"Buckle up," Byte said, jumping into the pilot seat. With an angry shrieking and grinding of protesting machinery, the Timber Wolf staggered back into upright position, lurching sickeningly a couple of times. "Good to go," Byte said after her mech had stabilised.
"I'll mount up." Byte delivered the thumbs up signal to Chip, who strolled off into the near distance and headed into an outcropping that had been big enough to contain his mech.
***
Starzone muttered something fairly incomprehensible to anyone who didn't understand old languages. From the tone though it was a fairly good guess that she was swearing her head off.
Starzone backed closer to the Battlesuit as the sand suddenly exploded upwards around them, the harsh particles playing music on the outer shells and windscreens of the mechs. Starzone's face settled into an impassive but somehow scary looking mask. She looked into the dust cloud directly ahead of her, not using her targeting system, and dispatched a bracket of short range missiles into the slowly settling sand.
Blood and giblets flew, spattering both the mechs, though Derek was partially shielded by the Raven. Starzone didn't so much as flinch, even when part of a tentacle bounced off her windshield directly in front of her face.
The sand cleared then, revealing a pod of roughly eight metre high sandsquids (or at least what was protruding out of the sand was roughly eight metres give or take, and that's apparently about 26ft if you needed it in imperial), seven of them in total.
On the hard ground that they hadn't reached, Trajectory's Marauder lumbered into view, firing explosions and a whistling sound heralding the arrival of a set of long range missiles special delivery from him into the backs of one of the squids. The squid flailed angrily but didn't seem too interested in going down.
Starzone winced slightly, one hand flew to her forehead, a flash of dark red briefly visible between her fingers before her palm covered it. Her eyes looked strange as well, though it was hard to focus when she used her other hand to undo her safety harness and then released her cockpit, standing up off the camera from chest upwards. At around the same time, Trajectory, who looked like he was about to arm another bracket, clasped both hands to his forehead with a sharp cry, arching back in his seat.
Starzone stood up in the cockpit. She looked around her at the squids, looking unperturbed as a tentacle lashed towards her mech. Her hand flared, the flames licking up her forearm. She threw the fireball at the tentacle and it sheared and cauterised at the same time, the charred remains of the hapless tentacle hitting the sand with a sickly thud and an even more nauseating smell. Starzone looked around her balefully. A ring of fire very suddenly sprang up surrounding the two mechs and blasted outward. The squids shrieked, thrashing about in confusion.
"Techy, MOVE!" Cypher's voice roared over the comm, as his Atlas suddenly became visible, emptying two brackets of long range missiles into the squid that had popped up in front of Derek initially. The squid hit the sand, tentacles still flailing. Its malevolent little eyes were fixated on the Lupe, and there was still one flanking it close by.
(ooc- expected as much :P walk without rhythm and you won't attract the worm ;))
Byte paled slightly under her fur when she saw the look on Starzone's face, just before she stood up out of the cockpit. Trajectory after initially arching back had collapsed, head down on his console, twitching slightly every so often.
"Negative on that, Timber Wolf-02," Cypher said sharply, having heard Rav'una over the communication channel, "Rendezvous with Dire Wolf and stand by." Cypher had taken over for now.
"Affirmative Starleader," Byte acknowledged the takeover and started moving to where Chip was scrambling into his mech, having suddenly and violently become aware of the action going on not far away. Turning slightly to talk to Rav'una, who was directly behind her, Byte said, "We'll see if we can help. When they get like that though, it's usually better to stay out of the way."
"Marauder, respond," Cypher ordered. Trajectory didn't, remaining slumped over the controls. He wasn't unconscious though, he was entirely too tense for that. Cypher focused again on the swirling sandstorm, which had at least decreased to severe eddies so he could see the squids, even though the tiny mechs they were surrounding were very difficult to see past swirling tentacles and the matte camo painted onto them. He lined up and emptied another bracket of missiles into one of the nearby ones, then tapped two buttons, one to engage group fire mode and the other to load all his autocannons. Pushing his mech up to its lumbering full speed, he surged into the desert, pouring bullets at the squids, keeping his aim high.
In the maelstrom, the squids did indeed look remarkably Cthulu-like all of a sudden. On the edges of vision, visible only on the periphery and blipping out of existance if one turned to focus, remarkably solid looking but unlikely figures crawled among the sandsquids, some seeming to affect them and others just flitting through and not seeming to do much. There appeared to be heatwaves in places too, but not consistantly.
Starzone turned to look behind her. She made eye contact with one of the squids. The beastie actually hesitated briefly, only the tips of its tentacles wavering, before it spontaneously combusted. The force of the heat blast knocked Starzone out of the Raven cockpit. She calmly turned in the air, landed on her feet on the sand and backward rolled to cancel momentum, coming up on her feet again. The heat blast continued, causing the paint on both Raven and Battlesuit to bubble and peel slightly, and temporarily kicking up the temperature enough to make Derek feel like he was in a sauna until it passed over.
Trajectory bolted up suddenly. The very brief flash of his face before he popped the cockpit and stood up revealed what would possibly have been a yellow stone set in his forehead, and the amber of his iris and burst over and filled each eyeball. Out of camera sight, electricity sizzled harshly between Trajectory's antennae. He gripped the edges of the opened windshield, his hands looking slightly larger than they should be, the claws on them looking bigger and pointier than was realistically possible. A crack of thunder reverberated directly overhead in the completely clear no-clouds-as-far-as-the-eye-can-see sky and almost immediately following that an arc of lightning lanced down, hitting a squid and knocking it and the one right next to it asunder. The shock rippled through the ground, feeling like a minor tremour to those in the mechs, petering out to a slightly disconerting rumble to those on the plateau. It would have knocked Starzone over again, but she, who had to climb up her mech in stages (just less, seeing as the mech was smaller) like everyone else, had somehow seemed to levitate off the ground and was perched on the head of it again.
The one that had been hit twitched violently, still alive but out of the game for now, the other one was jagging fiercely towards Derek and Starzone.
Both the squids close to Derek lashed out and latched on to his Battlesuit.
(OOC: XD! Exactly :P. )
"But-" Rav'una stopped herself from arguing with Cypher, exhaling deeply with a small cough as another reminder of her condition before she slumped back in her seat, the back of her head bumping into the wall of the mech behind her with a small thump. "Fine..." She frowned, obviously not being one to sit still for long. Except when need be should be patient and wait and remain still but when it came to a lot of things she had a tendancy of rushing in, blades weilded and/or weapons aimed and blasting. Though she normally took a more stealthy approach or attacked from a distance being an assassin. It was in her nature and part of her job criteria.
With Byte now turning her response to Rav'una you could see in her expressions that she wasn't too happy about the position she was in right now or the fact that she wasn't able to really do anything about it. But somehow Byte managed to calm her nerves a little and with a nod Rav'una replied "Very well Byte. I will remained patient..."
Derek was suddenly focussed but that didn't mean he didn't feel the heat of the heat blast starting to collect in his Battlesuit. Although he thanked his lucky stars he was in it and that it soon passed to settle. One of the squids, a much smaller one, managed to tear up the sand just beside him, wrapping its tentacles around the Battlesuit and trying to force Derek into it, Derek in turn reacting instantly with a quick swing of his arm and a small battlecry as brought it down with a hard thud into the creature's 'temple', forcing it to let go enough for Derek to turn his Battlesuit and use his boosters to heat the squid's face. With a roar the creature moved back, Derek in turn charging it and ramming a sharper part of the suit with a skillful strike right into the heart of the beast, ripping it out in a bloody tear and watching the thing fall dead beside him with a thud. But he didn't relax just yet. This battle had only just began.
"Shit! Get the fuck off me!"
Before he knew it he had two of the bastards latched onto his Battlesuit and Derek found himself in a pretty awkward position. He attempted to swing at one of them only to have both the arms of his mech suddenly caught in a fray of tentacles, forcing him back as his Battlesuit gave creaked in complaint under the pressure.
"You've just made the wrong move..." Derek growled and it would be now that Derek's mystery would be revealed...
It probably would have seemed like a coincidence or a streak of irony that Derek too was hiding an ability of his own but none the less it would prove quite strong indeed. His Battlesuit's electronics began to flicker, any lights switching on and off from time to time as he glared at the squid creatures in the struggle, swear starting to soak his fur and his eyes began to turn a more pitch black colour, the colour changing in a ink-through-water manner, small shadows starting to creep out of his Battlesuit in tentacle-like ways before suddenly one of the two squids felt the impact of the gathering shadows that struck through it like a set of spikes, tearing back out and letting it fall lifeless to the ground. The remaining one, caught in a moment of surprise, was struck with a hard blow to the temple and with a snarl Derek rammed the shoulder of his Battlesuit with brute force into the side of it.
In reaction to its defense the squid, once it recovered, returned the blow with a quick whip of its tentacles, sending Derek's Battlesuit back and onto its side with a crashing thud, the Battlesuit sliding to a grinding halt and slamming against a set of large boulders, shattering most of them but the larger ones helped it stop completely. Surprsingly...Derek was not only alive but completely unharmed. This was more apparent when he exited his Battlesuit, fortunately able to open the hatch, and hopped out, standing and slowly making his way toward the squid.
"You and I need to have a little...chat..." Derek growled, his tone actually sounding creepy enough to send at least a small chill down anyone's spine.
Stepping up to it the squid and Derek for a moment stared each other down as meanwhile the fight carried on around them. When the squid suddenly attempted to make a strike a set of shadow-like yet living tentacles, dark in appearence by any standard, suddenly appeared behind him as though they where attatched to him and shot forward, Derek not even flinching as his eyes glowed an eery royal blue, and twisted in a way that forced the creature to come down with a slam to its side. As it struggled to get back up, screeching and carrying on, the very things that ripped into it before retracted, leaving behind large, deep gashes and to follow Derek held his palm out flat, his middle finger and the one next his pinky folded downward so their tips touched his palm, toward the squid creature, stepping one foot back into a stomp as he pushed his hand out sending a ripple of energy so fierce it literally tore the squid creature to shreds, the sand acting like sand paper as it grinding it down to almost nothing.
Calmly he lowered his hand back to his side as the tentacle-shadows-things retracted and dissapeared as though they where never there, his eyes turning normal again and he stumbled back with his hand resting on the side of his head.
"Urghn...what just happened?..."
"Fuck me gently with a chainsaw," Cypher muttered as that familliar chill ran down his spine as he watched the transformation occur in the Battlesuit, then switched view to Derek calmly stepping out. He appended his ongoing report in. "Tir, Cavalry. The techy's a fucking Psion." His tone was completely unsurprised and quite matter-of-fact. "At a guess I'd say psychokinetic."
He stepped in and autocannoned another squid as the shadows fell away, leaving Derek looking remarkably confused. A fireball lit the area, it was struck by lightning in a spectacular fashion resulting in an explosion which neatly gibbed the remaining squids. Trajectory fell into the cockpit, slumping loosely over the controls, fully unconscious this time. Starzone, standing on the head of her mech, was less lucky, when she passed out she dropped three metres onto the sand.
"Tir, Cavalry. Two Psions down. We're comin' home. Send out Salvage to the crash site." He looked at the semi-cooked bits of squid, twitching about in the sand, and could not stop the shudder that rose in him from making him twitch slightly, thinking about the wanton destruction just his two friends could cause, never mind that they seemed to have picked up another apparently uncontrollable Psion, assuming the Lupe's daze wasn't a charade. "Send out Hunter as well. There should be enough useable squid here to keep us happy for months." By the time he finished his report and Xu acknowledged he had reached Starzone. Jumping out and slithering down, he rushed over to where Starzone was sprawled.
"Ajana's closed," he said into his comm, as he approached her carefully.
"Same here," Chip responded.
Cypher touched Starzone on the shoulder lightly. "Starleader," he said. Then, in softer tones, "Starzi?" No response. He could see she was still breathing, very deep, very slow breaths. He picked her up and slung her over one broad shoulder, scaling her mech with ease, and placing her in the seat of her cockpit and strapping her in. He closed the cockpit as he got out and transferred back to his mech. Once in there he began the slow and painful procedure of using his mech's arms to pick up and stabilise the Raven, a manuver they occasionally practiced in the sim for situations just like this, but not one he had ever had to do in real life before.
Chip in the meantime, after securing Trajectory, hopped out to see how Derek was doing.
"Hey matey," he called affably, approaching Derek with caution. You never could tell with Psions. Even if they were friends, if they couldn't fully control their abilities, it made them potentially dangerous. And friendship and support was critically important. "You all right?"
Whatever Derek had done certainly, not surprisingly, had brought himself some sudden attention although it didn't seem like he was completely aware of what exactly had just happened. The last thing he remembered was being in the Battlesuit and fighting off the squids. Now he was a short distance away from his mangled wreck of a Battlesuit and had avoided being attacked by another squid thanks to the efforts of Cypher who delivered a warm explosion of defense its way and the sudden explosion to follow forced Derek to shield himself from the bright flash up ahead.
Needless to say he was feeling a little more than a little dazed and confused right now. Seeing what he had apparently done made Derek stumble back in sudden realization and shock and he looked down at his palms, his vision blurring in and out of focus for a moment before returning to normal as though he had just went through a fierce adrenaline rush and was only just starting to settle.
'What the hell did I just do?...' Derek thought to himself, unable to do much more than stand there looking at his palms. Snapping himself out of it he reminded himself that more of those squid could well be around and the last thing he needed to happen was for one of those things to suddenly pop up and munch him down.
He hadn't at all expected Chip when he spoke out to him and Derek was quick to step back into a defensive stance, exhaling in relief with a tired smile to his response. "Yeah...I think so..." Derek nodded a couple of times, looking over at the wreckage behind him and turning his attention with a small bob of his head to the heap behind him as he grinned tiredly and a little nervously. "I uh...kinda crashed the Battlesuit..."
His expressions would become a little more worried as he lowered his gaze a little to a side in thought, frowning in slight confusion as he added "I'd say it's a miracle I even came out of that alive and unharmed. But..." With a small shake of his head he turned his gaze back to Chip as he continued with a slight concern to his tone "I have no idea what even happened. Last thing I remember I had two of those...things wrapped around my Battlesuit and then..." Exhaling deeply with a small shake of his head Derek lowered his gaze slightly once more and continued "Then I just went blank. I felt this rush. Something wild and untamed...Then I just blacked out and when I came to I was standing out here in front of what's left of those squid things..."
"Wild and untamed, eh." Chip smirked, although the slightly mocking tone that would have come with anyone else saying it was missing. Instead there was an edge of nervousness. Chip looked over at the Battlesuit. It was fixable, but being exactly what it was, a Battlesuit, it probably wasn't exactly safe to drive, seeing as it didn't have the mass or the insulators to soak up the electricity sizzling over it. "Okay." His mind raced, as he looked over Derek again. The Lupe looked fine, if a little bruised, and a little shaken, but he wasn't too certain on his mental condition. "Come on," he said at length, leading towards his Dire Wolf.
Cypher finally managed to get the Raven stable on his mech's arms. Now all he had to do was not get into a fight as he would be reliant on his head weapons. Carefully he guided his mech back towards the hard ground. He shot a glance towards the plateau, briefly wondering if the light show Starzone and Trajectory had set up had miraculously managed to escape the attention of the Lupes up there. He didn't like his chances.
"Move your tail, Dire Wolf," he said to Chip's comm, "I don't wanna hang round here longer than necessary."
"I donno if the techy can drive," Chip responded, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Derek was following him.
Chip's tone suggested that something big happened between the point Derek had blacked out and now and whatever it was had everyone apparently a little shaken up and/or nervous. It was one of those situations that even if Derek could say anything he didn't know where to begin or what question to ask first. His head was feeling a little sore and he felt pretty drained of energy but apart from that, and a few minor bruises and possibly a few small cuts that where nothing more than a few minor scrapes and such here and there, nothing in need of medical tending or the likes, he was perfectly fine. Yet when he crashed his ship he had broken a few bones and caused himself quite a bit of injury. Add this to the way Chip in particular was starting to act around him all of a sudden and you could tell why Derek felt suddenly a little odd and concerned.
"Sure thing..." Derek nodded to Chip before following him toward the Dire Wolf.
Commander Nubis and his men had long gone before the battle had started although the comm device Starzone was handed would, possibly, come in handy. Especially if she or anyone else had any questions about him. After all his code name did seem to catch her attention somehow...
Derek was following but he certainly was deep in thought and concerned that what he had done was something that may later have others look at him differently. Things started off so well and now, due to reasons unknown to him, things where starting to become uneasy for some. But why? He didn't understand it. What did he do? Needless to say once he would find out what had happened and why he would be deeply shocked to say the least.
Rav'una had meanwhile heard and caught brief glimpses of what had happened battle wise but she didn't quite catch everything that happened. But even she wasn't too eased about the squid things that suddenly emerged and attacked without mercy. "What were those...things?" She asked, turning her attention to Byte with a calm yet serious tone as she added "I sensed great energies coming from a few of your warriors...A powerful aura unlike anything I have felt at least for some time..."
She wasn't too concerned all in all but she wasn't exactly entirely at ease. Which was natural considering that a battle had just broken loose. Although things were somewhat distant for her, especially from where she was seated, so the battle opened up more questions than handing over answers to and for her.
"Up you get," Chip said, motioning for Derek to climb up. He looked like he was coordinating fine so hopefully he could make the climb. "So you don't remember going evil shadow demon and tearing the squid apart?" he added, almost as an afterthought.
Byte had almost forgotten her passenger as she'd pushed the mech towards the battle, and then as instructed stood by as only Cypher participated. It made sense, the three bigger mechs trying to beat down on the squids was not the best idea when two of their very small mechs were right in the middle of them, but it didn't make her feel any better to not be able to help.
"Sand squids," she answered Rav'una, "They're sometimes called saber squids, I don't know why. They can get up to forty metres long. We've heard stories of hundred metre long ones but we've never seen one." Byte smirked, though concern for her friends was evident. She looked over her shoulder at Rav'una's next comment. "I don't know much about this energy stuff. If you...y'know...feel anything too much close to them, and it's uncomfortable or whatever, lemme know and I'll move."
All that anyone would have been able to feel from Starzone and Trajectory at this point in time anyway would have been angry static.
Derek, at first, had to stop for a moment to let himself settle for a moment before he decided to make the climb, managing to eventually get up onto the mech although it was a little more of a struggle than it usually would have been.
Chip's question caught Derek completely off guard and with a strong sense of surprise he looked at Chip with perk of his brow. "Doing what with what now?..." Question asked, unsure on how to even start to react to that question. With a brief shake of his head Derek frowned in confusion as he asked "What do you mean all "evil shadow demon" like?"
Rav'una listened with calm yet slight concern was present in her expressions. Just molded with a more serious kind of nature and though she didn't appear too intimidated by these squid things she knew the last thing they wanted was to be facing these things again. Especially right now.
"They sound similar to the Ant Lions back on my planet. Although they are not anywhere near as large they are still fierce in large numbers. But one is able to use them against the enemy through a type of gland or something of the likes which, however, is only able to found on the Queens. Therefore not only is it risky but few are able to obtain such an item"
"As for the energies..." Rav'una went on to continue after a brief pause, turning her attention from in front of her to Byte as she continued "I only sense one of the three I sensed earlier. The other two seem...somewhat faint and distant yet not entirely faded. This one however...his aura is strong. Very strong. Weakened, yes, but strong none the less...I wonder about him..."
Chip climbed up after Derek and hopped into the driver's seat. He looked at Derek's eyes and his body language and all he got was total and complete confusion. "Buckle up," he said, and turned back around to face the front, doing up his own harness. "He doesn't remember," he said quite matter-of-factly into the comm.
Cypher had reached the others, balancing Starzone in her mech on his arms.
Byte very quickly worked out who Rav'una was talking about, seeing as "the other two" were unconscious. "Me too," she commented, frowning thoughtfully. She didn't have long to think when Cypher addressed her directly.
"Timber Wolf, reckon you can scrape up the Battlesuit? Little bro's having issues with those stumpy guns of his."
"Fuck you," Chip shot back good naturedly.
Byte laughed. "I'll give it a go." She moved into position and started working on forklifiting up the limp Battlesuit.
Chip in the meantime guided his Dire Wolf over to Trajectory's stationary Marauder and got behind it, working on getting the chunky arms of the Dire Wolf under the strong points of the Marauder's much skinnier arms to be able to lift it.
It took a while but they managed to pick up the downed mechs wth minimal chassis damage. Painfully alert for any danger (though not of the squid variety, the large mechs were too much hassle for the squids to bother with unless they were really hungry), the star very slowly started back towards the Tir.
"Don't remember what?..." Derek questioned, hinting in his tone he was starting to loose his patience about the whole thing. In the end he just exhaled, shaking his head a little before then deciding to just sit down and buckle up, which he did. His questions weren't exactly answered at all and Derek was really starting to wonder where things were about to head from this point. He was confused, somewhat tired and a little more than just a little shaken up and was starting to get irritated by the lack of answers flowing his way. He would have to be patient though if he wanted to find out.
Before Rav'una could even say a word the communication between Byte and Cypher had comensed and with it in turn came Rav'una's silence so not to interupt. She couldn't shrug off the energic aura she kept sensing and it kept rising and falling like a tempreture guage. Whoever this individual was also seemed to be at a loss in regards to what he had done and how. Or, for that matter, the fact he was even able to do it at all yet alone cause so much damage with his little talent. The other two she sensed shared a similar energic aura as this one however due to obvious reasons their's was currently somewhat distant and/or faint for now.
All in all what had began as a simple check and return mission ended up turning into an all out war between the Squids and them which quickly in turn transformed into a display of Psionic chaos which, ironical, was much to thank for the victory of the battle. Although regardless of the fact everyone managed to at least survive the battle Derek still felt unsure about the whole thing.
'Maybe it would have been better if I just showed myself to Commander Nubis...' He thought to himself with a small frown, exhaling deeply as he still for a moment to calm his nerves and think about what happened. But the more he tried to remember what he had done the more it hurt his head. He was forced to stop thinking about it for at least a moment and during the trip back to the Tir Derek reached into his pocket, taking out his PDA and activating it to bring up an album of sorts. He skimmed through it seemingly in thought and remembering the times the images reminded him of. It was during this he stopped at a particular image of a much younger Commander Nubis, Derek standing by his side proudly and with confidence radiating from his posture. Commander Nubis remained firm yet smirked with his hand resting on Derek's shoulder.
"So it was him..." Derek thought out loud, not even having realized he had said anything.
Chip was no Psion by any stretch but you didn't have to be for basic things like reading body language or feeling the atmosphere in places, although it was remarkable how some were completely oblivious to even those basic things. Although the fact that he was a mercenary and needed to be aware of these things rather than your normal average kid living a normal average life probably had something to do with that.
"You obviously don't remember," he said tentatively, "I saw you after you got out of the Battlesuit. You didn't look like you'd been hurt, and maybe you were lucky, it happens. But you had shadow tentacles comin' off you and made short work of that squid." He rubbed the back of his neck to hide the raised hairs of an internal shudder as his mind touched on things it didn't want to accept as happening within the bounds and confines of reality. "You'll have to talk to Starleader. When she wakes up. She's the best one to answer any questions you might have. Donno if you noticed but Marauder can be a bit of an arsehole." Chip glanced over his shoulder, winking at Derek in his usual playful friendly manner.
Again almost as an afterthought, after having initially carrying on like he hadn't heard Derek thinking out loud, he inquired, "Who was him?"
Rav'una too was no Psion herself but was still able to sense changes in the air, a kind of instinct of spiritual sense of monitoring that enabled her to pick up on these things. Or maybe it was that and a combination of being in her line work for so long, always having to be alert and keep watch for even the slightest of changes for anyone wise enough in her line of work understands that even the slightest of changes could tip the scales unevenly and turn one's odds against them.
"I...had what coming out of me when now?..." Derek was not only completely shocked by what he heard but he was starting to wonder is what he heard was right. "Waaaaait a minute now" Derek would then continue with a shake of his head his head, his hands raised as though to try and stop the moment and giving them both a little wave along with that shake of his head before then with a puzzled and unsure frown and expression to much he continued "So what you're telling me is those...things out there totalled my Battlesuit and I suddenly emerged like a bat out of hell, unharmed and with...shadow tentacles? And defeated one of those things on my own?..." With a small pause Derek added with unsurity "Not to say you're telling me lies or your story isn't true but you could understand why I'm finding this hard to believe. I mean last I checked I'm just your average Lupe..." Perking his brow questionably he asked "Aren't I?" Exhaling deeply with a nod or two to follow Derek eased back in his seat as he lowered his gaze slightly in thought as he continued "I guess Starleader'll have the answers I'm looking for from what you're telling me" Looking at Chip again Derek once more continued "Like you said, she should have the answers I'm looking for. I hope she's alright...Anyone else go down while I went through my split personality crazysism?"
"Heh...yeah I kinda noticed" Derek smirked at Chip's remark about Marauder "Then again I'm kinda learning to respect him for that. It gives him a unique kind of charm"
With his attention later deep in his thoughts and the picture still up on his PDA's display Chip's question caught him by surprise, snapping Derek back to reality as he looked over at Chip with his ears lazily perking up, folding back down as he looked down at the picture and answered Chip's inquiry. "I didn't recognize him right away but I knew it had to be Lupron's champion arena dueler. Something about him and the way he fights is fascinating and even mysterious. Some are quoted to say "He fights like a God". But the one thing I didn't realize and remember right away until now, looking back at this picture and remembering all that I saw while I stood my ground and managed to hear over the survaylance comm was that he..." Pausing again, hinting the memories where certainly coming back strong but he was dealing with it far stronger than he had used to, he finally looked over at Chip as he continued to explain "When I lost my family and my home at a young age Commander Nubis, who at the time was only just starting to earn his stars and rep to be a Commander, took me under his wing. So he's...was my adopted father. Until the wars broke out again and he was called to serve. During the war we lost our home, the second punch to the balls for me, and I had no choice but to run. From there I had to do what I can to survive, ended up being caught and managed to escape. Then I crash landed here and well the rest is history..."
"Sorry...a little long winded I know..." Derek smiled weakly, lowering his gaze back to the image displayed on his PDA.
"Just Starleader and Marauder," Chip answered. "They took out the rest of the squids. With a bit of help from Atlas. But them passing out is normal after huge power bursts like that." Chip frowned, looking concerned.
They passed the Hunter group. Cypher briefly exchanged greetings with the Hunter starleader, giving him clearer directions to get to the squid slaughter, and they both continued on their way.
The ride back was uneventful. Something that Derek had said niggled at Chip continuously, up to the point where as they were approaching the Tir, he suddenly twisted as much as his harness would allow to look at Derek. "That thing you said, about that guy, who fights like a god? Tell that to Starleader. Don't forget." Chip wasn't entirely certain why that was so important but Starzone would probably figure it out. She was smart like that, plus she was the Psion.
The ramp to the mech bay opened and the active remnants of Cavalry staggered up it bearing their respective loads, like giant mechanical soldiers returning from a hard war.
They had barely gotten in when they were swarmed by techies, one team taking the broken Battlesuit and wheeling it to a working area on a flatbed trolley, a crane was used to move the Raven after its pilot was extracted and rushed to the medlab alongside her equally unconscious partner. Streak showed up in the mech bay exactly long enough to follow them. A techy took control of the Marauder and moved it into its docking bay, and a couple of orderlies showed up to see if Derek and Rav'una needed any assistance dismounting. A stretcher had shown up for Rav'una.
"Doc wants to see you," the orderly that had come to Derek informed him.
"I see..." Derek responded with a couple of slow nods to show he had been listening, his tone spoken with some level of concern to match his expressions, though he obviously was trying to act brave, as he would add "I hope they're okay. By that I mean that they'll be alright when they wake up..."
This scenario had gone from simple to complicated, easy to hardcore crazy in no time at all and it you had forgive Derek for being a little naive and unsure about things. Naturally he cared for the team and hoped for the best and was more than happy about getting out of that sticky situation alive. But what really had his mind working overtime was what Starzone had done and how she faught and top that off what he had done and how he faught to help win the Battle of the Squids. In fact crazy didn't even begin to describe how it all sounded and felt. But it was true. That's what really blew his mind.
Chip's reaction to Derek's explination made him snap his attention quickly to Chip, ears perked and a small perk of his brow with a blink or two to match his sudden moment of being lost for a moment as to why he seemed so eager for Derek not to forget to tell Starzone what he had just said though in the end he simply responded with a few slow nods, nothing more said or added and especially no questioning. That was to be left for Starzone when she was well again.
When everyone arrived home, fortunately without bumping into anymore trouble, Rav'una had no choice but to at least try and accept the fact that if she didn't give just a little of trust to these guys she wouldn't be walking around for long. And so getting her on the stretcher and to the medic bay was an easier task than she even thought it would be. Normally she would hessitate and be stubborn about it but she was too tired and restricted by her injuries to even bother with that and off she went to the medic bay, for the first time in many a year actually apreciating the comfort of which the stretcher had to offer. Now much but for someone in dire need of a rest it was bliss.
Derek meanwhile had just unbuckled and hopped out of the mech and was about to head off to join the other techies in repairing the mechs when he was approached by the orderly, stopping and turning to them as they informed him of who wanted to see him.
"Right, I'll go to him now. Thanks" Derek nodded, obviously feeling more than a little awkward now but trying to hide that behind his confidence...whatever amount of it he could regather. With that he turned and headed off to see the Doc.
Approaching the door to the Doc's office, or wherever he was located, Derek lightly tapped the knuckle of his index finger on the door, poking his head into the room as he held the doorway frame and looked over to the doctor with a slight concern hidden in his artifical pride.
"You...uh...wanted to see me Doc?"
Murdoc looked up from the table he was at, where he'd been studying a sphere on a pedestal. The sphere looked like it was made from some kind of crystal or glass, and was very clear and remarkably blemish free. He smiled when he saw Derek and motioned for him to come in.
"Don't look so nervous, Derek," he said in his soft musical voice, once more completely at odds with the casually alert and agile way he moved as he moved around the desk and leaned against it, on the same side as Derek. "Come on in and sit down." Murdoc motioned to a nearby seat, a remarkably comfortable looking thing in a semi-reclined position.
***
The orderly trotting alongside the stretcher looked briefly at his datapad as they wheeled Rav'una into a treatment area, checking out the things he'd downloaded from Byte's bioscanner. As the medics bustled around doing their thing, he looked over the top of it at Rav'una, who was looking remarkably relaxed. She either desperately needed the rest or was bloody good at acting.
"If you let us give you some general anaesthetic, we'll be able to fix you up quickly, and you'll be fine within a week, olus it looks like a nap would do you good. Alternately we can give you some local to numb the pain while we stitch up these cuts and it will take about six weeks for your broken bones to heal. What would you like to do?"
"Kind of hard not to be nervous..." Derek responded as he stepped into the room, taking a moment to look around and then over to the chair Murdoc
gestured for Derek to sit on. It did look comfortable but for Derek it wasn't exactly an immediately welcoming site. But pushing aside his hessitations he did his best to keep his cool, sitting himself down on the chair and getting comfortable before resting both his hands behind his head he reclined a little, resting his feet up on the table in front of him as he looked up at Murdoc with a more confident grin.
"So, what's up Doc?"
For Derek's sanity he had to try and be as relaxed as possible, especially when you take into consideration that on top of what he's been through he didn't much like being in a medic room and/or doctor's office. It usually didn't bring good news although that sphere thing certainly had caught his attention shortly after having entered the room. Though Derek wasn't about to ask just yet what that shiney object was. Unlike some he wasn't as easily distracted by shiney things. Well...most the time.
Meanwhile...
Rav'una responded rather bluntly as she looked up at the medic with that usually serious look to her face as she replied "I am laying here with injuries that should have killed me and you are questioning me on what method of healing I should choose?...Obviously I would choose the quicker and less painful method..." It wasn't that she intentionally meant to be snappy or moody all the time. It was just the way she was used to being, in her nature and again her line of work made her firm and borderline cold toward others most the time. Add to that she was just too tired and buggered up to want to have to make too many choices and it only added further to her touchyness.
"Nothing I do is intended to hurt. I take my oath seriously." Murdoch's tone was serious but his eyes sparkled. "Cypher and Chip gave matching reports of Psionic activity from you, then Chip said you remembered nothing." Murdoc reached over and touched the sphere lightly. The flawless crystal thrummed gently, the soundless vibration painlessly felt throughout the room. "This is quite imaginatively dubbed a Psion crystal. It'll tell us what you Psion abilities are and what triggers them, and hopefully from there we can work out how you can control them. It won't hurt unless I force it and I'm not going to. If you feel uncomfortable at any point let me know and we'll stop. Any questions?"
***
The medic didn't bat an eyelid at Rav'una's snappiness. "Some people don't like going under," he responded, loading a vial of general anaesthetic into his needle gun. "Looks like you could use a decent sleep anyway." He placed the needlegun against Rav'una's neck and pulled the trigger quickly, removing the gun as soon as he was done. He was a little concerned about Rav'una reacting badly to having what could be perceived as a gun to her head, even if it was just an anaesthetic gun. As expected though the sedative combined with her exhaustion knocked her out almost immediately.
"She's out," he said to the rest of the team. "Move her into surgery, we'll do the bones first."
Rav'una's unconscious form was wheeled into surgery.
***
Streak's subconscious sensed something, and caused him to stop the ceaseless shuffling of cards he engaged in every time he felt restless. The idea that something was going on crept into his consciousness, and it was one of those feelings that made him uncomfortable. The deck disappeared in a sleight of hand, so ingrained now that it was uncertain whether he was able to do anything without sleight of hand, and he looked at Starzone's comatose form on the bed. Neither her nor Trajectory had been injured when they came in, just unconscious. They'd been fitted out with power blockers - easily removable armbands that encircled the upper arm in this case - just in case.
"Starzi?" he ventured cautiously.
The humming of a stretcher whoosing past startled him into looking towards the source of the noise, even though the curtains blocked the view. His discomfort grew, and he looked back towards the bed. Starzone's eyes were open and staring into the space above her. They were meant to be a molten gold colour. They were red like that stone that sometimes appeared in her forehead, although this time the colour hadn't exploded into the rest of her eyes.
Streak's eyes flicked to the curtain that separated the cubicle they were in from the one Trajectory was in, wondering if his situation was mirroring Starzone's, before his eyes riveted back to his girl. He thougt he should go check, hell he thought he should be used to craziness like this, hell this was NOTHING compared to some of the stuff he had seen, but some primordial instinct was interfering with his logic.
"Yeah...so everyone keeps telling me..." Derek frowned, moving his gaze to a side a little before then taking in a deep breath and exhaling to calm himself down. He didn't understand why all of a sudden he felt so touchy about things. It was strange but maybe the answers would be found later. Turning his attention back to Murdoch and then to the Psion Sphere he was explaining about Derek had only two questions to ask, both asked with an expression of unsurity and slight concern as he looked up at Murdoch from where he was seated and replied "Actually yeah, two, maybe three questions. First, what happens if it all goes out of control? I mean...wouldn't this be putting everyone here at risk? And secondly...what exactly should I be doing here?"
Derek was keeping his calm and respecting the doctor as best he could but he couldn't quite understand why his mood was suddenly touchy all of a sudden. It was as though that same feeling he had back on the field was starting to brush past him again and his heart beat was starting feel awfully different again yet familiar in the way it began to beat.
Meanwhile...
Rav'una actually most probably would have reacted to that were it not for the fortunate fact that the effects of the medicine worked rather instantly, dragging Rav'una into a deep sleep on unconsciousness. Combine that with her condition and all and it was actually a welcomed sleep indeed. She slept rather peacefully with all things considered and even her dreams were surprisingly peaceful. Every now and again she would let out a moment's purr but that was the extent of any signs of life from her apart from the now steady and relaxed breathing.
For Rav'una this was going to be relatively easy going compared to everyone else. Derek on the other hand had his concerns and unsurities but apart from that, and being a little puzzled but a few things here and there such as how no injuries had occured what so ever from the accident and what not, he was general fairly okay. As for everyone else? That wasn't something Derek could speak for in regards to. Although oddly enough he was starting to sense something odd in the air...
He remembered how Chip reacted to what he had said about Commander Nubis and it suddenly had him thinking. Was all of this linked somehow? If so it was an awful coincidence that they should all meet and all this should happen within the same day and moment as everything else. Maybe there was more to all of this than met the eye and mind...
"It won't get out of control," Murdoc shifted into a more comfortable position on the table, which also moved him a bit closer to the crystal, so he didn't have to stretch his arm so much to touch it. "If I need to I can shut it off with this." He tapped the sphere he had his hand on with one hand. "You don't need to do anything, just relax. And please tell me if you want to stop, because from what I've seen it starts hurting when you start resisting."
Murdoc's eyes flicked to the sphere. A thich black mist like cigarette smoke had started building up in there, from literally out of nowhere. He looked back at Derek. The Lupe's voice sounded edgy, slightly nervous, slightly irritable. Murdoc couldn't really blame him, after all a lot had happened to him and there was still a lot to process. And nobody to answer his questions about all the Psion stuff because nobody knew the answers. Derek's eyes however were conflicting with his voice, there was an almost eerie calm to them, a sight Murdoc was familiar with but that made him uneasy nonetheless.
"How are you feeling?" he inquired.
"Glad you're so confident about it..." Derek responded with a deep, outward breath, taking a breath in and trying his best to just relax. With his attention turned back to the doctor again he would ask "So I just sit here, huh?" before listening to what Murdoc noted in regards to what most experienced due to resisting. "Sounds fun..." Derek began with a sarcastic sort of tone and a roll of his eyes before then relaxing where he sat with a nod to signal he was ready.
Derek's tone continued to remain as explained, edgy and somewhat irritated as a combination of things caused such an effect. The moment that ciggerette-esque smoke began to form in that sphere Derek's eyes began to give a faint blue sort of glow and when asked how he was feeling Derek smirked in a rather eerie manner, his tone a little too calm to be normal and there was a certain creepy touch to it that made things a little more uneasy than they were.
"Couldn't be better..." Derek replied behind his borderline wicked smirk.
The smoke would begin to thicken gradually, forming a kind of ink-through-water effect on the sphere and Derek's own aura began to form small flame-shaped shadows that licked at the edge of the chair he was sitting on. The effect on the sphere became stronger and fast to the point where it actually form a small crack in the sphere.
Murdoc winced slightly as the thrumming started to hurt his hand, sending tingles up his arm to his shoulder. His hand tightened reflexively, gripping the sphere rather than his hand just resting on it.
"Good to hear," he said, his voice and expression showing no sign of the discomfort in his arm. His mind, now used to such things, numbly accepted the fiery shadows he could just see on the edge of his vision licking up around Derek's shoulders, spreading out along the chair, but not doing any damage. Yet. He figured from the feelings coming through the sphere that Derek was probably initially triggered by self defence (first and foremost reason for psion abilities coming out), and then until he got a grip on things, probably by fear or anger, the next most common. He tried to pierce the haze and see if the Psion ability was an actual ability built into Derek and thus part of him, or if it was a separate personality, or an inherent ability that Derek had subconsciously or otherwise created a separate personality to deal with it.
"You still going by Derek or you use another name?" Murdoc wasn't entirely certain whom he was addressing with that question, or if there was any choice of addressees.
Derek was quickly reaching a point were it started to feel like he was observing from the inside what was happening but couldn't quite control what was happening. At least not to an extent. And indeed his ability was triggered by a self defense and fear/anger combination, which is what triggered it off the first time back in the war of the Squids. As the moment deepened his aura grew stronger, causing the lights in the room to flicker for a moment before they steadied to a faint glow and back to the original intensity again, one light actually popping under the pressure. Whatever it was his ability was doing it also became apparent that it was an almost complete opposite of Derek. A far more darker, untamed beast like a Dr Jekal and Mr Hide scenario in a manner of speaking and example.
When asked of his name Derek's smirk grew somewhat more eerie and his tone was enough to send chills down one's spine as he spoke, his tone also noticable more formal "The shadows hold no names but instead are known by our presence...But if you so wish you may call me..." A brief pause lay welcome to the deepening of that eerie smirk upon Derek's expressions, his eyes glowing a much stronger neon blue as he anounced the name "Sydonai..."
Split personality was Murdoc's first thought, from observation. He glanced up, flinching slightly as one of the lights broke. Something in the name twigged in Murdoc's head as he heard the name, and his next disturbing thought was ...it's not a Psion.
Starzone and Trajectory moved through the doorway suddenly, splitting and flanking, walking on either side around Derek/Sydonai and stopping on either side of the desk Murdoc was sitting on. Simultaneously, they removed the power blockers, placing them gently on the desk. The soft ringing noise sounded unusually loud, unusually sweet, in the current atmosphere. Their presence jumped then, and while their hyperreality made Murdoc even more nervous, he was glad they were there nonetheless. Both had turned mostly side on to Derek/Sydonai as they placed their armbands. Trajectory remained side on, facing Murdoc to a degree, his head down. Murdoc had a feeling they had Psion eyes happening.
Starzone turned to Derek/Sydonai. Greetings, she sent flatly, utilising a long dead language.
Murdoc was aware of communication happening only because he was touching the sphere, though he couldn't understand what was being said. Reality was on a severe bender with the three of them together, it was giving him a severe headache. Again on the very periphery of his vision, he could see the ghost of flames flickering along Starzone's hands and up her forearms. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the small jumps of lightning from one of Trajectory's antennae to the other. There were vaguely reognisable shadows flitting around the edges of the room. He suspected his contact with the crystal was giving him necessary clarity at this point in time, despite his experiences with the kids, his mind was still trying to refute all the things people were insistant were not real and couldn't happen. Like this.
What was strange was that Derek seemed to be himself but it was certainly a much darker side to him. However at the same time as giving off that strange, unsettling vibe of darkness it seemed to also give off a sort of faint, assuring vibe...like an anti-hero or some kind of dark entity that held back from attacking any allies. Now wether this was a split personality or not truly was a tough question to be answered although by naming itself it certainly suggested something to that extent. Or that it could well be some form of 'alter ego' however too Derek didn't seem to have much more of a change apart from the shadowy auras and the surges of energy that flowed through the room and the change of eye colour along with that eerie glow they gave off.
He didn't seemed phased by the presence of Trajectory and Starzone and they apparently didn't go unnoticed, made apparent by that smirk of his growing that little strong after just having started to ease. "So a presence is born in the numbers or two...Know I hold no reasons to bring harm but if it makes you more comfortable to have such company around then I welcome the presence..." Derek/Sydonai noted, that eerie tone a little calmer as the scene went on.
Derek/Sydonai turned his gaze to Starzone at first with a curious tilt of his head before then with a small and almost wicked smile he replied in a thought with a familiar language 'Greetings she whom speaks the language of the old...'
Turning his attention back to Murdoc now Derek/Sydonai seemed to pick something up, tilting his head briefly before then leaning forward with one hand resting on his right thigh, the other resting over his left knee lazily by the wrist, a smirk emerging in his expressions as he proceeded to note "I would not over do yourself Doctor, you seem to be getting a bit of a headache...But do tell, why do you really bring me here? Is it that I intrigue you? Or is it to discover what I truly am? For if it is the later I can assure you I am indeed as you may assume...but not what you had later assumed only moments after things...changed a little. There are two sides to every coin Doctor Murdoc, and like a coin each side bares a different shine. How you flip that coin depends on which side you will see. This is how I function. Like a switch, tapping on and off when and if need be for my own protection and, weather you choose to believe it or not, those close to me or whom I have the need to protect for one reason or another. You see Doctor...without allies we are left with nothing but ourselves and one alone can not hope to achieve victory in a battle or find answers on their own accord...For this reason you now witness the other side of this coin..."
"There is no split personality in this nor seperate entity. Indeed I am as you would have assumed from the beginning. But perhaps you have answers yourself in which you aim to find?..."
You talk too much, Trajectory stated. It sounded very factual and not even remotely insultive, though it could have been construed as such. He reached over and placed his hand (on the edge of vision it looked slightly larger, the fingers longer and pointier) over Murdoc's on the sphere. Murdoc frowned slightly. Under Trajectory's psychic guidance he formed a mental barrier. His headache subsided, and the stuff Derek/Sydonai was saying to him started making sense as opposed to him just hearing the words.
Murdoc had wanted to say something to the effect of it was maybe better Derek know all about himself, regardless of whether his Psion ability was a separate personality or inherent, better to know what he had done after doing it, even if it was in self defence, than forget but realise he must have done something when people around him were regarding him suspiciously. Plus the added confidence that came from knowing yourself. It wasn't going to do much tel1ling it to this particular side of the coin though. What he ended up saying was, "I'm used to dealing with multi-faceted individuals."
Starzone's ear flicked. For someone so well spoken, you lack manners, Sydonai. She didn't look terribly impressed. She lowered her head slightly, maintaining eye contact, looking at him carefully, looking through him it seemed. You have the name of an Angel. What are you? She reciprocated by opening herself up slightly, enough that he could see that she was a pyrokinetic (as if Derek wouldn't have worked that out from the fireworks display back in the desert) and that she was as of fairly recently an avatar of vengeance, bearing though not really using the name/title of Nekamah. Her and Trajectory had a strong bond, and deep down, just visible but discernible nonetheless, both of them were irrevocably bound to something or someone extremely powerful.
Murdoc thought Derek was a psychokinetic and was probably right. Considering the mess he was making of the place, it was time to see if there was anything else.
Derek/Sydonai's smirk turned more proud in a sense, hinting Trajectory's words, though harsh, seemed to amuse him in this state more so than intimidate him. Were Derek in his usual state and what not he would have been intimidated. Not a word was spoken nor did Derek/Sydonai do anything more in that regards and calmly he turned his attention away from Trajectory and back to Murdoc, the one as far as Derek/Sydonai was currently concerned was part of the conversation. The others seemed to have rushed in for some reason or another. Still, Derek/Sydonai was being careful in his actions.
"As are we all..." Derek/Sydonai's response flowed as though the shadows themselves spoke through him, his confidence obviously having bloomed to an extrodinary level, his pride somewhat raised in turn but all in all he held a more 'upper class' kind of tone with a streak of darkness through it for that eery touch. Apart from that so far he didn't seem eager to tear anyone's heads off or cause any kind of harm. Maybe it was part of his defense mechanism? A means to intimidate anyone who couldn't see through a mask? Or perhaps it much deeper than that...
It wasn't until Starzone 'said' what she did that Derek/Sydonai turned his attention back to her, for a moment that smirk fading into a more serious expression as he responded with 'Mannerism is not something of which I have failed in my dear...I assure you I have been quite polite thus far...' Obviously it had struck a nerve and before he proceeded to answer her question Derek/Sydonai took a deep breath in, closing his eyes for a moment as his nerves settled to an almost immediate calm before then slowly opening his eyes he replied in one simple word with an expression to match its tone perfectly.
"Darkness..."
Allowing that word to sink in for a moment he would then proceed to add "However do not be concerned. Darkness is in us all and how we...tame darkness reflects upon our own personalities and intentions. You could say, however, to be more accurate that I am nor an Angel nor a Demon...but in a sense a represantation of Ying-Yang itself. Derek would be the more positive, lighter side while I am the more darker side. In turn we are bonded like Ying-Yang, black and white...We are a balanced entity though he has only just began to discover me...and has yet to discover his own balance'
It's not polite to reave, Starzone's tone suggested she would have spoken a lot more casually if the language she was using allowed for as much casualness as Common, Skimming minds contributes to the pain they feel, it already takes them a while to accept our Presence.
"Starzi," Murdoc said at length, "it's hard when I can only hear one side of the conversation."
Starzone lowered her eyes and started turning her head towards Murdoc, stopping when he almost had a profile of her. "You don't like it when we talk," she said in Common. Her voice was barely above a whisper but in that one was many, male, female, child, ancient, all blending together in relative harmony, but sounding distinctly like there were several people saying the line at once. The ethereal echo that accompanied it didn't really help much either, especially considering that the room did not echo.
They listened carefully to Derek/Sydonai as he explained what he was. The slightly predatory but otherwise impassive expressions of the Psions didn't shift an iota, Murdoc's more casual expressions were more telling. He expressed a mild confusion at the term "demon" but immediately cottoned on to "yinyang". It was pretty much all the information he needed as far as generics went, after that he dealt case by case.
The lecture was unnecessary, Trajectory said, deep level so only Starzone felt him.
As long as it helps him sort himself out, Starzone replied in kind.
Trajectory removed his hand from Murdoc's as Murdoc took his hand off the sphere, the focal point weakened considerably.
"I don't believe you will go out of control," he said, speaking to Derek but acknowledging Sydonai. "You are safe to experiment here, Starzi and Traj will show you where." It was unfortunate Darkmoon wasn't around, he was always the best help regardless of what the Psion ability was. Murdoc always felt like he was just muddling along, which happened when you were a trained scientist trying to deal with things that defied conventional scientific explanation. He continued, "You can always ask for help."
With the powerful focus of the Psion crystal lessened, Starzone and Trajectory both dropped their Presence, very suddenly themselves again. They both blinked, getting used to normal sight, and then simultaneously picked up the power blockers they had placed on the desk and slid them back on.
'I was merely pointing out the facts...' Derek/Sydonai proceeded to reply, his attention turned to Starzone once again and his tone calm considering the slightly firmer streak to it. 'However...' Derek/Sydonai added with a calmer tone, also within the language's boundries, 'I do see your point and I stand corrected' This was a true hint that thought stubborn and somewhat arrogant it seemed Sydonai knew when he was mistaken and accepted it accordingly.
With Murdoc making his announcement Derek/Sydonai's own attention turned casually to him again although he remained silent, speaking only when need be or spoken to.
He decided not to react to Trajectory's note regarding the 'lecture' although Starzone's response to it made Derek/Sydonai smile. But this time it was a smile not so of darkness but apreciation. In silence his note of that he was quite pleased to see someone standing up for him was apreciated in genuine style. Which in this state seemed to be a rarity to be treasured in itself.
Turning his attention back to Murdoc again Derek/Sydonai listened to what he said. "I should hope that you are right" Sydonai responded, adding with a small smirk "This...help you are offering does sound rather tempting. But tell me doctory, how do you intend on doing so? And what leads you to believe I require any help?" His questions weren't asked in a blunt or too cold fashion. It was calm, subtle and yet to the point. Perhaps Sydonai was getting used to the company.
Murdoc rubbed his temples, massaging away the last residue of the head pain, numbed down a lot now that Starzone and Trajectory had their normal guises back on. "Everyone walks their own path. Sometimes it's necessary or just nice when people who happen to be moving in the same direction give you a hand with the load you're carrying, or carry you when you're too tired to go on alone."
Starzone adjusted her armband. "Get some sleep, techy," she said, her voice back to normal now. "We'll show you the Psion room tomorrow."
"Speaking of sleep," Murdoc said, "how are you two up?"
Trajectory tapped his armband. "We're wearing these for a reason."
Rav'una took a moment to try and figure out how to buckle up in this thing but since it's no rocket science she managed to buckle up and gesture to Byte with a nod that she was ready. The way the mech stood and straightened, accompanied by the kind of sounds that was enough to make Rav'una cringe and make her head feel that little more sore, wasn't exactly very comforting. But she was calm none the less...or trying to be.
As they moved onward Rav'una sat tight for the ride. She started to feel a sense of small relief that she was at least away from that crash and made it out alive. Even it was with a few injuries to help remind her of the day. But what exactly caused the crash?...
Meanwhile...
The way Starzone muttered to herself made Derek react in the same way someone would where they to watch some foreign cartoon and not understand a word that was spoken, staring blankly at the screen and having to force themselves to snap out of it and dare not question what was said. Whatever it was obviously she didn't sound too happy and Derek had a bad feeling that things where about to get pretty shaken up.
"Holy snap! Well this was expected..." Derek blurted with sarcasm as the sand suddenly burst up and sprayed toward them, forcing Derek into a sudden dodge as particularly larger particle came hurtling down toward him, barely missing him by an inch and landing beside him with a hard thud as he side-slid out of the way.
Keeping his distance but staying close enough to Starzone so not to be in her way but not be too distant from her Derek watched as the blood and gore rained down from the blast, not having the time to make some smart arse corny remark as he was forced yet again into a slide-dodge as one of the squid creatures damn near managed to tear the left side of his Battlesuit off.
"Watch it Cthullu reject! You almost wrecked my suit!"
(Daaaayum those suckers are huge! Kind of remind me of the sand worms from Dune.)
"Looks like they invited everyone to the party..." Derek commented with a blink or two as he saw the pod up ahead, straightening himself to a more serious attitude as he prepared him for battle. Not that there was much he could do in his Battlesuit but in any case he was ready to do what he can.
Derek's ears folded back as he cringed at the sudden yelling. It wasn't that it really intimidated him...it's just for a lupe those yells where nails to a chalk board booming out of the transmission pannel. "What the heck?" Derek questioned out loud as he slowly perked his ears back up with an arched brow before becoming suddenly silent as he found himself wondering what the heck that was all about. And what was about to happen.
By the time Cypher had told Derek to move he was already moving out of the way, the missiles zipping past him like something out of a high budget action movie and though the squid had its eyes locked on Derek he knew by this point that, with things becoming suddenly interesting though there was no time to be surprised for long and especially not ask any questions, these things where up for one heck of a fight.
His heart began to race and adrenaline began to pump, Derek's expressions serious and his teeth grip as he curled his lip with an intimidating growl, his tone almost completely different as he firmly growled "You fugglies wanna play? Fine, we'll play it our way!"
It was then Derek felt his heart begin to beat a louder tune, its pace slowly down to an almost calm yet eager speed, his pupils growing small as he felt the rush of battle begin to course throughout his body. But there was something more to this than met the eye...
(OOC: Derek has his own little secret too ;) )
Meanwhile...
Rav'una became suddenly alert, straightening as best she could as though she had just woke from a dream. Turning her attention to Byte as best she could from where she was seated Rav'una noted rather hastely "There is danger in the desert, we should help the ones in battle and fight by their side" Rav'una didn't seem to care about the lack of trust she felt toward the others but when it came to battle she seemed very eager about it, although perhaps not entirely willing. It was a kind of honor thing and even it was a complete stranger she was helping it didn't mean it had to be someone or something she trusted. One in need is one in need.
"Urghn..." Rav'una hissed, holding her side as her injuries reminded her she was in no condition to fight. But being stubborn as she was she insisted they go into battle. "I can help...I know we have not developed a sturdy enough level of trust and that my injuries are quite...intense...but...I can still fight..."
You ain't got a life 'til ya live it free!
(Thanks Nightbeat/Katana for Derek's picture! ^..^)