Re: The $300,000 Fight-A-Thon! [Round One: Storage Park!]
08-27-2012, 10:58 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by SeventeenthSquid.
Eriz burst through a stack of crates in a flurry of undershirts and belts. As the dust and debris settled out of the air, she noticed something very large and strange floating overhead: something composed of gears and cogs, its center a slowly spinning skull. Four long arms dangled below its floating body. Eriz had a vague memory of it being introduced along with the other combatants but she remembered nothing about it. However, anything with a skull face was likely bad news. But as she spun on her heel to run back the way she had come, it spoke to her.
"Eriz Col-Myel, Dr. Franz von Schuster. I have been assigned a mission to take in this false god who calls himself The Coach, for eternal torment. I am in need of expert engineers. Will you assist me in eliminating this threat to humanity?"
Eriz stopped mid-step. How did it know his name? I guess it must have remembered it from the introductions. Well, at least it didn't want her dead. Not right now, at least. She turned back around to face it, the mirrored black dome of her face meeting its leering skull. Sweat was starting to run down into her eyes; two tiny limbs emerged from the interior of her face-dome, tipped with tiny sponges, and wiped at her face. She gathered herself for a moment before replying.
"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" she said, her voice much quieter than the boom of the infernal machine. "I know a great many things, Eriz," it replied. "I know quite a bit about your past, and the past of your... companion," it continued, indicating the struggling Doctor Schuster with one arm. He was wiggling quite a bit, and seemed to be gasping for breath. With a start, Eriz realized she had been crushing his chest between her shoulder and arm. She released her vice grip on him and he dropped to the floor, wheezing.
"You crazy bitch! You nearly killed me!" he shouted, followed by a great deal of cursing that she couldn't really follow. Just as he was climbing to his feet, something colorful and round bounced against his foot. Eriz spun, combat instincts kicking in as she tried to track where it had come from. She immediately saw the thrower, as he made no attempt to hide his massive bulk; a twisted humanoid, taller than a human but still shorter than her armored height. His arms bulged with knots of muscle under his tightly-stretched skin and his mouth was full with multiple rows of sharp teeth. A finned tail dragged on the ground behind him.
[color=#P1914]"If you plan on taking out this Coach fellow, perhaps I can offer up some...muscle?"[/color] he said past a mouthful of pointy teeth as he walked forward, palms out. Eriz' first reaction was to raise her hammer in a two-handed grip, aux-arms turning to focus both Dr. Schuster's appropriated (and hopelessly primitive) firearm and her laser emitter on the aberration's beady eyes. She stared at the thing, barely believing the twisted mockery of humanity that she saw.
[color=#P1914]"What's the matter?"[/color] it said as it continued to walk forward. [color=#P1914]"I'm not going to eat you. You look a little heavy on the iron, heh heh heh."[/color] Its laugh was something that Eriz could do very well without ever hearing again.
Warden spun in the air to face the newcomer. He tasted the thing's resonance and found... a very dark past. Filled with pain, it wove like a crimson strand of barbed wire through his mind, dripping with agony, some his own, but much caused by him. And a name. Ironjaw. Ironjaw was a killer, and Warden did not like killers. Not one bit.
Eriz burst through a stack of crates in a flurry of undershirts and belts. As the dust and debris settled out of the air, she noticed something very large and strange floating overhead: something composed of gears and cogs, its center a slowly spinning skull. Four long arms dangled below its floating body. Eriz had a vague memory of it being introduced along with the other combatants but she remembered nothing about it. However, anything with a skull face was likely bad news. But as she spun on her heel to run back the way she had come, it spoke to her.
"Eriz Col-Myel, Dr. Franz von Schuster. I have been assigned a mission to take in this false god who calls himself The Coach, for eternal torment. I am in need of expert engineers. Will you assist me in eliminating this threat to humanity?"
Eriz stopped mid-step. How did it know his name? I guess it must have remembered it from the introductions. Well, at least it didn't want her dead. Not right now, at least. She turned back around to face it, the mirrored black dome of her face meeting its leering skull. Sweat was starting to run down into her eyes; two tiny limbs emerged from the interior of her face-dome, tipped with tiny sponges, and wiped at her face. She gathered herself for a moment before replying.
"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" she said, her voice much quieter than the boom of the infernal machine. "I know a great many things, Eriz," it replied. "I know quite a bit about your past, and the past of your... companion," it continued, indicating the struggling Doctor Schuster with one arm. He was wiggling quite a bit, and seemed to be gasping for breath. With a start, Eriz realized she had been crushing his chest between her shoulder and arm. She released her vice grip on him and he dropped to the floor, wheezing.
"You crazy bitch! You nearly killed me!" he shouted, followed by a great deal of cursing that she couldn't really follow. Just as he was climbing to his feet, something colorful and round bounced against his foot. Eriz spun, combat instincts kicking in as she tried to track where it had come from. She immediately saw the thrower, as he made no attempt to hide his massive bulk; a twisted humanoid, taller than a human but still shorter than her armored height. His arms bulged with knots of muscle under his tightly-stretched skin and his mouth was full with multiple rows of sharp teeth. A finned tail dragged on the ground behind him.
[color=#P1914]"If you plan on taking out this Coach fellow, perhaps I can offer up some...muscle?"[/color] he said past a mouthful of pointy teeth as he walked forward, palms out. Eriz' first reaction was to raise her hammer in a two-handed grip, aux-arms turning to focus both Dr. Schuster's appropriated (and hopelessly primitive) firearm and her laser emitter on the aberration's beady eyes. She stared at the thing, barely believing the twisted mockery of humanity that she saw.
[color=#P1914]"What's the matter?"[/color] it said as it continued to walk forward. [color=#P1914]"I'm not going to eat you. You look a little heavy on the iron, heh heh heh."[/color] Its laugh was something that Eriz could do very well without ever hearing again.
Warden spun in the air to face the newcomer. He tasted the thing's resonance and found... a very dark past. Filled with pain, it wove like a crimson strand of barbed wire through his mind, dripping with agony, some his own, but much caused by him. And a name. Ironjaw. Ironjaw was a killer, and Warden did not like killers. Not one bit.