Shoal Zones • Re: Question & Answer (Omni)

2018-08-12T23:49:28-04:00

Ritter tried his best to stay composed as Screamer rushed forth and began to scream in a fit of rage. He almost smirked as he saw the Lord Commander lose his demeanor in such a fashion. If his hands were free, he would have thought about decking Screamer in the face right then and there. This was probably why he did it in the first place. Whatever this Devil Junior was, it must be more important than Ritter might have realized. He needed to keep his upper hand right now, not just for himself, but for that girl too. There was no guarantee what Screamer would do with the information either. For now the two of them would just need to make a deal.

"First, I want you to guarantee that me and the girl are both safe. If you can give me this one thing, then I'll tell you everything I saw."

He wouldn't let Screamer's threats worry him. He could try and hurt Ritter and his loved ones all he wants, but that just showed how little Screamer actually knew about his enemies.

Statistics:Posted by Omni — Sun Aug 12, 2018 11:49 pm

Shoal Zones • Re: The Call (Enigma, Jade)

2018-07-25T15:18:05-04:00

Her facade remained placid. This wasn't the first time she'd been yelled at, even by someone she respected. This wasn't the first time she'd been made to relive the abuses she'd piled on that woman either. For decades, it seemed, those memories had been used as a bludgeon against her. In fleeting dreams, in hushed whispers at the recesses of her mind, in loud shouting from her victim and even detailed cognitive reenactments. On level, she could even hear Sara's voice saying those words instead of him. But at this moment, drained of all reason, all purpose, all will, she couldn't even the motivation to so much as twitch.

To live is to act. That had always been at the core of her defense. It was the simplest and most fundamental truth. From the moment anything came to being, it impacted the world, and could not help but do so until the moment it ceased to be.

That her actions had had such consequences, that she had caused harm, was to be expected - anyone attempting great things would suffer them! And at the same time, if she did as Sara had done, if she tried to just hide herself away from the world somewhere, it wouldn't solve anything. The things she had created, the actions she had taken, the people she had influenced, all of it would just keep churning away. If nothing else, HE would keep coming, on whatever this mad crusade of his was. What were her options then, if even her death would not halt the damage being done?

And if she were to just accept that and let it happen, wasn't she just admitting to herself she was the monster everyone said all along? That she was truly beyond redemption, that this ephemeral dream of an existence she held was completely pointless? Was that how she, how they both were to go out?

To live was to act. To die was to act. Even to not act was to act. It was clear to her now, there never would be an end for her. Her lips parted once more, and the cold dry air passed between them.

"... no. I'm not. And I never will be, will I."

Her head lifted, and she stared him back in the eye with her empty red hues.

"Such things as 'fulfillment', and 'satisfaction'. The things 'Alfimi Elwren' has been chasing this whole time. They never existed in the first place, did they?"

Statistics:Posted by Jadzi — Wed Jul 25, 2018 3:18 pm

Shoal Zones • Re: Question & Answer (Omni)

2018-07-25T07:29:17-04:00

"Tell me where it is!"

As abruptly as Ritter had emerged, Lance discarded the Newtype warrior's helmet, gripped his collar with his left hand and pulled hard, while his other gloved hand clasped firmly along Ritter's jaw and mouth, wrenching his head forward. "Where? Where is it!?" He screamed into Ritter's face over and over, brown eyes wild with opportunity and ambition. The cool and collected Lord Commander had suddenly vanished, replaced by a primal, sinister urge. Something he could not take out on the child, but Ritter was a more than suitable target. He forgot all about the girl and if she was okay, and nothing mattered anymore but the location of Devil Jr.

"Tell me!" He yelled yet again, only starting to simmer down, but still wildly insistent on an immediate answer. As the brothers checked on the girl and offered a typically lackadaisical and less than inspiring "She's good!" Lance backed away, fists clenched, to regard the prisoner before him.

"Tell me or I'll send you back in. I will put you back in there, and I find out who and what you care about, and I will bring them back here, and your suffering will be nothing compared to what I do to them! Do you understand that? Nod your head if you understand! Speak!"

Statistics:Posted by ZeonDad — Wed Jul 25, 2018 7:29 am

Shoal Zones • Light My Way (Closed)

2018-07-14T13:40:30-04:00

Location Unknown, Three Months Ago.

"....Welcome back to the land of the living. Mr. St-Jacques."

It had been two months months since the grey eyes of Florus St-Jacques opened. Two months, although the Union pilot didn't know. To him, it happened only yesterday. Meridia, the fight, the Union patrol who was supposed to be there. The help who never came despite his pleas from Florus St-Jacques. His six foot two frame shifted, right leg twitching as he'd sit up in bed, barely. "W-Where..am I?"

"You're inside an abandoned resource satellite we've taken over. We came when your signal reached us, and you were barely clinging to life." Florus said nothing at first, but when his eyes finally came into focus, he could see the figure who was talking to him. Thin and tall, a white coat over a white shirt, black pants and shined black shoes, crisp and clean. "Josephine..where is she?" It was then the man frowned on the corner of his mouth and he'd slowly make his way to sit on a stool beside Florus's bed with a soft groan. "I'm afraid, Florus..it's been two months since we found you, the Union has officially labeled you as Killed in Action. However, as far as your girlfriend..we've seen nothing to let us believe she asked for the incident report, or even attended your funeral."

Florus St-Jacques shifted before he shook his head once, then twice before he brought right hand up and dismissively waved his right hand at the Doctor. "Get the fuck out of here, no way is that true!" The tall man would sit there, his face devoid of expression before he curled his mouth into a frown once more. "Mr. St-Jacques, I'm sorry, but it is true. I'll have the reports brought to you, but for now..we have an offer for you."
Hearing it again caused Florus's face to drop, sullen. Was it true? Did he really mean so little to Josephine that she moved on without a second thought? Florus St-Jacques thought he meant something to her, after all, he had fallen in love with the pilot. Head over heels for the woman, but it was that little voice in the back of his head that made him believe it so easily. "The question Florus, is, will you run back to Luna, and walk around dealing the threat of corrupted forces hunting you? Or, will you join us and actually do something about it?"

The man sat silent in bed before those grey eyes narrowed briefly at the Doctor, "Who..are you people?" The man shifted on his stool, smiling widely before he extended a hand towards Florus St-Jacques.

"We're the old guard, we're the ones who'll save the Union from itself..and we have a lot of work to do Mr. St-Jacques."

Statistics:Posted by Buster — Sat Jul 14, 2018 1:40 pm

Shoal Zones • Re: The Call (Enigma, Jade)

2018-06-18T15:37:04-04:00

"ARE YOU SATISFIED?"

Trent was not about to let the petulant android escape confrontation through silence. It was the first time she had even seen the man so much as raise his voice, nevermind yell. He had put up with so much from this woman since the Cataclysm that she actually made him wonder if he was enabling something that was against his own moral code just by humoring her. And now she was reaping the whirlwind, and he felt like he was partially responsible for the harvest.

"Do you see now? What your actions have done? I would actually be shocked if you did, since shooting your star-crossed despot two decades ago didn't exactly trigger any deep thinking. But for her sake, and for yours, and for all of ours, I hope you finally get it."

He wanted to shut off the feed and be done with Elwren, but this all filled Silverton with a righteousness he rarely exhibited. He wanted to hear her admit it, and he wanted to rub it in her face. It wouldn't bring anyone back, but it would give the closest thing he would have to catharsis before he had to go and share the news.

Statistics:Posted by Enigma — Mon Jun 18, 2018 3:37 pm

Shoal Zones • Re: Question & Answer (Omni)

2018-05-29T00:29:15-04:00

Ritter closed his eyes as he heard the words of Lance Screamer fade off into the distance as the Angel Halo began activation. He could hear one term echoing again and again in his mind as it came from the Lord Commander. The sensation of the Angel Halo was unlike anything Ritter had experienced before, the feedback coursing through his body in a way not even a psycoframe could deliver. Ritter's body twitched occasionally, as his brow broke out in a deep sweat, yet the expression on his face remained calm, there was no agony, no discomfort. It was as if he could feel himself sinking into a deep state of dream, but he was still awake. Against the blackness, Ritter could see the letters appear one by one, clear as day.

Devil Junior... Find it...

As if a light switch had been flipped, one by one Ritter saw light after light emerge in the darkness as he opened his eyes. No longer was he shackled to a chair inside of the Angel Halo. He could see himself floating against the cosmos, and feel the presence of all those around the facility, slowly fading in and out from the origins of the lights. It felt intrusive, unlike anything Ritter had felt before, and was far too distracting to let him focus on any one source. Yet, above the thousands of lights, one seemed to shine differently than the rest. It wasn't as vibrant, or as bright as the others, yet it drew him in, as if an all consuming black hole. One by one the rest of the lights disappeared as Ritter saw himself get sucked into it, the darkness once again consuming his surroundings.

Ritter looked around in all directions, once again there was a nothingness around him, a complete and utter void. He looked again and again, but there was nothing still. Just as he had felt he surveyed his surroundings hundreds, if not thousands of times, he could see another sliver of light creeping into the abyss. Ritter extended an arm forward, reaching out to the lone glimmer of hope peaking out towards him. Instantly he could feel what it was, even if it was much dimmer than what it should be.

No matter what he attempted, Ritter couldn't seem to make contact with the beacon before him. As if something stood in the way. As the light seemed to creep closer and closer, Ritter could see two silhouettes, the shape of a man to one side of the light, and a woman to the other. Both gave off their own shade of incandescence, obscuring any major features Ritter could divulge from either of them. The only identifiers he had were the bright hues of light radiating from the man's neck, and another radiating from the right eye of the woman. These were her parents, protecting her even when not physically there. This was the bond between a family. Suddenly, the white light that was beyond the girl's parents enveloped Ritter, and he was suddenly staring at the blue sky above, the sunlight peering out from behind a cloud made him squint as he looked down to refocus on where he was.

His hands reached to his sides as he grasped at the blades of grass around him. Ritter sighed as he felt the cool breeze wash across him and split the blades in a flurry of directions. He could make out the shape of a young girl running towards him, the light reflecting off her equally as bright hair as she reached out with a hug.

"Daddy! Daddy!"

The words echoed as Ritter looked up to find Kathryn smiling down at him as she brushed a hand against his cheek. The girl rushed towards the two of them and nestled against her father's side on the grassy hillside.

"Kit..." Ritter murmured as he blinked, and just as it had all been before him, it was all gone, and he had returned to the abyss.

He blinked again, and seated before him was Madaline. She was no longer in the restraints or machines that Lance and the others had connected her to. She looked to be free.

Ritter reached out to her again as the sketch the Lord Commander had given him materialized into his hand. He could make out she was saying something, but he couldn't hear the words, nor make out what she was forming. She pointed at the drawing, her arm raised up in an almost robotic fashion towards it. Suddenly the paper darted from Ritter's grasp, floating off and stopping in front of the seated girl. Slowly, waves of light darted from the outlines of the sketch, flooding the room with light once more.

Ritter blinked, and once more found his surroundings had changed. He was surrounded by a dense fog, and a deep stench of damp, muggy air. He took a step forward, only to find himself half submerged in a deep bog. As he looked below, trying to find out how deep he actually was, the shape from the sketch seemed to appear out of an infinite void beneath the waves. The shadow grew larger and larger until the familiar look of nano-skin erupted from the water, and in a torrent of water Ritter found himself consumed by a blackness as a lone mono-eye stared at him as his body plummeted through what felt like aeons as he drowned in the infinite abyss.

Suddenly, Ritter's body jerked to life as his eyes darted open, and he began to pant for air.

"I... I saw it..." Ritter gasped through breaths as he fought to steady himself.

Statistics:Posted by Omni — Tue May 29, 2018 12:29 am

Shoal Zones • Re: Revelations (Bio)

2018-05-14T11:20:06-04:00

“Deploying the crash test dummies!” Pat announced as two dozen F90’s inflated and simultaneously flooded an already crowded battlefield.

“It’s too soon!” Dom replied in frustration, firing off his long rifle multiple times in Hanmyo’s general direction in an effort to flood the area with sensor disrupting minovsky particles. “Stupid moron!”

The booming anti-Union sermon of Rex Jones heated Pat’s blood as he remotely fired another salvo of missiles to barrage the area, and then maneuvered slightly to retrieve and install a four-barrel beam cannon mounted his F90’s right arm, which also had a 2-tube missile launcher attached.

“Come get some bitch!” Pat cackled maniacally, firing the long rifle held in the other hand in wild succession, hoping Hanmyo would engage him, assuming she survived the missiles and a variety of other curved and angled beams from several directions at once.

Dom knew what is brother was capable of, and it was not unusual for Pat to court death. He was, after all, simply an animal. Something rabid, not quite a man and barely a step above being put down. “Don’t fail me brother,” Dom quietly whispered to himself, hoping for the best as he refocused and again took aim.

Statistics:Posted by ZeonDad — Mon May 14, 2018 11:20 am

Shoal Zones • Re: Question & Answer (Omni)

2018-05-14T11:07:39-04:00

“Activate it,” Lance ordered with distaste for the time they had already wasted. He was in no mood for further dithering. Like a rolling grey storm cloud he hovered, unremittingly scowling, leaning in and laying a black gloved hand tightly on Ritter’s right shoulder. Pat chuckled to himself as he punched in some commands at a nearby console, oblivious to the significance of what was about to occur. Dom, the more disciplined of the pair, stayed focused on the girl, specifically her breathing.

“Find it. Find me the Devil Junior. Ritter, you need to find it.” Lance growled softly, “Find it for all of our sakes!”

An inaudible shriek of a thousand voices would incapacitate all the Newtypes in the room for a split-second, driving Screamer to his knees with an intake of breath. Still, for someone linked to the machine, and now delving into the mind of another, the experience would be much, much worse. The minds of Schwarzer Ritter and Madaline Starwind melded, and then they were one.

The Lord Commander only hoped Ritter was strong enough to find it, and the girl strong enough as well, to survive him.

Statistics:Posted by ZeonDad — Mon May 14, 2018 11:07 am

Shoal Zones • Re: Revelations (Bio)

2018-05-10T22:59:01-04:00

"Traitors! We are the resistance! Behold a phoenix rising from the ashes to burn your war machine to cinders! Marching to kick ass! Uunhh! Marching not to give up! Uunhh! I will never submit to you! Aaaarrrrrgh - WE ARE THE RESISTANCE!!!"

"What the hell is--" The bellowing Commonwealth rhetoric echoed through the cockpit of the Gundam at an incredible volume, a deafening blast of sound that caused Hanmyo to wince in physical pain before she managed to cut the broadcast on its second repeat. Bastards. The words seemed to bounce around in her skull for a few moments longer, and she gave her head a violent shake in an unsuccessful attempt to banish the cacophonous ringing in her ears.

Pat, to his credit, was either a genius or a tremendously lucky idiot. The clamor of Rex Jones' voice and the subsequent distraction had very nearly covered the sound of the Belphagor warning Hanmyo of the approaching missiles, the computer keening out a proximity warning for the second time in as many moments. No time to shoot them down, especially not since the Gundam's designers had unhelpfully deigned to omit vulcan guns.

The enormous strike claws unfolded from the Belphagor's shoulders, lashing out to sink into a suit-sized hunk of space rock as it careened past and haul it along for the ride. Hanmyo grit her teeth at the violent deceleration caused by the sudden addition of mass several times the unit's own, fighting off her body's desire to pass out as a red haze crept in from the edges of her vision. The machine's hand whipped out as a rocket-propelled module deployed from the wrist, and the superheated monofilament wire it trailed bisected the asteroid as if it were made of butter. The newly-made halves were drawn to either side of the suit by the claws, cocooning it in a stony shell as it huddled to become as small a target as possible.

The incoming detonated against the impromptu shield but their explosions failed to penetrate and reach the juicy Gundam meat within, though the vibrations transmitted through the rock rang into the suit and rattled Hanmyo's teeth in her head. The machine's velocity was greatly reduced by the new defenses, but it and its now-battered pilot were still traveling steadily in the direction of the two brothers.

Statistics:Posted by BioHazard — Thu May 10, 2018 10:59 pm

Shoal Zones • Re: Question & Answer (Omni)

2018-05-09T21:23:00-04:00

Ritter took the canvas print in his hand, beginning to study it before he was disrupted by the rest of the Lord Commander's tirade. He was banking on one hell of a shot, something Ritter was unsure he would even be capable of right now. He could feel the stress in his body slowly climbing as time went on during this experiment. The fact that the girl was so heavily sedated would complicate things as well. He didn't know how he could possibly try and connect with somebody who might as well be a zombie at the moment. Without the emphatic connection, two Newtypes simply couldn't communicate, and even if they could, there was a good chance the abstract understanding of one's thoughts and emotions would appear as nothing more than intrusive apparitions.

He studied it once more as Lance began to explain the context of the art, it was the map to whatever he was looking for. To Ritter, it looked like nothing at the moment. Nothing he was familiar with, nothing that even existed in this very world. He handed it back to Lance as the two brothers continued to strap him in and connect him to the Angel Halo. He took a look at the young girl, strapped in just as he was, and looked inside himself for that determination he always had. He didn't want to abandon her, he couldn't let her be subject to even more than she had already been subjected to. He could feel that Screamer was at his wits end with all this, and turning to Ritter for a solution was a desperate attempt at succeeding.

Ritter took in a deep breath as he closed his eyes. Trying his best to trace the outlines and shapes he had seen in the print moments ago. He exhaled as he opened his eyes, feeling as if he was as ready as he would ever be for the task at hand. He couldn't help but wonder what the circumstances would be if he failed to deliver, but needed to push those thoughts out for now. He needed focus.

"Let's begin." He said stoically as he began to try and reach out with his mind to the young girl.

Statistics:Posted by Omni — Wed May 09, 2018 9:23 pm

Shoal Zones • Re: Question & Answer (Omni)

2018-05-03T11:46:57-04:00

“Then give me what I want. Here, look at this.”

His impatience growing, the Lord Commander had Dom quickly hand Ritter a small black and white canvas print. A vivid yellow signature in the corner would indicate that it was some kind of sketch.

“Study it,” Lance ordered as he wheeled more equipment over, eyeing the condition of the girl. She was in rough shape. It was clear the battery she’d endured over the last day had taken its toll, and yet to no avail. They were no closer to their goal than when they’d started, although Lance had caught a glimpse of it. Not nearly enough to pinpoint a location.

Yet she could not survive another…

“A Newtype is a fickle thing, as you know.” Lance pontificated. “We’ve had to sedate her considerably, to slow down her mind. Otherwise, synchronization would be impossible. Unfortunately for you, this also makes your job much harder. Her feelings aren’t so clear. Things are… distorted.”

Lance considered his own earlier attempt. The necessary medication made the girl’s mind a mess to navigate. It was akin to paddling a small boat into the surf, with pieces of information and feelings on the top of the waves, but only touching the surface, and always pushing back, repeating the same waves again and again, to no avail. Madeline was a powerful Newtype, like her parents, and so an equally powerful Newtype would be needed to break through the lagoon of her mind, and pass into the ocean of content beyond. Ritter wouldn’t paddle, Lance knew. Ritter would be his sailboat.

“Through the power of Angel Halo, you will be as one. She will reach into your mind, and you will reach into hers, though she is in not any state to do so. You however should have less difficulty in that regard, if you’re still the man of your reputation.”

Referring to the print Ritter had been issued before taking it back into his possession, Lance gave the man his final orders. “Somewhere in her mind, you will find this. When you do, I need to know everything. What it looks like, what surrounds it, where it is, etcetera. Do this, and I’ll let the girl go. Do it for her…”

“…Oh, and this will hurt,” Lance added with some satisfaction after a pause. He placed upon Ritter a massive black helmet to wear that covered the entirety of everything above the nose. A peak over at the girl would reveal she had already been adorned by Pat and Dom, who were now strapping her wrists and ankles down to the armrests. A myriad of wiring connected the two to a nightmarish amalgamation of equipment.

“Strap him down!” Lance ordered to his lackeys, before kneeling next to Ritter and softly whispering words of encouragement to his ear. “I have faith in you. Oblige me this and I will deliver him to you as you wish.”

Despite the wickedness of their deliverer, the words held truth. The Lord Commander knew this would be his last chance to locate it. Ritter would accomplish his task, for the sake of everyone involved. The fate of all their lives depended on it.

Statistics:Posted by ZeonDad — Thu May 03, 2018 11:46 am

Shoal Zones • Re: Revelations (Bio)

2018-05-03T11:02:09-04:00

Pat cracked a squeal with glee as he madly eyed his pop-up monitor, relishing the zoomed in and heavily pixilated far off destruction. The equivalent of acres vaporized in a brilliant flash, with smaller pockets of reaction emerging from the initial mass and arcing to detonate various dormant power cells, discarded machinery, and the burnt out hulls of larger detritus. A continuous ballooning of the initial attack crawled across the more distant parts of the shoal zone like a caterpillar, before finally having reached its limit, came to an uneventful close into nothingness.

“Damn, that was cool!” Pat finally exclaimed with a stupid grin and silly laugh. “Did we do that!?”

“No, that wasn’t good at all!” Dom said with an attitude of disbelief at his lesser sibling’s lack of understanding. “That just blew up half our stuff you idiot!”

They quarreled, until the time targeting systems fully readjusted, and with a beep the readouts still showed a signature in the distance, and one closing with impressive speed at that.

“How is that possible?” Dom questioned, overriding his brother’s nonsense as he hurriedly filtered through several cycles of data readouts in skepticism, “We hit her! We hit her!”

Now it was Pat’s turn to stop and ponder the idiocy of his older brother. “Stop being such a mark, dude! It’s probably just an I-field or somethin’. Come on! Use your imagination bro! Here, I’ll show you!” More giggles as Pat tapped away at one touch screen before bringing up another, playfully tip-tapping a green universal play button. The resulting broadcast that would ensue blared and would be sure to hit any pilots in the vicinity.

Traitors! We are the resistance! Behold a phoenix rising from the ashes to burn your war machine to cinders! Marching to kick ass! Uunhh! Marching not to give up! Uunhh! I will never submit to you! Aaaarrrrrgh - WE ARE THE RESISTANCE!!!

“God Bless the Commonwealth!” Dom snorted, carelessly focused more on the spontaneous humor of the impromptu broadcast recording than the impending threat that careened towards them. “When did you set all this up?” The bumper to The Rex Jones Show, accompanied by patriotic drums, guitar solo, and stock music tempo, continued on repeat over and over, while Pat couldn’t contain his insane laughter. “I knew you’d like it brother!”

The readout offered Pat an intrusive, “Target at half distance approximation!” warning, which he summarily dismissed with a flick.

The triggering of dozens of guided micro missiles that seemingly came from everywhere towards Hanmyo’s position was in total afterthought for the brothers. But for Hanmyo, even as she covered more and more ground towards the new targets of her rage, she would still have to contend with several more traps and tricks, all the while to the booming patriotism of Rex Jones.

Statistics:Posted by ZeonDad — Thu May 03, 2018 11:02 am

Shoal Zones • Re: Question & Answer (Omni)

2018-05-02T20:49:01-04:00

Ritter clenched his fist and grit his teeth at Lance's response. He was absolutely right. Even if abandoning the girl was his only chance of surviving this, he couldn't bring himself to do it. The Lord Commander was more calculated than Ritter had thought, and he obviously knew his target well enough to get him into a situation like this. Ritter wished that Madalen was nearby, she would have never allowed him to get in this position in the first place. He needed that voice in his ear to tell him it was okay to worry about only himself. He was still far too naive.

He hesitated for a moment as Pat snatched at his wrist, not immediately allowing himself to be dragged into all of this. After the first tug at his arm, Ritter relented, and allowed the super soldier to guide him towards his seat. Something inside of him urged him to comply, as if it was his fate to do so.

"I guess you know me better than I thought, Lord Commander." Ritter said, almost sarcastically as he stared at Lance. For a brief moment, the two Newtypes interconnected themselves. Ritter could feel everything Lance was projecting, even the things he had wished to repress, and the same for Lance. He could feel the sense of loss inside of Ritter over the Chancellor, his fiery anger at those who had taken her from him, his fear of the unknown, the drive to protect those dear to him, and the promise he had made to Kathryn and the Ultimate Gundam. Just as soon as they had connected, it all snapped as he approached and chair and took a seat. Ritter unzipped the top of his flight suit and pulled that half off as he positioned himself in the chair, setting his helmet on the ground next to it.

Ritter still didn't know how to react to this information Lance might have on Kou Chun. He knew it wasn't his Kou. It couldn't be, he could still see that day clear as anything in his mind as he felt Kou fade away and everything about his world shatter. Yet somehow, there was something that more than ate away at Ritter's curiosity. He didn't get the feeling that Lance was necessarily lying about that information. Either way, Ritter wanted to find out.

But, before he could think about that, he had to think about the girl.

"I'll do it. But I also want you to guarantee the girl is safe afterwards, there's no need to let her become like one of us. At least give her a shot at a normal life."

Statistics:Posted by Omni — Wed May 02, 2018 8:49 pm

Shoal Zones • Re: Revelations (Bio)

2018-05-01T22:42:06-04:00

The Belphagor's systems blaring an ear-splitting proximity warning shot Hanmyo bolt-upright, the motion violent enough to make the seat's restraints bite painfully into her shoulders. Her gaze swung across the field around her with a curse as the suit rattled under the impact of debris, but she caught sight of only the smokey, fading remains of the detonations that had rippled through it a moment before. A moment passed as she caught her bearings, uncharacteristically slow to process what had happened after being shocked out of her reverie. Bits of broken rock and abandoned machinery bounced off the suit, the dull thunk of their impacts breaking the silence.

A trap, precisely at the coordinates the Lord Commander had supplied. No sign of the supposed research facility. Lance's insistence. It didn't take a Coordinator to fit the pieces of the puzzle together; this wasn't some long-forgotten boobytrap she'd happened to stumble upon, some coincidence. It was meant for her. He set me up. That son of a bitch set me up. And the thought that followed that revelation chilled her to the core, as though her blood had turned to ice, a frozen lump settling in her gut. Madeline! He has Madeli-

Move! Hanmyo's Newtype prescience screamed at her, and with a thought the Gundam's potent thrusters kicked it to one side, leaving Dom's long rifle shot to spear through empty space where it had been moments before. It was as though the action had flipped a switch in her head, with immediate results.

She would not have thought it possible to be more upset than she had been at the news of Garr's death. She was wrong.

In an instant the ice in Hanmyo's veins turned to molten iron, a bubbling mass of seething fury that permeated every corner of her being, the fear in her belly replaced with a blazing inferno. She embraced it, embraced it in a way she had long ago abandoned yet still came as naturally to her as breathing. Lance Screamer had witnessed her raw emotion unleashed, but the flames of rage that coiled around her and through her now were a different beast entirely. They were focused, directed, purposeful. In the mind's eye she would have been terrible to behold, an avatar wreathed in hellfire. This was the Hanmyo of days past, the long-forgotten Hanmyo who had made those who faced her on the battlefield quake in fear and shrink from her presence. It threatened to consume her...but it made her strong. And the old Hanmyo had prized strength above all else.

Minovsky particles arranged themselves into a locked lattice at her command even as the sensation of imminent danger rang a second time in the back of her mind, crimson phantom particles leaking from between the suit's armor panels as the psycoframe material hidden in the frame reacted and amplified her Newtype prowess. Pat's shot blossomed into a brilliant flower against the I-field that had inexplicably enveloped the machine. The Belphagor shifted rapidly in space, aligning itself with roughly the direction the blast had originated from; it needn't be a precise thing. Dual panels on the Gundam's chest swung open as it simultaneously shifted at the waist, and with nary a moment's wait the trio of sonic smasher cannons unleashed colossal beams in the direction of the brothers.

Riding a plume of bright flame as dangerously powerful engines hurtled it through space, the Gundam itself was not far behind.

Statistics:Posted by BioHazard — Tue May 01, 2018 10:42 pm

Shoal Zones • Re: Question & Answer (Omni)

2018-05-01T11:42:58-04:00

“You’ll do it for her.” Lance ordered with absolute certainness, intent to dispel any illusions Ritter might have held to the contrary. He tucked his weapon away and pointed a finger in instruction for Ritter to sit. “She’s been through quite enough already.”

He pitied her. By now, her parents were most certainly dead through events he had carefully orchestrated, a deed he took no pleasure in. But he did what needed to be done. No parent would ever willingly let their child fall victim to fate. He thought back forty years, to his own childhood, something he not often cared to consider. If only there was another way… But she was the one who held the key. A child pure of mind and body, with a powerful lineage in her veins, he knew of none other who could do it. There was no other way. She was a victim of circumstance. They all were.

Pat tittered at the implications as he escorted Ritter, eagerly snatching him at the wrist. Dom moved to assist with a look of mild disgust, as if preparing to tangle not with necessarily with Ritter, but perhaps his younger sibling.

“And I have been through enough as well, Ritter.” Lance added with his gloved hands tightly gripped on the top rail of the seat his Newtype captive would soon occupy. “Truly, I have waited long enough for this.”

Lance grew close as Ritter approached, and despite standing shorter, glared him dead in his piercing blue eyes. The Lord Commander held gaze unflinchingly, studying and certain he was to be studied in that moment. Their pressure would intertwine with added focus, revealed sentiments of conviction, a simmering antagonism, and a head full of pride, but not true malice. It would do little to explain things. Only a split second of what was underneath, overridden feelings of explosive anxiety, madness, and extreme paranoia, would slip through the cracks and brush Ritter’s mind. There was reasoning for all this in there, buried somewhere, a hideous truth. The séance abruptly ended with a sharp exhale by the Lord Commander, as he blinked, and then slowly looked for Ritter to take his place.

“You will help me,” Lance insisted, focus returned to the task at hand. Having gleaned something during their exchange to capitalize on, he considered his next words before adding, “And if you do, I will tell you where he is.”

Statistics:Posted by ZeonDad — Tue May 01, 2018 11:42 am