Ratch Havoc clenched his fist imptiently for what seemed the hundreth time in the past two hours. Pseudo had told them to go relax and prepare for what lay ahead, but rest never came easy to Ratch. It was the ever present desire for conflict, battle, the kill that drove him on constantly, and it was that which wore his nerves thin now. He was about to re-state his growing impatience when the double doors at the end of the hall slid apart, beckoning those outside to enter.
Stepping through the thresh hold, Ratch, Anubarik, and Necrominus stood side by side, eyes attent on the chair centered on a raised platform in the center of the bowl shaped floor. The figure seated there remained motionless, head bowed, eyes closed, hands unmoving on the arm rests of the strange, mechanical chair. The three robots glanced up as a door on the opposite side of the room opened with a release of steam as Baron Holograntis stepped into the chamber. His attention seemed focused on an odd staff in the clutch of his right hand. As if on a timed reaction, Pseudo Havering's eyes slowly slid open and his head raised to rest against the head rest of the chair. He momentarily groaned a throated growl, obliously stretching off some tension while his gloved hands opened and closed a few times. Slowly, he rose from his seat, beckoning the demon Baron behind him over as he did so. The Time Bender seemed to be pushing back the haze of deep meditation as he prepared to speak.
"Gentleman, it would be time. Ready your reserves and step up to the plate- We're spinging this one before he has an inkling of what we're doing." In unison, the robots took positions infront of the raised section, and the Baron on the rim of the room to the right. Slowly, signing his hands in ruinic sygils, a circular, black rending formed in the air infront of him. The image of a desert slowly faded into the the circle, and the view slowly shifted to a raised sand dune. Havering seemed to grin as the picture stopped on the dune's base. "Anubarik...you weren't here during one of my 'lectures', so let me give you the one paragraph oration. I, the creator of you grand Infects, am in search of numerous relics to be found on various locales I intentionaly have brought to form this planet. However, it would be a great hinderance to go out collecting these objects one by one, thus, you all will be a great aid in this task. Anubarik, you will be the first to go out and bring back one of the objects in question."
Gestruing to the image of the dune in the desert, a set of numbers and letters slowly appeared at the bottom of the display. "Those will be the coordinates upon which you will recover the 'Cyan Arc', as it is called. Go now, and retrieve it while it is out of it's guardian's hands." With a kneel of respect, the jackal headed robot immediately turned on it's heels and hurried through the door from which the three entered. Havering watched for a moment, then turned his attention to the other two. "Havoc, Necronimus; your task may be a bit more to your liking." the demon stated with a sinister smile. With a waving of his hand, the desert image became one of a group of travelers, heading along a forest path. In their lead, a rather rounded creature with a look of agitation on his face. The grin that appeared on Ratch's face could only be described as the same Havering did bear upon his. "You two- Seperate the Agent from the others and run him towards the forest's northern river. Feel free to 'direct' him by your own means, but leave him reasonably in tact; he has a role to play for me very soon." Ratch nodded, the smile still present. "Right...I've been waiting for another encounter. I'll show mr. Death here how the game is played." "I'd be quite interested to learn; do lead the way, brother." Though Ratch seemed none too thrilled by the title of relationship, he seemed to brush it off and proceed out the same door their comrade had left by moments before.
"Well, now that the 'pawns' are gone, what did you wish to speak about?" the Baron questioned impatiently. Pseudo Havering's smile didn't fade as, yet again, he slowly beckoned the image to change. This time, it was of a rather placid shore scene, with a quite unusual inhabitant in the picture. The Baron had moved in closer before he even realized it. "Well hello...who might this fine creature be?" Pseudo's grin slightly grew. "I thought you'd take to her appearance rather quickly." Holograntis nodded, not straying his demon eyes from the image. "Indeed...but who is she?" "A new visitor to this humble creation of mine. She, unlike the others, I haven't brought through fear of hinderance." Holograntis looked puzzled. "You didn't? Then why?" The Time Bender smiled as he himself returned to watch the image. "She has potential that, I, perhaps, can use to my benefit. She was designed for purposes that would benefit myself more than her creators. But, there lies the one small problem." "What's that?" Pseudo's mind laughed with evil pleasure but his face shown nothing but abject dissappointment. "I, myself, shall be to busy to persuade her to our ranks." he stated, with a low exhalation. A quick glance to the Baron's eyes told that a moment's hesitation would bait the trap beyond escape. Sure enough, Holograntis again turned to look at the Twilighter beside him. "Then perhaps...my skills will be of use." Success, Havering's mind echoed with a triumphant echo.
"Hmm...yes...indeed. You might just be the man for the job." Pseudo slowly nodded, with gaining affirmation. "Yes..that may do indeed." The apprehension was evident in the hastiness of the Baron's response. "Well, then I must go and make preparations immediately! Not a moment to waste."
Sir Pseudo Havering devilishly smiled to himself as the doors of the chamber closed behind the Demonic Baron. "Indeed...depression is the perfect state to keep your subbordinates in. A small ray of hope, and they practically beg to do your whim." he thought, returning to the comfort of his chair. Cupping his hand, the twiligher smiled as he raised a now present monogramed brandy snifter and a wine bottle in the other hand. Removing the cork without laying a hand on the bottle, the demon's grin never ceased as he poured a generous amount into the glass. "Ah yes, the comfirmation that all is well, a proper attire, and the proper spirits all are sinfully helpful to one's relaxation." Havering mused, raising the snifter slightly and taking in the fragrance of it's contents. With a murmur of approval, the Time Bender treated himself to an ample, yet still gentlemanly drink. The burning warmth of the strong brandy were welcomed by him, and his eyes opened with a look of absolute scerenity. "Some may frown upon the term 'Casual Drinker' as excusatory." he stated to noone inparticular. Then, with another hearty swallow, and a smile, he added, "Let the fools burn in hell everlasting. Poor, pitiful, pitiful fools...your fate's are assured, yet onward you strive- determined to stop me. I would almost feel remorse, if I didn't feel like laughing along with your dirges!" the demon laughed, still, frighteningly sober.
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"Damn wilderness...this place goes on forever!" Agent Multex707 muttered, trudging along the dirt path. He had since grown tired of trying to listen to the conversation of those behind him, and passed it off as "meaningless banter" anyway. It had been, what, hours? At least two, possibly three... Anyway, it had been a LONG duration of time since his waking that morning, and Multex was extremely not a morning person, nor a nature lover. "Gyaaaaaahhh!!!...This is incredibly DULL! Trees, trees, trees, and the motley crew trailing in my wake. Listen, fate, if you're reading my mind, Disreguard my constant curing how you throw hazards in my path. I NEED something to get the adrenaline pumping...this mundaneness is giving me a headache!"
Ratch Havoc's timing couldn't have been better as his shot nearly took the golden M off the agent's head. An elderly oak alongside the path recieved the beam instead, and a hail of splinters flew through the air shortly after. "Dang...can't you take something as being 'out of a suffering mind'??" Multex thought as he spun to face a metallic, three clawed hand moments before it lifted him by the mid section and sent him rolling and tumbling down the dirt path ahead.
Ratch sneered, gesturing to Necronimus, who was currently just stepping onto the path. "You take the losers- The freak and I have some talkin to do." Necronimus's cattle skull grin seemed to bend into a deeper sneer. "Most certainly. Have a good 'discussion'!" Ratch nodded, then sprinted down towards his recovering prey.
Multex groaned as he removed his face from the dirt and got to a croucing position; in time to recieve a full bodied shoulder slam to his chest from his robot nemesis. This time, though, the agent was in a bit better position to react. As he neared the ground he drew in his limbs until he felt his upper back make contact with the dirt. Then, as he felt himself roll completely onto the top of his head, he shot his arms groundwards and used his momentum to propell himself into the air. Drawing back his leg then rocketing it to full length, Multex was able to soundly slam the sole of his metallic boot into Ratch's prominent jaw, denting it soundly on a corner. "Grrn!...Blazes.." Ratch grunted, raising a hand to his jaw to inspect the damage. Moving a prong like finger over the indentation, the robot's glare turned to a smirk. "Hmm...actually bruised that time. Feelin lucky today, eh, Freak?" Multex returned the confident look with one of his own. "Nah, just was growin tired of your face and decided to fix it up a bit. Care for me to do the other side, tin man?" Ratch's twisted grin spread accross the left side of his face. "Yeah, I still say that hood ornament of yours would be a good PAPERWEIGHT!! MODE TWO!!"
For a brief moment, all confidence in the Agent's expression was washed away and replaced by a look of dread. "Sh**! He's not bothering around this time...right to the big stuff. Damn...gonna have to Dry Rage it..". Clenching his fists tightly as Ratch completed his upgrade, Multex gritted his teeth in determination. Ratch, now sporting his clawed hands as shoulder mounted cannons, the wrists serving as the charging barrels and the arms having withdrawn into his shoulders, flexed his now "active" 2nd pair of arms and metallic hands. Ratch's sneer deepend to a look of sheer anticipation of the infliction of pain and suffering that he would inflict; and the pleasure he would have doing such. "Haven't seen your spine since last i threw you by it...how about we try that one again?" the robot snickered, the clawed ends of the cannon barrels already rotating at increasing speed, opening and snapping shut.
Multex once more returned a similar grin. "Can't dissappoint an audience. I'd say you're internals are due for a check up anyway...may need me to remove a few! Rage FLARE! HYAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!" Multex bellowed, muscles tighetning, boots digging in to the dirt of the path. Slowly, a red aura surrounded his body, then leapt from a dim glow to a full out red fire surrounding his form. Ratch snickered. "Fine, throw on the light show. Make a spectacle of your getting garroted." the robot stated, suddenly firing off the ends of the cannons- the twin claws a pair of spinning blurs, rocketing for the agent's middle. Moving rapidly, Multex was off the ground and airborne as the claws screamed beneath his boots. Folding his arms accross his chest, and pulling his legs to him, the agent slowly
began to accelerate in a continuous forward flip in mid air. The Rage Force flames almost gave the look of a forming comet to the process. How true that appearance was, for, with a sudden expulsion of the RF energy, Multex's form rocketed straight for the robotic commander. And, unfortunately for Ratch Havoc, sudden acceleration was a factor most definately not included in his design. The echoing clang of metal on metal was almost deafening, and the robot let out a groan of pain as he was knocked clear off his feet and sent skidding on his back a good distance along the ground, until collision with a small rock sent him head over heels, sending him down on his front with another groan.
Multex, in the mean time, had rebounded at a reverse angle, unfolded his limbs and landed in a perfect hands on hips stance, grinning. However, as the robot slowly pushed himself off the ground with both arms, the agent noticed the severe lack of RF energy surrounding him. Before he could get out an explative, his footing was suddenly gone and he found himself hurdling through the air to his right. Slowly, his mind and blurred vision could put together that Ratch had somehow fired off the claws, then used a retraction of their chains while turning to get him airborn. A quick grab with his hands to the ankles, and presto. Instant set up for a massive toss. Ratch didn't even bother to grin; his jaw was locked tight as was the glare on his face. Keeping his grip tight on the agent's ankles, and turning at fast enough a rate to keep him spinning, the robot looked for an option of how to do the greatest damage as fast as possible. With a flash of insight, he slowly made way over near the edge of the path, and, on one rotation, increased the speed at which he did by almost double. The length was a perfect set up to slam Multex straight into the trunk of a massive sycamore tree, and keep him going right on through, toppling the tree in a hail of sawdust. By this time, Ratch knew he held the upper hand. "That'll daze him for a good five minutes or so...plenty to finish the job."
As Ratch set up to deliver an encore of the past move to the agent, he felt a voice ring out in his head. "HAVOC! THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH! RETURN TO THE OBJECTIVE NOW OR YOU WILL BE REMOVING YOURSELF FROM THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE BLASTED PLANET WITH TWEEZERS!!!" Bearing his jaw as his glare returned, reluctantly, Ratch gave the Agent's body one last swing before sending it flying a massive distance down the dirt path. Ratch stood silently for a time, then, slowly turned and started back down the path. "Don't think I'm not intent on finishing you...just the best was promised for last. Keep runnin freak...or I will rip you apart when he's not looking.."
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Multex awoke, shivering. For some reason, he felt like he was freezing. And there was an odd, hollow roaring sound that seemed to be echoing all around. slowly, the pieces fit together as he moved a hand over to his face. There was a great amount of resistance in the proccess, a feeling that could only mean one thing.
Sitting up, Multex looked about, confirming his suspicions. "I'm at the bottom of...one massive river...dang..good thing I don't breathe. Giving a half frown as he glanced around. Looking up, he noted that the surface was a good ways out of reach, and the sides seemed to be to eroded to get good purchase on. Further more, hit boots seemed even more heavy than usual, their metal clunkling loudly on the pebbly bottom. Smacking his forehead, with the added strength of the current, he winced in pain. "Great...now I walk up stream for a good hour or so and hope to get lucky...or in my case, Not get lucky...or something. Gyah! I'm at the bottom of a dam river, why do I always argue these things out at times like this? I dunno...and there I go think talkin to myself again. Oooy.." Multex rolled his eyes and started a long, slow walk upstream, wishing for once to have anything *but* indestructable footwear. "I wonder what sushi tastes like.."