Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Eh, far enough from the Banned headquarters (though "nest" probably would be more accurate), but close enough to RAF for reinforcements to come, if necessary.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Helmet's Off to You

"Shadow!" Cloak scolded. "Get down from there!"

Shadow did not listen to her uncle, but began to loosen the Juggernaut's helmet. She heard her uncle's concern, but she was in the perfect position right now. She was small enough to go unnoticed by the Juggernaut, possessing high agility, and mastery over the Metal element. She knew what she had to do, and her uncle's overprotectiveness would hinder the plan.

Impetuous? Perhaps. But her plan was succeeding. His helmet came free and tumbled to the ground. Shadow leaped off the Juggernaut's overlarge back, and seized the helmet. She uses her mastery over Metal to twist it until it could not be worn again.

"Now Yarin!"  she cried.

"It's not working!" Yarin said, after five minutes.

"Don't you think that I would think of that?" the Juggernaut sneered. He was wearing an odd stone-studded metal skullcap. "How do you think that I got captured before?"

"He was captured before?" Gaz said, in an aside.

"Evidentally," Oceanspray replied, in an aside too.

"Clearly, it was kept hush-hush by the muckety-mucks in the government," Cloak responded dryly. "The skullcap he's wearing. It's vibranium. Vibranium studded with psitonium."

"Those sound fake," Shadow said.

"They're real." Cloak said. "But clearly --"

They had to scatter as the Juggernaut charged them, his face now exposed. He wasn't very attractive, and he was little more than a raging bull. It must have been the Crimson Ruby of Cyttorak that prevented the Red Lanterns from claiming him.

"So," came a voice in their midst suddenly, "what's the hippity-hap?"

"Demos, when have you ever said that?" Cloak said, without looking. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Can't a demon just come out and possess a cow?" Demos said, flippantly.

"You're not in a cow."

"I took a wrong turn in Albuquerque*, okay?"

"More pressing concerns, guys!" Gaz reminded.

Demos noticed the Juggernaut , and pulled a face. "Ah, yes. Cyttorak's stooge."

"Say what?" Shadow said.

"Oh, yes, excuse me." Demos said, preening his silk suit. "Cytorrak's Exemplar."

He rolled his yellowed eyes at the last word. Clearly Demos did not think very highly of Cytorrak.

"Cytorrak exists in this realm, then." Cloak said, noting to himself. "So his Crimson Bands and the Crimson Ruby exists as well?"

"Why wouldn't they?" Demos asked, perplexed.


*Obligatory Bugs Bunny reference.

[redtailedsaffa]

Looks like the reinforcements are here.

[Cloak]

Well, yes and no.

Anyway, I am currently planning my way through Book CD, which is looking to exceed the requisite twenty chapters.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
RAFians Unbound

Back at Genosha, Parker was tasked with quarrying rock with the other physically-inclined metahumans. He despised the work -- though maybe he would if he was paid and fed well for it and, of course, had a choice in the matter. He wasn't afraid of toil, he just chafed at the fact that he was being forced to do it at what was essentially gunpoint.

Aquilai was tasked with building and maintaining machinery. He didn't need his powers for it, but was threatened if he tried to sabotage the products, he would be killed. Apparently, his gauntlets were wired to an explosive stud in each one. They apparently were not aware of a Time Lord's regeneration ability. Though Aquilai wasn't keen on living through such an explosion. Still . . . he had a sneaking suspicion that they were lying about the explosives in his gauntlets, but he had smartly said nothing.

Horse was tasked with using water to separate metal ore from stone, to separate gemstones from mineral stones. Horse was permitted to use her hydrokinesis to do this, and she really got riled by this. She did not like being dictated when she could and couldn't use her abilities. Being a slave really chafed her.

All three did. Though they were separated -- deliberately so by their so-called "masters" -- they were united in this feeling, in this irritation. They were not able to speak to each other, as the Warden apparently aware that the three could possibly unite against him, and he was having a lovely life at the top. He was very comfortable and fat, simply by oppressing people he considered to be subhuman, not even worth the time of day.

But he made a grievous mistake by kidnapping RAFians, by buying them. The RAFians would not take this indignity lightly. He just bought a spark and brought it to a powder keg. And he knew it, though he tried to tell himself different . . . tried to ease his worries . . . they wouldn't do anything. They weren't anything special. They would break just like all the others. They would break, then they would be perfectly compliant. They would work and do everything that he would ask of them.

His worries were unfounded. Yes, that was it. Unfounded. His misgivings were just mere paranoia. Paranoia . . . nothing else but paranoia. He shouldn't lose sleep about it . . . but he did lose sleep about it. He just kept thinking about Parker's open defiance, and it really stood out to the Warden. Him and his compatriots . . .

Talk about buyer's remorse.

But the apparatus by which they turned powers on and off had a flaw. One that only three of the currently slaves possessed. It allowed them to deactivate the apparatuses binding their powers, though it looked to be still in good working order.

But, after all, the Genoshan slave masters and traders knew nothing about Unity Energy or the Marks . . .

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
RAFian-Run Riot

It didn't take the RAFians very long to realize that their power-suppressing devices were now faulty. They immediately did away with the gauntlets and assorted accumen.

"Ugh," Parker grunted. "I wonder wear they're hiding my armor."

"What?" Horse said.

"My armor! I had it when we were captured. That techbomb may have shorted out the systems then, but it should have rebooted by now."

"Parker, we have more pressing concerns!" Horse said, reproachfully.

"Hey, my armor is important to me!" Parker snarled. "I already have had someone steal the designs! I was just lucky that I somehow could absorb them, but I digress."

"What does this have to with anything? We need to get out of here." Horse said.

"No," Aquilai said, with surprising finality.

"What?" both said.

"We cannot just leave," the Time Lord said. "We cannot just abandon these poor metahumans. We cannot allow them to remain in slavery."

"Very well, Mr. Lincoln," Horse said, caustically, "what do you propose we do then?"

Aquilai eyed the seal, but let her acidic words slide. He knew that she was venting her frustration.

"I was thinking," Aquilai answered, after a prudent pause, "a riot."

***

"What's this?" the Warden snarled angrily. He addressed a nearby Overseer, "Get 'em back into their barracks!"

What he meant was "cells".

"Their powers are on!"

"Then turn them off, you idiot!"

But that was just not gonna happen. They cannot turn their powers off, the gauntlets were gone.

"What are you waiting for, dolt?!" the Warden snapped. "Turn them off!"

"I --"

BOOM!

More property damage.

"Sir, I can't!" the Overseer said, pleadingly.

"Don't be weak, fool!"

"No, sir, the controls won't work! The Control Gauntlets aren't being worn!"

"Oh, my God . . ." the Warden muttered.

[redtailedsaffa]

He's a pretty weak guy to actually be able to break anybody.

[Cloak]

Eh, all tyrants are inherently weak. But, bear in mind, there's like 87 or so metahumans there. Some that have powerful (though inexperienced) active abilities.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Cyttorak and His Ruby

"Demos," Cloak said, at once, "where is the Crimson Ruby of Cyttorak?"

"Over there," Demos said. He pointed to the twisted remains of the Juggernaut's helmet.

Cloak was briefly nonplussed by this. Then he supposed that whoever this Juggernaut was before being being bestowed a fraction of Cyttorak's power by way of the Ruby was a very arrogant, possessive man. It should have been little surprise that he would want to keep it close.

"Why is the Ruby so important?" Gaz asked.

"Well, it may work differently in this realm," Cloak said, prefacing his explanation, "but I have been to another realm where a Cyttorak exists. In that realm, the Ruby is what made the Juggernaut a juggernaut."

"An Exemplar," Demos said. "The ruby -- or crystal, may be more accurate -- empowers whoever holds it, reciting a stupid command, and granting them part of Cytorrak's power. I always thought it was stupid. Them and their stupid Octoessence or whatever it is. Just a way to feed their already enormous egos."

A brief silence met these words, until Shadow said, "I think you got off on a tangent there."

"All I heard was blah, blah, blah, something about eight essences," Gaz said, flippantly.

"I heard all I needed to," Cloak said, fishing out the ruby from the helmet. It rather like the size of a small PokeBall, able to fit in the palm of a moderately-sized human comfortably. "This is his weakness."

"You're not going to do what I think you are, are you?" Demos said. All levity had left him.

Cloak said nothing, and didn't spare a look at the others. He levitated the ruby up in a golden-scarlet energy bubble.

He said, "Hosoeverway oldshay isthay emgay allshay ebay antedgray ethay owerpay ofay ethay Imsoncray Ystalcray ofay Ttorakcyay! Enceforthhay, ouyay owhay eadray esethay ordsway, allshay ecomebay . . . orevermorefay ... ay umanhay uggernautjay!"

Crimson energy was leeched out of the Juggernaut, who seemed to realize what was going on. He protested -- which was sounding more progressively like whining. He became thin, lanky, nerdy, and awkward. He couldn't be older than twenty-five, and he was bawling. He enjoyed his powers. Enjoyed them enough to freely abuse them.

"Pig latin?" Oceanspray inquired.

"Hey," Cloak said, with a shrug, "it worked."

The ruby, still ensconced in the energy orb, was now held by Cloak. Cloak sensed a rush of rage and power coming from his right. It wasn't the former Juggernaut, but someone knew.

"HOW DARE YOU?!"

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Genosha Jalopy

The RAFians allowed the metahumans to topple this fascist regime. They did not stop them. Even when Parker discovered his armor, which seemed to rejoice as he donned it, they did nothing. They helped neither hindered the metahumans, remaining ultimately neutral.

"Why don't you just install a vocal-imprinting calling system and be done with it?" Aquilai asked.

"I . . . am not . . . GizmoDuck," Parker grated. "I will not enable my armor to come to me by shouting 'blathering blatherskite'."

"How about 'Shazam', then?" Aquilai suggested, affecting an air of innocence.

Parker heaved a deeply glowering look at Aquilai, who put up his hands in mock surrender. Parker put his helmet and felt really complete. He had felt rather naked without his armor, and he was elated to be reunited with it.

"Doesn't it strike you as odd that it happened to be here?" Horse said. Her tone was quiet and thoughtful, as if something was bothering her unrelated to what she was saying. She was watching the brutal clashes between with the slave owners and the freed metahumans. "With little security? Minimal defenses?"

"What are you getting at?" Parker said.

"Horse, it can't be a trap," Aquilai said, practically. "These people were overreliant the gauntlets and things -- on metahuman labor and such. They are also preoccupied with the struggle to control the metahumans."

Horse said nothing for a moment, but looked away. Aquilai quickly surmised Horse's misgivings true source.

"Horse, it was inevitable," Aquilai said, gently pragmatic. "Those who oppress others will inevitably be disposed. Just societies cannot stand upon opprssion and still be taken seriously. Slavery will never stay silent eternally."

"But if anyone dies . . ." Horse said, looking down, "if anyone dies . . . we will be responsible for it."

The three began their travel away from Genosha. Helen and Sam was picking them up with their Lantern powers, and returning them to RAF. Aquilai continued to address Horse, "No, Horse. The responsibility does not lie with us. We did instruct them to kidnap metahumans because they did not want to do the direct, dirty work that comes from menial work. Because they did not want to use machines to do things that the metahumans did."

Horse said nothing. It sounded like empty words to her, but Aquilai was probably right. But it would take a while before she would come to terms with it.

[redtailedsaffa]

Wow. That last chapter. So much grey.

[Cloak]

Uh, yeah . . . I'd get used to that, if I were you. . . . There are gonna be less light-hearted books down the line. That's as much as I can say without this becoming a spoiler.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Threats

"HOW DARE YOU?!" the voice rang out again.

Demos sighed heavily, as if bracing himself for a very unpleasant visitation with a crotchety old family member or family friend. He muttered, "And now ol' Red Dome comes a-calling."

"WHAT RIGHT HAVE YOU?!" the voice thundered again. "WHAT RIGHT HAVE YOU TO DEPOWER MY EXEMPLAR?!"

"Oh, will you knock it off with the 'scary voice' schtick already, Cyttorak?" Demos shouted, clearly annoyed. "That was old and cliche aft the seventeen thousandth time you've done it, Metalhead!"

It was at this disrespectful, flippant remark that Cyttorak showed himself. He resembled the Juggernaut a great deal, only totally and completely enclosed in crimson armor. He had no visible eyes or mouth. It was almost as if he was an off-world Prypiatosian-B, in a containment suit. He stood several feet taller than the Juggernaut did, and had a more massive frame. And, yet, Cloak felt no intimidation by the creature, nor did his niece. Demos seemed just annoyed by it. The others seemed to treated it with apprehension and caution.

Honestly, Cloak suspected greatly that Cyttorak was secretly insecure, and was overcompensating for something. But he said nothing about it -- no need to exacerbate the situation in a negative way.

Cloak quickly realized that when he was musing Demos and Cytorrak were arguing. Bickering, really.

"You ignorant whelp!" Cytorrak snarled. "Don't disrespect your superiors!"

"Superiors? You seriously including yourself in that?" Demos snickered. "Like I'd ever consider someone with a poster of Cthulu in a polka dot bikini my superior."

"THAT . . . THAT . . . how do you know about -- er, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!"

"I was guessing," Demos said, smirking cheekily.

"INSUBORDINATE WHELP!"

"What is with malicious people and overusing the word 'whelp'?" Demos said, irreverently.

"YOU --"

"As entertaining as all this bickering is," Cloak said, showing the Ruby still encased in the golden-scarlet energy bubble. "Cyttorak, if you don't back off right now, I'll destroy the Ruby."

"You foolish mortal. You don't have the power." Cyttorak said, imperiously. He was attempting to intimidate Cloak, and was getting a little miffed when it didn't work.

"You don't know what I am, do you?" the Realm Walker said, realizing the truth at once. "Well, allow me to give you the brief highlights then. I am a master over the Six Elements -- Fire, Air, Water, Wood, Metal . . . and . . . Earth. And rubies are Earth."

"You're . . . you're bluffing!"

Cloak sioently wondered why he couldn't just make another one, why this particular one was so important. But he just gave the demon a heavy-lidded look and said, "Try me."

[redtailedsaffa]

But would he? :O

[Cloak]

You shall see.

Anyway, at this time of writing, Book CD ("The Ultimate Enemy") will be 28 chapters.

New chapter, last one of this book.
 

CHAPTER TWENTY:
Swappin' Stories

"Stop milking the suspense, Cloak," Saffa scolded. "What happened then?"

"Cyttorak decided that his Ruby was too precious to lose, so he reluctantly acquiesced to our demands." Cloak said, thoughtfully.

"Wait," Abby said, perplexed deeply, "why would he just give up and go away to protect a ruby?"

"I can't say as to why, to be honest," Cloak said, wearily. "But it had to be of some importance, otherwise Cyttorak wouldn't have been so keen on protecting it."

"What about Mark Kane?" Underseen asked.

"Imprisoned," Gaz said, "for his crimes as the Juggernaut."

"Why didn't Cyttorak just give him the powers of the Juggernaut back?" Saffa asked.

"He probably feels affronted in some way by Kane," Demos said. "Cyttorak and his seven other fellows -- very easy to offend. Oftentimes, it is unintentional."

"You really don't like him, do you?" Aquilai asked the demon.

"No. No, I don't." Demos said. "Any more than Cloak likes Malice. There is a similar age disparity."

Cloak glanced at Horse, with concern. She was away from the group, at the northern-most point of the lake. She had what appeared to be a morose look on her face. She clearly was still fretting about Genosha -- they still have yet to settle down. It didn't help that some politicians were advocating invading Genosha to "help", though it is a transparent attempt to grab Genosha's resources.

"How is Horse doing?" Cloak asked Aquilai.

"She's suffering guilt still," Aquilai replied, somberly looking at Horse too. "She still feels responsible for, in part, causing the chaos there. We hadn't a choice -- we couldn't allow them to stay enslaved. They were kidnapped from their homes. They didn't ask to be there. They have a right to freedom."

"It sounds that Horse isn't the only one trying to reconcile a guilty conscience," Demos pointed out.

"Everything isn't black and white," Cloak said. "There are shades of gray -- DO NOT make that joke, Demos, I wasn't referring that book. I haven't even read it -- nor do I want to."

They sat there talking, unaware that Garrotik's prediction was slowly coming true, in part.

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

BOOK LXXXII:
DETHRONING KINGS
CHAPTER ONE:
Garrotik's Children

In a time long forgotten, just before the grand battle that took place between the two titians on the primitive, primordial world, Garrotik trifled with things that should have not been messed with. This should surprise no one who has had the misfortune of sharing the company of such a being. Not because of his willingness to abuse his power, but from his sheer unpleasant personality . . . not much has changed over the years when Richard managed to use his own powers against him, without too much difficulty (but a burdensome amount of sheer effort).

Before all that, Garrotik possessed seventeen plates. Plates of ruby red, sapphire blue, electric yellow, forest green, brown, deep purple, pale orange, olive green, snow white, iridescent indigo, khaki tan, golden yellow, deep gray, violently violet, lustrous silver, midnight black, and a particularly frilly pink color. These plates were not extraordinary in any perceivable way, but Garrotik had made them special. Granted, these plates aren't the only things that he was toying around with, but that's another story*.

It wasn't really known or understood just how Garrotik came about it. But he somehow -- whether by arcane mysticism, powerful magic, or just sheer dumb luck -- he managed to instill life into these plates, imbibing them with the elements and personalities (although the latter was debatable). He deemed them to be the Lords and Ladies of these elements, proudly claiming no one could surpass them (though his conviction in this statement was questionable).

They all appeared as elemental hybrids of the Tengu Shredder's Oroku Saki state and the Foot Mystics. These were their condensed and confined forms however, swaddled in all this armor. Their true forms were starkly different from each other.

These eighteen, though possessing no biology of their own, were proclaimed to be his children, a fact that they were, oftentimes, proud of. Then he decided that he would often pit him against each other, to earn the right of being his favorite, but he grew bored of this before long. It wasn't too long that he soon grew bored of his children as well.

But they weren't any the wiser, as he quickly sealed them back in to the plates again -- claiming that he was tired of looking at them. Mere moments later, he was confronted by Richard and wound up in his sorry state in the Antarctic.


*No point in getting ahead of ourselves.

[redtailedsaffa]

Really, how old is Richard? :O

[Cloak]

Now, now, Saffa. The mystery is part of Richard's mystique. Anyway, I have more book ideas:

• Book DCLIV: "Line of Sight" -- The RAFians must deal with a malevolence that hops from body to body by direct eye contact.
• Book DCLV: "Who's the Dummy?" -- The RAFians must deal with a parasitic ventriloquist dummy.
• Book DCLVI: "Meteorite Neophyte Parasites" -- The RAFians must deal with aliens who arrive on earth via a strange meteorite.
• Book DCLVII: "The RAFian Parable" -- Cloaky, Abby, and Azzy get caught in a scenario rather like in "The Stanley Parable".
• Book DCLVIII: "Undenied" -- An old foe breaks free of an unlikely prison.
• Book DCLIX: "Trophy Hunter" -- A man uses a Trophy Maker to turn innocent people into trophies, likes the collectible trophies in the Super Smash Bros universe.

Yes, I know that it's ambitious, all these books, but I do fully intend to write everyone of them, something that I will not waver on. Anyway, the titles are subject to change, and I don't think I rehashed anything. Tell me what you think.

New, shortish chapter.
 

CHAPTER TWO:
Awakening the Lord of Phantoms

Long after the battle between the two titans, their father and the one whose agelessness remained a mystery to the ages (it is speculated that even he himself doesn't know the reason). The seventeen plates were scattered to the winds.

The frilly pink one was believed to be lost to the ebbs and flows of time. The forest green one had been the first to awaken and release the son of Garrotik it contained. But his new lease on life was no to last. His father's incarcerator's minions had seen to it. They slain Regifloras without a second thought, and his forest green plate remains forevermore fractured and fragmented.

Meanwhile, three kids were encroaching upon a old graveyards with the obligatory creaky gates of rusted iron, gated in by old iron fences that had twisted and contorted slightly over the years with age. Two boys, one girl. The redhead girl was the shortest of the trio, and the boy with the curly, black hair and green eyes was the tallest. It was the blonde boy with blue eyes was the most stereotypically "kid next door" and the leader of the trio. They were a mischievous bunch -- they weren't supposed to be in this cemetery after hours, and they knew it.

"Guys, we're not supposed to be here!" the tall one said.

"Oh, grow up, Herb." the girl said, scornfully. "You are just scared of the ghosts."

"Except they don't exist." the other boy said. "It's about time you learned that, Herb. Jo is right, this is for your own good!"

"Wesley --" Herb began to protest.

"No. Nnno! You are gonna see for yourself that all that ghost stuff is superstitious hogwash." Wesley said, firmly.

Then he bumped a tombstone accidentally. It remained standing, though. But an indigo plate the size of a dinner platter was dislodged from its resting place. But in the infinitesimal moments before it would clatter to the ground and either shatter or just lay there, it folded out into a figure with the headpiece and plated cloak similar to that of a Foot Mystic, while its interior resembled the body of the Tengu Shredder in his Oroko Saki form. The spaces between the plates glowed with a deep indigo, ghostly light.

Needless to say, the kids did not stick around after Regiphaetos's armored feet touched the ground.

[redtailedsaffa]

There's one origin story cleared up.