A Game of Gods: A Multiversal Challenge

"The Doctor? Doctor who?" Gordon asked, before shaking his head. They had a guy who was called the Sniper around here, this wasn't too unusual. "I'm a Doctor as well."

He extended his hand to shake.

"Doctor Gordon Freeman, of the Black Mese research facility. And no, I'm not particularly hungry."

Craft stepped off of the Phantom and eyed all of Noble Team for a few moments.

"Quite the dream team you had, Jorge." he said, walking up to the SPARTAN II. Turning to the other SPARTANS, he smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Craft."

Hmm?

Yuuka stepped out of the Phantom and surveyed her surroundings.

It may be of note that the hole in her shoulder was now a large scar.

The Doctor shakes his head. "Why does everyone ask Doctor Who? Oh well. Nice to meet you Doctor Freeman. So any aliens attack recently? I'm never allowed to just rest."

"Aliens? Hmmm... before I answer that, I think you need an explanation. First, take a look at those screens," Gordon replied, pointing at the screens mounted on the walls showing the current challenge.

-

"So, you've all get different models of armor and stuff?" Blink said, still looking Noble team over excitedly. "Really, so cool!"

—PHANTOM studies the Time Lord, arching an artificial eyebrow. —

Emile's gaze shifted to Blink; behind his visor, the Spartan-III frowned. "Hey, no one said anything 'bout civvies."

Blink turned to Emile and tilted her head. "I'm not a civvy! I'm a Master Thief! And I was on the ship and stuff too! I helped."

The Spartan seemed a bit uncomfortable with Blink, her being a child and all, but they decided to tolerate her. "I can't say," Carter said, "That's classified."

Six crossed his arms as he looked over the group. "Solid team," He spoke. The Spartan said nothing more after that.

"You haven't answered my question from before, Jorge," Jun addressed the larger Spartan, "How'd you survive? How did you meet these friends of yours?"

Jorge nodded. "Mm. I should tell you now, while we're still in the clear. Back when I detonated the slipspace bomb, I was certain that I would perish...but something happened. I was taken."

"Taken?" Kat repeated, "What do you mean? By who?"

"That comes later. I lost consciousness, and when I came to, I appeared in some sort of hotel. When I left my room, I came across a few others who met the same fate...they were from other universes."

"Other universes? What?" Jun asked.

"Normally, I wouldn't believe it," Carter said, "But these aren't normal circumstances."

"We all gathered in a common room, of some sort. After getting to know each other, a portal appeared. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I assure you, this is all true. Anyway, the portal took us to another universe. There, we were tasked with completing some sort of challenge. Once we completed the challenge, we were sent back to the common room."

"What happens if you fail?" Carter questioned.

"I don't know. Presumably, we still get sent back. We never failed a challenge before. This process repeated. We relax in the common room, a portal pops up, we step through, enter a new universe, complete a challenge, get sent back, and so on. Sometimes, new 'challengers' appeared, boosting our numbers."

"That sounds like hell..." Jun growled.

"It's not that bad...at least, right now, it isn't. Unfortunately, we came here to complete a challenge, as well...once we complete it, we'll disappear, I guess. Get sent back to the common room."

A few moments of uncomfortable silence passed.

"...I see," Carter muttered, "Is there anything we can do?"

"Unfortunately, no. We're trying to find a way out of this...so far, we've had no such luck. I really wish I could stay, honestly, I do, but the Nomads won't let me."

"Nomads?" Kat repeated.

"Some sort of race of omnipotent beings. Apparently, they've trapped us and are making us perform tasks for their pleasure. Only a few have revealed themselves. We haven't been able to hurt them. They are extremely powerful."

"My God...this really changes things, you know," Jun breathed.

"What's your objective here?" Six asked.

"We don't know. It hasn't been made clear to us. Right now, we're just doing what we can to save as many of Reach's citizens as possible."

edited 2nd Jan '11 3:14:21 PM by Nimitz

Naoto turned to Jorge and said "We may not know how to escape yet, but thanks to this Challenge I know a bit more about our situation."

Emile took several moments for this information to sink in, leaning against the Pelican's support strut as he drew his kukri from its sheath and began to sharpen it against his shoulder plate.

"Damn," the Spartan-III said at length. "These Nomads sound like a real bunch of nasty-ass motherfuckers. Shame I can't come with you, big man; I'd love to introduce them to this."

He held up the deadly knife for emphasis.

Yuuka began strolling around, studying the soldiers and SPARTANS with a scrutinizing eye.

Humans, humans, humans, humans...

edited 2nd Jan '11 3:46:15 PM by DaveScooter

— Saren simply stared at his boots, his current efforts to switch on the omnitool having proved fruitless. He fluctuated his biotic field, testing it out, more to assure himself that the one tangible weapon he had left still functioned than anything else. —

The Doctor looks at the screens. "So the Flood is attacking a human colony. And yet we must lose?"

He starts pacing. "That must have been the bump while I was flying the TARDIS! I hit a cross-dimensional rift! Say Dr.Freeman have you seen a blue police box?"

He turns to PHANTOM. "Why it's a machine! What time were you created little fellow?"

edited 2nd Jan '11 4:27:09 PM by Fusionman

"I haven't seen one. That's the current challenge. The people there are the other challengers, and they have to complete whatever the objectives of the challenge are."

Gordon paused for a moment, then continued. "You've been brought here by beings called the Nomads. They've taken us to compete in these challenges."

— The machine stopped to ponder this, and was frustrated with the lack of answer. —

— Sorry, data on that was corrupted. —

The Doctor groans. "Oh boy this feels familiar. There's a whole race like the Celestial Toymaker? Great. Why does the universe always come after me?!"

He smiles at Phantom. "Corrupted data huh? It's OK. If you find out just let me know."

"Celestial Toymaker?" Gordon questioned. "Is that another Nomad?"

The Doctor shrugs. "He could be. I never really learned much about him. He captured me and forced me to play a game. I was able to destroy his world though."

"Really? Whew. Well, once the challenge is complete, everyone will be back here. You can get to know them then," Gordon replied. "Anything else you need to know?"

— The projected head's optics went wide, the construct weighing his options. —

The Doctor rubs his pocket. "Will violence be necessary? I loathe using it unless I have to."

"Depends on the challenge. There was one that we only fought a few times, and what we fought was... truly vile," Gordon replied. "I'm not averted to violence, far from it. And in a few of these challenges, you don't really have a choice. At least, as far as I've seen. Maybe you do."

The Doctor sighs. "I'm sorry Rose."

He pulls out his Sonic Screwdriver. "Any of our enemies mechanical? This can short out and destroy their systems."

"Sometimes," Gordon replied. "Other times, they aren't. It really depends. We've got some mechanical challengers, though."