Welll for those who are interested, and for those who have seen my Deviant Art journal, you might know that I've been trying to think of one of two ideas that I have formulated for my next story. Both ideas are pretty interesting, each with their own perks and plot as well as a few twists. The problem is I cant seem to decide exactly which one to do, so I will leave it up to you, my fellow readers.
First, we have Pet Comic, an old story idea i created back in Grade 12 Visual Arts. A project were I had to make a board comic turned out to be a rather interesting experience, and the result was a brief idea about "Pet Comic". The story goes about a writer who has been hired by a comic book company to work on the next line of issues being discussed. He has a large mass of ideas from the said company, and is given free reign to use any or create his own, as long as they fit within the guidelines. The problem our friend here has is that he has no ideas what-so-ever; and given only 2 months to come up with something isn't a lot of time if you consider the big picture. He works part-time at a hobby shop and tends to sometimes wander the nearby park to think. Unfortunately, neither of these two places had offered any useful solutions to his plight. One evening, while walking away from his troubles in the park, he stumbles across a stray. Strays are common around the city, but this one seemed different. It was a collie, a mid-size border collies (Not the lassie type, the other type) but instead of black fur with a white chest, it had dark red fur with a white chest and emerald green eyes that seemed rather captivating. This of course was the most random event this writer has even faced, but for some reason he was drawn to it. Without second guessing, he took the poor thing home and took care of it. However, bringing this dog into his life was the first step into a series of unusual and somewhat dangerous events to follow.
That's the idea for Pet Comic, now for its competition, Chaotic Attention
Chaotic Attention revolves around a young boy who LOVES video games, he plays them day in and day out and has earned quite a reputation in most multi-player game boards. He wasn't a stupid person, he read now and then, studied his school work and did his homework, but his life was in video games (his parents considered him to become an expert in the field in his future.)
Suffice to say, he lived and plaid with gamers blood, that was, until one evening when he faced a rather strange foe in a FPS game. [WundrWizard], as the tag said, challenged our character to a one-on-one match for a very interesting prize, and barely getting by with the skin of his teeth, our play wins...but the resulting match corrupted the system and everyone who was spectating was kicked. As the boy watched the people continue to log off, WW said "Your gift is nigh, I hope you enjoy it"
What gift? Well i wont spoil much, it has something to do with video games and most things related, but that's all I'm saying.
Now, the rest is up to you fellow readers. Comment to this entry by placing either "Comic Pet" or "Chaotic Attention" in your response. The Time Limit is till the end of April, so let us see what comes to mind.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
The Stage of Ice - What comes to an end...prt. 2
Mobilization of a Scavenger army is a rarity most people get to see. Scavengers tend to be nomadic, living in small groups that are constantly moving from place to place. Empress Nint, who had been manipulated by Kiri, was rather...uneasy, and rather unhappy to be toyed so easily by a machine. Her anger, hidden under her cold exterior, was whipped up as she organized her troops for battle.
"You seem quite...intent on this" Silver asked as he watched her motion her men to prepare
"To be...controlled by something unseen, unheard, it was terrible. Lock in the cage of my mind while my body worked by its hands." she shivered slightly as she turned towards Silver
"How do you know where she is then? I assume you have a plan" I asked, causing Nint to smirk
"Indeed, I do" she whispered turning and walking away to her temple quarters.
Nint brought us to a makeshift war rooms; computers dangled along the walls connected to various ports in the ceiling, giant terminals stand at different points around a large make-shift table that had a 3D image system on it.
Cobalt was standing over the table as myself, Silver, Nint and Damnsel are escorted inside.
"Well...if the party is all here..." he says half-hearty as he taps a control console. On the table, an image of a large dome-like facility around mountains of ice appeared. Cobalt adjusted his position and touched the image "This is where we believe the creature controlled Empress Nint from." he said "Located in the Northern Wastes, it seems to be emitting a large amount of energy, possibly the transmission signal."
Nint nods as she walks over and observes the image.
"I knew of this...well...my father did. He mentioned of the people who created the Spectrums...and their...Ark facility...as this is called."
Silver closed his eyes for a moment "Ark...that name" he whispered
I turn to Silver "Ark? My creator mentioned that to me...something about an Ark"
"It was a facility designed for special projects...that's all I really remember."
Me and Silver soon left the war room, we had gotten a decent idea on what we were up against, but...i couldn't help but feel awfully secluded.
"You were rather silent" Silver muttered as he stopped and turned to me
"Well...I'm not strategist..." I mutter, locking my paws together 'and...well...im nervous about everything"
"How so?" Silver asked
I sighed "Well...why did they create a facility we never knew about, especially you, being their "pet-project"...no offense"
Silver huffs at the "pet-project" word, but sighs "I do not know...the name was...mentioned as I said, but I was never told of it."
"That is what bothers me the most" i reply in a whisper "something just doesn't feel right."
We were soon interrupted by Nint herself, with Cobalt close behind
"Well...I do hope you two are ready, we are about to embark on this great adventure" Nint said in a rather excited tone.
"But...how do we go about getting there?" I ask
"Simple...we fly" Nint replied, which caused me and Silver to give rather...blank...stares.
--
Flight…a once grand design has long since been abandoned by these people. After the collapse of technology, aircraft were unable to fly through the skies because most of them required ancient technology to master. That wasn’t to say there were…a few, and I mean a FEW around that some people had skills with. Nint had continued to surprise myself and Silver as she showed us our transportation; a large fix winged, 4 engine craft that was around the size of a football field, and stood 4 stories tall. The craft, according to Nint, was an old military transport, but it had been rebuilt from many scrap parts found on their “hunts”. It was flight worthy, and would take the group to the Arctic base. I personally had never seen a flying machine before. From what Silver told me, the people that built us had one, but solemnly used it
“In the before-time, it was used to transport them around to other facilities, but with most of their pilots gone, it laid in rust” he had mentioned.
“It shall take us a days flight” Nint noted as the group of Scavengers began loading equipment into the craft. As Scavenger's loaded the last of the supplies, we were greeting by Cobalt who had been assisting Damnsel in getting set-up. Damnsel, now brandishing a new rifle and better armor, gave us a solemn look. We hadn;t seen here since we freed Nint from her mind control
"I had been taken care of, my wounds tended and my armor repaired. Cobalt had been kind enough to fit me properly from the makeshift equipment I originally used" she said softly "I thank him dearly for that."
“It seems that we are ready to go” Nint had instructed as the last of provisions were loaded. Certainly this trip would be amazing, but there always was the pang risk of something going wrong.
“It won’t be easy to get to it, whatever is stationed at the base won’t expect us to arrive by air, so we may still have the element of surprise” Silver had noted as we loaded ourselves onto the plane. After a few bumps, some final checks, and a long list of supplies to mark off, we began to taxi from the large hanger onto a massive strip of land at the rear of the base.
“Ever done this before?” Silver questioned Nint, she gave a rather silly smile
“Nope” she replied
“What of your pilots?” he asked
“Neither have…actually flown this, only tests”
The wolf seemed silent after that, but I could tell he wasn’t to sure about flying anymore.
The interior of the craft was rather rag-tag. Most of the original fixings had long since wore out, and many of the new ones seemed out of place amongst the smooth-line figure of the craft. Added bulkheads here, a new computer there, and a few other mismatched pieces scattered about. There weren't even any seats left, only a long webbing next that was spread across either side of the craft to act as "seats" with straps to keep the passengers in place. The only avaliable seats were in the cockpit for the 4 crewmen, but no one seemed to mind what we were given.
I'm not going to lie, flying...it cant simply be understood by one who never heard of it. Nint's words seemed to assure me even less that this would be easy, and even after double strapping myself to the webbing, i felt that my life would flash before my eyes once we took off. Silver however was more...comforting, he seemed to understand my fear.
"Everyone experiences panic when faced with something new, I'm sure Nint is aware of the risks and has it figured out, why else would she allow us to fly in this thing"
"but..." I rebutted "she never tested it"
"Well...we have to have faith in her and her pilots"
I gulped, almost clinging to the robots massive arm before me as the rear hatch closed. Large engines outside slowly whined to life as I could hear the powerful roar. Soon we began to shudder, moving about the ground until we suddenly stopped and then a huge force pressed against me. It felt like a giant weight had been struck against my chest and i felt my body press tightly against the wall of the craft until, after a few shaky moments, it eased and everything was quieter.
"We are now airborne" Silver says poking out the small window beside him.
--
“Do you believe in fate?” Damnsel asked me an hour after we lifted off. Everyone had left their seats once the plane stabilized, but I dared not leave mine. The white wolf had been sitting with Cobalt and she and him had been able to get on a steady footing in terms of working together. It seems Cobalt and Damnsel had quite a history between them, trying to take the other down for who knows how long and now suddenly working together to save everyone…it was shocking.
“Fate?” I replied “I…tend not to, whatever happens happens, we can’t really judge it by something else” I huffed, remaining crouched on the webbing
“Then if that were true, why were we created for this task, I assume from the start all Spectrums had been designed for this kind of thing. Silver and yourself have proven how powerful you two are in combat, and even helping those mercenaries rescue those refugees to the settlement was instilling. I never would have guessed our skills were so fine.”
I sit up “My…creator told me one thing when he made me; that we all have a purpose, natural or not, we all have something to do. Maybe they figured we would have to deal with this if it ever happened.”
“Or maybe they had made it prior and we are simply the custodians” Silver muttered as he turned to face us.
“You don’t think that really?” Damnsel asked, the robot nodded “I’ve been thinking the same thing, what was our purpose…but sadly I haven’t the faintest. However, when we met her…the pre-born…it was clear we had some reason to be there. How could she know of us when we were not even built?”
Damnsel sighed “That is a question I cannot answer, true I did know of her, but this…I never expected her to become this”
“I am ashamed the organics had changed our minds?” I said, trying to remember exactly what she had mentioned
“It seems we might have turned out like her, if our creators hadn’t learnt from their mistake”
Everyone nodded “So…someone who built her” I begin
“probably didn’t know that she would become like this” Silver ended
--
The plane landed in a relatively flat snow drift. Ever since the collapse, the arctic tundra began to expand, so now it was a giant cap and base on the earth’s surface. It’s not easy managing it either, far colder with temperatures below -50 degrees. Suited up best we could, Silver, myself, Cobalt, Damnsel, Nint and a few other Scavengers rode towards the destination on modified trucks and transports, equipped with winter gear. As we proceeded deeper into the tundra, we could see massive ice spires in the distance, it wasn’t too obvious to notice that they were not natural formations and as we drew nearer, we could see a large structure taking the base between them, reaching deep into the spires.
“That it?” I ask
Silver nods
“Arctic Base…but those spires…they were never there before”
Damnsel seemed…tense
“I believe…that she had made them”
“Why?” Ask Cobalt, he turned to Nint who too shrugged
“It could be relating to her plan to reset the world…we must be careful”
What was unusual was the lack of resistance, I doubt we came around undetected, it would be a fools gamble to assume we wouldn’t, what was waiting was…something even I never expected.
As we curved a hill towards the base, we looked down to see an army of…snowmen
White…fluffy snowmen seemed to be everywhere, as if children were here building all this time. Some had hats, others brooms, a few scarf’s, one even with a sled, but all had the corny smile and all the same build; three balls with sticks and coal. It was…to be honest…unusual, but we couldn’t stop to observe, we drove on. Passing the “field of snowmen” I had an unusual feeling something was right, and I figured Silver did too.
“Whats wrong?” Damnsel asked me
“I dunno…don’t feel right, something…doesn’t seem to fit here”
“Aside from the mass of snowmen?” Cobalt added as I nodded
“Stop the truck!” I shout as the convoy rolled to a halt. I got out without even thinking and pounced onto the nearest snowman…however, expecting it to crumble like snow, I landed with a thud on its head, it…was metal
“It’s…not real…”
It dawned on me
“IT’S A TRAP!”
--
It never really was easy to kill Frosty, any snowman you may rip apart simply forms up from the snow, or liquid metal as we soon found out. Seems the rabbit lady spent a good deal of time perfecting her own army under the snow, and the cute little snowmen were simply camouflage. Underneath were rather menacing looking robot combat units and we were quickly being overwhelmed by them.
“Seems you were right!” cobalt said as he sliced down a robot and cut its head off “but killing these things in the head stops them cold”
“Yeah, but I doubt we will have enough ammo to stop them all!” Damnsel barks back as she sniped several of them with her rifle.
“They wont stop!” I shout “we need to stop it from the source!”
“Agreed” replied Silver “we need to get inside now”
“Then go!” said Nint…her Scavengers slowly being beaten back as she had drawn a pair of SMG’s “we will hold them here…you do what you were meant to robot!” she said as she shot a snow beast at close range in the face, spraying snow and liquid metal about “we will cover you.”
Silver nods…I nod…it was hard to just abandon what these people were doing, we couldn’t, we didn’t, but we had no choice. As we saw a break in the snow beast advance, we lunged, Silver in the lead, using his strength to slay the beasts to the side and make a hole to go through.
--
We entered slowly at fist, it was rather unusual for us not to come under heavy resistance as we neared the facility. Instead, we seemed to be running into less and less hostiles than those we left behind, as if they were…expecting us to enter. Silver lead the way, his robotic sensory scanning the entire area from his nose as a wolf would, each breath took in a bit of the load out and showed him, with it, the location of tangos.
“None….i got….wait….three contacts…look…organic”
“Organic?” I reply as Silver nods. We didn’t expect to encounter anything fleshy, Kiri detested them, so why here? Slowly we both entered the room the contacts were…and all three….were the scientist from the spectrum team
--
“Well, it seems you have done well Silver, your training as a special operations robot has finally be completed, soon, you shall be allowed to operate with our primary military that is shaping the way to restore and destroy all xenos…nothing left to bother us with, and nothing left to worry about cleaning….no more…discrimination towards us, the crap we take.”
Silver stood in awe as the female scientist ranted on, she had been so absorbed in telling Silver that no one noticed me…then again, that is my task, I’m an assassin.
While Silver got the tongue lashing and no doubt something else by the female, I had slid away toward the vent ducts….something….just didn’t seem right, it felt like someone was manipulating Silver, but how, he’s a robot, you cant simply confuse a robot….unless.
Something seemed to bother me, Silvers sudden emotions after we finally got free from the super zombie, something…had changed, but what? A robot cant simply change like that, it was…well…downright impossible.
But he did
He did right in front of me, and now he’s being manipulated…
I wanted to think more, but the sudden realization that silver was still in trouble made me jump to my feet. I didn’t doubt they were real and some conspiracy was afoot, that was probably why I was built…he must have known something was up….that’s why he was killed, I saw him killed in front of me….
I take that emotion and rush forward, even if they were here, the Kiri we know of is still around. After an hour or so scampering around the vent work, lord only knew what Silver was doing, I make my way to a grand chamber, it was quite decedent, golden furnishing, a Victorian feeling, nothing that would be seen in a base.
“Welcome”
A sweet voice echoed as I turned to see Kiri, though, she wasn’t from the video we saw of her, or the data we had, she…she…was a pure anthro rabbit.
I was not expecting guests” she said sweetly as she escorted me to the table that seemed to just appear before me. She slowly eased away and picked up a tray with a kettle, knife, and tea cup.
“Uh….that’s….I think” I reply, something didn’t feel right
“Oh…don’t be harmed, I never get anyone here anymore, its…always so lonely” she looked at me, her beady purple eyes, part robotic, part human, seemed to scream to me, but... I couldn’t tell if they were real or fake….they looked too good. As she handed down the tea, I felt a sudden pang in my back…as if…something very important was forgotten….or someone close was killed.
I wheel up
“what’s wrong?” Kiri says as I turn to her
“i…I just felt a sharp pain in my shoulder”
Kiri looks suspicious, but goes on pouring. I sit back down, slowly sniffing the tea….that’s when I picked it up
Poison….or some form of acid
A killer
I gaze at Kiri, I doubt she has noticed me, that’s probably why she can manipulate him, control his technology from the inside, give him the wrong readings, make him confused, and maybe an illusion. I slowly sipped some of the tea
“mmm…its quite good”
I say as Kiri smiles
“I’m glad…its made well
“yeah…though…was the poison part of-“ I stopped…Kiri whipped her gaze at me, suddenly black were white was, and her pink eyes flame into electric glow. She lunges at me, feeling my limbs hit the floor hard
“So…you think you can…control me too huh…think you can eradicate me/’
Her eyes flared, I continued to brace myself, waiting for an attack….but…one never came. I opened my eyes…was…the poison making me feel all tingly…but…no…that wasn’t right either, I couldn’t feel my limbs, but I wasn’t being injured, just pinned. Kiri was controlling my robotics….that’s what the acid smell was!
I never liked doing this…but there was one piece Kiri neglected to think of with my limbs….a tight squeeze on the muscle that only organic functions could detect, would release the lock…that means if anyone tried to crack it or fool it, it would know because only the wearer of the limbs could detach them like an energy escape hatch.
I did so, and with a hiss and fuss, the arms eject to my sides…my legs next and then finally…my tail, which actually wasn’t controlled.
I sighed as my body fwummped to the floor, limbless I try to roll over with my shoulder joints. It takes some time…and some pain, but I am able to slither over to the table….that tea was real but the table certainly wasn’t…it…didn’t smell.
I bump the table, the tea rumbles and suddenly drops, splashing hot liquid all over the room.
The result, whatever was causing that illusion failed…and I could see where I really was.
Around me was a giant, empty, windowless, shadowy room with a strange ting of metal and ozone, and small track lights illuminating various paths all around pointing to the center….and there….hanging between a massive 1 story tall base, and suspended almost 3 stories above that suspended by millions of cables that connect all over the room (and are even the landlines) She looked…exactly as I figured…cold…robotic, but trapped…almost trapped in something she never wanted to be part of…she was…alone, afraid and damn well crying to be released. The spectrum project didn’t end with Cobalt…Kiri…Kiri was the final project that had been started at the very beginning…till the end. Her purpose, destroy the failures…
I didn’t take long to figure she wasn’t too happy like this, she wanted out, freedom, I knew because after I saw her…my limbs stopped moving, and powered down…she knew we had come for her.
--
I left the room shortly after…my arms and legs and tail back in place, with Silver next door, staring at three illusions….i felt…curious as to why as the wolf suddenly snapped too and looked around
“what happened?” he asked with a monotone voice
“Oh…just the end of the world” I said teasingly, sticking out my tongue.
Though I jest…those illusions haunted me, could that team still be alive, could they still be trying to destroy us all…and what plans were they setting forth to…unleash.
I fear what we may soon face…but for now, our time is done.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you enjoyed that, I really liked how i wrote the last part, it really ties in the story and makes a few curious questions reviled to the reader...a possible future issue, perhaps, and perhaps a better quality too.
For now though, next on the block is Comic Pet...its an unusual story i created when i was in high school, finishing grade 12 visual arts. I had to work on a style of art, and make a piece on it. I did, working with comic books. i wrote out the story, not much of it, and then drew what I could onto it. I did rather well on it, was the course that helped me get into University.
anyway suffice to say and not to bore, I am going to enjoy this next story, ill be able to continue with what I know and improve on with a few ideas I've learn from the years after.
"You seem quite...intent on this" Silver asked as he watched her motion her men to prepare
"To be...controlled by something unseen, unheard, it was terrible. Lock in the cage of my mind while my body worked by its hands." she shivered slightly as she turned towards Silver
"How do you know where she is then? I assume you have a plan" I asked, causing Nint to smirk
"Indeed, I do" she whispered turning and walking away to her temple quarters.
Nint brought us to a makeshift war rooms; computers dangled along the walls connected to various ports in the ceiling, giant terminals stand at different points around a large make-shift table that had a 3D image system on it.
Cobalt was standing over the table as myself, Silver, Nint and Damnsel are escorted inside.
"Well...if the party is all here..." he says half-hearty as he taps a control console. On the table, an image of a large dome-like facility around mountains of ice appeared. Cobalt adjusted his position and touched the image "This is where we believe the creature controlled Empress Nint from." he said "Located in the Northern Wastes, it seems to be emitting a large amount of energy, possibly the transmission signal."
Nint nods as she walks over and observes the image.
"I knew of this...well...my father did. He mentioned of the people who created the Spectrums...and their...Ark facility...as this is called."
Silver closed his eyes for a moment "Ark...that name" he whispered
I turn to Silver "Ark? My creator mentioned that to me...something about an Ark"
"It was a facility designed for special projects...that's all I really remember."
Me and Silver soon left the war room, we had gotten a decent idea on what we were up against, but...i couldn't help but feel awfully secluded.
"You were rather silent" Silver muttered as he stopped and turned to me
"Well...I'm not strategist..." I mutter, locking my paws together 'and...well...im nervous about everything"
"How so?" Silver asked
I sighed "Well...why did they create a facility we never knew about, especially you, being their "pet-project"...no offense"
Silver huffs at the "pet-project" word, but sighs "I do not know...the name was...mentioned as I said, but I was never told of it."
"That is what bothers me the most" i reply in a whisper "something just doesn't feel right."
We were soon interrupted by Nint herself, with Cobalt close behind
"Well...I do hope you two are ready, we are about to embark on this great adventure" Nint said in a rather excited tone.
"But...how do we go about getting there?" I ask
"Simple...we fly" Nint replied, which caused me and Silver to give rather...blank...stares.
--
Flight…a once grand design has long since been abandoned by these people. After the collapse of technology, aircraft were unable to fly through the skies because most of them required ancient technology to master. That wasn’t to say there were…a few, and I mean a FEW around that some people had skills with. Nint had continued to surprise myself and Silver as she showed us our transportation; a large fix winged, 4 engine craft that was around the size of a football field, and stood 4 stories tall. The craft, according to Nint, was an old military transport, but it had been rebuilt from many scrap parts found on their “hunts”. It was flight worthy, and would take the group to the Arctic base. I personally had never seen a flying machine before. From what Silver told me, the people that built us had one, but solemnly used it
“In the before-time, it was used to transport them around to other facilities, but with most of their pilots gone, it laid in rust” he had mentioned.
“It shall take us a days flight” Nint noted as the group of Scavengers began loading equipment into the craft. As Scavenger's loaded the last of the supplies, we were greeting by Cobalt who had been assisting Damnsel in getting set-up. Damnsel, now brandishing a new rifle and better armor, gave us a solemn look. We hadn;t seen here since we freed Nint from her mind control
"I had been taken care of, my wounds tended and my armor repaired. Cobalt had been kind enough to fit me properly from the makeshift equipment I originally used" she said softly "I thank him dearly for that."
“It seems that we are ready to go” Nint had instructed as the last of provisions were loaded. Certainly this trip would be amazing, but there always was the pang risk of something going wrong.
“It won’t be easy to get to it, whatever is stationed at the base won’t expect us to arrive by air, so we may still have the element of surprise” Silver had noted as we loaded ourselves onto the plane. After a few bumps, some final checks, and a long list of supplies to mark off, we began to taxi from the large hanger onto a massive strip of land at the rear of the base.
“Ever done this before?” Silver questioned Nint, she gave a rather silly smile
“Nope” she replied
“What of your pilots?” he asked
“Neither have…actually flown this, only tests”
The wolf seemed silent after that, but I could tell he wasn’t to sure about flying anymore.
The interior of the craft was rather rag-tag. Most of the original fixings had long since wore out, and many of the new ones seemed out of place amongst the smooth-line figure of the craft. Added bulkheads here, a new computer there, and a few other mismatched pieces scattered about. There weren't even any seats left, only a long webbing next that was spread across either side of the craft to act as "seats" with straps to keep the passengers in place. The only avaliable seats were in the cockpit for the 4 crewmen, but no one seemed to mind what we were given.
I'm not going to lie, flying...it cant simply be understood by one who never heard of it. Nint's words seemed to assure me even less that this would be easy, and even after double strapping myself to the webbing, i felt that my life would flash before my eyes once we took off. Silver however was more...comforting, he seemed to understand my fear.
"Everyone experiences panic when faced with something new, I'm sure Nint is aware of the risks and has it figured out, why else would she allow us to fly in this thing"
"but..." I rebutted "she never tested it"
"Well...we have to have faith in her and her pilots"
I gulped, almost clinging to the robots massive arm before me as the rear hatch closed. Large engines outside slowly whined to life as I could hear the powerful roar. Soon we began to shudder, moving about the ground until we suddenly stopped and then a huge force pressed against me. It felt like a giant weight had been struck against my chest and i felt my body press tightly against the wall of the craft until, after a few shaky moments, it eased and everything was quieter.
"We are now airborne" Silver says poking out the small window beside him.
--
“Do you believe in fate?” Damnsel asked me an hour after we lifted off. Everyone had left their seats once the plane stabilized, but I dared not leave mine. The white wolf had been sitting with Cobalt and she and him had been able to get on a steady footing in terms of working together. It seems Cobalt and Damnsel had quite a history between them, trying to take the other down for who knows how long and now suddenly working together to save everyone…it was shocking.
“Fate?” I replied “I…tend not to, whatever happens happens, we can’t really judge it by something else” I huffed, remaining crouched on the webbing
“Then if that were true, why were we created for this task, I assume from the start all Spectrums had been designed for this kind of thing. Silver and yourself have proven how powerful you two are in combat, and even helping those mercenaries rescue those refugees to the settlement was instilling. I never would have guessed our skills were so fine.”
I sit up “My…creator told me one thing when he made me; that we all have a purpose, natural or not, we all have something to do. Maybe they figured we would have to deal with this if it ever happened.”
“Or maybe they had made it prior and we are simply the custodians” Silver muttered as he turned to face us.
“You don’t think that really?” Damnsel asked, the robot nodded “I’ve been thinking the same thing, what was our purpose…but sadly I haven’t the faintest. However, when we met her…the pre-born…it was clear we had some reason to be there. How could she know of us when we were not even built?”
Damnsel sighed “That is a question I cannot answer, true I did know of her, but this…I never expected her to become this”
“I am ashamed the organics had changed our minds?” I said, trying to remember exactly what she had mentioned
“It seems we might have turned out like her, if our creators hadn’t learnt from their mistake”
Everyone nodded “So…someone who built her” I begin
“probably didn’t know that she would become like this” Silver ended
--
The plane landed in a relatively flat snow drift. Ever since the collapse, the arctic tundra began to expand, so now it was a giant cap and base on the earth’s surface. It’s not easy managing it either, far colder with temperatures below -50 degrees. Suited up best we could, Silver, myself, Cobalt, Damnsel, Nint and a few other Scavengers rode towards the destination on modified trucks and transports, equipped with winter gear. As we proceeded deeper into the tundra, we could see massive ice spires in the distance, it wasn’t too obvious to notice that they were not natural formations and as we drew nearer, we could see a large structure taking the base between them, reaching deep into the spires.
“That it?” I ask
Silver nods
“Arctic Base…but those spires…they were never there before”
Damnsel seemed…tense
“I believe…that she had made them”
“Why?” Ask Cobalt, he turned to Nint who too shrugged
“It could be relating to her plan to reset the world…we must be careful”
What was unusual was the lack of resistance, I doubt we came around undetected, it would be a fools gamble to assume we wouldn’t, what was waiting was…something even I never expected.
As we curved a hill towards the base, we looked down to see an army of…snowmen
White…fluffy snowmen seemed to be everywhere, as if children were here building all this time. Some had hats, others brooms, a few scarf’s, one even with a sled, but all had the corny smile and all the same build; three balls with sticks and coal. It was…to be honest…unusual, but we couldn’t stop to observe, we drove on. Passing the “field of snowmen” I had an unusual feeling something was right, and I figured Silver did too.
“Whats wrong?” Damnsel asked me
“I dunno…don’t feel right, something…doesn’t seem to fit here”
“Aside from the mass of snowmen?” Cobalt added as I nodded
“Stop the truck!” I shout as the convoy rolled to a halt. I got out without even thinking and pounced onto the nearest snowman…however, expecting it to crumble like snow, I landed with a thud on its head, it…was metal
“It’s…not real…”
It dawned on me
“IT’S A TRAP!”
--
It never really was easy to kill Frosty, any snowman you may rip apart simply forms up from the snow, or liquid metal as we soon found out. Seems the rabbit lady spent a good deal of time perfecting her own army under the snow, and the cute little snowmen were simply camouflage. Underneath were rather menacing looking robot combat units and we were quickly being overwhelmed by them.
“Seems you were right!” cobalt said as he sliced down a robot and cut its head off “but killing these things in the head stops them cold”
“Yeah, but I doubt we will have enough ammo to stop them all!” Damnsel barks back as she sniped several of them with her rifle.
“They wont stop!” I shout “we need to stop it from the source!”
“Agreed” replied Silver “we need to get inside now”
“Then go!” said Nint…her Scavengers slowly being beaten back as she had drawn a pair of SMG’s “we will hold them here…you do what you were meant to robot!” she said as she shot a snow beast at close range in the face, spraying snow and liquid metal about “we will cover you.”
Silver nods…I nod…it was hard to just abandon what these people were doing, we couldn’t, we didn’t, but we had no choice. As we saw a break in the snow beast advance, we lunged, Silver in the lead, using his strength to slay the beasts to the side and make a hole to go through.
--
We entered slowly at fist, it was rather unusual for us not to come under heavy resistance as we neared the facility. Instead, we seemed to be running into less and less hostiles than those we left behind, as if they were…expecting us to enter. Silver lead the way, his robotic sensory scanning the entire area from his nose as a wolf would, each breath took in a bit of the load out and showed him, with it, the location of tangos.
“None….i got….wait….three contacts…look…organic”
“Organic?” I reply as Silver nods. We didn’t expect to encounter anything fleshy, Kiri detested them, so why here? Slowly we both entered the room the contacts were…and all three….were the scientist from the spectrum team
--
“Well, it seems you have done well Silver, your training as a special operations robot has finally be completed, soon, you shall be allowed to operate with our primary military that is shaping the way to restore and destroy all xenos…nothing left to bother us with, and nothing left to worry about cleaning….no more…discrimination towards us, the crap we take.”
Silver stood in awe as the female scientist ranted on, she had been so absorbed in telling Silver that no one noticed me…then again, that is my task, I’m an assassin.
While Silver got the tongue lashing and no doubt something else by the female, I had slid away toward the vent ducts….something….just didn’t seem right, it felt like someone was manipulating Silver, but how, he’s a robot, you cant simply confuse a robot….unless.
Something seemed to bother me, Silvers sudden emotions after we finally got free from the super zombie, something…had changed, but what? A robot cant simply change like that, it was…well…downright impossible.
But he did
He did right in front of me, and now he’s being manipulated…
I wanted to think more, but the sudden realization that silver was still in trouble made me jump to my feet. I didn’t doubt they were real and some conspiracy was afoot, that was probably why I was built…he must have known something was up….that’s why he was killed, I saw him killed in front of me….
I take that emotion and rush forward, even if they were here, the Kiri we know of is still around. After an hour or so scampering around the vent work, lord only knew what Silver was doing, I make my way to a grand chamber, it was quite decedent, golden furnishing, a Victorian feeling, nothing that would be seen in a base.
“Welcome”
A sweet voice echoed as I turned to see Kiri, though, she wasn’t from the video we saw of her, or the data we had, she…she…was a pure anthro rabbit.
I was not expecting guests” she said sweetly as she escorted me to the table that seemed to just appear before me. She slowly eased away and picked up a tray with a kettle, knife, and tea cup.
“Uh….that’s….I think” I reply, something didn’t feel right
“Oh…don’t be harmed, I never get anyone here anymore, its…always so lonely” she looked at me, her beady purple eyes, part robotic, part human, seemed to scream to me, but... I couldn’t tell if they were real or fake….they looked too good. As she handed down the tea, I felt a sudden pang in my back…as if…something very important was forgotten….or someone close was killed.
I wheel up
“what’s wrong?” Kiri says as I turn to her
“i…I just felt a sharp pain in my shoulder”
Kiri looks suspicious, but goes on pouring. I sit back down, slowly sniffing the tea….that’s when I picked it up
Poison….or some form of acid
A killer
I gaze at Kiri, I doubt she has noticed me, that’s probably why she can manipulate him, control his technology from the inside, give him the wrong readings, make him confused, and maybe an illusion. I slowly sipped some of the tea
“mmm…its quite good”
I say as Kiri smiles
“I’m glad…its made well
“yeah…though…was the poison part of-“ I stopped…Kiri whipped her gaze at me, suddenly black were white was, and her pink eyes flame into electric glow. She lunges at me, feeling my limbs hit the floor hard
“So…you think you can…control me too huh…think you can eradicate me/’
Her eyes flared, I continued to brace myself, waiting for an attack….but…one never came. I opened my eyes…was…the poison making me feel all tingly…but…no…that wasn’t right either, I couldn’t feel my limbs, but I wasn’t being injured, just pinned. Kiri was controlling my robotics….that’s what the acid smell was!
I never liked doing this…but there was one piece Kiri neglected to think of with my limbs….a tight squeeze on the muscle that only organic functions could detect, would release the lock…that means if anyone tried to crack it or fool it, it would know because only the wearer of the limbs could detach them like an energy escape hatch.
I did so, and with a hiss and fuss, the arms eject to my sides…my legs next and then finally…my tail, which actually wasn’t controlled.
I sighed as my body fwummped to the floor, limbless I try to roll over with my shoulder joints. It takes some time…and some pain, but I am able to slither over to the table….that tea was real but the table certainly wasn’t…it…didn’t smell.
I bump the table, the tea rumbles and suddenly drops, splashing hot liquid all over the room.
The result, whatever was causing that illusion failed…and I could see where I really was.
Around me was a giant, empty, windowless, shadowy room with a strange ting of metal and ozone, and small track lights illuminating various paths all around pointing to the center….and there….hanging between a massive 1 story tall base, and suspended almost 3 stories above that suspended by millions of cables that connect all over the room (and are even the landlines) She looked…exactly as I figured…cold…robotic, but trapped…almost trapped in something she never wanted to be part of…she was…alone, afraid and damn well crying to be released. The spectrum project didn’t end with Cobalt…Kiri…Kiri was the final project that had been started at the very beginning…till the end. Her purpose, destroy the failures…
I didn’t take long to figure she wasn’t too happy like this, she wanted out, freedom, I knew because after I saw her…my limbs stopped moving, and powered down…she knew we had come for her.
--
I left the room shortly after…my arms and legs and tail back in place, with Silver next door, staring at three illusions….i felt…curious as to why as the wolf suddenly snapped too and looked around
“what happened?” he asked with a monotone voice
“Oh…just the end of the world” I said teasingly, sticking out my tongue.
Though I jest…those illusions haunted me, could that team still be alive, could they still be trying to destroy us all…and what plans were they setting forth to…unleash.
I fear what we may soon face…but for now, our time is done.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you enjoyed that, I really liked how i wrote the last part, it really ties in the story and makes a few curious questions reviled to the reader...a possible future issue, perhaps, and perhaps a better quality too.
For now though, next on the block is Comic Pet...its an unusual story i created when i was in high school, finishing grade 12 visual arts. I had to work on a style of art, and make a piece on it. I did, working with comic books. i wrote out the story, not much of it, and then drew what I could onto it. I did rather well on it, was the course that helped me get into University.
anyway suffice to say and not to bore, I am going to enjoy this next story, ill be able to continue with what I know and improve on with a few ideas I've learn from the years after.
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