Lambda glanced at Phi, an expression of contempt spreading across his face. "If by 'busy', you mean 'I was perhaps the only one who could get off his self-entitled posterior and even try to deal with Unicron', Phi, then yes, that is why I did not 'show up'. I was also occupied with hunting down Omega during the chaos and confusion so that I could cut his heart out and stick it on a pike in my throne room as part of my long-overdue retribution for the changes he forced upon my wife, and had another power not intervened and deposited our Champions right on Omega's doorstep, I would have had my revenge."
His gaze shifted to Dis Baba then, silver eyes narrowing once more. "Was that your doing as well, wildcard?" he demanded.
"Certainly not," the Kin overlord replied, keeping his gaze fixed on the floor as he continued to scribe his strange patterns and shapes into the marble. "And if you absolutely must talk, do so quietly and amongst yourselves; I have nearly completed the backdoor, and the final steps are extremely complex and delicate. It is crucial that I not be disturbed or distracted any further during these next few critical moments."
A low, rumbling sigh of irritation escaped the argent Nomad, and he directed his attention to Kimimaro. "so, you wish to fortify this place in preparation for Digamma's inevitable siege? That can be arranged in short order..."
With that, the silver deity clapped his hands together once, and a soft sound like fine gears grinding together echoed softly throughout the ballroom. The hulking, brass-skinned forms of six Maruts materialized at the perimeter of the chamber, standing at precise sixty-degree intervals along the circumference of this circular room; a second later, the smaller and far more obviously-mechanical forms of a dozen kolyaruts appeared in close proximity to the larger Inevitables, arranged so that each Marut had a Kolyarut on either side either to supplement it in combat or make it seem larger and more intimidating. The silver armour of these living constructs gleamed faintly in the light pouring in through the skylight, and though they stood inert at the moment it was clear that these automatons would leap into violent and deadly life as soon as their services were needed, ready to attack the enemies of Lambda with gladii and iron fists.
Lambda watched impassively as these Inevitables materialized, then shook his head with a weary sigh. "To think that this is all that remains of the forces who once answered solely to my command..."
The Danse Macabre Codex
SoCal Slacker
Kimimaro made a sequence of hand-seals and then slammed his palms to the ground, and several barricades of chakra-hardened rock sprang up from the floor, spaced throughout the room at regular intervals - cover for any who wished to use it. He then reached into his pack, pulled out a roll of red-outlined blank papers and an inkbrush, and began to create more exploding tags, restriction seals, and others.
edited 30th Jun '11 4:39:18 PM by DKN117
Bendy Slendy in Upendi. Also, check out my fic
Here could now be seen what lay beneath the gilded vestments... No flesh. Simply thousands of images flashing up in a frenzy of red, each of them only distinguishable for a half second before it was replaced with another. The faint cacophony of screams, weapons being used for their deadly purpose (from knife to bolter gun), and the drop of a thousand different currencies hitting a thousand different tables, seemed to come from this chaos.—
Hehhhhh... You Just Gave Me Yer Name, junior. That Wasn't Too Bright, There's A Lotta Power In Names... Like This.
— A glob of the monster's stuff floated over to his raised palm, then glowed gold. A burble, and the substance transformed into something resembling a US Army dog-tag on a chain, letters and numbers displayed on the gleaming gold plate:
ZYXAXYS, LAMBDAN CONSTRUCT 01012010
The dog-tag hung in the air a moment, then raced to float inbetween both god and god-killer. Digamma pointed the strangely fluidic looking top of the scythe at Zyxaxys through chain, and jabbed it forward. From the tag, a jet of harsh white and gold light streamed, burning dead centre into the entity.—
—The air of the chamber buzzed, and from the shadows strode the now visible ex-SPECTRE, his armour covered in biotic miasma.
The helm turned to look up at Lambda, and both his arms twitched, as if the urge to attack was constantly being forced down. —
So I am not supposed to finally kill you now. What a shame. I was looking forward to it.
I'm Back Bitches (not really)
The Doctor decides to connect with Saren. Why hello Saren. Wondered where you buggered off to.
To Be Updated when I'm not Lazy
Bitch pills
Rey glanced over, nodding once to acknowledge Saren, still maintaining his grip on his weapon.
Easing back into life one step at a time
sword of promised halp
After a long while, Link looked up. The tears had gone from his eyes. The sorrow and guilt remained.
“Goddesses… Send him to his rest in peace."
“As for me… I fight on.”
He stood up. I must be strong. For their sake… For everyone’s sake. There will be time for mourning later. I must be strong.
With that, he wiped his eyes once,steeled himself, and stepped in beside Rey.
“…Saren.”
'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023
Bitch pills
Rey looked to Link, offering him a sad smile and a nod as well, then looked back, silent.
Easing back into life one step at a time
Stealth Bomber
Sub-Zero formed his Kori Sword in one hand, keeping his other free in case he needed to use an ice-ly placed freezing blast.
J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!
Lord of Shadows
Bowser didn't say anything, but one could easily tell that he was ready.
"Mind if I grab a little something myself?"
To be seen, stand up To be heard, speak up To be appreciated, shut up
Stealth Bomber
"No, go ahead," said Sub-Zero.
J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!
Lord of Shadows
"Last time I checked you weren't a Nomad, Sub-Zero."
To be seen, stand up To be heard, speak up To be appreciated, shut up
Stealth Bomber
"Sorry, Iota," said Sub-Zero.
J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!
Icarax still lay in the shadows, covered by darkness he was healing fast.
You will all die......I will watch you..burn...I ....
Jumbled murderous thoughts flashed through his head but one thing was clear; as soon as he had an opportunity, the champions will pay for his humiliation.
edited 30th Jun '11 9:27:28 PM by biomechtraveler
"Yes, yes," Lambda replied to Saren with a dismissive wave of his hand. "This day has proven to be one of squandered opportunity and disappointment all around, but you would hardly be the first to be robbed of the chance at putting an end to my existence—though I suppose, given that much of the complex has doubtlessly been destroyed in this recent cataclysm, you will almost certainly be the last. So if nothing else, Arterius, you can take some solace in that fact."
The argent Nomad shook his head with something that might have been a whistful sigh, though it was perfectly clear that any remorse on his part was almost certainly insincere. "It truly is a pity; under other circumstances, I'd have been happy to oblige you with battle, and you would have had the rare honour of seeing a Nomad in his prime do battle. Of course, considering that you would have been on the receiving end, I highly doubt that you would have appreciated or enjoyed the thrashing I would have administered."
When Iota spoke up, Lambda turned to face the incorporeal Nomad and had just begun to open his mouth to speak when the sudden and unignorable roar of a cyclonic gale drew his attention to the center of the room. There, Dis Baba had completed his strange and complicated pattern on the floor, which immediately began to glow with an ominous and scabrous azure light, and as the alien rose to his feet and took a step back, a veritable fountain of noxious energy erupted from the floor in a geyser of blue flecked with green, red and yellow; these colours seemed to combine in ways that suggested bruises, mould or necrotic flesh, and in almost all cases were repellant and painful to look upon—even Lambda seemed to squint in distaste, averting his gaze slightly to watch this strange occurance out of the corner of his eye.
Fortunately, this noxious fountain did not last for very long; scant seconds after its initial eruption, the plume of rank ejecta receded into the floor, leaving in its place a yawning, pentagonal hole. Crooked and mishapen steps seemed to lead down into the depths of a vast and cavernous darkness, spiralling ever down and down until they were lost from sight; of whatever else lay beyond this portal, nothing could be seen, for a darkness far deeper and far blacker than the void of space filled it and concealed its contents from even the sharpest of eyes and the most advanced nightvision or thermal sensors.
"Gentlemen, your backdoor," Dis Baba said simply, peering into the yawning black void with an awful smile. "It may not be perfect, but given that the usual routes to and from her prison have been rendered impassable due to the cataclysm wracking the planet, it will have to do; after all, beggars can't be choosers. Do not let the darkness bother you, my friends; once you are inside, your eyes will adjust and you will be able to see. That said, be wary of what the darkness conceals; Echidna's offspring are many and monstrous in both aspect and power, and considering the turbulence this realm must no doubt have endured thus far, I'd imagine that most—if not all—of them are feeling just a little angry and just a little peckish."
The Kin overlord straightened up then and looked at the Champions, and his expression turned serious for a moment. "Due to the numerous circumstances and factors involved, I was not able to get your point of entry particularly close to the Echidna's Prime Lock, so there will be more than a little running involved. When you reach the bottom of those stairs, you will find a path that will lead you to the core of Echidna and her essence; stay on it and do not deviate from it if you value your lives, or you will surely become lost."
Stopped cold by this solar-powered attack to the face, Zyxaxyz loosed a snarl of rage and swung its tentacles at Digamma, attempting to take the Nomad's head clean off...but then the golden light from the dogtag struck the monstrosity in the center of its chest, and its tendrils came up short as it began to tremble. In the immediate vicinity of this injury, its substance began to unravel and come apart, mottled green and rugose hide turning to ash and scattered atoms, and this disintegration began to creep across its chest as the energy blast did its work.
"Damn...you... the abomination hissed, reaching for Digamma with its tentacles, straining with the effort required to force the sinnuous appendages forward and perhaps strike one final blow before it was annihilated...only for an odd and drawn-out noise, like the whirring of an overtaxed hard drive, to emanate from its body as it suddenly froze mid-motion, unable to move at all. Had the creature's compound eyes possessed eyelids, they doubtless would have widened in shock at this sudden paralysis; as it was, the creature could do nothing more than let out a startled and perplexed huff as it tried—and failed—to regain control of its body.
Yet this did not seem to be a by-product of the annihilation progress; indeed, the vaporization had slowed to a crawl, leaving much of the creature's torso dominated by a gaping hole but little else. Then one of its eyes began to glow softly, and a cone of gentle silver light shot forth to produce what appeared to be a hologram. In this field, the flickering and grainy image of a man took shape, a fellow dressed all in silver as might be expected; yet it was clearly not Lambda, or at least not the Lambda that the Champions and most of the Nomads might recognize, for rather than the flowing robes of liquid silver favoured by the argent deity, this man was dressed in an immaculately-pressed, double-breasted business suit that seemed otherwise of a mundane make, and his exposed face was that of a refined gentlemen in his late forties or early fifties. Chrome yellow eyes with octagonal irises stared cooly at Digamma over a pair of highly-reflective horn-rimmed glasses, and the figure's patrician features were set in an expression of stern disapproval. He appeared to be seated, though the chair was not visible, and he rested his hands atop the head of an ornate silver cane.
"Greetings," the hologram began, its voice wizened slightly with age and yet at the same time clearly powerful and charismatic. "If you are seeing this, then it appears my protege—and by the time this recording is ever aired, I suspect, my successor as well—has continued my research into fields of study better left alone and forgotten. Regardless of whatever avenues he might have taken with this development, however, or to what purpose he intends to utilize whatever he has created, the irrefutable fact remains that it is derived from—and thus, can be considered—my property. Should this recording, encoded within the body of my research and transmitted into whatever fruit it may bear, ever activate, it means that you have either destroyed or corrupted this speciment and/or are attempting to discern its secrets for your own use. While I cannot know whether your actions are justified, I do know that no good can come of such knowledge as can be gleaned from even a simple autopsy—and as such, safeguards and protocols of last resort have been initiated."
Zyxaxyz let out a pained groan and spasmed faintly, its tendrils twitching ever so slightly as its body, alarmingly, began to swell and balloon in a grotesque and painful fashion. "I don't understand what's happening!"
"In attempting to suborn the ultimate products of my research for yourself," the hologram continued, oblivious to the sounds of pain and agony emanating from the abomination as its form continued to become twisted, mangled and distorted, "you have unwittingly triggered the final failsafe. Even as I speak, the specimen's constituent components and atoms are undergoing an accelerated replication and transition to a state of pure energy, and shall soon attain infinite mass; the end result will be a singularity that will annihilate everything within a five-thousand metre radius of its current position, thereby ensuring that the creature's remains and any data that your efforts may have accumulated on my research thus far shall be wiped out beyond any hope of recovery. Once begun, this process is irreversable and cannot be stopped; by the time this recording ends, you will have perhaps thirty seconds before the specimen attains critical mass and the implosion occurs."
"No," the creature whispered, unwilling to believe what it was hearing. "You must be lying; Father would never allow such a thing to occur."
Oblivious to the creature's plight, the man in the hologram continued. "I take neither pleasure nor satisfaction in enacting these measures; they are simply the only solution to a problem that should not have existed to begin with. Goodbye."
With that, the image flickered an dissolved into static; in its place formed a pair of numbers, which then slowly began to count down the seconds remaining until Zyxaxyz met its cataclysmic end. All throughout this, the creature continued to swell and expand with numerous bloated tumours and cancerous growths, and its body grew brighter and brighter as it accumulated more mass and energy.
edited 1st Jul '11 10:09:33 AM by SullenFrog
The Danse Macabre Codex
I'm Back Bitches (not really)
The Doctor enters the portal reluctantly.
To Be Updated when I'm not Lazy
Bitch pills
Rey finally shifted his gaze enough to look at the hole, frowning deeply as he did. "Shit. This is all for real, isn't it?"
He let out a hefty sigh, stepping back, chewing his lip, then turned, heading to the couch Galen had previously taken. He stopped there, bowing his head quietly for just a second, then picked up the crowbar he had set there. He looked down to Mal-Keshar's sword, though now soulless, still at his side, and the Big Baby still in his free hand, the black armor he still wore, and simply shook his head in what seemed like a bemused fashion as he started forward again.
"Man, if only the guys back home could see me now..."
Easing back into life one step at a time
SoCal Slacker
Kisame and Kimimaro looked to each other.
"Iku zo." *
"Un." *
Both shinobi steeled themselves, took a glance at Lambda and Dis, and walked toward the portal.
edited 30th Jun '11 11:24:24 PM by DKN117
Bendy Slendy in Upendi. Also, check out my fic
sword of promised halp
Link strode into the portal slowly, but not before looking after Rey.
"...Are you coming?"
edited 30th Jun '11 11:35:46 PM by troydenite
'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023
Bitch pills
"You bet I am." He looked to Link, patting Mal-Keshar's sword. "You aren't the only one looking to avenge a friend however you can manage it."
Easing back into life one step at a time
sword of promised halp
He nodded sadly, and stepped back to wait for Rey.
"I could have saved him," was all he said.
"I've failed... again."
edited 1st Jul '11 12:05:16 AM by troydenite
'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Mason began walking at a brisk pace towards the portal.
"Guys..."
He sped up.
"We were told the run."
He jumped through the portal at a sprint.
Phi pushed down Narumi, who dehenshins on the way down. " Come on, you can't fight in that state. Here, let me help you." Phi said, lifting Narumi and carrying him on his shoulder. The two head into the portal.
"You guys, go!"
Durant and Michael ran off to the portal alongside the Black Stig. Spriggan went to see Lux after asking her if she was fine, telling the woman that they needed to run and leave the place.
As the Champions entered that dark hole in the floor and descended those crooked spiralling stairs, the light from above faded and darkness pressed in on them from all sides. They would find that all sound seemed strangely muted and distorted in this place, as though their heads had been immersed in a large body of water, and the air was cold and dry, whipped into frigid gales every now and then by a distant wind that might have been the exhalations of some vast life form hidden within the infinite blackness.
It took them five minutes to reach the bottom of the stairwell, by which time the light shining through the portal to the ballroom had been reduced to a tiny speck hanging far above in an otherwise empty sky, a single star shining weakly and in futility, alone in the void of eternal night. True to Dis Baba's words, a solitary path lay at the foot of the stairs, winding and snaking its way off into the deeper depths of the dark; while it appeared to be made of stone and rock, were the Champions to take a closer look they would see that the ground on which they now stood appeared to be either bone or petrified flesh, and here and there small pustules sprouted from the ground, swaying gently and throbbing as if in tune to the distant beating of some colossal heart. Vast shapes and silhouettes could be glimpsed off in the distance, rounded humps like mountains and hard, angular things like toppled skyscrapers.
"Be on your guard down here," Lambda cautioned as he stepped away from the stairs and onto the ossified floor of the path. "There are things down her against which even a Nomad would have difficulty surviving. Do not let your guard down even for an instant, and don't stray from this path."
The Danse Macabre Codex
"You all right?"
Spriggan asked Lux.