Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Well, let's see if I can post a decent chapter after suffering a disapointment (see Totally Random Thoughts for details).

CHAPTER EIGHT:
The Choice to Be Made

"How could we possibly sacrifice the lives of a hundred people?" Shadow said incredulously. The RAFians who had seen the broadcast had gathered together in the verdant grass of the forum campus.

"We can't," Cloak said, tonelessly. "We also cannot permit Horse to die."

"That clears it up," Saffa said, snarkily. Rotiart had managed to worm his way into their conversation, but Saffa pulled out a pair of chopsticks and used them to hold his lips shut. She whispered to the others, "I've always wanted to do that."

"Use chopsticks to silence someone?" Gaz asked, as Laserbeak chirped his approval at Saffa's tactic.

"No," Saffa said, as Rotiart was looking on indignant. "Use chopsticks to silence Rotiart."

"This is not the time for levity!" Terenia said, scoldingly. "We have a very serious matter to discuss!"

"We have to do one or the other," Parker said, in a valiant attempt to get back on-topic*. "I cannot think of another option."

"Really?" Demos said, flippantly. "There is one blatant third option staring you in the face."

"Watch it, demon." Parker growled.

"Well, who says we have to play by Malice's rules?" Demos said, with a shrug. "The third option is that we simply go to wherever Malice is at and take the vial for ourselves."

"Great," Parker said, voice tainted with sarcasm, "in theory. Not so much so in practice. We have no idea where they are holed up --"

"Not entirely true," Goom said thoughtfully. "What Malice clearly did not know about the old communicators is that they require and record broadcast coordinates. If Malice broadcasted to every receiver on the planet, then she could've hidden her location. But she didn't. It was isolated to come directly to this location, and only this location."

"Are you saying --" Abby said.

"It does not appear as if Malice covered her tracks this t--" Goom began.

"Then it's a trap." Cloak said bluntly.

"You cannot say that for certain, Cloak." Parker said.

"Yes, I can. Malice always covers her tracks. That's how she eluded the Council." Cloak said.

"I thought you said they were idiots." Shadow said.

"Irrelevant! -- Although completely true. -- Malice is not one to make such an amateurish misstep."

"Her Machiavellian schemes don't always pan out, you know. We've defeated her a number of times." Saffa said.

"Yes, it's true." Cloak conceded. "But we've always won through trial and error, with tenaciousness and effort. This? This is too easy."

"Hey," Parker said, raising his hands in mock surrender (Cloak was not amused), "I wasn't saying it was gonna be a walk in the park. But it is an option that isn't a Sophie's choice."

Cloak had to agree with this logic. But he remained certain this was a trap, and he would be the first one in.

---
*Yes, we can even get off-topic here, in "Memoirs".

[redtailedsaffa]

Going off topic is a given thing with RAF.

[Cloak]

Sorry that I doubt didn't post a chapter yet, I just got distracted with other things. I may not post until tomorrow. But I'll leave you with two more book ideas.

• Book CCCXXXI: "Mylock Menace" -- The RAFians are trapped in space due to mylocks on Yarin's ship.
• Book CCCXXXII: "How I Met Your -- Oh, No" -- An old enemy, believed to be dead, resurfaces, using neural parasites. Meanwhile, Parker meets Helen's parents.

Titles may change.

[theyoungphoenix]

I think I paled a few skin colors when you described the Arachnoids. Spiders and scorpions should not mix. Nuh-uh. Scary, scary beings. . . *shivers*

[Cloak]

As my friend would say -- "Eh."

Now, I'm gonna try to post two chapters today.

CHAPTER NINE:
Raiders of the Antidote

"Why do all these creepy crawlies always take to island bases or citadel isles?" Abby said nervously.

"Abby, don't get so jittery. You've been an arthropod creature before." Cloak said.

"Spiders and scorpions should not mix!" she said, clearly finding it unnerving.

"You're a speciesist?" Parker said, playfully. He was lucky Abby had not acquired a basilisk, and that human glares generally did not kill. "They're just bugs, Abby. They go 'squish' like any other."

"Easy for you to say," Abby grumbled. "All decked out in titanium alloy armor."

"Zoodeitium-titanium alloy armor, actually." Cloak said as they observed the hive island headquarters from afar. "Really, Parker, what do you think enables to switch armors without having to suit up?"

"You know guys, for a stealth mission," Blue said, reminding them of the entire point of this mission, "you're talking really, unnecessarily loud!"

"We'll keep it down to a dull roar," Cloak said expressionlessly.

"It'd be appreciated," Blue said, with a poker face to match Cloak's.

From there, all levity was lost as ther seriousness of their stealthy raid of the hive was underway. Finding an entrance point proved only mildly difficult. The sun was up, as it was midday, and the Arachnoids prefer the dark and the damp. They all be inside the hive . . . which Cloak wasn't sure why they had to begin with, as spiders nor scorpions were hive animals. Perhaps it was evidence that they were not spiders and scorpions, not truly, despite their similarities. They obviously have active breathing, as it is usually impossible for insects and arachnids to grow to this size and still be able to breath, as they do it passively. They breathe through holes in thorax that had a specific term that Cloak could not remember.

WHACK!

Parker had smacked Cloak just hard enough to get his attention. It was unnecessary to do, but Parker wasn't permitted to speak. Were these just overlarge spiders and scorpions, Cloak would think it unnecessary to be sneaky, as they have rather crappy vision, but these Arachnoids see as well as humans. Granted, it's not much better, Cloak thought jovially, but it gets the job done.

They discovered the easiest way into the nest was an entrance by a stream. It was completely in perpetual shade, and had only one guard. The guard was a rather scrawny male, who possessed knobby joints that were connected to legs like toothpicks. His tail was like a goose-necked lamp, and his torso was about as built up as Jack Skellington. Cloak narrowed his eyes. This was as subtle as a sledgehammer to a wall.

Blue quickly dispatched the guard and proceeded on. Had the worry for little Horse clouded the judgement of the others? Cloak chose not to believe thst, deciding he may just be very paranoid. The others followed with a reluctant Cloak taking up the rear.

[Cloak]

Now, the second chapter today. Might post a third, but don't bank on it.

CHAPTER TEN:
Prelude to the Slaughter

Silently, they slunk around the enemy territory. Cloak still had misgivings, which became to numerous, to insistent to ignore for very long. Was this simple paranoia? His ears were perked to every sound, he Earthsighted as often as possible, but continued to come up with nothing. Yet, he could help but feel agitated.

Abyy was agitated, too, but it was more because she found the Arachnoids so dang creepy. She wasn't in morph, but was ready to at a moment's notice. But she remained a bit high strung. Parker and Blue remained calmly indifferent -- or maybe they had better control over their emisgivings and feelings than Cloak did.

The fact that they had yet to see a single Arachnoid was disconcerting to Cloak, while Abby was thankful. But this was most odd. This was supposed to be their headquarters, and yet it seemed abandoned. There was no getting around it, no matter the rationalizations Cloak told himself.

It was a trap, pure and simple. Cue Admiral Ackbar meme.

"We're in trouble." Cloak said, fur standing on end beneath his cloak, "Abby, morph."

"Morph what?"

"Anything!" Cloak growled in such a way that said that this isn't the time for questions. Immediately, Abby's skin began to harden into a rock-like texture with a horn soon protruding from her face as her hands lost all dexterity.

The reason for Cloak terse reaction was because he realized, with a sickening jolt to his stomach, that he can't Earthsight the Arachnoids. Their legs distribute their weight more efficiently than most other beings, as they distribute it on eight legs instead of two or four. This makes the bibrations sent out from each step "look" far lighter than it was, being imperceptible to those with Earthsight. It might be different with Metalsight, but now wasn't the time to test as lights went up.

The RAFians were in what appeared to be a gladiatorial arena, with high up stands -- like the one on that bug planet. At the seat where an emperor would sit was Malicesl, looking rather bored, twirling the antidote in her hands.

"How disappointing." Malice said, sounding truly disappointed. "You didn't play the rules of the game."

Abby had completed her morph to a Crabdozer, as Cloak was outraged and indignant, "Game? GAME?! Malice, these are real people, with friends, families, and lives! They aren't your toys to do with as you please! You have no right --"

"And neither do you." she countered, wearing a look of insufferable smugness and shrewdness.

"What?" Cloak said, flummoxed. Out of all her responses, that was the one that Cloak had least expected.

"What you're doing is no different from me." Malice continued. "You interfere in these Dwellers' lives just as much as I do. I have as much right to be here as you do. Save your morality slosh for the weak-minded fools you toy with."

These words spoke to a hidden fear of Cloak's and Malice knew from his silence that she struck a cord.

<Cloak, don't listen to her!> Abby yelled as Cloak's self-doubt took hold once more.

"Well, that was fun." Malice said, as if she had just completed a level of Word Whomp. Then she snapped her fingers, and Arachnoid prisoners came onto the field. These were the ones that survived Malice's takeover of the hive. They were starved and little more than beasts in heart, mind, and body.

It was going to be a massacre, a slaughter.

[redtailedsaffa]

This is terrifying.

[Cloak]

I didn't expect this book to be terrifying when I first planned out the chapters. Funny how that just happens. Now, another chapter.
 

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
A Tithe Ultimatum

Soon, all the Arachnoid gladiators, for lack of a more appropriate term, were smears of squished goo or burnt extra, extra crispy. Malice stopped twirling the antidote, and clapped very slowly, in a patronizing way.

"Very good, you beat the weakest Arachnoids." she said.

"Shut up," Cloak snarled.

"Oh, dear. You don't want to hear how this was a most obvious trap? That I made your path so simple for the sole purpose of bringing you to this stadium, this arena, crude though it is?" Malice said, inappropriately and inordinately coy. "My dear Cloak, even you should have been able to discern that. I thought the blatant absence of soldiers and warriors in the corridor would have surely tipped you off."

She rubbed her chin grandioely, and Cloak found himself hating her.

"Perhaps the poisoning of the seal has caused you to become reckless," Malice mused very audibly. "I know the Arachnoids disturb the Crabdozer."

<Do not!> Abby protested, already demorphing. Her tough features as a Crabdozer softening to more pliable, more fragile human flesh.

"The protestations of Dwellers are meaningless to me." Malice said, dismissively.

It was then Abby's anger beat her Arachnoid unnerving, and she growled to Malice, "The protestations of Dwellers should have some meaning to you by now! Considering how often the RAFians foil your plans!"

"Not to mention the lives of these Dwellers that you so willingly cast aside, Malice," Cloak added, "are more worthwhile than your own."

Malice's eyes bulged rather derrangedly. "No RealmDweller has ever bested me! None of you miserable ants are superior to me! You're only fit to lick my boots if I wanted your lowly slime to mar them!"

The Arachnoids looked at each other, but Cloak couldn't tell if they comprehended what was going on here. They may be sentient or just near-sentient. He did not know unequivocally to the truth to either. But this could be why Mega-Maul and Ravager were conveniently absent, as they are both Dwellers.

"What you say and what you do are often in conflict it seems." Cloak said, shrewdly picking at this line of thought. Perhaps the Arachnoids might mutiny against her. Cloak failed to account for the unwavering loyalty that Arachnoids give their leadership, granted there were about 61 of the creatures left. "You arm yourself with Dweller beings, Dweller weaponry, and Dweller . . . creatures."

Malice, far from feeling mollified, was snarky and angry. "Arachnoids aren't as useless as most of the Dwellers here, that's for sure! But it's no different from YOU, Cloak! You use those Dwellers you rub elbows just I use the Dwellers in my employ."

"'Employ' implies you pay them," Parker pointed out. She ignored him, as he was a Dweller after all.

"I do not use them in the way you do, Malice." Cloak said. "They -- with the exception of Rotiart, of course -- are my friends. Sadly, Malice, friendship is a subject that you are woefully inexperienced with, evidently."

"ENOUGH!" Malice roared. She was on her feet now, not looking remotely bored anymore but quite livid.with the vial clutched loosely in her hand. "The tithe is raised to a tnousand heathy humans by sundown tomorrow. Now, get the Veil out."

"She cannot be seriously thinking that THAT is gonna work," Blue said.

[redtailedsaffa]

Suddenly Malice is reminding me of one of my screaming fifth-grade teachers.

[Cloak]

Lol, Saffa.
 

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Ninja . . . Vanish!

"Didn't you hear me?" Malice said, addressing the RAFians. "Your superior said, 'Get the Veil out!' Surely, that is not too complicated for your inferior minds to process?"

"Malice, you are, in no way, superior to us," Cloak said, with a tone that said quite clearly that he was really getting tired, not to mention losing his patience, with this prejudice his species majority seemed to have. They were the oldest civilization, it's true, but it was high-time they grew up, and became much more egalitarian. "Just cut out that whole spiel. It has gotten really excruciatingly tiresome."

"I will not lower myself to the level of my lessers!" she snarled.

"'Lessers'?" Cloak repeated, distainfully and contemptuously. "Really, Malice? You're seriously using that word?"

"It applies! Realm Walkers are all inherently superior to Realm . . . wait. Why are we talking about this? Why are you wasting time, time that you know that your seal friend does not have much of?" Malice said, changing tack mid-sentence, with some sparking insight. Then she eyed the RAFians very carefully, very calculating, and very suspiciously. "Weren't there four of you?"

Cloak remained silent on the matter, and tried to divert attention from it. "You must be going blind, Malice! What you see is what you got."

"You lie." Malice said savagely. "This is a trick."

Her eyes darted around aimlessly and suspiciously, as if hoping to visually reclaim the missing RAFian. She was not fooled -- for very long -- about the log that had replaced Blue's location.

"Where is it, Cloak? Where is the other one of your RAFians?" Malice demanded.

Cloak said nothing. He knew Malice was rapidly losing control of the situation, and her threats were pitiful. This was going to end here. But Cloak knew he couldn't kill Malice. Just doing that with Cataclysm nearly destroyed him from the inside out.

"Enough of this Gateburst shell game!!" Malice said. "Tell me where it is or I will smash this vial right now!!"

Suddenly, the Arachnoids looked sort of mutinous. They wanted that tithe, and now Malice, in her fervent desire to find and capture the missing RAFian, was going to deny them that. But it was forgotten when a male cried out in pain, a shurriken caught in his neck.

"Foolish ninja! I've got you now!" she said, as she lunged for spot where the shurriken was thrown, but there was nothing but darkness there. Malice roared, "Gateburst it!!"

"Such a potty mouth," Cloak said, with deliberate hypocrisy.

"Shut the Veil up!" Malice screamed at Cloak.

"Not so fun when you're the one at the disadvantage, is it?"

"Am I, Cloak?" Malice said, regaining her lost composure. "You forget. I still hold the vial!"

Then she smashed the vial at her feet, and then she had an ashen look on her face as if she forgot something. The Arachnoids milled around with a rumbling sound of discontent.

Meanwhile, Cloak smelled the main ingredient from the antidote, strangely enough. It surprised him, true, but what surpised him more was that he recognized it.

[redtailedsaffa]

I have a feeling that when Malice dies, if at all, somehow Cloak won't be responsible. Even though only a Realm Walker can kill another Realm Walker... but still. 

[Cloak]

Not commenting on that, as Saffa still has that skillet in hand.

Sorry, but I don't think that a can post another chapter until tomorrow. I may be able to later, but don't bet on it. Tired.

• Book CCCXXXIII: "Baaaaaad Gingerbread" -- The RAFians must face gingerbread men born from batter and Kanabo seeds.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Malice Has Got Problems of Her Own

The RAFians withdrew dejectedly. That antidote was the only cure to Horse's condition, and now it was gone. Cloak, however, had his mind whirring. He knew he recognized a scent from the smashed vial . . . but what could it have been?

"Where do you think you four are going?!" Malice demanded. She wanted them out before, and now is demanding them to stay until she dismissed them again. The Realm Walker clearly had a lot of control issues. "Get back here until I say you can go!!"

They ignored her.

"Lies. Promises unfulfilled. Treachery." came the hissing voices of many Arachnoids in a chorus of sinister chant. "Lies. Promises unfulfilled. Treachery. Lie. Promises unfulfilled. Treachery. Lies . . .

The Arachnoids had witnessed the smashing of the vial, of course. They were sufficiently intelligent enoUgh to know that, without that vial, they would not be getting their tithe of flesh. This was something that did not sit well with them. Not well at all.

"Not now, bug-brains!" Malice said, scornfully dismissive. Malice turned her attention back to the RAFians, but they had long left. "No! They ignored their superior!"

The Arachnoids did not let up in their chant, as they pressed in on Malice in a circle. Malice looked unconcerned, with good reason too, as the venom would not affect a Realm Walker at all. But th Arachnoids either did not know this, did not care, or both. They continued to press in on her, closing the circle in.

"Back the Veil off," Malice warned. This just proved that Malice was in a merciful mood. She normally didn't issue warnings. Especially warnings that were immediately ignored. "I'm not going to say it again."

Still they pressed in on her. And her towering rage lead to deadly consequences. She fired energy daggers from each of her fingers, which easily ripped through the chitonous skin of the Arachnoids as if they were mere paper. More and more fell. More, until only two survived.

"S-s-sorry." the female wimpered. "We forgot our place!"

"Forgive us." the male pleaded.

"You will regreat turning on me." Malice said, with a cool edge to her voice. "Even I have regrets. And right now, I regret breeding you from those Venoxican eggs!"

"Please . . ." the female cried.

". . . Show mercy, please . . ."

They clearly did not know Malice to well. Malice doesn't show mercy. She thinks it's beneath her. Malice's eyes narrowed ominously.

"Mercy," she said, "is for the weak."

And, with that, no more Arachnoids existed in the Prime Universe. Not anymore.

[Cloak]

'Nother chaper.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Elated Epiphany

Cloak was the straggler on the way back, while the other three were extremely moody. Parker had become surly and hostile, Blue had become devastated and beat himself up, and Abby sobbed unabashed. No one said a single word. They had failed in their very important mission, and now . . . and now Horse would suffer for their ineptitudes. They would have to bear the responsibility for her death.

Meanwhile, Cloak knew he had smell that scent before. It was pungent, like the kind of bathroom no one ever cleaned. The liquid inside the vial was glowing and radioactively green. Cloak had the annoying feeling that he had all but one of the puzzle pieces, and the puzzle was only partially put together.

They kept marching to RAF, none real eager to give the news of their failure. Each felt horrible about what they allowed to happen. Why is it always Horse? She managed to survive being eaten by the Pootang countless times, and this does her in? It's like Steve Irwin all over again.

This shouldn't have happened. Kelly should have been able to heal her. She could heal any injury, any toxin, and physical malady in the Realm. Cloak blinked and stopped short.

In the realm.

But what if the Arachnoids, and thereby the cure ingredient, was from the realm? But where could they be from? What possible realm could they hail from? Where could he possibly start? There a thousand realms in existence for every star you see at night. It could take him years, and that's years Nexus time, to divine the cure location, to identify the scent.

Then a flash of insight.

A world of toxic gases, virulent liquids, and polluted lands. And, yet, in spite of this, life thrived. A land that Cloak had only briefly visited once before. It wasn't pleasant, it wasn't fun. But Horse's life wasn't in danger then.

"Venoxica," Cloak said, aloud. The other three looked back at him, and he elaborated. "The Arachnoids are from this realm about as much as I am. They are from one of the Fractured Realms -- Venoxica."

"Then how'd they --" Abby said, then thought about it for a second, and then said. "Oh."

"Well, I could tell Malice threw a fit back there. There was quite a light show." Blue said.

[redtailedsaffa]

Okay. Now Malice was truly terrifying. Almost Dalek-like.

[theyoungphoenix]

Yeah. Malice is pretty bad. Still not as bad as the Arachniods. *shivers*