#liashconflict

[generalyen]

“I asked, where!” 

How long had it been? To feel someone’s very life throb under his hand. Just a little squeeze and he could end this one’s life right here and now. Yen did not find enjoyment in it, but he was well aware how much power he held right now.

The young Liash’s face was red as he struggled to even draw breath. Which was hard when you were being held a few inches off the ground and an armored powerful hand clasped tightly around your throat. Yen’s hand to be exact.

The Terran’s eyes were hard as stone as he ever so slowly tightened his grip. His expression was equally as hard. To his right stood the interrogator who would make sure the acolyte was telling the truth.

“All you have to do is tell us what we want to know...and this all stops. Its that simple.” Yen’s fingers dug into the young man’s neck, feeling the pulse quicken and the rise of fear in the other one.

As his prisoner sputtered and was now taking on a tinge of blue, the interrogator suddenly tilted his head and then looked to his commander.

“We have it sir.” Her voice was soft. “And it is truth.”

Yen gave her a short look before looking back to the Liash, who’s bulging eyes were fixed onto his own. “Well, that wasn’t so hard right?” His left hand opened and the Liash dropped in heap to the ground. “As I said. It stops.”

The Liash suddenly managed to lunge to his feet...but the only thing he saw was Yen’s hand snapping forward like a striking serpent. There was a sickening crunching sound as the blow connected with the Liash’s throat. The Liash would only manage a short gurgle and clutch at his throat before collapsing.

Yen turned away from the spasming body and nodded. Two soldiers immediately moved forward to seize it and take it away. “Saw that coming from a mile away. Is this intel useful?” “I believe so sir,” the interrogator said shortly, “will need to confirm with everything else we’ve gathered.” “Good, let me know the minute you learn something useful.”

[generalyen]

The quiet chime of a general alert reached Yen's ear despite the loud and rambunctious crowd of the pub. Catching Heinrich's eye, who had also heard the chime, Yen reached into his hoodie's pocket to retrieve his port tablet.

Ignoring the loud cheers as Will was currently engaged with singing a drinking song duet with another patron, Yen slid a thumb over the screen and the alert immediately came up.

He frowned slightly at the words, but quickly stashed the tablet away again before anyone else other then Heinrich noticed.

"What do you make of it?" Heinrich's mental voice quietly reached Yen's mental ear.

"Just a general alert so far, nothing serious, I don't think we need to worry about it right now. Its not red and we're off duty. Apparently somebody got mouthy in a meeting with the Voices."

"Hmph, gutsy. Ah well, let us not allow it to put a damper on the celebrations."

"Agreed my friend."

[areina-the-wolf-demon-blog]

Description of Areina

Age: 23

Species: 1/2 human, 1/2 wolf demon

Weapon of choice:  Moon, Sun, Star staff which can separate into three

different weapons: Moon sword, Star dagger, and Sun staff.

Abilities: She has complete control over water, ice, electricity, and metal. She can transform into a blue wolf and her size depends on the circumstances (ranging between the size of a German Shepherd and a four story building)  . She also has two light blue angel wings that she can release at will (most of the time they are hidden).

Bio:

Areina is the former princess of Shuro kingdom. Her uncle Shaddin killed her mother and father the former king and queen of Shuro. Areina is currently in hiding to hone her skills and abilities until she is strong enough to take back her kingdom. Areina's magic paired with her enhanced senses from her demon side make her a force to be reckoned with. She's normally quite docile but if you make her angry enough her inner demon will rip you to pieces. The Maximo spells are her most dangerous she hardly ever uses them because of how much energy they drain from her but if she uses one make sure you're out of harms way these spells kill any and all living things they strike.

[theinfinitealliance]

Z'ar, The Start

Commander Arnold Leonson nervously tried to stop himself from fidgeting as the gate technicians worked silently. Today was inspection day and that meant that any moment now, that great ring would flare and reveal the officer to do the inspection.

Speak of the Devil, the circuitry along the ring lit brightly as the center warped with the familiar distortion of a GATE. The Terran snapped to attention as the distortion enlarged and then retreated, leaving behind a duo of figures.

The male Terran was obviously the leader. Hands folded behind his back as dark murky blue eyes gave a brief sweep of the room. Short cropped dark hair was neatly pressed underneath a officer's cap to match with the rest of the officer's uniform. His rank indicator marked him a Major. At his sides, a Technoar technician peered through his visor at the room and made a few quick notes into his tablet.

"Major Morgan, welcome to the Z'ar base" Leonson's clipped greeting was met with a penetrating stare from the now identified Morgan, who then gave an approving nod.

"At ease Commander, let's try to make this as brief and painless as possible." Morgan's thick Irish accented English was even and measured. Leonson immediately fell in step with the Major as the three of them exited the GATE room, the doors hissing shut behind them.

"Yes sir. I am pleased to report that so far everything is on schedule here at the colony," Leonson found himself having a little trouble keeping up with the longer strides of his superior.

"Good, we need more good news. And how are the greens doing here at the base," Morgan returned, staring straight ahead.

"There have been some skirmishes with some gutsy pirates, but nothing they could not handle. Some of the wildlife as well." Leonson turned a corner with the Major as the three of them emerged onto a balcony overlooking a general training room.

Morgan's assistant had still said nothing, still carefully taking notes. Morgan himself gave a sweep of the room, watching fresh young recruits of various species training. From hand to hand combat, to marksmen training, he was pleased to see the youngsters working so hard.

"They should count their blessings. A lull should be appreciated considering what happened so recently." The Irishman pondered before looking to Leonson, who was giving him a carefully hidden nervous gaze. "Come then, we don't want to waste time."

[theinfinitealliance]

Face to Face

"Is this truly wise?" The synthesized voice echoed from the darkness, originating from a pair of great slit glowing neon green eyes lacking any form of pupils. They hovered far above the floor of the chamber, peering at its company. The vague shape of a robed figure is all that can be seen of the owner of the eyes.

A Naga bowed humbly, standing in the center of the chamber, and looking up the green eyes. "The Terran Voice has indicated that it be wise to meet our potential...partners before we settle on a deal." Her reptilian eyes turned to a pair of deep ruby eyes that glowed at the same level as the green ones.

"These...Liash, offer us a tempting deal. But we know better then to blindly accept help." The red eye's voice was deep and equally synthesized. The identities of the enigmatic leaders of the Infinite Alliance had to be protected. "Sometimes it takes a face to face encounter before we can come to a deal."

A thoughtful hum from a set of teal blue eyes. "As you say Terran" the Technoar Voice intoned flatly. A snort from the white eyes of the Draconian Voice.

The last figure, the only other one aside from the Naga who actually had a form, clicked its mandibles. The Sectis Voice, her holographic form enlarged to match her compatriots, was unreadable as always.

The Terran's red eyes gave off the impression of raised eyebrows. "Well, only one way to find out yes?" The gaze swung down to the Naga on the floor of the chamber. "Herald, you may welcome our guest in."

[theinfinitealliance]

Z'ar Inspection Report

Facts on Z'ar

Civilian Population: 500 Naga Sectis Infrastructure Hive: 750 individuals Base Population: 2000, mostly green recruits with a few officers to oversee

Currently colony is still in early stages of development. All basic infrastructure has been placed down and the colony proper has set up most domestic buildings.

Danger Level: Minimal, only known threat are pirates in nearby system. Have been forewarned about any incursions against the colony.

Assignment: Simple inspection to ensure colony is in working order and that base staff are receiving adequate training and experience.

[resolute-darkness]

White.  White white whitewhitewhite; everything was bright, colorless-bleached.  Walls, floor and ceiling; every light, every single one of the way-too-many.  White surrounded him; white enveloped him; white blended in with, permeated his skin.

He'd have preferred the Dark.

Darkness suited the Replica; he'd been born from it.  But the white...the bright lights of the laboratory, of the doctors' flashlights, of the operating tables...the burn wasn't always physical, but he began to feel it, deep within.

There was nothing he could do but endure.  The lights stung his sensitive eyes, but he powered through it squinting.  The poking and prodding of the doctors--the psychological tests of others--he endured it.  Because he had no choice.  Half the time, he couldn't move.  The other half, they bade him fight.  Fight, or the electricity comes.

He felt himself slipping.  After a while, it was too hard to filter out their suggestions.  So much easier to just do what they asked; his pain was shorter if he did, and less frequent.

Until he heard the higher-ups talking.

Funny, how the little things get overlooked.  That creatures born of Darkness have keener senses than those of humans.  Not just smell and sight, but hearing, too.  On the other side of the window, he heard them, and his suspicions were confirmed.  Laid out for him in bullet-point format; bare and transparent.  

He was their weapon.

Ha.  Hilarious.  Brainwashing him, huh.  Brainwashing him.  The Replica, who'd already had his mind rearranged, taken apart and put back together again.  But that had been the point, hadn't it?  Because they thought he was susceptible to it.  Vulnerable.  Re-programmable, and at their whim.

They couldn't be more wrong.

Giving in was easy.  The tricky part was not letting them know that he hadn't.  Pulling the wool over their eyes--pretending to be their complacent slave as they began to trust him more, as he kept his keen eyes and ears open for ways out--became his greatest pleasure.

Months.  Uncounted months.  He couldn't recall the last time he'd seen his family and friends.  The last time he'd heard his father snore or his mother laugh.  The last time he'd seen his brother's wry smile, or Van's stupid grin.  The last time he'd seen one of Ienzo's quiet gifts on his front porch.  For many months, a sickness curdled his Heart, accompanied by a vague worry for Sora, but he couldn't place why, no more than he could get out of this place.  He suffered it like he suffered everything else:  in silence.

They had to be looking for him.  Weren't they?  His keen ears told him more; his captors had forged letters.  Sent them to his brother; fed him lies.  'I never want to see you again.'  'You're the reason I left.'  'I can't stand living in your shadow any longer.'  Well, he'd give them one thing--they knew his mind.  But not his Heart.  Never his Heart.  But it was just as well...after so many months, he didn't want his family to see.  They'd be better off never knowing what he was becoming.

Never knowing what he was about to do.

[bluebomberv2]

The Liash Conflict Prelude pt. 4: Speak of the Devil

| Part 1:  Out of the Frying Pan (Sissel) | Part 2:  Into the Fire (X) | Part 3:  Murphy's Law (Sissel) |

The whole thing was his fault.

It was the Legacy Society.  He recognized every face.  People who had called him friend, family, for so many months, now looking at him with eyes blazing in hate, with faces twisted into gargoylesque shapes of rage.  Bellowing ravenous bloodthirst over the roar of automatics.

No; it hadn't been him that these humans had called friend.  It had been his undercover identity, a construct-personality, a person fabricated to let him infiltrate their ranks.  And now that they saw him for what he really was--a Reploid, a walking WMD, the object of their hatred--they were willing to cast aside all bonds of loyalty, even though those fraternal feelings had been based on lies.

X hesitated to shoot back.  But they didn't, and he had a civilian to protect.  He gritted his teeth, morphed his arm, and returned fire--non-lethal shots.  Non-lethal shots only.

They were human.  Deranged, hateful, murderous, traitorous--but still human.  He knocked the guns out of their hands; he blew up potted plants and trash cans to drive them back.  But he would not kill them.

It was his fault there were bullets present to hit Sissel's dimension-hopping watch, to send it on the fritz.  His fault the two of them got tossed into another world.  And another.  And another and another, for months, with no control of where they went, or when.

And no way to get word back to their homes, either.  The watch generated a field of dimensional distortion around them at all times.  Three times, they got lucky:  Sissel, with a borrowed laptop and with his phone, and X, with his transer.  He 'ported in his armor immediately after getting signal, and didn't complain about carrying it in a duffel bag everywhere when it wasn't in use.  He'd only had signal for a few seconds, and never again after that.

Internally, X blamed himself for it all.  But externally?  It was a lot easier to blame Sissel's watch.

"Are you sure you know where we are?"  His sigh carried a long-suffering groan, even as he took another look around.  The technology in this city was pretty advanced, the closest to his own world that he'd seen since the firefight at the cafe.  "No offense, but..."  He adjusted the duffel strap over his shoulder as he paused before deadpanning, "That watch of yours isn't exactly the most reliable piece of sh--piece of tech."

"No, I'm sure," the detective insisted, his tone growing more eager as one bony hand danced over the holographic interface projected by his watch.  "It says we're on the Terran homeworld.  I can't verify which version of it, but..."

X blew out another sigh, his head falling back on his neck.  "Sissel.  That thing only gives the proper data about 44% of the time, and you know it."  Several months of nonsense had given X plenty of data to draw that number from.

"It is,"  Sissel maintained.  His gaze flickered over to X, blond eyebrows knitting into a scowl behind his sunglasses.  "The level of tech here is greater than anything we've seen so far.  Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

X's lips twitched, just a bit.  Did Sissel suddenly forget who he was asking this?  "That alone isn't enough to draw a conclusion from," he rebutted, impatience rising.

"...I saw a Draconian?"

X's expression flattened, one eyebrow arching.  "Really."

"Really!"

"Are you certain of that."

"...Mostly?"

"AUGH!"  The Brigadier threw up his hands.  "Sissel, this is not the first time you've done this!"

"Done...?"

X huffed out a growled sigh.  "Remember Maurinatius?  The Telwind Empire?  That world with the snake people, too?"

"Naga."

"But not Alliance Naga, Sissel!  That world wasn't the one you thought it was, but you kept on insisting it was.  You kept on forcing your observations and evidence to fit the theory that you wanted rather than using your eyes and brains objectively!  You keep doing it over and over.  Honestly, what kind of detective does that make you?"  The Reploid huffed another sigh.  "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you really need to stop letting hope get to your head."

X could swear that the blond man puffed up before his eyes, like a tomcat who's just had water poured on him, a tomcat getting ready to claw the offender's eyes out.  "You've done it too, X."  He managed to keep calm, though the ire grating out of his tone was pretty apparent.  "Every single time we visited a world with synth-life..."

"There are a lot of versions of my world, okay?!  I've BEEN to quite a few!"

"That doesn't mean that every single one of them can point you in the direction of yours!"

"Well it's a start, isn't it?!"

"Alright, enough!"  Sissel's voice rose sharply enough to silence X.  The detective didn't show this much anger very often...not often at all.  The last time X had seen him this riled, it had taken Sissel nearly an entire day of brooding to come around again.  "...This isn't helping."  He let out a weary sigh.  "Of course we both cling to hope.  This situation is pretty nuts."

X let out a sigh too, green eyes dropping along with his shoulders.  "...and we've spent the past...howevermany months...trying to come up with a way out."  He raised one hand and gestured vaguely.  "But the fact remains that your watch has us locked in its distortion field."

"And I can't take the damn thing off," Sissel groused, clamping his other hand around his wrist for the umpteenth time.  "Damn thing fused to my circuits."

That one had been a bit much for X to swallow when he'd first learned.  That Sissel wasn't actually human, but a spirit, piloting an android body that could experience sensations and perform basic bodily functions.  He was basically a primitive Reploid, except his soul could detach.  And then possess and manipulate other objects...like some kind of ghost.  He had to shudder at the thought, once again.

"And I can't exactly ditch my body and just leave it in Gods only know what world...can't leave you in Gods only know what world.  I'm the one who got you into this mess, after all..."

X was inclined to disagree, but he didn't say it out loud--just offered Sissel a warm, tired smile.  "Don't worry about that."

The red-suited detective huffed out another sigh, this one a bit resigned, albeit frustrated.  "It's just...the only way I can see out of this mess is finding the Terran homeworld, getting to Paris, and getting into Cycorp Company.  We need Vector.  We need the guy who built this thing, cause he's the only one who can fix it."

X nodded.  They'd been through this one before.  "Right.  So the priority is trying to find worlds with high tech and seeing if they're Alliance worlds."  He let out a resigned sigh of his own.  "...I'm sorry Sissel.  I'm just frustrated.  We'll take a look around this world and see if it's the right one.  It's all we can do, right?"

"Yep," Sissel returned, an apologetic smile coming to his face.  "Pray we find Vector Du'Galle; that's the plan of attack."

It was as if those were the magic words.  A pair of bespectacled eyes and a pair of bright green eyes locked simultaneously onto Sissel's watch as it gave out a loud, cheerful beep.  It had never done that before.

And before either of them could utter a word, another bubble of distorted reality spewed from the watch, snatched the pair of them up, and dumped them out of a portal again in the next instant.

Sissel landed first.  On his face.  X came after, his posterior planting squarely onto Sissel's spine.

"OOF!  GACK--!"  The detective flailed around like a worm on a hook, trying to buck the Blue Bomber off of him.  "X!" he croaked.  "I can feel PAIN you know!  And right now your HUGE BUTT is crushing my spine!"

"Oops--!"  X popped up off of Sissel, lost his balance, and hit the deck again, rolling onto his side away from the detective.  "I'm sorry!" he squeaked.  He was heavier than he looked--several hundred pounds heavier.  "Sorry; sorry!"

"S'okay," Sissel groused, distracted as he pushed himself to a sitting position.  He adjusted his shades as he peered around, awe slowly overtaking his every feature.  "...X.  Do you know where we are?"

The Reploid blinked at their surroundings--the wide space with less than half the florescent lights on; white walls; sterile, dry air; and the low hum of machinery off somewhere they couldn't see.  "...a tech lab?" 

"Not just any tech lab...X."  Sissel lurched towards his traveling companion, a massive grin enveloping his face as he helped X to his feet.  "This is Cycorp's lab.  Vector's personal lab.  We made it, X.  We MADE IT!"

"...You certainly did," a tenor voice echoed out of the gloom.  Both detective and general jolted towards the source.  "...A more important question is...how did you get in here?"