Re: The Gradual Massacre (GBS2G4) [Round 3: Las Orbitas]
10-30-2010, 02:13 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.
As Thane quickly found out, old flying space-cities weren't well-equipped for dealing with a human-eldrich abomination cyborg thing on an angry rampage. Which was fine by him. He didn't need to be greviously wounded on top of everything that had happened to him.
He flexed his bloody, metallic hand as he stood over the remains of several unfortunate humans. His anger had been vented quite quickly, but his frustration was still there. He was frustrated about how irrational the Countess could be. He was frustrated that his plan had gone awry. He was frustrated about how he had completely left himself at her mercy. And he was still confused about having seen...the boy...
First thing first. Revenge.
Ourobourous was still dangerous, obviously, but somehow Thane didn't fear it as much now that most of his body had been replaced by metal. The Countess had to go. He would enjoy tearing her to pieces himself.
Except...he was certain that was unlikely to actually kill her. Actually, he wasn't sure what could kill the Countess.
Add that to the pile of frustration.
Thane stormed down the road and god help whoever he ran into.
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ah. Right. Holly," Algernon said before pulling down his sleeve again. Sometimes having foresight was great. Wait, not sometimes. All the time. Foresight just plain rocked.
He still wasn't sure what to do here though. Avoid the other contestants was probably a good idea, though once again he found he wasn't quite sure who had died and so had no clue who was still even living...
Wait wait wait. The people and engineers living here. They had no idea what was happening right now. Knowing a few of the other contestants, it was possible that a few had already died by now. He had to find someone...someone who had like, a radio, so everybody would know...
"Hey!"
Algernon turned around and grinned with relief. Or, he would have if there wasn't a dangerous-looking gun pointed at him. He slowly raised his arms. "Uh. Hi."
"What're you doing here?" the man asked, squinting suspiciously as he moved closer. "How'd you get in here? You aren't one of those kids sneaking in here and spraying grafitti everywhere, are you? We keep telling ya that it's dangerous to be in here--"
"No, no no no, of course not," Algernon said quickly, trying to look quite harmless (though he had no need to try). "I'm...I'm not even that young. And...uh...I...guess I sort of know the answers to your two questions, but I sort of think if I say them then you'll think I'm crazy."
"Try me."
"Okay." Algernon took a deep breath. His arms were getting tired already. "So. This...really powerful and sadistic entity thing...he sorta...teleported us here. By 'us,' I mean me and eight others...no wait, that's minus three...so five. Me and five others here. He's forcing us to fight to the death. Well, I'm not sure of the others really, but I sure don't want to fight to the death. I know a few don't really mind it...but the point is, there are five other things that don't belong here and they're really dangerous and they probably wouldn't mind killing everybody in this place. Oh man, especially Ouroborous. Stay away from that thing. So you really need to get everybody to hide somewhere before they get killed...and...oh yeah, the Controller, that's the god-like entity I told you about earlier, I believe he said something about, uh, there being no escape vehicle or something, so that when this place starts falling to the, uh, Earth, um, you'll all sort of die."
The guard stared at him.
"You're right. I do think you're crazy," he finally said. "Sir, I think I'm going to have to search you..."
"Um...alright...do you happen to, uh, have some sort of radio? To, uh, talk to the others...?"
"I'll answer that after I searched you," the guard said rather patiently. "Give me your bag and empty your pockets."
The guard's eyes lit up like an arsonist's fire when he saw the gun. "Oh, no, it's unloaded," Algernon said very quickly.
"...'Unloaded...'?" Algernon squirmed under the guard's inquisitive look.
"Yeah...you know, no bullets..."
The guard chuckled. "Bullets, huh? Where'd you get this relic?" Algernon was a bit relieved that he at least returned the gun. "So what's in this pack...?"
"Um," Algernon said, not entirely sure himself. His face slowly grew to one of horror as he suddenly remembered one of the things he had halfhazardly stuffed in there. "Wait, I--"
Too late. A bony hand poked out rather humorously once the guard opened the bag. Except it was less humorous and more incriminating. The guard gave out a startled yelp and dropped Algernon's bag before glaring at him with even more suspicion.
"I think," he said slowly, with a deliberation that made Algernon's heart sink, "that you oughta come with me..."
"I really, uh, it's not, I mean, it's actually--" Algernon stopped himself in time, realizing quickly that explaining what the arm was would probably just make it worse. As the guard motioned with his gun sternly, Algernon turned around glumly, yet obediently. The guard first stooped to pick up the bag again before pushing his captive along.
"I, um, suppose you won't..." Algernon started desperately.
"Keep moving."
"Won't you at least check the escape vehicle?" he pleaded.
"Look," the guard said slowly. "There may not be that many people here anymore, but there's still quite a bit. Meaning we need a big escape vessel. Meaning that the would be no way that it would just blast off without us noticing."
"But, wait, no, that's not what I'm saying, I'm saying it disappeared..."
"Are you saying you did something to our escape vessel as well?"
"No! I, uh, please, you really have to believe me! I mean, what's the harm in at least checking?"
"Keep walking," the guard said crossly.
"Look," Algernon said, turning around. The guard's gun hummed threateningly, making him step back, but he continued to stare seriously at him. "This means life or death. This thing will crash into the Earth soon, right? And there's only one way to escape, right? So don't you think you should check on it if someone says it's gone missing?"
The guard stared at him for a long time before taking out some sort of small communication device. "Hey. Who's there? Mike? Have you checked the escape vessel lately?" Algernon waited. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to be right. Being right meant no escape. Being wrong, though, meant he was likely to be questioned. Hard. Though being right might mean being questioned as well.
"...What?" the guard suddenly said, sounding a little worried. "Seriously?" he added, glancing back at Algernon. "Are you sure--alright, I'm sorry, that was a stupid question..." Suddenly, an explosion of panicky noise errupted from the device, so loud that even Algernon could make out several words. The most interesting ones were 'intruders,' 'melting woman thing,' and 'dead bodies.'
"Alright, now calm down...wait, what about radiation? Are you joking?" Another glance towards Algernon.
"Whatever is going on, I seriously don't know, I swear," Algernon said. "But, uh, I think I did say something about..."
"Yeah, I remember," the guard said, turning off the device. "So maybe you're right, but I'll still have to--" he suddenly fell silent. Having a metallic arm run itself through your lungs tends to do that to you. Algernon found himself rather splattered with blood. He stared numbly down at the former guard, barely registering the cyborg-demon in front of him.
'You. I need you to help me with something.'
Though Thane's appearance had certainly changed much, the dark-haired boy could recognize that commanding voice (?) anywhere. He backpeddled quickly but didn't get far before a pain shot through his leg and he fell over clutching the bloody stump--no, it hadn't been cut off. It was just more mind tricks.
'Make something to kill the Countess.'
The Countess again. She apparently had been busy making many enemies. Algernon was a little glad that he hadn't crosed her path last round. "I, I don't know how," he gasped.
'You better think of one.'
"No, no, wait, I might be able to think of something, really, just, uh...it's in my bag, okay? I'm just going to get it..." He slowly stumbled to his feet and knelt beside the recently dead, getting blood on his pants. He almost retched but just grabbed his bag and, hoping that Thane wouldn't see, the communication device as well. He mentally apologized to the dead guard before he stood up again.
"Alright, so, um, there's this thing...inside this book--" Suddenly, something that seemed to be a strange, metal helmet appeared right on Algernon's head and before Thane could figure out what was going on, the boy was running away very quickly. Quickly, he tried to send the Ouroborous screech through his head, but found that for some reason, it didn't work. He started running after him, but also found for some reason that he just couldn't sense Algernon's mind anymore and lost the boy rather quickly.
Thane was feeling very, very frustrated.
-------------------------------------------------------
Oh man, he was so glad that worked.
The metal helmet bounced on his head and he held it down. It wasn't taking up as much memories as he thought it would, which was nice. He really wished he could take it off but was rather frightened of Thane finding him again. Maybe it was just safer to leave it on, despite all the lost memories.
As he hid behind a building, Algernon looked at the device again, not entirely sure how to work it. He pushed a button and started talking into the speaker.
"Um, hello? Uh? Anybody there? I sorta--I know you don't know me, but, uh, this is something sort of important..."
As Thane quickly found out, old flying space-cities weren't well-equipped for dealing with a human-eldrich abomination cyborg thing on an angry rampage. Which was fine by him. He didn't need to be greviously wounded on top of everything that had happened to him.
He flexed his bloody, metallic hand as he stood over the remains of several unfortunate humans. His anger had been vented quite quickly, but his frustration was still there. He was frustrated about how irrational the Countess could be. He was frustrated that his plan had gone awry. He was frustrated about how he had completely left himself at her mercy. And he was still confused about having seen...the boy...
First thing first. Revenge.
Ourobourous was still dangerous, obviously, but somehow Thane didn't fear it as much now that most of his body had been replaced by metal. The Countess had to go. He would enjoy tearing her to pieces himself.
Except...he was certain that was unlikely to actually kill her. Actually, he wasn't sure what could kill the Countess.
Add that to the pile of frustration.
Thane stormed down the road and god help whoever he ran into.
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ah. Right. Holly," Algernon said before pulling down his sleeve again. Sometimes having foresight was great. Wait, not sometimes. All the time. Foresight just plain rocked.
He still wasn't sure what to do here though. Avoid the other contestants was probably a good idea, though once again he found he wasn't quite sure who had died and so had no clue who was still even living...
Wait wait wait. The people and engineers living here. They had no idea what was happening right now. Knowing a few of the other contestants, it was possible that a few had already died by now. He had to find someone...someone who had like, a radio, so everybody would know...
"Hey!"
Algernon turned around and grinned with relief. Or, he would have if there wasn't a dangerous-looking gun pointed at him. He slowly raised his arms. "Uh. Hi."
"What're you doing here?" the man asked, squinting suspiciously as he moved closer. "How'd you get in here? You aren't one of those kids sneaking in here and spraying grafitti everywhere, are you? We keep telling ya that it's dangerous to be in here--"
"No, no no no, of course not," Algernon said quickly, trying to look quite harmless (though he had no need to try). "I'm...I'm not even that young. And...uh...I...guess I sort of know the answers to your two questions, but I sort of think if I say them then you'll think I'm crazy."
"Try me."
"Okay." Algernon took a deep breath. His arms were getting tired already. "So. This...really powerful and sadistic entity thing...he sorta...teleported us here. By 'us,' I mean me and eight others...no wait, that's minus three...so five. Me and five others here. He's forcing us to fight to the death. Well, I'm not sure of the others really, but I sure don't want to fight to the death. I know a few don't really mind it...but the point is, there are five other things that don't belong here and they're really dangerous and they probably wouldn't mind killing everybody in this place. Oh man, especially Ouroborous. Stay away from that thing. So you really need to get everybody to hide somewhere before they get killed...and...oh yeah, the Controller, that's the god-like entity I told you about earlier, I believe he said something about, uh, there being no escape vehicle or something, so that when this place starts falling to the, uh, Earth, um, you'll all sort of die."
The guard stared at him.
"You're right. I do think you're crazy," he finally said. "Sir, I think I'm going to have to search you..."
"Um...alright...do you happen to, uh, have some sort of radio? To, uh, talk to the others...?"
"I'll answer that after I searched you," the guard said rather patiently. "Give me your bag and empty your pockets."
The guard's eyes lit up like an arsonist's fire when he saw the gun. "Oh, no, it's unloaded," Algernon said very quickly.
"...'Unloaded...'?" Algernon squirmed under the guard's inquisitive look.
"Yeah...you know, no bullets..."
The guard chuckled. "Bullets, huh? Where'd you get this relic?" Algernon was a bit relieved that he at least returned the gun. "So what's in this pack...?"
"Um," Algernon said, not entirely sure himself. His face slowly grew to one of horror as he suddenly remembered one of the things he had halfhazardly stuffed in there. "Wait, I--"
Too late. A bony hand poked out rather humorously once the guard opened the bag. Except it was less humorous and more incriminating. The guard gave out a startled yelp and dropped Algernon's bag before glaring at him with even more suspicion.
"I think," he said slowly, with a deliberation that made Algernon's heart sink, "that you oughta come with me..."
"I really, uh, it's not, I mean, it's actually--" Algernon stopped himself in time, realizing quickly that explaining what the arm was would probably just make it worse. As the guard motioned with his gun sternly, Algernon turned around glumly, yet obediently. The guard first stooped to pick up the bag again before pushing his captive along.
"I, um, suppose you won't..." Algernon started desperately.
"Keep moving."
"Won't you at least check the escape vehicle?" he pleaded.
"Look," the guard said slowly. "There may not be that many people here anymore, but there's still quite a bit. Meaning we need a big escape vessel. Meaning that the would be no way that it would just blast off without us noticing."
"But, wait, no, that's not what I'm saying, I'm saying it disappeared..."
"Are you saying you did something to our escape vessel as well?"
"No! I, uh, please, you really have to believe me! I mean, what's the harm in at least checking?"
"Keep walking," the guard said crossly.
"Look," Algernon said, turning around. The guard's gun hummed threateningly, making him step back, but he continued to stare seriously at him. "This means life or death. This thing will crash into the Earth soon, right? And there's only one way to escape, right? So don't you think you should check on it if someone says it's gone missing?"
The guard stared at him for a long time before taking out some sort of small communication device. "Hey. Who's there? Mike? Have you checked the escape vessel lately?" Algernon waited. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to be right. Being right meant no escape. Being wrong, though, meant he was likely to be questioned. Hard. Though being right might mean being questioned as well.
"...What?" the guard suddenly said, sounding a little worried. "Seriously?" he added, glancing back at Algernon. "Are you sure--alright, I'm sorry, that was a stupid question..." Suddenly, an explosion of panicky noise errupted from the device, so loud that even Algernon could make out several words. The most interesting ones were 'intruders,' 'melting woman thing,' and 'dead bodies.'
"Alright, now calm down...wait, what about radiation? Are you joking?" Another glance towards Algernon.
"Whatever is going on, I seriously don't know, I swear," Algernon said. "But, uh, I think I did say something about..."
"Yeah, I remember," the guard said, turning off the device. "So maybe you're right, but I'll still have to--" he suddenly fell silent. Having a metallic arm run itself through your lungs tends to do that to you. Algernon found himself rather splattered with blood. He stared numbly down at the former guard, barely registering the cyborg-demon in front of him.
'You. I need you to help me with something.'
Though Thane's appearance had certainly changed much, the dark-haired boy could recognize that commanding voice (?) anywhere. He backpeddled quickly but didn't get far before a pain shot through his leg and he fell over clutching the bloody stump--no, it hadn't been cut off. It was just more mind tricks.
'Make something to kill the Countess.'
The Countess again. She apparently had been busy making many enemies. Algernon was a little glad that he hadn't crosed her path last round. "I, I don't know how," he gasped.
'You better think of one.'
"No, no, wait, I might be able to think of something, really, just, uh...it's in my bag, okay? I'm just going to get it..." He slowly stumbled to his feet and knelt beside the recently dead, getting blood on his pants. He almost retched but just grabbed his bag and, hoping that Thane wouldn't see, the communication device as well. He mentally apologized to the dead guard before he stood up again.
"Alright, so, um, there's this thing...inside this book--" Suddenly, something that seemed to be a strange, metal helmet appeared right on Algernon's head and before Thane could figure out what was going on, the boy was running away very quickly. Quickly, he tried to send the Ouroborous screech through his head, but found that for some reason, it didn't work. He started running after him, but also found for some reason that he just couldn't sense Algernon's mind anymore and lost the boy rather quickly.
Thane was feeling very, very frustrated.
-------------------------------------------------------
Oh man, he was so glad that worked.
The metal helmet bounced on his head and he held it down. It wasn't taking up as much memories as he thought it would, which was nice. He really wished he could take it off but was rather frightened of Thane finding him again. Maybe it was just safer to leave it on, despite all the lost memories.
As he hid behind a building, Algernon looked at the device again, not entirely sure how to work it. He pushed a button and started talking into the speaker.
"Um, hello? Uh? Anybody there? I sorta--I know you don't know me, but, uh, this is something sort of important..."