Re: The Vivacious Deadlock: S3G6: Round One: Genreshift
08-19-2011, 02:39 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.
Lieutenant Ryan’s squadron had a justifiably fearsome reputation. Millions of dollars oiled the joints of their well-tuned machine, and as a result this sizable army of men and women were well-trained, well-equipped, and extremely, extremely good at killing things dead. Unfortunately advanced technology and years of training meant nothing in this fearsome battle – especially against such opponents (a hydra, a cat-thing, and some kid) of unfathomable power – and Ryan knew.
He still had that little twit of the Doctor's son in his grip but the Lieutenant was not so sure that his current hostage would buy him obedience from nefarious combatants facing him. Fortunately, he had a backup plan and the hostiles seemed too embroiled in conflict to take much note of him. Facing a nearby building, Ryan tilted his head slightly to the right. Shadowy figures in the nearby windows, obscured by distance and curtains, apparently got the message as they faded back into the distance. The sound of carnage stayed constant, ripping flesh and cries of pain echoing through the streets uninterrupted. Until
Sirens.
Merrifield was having so much fun!
After the men brandished their guns however, Merrifield found wariness seizing her ephemeral heart. She was not fond of firearms, to be honest. They were small and dangerous, like yappy little dogs. When she first coalesced back in her native dimension, the first people she had met had guns – and they shot her. Oh, how she hated the feel of bullets! Tiny metal pellets that rapidly burrowed into her flesh with white-hot pain! Luckily, that did not seem to be a problem this time around…
…because of her best friend(s), Nalzaki! As they tore into the humans, Merrifield felt that Nalzaki did most of the work, and not without reason. Ripping bodies apart like they were nothing and crushing mooks into a fine meaty paste, Nalzaki did roughly eighty-five percentage of damage. Best of all, Nalzaki was incredibly awesome, at least to the genetic monstrosity. The triach managed to absorb as much damage as they could dish out. Bullets and grenades were nothing to this magnificent beast. All these facts and hard work of the three did nothing but awe the easily impressed pile of cells.
Nalzaki was a hard worker, though Merrifield did help along too! However, she was more concerned about lapping up the arms, entrails, and other body parts inevitably lying around in the aftermath of their rampage. Merrifield wasn’t entirely sure if something that was this fun could even be classified as “work”. Merrifield giggled as she ate the foot of an unsuspecting soldier, then his leg, and his torso, and the rest of the body. She didn’t know how many soldier she managed to incapacitate (she wasn’t technically killing, after all, merely… absorbing!). After all, why bother counting?
A few moments later, the commandos were shouting, retreating. A challenge! Merrifield quickly slid after the escaping group of soldiers, intent on catching up with them. She wasn’t fast enough, but she was getting so close. She could almost grasp at the boot-heels of a slow one – just a meter, no, half a meter... In fact, she might as well... A vicious-looking spine erupted from her amorphous structure, dripping with teal toxins and danger. Before she could take a swipe at the dawdling man, there was
Light.
Pain.
Silence.
Although the dozens of explosives dropped by the planes were brutal, and in the minds of command blatant overkill, the triach were made of sturdier stuff. They were meant to. After all, the ritual back in their home-world only selected the cream of the crop from their native subspecies. Bombs and bullets? Not a problem. Conveniently, the Lieutenant and his lackeys made horrible progress in their retreat. A slow mosey might shorten the distance between the Triach and those fools. However, time was a crucial resource and Nalzaki did not have it in spades. All three of them knew.
Lieutenant Ryan had a hand on Ivan and a hand on his holster. Ryan had experience, had the know-how, and had steel in every nerve in his body. Yet despite all his preparations, the seasoned vet hadn’t expected the might of the three-headed, telepathic, shapeshifting alien looming in the wake of his retreat.
Merrifield had never been knocked out before, and found the groggy sensation of waking up from unconsciousness to be quite interesting, though she wished it had come in a less painful manner. The genetic monstrosity teetered between unconsciousness and consciousness. She felt strange sensations like looking at her own body from a distance, feeling limbs she never had. All kinds of weird feelings, really quite fascinating. There was even a gnawing sensation crawling across her skin. She could feel chunks of her pulling away, one glob at the time, leaving her body. Uncomfortable, but, wait. Gnawing sensation?
Merrifield pulled herself back into consciousness in alarm, and was instantly displeased with the state of things. She was in the sewers, without a doubt the grossest place in the planet. Merrifield could not really give a comprehensible reason why she despised these dank, dark places. Given, they were smelly and full of germs and god knows what. However, Merrifield was also smelly and full of germs and god knows what. The genetic monstrosity may not have had an understanding of etiquette or honor, but she was never fond of hypocrisy.
What she hated quite a bit more than double standards though were the things surrounding her. Much to her displeasure, they were greedily pulling off pieces of her flesh to shovel into their grotesque maws. Merrifield thought only rats and bugs lived in these places, but apparently she was wrong. These were humanoids. Humanoid might actually be too kind, she thought upon reflection. These were too deformed, too misshapen to be considered humanoid. They were mutants, to say the least, and they were eating her.
A few minutes later, Merrifield stood up, the bodies of the mutants lying still in the knee-deep gunk of the sewer floor. Although they were pretty much asking for a sudden heart attack, Merrifield was sorely irked by their lack of resistance. They were barely sentient and had as many instincts as they had intelligence, which was none. Basically, they were dumber than dogs. How disappointing! She halfheartedly kicked a corpse. She could theoretically eat them, but decided to do so only if she really needed to. The battle with Nalzaki had given her plenty of fleshy bounty to compensate. The expired mutants were essentially trash and Merrifield did not like to eat trash. But wait!
Something stirs.
Merrifield trudged through the gunk and met upon a visceral spectacle. There was that robot lady! Well, what was left of her. There were probably more mutants in these sewers than Merrifield had encountered because they did quite a number on this poor soul. Bite marks covered her, complete with a stump where her right leg had been while her left leg was shredded like steak tartar. Her mechanical arm was smashed to scrap and her right arm was twisted into a really weird position, with bone splinters sticking out. She was fighting to keep alive, which seemed quite a feat when her spilled, half-eaten entrails were dying the sewer waters red.
Merrifield poked around the struggling woman, trying to find some form of ID. The genetic monstrosity was eventually rewarded with an identification card. The purpose of the plastic item lost upon Merrifield, but apparently the almost-dead robot was named A, B, Eee, uh, ABYS! Yeah, her name was Abys! Nonchalantly throwing the identification into a puddle of sewage, Merrifield decided it would be best to put the woman out of her misery.
<font color="#4B0082">“Help me.”
Abys tilted her head at Merrifield, staring at her with dying eyes. Merrifield was more than a little disconcerted at the situation. “Help. Me.” Abys croaked, the two words escaping her mouth much like her fleeting life. The genetic monstrosity was getting a little nervous. Normally, dead bodies didn’t talk, right? Maybe she’s some sort of zombie. Merrifield did not know what a zombie was, but it sounded scary. "Help—" the woman started to convulse into coughs. Her head heavily landed, spraying dirty water everywhere, and she was still.
Suddenly, Merrifield did not feel like eating her anymore.
Merrifield kind of felt bad for Abys. On one hand, the aberration really, really, really wanted to go away. On the other hand, Abys really, really, really needed help. Despite second thoughts, Merrifield was a selfish little being. She always wanted things to benefit her in some way. Although she did pity the cyborg, gears in her head were turning towards a mutually beneficial situation – well, maybe more mutually beneficial for Merrifield than Abys. Needless to say, Abys was alive, barely. There were some spare corpses lying around. Perhaps it was time for some surgery?
A smile danced onto Merrifield’s lips.</font>
Khan might’ve been intelligent, but Empress Phere and her group proved to be even smarter. With a combination of magic and clever maneuvers, they managed to lose the ravenous mutants – for now. There were those Screaming Eagle Hounds pursuing her, but that was fine by her. She felt just like a queen and how could she not when she had the Tome within her royal hands? With bated breath, Empress Phere carefully pulled the Sci-Fi bookmark from her backpack, inspiring a look of disgust and fear from the trembling Tek. Klendel, however, stood still, biding his time as the Empress delicately placed the magic bookmark between the pages of the reality-warping volume.
The fabric of space and time warped, as once again, the city fell to the whims of the Tome, mundane civilians became space marines, aliens, or robots (or marine alien robots). The architecture took on a futuristic sheen as gleaming skyscrapers erupted from the ground. Flying , futuristic spaceships started to pop into the skies. Neon lights buzzed as synthetic techno plinked in the background. This was undeniably science fiction.
Khan and the smarter portion of the Screaming Eagles were greatly annoyed by the current situation. This city was too shiny, too unfamiliar, too new! This was not what they wanted! They wanted the grandiose beauty of post-apocalyptic paradise. The new situation simply would not do! Luckily he picked up a scent - the all-too-familiar scent of magic and royalty. How sweet and how disgusting! The more instinctual of his minions immediately charged after the smell, baying in pursuit of the Tome. Khan merely smiled, barking orders at the less bestial of his clan to follow him. Resolve flickered within all three of his eyes as the Leader of the Screaming Eagles trudged forth, fondling his grimy stubble while he walked. He wanted the Tome and he wasn’t going to let some snooty princess keep him away from it.
All eyes widened in horror at the disgusting spectacle of a rider and her steed. Merrifield was Merrifield obviously. However, Abys… was something else. The cyborg assassin was very much alive but… very different. Her once human form had been skewed into to the quadruped proportions of something horse-like. This comparison was further reinforced by her hoof-like hands, her once-human fingers splayed into disgusting efficiency. Her skin was split in many places. Bits of machinery embedded in Abys’ body, especially the left front leg. Fresh wounds rotted at her sides, revealing the glistening nano-machine-reinforced flesh within. Her face was disconcertingly untouched. Observers could almost have called her visage normal if it weren’t for her Glasgow smile of a mouth, bristling with sharp, sharp teeth that was stained teal from the hue of spittle leaking from her bruised lips. Most disgusting of all, blood leaked from her every orifice – her mouth, her nose, her eyes.
Smelling of shit and antiseptic, Merrifield and Abys galloped off into the streets, causing the futuristic inhabitants to gape in surprise where they weren’t fleeing in terror. The aberration thought she had certainly gotten the most bang for her buck (even though she wasn’t exactly familiar with the term of buck). Not only had she managed to save someone’s life, she also got a magnificent, speedy ally! To be honest, Merrifield was not exactly sure if Abys remembered much. The process often took a toll on the mind. Well, only one way to find out.
“Abys, show me to your master.”
Abys stood still, breathing wetly due to the multitudinous liquids dripping from her orifices. Without warning, Abys took off, her rider barely hanging on. Abys was still reeling from her resurrection, but she knew where her mistress was. That scent of the magical, eye-patch bitch was strong and Abys knew where she was. As the amplified camouflage crackled in activation, cloaking both steed and rider, Abys took off to her destination. She knew where her mistress was.
And her mistress was going to pay.
Lieutenant Ryan’s squadron had a justifiably fearsome reputation. Millions of dollars oiled the joints of their well-tuned machine, and as a result this sizable army of men and women were well-trained, well-equipped, and extremely, extremely good at killing things dead. Unfortunately advanced technology and years of training meant nothing in this fearsome battle – especially against such opponents (a hydra, a cat-thing, and some kid) of unfathomable power – and Ryan knew.
He still had that little twit of the Doctor's son in his grip but the Lieutenant was not so sure that his current hostage would buy him obedience from nefarious combatants facing him. Fortunately, he had a backup plan and the hostiles seemed too embroiled in conflict to take much note of him. Facing a nearby building, Ryan tilted his head slightly to the right. Shadowy figures in the nearby windows, obscured by distance and curtains, apparently got the message as they faded back into the distance. The sound of carnage stayed constant, ripping flesh and cries of pain echoing through the streets uninterrupted. Until
Sirens.
***
Merrifield was having so much fun!
After the men brandished their guns however, Merrifield found wariness seizing her ephemeral heart. She was not fond of firearms, to be honest. They were small and dangerous, like yappy little dogs. When she first coalesced back in her native dimension, the first people she had met had guns – and they shot her. Oh, how she hated the feel of bullets! Tiny metal pellets that rapidly burrowed into her flesh with white-hot pain! Luckily, that did not seem to be a problem this time around…
…because of her best friend(s), Nalzaki! As they tore into the humans, Merrifield felt that Nalzaki did most of the work, and not without reason. Ripping bodies apart like they were nothing and crushing mooks into a fine meaty paste, Nalzaki did roughly eighty-five percentage of damage. Best of all, Nalzaki was incredibly awesome, at least to the genetic monstrosity. The triach managed to absorb as much damage as they could dish out. Bullets and grenades were nothing to this magnificent beast. All these facts and hard work of the three did nothing but awe the easily impressed pile of cells.
Nalzaki was a hard worker, though Merrifield did help along too! However, she was more concerned about lapping up the arms, entrails, and other body parts inevitably lying around in the aftermath of their rampage. Merrifield wasn’t entirely sure if something that was this fun could even be classified as “work”. Merrifield giggled as she ate the foot of an unsuspecting soldier, then his leg, and his torso, and the rest of the body. She didn’t know how many soldier she managed to incapacitate (she wasn’t technically killing, after all, merely… absorbing!). After all, why bother counting?
A few moments later, the commandos were shouting, retreating. A challenge! Merrifield quickly slid after the escaping group of soldiers, intent on catching up with them. She wasn’t fast enough, but she was getting so close. She could almost grasp at the boot-heels of a slow one – just a meter, no, half a meter... In fact, she might as well... A vicious-looking spine erupted from her amorphous structure, dripping with teal toxins and danger. Before she could take a swipe at the dawdling man, there was
Light.
Pain.
Silence.
***
Although the dozens of explosives dropped by the planes were brutal, and in the minds of command blatant overkill, the triach were made of sturdier stuff. They were meant to. After all, the ritual back in their home-world only selected the cream of the crop from their native subspecies. Bombs and bullets? Not a problem. Conveniently, the Lieutenant and his lackeys made horrible progress in their retreat. A slow mosey might shorten the distance between the Triach and those fools. However, time was a crucial resource and Nalzaki did not have it in spades. All three of them knew.
Lieutenant Ryan had a hand on Ivan and a hand on his holster. Ryan had experience, had the know-how, and had steel in every nerve in his body. Yet despite all his preparations, the seasoned vet hadn’t expected the might of the three-headed, telepathic, shapeshifting alien looming in the wake of his retreat.
***
Merrifield had never been knocked out before, and found the groggy sensation of waking up from unconsciousness to be quite interesting, though she wished it had come in a less painful manner. The genetic monstrosity teetered between unconsciousness and consciousness. She felt strange sensations like looking at her own body from a distance, feeling limbs she never had. All kinds of weird feelings, really quite fascinating. There was even a gnawing sensation crawling across her skin. She could feel chunks of her pulling away, one glob at the time, leaving her body. Uncomfortable, but, wait. Gnawing sensation?
Merrifield pulled herself back into consciousness in alarm, and was instantly displeased with the state of things. She was in the sewers, without a doubt the grossest place in the planet. Merrifield could not really give a comprehensible reason why she despised these dank, dark places. Given, they were smelly and full of germs and god knows what. However, Merrifield was also smelly and full of germs and god knows what. The genetic monstrosity may not have had an understanding of etiquette or honor, but she was never fond of hypocrisy.
What she hated quite a bit more than double standards though were the things surrounding her. Much to her displeasure, they were greedily pulling off pieces of her flesh to shovel into their grotesque maws. Merrifield thought only rats and bugs lived in these places, but apparently she was wrong. These were humanoids. Humanoid might actually be too kind, she thought upon reflection. These were too deformed, too misshapen to be considered humanoid. They were mutants, to say the least, and they were eating her.
A few minutes later, Merrifield stood up, the bodies of the mutants lying still in the knee-deep gunk of the sewer floor. Although they were pretty much asking for a sudden heart attack, Merrifield was sorely irked by their lack of resistance. They were barely sentient and had as many instincts as they had intelligence, which was none. Basically, they were dumber than dogs. How disappointing! She halfheartedly kicked a corpse. She could theoretically eat them, but decided to do so only if she really needed to. The battle with Nalzaki had given her plenty of fleshy bounty to compensate. The expired mutants were essentially trash and Merrifield did not like to eat trash. But wait!
Something stirs.
Merrifield trudged through the gunk and met upon a visceral spectacle. There was that robot lady! Well, what was left of her. There were probably more mutants in these sewers than Merrifield had encountered because they did quite a number on this poor soul. Bite marks covered her, complete with a stump where her right leg had been while her left leg was shredded like steak tartar. Her mechanical arm was smashed to scrap and her right arm was twisted into a really weird position, with bone splinters sticking out. She was fighting to keep alive, which seemed quite a feat when her spilled, half-eaten entrails were dying the sewer waters red.
Merrifield poked around the struggling woman, trying to find some form of ID. The genetic monstrosity was eventually rewarded with an identification card. The purpose of the plastic item lost upon Merrifield, but apparently the almost-dead robot was named A, B, Eee, uh, ABYS! Yeah, her name was Abys! Nonchalantly throwing the identification into a puddle of sewage, Merrifield decided it would be best to put the woman out of her misery.
<font color="#4B0082">“Help me.”
Abys tilted her head at Merrifield, staring at her with dying eyes. Merrifield was more than a little disconcerted at the situation. “Help. Me.” Abys croaked, the two words escaping her mouth much like her fleeting life. The genetic monstrosity was getting a little nervous. Normally, dead bodies didn’t talk, right? Maybe she’s some sort of zombie. Merrifield did not know what a zombie was, but it sounded scary. "Help—" the woman started to convulse into coughs. Her head heavily landed, spraying dirty water everywhere, and she was still.
Suddenly, Merrifield did not feel like eating her anymore.
Merrifield kind of felt bad for Abys. On one hand, the aberration really, really, really wanted to go away. On the other hand, Abys really, really, really needed help. Despite second thoughts, Merrifield was a selfish little being. She always wanted things to benefit her in some way. Although she did pity the cyborg, gears in her head were turning towards a mutually beneficial situation – well, maybe more mutually beneficial for Merrifield than Abys. Needless to say, Abys was alive, barely. There were some spare corpses lying around. Perhaps it was time for some surgery?
A smile danced onto Merrifield’s lips.</font>
***
Khan might’ve been intelligent, but Empress Phere and her group proved to be even smarter. With a combination of magic and clever maneuvers, they managed to lose the ravenous mutants – for now. There were those Screaming Eagle Hounds pursuing her, but that was fine by her. She felt just like a queen and how could she not when she had the Tome within her royal hands? With bated breath, Empress Phere carefully pulled the Sci-Fi bookmark from her backpack, inspiring a look of disgust and fear from the trembling Tek. Klendel, however, stood still, biding his time as the Empress delicately placed the magic bookmark between the pages of the reality-warping volume.
The fabric of space and time warped, as once again, the city fell to the whims of the Tome, mundane civilians became space marines, aliens, or robots (or marine alien robots). The architecture took on a futuristic sheen as gleaming skyscrapers erupted from the ground. Flying , futuristic spaceships started to pop into the skies. Neon lights buzzed as synthetic techno plinked in the background. This was undeniably science fiction.
Khan and the smarter portion of the Screaming Eagles were greatly annoyed by the current situation. This city was too shiny, too unfamiliar, too new! This was not what they wanted! They wanted the grandiose beauty of post-apocalyptic paradise. The new situation simply would not do! Luckily he picked up a scent - the all-too-familiar scent of magic and royalty. How sweet and how disgusting! The more instinctual of his minions immediately charged after the smell, baying in pursuit of the Tome. Khan merely smiled, barking orders at the less bestial of his clan to follow him. Resolve flickered within all three of his eyes as the Leader of the Screaming Eagles trudged forth, fondling his grimy stubble while he walked. He wanted the Tome and he wasn’t going to let some snooty princess keep him away from it.
***
All eyes widened in horror at the disgusting spectacle of a rider and her steed. Merrifield was Merrifield obviously. However, Abys… was something else. The cyborg assassin was very much alive but… very different. Her once human form had been skewed into to the quadruped proportions of something horse-like. This comparison was further reinforced by her hoof-like hands, her once-human fingers splayed into disgusting efficiency. Her skin was split in many places. Bits of machinery embedded in Abys’ body, especially the left front leg. Fresh wounds rotted at her sides, revealing the glistening nano-machine-reinforced flesh within. Her face was disconcertingly untouched. Observers could almost have called her visage normal if it weren’t for her Glasgow smile of a mouth, bristling with sharp, sharp teeth that was stained teal from the hue of spittle leaking from her bruised lips. Most disgusting of all, blood leaked from her every orifice – her mouth, her nose, her eyes.
Smelling of shit and antiseptic, Merrifield and Abys galloped off into the streets, causing the futuristic inhabitants to gape in surprise where they weren’t fleeing in terror. The aberration thought she had certainly gotten the most bang for her buck (even though she wasn’t exactly familiar with the term of buck). Not only had she managed to save someone’s life, she also got a magnificent, speedy ally! To be honest, Merrifield was not exactly sure if Abys remembered much. The process often took a toll on the mind. Well, only one way to find out.
“Abys, show me to your master.”
Abys stood still, breathing wetly due to the multitudinous liquids dripping from her orifices. Without warning, Abys took off, her rider barely hanging on. Abys was still reeling from her resurrection, but she knew where her mistress was. That scent of the magical, eye-patch bitch was strong and Abys knew where she was. As the amplified camouflage crackled in activation, cloaking both steed and rider, Abys took off to her destination. She knew where her mistress was.
And her mistress was going to pay.