ. They odds were they wanted her to work on her training for the Decaying Driller.

"I dont want to talk to them" she put her phone back in her pocket.

"Master?"

"Anna, there is so much that I havent told you"

"oh but thats not true Master, when I shut down I live amongst others, they live on the internet. They tell me many great and interesting things. It makes me eager to join you outside so I can meet them. I've learned all about the outside world, and about you Master" Pestilence stopped working, everything she was planning on telling Anna was being taken from her.

"Really, you know that much about me?" Anna reared her head up, trying to look at Pestilence on the same level.

"oh yes, as a small child you were chosen for the Four Horsemen Complex, a program that chose those who were capable of the extreme thought of controling the most powerful Grinders in the world. War, pilot of the Chaos Bringer. Famine, pilot of the Starving Model. Death, pilot of Labyrinth Reaper. Then there is you, Pestilence, pilot of the Decaying Driller. But... but"

"I didnt want it, the death of my parents was the only reason they found me. When my parents were in this hospital, they were suspects for those who would be capable of piloting. When they tested me, I was above and beyond all the testing, even breaking all of Famines records"

"Master, you are... absolutely awe inspiring, I look up to you with so much pride. The fact that you, of all people are building me... makes me happy" Anna was getting teary eyed, at least she would be if she had the program and the parts to do so.

"Please Anna, dont get this way over me, its stupid" Pestilence was starting the waterworks too, all the thoughts of her parents was getting to her.

"Master... I'm sorry, you look like you need a hug but... I have no arms to hug you with" Pestilence almost choked, while she was crying, what Anna said made her chuckle.

"Master! Master are you alright?" Pestilence started to cough to clear her throat.

"Anna, what you said there, I feel better thanks to you" Anna started to sniffle.

"really? you feel better. Then... I feel better too" Anna smiled and wagged her spine again.

"besides Anna, you-" the building started to rumble.

"what was that?" Anna looked around as some dust started to float to the ground. Pestilence listened to the noise outside, it was the sound of a Wheelarc energy source. The Street Thugs were near, and that meant.

"Busted" another rumble, followed by a huge quake shook the two girls to their core. Pestilence got up to go take a look.

"Master?"

"Ill be right back Anna, ill be right back" she shoved the secret door open and ran out to take a look. The Bicycle Thief was stopped in front of the garage while the Safecracker fired on an enemy she couldnt see. Her phone rang again, Janet was calling her from inside Safecracker.

"Hello? Janet"

"Hey you little Pest, what do you think your doing?! we're in the middle of an emergency and you decide to go hide out for a while. Get your ass in gear" the Safecracker was struck and knocked away from the hospital. The Bicycle Thief was in B-Spec mode, so it was pretty much useless in combat. With no pilot to operate it, all the weapons were unused. There was a single person capable of operating it was dead. There was a siren blareing from the hospital, followed by an alert to get all the patients out of the area. The dust had settled, and one of the Sevensins emerged.

L-Driver strutted out from behind the trees and debris. Pestilence started to walk backwards, the L-Driver was the fastest Sevensins Grinder out there. Unless the Street Thugs conbine into highway man, they wont stand a chance. There was chatter on the phone.

"Janet?"

"listen Pest, you need to get into the Bicycle Thief you'll be safe there until we get you back to HQ"

"I... just hang on for a moment, theres something I have to do, its urgent"

"Dammit, you shallow brat, this is an emergency, you can get kill-gragh" Janet was attacked again. Then the third part of their team arrived. The phone adjusted to allow a third party to speak.

"Pestilence hurry and do what you have to, we'll cover you" it was him, Marcus Wheeler. Like her he was dragged into this mess. She didnt know the details but now wasnt the time, she had to get Anna converted to a moveable power source and fast. She spotted a hand truck by a delivery van, she could hang Anna from it and place batteries on the bottom. After snagging the hand truck she dashed into the secret room. Anna was staring at the ground whimpering. Once she saw Pestilence she got excited.

"Master your back"

"Not now Anna I need to get you out of here fast" the hand truck was set behind Anna and all the hangers were changed over.

"Now to change your power source, what would be the best, she had a generator, but it was heavy and wont fit through the way she would need it, stacking the batteries would be easiest but their duration would be short, minutes at best. She didnt have a better choice. She placed three batteries on top of one another and connected the ends to Anna's power terminals.

"Master, are we going to be okay?"

"We'll be okay, we're going to get inside a Grinder and escape from this place"

"You mean... we are going outside?"

"It'll be okay, I wont let anything happen to you" nobody will lay a finger on you unless we say its okay" Pestilence tilted the hand truck and started to pull it out to the Grinder. Chatter came up on the phone again.

"Janet we cant wait anymore, we have to combine"

"I called for a helicopter to pick up the Pest, lets do this"

"Alright, the gangs all here, Combination!" Pestilence was feet away from the Bicycle thief when it activated and took off, the Street thugs were going to combine into The Highwayman.

The Bicycle Thief and the Safecracker combined to Wheelman. As Pestilence and Anna watched the combination a helicopter landed nearby.

"Miss Pestilence please hurry" a soldier gestured towards her to hurry as others got out to cover them. As one of the men got near her the copter erupted in an explosion. The L-driver fired on them. As it prepared its second shot it collided with the complete Highwayman.

"Now you can see what the whole gang can do when we fight together, prepare to go down L-Driver"

Nosocomephobia (The Empire)

The air was sterile as always. The walls were too white, the carpet too green, and all the people within did not help to make things any better by coughing and moaning. The crying and screaming children were the worst of all, the banshee shrieks rung in Boosters ears, his mind started to play games with him. The fear of the hospital was strong in him, shrieks of the children made him think of screaming patients as they were toyed with and expieramented on by twisted doctors with no moral thought.

Booster started to tremble as he fought to regain himself, his hands gripped his legs with tremendous force. A minor jolt of pain was enough to tell his hands to let go, his sprained knee was swollen and aching, and it wasnt helping his position any. If some crazy doctor wanted him, he couldnt get away. As he sat there he knew something bad would happen, he didnt know what, but he was sure of one thing, he was going to have a very bad expierience here.

Just as he collected himself from his own fear, he heard a sound that he wished he hadnt, at least not in the location he was in. The sound of space and time being ripped apart and someone walking through it, that elegant heel-toe, heel-toe. He didnt turn around he just sat there hoping that the sound was just his mind playing tricks on him again. He closed his eyes and nodded his head. He heard someone sit in a seat near him, then the smell lingered in. That smell had been tattooed into his skull to the point that it made him tremble when that person was around, he was not in control anymore. If there was a crazy doctor here, that person would give him up to them in the skip of a heartbeat, just because she felt like it. She hadnt said a word, she wouldnt say a word till he looked at her, unless she had to say something that was bothering her.

"Marcus? Marcus Wheeler?" Booster jumped as a nurse called for the next patient. Another sheep to the slaughter. Booster needed to stop thinking like that. Everything was fine, this was a normal place with normal, typical people. This was just another gathering place for the ignorant masses, not a brewing ground for monsters and psyco doctors.

She hadnt said a word yet, she just sat there. That smell just running through Boosters nostrils like an X-Wing and the Millenium Faclon tearing through the Death star.

"Nicholas? Black?" another shiver ran through his body, his name was getting closer to the top. Booster wanted to open his eyes, but there was an issue. She was still there, and where was the worst part. He couldnt remember if she sat on the left or the right of him. The last thing he needed to do was provoke her. Up till now she was being remorseful... or maybe she was steaming, waiting for the moment for him to screw up so she could unleash Mad Tsundere Bombs all over this place. He wouldnt be able to tell until he opened his eyes and looked.

"Vincent Scyther?" another shock rattled his body. Shock, Shock therapy, Frankenstein. Booster was at it again, he shook his head back and forth screaming 'stop' in his head. It was getting bad, images of men in white coming to take him away on a stretcher with a straight jacket, sprained knee and all, to put him on a table and, and. There was a slap sound, followed by heel-toe, heel-toe. Space and time were ripped apart again.

"all this over an Insta-care... honestly" Space and time repaired itself, and Booster was by himself again. minutes later his name was called.

The Grim Reaper (Death inc)

Black, white and Grim as always.  The Netherworld was always a hard place to be.  Mercedes had spent most of her life in the world of the living, where there was color and shade and texture.  Here in the Netherworld though, everything seemed to be simple and plain.  The grand castle that stood before her didnt seem as awe inspiring because it blended in with everything else.

Mercedes hobbled her way towards the main doors of the castle.  Her B-type cane still found with her even after the events of the thirteenth Netherworld war.  The creeking door revealed to her the innards of the dead castle.  Her target was somewhere inside, waiting for her.  there were many enormous holes running around the castle like a circulaory system.  She wasnt given much about her mission here, then again she was never given much info on her missions.  A form of Deaths tough love, he gave her everything she would need, then she had to take that and solve the rest herself.

"creature of large, I dont know where a huge creature could hide in a place like this"  she walked around.  The inside of the castle was dark, no lights were on nor any candles lit.  Mercedes was already used to this place, so many things in her life felt just like this.  A soft howl echoed throughout the castle.  Mercedes started her search, she sifted through the various sections of the castle and found nothing but bodies that have yet to be buried.  Nobility in the Netherworld looked identical to those who were in the living world; cold, corrupt, and single minded.  Another light howl blew through, Mercedes could tell better where it was coming from better than before she made her way in the general direction.  Mercedes walked outside into an elaborate garden.  The colors of the floweres rolled across her vision as she looked around.  Faint sights of reds and blues, among various colors.  The ground thundered beneath her, she was close.  Whatever this thing was she could feel its movements.  

There was a tower near her.  A giant hole made her think that the creature was lying in wait.   She tread with caution as she progressed towards the tower.  The broken entrance to the tower was blowing air out.  She stepped inside and looked around.  the lower areas were black as night, she couldnt see anything below her.  A roar came from below, for the entirety that Mercedes looked, the eyes of a monster were glowing green.  The shade of green reminded Mercedes of someone she met.  Before she could think anymore about it, multiple arms sprung up and attacked her.  Mercedes leapt upwards into the tower.

"I have to get out of here" Mercedes leapt for the exit but got knocked up and away.  As she attemped to get back down, the monster had already passed the hole.

"there must be another way out of here, a window" Mercedes started to make her way up towards the top.  The monster sent another barrage of limbs and Mercedes responded with firing her PLR-16 at the limbs as she ran upwards.  The smaller limbs fell as they were struck but the bigger ones remained unaffected.  Mercedes gripped the handle of her cane and ignited the Anti-Reaper power blade.  Even though the blade was made for Reapers it was still formidiable against every other type of target.  She flipped the weapon in her hand so she held the bottom of the shaft, she reared her arm and swung at the monsters limbs.  Cries of pain echo up the hollow tower.  Mercedes looked down and saw a red jewel in the monsters mouth.

"I would have to say that is a weak spot, it feels necessary for me to break that" Mercedes, leapt off the spiral stairs and dove for the monsters exposed weak spot.  The monster closed its exposed body as Mercedes collided with it.  She attempted to cut into the monsters body with her power blade but it had minimal effect.  The monster started to climb again, while it ascended it attempted to shake off Mercedes.  She leapt off and ran up the stairs till the monster stopped.  She would have to summon the Sleeper in order to break the armor.  She flipped the B-type so she had it as a cane again.

"third gear, Sleeper!" the B-type started to change in her hand.  The cane started to wind in, around her arm then she whipped her arm out and a new weapon was present.  A long handle war axe appeared.  The weapon was themed after a V8 engine, why the creator decided on automotive themes was beyond her its all his fault she moved the weapon around in her hand and got a good grip.  She ran up and got a little distance, the she jumped off and dove at the monster again.  The armor was still closed, she swung the Sleeper with all her strength and the protective armor shattered into pieces.  The monster screamed again and Mercedes was tossed upwards.  The armor opened and the limbs attacked.  Mercedes swung Sleeper around so that she spun around, the axe cut the limbs down as she fell.  The armor closed back up, but the swing from the axe broke through and smashed the weakspot.  Another cry of pain came from the monster and it started to ascend with ferocity.  Mercedes would have to think fast if she didnt want to get crushed.

Day/Off:exerpt (The Empire/Death inc)

sorry but I dont have a new story for today.  I've had a few ideas in my head but nothing that I find worth putting down at the moment, its not good enough as far as I'm concerned.  what I do want to do is work more on character development, I feel thats where most of this writing inspiration has been coming from.

what I will do is leave an exerpt of what I've cleaned up on another story I've been working on.  The last while I have gone through and redone and cleaned up some of Day/Off in hopes that I would regain my spark and continue from where I left off (so far... nothing, figures) 

Exerpt

The sound of flesh and moving parts fighting each other echoed through the semi-outdoor shop as dirtyBIRD’s face was munched on by the belts of the Mustang.  Jethrow stood there laughing. 

“do I seem familiar now Booster?” the only thing about the situation that wasn’t right was the collection of wiper blades that were thrust into his gut, held in place by a hand that connected to Booster’s arm.  A dark, more menacing laugh started to come from under the hood of the car 

“that was pretty good Mason, that’s quite the getup you have” Booster shoved Mason back, and turned to face his opponent.

“You foul Reaper, how dare you shove me so casually, I‘m going to kill you and burn the body” 

“That’s a lot of talk coming from a pretty boy like you, ill take you on without even summoning my powers” Booster spoke with confidence.

“Ill make you wish you hadn’t said that you pathetic monster” Mason took stance

“And by the power given to me by the Lordmaster Russell Knightreign, I will deliver another false deliverer unto the destroyer” Mason charged Booster.  

They had moved out into moving traffic.  The ignorant masses merely lay on their horns as they sped past the fighting men, both of them eagerly trying to throw the other into the way of oncoming cars.

Sterling walked to the front of the car where he thought dirtyBIRD was with the customer.  It seemed that nobody noticed dirtyBIRD and Mason’s little skirmish.

“I guess the customer went off lot.  Park this when it’s done, dirty probably went home” he told the others as he lit up another smoke.

Mason had finally pulled some weapons out to fight with.  He had produced a series of leather belts linked with chrome chains and hooks.  Booster saw them and he started to laugh.

“What the heck are those? Belts? What are ya gonna do whip me to death ‘oh no mistress no more I can’t take anymore’, you really are hopeless”

“you fool, these aren’t any normal leather belts, these are anaconda straps, capable of crushing rocks and gems with so much as a thought.  There linked by the strongest metals in the world, there’s no way you can escape from these once you’ve been caught.  And who are you to talk, your fighting with wiper blades!”

“Ah but these aren’t any normal wiper blades, these are forged with Breakdown alloy in the frame and the rubber, easily capable of cutting through your pathetic metals and belts” Masons red tinted glasses went opaque as his expression became angry.

“Soul separation at forty percent, adjusting stance to defense” Mason said as he changed his footing and center of gravity.

“Fourth horsemen complex at level four… Death, the fourth horsemen of the apocalypse has granted me minimum power.  Keep power until target is dead” Booster grinned his wicked grin.

The two fighters were prepared to attack, their weapons chosen, their stances offensive, and their confidence to defeat the other peaked.

-D-

The doors of the elevator opened up and a girl around the same age as Jane ran in, the time was somewhere around three so school was out.

“Huff… thanks for waiting” she drew in a couple of breaths.

“Sure, no problem” Jane said, overlooking the girl as she leaned on the opposite side of the elevator.  She was overly blonde, the kind of blonde that was a bit overwhelming to look at.  The girl hit level 29 and rummaged through her purse.

“Don’t you hate it when you can’t find a single thing in your purse? It drives me crazy” the girl said without looking up.  Jane didn’t carry a purse, not after that day, the need to constantly monitor her appearance had dropped dramatically, not that she got lazy about looking good, her new body does a lot more upkeep than before.  She decided to humor the girl and play along.

“I know, looking your absolute best is such a nightmare” slight sarcasm was hidden in her words.

“I'm going to have to call my hairdresser and make an appointment, I've got a big day today” she started to giggle as her legs started to gallop lightly, she was so full of energy.

“A hot date I’m betting” Jane asked.  The girl looked at her with a big smile, her body still eager to expel the contained energy.

“I’m so excited, he’s the soon to be governors son, he’s totally loaded too, if I stay with him long enough, he might even want to marry me, and who knows, he might even be like his dad and ill have the house to myself most of the time, can you say ‘dream life’?” that last part had a musical spring to it, Jane felt annoyed.

“He’s a good guy right?  Smart, respectful, and loves you for who you are right?” she asked, prying  hoping that the girl would agree.

“eh… he’s… nice and all, but all that money, I cant think of another person who could put that money to better use than me.  The thought of all that cash makes me willing to walk through fire” the passion in the girls eyes was proof enough, she had fallen in love with some idiots money.  Jane didn’t know what to say, she thought for sure there wasn’t anything she could say to change the girl for better.  If it wasn’t for dying and everything, Jane would probably be on the same path.

The elevator stopped and Jane got out.  Just before the door closed Jane reopened them “just remember, if you stay in this frame of mind, you better be prepared for the long run” it didn’t come out as well as she hoped, the girls look was very confused.  The door closed and Jane stood there staring at herself in the polished aluminum reflection “shut up” she said as she turned around.

The plain beige and magenta hues of the hallway were badly sculpted like a Las Vegas playing floor, the carpet was too busy to look at, and the walls and ceiling were too boring, all she could do was look straight forward.  She unlocked her door and walked in.  Her Blackberry phone started to ring.  She was receiving a text message

{Good work this week Jane; you are really becoming quite the member of Death Inc.  As a small token of appreciation for everything your doing, I have put some coupons in your mail and a small bonus in your check.  Keep up the good work-Death =where’s the beef?}

Deaths text signatures drove her nuts sometimes why does he want to know where the beef is? We don’t even need to eat, he can be so strange sometimes but then she figured, it better that he’s more casual as opposed to the stressed and evil grim reaper the media always seems to portray.

-E-

The fight between the Booster and Mason had been very intense to say the least, but no progress had been made in the defeat of the opponent.  They were simply to equally balanced, even when they didn’t bring out the big guns.

Their fight had moved from the middle of 21st into Sugarhouse Park.  Mason, having the advantage of the high ground made his next attack.  He unleashed a very long band of belts and links from both his hands and hit Booster from both sides.  The belts wrapped around just like a snake would to catch its prey.

“And now for the final move, I will crush your bones into dust and shove your blubbery carcass into a wood chipper” Mason said beaming with confidence.

“y’know that’s good and all but your forgetting a major thing” as Booster spoke, he made his arms tense and launched a volley of wiper blades from his short sleeves, in between his arms and the binding belts.  Although he dug into himself, he was freed himself from the clutches of the anaconda belts.  The breakdown alloy in the wiper blades had read the composition of the belts and the metal links and found the fastest means possible to break it down into worthless little strings

Booster threw himself at Mason; he was extracting more of the blades from the concealment of his work shirt and brought them to bear on his opponent.  With little time to react, Mason bent over backwards and put his weight on his hands, he kicked his legs up and thrusted his fire painted shoes through the attack and into Booster’s chest.  The attack sent the Reaper upwards, unable to control himself in the air he flailed about.  Mason pushed against his hands again and landed on his feet, he slung another collection of links from his sleeve and whipped them at Booster.

“Some bird you turned out to be, you can’t even fly”

“The dirtyBIRD is a land ridden species, it doesn’t need to fly” the wiper blades thrashed at the belts, he dropped the blades in one hand and grabbed one of the belts; he pulled himself towards Mason as fast as he could.  This time there was no escape for Mason, the force was overwhelming and his strike was precise.  As they made contact, a bright flash of light, came and went just as fast as lightning.  Booster had ended up behind Mason who was standing like he was a statue meant to show off a scene from a dramatic play. There was silence as the two didn’t move an inch.

“Alright listen, I’m supposed to be off from work right now, can we call this a draw already?” Booster stood up and drew his weapons back.  Mason turned around and flailed around with a sense of urgency

“What? No, we aren’t finished yet, I‘m just getting warmed up” 

“look we both know this isn’t getting us anywhere, besides, we still have your car, and you still need to pay us for the service we did to it” Mason wasn’t going anywhere without his Mustang, that car was a part of him as much as he wanted Mercedes to be.

“… alright, we’ll call it a draw, for now, but the next time we meet, it’ll be no holds barred, and the gloves will be coming off”

“Ooh I’m scarred; c’mon Blondie your car is waiting”

“You better stop calling me Blondie, and prettyboy or else”

“Or else what? Maybe ill call you Emo from now on”

“what the hell is an Emo?!”

-D-

Jane sifted through her mail and found the two letters from Death inc. one with the coupons and the other with her check.  She set the other letters on her kitchen counter and she looked over the various discounts.

“discounts on clothes, free movie tickets, oh a free manicure and pedicure, huh? Discounts on meals at restaurants? That doesn’t even make sense” the food coupons seemed pretty redundant to her, probably some kind of joke if it is, I’m not laughing she pocketed the coupons that would come in handy and opened her other letter, the check was missing, the only thing in the envelope was a small note [all checks are wired to the proper accounts] well that made things easier, she didn’t have to take her checks to the bank anymore.  She tossed the note and all aside and she went to her room, a short nap sounded good to her.  When she woke, she would decide on what she will do with her weekend.

-E-

Booster was almost home, he was at the light just before the entrance to the secret underground base of the Empire.  His job had been long and arduous but when he got home he could relax and find a nice game to play, or maybe someone at the base had other plans for the rest of the team.  He parked his Black Service Van by the service bays of the Secret undergrounds garage.

He exited the second sector of the base and headed for the commons area where most of the members of the empire should be.

He opened the door and saw Blackhawk at the computer, his favorite place to be, Zip and Triki were fighting over the tv remote while Salili and H2O Boy looked through their music collection.

“Blackhawk” Booster said

“Booster” he returned, the girls and H2O Boy greeted him as well.  Booster made his way over to the Playstation, which was unoccupied at the moment.  He switched it on and inserted an FPS.

After about an hour the door to the commons area was opened, Moe and MJOLNIR entered.

“C’mon Moe, your so good at explaining it, couldn’t you just help me with this one assignment?” MJOLNIR begged.

“It’s not that hard… alright look, come over here and ill explain it to you again, and put that stupid player away” Moe said as she pulled her studies out and placed them on the table, MJOLNIR did the same.

The dinner bell rang and everybody but Booster got up and headed for the kitchen.

“Hey Booster, you coming?” Moe asked.

“Um… no” there was an awkward silence before Moe punched herself in the head.

“Oh yeah, sorry I forgot”

“its fine, its funny, you’re the only one who seems to forget that” Booster just smiled and turned towards his game.

Moe was about to leave the room when she remembered something, she snapped her fingers as she turned back to Booster.

“Hey I almost forgot, remind me to talk to you later” she exited before he could answer her what does she want to talk about? Why does it have to wait till after dinner, geez now this is gonna bug me Booster thought as he shut the Playstation down and switched to an Anime DVD.

-M-

As Moe walked to the kitchen she became enveloped in her own thoughts I wonder what he’ll say, probably no, he‘s not the type to be into this stuff, I’ll just have to make an effort to pull him out of his shell unattached to her surroundings she bumped into a hand lying on the ground, startled by the unexpected contact she stepped back and assessed the situation.  It was racistBOB, lying on the ground, moaning.

Moe stepped up to him and looked him over, his face expressed that of discomfort, and his pink dress shirt and vest were hiked up on his person, exposing an unnaturally inflamed belly.

She kneeled down and hesitantly poked at the sick boy’s stomach.  The belly waved with the majestic beauty of the blue Atlantic, the ensuing moan from the mostly mute boy followed.

Moe looked around and saw that he had already had dinner, a very large portion of it.  The remnants of the large plate looked like lasagna, funeral potatoes, and butter roles, mixed with pixie sticks and other sugar based products intended to give any child an immense ‘sugar-rush’

“A natural born Garfield” Moe said as she left the boy to tend to his punishment.  When she entered the kitchen everybody was standing around talking.

“So what’s up, we gonna eat or what?” Moe asked.  Blackhawk looked at her.

“Well as you saw, racistBOB ate all the food, and whats left doesn’t look safe for anyone to eat so we’re just working on figuring out where we want to go eat at” H2O Boy gestured, and suggested a restaurant.

“Why don’t we eat at Famous Dave’s?” Blackhawk looked over at him and nodded in agreement.

“Any objections?” everybody agreed and they made their way to the Garage.

The Empire took a car and went off for dinner.  Booster got tired of watching cartoons and swapped for a live-action film.

-D-

Jane had been asleep for a few hours, when she woke she hopped in the shower and got cleaned up.

“A DATE!!!” she yelled from the shower.  She scrambled out of the bathroom and got dressed.

-E-

Lookaround (The Empire)

The blare of the alarm clock wasnt enough, the combination of screeching beeps and morning talk radio did nothing to wake Moe from her nightmare.  She sprung from her bed in a cold sweat, almost falling out of her bed.  She was breating like she was claustrophobic, and she was looking all over the room for anything familiar.

But everything was familiar, she was in her room afterall.  Moe ran her forearm across her head and rubbed the sweat on her shirt.

"A dream... it was just a dream" she threw her blankets off and took a shower.  After she got dressed she made her way towards the kitchen of the Secret Underground Base of the Empire.  As she walked she greeted others as they crossed her path.  The first person she met that morning was Zip.

"Morning Zip, how go things this morning?"

"Eh... they go fine, still tired though" Zip yawned as she spoke.  A door down the hall opened.

"Master Zip" it was Cid, Zip's apprentice.

"heya Cid, ready for some heavy training? we're rooftop leaping today" Zip rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and walked off with Cid.

"we'll see ya later Moe"  Moe nodded and continued on her way.  she opened the door and saw Blackhawk, Relm, Shinoburai having breakfast.  They greeted Moe as she opened the fridge.  There were leftovers from yesterdays dinner. The pizza they ordered, that would do for her.  She picked a few large pieces and nuked them for a few minutes.  Moe left the room while chewing on a piece of Supreme.  She entered the Armory and continued work on a project of hers.  While she worked she couldnt help but think of the only part of her nightmare she remembered.  she was standing in a room, staring outside.  She saw a ferris wheel and a building stood out from everything else.  Moe peered through the window and saw as everything became foggy and unclear, the room she was in started to glow red.  She looked down at her hands as they turned bright red.  Thats when she woke up.

"its a dream, nothing more" she shook her head in an attempt to remove the thoughts from her mind.  Moe's pocket started to vibrate, her cell phone was going off.  She pulled the phone out, it was her friend Jo.

"hey Jo, how go things today?" things had been rough for Jo, since they moved to Denver things havent gone well.

{I'm caught in a rut here Moe.  Anna wont talk to me, she's still having issues with this infection she got.  she just sits in the corner of her room and rocks back and forth.  I feel like I'm watching our friend just fall apart.  What should I do Moe? not being able to help her is killing me}

"I think this is something she needs to do herself, I'm sure that anything you have to say would be helpful but she needs to conquer this challenge herself" Jo didnt say anything for a while.  Moe knew that Jo was comfortable with helping others, if she couldnt do something for someone it would drive her nuts.

{I just want our Anna back you know, seeing her like this}

"I know... think of it as a challenge for her and you" the door opened and there was a call for her name.

"look I have to go, if you need anything just call me okay?" Moe hung up and walked towards the door.  Triki walked around and looked at the numerous guns and blades that lie about the Armory.

"hey Triki, what'cha looking for today?" Moe could hear Triki humming.

"I'm looking for... something exciting, something that'll make jaws drop" she picked up a grenade launcher and twirled it in her hand for a moment before Moe took it away.  She grabbed an axe off the rack and gave it to Triki.

"take this and please be careful" Triki just smiled and hummed as she left.  Moe wasnt doing anything productive so she decided to find something else to do.  Perhaps a ride would help.

Moe opened the doors to the garage.  The place was pretty quiet when Booster wasnt around.  Moe took the elevator down to her section.  Among her wide collection of motorcycles she chose the Green machine, she pulled the bike out and rode the lift back up.  Just as she rode out she saw Neko crash through the door.  By the time she saw her, Moe was already gone.

The afternoon sky was bright and blue, and the Freeway wasnt as busy as it shoud've been for a saturday.  She liked that though, empty roads meant she could speed without sidewinding cars.

She got off the freeway and stopped at a nearby Wendys for a shake and fries.  She made her order and went back out to her bike.  She leaned against her bike and ate slowly, enjoyed her moment of peace and quiet.

"this is nice, I should do this more often"  her phone rang again.  this time it was MJOLNIR.

"hey I have a question about the homework we were given could you come to the base and help me again?" and with that Moe's moment of peace was put off for another time.

Highbrow: VIP (Staged)

The night was cold and humid, rain was about to cover the city.  Jo cruised down state street to meet her target the train station.  her mission was simple; locate her informant and deliver them to a location and take them to the airport as soon as their business is complete.  this was a simple, lowbrow job but Jo needed something mellow.  so much had happed in the last few months that she couldnt help but think over all the problems that were in her lap.

Anna had been struck with a virus that had consumed her to the point that Jo couldnt even get through to her, she had been shut out.  she didnt know how to deal with it, Moe had been so busy with The Empire that she couldnt really help Jo with advice. let her conquer this challenge... but that doesnt sit well with me

She had arrived at the train station.  She parked Metalgear and stood next to the walk way.  her cellphone started to ring.

"Hello?" it was the guild.

"Jo, its Ed, we just got some new info for you.  the informant goes by the name Famine, make sure to remember that.

"yeah I got it, ill make sure to address him accordingly, thanks Ed" she put her phone back in her trench coat.  her hand touched the Cheshire cat as it lay wound around her, she was sure she wouldnt need it but that didnt stop her from bringing it along.  she did leave her guns at the motorhome though, she felt confident that those werent needed.  Her GGX badge was necessary so she wore that on the outside, so Famine would know she was here for him.

She looked around at the other people waiting for the train.  A mother was struggling with her kids, some business men were chatting and laughing amongst eachother.  the platform started to rumble, the train clattered and came to a stop.  the shuffle of people was over in a matter of seconds.  Jo stood and surveyed the new people as they shuffled about, some highschoolers were off in a shot.  there was one man who stood out.  he looked around like he was lost, or waiting for someone.  he looked almost as young as she was.  he was dressed like he was a college student with a guitar case.  he didnt look very nice, he had an expression like he could be a real prick, wicked grin and all.  he saw her and approached.

"your from the Guild arent you?" his voice was like rocks and razors tucked in a velvet bag.  his dirty blonde hair was fit into a fawxhawk.

"I take it your Famine? I'm here as your driver" Jo said in a nice casual tone.

"I was expecting something different, lets go" he slung a soft guitar case over his shoulder and started walking someone different? like who? what an ass

Jo unlocked the doors to Metalgear, and they drove according to Famine's directions.

"when we reach eighty-fifth turn left"

"so what is this whole thing about? I wasnt given any information" Jo wanted to make small talk and to see if she could gauge what lie ahead of her, whether or not she should feel cautious.

"your just a driver so it isnt important for you to know" Famine said, his tone was drenched in boredom and a bit of rudeness.

"well gee your a nice guy, I'm just trying to pass the time, and I would like to know whether or not I need to be prepared for a fight" as she said it, she looked him over.  she didnt know what was in the guitar case but he didnt look like the type who would help in a fight.  he had muscle but he would probably run for cover.

"A- this is all business, B- you need to keep quiet, and C- I am fully capable of taking care of myself so you need to shut up, drive, and turn right here" Jo was right, he was an ass.

They pulled up to the entrance to a parking garage.  Jo took a card and the gate opened.  Famine guided her through the garage and up to a group of people standing next to black sedans.  One individual was sitting in a chair while the others stood around her.

"welcome, Starving man" the woman in white said, her guards standing around her, emotionless.  they were women too, in black suits with various weapons.  Famine looked at Jo and spoke in a low voice.

"dont say a word, everything here is extremely delicate.  one wrong word from you and this could be shot back in our faces.  Hello Mistress, its a pleasure to meet you in person"

"of course this probably wasnt the best choice of a location to meet on such short notice, but we have to be careful, for my sake and yours"

"of course, we wouldnt want to rustle any feathers between us, things are already very sensitive.  as a representative of the GGX Guild we would like to extend our hand out and accept you into a postition within our business.  from the success you've had running on your own we believe you would be an asset"

"we appreciate the praise but I beleive that it would be for the best if we -" there was a sudden change in aura, the guards and Jo reached for their weapons.  Jo reached for her badge instead of the Cheshire cat, she didnt want to pull that out till she felt it was necessary, after she saw what was going on.

"it would seem that this position has been compromised, I believe we should take our leave before prying eyes see something they shouldnt"

"I agree Mistress, with that I believe we will take our leave and-" a shot rang out, a glowing round sped past Jo and Famine, one of the Mistress' guards jumped in front of the round and accepted a gut shot.  the other guards spread out just as other enemies sprung from hiding.

"Marcie!" the Mistress yelled, one of the guards grabbed Marcie and lugged her over to a sedan.

the number of enemies was overwhelming, Jo went to grab Famine but he was too swift for her.  he opened the guitar case and revealed a weapon.  a double ended staff with a long thin blade on one end and a thick curved blade on the other.

"dont think I'm some pathetic loser now" Famine said.  An enemy rushed towards him and Famine took a step past him, an after image of a blade was all Jo saw.  The enemy fell to the ground carved at an angle.

"we dont have time for this, I'm ordering you to dispose of theses people and to make sure the Mistress gets away safely" he split the weapon in half and ran off.

"hey wait! where are you going!?" Jo reached out but he was already gone, he was quick on his toes.

"its my order to keep you safe how can i do that if you take off?" Jo yelled.  She didnt know what to do about him, she started running between the cars and the walls as protection.  one of the attackers jumped out and took Jo on.  he fired a salvo of SMG rounds as Jo dodged into the cars, she leapt over and smashed the attacker into the trunk of a nearby car.

"go after her" one of the enemies said and more turned towards her.

"dammit not good" Jo ducked back down as more gunfire erupted overhead.  It was too cramped for her to pull out the Cheshire cat, its length would just be a hindrance, but if she got close enough she could reach out with it and destroy their guns with a single slash.

she leapt out from cover and charged across the open ground.  Some of the Mistress' bodyguards ran over and assisted Jo.  They provided cover fire as Jo removed her sword.  An attacker took her on before she could get her coat open.  Jo took her badge in hand and fought back.  The enemy was strong, his strikes were impressive but Jo was stronger than most, she grabbed his arm and broke it with ease.  As he fell, more of the attackers came out and took her on with incredible speed.  She wasnt capable of taking all of them on at once, lucky for her a bodyguard came and joined her in the fight.

"get down" the girl yelled, Jo did as she was told and bent backwards as the bodyguard ran a melee rod towards an attacker.  Jo held her hand out and the girl grabbed and swung her around.

"it seems you can use some help, call me Marieanna" she held her sleeve out and ejected another melee rod"

"I've heard rumors of a girl in a trench coat with silver hair, that wields a longsword like a shortsword, that person wouldnt happen to be you would it?" Marieanna said.

"I had no idea rumors were spread about me, I dont know what to say about that"

"say it later, lets do what we're paid to do and get the Mistress out of here, where's the Starving man?"

"he decided to do his own thing and took off after some of these guys" gunfire erupted from behind them, the Mistress had been caught by the enemies and was getting loaded into one of their own vans, bodies of enemies and some bodyguards lie about.  The van door closed and started to decend the garage.

"their getting away" Marieanna gave chase.

"we need to head them off and stop that van, if we lose them we're in deep" Jo ran towards the outside and leapt down to the next level below, Marieanna following close behind.  The screeching van passed right by them as they stop.

"damn, drop to the next level quick" Jo let go and landed on the next level.  There were very few cars on this level.  but plenty of enemies.  Jo and Marieanna stood back to back, the van took the other way and missed them completely.

"we're stuck"

"the hell we are" Jo grabbed the handle of the Cheshire cat and revealed her greatest weapon.

"stay behind me" Jo said as the enemies brought guns to bear.

"are you crazy? theres no way you can deflect all those bullets with a sword" just as Marieanna finished the bullets flew.  a wave of sparks shielded them as they stood in place.

The gunfire stopped, all the enemies were out of bullets.

"heh... my turn, just try and reload" Jo said.  Marieanna turned around.  The area in front and next to them were chipped away.

"how... did you do that?" Jo just smiled, as soon as the enemies magazines hit the ground.  In a flash Jo charged the enemies.  Their weapons were almost ready.  Jo held her weapon behind her and swung it as hard as she could.  All the guns were diced into pieces, with one single swing.

Jo turned the sword over and struck all the enemies in the head, knocking them unconsious.

"there.  We need to get to the bottom, there we can stop the van"  Jo ran towards the center of the garage and leapt down the ramps.  Marieanna continued to drop down from the outside.

The van was almost out of the garage.  One more level and they would be able to escape.  Jo moved a car through brute strength to block one of the entrances.  The van turned around and went after Marieanna's exit.  Jo ran with all her might.  Marieanna fired a gun at the van, and directed it away from the exit.

"good job Marieanna, we cant let them escape" the van ran to the end of the garage and came back around on Jo's side.

"just as i wanted" Jo held the Cheshire cat in front of her.  She relaxed her body and focused her attention on the van.  Marieanna didnt know what to do.

"are you crazy? get out the way!" the van raced towards Jo with impressive speed.  Jo spun around and side stepped the van.  she held the sword out and took the top of the van off just above the hood.  just high enough to avoid the Mistress in her prone position

The two halves of the van collided into cars.  Jo and Marieanna approached with caution.

"you bastard, dont you lay a finger on the Mistress you could have killed her!" one of the bodyguards charged Jo with her knife raised.  The lunge was too fast, Jo held out her hand and took the knife in the left arm.  some enemies jumped out and attacked Jo.

"you stupid bodyguard, what the hell are you doing?! the Mistress was on the floor of the van and out of harms way!"

The knife was pulled out, but her reflex wasnt fast enough, a short sword entered the same wound and the two enemies grabbed either end and twisted the blade taking Jo's artificial forearm off.  Jo screamed for a moment, the pain receptors died out quickly.  Jo grabbed the closest enemy and she shoved her splintered arm into the enemy, sending a shock though his system.

"Jo!" Marieanna called out.  They were swamped with enemies, the Mistress was vulnerable, and Jo was no longer able to fight at full ability.

get into the swing of things

alright... ive come up with an idea to get some writing done.  every week i will post a short story (pretty much like ive been doing)

i will post it on my day off (whenever those happen will be when these go up)

i reserve the right to write about whatever (pretty much like ive been doing)

if you have any ideas for something to write about post it in your comments (do not make dumb comments like "write about me" or "write about a fish named drew" i will not be happy with you, and 0 points to Josh cause i know he'll make a comment on that)

please leave comments, leaving comments will help me get from story to story, and constructive critisism is necessary for any writer so post that too (i need comments really bad right now, I'm doing this mostly so i can get back into my major projects)

i wont do a story for this week cause... well... my day off is over and ill be mostly too busy to try another day, but ill make the story good.

please remember that I'm serious about this so dont be dumb with your comments and posts I'm trying to build up momentum for the big stuff so i can get back into my comfy little writing cave

Reapers Fall (Death inc)

before i get into another story (COMMENTS) ill talk a little bit.  todays been pretty boring, woke up around late 11.  ran a few errands, did you know the key FOB for a subaru is $75.00, i am glad to say that i didnt have to pay for it, cause someone thought it was a good idea to wash my pants without taking my keys out.  water+gadget=death.  other than that we took the dog to the groomer.  after a lot of deep thinking (concerning characters ive made) ive felt that letting this story out was a decent idea to help me make some character quirk choices.  one thing i want to make clear is that, within this story i am not blind, i am overly sensitive to light to a point that it hurts so bad death sounds not so bad.  i just want to get that out so i dont have to do it later.  concerning the content of the story this is a 'what if' story, completely non-canon, just used as a thinker as to "what if this really did happen, what would happen within"

Reapers Fall:

The London sky was filled with smog, casting a hue of brown and orange across the city.  The streets were filled with lines of exhausted de-powered Reapers, now taken as prisoners by the Holy Order of Sacred Knights.

"the next group will live in the A-Ring, everyone with a mark of X on their shoulder will relocate immedieately" the announcer spoke through the radios cast about the city.

"c'mon Booster, this way" Jane said as she took his hand.  They both had X and so were ordered to move.  They wound through the streets till they found a blocked off area marked X.  The living quarters were some rather luxurious houses.

"do we know how many people are in the X-Ring?" Booster asked.

"just you, me and Kaitlyn as far as i know, thats all i was able to hear" they approached the temporary door and earned access.  They approached the first house and went in.  After Jane set Booster down she looked around for items in the house.  Almost everything was removed, food, beds, and a radio were the only things still in the house.  Jane opened the fridge, the only food inside was the special mixture the Holy Order gave to keep everyone as tired as possible, while giving them enough energy to make it from area to area.

The front door opened, Jane approached with hesitance.  The figure stepped in and removed their coat, it was Kaitlyn, she too had a aura of heavy fatigue about her.

"Kaitlyn, are you okay?" Jane stumbled towards her friend and helped her into the room where Booster was.  Kaitlyn didnt say anything she just sat there with blank, empty eyes.

"K... whats the matter? say something" Jane repeated.

"considering that she hasnt said anything, she must've gotten one of the five curses" Booster rubbed his face as he spoke.

"what do you mean?"

"my sight has been heighened to the extent that it hurts to look at the light.  either she cant speak cause it hurts or she cant speak cause her vocal chords are gone" Booster adjusted so he was lying down.  Kaitlyn took the other side of the couch and tucked herself into a ball.

"I'm sorry you two, this is so horrible.  if only Death hadnt given us that order-" Jane stumbled back, Kaitlyn had punched her in the stomach.  She looked at Jane, she had tears rolling down her face.  she didnt do anything but tuck herself back in.

"(sigh) I'm sorry K... s-sorry" it was getting dark.  Three of them turned in for the night.  Kaitlyn went into her own room and shut the door.  Jane and Booster took the other room, she set him on the bed and she removed some bands from her coat.

"before we turn in, i want to change out the bands on your eyes" she heard Booster shuffle on the bed.  He was getting scared, so scared that he fell onto the floor.  He didnt say anything, he knew it would do no good.  Jane stepped over to the light switch and stepped to the curtains.

"there, all the light is shut out, you wont see a thing" she approached him, he was trembling under her.  She massaged his arm and his shaking slew down.  Jane took in a deep breath and unraveled his bandages.  As she removed the layers, Booster tried to make some small talk, to distract himself.

"heh... y'know with all these bandages on, i kinda feel like Solid Snake, and Riku.  dontcha think?"

"i have no idea what your talking about"

"didnt i show you those games? i could've sworn"

"you probably did, i just dont pay attention to the crap you play"

"you did not just say... what i thought you said? Janey Waney"

"Boostie, your not in any position to tell me otherwise on anything,  i can reach the switch from here" even after saying that, she didnt feel his trembling worsen, he knew she wouldnt do that.

"someday ill get you to play something with me, that i promise you" Jane bumped him on the head, she might have hit him harder than she meant to but she knew he would live through it.

"gagh... Tsundere smasher"

"I seriously dont know what your talking about" she got the last bandage off, the last thing to take off were Boosters smart glasses, they were the only thing he was able to see with.  somehow he was able to look through the images without pain, why that was the case neither of them knew.  the thermal imaging and vibration detection gave him a sense of awareness.  she had to be careful when taking his glasses off.  she decided to undo her ponytail and let her hair block out more possible light.  She held herself over him and let her hair fall freely.

"Mmm, cherry and peppermint, whatever that stuff is you use keep using it"  she hit him again, this time hard on purpose.

It was morning, the radio was blaring out names and locations like it always did.  It was time to get registered so the three of them took off.  The line was naturally long, but it moved quite quickley.  As the three of them moved along they brushed up against people further back in the line as it passed through a narrow area.  many Order members were watching the croud as it moved along, someone in the line lost their balance and fell into the other part of the line and fell into Booster.  The two of them fell out of line and collided into an Order member.  The Order member was enraged, he threw them off to the side, the stumbler landed on Booster and slipped something into his bandages.

"i-im so sorry about that" she said, the girl stood up. and ran off.  Booster was confused, in his thermal imaging the girl seemed strange, the top of her head was yellow hot while the other side was cool green, that and her voice seemed so familiar.  the girl ran off and the Order member chased after her.  Jane and Kaitlyn ran to him.

"Booster, are you alright?" he stood up and looked in their direction.  he nodded and smiled, the two girls sighed in relief and they got back in line.  The three were at the end of the line, just as they went up to register, some of the Order Members grabbed them and set them aside.

"whats going on Jane?"

"i dunno Booster, just hang on for a sec" after a moment Genesis stepped out of a room.  Her dark grin was present as ever.

"ah there they are, bring them in here" she said as she went back in.

The room was cold and dark, the only people inside were Jane, Booster, Kaitlyn, and Genesis.  the three were sitting in chairs while Genesis walked back and forth.

"how have thing been for the three of you? good?" Genesis said as she stepped back and forth, favoring her bum leg.

"how can you ask us that, you know what we go through everyday, i feel like i forget someone every couple of hours"

"thats too bad, it feels pretty depressing actually" Genesis grabbed Janes coat and pulled her in close.

"Hm... ive never seen how bright those eyes of yours are, their pretty"

"Let her go Genesis" Booster said, looking in their general direction, his fist was trembling.

"please, just leave her alone"

"Booster shut up its alright"

"hmph... fine then" Genesis gave Jane a swift shot to the gut, then placed her in the seat again.

"finish your registration and go back to your quarters immediately, your time does not end today"

The three went back to their house as quick as they could.  Jane slammed the door as hard as she could.

"damn that Mercedes, who does she think she is, treating me like that, i felt so vulnerable and weak, if only i had my power i wouldve ground her face into the curb, yeah that feels awesome right now" Jane was off in her thoughts.  Booster recovered the item that was lodged in his bandages.

"Jane stop with the LULZ already and look at this for me please" Jane exhaled deeply and stepped over to him and took the item out of his hand.

"its a micro SD card"

"really? hand it over" Jane gave it back, and Booster wormed though the layers of bandages with cautious hands.  he yelped as his eyes caught the light in the room.

"Booster! quick shut the curtains K"

"I'm alright Jane this might be important" he got the disk in place and set the bandages in place.

"good the disk was recognized.  open file to view folders... play audio file"  Booster was still as a statue as he listened to the file.

"Jane open your coat, is there anything in there?"  Jane shuffled around in her coat and produced some energy supplements and metal wrist bands.

"yeah some energy bars and some high tec wrist bands of some sort" Booster went back to the recording and listened.  he reached through the bandages and touched his glasses.

"whats going on? what are these for?" Jane asked.

"it would seem that Death was never caught.  he's made a plan to get to Russell and the other high rank members of the Holy Order and put an end to all this"

"DEATH!!!" Kaitlyn yelled, she started to cough and dry heave from the pain in her throat.  her devotion to Death was still high as ever.

"hold onto those we'll need them in the morning"

"what are the wristbands though?"

"their gifts from Khaos, they will restore our powers, for a limited amount of time, long enough to let us get away and rejoin Death and the others"

"this seems really risky, what about the other Reapers?"

"their wasnt anything about the others in here, I'm sure it means we are to assume what happens for the actions we take tomorrow" Jane could feel her guts sink to the bottom of her body as she thought about that.  she did not like the plan, not one bit.

"everything will go down tomorrow, during the propaganda speech by the section leaders.  while everyone is walking about tomorrow, Anna will cause a distraction, and we'll make our way out of here"

"Anna is here?"

"she was the one who crashed into me" Jane thought for a moment.

"this is going to be big, im really nervous about this"

It was morning, the propaganda speech was about to start, the three Reapers were caught in the middle of the crowd as they went about their daily routines.  the three of them felt so much stronger than usual, the energy bars they got were doing their job.

"any moment now..." Booster said as he stood perfectly still.  The radios started booming, the beginning of the speech was Russell talking about ideals and why the idea of the Reaper is inferior to his Holy Order.

"over there, look" Jane said as she saw a figure standing above the others.  It was Anna, the Order Members approached her and started barking orders, she leapt off the small building and smashed the radio as she fell.  she landed in a circle of Order Members and they attacked her, she produced a nightstick and took her opponents on head first.  the crowd scattered in a minor panic, many of the Reapers joined in on the combat trying to do some good.  Booster jumped in and snatched one of the Members E.M.O. Blades and took off.

"Jane, Kaitlyn, this way!" he said as he started running.  the two caught up and they ran down the narrow corridors.  Booster stopped for a second and fiddled with the sword.

"what are you doing? where are we going?"

"hush its almost done" Booster was gliding his fingers across the sword, moving and manipulating the parts within.  after a moment the end of the handle opened and exposed a glowing green ball of energy.

"thats the tech Russell made to fight against us, what are you doing?"

"im rearranging the parts within so that the power can be better used, it was on the SD card"  he snapped the case closed and the weapon was useable again.  Booster twisted the handle and the blade separated into different shards, the center of the blade was glowing the same green color of the energy in the handle.

"alright lets go" after a while of running they came to a door at the end of an alley, there was a moment before the door opened.

"in here hurry please"

"MERCEDES!" Jane grabbed the sword from Booster and lunged at Mercedes.  The tip of the blade struck her in the shoulder and pinned her against the wall.

"how DARE you treat me like that, how DARE you look down on me with those eyes of yours, how DARE you..." she just stood there and looked at Mercedes.

"Jane stand back and let her go now!" Booster grabbed her and pulled Jane back.

"Jane, she's on OUR side"

"What? you cant be serious"

"its true, Jane, we're all on the same side" Mercedes said as she rubbed the wound, after a second it was healed.

"we dont have much time we need to take down the generator and make our way out"

"what generator?" Booster asked.

"it wasnt in the disk you got, but if we destroy the AR generator all the Reapers will regain their powers and we'll be better off"

"who's idea was that? Deaths?" Booster asked.

"yes, he sent a message to me saying that if at all possible we are to shut it down, so that the others will at least have half a chance in here"

"alright then, Jane" Booster looked at her.

"what is it?"

"from here on out ill need you to guide me around, its too dark and i have low vibrations, so i cant see"

"please follow me, i know where to go" Mercedes gestured towards the hall.

they wove through the tight areas and made it to the generator.

"thats it, if we can just shut it down we'll be done and we can make it out of here"

"if you think you can shut that down you have another thing coming dear Genesis"

someone stood out from the shadows, it was Mason and Psalms.  Mason was on one end and Psalms was standing in front of the entrance to the generator.

"yo-you guys are in a lot of... trouble" Psalm said, gripping his revolvers tight.  Mason was loading his C96 replica as he stood in the room.

"Mason, Psalms, how did you find us?" Mercedes demanded.

"the Lordmaster wanted someone to guard the generator, so i gladly took the offer, he said that he was sure someone would try to interfere"

"Mercedes, Jane take care of Psalms, Kaitlyn back me up, Ill take care of Mason" Booster strapped the wristband on and pressed the button, Jane and Kaitlyn did the same.  the three of them could feel ther power return.  Mercedes summoned her Autobust weapon.  the 'All Motor' was a giant axe themed after muscle cars that are naturally aspirated, motors that rely on their own strength to win the race.

Psalms stepped into the next room.

"c-come and get me if you c-can" he popped a few shots and stepped out.  Jane and Mercedes engaged their opponent and Booster did the same.

"do you actually think you can take me on? in the state your in? your blind as a bat"

"dont underestimate me Blondie, ill take you on just like i always do and win"  Booster twisted the handle on the sword.

"your confidence is empty, ill make you miserable in your last moments, prepare to be wiped from existence" Mason put his gun away and produced his fireblades.  the two charged eachother and commenced combat.  Booster took defense as Mason swung with fiery rage.  the parrys werent making progress.  Booster found an opening and shoved Mason back.  Booster swung the sword around and the energy started to build.

"whats going on, what have you done to that sword?" Mason watched as the energy got bigger.

"Blade beam!" Booster slammed the sword into the ground and the energy carved into the ground, Mason dodged the attack, he was sure that if Booster could see clearly he would've been hit by that.

"for being blind your accuracy is amazing, but it'll be your ultimate weakness" Booster threw the sword into the air, the energy was building with amazing speed.  Booster took Mason head on, he threw a few punches and backed off just in time to catch the sword.

"Sonic Boom!" Booster threw the sword around and the energy swung out like a boomerang.  the energy slashed across Mason's chest as he dodged the attack.  the energy rang through him like razor wire.  after a few seconds his chest was healed.

"at this pace you dont stand a chance, im impressed that you were able to make our weapons do that, when i cleave you through for the last time ill take this to the Lordmaster and he'll congradulate me. I thank you for this, truly i do.  now i have to say that im tired of this, you are done for"  there was an explosion from the generator room, Mercedes and Jane were thrown out with violent force.  Psalms walked out and readied himself for another go round.  Boosters strength was lost in an instant.

"the wristband, times up"

"and now your finished"

-----

Phew that was a lot (COMMENTS)