Rise in Revolution (Chapter Seven)
Mar. 25th, 2016 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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saladloveAnd for you Monstrous fans (who are caught up, anyway), here is this: https://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/1113180.html
Chapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldri
Chapter Seven
Analysis
Black Market, Sector IAL. January 10, 2272. Time instance 842N.
Five days had passed since Scott had been arrested by 7007. It was Friday, and the members of the Black Market still didn’t have a plan for getting rid of 7007 or getting Scott back. Clash in particular had been on edge lately. He was very stressed and more likely to snap or get upset over little things, and despite his apologies and his attempts to do better, his mood didn’t improve.
That evening the Black Market held a meeting. Everyone- except, of course, for Scott- had gathered, once again dragging the chairs into a rough circle.
“Look, we’ve got to do something.” Hawk told them, drumming her talons against the arm of her seat. “The question is what.”
“Another bomb won’t work even if we had one.” Tac reasoned. “So we need to think of something else…”
“I wonder if that shield of his works against elemental flame.” Kyir muttered. “It might not, as magic and elemental forms of attack are different than normal attacks, fire especially. It was a challenge I encountered constantly when building my own robots. Chances are good, though, that he can’t use it that often. The amount of energy that must take is enormous. He’s probably immobilized as he uses it, as well.”
“So frighten him into using it, and then…?” Jimmy trailed off.
“Blow him to hell.” Sadie suggested, crossing her arms. “It’s not a difficult concept.”
“With what bomb?” Zahnra demanded. “It’s not easy for any of us to get a hold of the materials required.”
“If the bombs we had hadn’t been wasted-”
“It wasn’t wasted, okay? How were we supposed to know he had a shield?!” Shawn snapped, interrupting Hawk. As he glared, the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.
Hawk’s feathers puffed up some. “I didn’t say it was your fault. I was saying that they had been wasted, but through no fault of our own.”
“Mars’ plan-” Fan started.
“-has already been completed and there’s nothing we can do about it.” Emma snapped. “Shut up about it already.”
Mars smiled at her and Emma smiled back.
“Well, that’s lovely, but what’s the plan now?” Kyir demanded.
“Blow him to hell.” Sadie repeated. “It’s still a simple concept.”
“How?” Zahnra growled, crossing her arms. “How would we get his shield down and how would we hit him with enough power to destroy him?”
“Simple.” Geek said, turning heads. “We all work together to throw as much magical and elemental energy as we can at him and hope for the best. You said that shield only lasted a few seconds, right?”
Shawn nodded.
“So if we keep it up for long enough, it’ll exhaust his shield and he’ll be destroyed.”
“What if it doesn’t work? He’ll see us and then we’ll be just as wanted as you are.” Tac made a vague motion in Geek’s direction.
“I can cast a spell on each of us to make us appear as nothing more than a vague shadowy shape. It’s easier on my energy reserves if I go with you, and you might need me if things go badly.”
“What? No! 7007 would probably rather kill than arrest you.” Tanadin protested.
“I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be fine. I’ll be a shadow blob like the rest of you, remember? Unfortunately, I can’t use my powers while transformed like that, so if you do need me I will have to break cover. But I am coming along and I think you’ll be glad that I did- if you go too far from me the spell may fail, resulting in the awkward situation of you being recognized and then promptly thrown into the cell next to Scott.”
“Speaking of Scott, what’s the plan for getting him out?” Clash asked.
“Once we take out 7007, it’ll be easier to break into the prison.” Cap told them. “I don’t know what we’ll do exactly but we’ll figure it out then.”
Clash fell silent, unhappy but conceding the point.
“So, it seems to me that we’re only sending people with elemental or magical abilities. People who don’t have that- Emma, Zahnra, etc.- shouldn’t be risked. They can’t contribute anything to the blast and I don’t want to see them hurt unnecessarily if something goes wrong.” Tanadin reasoned.
Emma and a few others immediately began to protest, but Zahnra shook her head. “No. It makes sense. Why risk ourselves when we can do nothing to help?”
There were several grumbles before the point was conceded.
“Gali, can you hook us up with some essences? We’re going to need them to prevent instant death.”
Gali nodded. “Emergency mode activated, all equipment at everyone’s disposal?”
“You bet.”
Gali jumped up and raced over to her stall, unlocking the wooden chest underneath the counter. “Come and get ‘em!”
Clash, Mars, and Tanadin all approached Gali, receiving two vials each of fire essence and downing them quickly. Tanadin grinned widely and spread her arms, shivering as her power levels spiked. “I haven’t felt this good in years.”
“I think that maxed me out.” Mars admitted. “I hate being only half elemental sometimes.”
Tanadin smiled at her in sympathy. “You’re the strongest half-elemental I’ve seen, though.”
Mars smiled at that.
“Wait, are we going now?” Kyir asked, frowning, as he approached Gali as well.
“Why not? Everyone’s here and it’s not a workday tomorrow, so being low on energy won’t be too harmful. The longer we delay, the longer Scott has to be in prison.”
Clash frowned, crossing his arms.
“Okay, fine. Gali, you have any lightning essence over there?”
“You bet. How much do you need? I know you’re only a quarter lightning elemental, so…”
“One vial.”
“You know, you almost never buy vials from me.” Gali commented as she handed it over. “How come?”
“It’s because my power doesn’t degrade over time and it draws somewhat from my regular lifeforce as well. I don’t need the essence to live but it adds an extra kick to the lightning.” He downed the vial in a single gulp, shivering as his eyes sparked. “I don’t live off my elemental power- it mostly just extends my lifespan and helps me out here and there. More energy to stay awake longer, ability to move faster, some lightning abilities, that sort of thing. The essence helps out with that.”
Gali nodded in understanding. “You’re a very strange man, Kyir.”
“Don’t I know it. Oh, and I also have a few stockpiled for emergencies that I take sometimes.”
“Then why are you stealing mine?!”
“I didn’t feel like going to get them. Last time I did that I almost dropped one, and that could have destroyed half the hou- Oh my fucking...I’m stupid. I’m really, really stupid.”
“What?” Fan asked, frowning. “Why are you stupid?”
“Vials of elemental essence tend to explode violently when they hit the ground hard. Different elements are more dangerous than others, and lightning is definitely one of the most volatile and destructive. We can send people who don’t have their own magical attacks in with some vials of elemental essence, giving us some more much-needed firepower. Bam, no more cyborg,”
Tanadin whooped and clapped her hands together. “Kyir, you’re a fucking genius!”
Clash frowned. “It would just violently release all the elemental energy contained inside. It wouldn’t exactly explode.”
“I know that. It’s just more fun to say ‘explode.’” Kyir grumbled irritably. “It’s still damaging. Each vial thrower will need two, I think, one for each wave of hitting the asshole. Once to take down his shields, a second time to actually destroy him. How many vials do you have, Gali?”
“Uh...five. We should keep one for emergencies, at least until I get my hands on more.”
“I have two left. That’s enough for three throwers. Who wants to go?”
Almost everyone raised their hands.
“I’m going because they’re my vials and I want to make sure they’re used properly.” Gali told them, crossing her arms.
“That’s fair.” Tanadin reasoned. “Hawk, Zahnra, I think you guys can come along as well.”
“What!” Emma protested. “But...but I…”
Shawn patted her shoulder. “You should be glad. It’s not dangerous here.”
“But…”
Tanadin smiled sadly at them. “Sorry, guys.”
“I’ll go get the essences I’ve got and then we can go.” Kyir turned and walked out of the room.
“I’ll start casting, then. Everyone who’s coming, gather around. It’s shadow blob time.” Geek opened the Nethernomicon.
~~~
Eleven shadowy figures ghosted out of the Black Market and down the street, sticking to the shadows. Ten of them appeared to be nothing more than vaguely humanoid blobs of darkness, while the eleventh was a figure in a dark cloak, immune to the magic that Geek had cast and thus moved on his own.
M would be fine, though. He always was.
Geek was in the back of the group, arms crossed as she followed the others. Despite appearances, all of them still had full use of their limbs and abilities, with the exception of Geek when it came to her magic. It had taken a lot of fiddling with the spell to let even her allies attack while like this, but she had barely managed it.
One shadowy figure darted further ahead than the others, scouting, and soon after came rushing back. A low murmur of news spread through the group, and they turned, closing in on their target.
This won’t end well, Geek predicted quietly. I just know it.
As 7007 came into sight, he seemed completely unaware of their presence as he walked down the street, turned away from them.
“Ready?” Tanadin’s voice whispered from one of the shadowy figures as it looked around at the others.
“Ready.” Hawk confirmed, drawing out the vial of lightning essence.
Geek’s hands clenched into fists as they approached the cyborg, angry that she couldn’t do anything to help.
“Now!” Tanadin barked, and as 7007 started to turn, the forces of the Black Market threw everything they had at him, covering a huge area to prevent him dodging.
Three of the shadowed figures threw their vials, creating a massive blast of lightning, and three others unleashed fiery blasts. M raised his arms and spikes of darkness shot from the shadows, Kyir beside him adding more lightning to the mix. One blob fired an odd purple-pink cone of energy, flickering with the effort of keeping it active. The tenth figure unleased black and purple flames, giggling hysterically as she did.
Geek took a half-step back as the heat from the flames and the lightning hit her, blinking at the intensity of the light. That has to have hit him.
The onslaught lasted for only a couple of seconds before the power was abruptly cut off, revealing the burned and charred area that they had hit.
Geek’s bright eyes widened as she beheld the cyborg.
His shield was not, as they had hoped, activated. He had quickly darted to his left and crouched some, pulling his limbs tightly against his body and ducking his head. He looked a little singed around the edges but overall fine.
He straightened up and a blade extended from his arm. A quiet, metallic hiss came from him, an inhuman and frustrated sound.
“Well, shit.” Sadie’s voice mumbled.
7007 charged them, and several people unleased various blasts of energy and flame, but it wasn’t synchronized enough to pose a real threat to the cyborg. He easily dodged the attacks and moved in, almost driving his sword through someone.
“Retreat!” Geek barked. “Go, go! We can’t get him like this!”
She watched as her friends started to run, and she wasn’t far behind. Unfortunately, neither was 7007.
He surged forward and drove his blade through the chest of one of the figures, making it scream in a voice that sounded an awful lot like Tanadin’s. He yanked the blade out and she stumbled forward, gasping in pain. He looked like he was about to stab her again and Geek’s eyes widened as she realized that they were about to lose their leader if someone didn’t do something.
Geek immediately let the spell around her break, revealing her true form, and she pointed a claw at the cyborg. Mustering all the power she could in her weakened state due to the collar, she barked a couple of words and felt the Nethernomicon surge with power as the magic took effect.
A wall of air slammed into the cyborg, throwing him back several meters and into a wall. He recovered almost immediately, but paused, looking at Geek with more caution that he had shown so far. He ignored her friends as they scrambled away, instead focusing on the highly wanted demon in front of him.
“Hedobageekaphostoria has been detected. Engaging.” He charged, darting around a bolt of green flame that Geek halfheartedly lobbed at him. She glanced at the vanishing forms of her friends.
I just have to distract him long enough for them to get away. She leaped backwards, wings flapping to give her extra momentum. She threw some more bolts of fire, once again moving to keep out of his way.
The moment the last shadowy figure was out of view, she grinned at 7007 and waved mockingly before slowly sinking into the ground.
~~~
“Avoided it! Just like that!” Mars fumed as she paced, making wild arm gestures. “What an asshole! He doesn’t even have the decency to die!”
Tanadin hissed in agreement, or perhaps it was in pain, as Devan wrapped the fireproof bandages around her chest. Emma watched in wonder as the flames flickered harmlessly over Devan’s arms and feathers.
Tanadin, in her fire elemental form, was still humanoid and about the same height as she was when she was human. Her entire body- which appeared to be made of some kind of dark stone, although it was hard to tell- was wreathed in flames, the colors much like a campfire. Her facial features- eyes, nose, mouth- were lit with dark blue flames instead, and the inside of her mouth was filled with sharp, dark teeth that guarded a glowing abyss.
Clearly she could will her flames to not actually set things on fire, so although they were still hot, they didn’t burn Devan as he bandaged her wound. He had applied some fire essence directly to the wound in order to heal the worst of it, but the bandages would keep the glowing liquid substance that served as the elemental’s blood from leaking out.
“You’ll need to spend more time in this form until its healed.” Devan told her as he stepped back. “Remember, one form doesn’t heal while you’re transformed into the other.”
“I know, I know.” Tanadin’s voice was rougher in this form. “Thank you, Devan.”
“You’re welcome. Quit getting stabbed, okay?”
“This was the first time!”
Devan made a skeptical noise before looking at the others. “Is anyone else injured?”
Zahnra shook her head. “No. Geek’s not back yet, though…”
“She will be.” Hawk insisted. “Nothing can keep Geek down.”
Emma sighed and sat back down in her seat. “Did he really not kick off his shield?”
“There was no way he did. He was a little singed but otherwise fine. He must have found a safe zone in the attacks, but how?” Gali kicked at a table.
“I think I know how his scanners work now, though.” Kyir grumbled from where he was pacing. “At least I have a general idea. He has to have some kind of way, likely visual, to see what areas are dangerous and what areas are not. He scans to find out what’s dangerous and what isn’t and goes to where it’s not dangerous. He has to have known exactly how big that safe area was- if he was two inches to the right or not crouched as far as he was, he would have been badly damaged.”
“That’s gotta count for something.” Emma reasoned.
“Maybe. I don’t know. We need to find a way to take advantage of it.” Kyir sighed, leaning on the wall for a moment before continuing to pace. “Make him not notice safe areas, or light his entire view up in danger zones. That was kind of the plan this time, but apparently we can’t cover every square inch and I doubt we would have much success a second time, nevermind two in a row to knock out his shields and then take him down. Dammit! It would be easier to find a way to immobilize or stun him and take him out that way. But how?”
Before he could continue his frustrated rant, Geek stepped through the wall, looking exhausted.
“Geek!” Everyone moved to crowd around her.
“How did you get away?” Sadie demanded. “He was right on our asses, and you were practically fighting him to keep him away from us!”
“I melted into the ground.” Geek told her, leaning on the wall. “That was...not easy. I need a minute or several to recover. All I know is that he’s a lot more dangerous than we had anticipated.” With that, she walked through the opposite wall into the room that she had on the other side, vanishing from sight.
Kyir started to pace again when he felt something hit his shoulder. He scooped up the small chunk of white rock, frowning at Cap. “What was that for?”
“What is it?” Emma asked, leaning over to look at the rock.
“Kartzal. The stuff that surrounds the basement, keeping the Mainframe from noticing.”
“How does it work?” Emma frowned in confusion.
“Well, it reads as a false positive to pretty much everything on their scanners. They ignore it because they realize it's a false positive, and thus ignore anything past it that would give off a reading, because even when they can scan through the rock they can’t tell if it’s an actual reading or just more false positives.” Kyir shrugged. “Or...something like that. I don’t completely understand it, myself, and I’m the robotics expert.” As he tossed the rock to himself, he paused, eyes narrowing. “Hmm. I wonder…”
“Oh no. I know that look. What are you thinking?” Tanadin asked him.
“I’m wondering what happens if we throw a kartzal rock at our friend the asshole cyborg. I’m wondering if he’ll ignore it, register it as a normal rock, or freak the fuck out. I’m thinking the first, but it’s worth a shot.” He shoved the rock into his pocket. “Thanks, Cap.”
Cap only smiled. The voice beside her was the one that responded, but no one else could hear.
“We should have thought of that before. I’m getting sloppy.”
“Don’t worry yourself.” Cap mumbled, so quietly that her friends didn’t hear. “You aren’t really all here.”
“Neither of us are.” The second voice confirmed.
The owner of the first voice watched as Kyir left the room, likely to head up to his workshop to fix something and think over his idea a bit more.
“Brilliant boy. Shame I never said that to his face when I had the chance.”
Cap sighed, getting to her feet.Clearly she needed some time alone with the ghosts that followed her, and she wasn’t about to find it in the depths of the Black Market.
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Date: 2016-03-25 09:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-26 03:12 am (UTC)Woah.
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Date: 2016-03-26 08:09 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
sadie here
Date: 2016-03-26 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-26 02:35 pm (UTC):P
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Date: 2016-03-26 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-26 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-26 04:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-26 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-27 06:23 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
no subject
Date: 2016-03-27 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-28 06:18 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: 2016-03-26 04:14 pm (UTC)Anyways, that was a much better plan. Too bad it...
Blew up in their faces.
No regrets.
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Date: 2016-03-26 04:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-26 04:37 pm (UTC)I mean I just established that you have weird darkness/shadow powers as well as an immunity to Geek's magic, plus you're mysterious and people can't remember your voice and no one has any idea what you look like other than glowing yellow eyes.
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Date: 2016-03-26 04:50 pm (UTC)Also, where did geeks full name come from? Does it mean anything?
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Date: 2016-03-26 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-26 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-27 03:05 pm (UTC)