Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
So Close!!

Unfortunately, Abby's warning came too late.

The trio had already made it to the fountain room, that was sure, but the Midas Wave had been at their heels. Faerie had some choice words for Cloak, but she let it slide for now. Priorities, you know. She had apparently forgotten that the Wave's chrysopoeia didn't affect Cloak, being magical in nature.

The Wave had already consumed Cerulean -- a feat in and of itself -- who was distracted. It had already turned fifty-four percent of Abby into gold and was rapidly ensconcing her in place, motionless but perfectly aware and alert. It was hell, but the hellish transition was mercifully brief, as within moments Abby was fully gold.

Time was really turning against them, and their efforts to rectify this major wrong. This was a curse. A curse implemented by one man's insatiable greed and shortsightedness. A man with all the foresight of a small child. All this sprung from that well -- proving avarice and myopic, improvident goals were a dangerous ****tail when mixed together.

Faerie had managed to reach the fountain by the time the Midas Wave caught her foot. Cursing aloud and unabashedly, Faerie was rapidly abandoning her tutelary possession of the duck to try to coax the accursed thing back unto the fountain. She found it was like handling a heavier stuffed animal. She had outstretched her arms to the crest of the fountain's spray.

The Wave had reached her ankle, and she was done with being polite with the somnolent waterfowl. "Get the eff up there, you stupid sack of duck s--"

But she had to stop speaking -- because her mouth, tongue and vocal cords were now gold, and she couldn't. But this seemed to rouse the duck long enough to flap over to the fountain's water spray, and rest itself atop it as Faerie's fingertips turned to gold.

The moment the duck touched the water, the moment it rested upon it, it immediately reverted back into its idol state, almost Gargoyle-like. This released a resonating feedback wave, which made the chrysopoeia of the Midas Wave, almost completed, reverse and retreat at a far faster rate than it spanned the globe from. Everyone was freed from their golden imprisonment, but they did not forget the things that they experienced -- and it would be enough to break some people.

But soon enough, it was as if it never happened. But it was clear that no one would forget this, at least those old enough to remember. But there was still some changes that could not be changed or overlooked.

Tharisno was turned away from the other monks at Domus Anas Aurea. They blamed and scapegoated him for the whole mess. Granted, they had every right to do as such, as harsh as it may seem. Tharisno was now alone and destitute. He had nowhere to go, no direction, no future. He lost everything he had because of his stupid, layabout brother and his brotherly affection for him. Tharisno knew now that he was used and manipulated. Ironically, if he hadn't decided to flee in fear and effectively abandon the RAFians, he might have found a home with them. 'Tis the price for cowardice.

Amin, meanwhile, discovered himself back to being poor, though he still had his house. For the time being, anyway. All the stuff he turned to gold was back to their original states, and soon the people he paid with such objects would realize that they got gypped and come for him . . . he would live from this point on in fear, for both his life and his finances. . . .

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
Ice to Meet You

Xeno was exploring a tundra area for an item that he needed for one of his experiments. The cold didn't bother him too much, but the scarcity of this item did. But it only grew out here in this remote, icy wasteland.

Suddenly, Xeno just reacted without thinking, twisting out of the way of an odd arrow-shaped blade of ice that would have skewered him had he not had the foresight and moved. Xeno turned to see what had the audacity to interrupt him gathering some of these coniferous plants.

The creature looked as if it wore a day-glo orange parka with fluffy black fringe on the hood, but it was actually part of its body, including the puffy pants, ice-studed black belt, black gloves, and black boots. Its face was a pale white and blue with a noseless mask look to it. It had big round eyes with black sclera and orange irises and a small mouth. It wasn't a particularly big creature, easily half the size of Xeno himself.

"What is . . ." he muttered, as the creature leaped up inordinately high for someone of its size. "Oh, you're one of Demos's little fiends, aren't you?"

In response, it fired four of those slashing ice blade projectiles. Xeno couldn't help but feel that this was actually very rude, but he didn't say anything as he dodged the attack, his right hindleg getting nicked by the fourth one. He was surprised that the little nick was enough to numb the entire leg.

Xeno deftly charged up his gloves, having lost his temper already with this annoying creature. With a predictable attack pattern -- jump and fire those ice slasher blades. Wash, rinse, repeat.

He waited for the opportunity he foresaw, and he took it. He used his gloves to taze the creature three times, defeating it. Or killing it. Xeno found that he didn't care, especially when he discovered that the creature had destroyed the low-growing shrub-like plants that he was after.

He stalked off back to the forum, back to his hidden lab.

***

Demos called the creature an cryosapien. He claimed that he created it to do tasks in extreme cold that was too dangerous for humans to go. Like the electrosapien and its brother, the RAFians didn't believe him. It still irritated him. Why couldn't a demon.like him have genuinely good intentions?

***

"Such a pity that you received such an icy reception, cryosapien," Malice said, "but I have to say, that it was very entertaining."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

BOOK CXXXVII:
WARRING WITH THE WORLDS
CHAPTER ONE:
With a Fiery Passion

"How'd I get myself into these situations?" Az asked himself, as he desperately tried to use his cryokinesis to cool an overheating reactor. It was working but it was slow going. But he watched as the needle on the meter slowly transitioned from the red into safe, acceptable perimeters. It seemed like forever, and Az reasoned that maybe the whole Midas Wave thing was what set it off.

But apparently he had ticked off something, when he realized his hair had caught fire. He extinguished it before any damage, cosmetic or otherwise, was done. He looked over his shoulder before turning around and seeing the creature who attacked him.

It was of roughly the same size as Az, maybe a bit taller. It had thick obsidian hide with thicker yellow armor over its chest and shoulders and around its knees. Its bright yellow lower arms did not end in hands, but flamethrower cannons. Its face was rather like that of a knight and a Pyronite, head alight, but with human eyes, with dark red sclera and deep blue irises. And it was clear that he wanted Az dead.

"What are you?" Az asked, and was answered by being nearly hit by a flame that engulfed the creature's body first.

Az formed a paper-thin cryokinetic construct shaped like a "»" and threw it at the ignited body of the creature, without really expecting it to work. After all, ice, fire -- it doesn't take a genius to see where the advantage is. But when it hit it seemed to do more damage than Az expected.

The creature kept throwing what appeared to be riot shields made of fire at Az, who found them easy enough to avoid. Though he had to be careful of the reactor -- as this creature, whatever it was, was not careful in the least bit.

He hit the creature again with the ice blade shaped like a "»", and noticed that the impact, along with the first one were the areas that were not swathed in flames. Az poured it on, firing another four ice blades, all of which hit their mark. All of which hit the exact same spot.

The creature was down, but dead or knocked out, Az couldn't tell.

***

Demos called it a pyrosapien. Demos claimed that he was supposed to be used as an incinerator at a waste disposal plant, but this was met with outright skepticism or covert disbelief. Demos couldn't help but feel a little indignant at this reception.

***

"Fire burning bright," Malice mused, "but, in the end, it fizzled out. This will keep me satiated for quite a white, I think."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWO:
Mon Gall and No Hard Feelings

"Don't you talk back to me, Weaponmaster!" said a hulking alien with sulfurous yellow skin. He was talking to Inspector #86. He had escaped the Plumber prison, only to wind up here, on this planet-sized warship -- the Warworld. "In fact, I never gave you permission to address me at all!"

The Inspector would have stammered out a reply, for sheer self-preservation purposes, but he couldn't get over the indignity of what he had been reduced to. A mandatory majordomo, a glorified servant. A servant!! He could most certainly never return to Techadon now.

His master was of a humanoid species that the Weaponmaster only knew as a Mongul. He was about eight feet tall, weighed little more than half a ton, with red eyes, a bald head, and yellow skin. He wore dark blues and purples. He only cared about strength and had little patience for those he considered unworthy of his time, and he was methodically vengeful to those who crossed him (not many lived to do so, anyway).

He was once defeated by some sort of simianwearing a cloak -- he took a ship from Mon Gall, the Lord of the Warworld. Mon Gall never forgot this humiliating defeat, and took immense pleasure in destroying his ship, despite somewhat aware that it was left derelict, bare and crumbling after all of Collector's captives were returned to their rightful homes.

Mon Gall took the ship parts -- every single bit -- into the spherical Warworld. He intended to use them to.make his Warworld even better, so he could continue to hold gladiatorial matches against captives and prisoners. Gamesmaster actually stole this idea from him -- something Mon Gall wasn't too pleased with when he found out. But he was disappointed to also find out that Gamesmaster was killed -- he wanted to exact revenge in a very ironic way, and now that chance was taken from him. Stolen!!

But then he heard that there was an entire planet made of gold, which made him curious. This he had to see, and he would take Warworld, his Death Star-like warship, with him if anyone dared to dispute his claim to it . . .

***

GH was playing, in front of Cloak, who had his arms folded, and he was singing:

"He's cool, he's hot,
Like a frozen sun.
He’s young, and fast,
He’s the chosen one.
People, we're not Gawker,
He's the RAFian Realm Walker.
He's gonna stop his enemies with his elemental power,
Tiger teeth, tiger tail, burning elemental fire,
Beware his ire!
RAFian Realm Walker,
RAFian Realm Walker.
He’s the RAFian Realm Walker,
His skills are getting faster,
But Grandpa Sage's the Master,
His destiny will walk up streets,
Show time, baby, for the legacy!
RAFian Realm Walker --"

"No." Cloak said, abruptly, halting the song.

He had been surly since the Midas Duck incident. He was taking his failure far harder than anyone expected him to. That obnoxious, arrogant prick of a RAFian wasn't helping things, either, never missing a moment to jeer at him for it.

"No?" GH asked, innocently.

Cloak looked him in the eye, which intimidated GH a bit, having feline eyes glare at you with a look that sort of bores into you. "No."

"No what?

"You know what," Cloak said, turning on his heel to leave. He was in one of his moods of late.

GH stopped him and turned around the eight-foot-tall Realm Walker. "Then pretend I'm stupid."

"You're not getting them back," Cloak said, waspishly, wishing for nothing more than to be left alone.

"Please, Cloak!!"

"No," Cloak said, holding the cigarettes up without any plastic wrapping in his index finger, middle finger, and thumb. He ignited them until their was nothing left. "Now, please, GH, I wish to be alone."

He left, still moody and brooding, and reentered his thread. It was one of his antisocial moods.

"Fine, Cloak," GH said, believing that what Cloak did was unnecessary -- so what if he had sneaked in Cloak's thread to search for them. So what if he caught him doing it as he was temporarily frozen in gold doing so. "You leave me with little choice. I may have to do something that I don't really want to do."


SOURCE SONG: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B4chpjlaPGo

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER THREE:
Incoming!!

"Are you serious?" Cloak asked, perplexed.

GH just gave a sheepish, yet mulish, look at the Realm Walker. But he did not speak.

"Are you actually serious, GH?"

GH narrowed his eyes.

"You couldn't get your cigarettes from me, so you . . ." Cloak couldn't keep the disbelief from his voice. "So you . . . pierced your tongue?"

GH allowed the appearance of dignified emollience of his tongue, he did not speak because the stud in his tongue altered the sounds of his words, slurring some of them, and he was afraid of being misunderstood.

He didn't want Cloak to know about it just yet, but he failed to take into account that Cloak can sense elements, especially when they're not where they're supposed to be. And the stud was metallic.

"Honestly, GH, what kind of message will this send to an impressionable mind like Leatherhead?" Cloak asked. GH looked away. "You didn't consider that? GH, impulsive and imprudent decisions more often than not end up being injudicious."

"I don't need your lectures, Cloak," GH said, voice and inflection a little muddied due to the stud.

"Fine," Cloak said, backing down. "Your choices are yours to make."

"Alert!" came Yarin over the communications channels and intercom. "Alert!"

"What now?" GH moaned.

***

"A large metallic object has been identified as approaching the Earth at a startling speed." Yarin explained. "The object is spherical and is estimated of having an equatorial radius of roughly twelve hundred miles, and a roughly equal polar radius, unless I was misreading my instruments. While it is smaller than this planet, it has a velocity that would easily reach cataclysm if it were to impact the Earth. We do have visual confirmation of it at this time as well."

It showed a rather unprofessional picture that looked like any of those old UFO hoaxes that absolute pricks like to make to trick people. This left several RAFians to disregard this announcement and pronouncement.

"That's just the moon, idjit," the obnoxious RAFian said, clearly thinking that he was being endearing. He wasn't as smart or bedearing as he thought himself to be. "You're just being pedantic about it."

As if he had anticipated this reaction, Yarin then showed an image with a clearer resolution than the last. And it showed a Death Star like image roughly on par with the the Earth's actual moon. Cloak's eyes widened -- he recognized the same tech that made up Collector's and Gamesmaster's ships, only this was bigger than either of those, and slightly bigger then the actual moon.

"That's just the moon," the same guy said.

"Shut your mouth, you shortsighted fool!" Cloak snapped. And it was the suddenness of this outburst that prevented this odious RAFian from replying in kind. Cloak found that he didn't care much either way.

Cloak had recognized what this thing was, although from a different Realm, on he first visited in his childhood. And he knew the incredible danger it posed, as well as its incredible destructive capability. He was sure that even he didn't know its full armaments, though he knew they were considerable. It was a planet-sized war machine, after all.

"The Earth hasn't two moons, as you already know full well!!" Cloak scolded. "That is no moon. It is the Warworld. I didn't know that it existed in this Realm."

"Big deal," he said.

"You're an idiot," Cloak said severely. "It has a vast array of laser-based armaments and innumerable nuclear missiles. At least it did in the other Realm, but there's no reason to believe that it won't here. To do so would be being stupid beyond being stupid."

"But why come here?" Saffa asked.

"Good question," Cloak said, "and I intend to find out."

[guitarhero01234]

Oh my god XD

[Cloak]

Yeah.

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOUR:
Alpha, Beta, and Gamma

It was decided, in the face of this potential threat, to send three teams to attack the Warworld on three fronts.

"What if it it's friendly?" Abby asked. "If we attack it then, then we will be culpable for an act of aggression."

"It's not," Cloak said. "It has its weapons trained on the Earth."

"It's true," Yarin said, looking at newer images.

"Not to mention," Cloak said, "the mere act of bring a war machine into Terran space is, in and of itself, an act of aggression in its own right."

No one rose any other objections. If there were some more, they were kept them to themselves. Cloak didn't care or mind, all he was focused on was eliminating the threat of Warworld. He would not lose his home. He simply would not.

So, the first team -- Alpha Team -- would be charged with taking the brunt of the Warworld's attacks and protecting the planet from them. Not to mention distracting the lord of the war machine from destroying the planet and covering the fact that Beta and Gamma Teams have made it inside. This team would be headed by Parker and consisted of Broken, Helen, B-RAD, Yarin, and Phoenix. Estelore would have been on this team had she been present.

"So, we basically have to sacrifice them to the big metal moon?" said the unlikeable RAFian who shall remain nameless.

"Thank you," Parker said, acidly, "for completely missing the point."

Any further argument about his team was shut down by Parker. The SPARTAN wasn't about have any of this from this lamentable RAFian -- he was really worse than Rotiart, in a way. Parker supposed with the latter's death, a void and a niche needed to be filled.

Beta Team would be headed by Goom, and their main objective would to be to power down the reactor and stop the engines, as well as disable the weapons, if they could. It was certainly a tall order. The team consisted of Xeno, Wild, Guy, Aquilai, Mithril, and YeerkSalad. The most tech-savvy RAF had available.

"It almost seems impossible," Salad sighed, knowing the difficulty spike of this endeavor. "The engines are likely to be in a different place from the reactor. And who knows about the weapon systems. One wrong keystroke . . ."

"Also we don't have the blueprints or schematics of the Warworld." Guy added.

"It'll be fine," Goom said, confidently. "We can do it. There's probably ways for the Warworld personnel -- be it people or robots -- to head to these places easily."

"Still," Wild said, "it's a monumental task to undertake."

Gamma Team was to be headed by Cloak. They were to either ambush or directly confront the lord of Warworld, and discern his or her intentions. And stop him or her, if it came down to it. It wouldn't be easy, if it was the same species of whatever species Mongul was. But Cloak was confident that he wasn't anything that Cloak couldn't handle. He was also confident that he wouldn't be open to negotiations. His team consisted of Underseen, GH, Gaz, Faerie, Az, and Sakki.

"What if he he isn't open to to negotiations?" Undersen asked.

"We take him down," Cloak said, simply and bluntly.

"Yeah," GH said. He had take his tongue stud out. "'Coz that'll be so easy."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIVE:
Alpha Flight

Alpha Team flew up to the Warworld, looking pitifully meek and worthless in the face of the artificial moon's vast metallic expanse. They were all on Yarin's ship, on a weapon's platform (in lieu of fixing up his microwave, Yarin threw his all into updating his ship with new little tricks and features. Still, it was like having a tiny Transformers toy compared to a Hummer. There was absolutely no way that Yarin's ship would be able to survive in a one-on-one dogfight with the Warworld, and Yarin (though his ego would not permit him to acknowledge it) knew this full well.

None of Alpha Team's abilities would be able to block a full-powered assault from the war machine. But Yarin was confident that they had one way of ensuring that, should the Lord of the Warworld decide to open fire upon them with no provocation, that they'd be able to defend themselves -- for a time, at least. He called the device his Kinetic Payload Redistributor, or K.P.R. (pronounced "kipper") for short. He hoped to not have to use it -- he wasn't sure that it would be good for a second use.

And it was a wonder why the Warworld hadn't started affecting the Earth's gravity in a negative way or anything like that, as it sat there, as if it just was hanging in the air. As if a child could greedily snatch it from midair.

Anyway, Parker hailed the ship, to try to negotiate with whoever was in charge. "Alien vessel! You are encroaching in Terran airspace without invitation. State your name and business."

No reply.

"Alien vessel, you are violating Terran airspace. State your name and business now."

He was ignored again. Parker was getting impatient, and he unintentionally allowed a bite of it to enter his speech.

"Alien vessel! I repeat, you are violating Terran airspace!! State your name and business now."

No answer. Parker was starting to suspect that they were not being taken seriously.

"Alien vessel! If you do not cease your illegal trespass, we will be forced to open fire," Parker said.

Silent as stars. Parker was starting to feel aggrieved and indignant. Whoever the lord of this war machine was, he or she clearly considered them little to no threat. He greatly resented that.

"So be it then," Parker muttered. "Give it everything you got guys!!"

They fired all the concussive blasts they could. Parker from his twin fusion cannons, Helen from her ring, B-RAD from his top hat, Phoenix with concussive balls of fire, and Broken with his magicks. Yarin was piloting the ship, cursing himself for neglecting to include weapons upon his ship. Granted, every time he tried, some emergency seemed to come up.

But the didn't give it all they had. This was just a diversion, just for show. This was just to cover the other two teams getting into the ship itself, which they had managed to do successfully.

"All according to plan," Parker smiled beneath his helmet.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIX:
A Parting of Ways

Both teams had entered the Warworld from the same access point that Cloak had Metalsighted. That part was easy enough, though their objectives seemed horribly futile, given the sheer size and mass of the war ship. It was almost as if they could stand on it and its own gravity would allow it.

They had to wear specialized suits (Cloak refused, as Realm Walker biology was more resilient to this kind of thing) to go so high into the sky, as the Warworld was in geosynchronous orbit around the Earth, apparently mulling it over whether or not to destroy the planet. They had to go high into the thinnest part of the atmosphere, and beyond to reach the Warworld. They somehow succeeded with all of them alive.

They were inside.

And it turned out that the Warworld was very much like Gamesmaster's ship in that there appeared to be a gladiatorial ring with the planet-like sphere, though this seemed to have fall out of the Lord of this place's favor and he or she lost interest, as this place felt derelict and forgotten, like a closet that hasn't been used for years.

Especially as apparently all the necessary occupations -- housekeeping, dietary, security, engineering, maintenance, and more -- were completely automated. The robots belonging to the different department were all colored accordingly, as well. The cleaning droids were a hot pink color, the cooking droids were a grayish-green, security was blue, engineering was a deep green, maintenance was khaki-colored, piloting droids were a scarlet color, and so on and so forth.

"We're in," GH said, speaking much clearer without his tongue stud. "Now what?"

"Beta team will follow the green droids," Goom said. "They seem to be the engineering droids -- which means we cannot be that far off. We shut down the engines, then we find some way into the main reactor."

"Good," Cloak nodded, "meanwhile, Gamma Team will make our way to the bridge. I will Metalsight any dangers in our way."

"How're we going to make it to the bridge," Underseen asked, "and in any kind of timely manner? This place is huge!!"

"Which is probably why they have some sort of internal fast travel feature," Sakki said, sagely, "unless they're an unholy masochist."

"They may just be that," Cloak said, "but there is some sort of railway system."

"See? Told ya," Sakki said, a bit smugger than was necessary.

"But, to use it, would probably alert whoever's in charge here to our presence on his ship." Cloak warned.

"Or he'd assume we were a bunch of drones," Faerie reasoned, "and might not give it a second thought."

"In any case, we all should get moving," Goom said. "Alpha Team can't keep this up forever."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Different Journeys

Beta Team followed oblivious engineering droids, who apparently did not have sufficient A.I. to even notice them, but enough for some autonomy. Aquilai found this to be very odd, though he said nothing, lest give themselves away.

It turns out that Goom was right, and the main engines weren't too far away from their entry point. The thing was, what they should have anticipated, was that the engines were gigantic.

"There should be some sort of computer console or something from which we can work," Salad said. "We shut these down, and the Warworld will be dead in the water."

"Then we can move on to the reactor, which should be at the core of Warworld," Wild added. "Which should also depower the laser armaments."

"There's still the nuclear armaments to deal with, as well," Mithril said. "All on our to-do list."

"Guys," Xeno said, leering suspiciously around their environment, "we shouldn't be telegraphing our motives so openly."

"Don't worry, Xeno," Wild said, positively and bracingly, as Salad was already clacking noisily on a computer, which required him to telescope out his fingers as the keys were clearly made for larger hands than his, "it'll be fine, in the end."

"I'm just stressing that a little caution never goes astray," Xeno put in, stubbornly.

"But too much is called paranoia," Guy added. "Everything we do as RAFians has risk to it, Xeno. You've been one long enough to know that."

"I'm just saying this talk may not be as private as you imagine!" Xeno said, flaring his wings a bit with indignation. "Whoever runs this ship is bound to have security cameras and other such protocols. He or she surely wouldn't be so foolish as to --"

"Engines powered down," Salad reported.

"What?" the others of Beta Team replied.

"Weapon systems offline," Salad reported with a smile.

"Impossible," Aquilai said, at once, moving to verify. "Wow. It does appear that that was --"

"Too easy," Xeno said, feeling as if they were being played for fools.

***

"Why do have a sudden urge to battle Pokemon?" GH asked.

No one laughed, but remained stoic or serious or brooding.

"C'mon! Not even a chuckle?" GH complained.

They were riding the rail system toward the opposite side of the planet-sized Warworld, and GH was trying desperately to defuse the immense tension felt by Gamma Team. But he failing and floundering in a rather sitcom way.

"This isn't the time for levity, GH," Cloak said.

"When is it ever with you?" GH countered.

Cloak ignored him, as various lights placed in staggered intervals in the railway tunnel sped by in an almost somnolent, hypnotic way, like the effects of a lava lamp, really. Silence stretched for what seemed to be hours on end. Cloak was the only one who still stood, back leaning against the shuttle train's wall, arms folded. The rest sat down upon the chairless metal floor. There was one chair, but it looked amazingly stiff and uncomfortable.

"Guys, it doesn't have to be as if we're walking to our own deaths," GH said, attempting to sound chipper and positive. However, it just made him sound like a demented boy scout leader. "We can have fun and a little frivolity and --"

Cloak's scowl unnerved him a bit, but he pressed on stalwartly.

"We don't need to be doom and gloom on every mission!" he said, bracingly.

"He must know we're coming," Cloak said, bleakly. He had a nasty habit of assuming the worst -- it was a coping mechanism, funnily enough -- even with very little evidence to believe that the worse scenario is the likely one.

"If he did, he would have stopped the railway shuttle, wouldn't they?" Faerie asked.

"See, Cloak?" GH said cheerfully. Too cheerfully. Cloak eyed him suspiciously, and GH suddenly found his shoelaces fascinating.

"Unless," Cloak said, darkly, "he or she wants us to find him or her. . . ."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Reactor Reaction

"Too easy," Xeno muttered. "It was too easy . . ."

"Still on about that?" Aquilai said. "We were merely fortunate, nothing more."

Beta Team were take a tram shuttle to the very core of the Warworld, to the power source of said Warworld itself. They shut this down, they destroy this -- and everything will go down.

"Destroying the reactor will be the end all, be all, for this mission," Goom said. Xenonreally wished he wouldn't speak so loud. Someone they didn't want to could easily be eavesdropping on their conversation -- and they didn't have to be their physically, which means he didn't have to hear or see them for them to be watching. "It will permanently shut down all systems. Environmental controls. The tram shuttles. Lights. Engines -- though disabled, already. Weapons systems -- though offline right now."

"That was too easy, " Xeno said. "We're being led, and we're following it blindly, drunk on perceived success. This was planned."

"C'mon, Xeno," Mithril said, with a smile, "we had good fortune. Don't take it granted."

"I'm not taking anything for granted, Mithril," Xeno snapped in a most dignified manner. "However, you fail to acknowledge the potential problems and inconsistencies in all this. Why would the lord of the Warworld have such lax security?"

"Hey!" YeerkSalad protested. "I had to got through like fifty firewalls and two hundred subroutines in order to --"

"No one's suggesting that you're incompetent in your ability, Salad," Xeno said. "But don't you find it a little convenient that you managed to knock the weapons systems offline so quickly after."

"It was just a --"

"Enough," Gook said, putting his foot down. "Xeno, I know you have your reservations about this. But it could just be that whoever is running this Warworld was overconfident in his or her ability to repel invaders, when his security drones have the same work ethic Rotiart had before he died."

Xeno said nothing, but he wasn't convinced by Goom's argument.

"Now, again, shutting down the reactor -- destroying it, making it irreparable, making it scrap -- would make the Warworld derelict and dead. It will gut it." Goom repeated to instill the message. "Lights, gone. Atmospheric controls, gone. Weapons systems, gone. Engines, gone."

"Life support, gone," Xeno said, picking up a flaw in the plan.

No one had an answer this, though it was already decided what they would do. They would proceed. Xeno was beginning to wonder to himself if this was really a suicide mission.

All thought of that vanished once they saw the reactor. It was in a massive room that would comfortably accommodate a three large Cybertronians. In the center was a massive cylinder with a heart-shaped device hovering in the center -- apt, as this reactor was essentially the heart of Warworld. There were several columns moving around this center column at a sedate pace, as a defensive ring. These columns also had gun turrets on them.

"Happy now, Xeno?" Guy asked, drolly.

[Cloak]

Sorry that I didn't post a chapter yesterday, I got busy.

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINE:
Throne Room -- Don't You Dare Leeroy Jenkins This

The Gamma Team slowly approached a while room, Cloak taking the lead, crouching down so much he looked like an actual tiger, stalking his oblivious prey. Underseen had adapted a more streamlined, stealthy form. Gaz had gone batty. Az, Sakki, Faerie, and GH could not disguise themselves innsuch a way, and all three felt as if they stuck out like sore thumbs.

They came to what was obviously a throne room, beyond a ten-foot door. Cloak looked at each member of Gamma Team in turn, telling them with naught but a look, a passing glance, that no one is to rush the room. He gathered a lot of intel about the room already through his Metalsight.

The room beyond was vast, and unfurnished save for a single chair -- straight-backed and stiff, and clearly made to accommodate an eight-foot-tall monster of a man. The facing expanse of the wall seemed to be transparent glass or otherwise not made of metal.

The room had two occupants, one larger and one smaller. Cloak thought one of them looked familiar, but Metalsight doesn't do facial features all that well. It's a limitation to it and Earthsight and any other derivatives.

But it didn't take a genius to know that the two inside were not of an agreeable sort. Cloak could easily hear the voices, but not make out the words being used. He wasn't sure if the rest of Gamma Team could hear it as well as his feline hearing could.

Cloak couldn't see a way into the room without garnering notice in some way, so they would -- despite going against every instinct Cloak had -- would have to simply walk into the room. They would have to confront the Mongul eventually, and he more than likely already knew that they were here.

All seven members of Gamma Team filed into the room, just as a right, yellow fist punched the Techadon Inspector's head, easily decapitating him, killing him unceremoniously. Then the Mongul swivelled around in his chair to look at them, as he stood, taking them in with scrutinizing conceit.

"Whoa," Sakki said, "he is a big one."

"This is your attack force?" the Mongul said, eyeing Cloak more than the others. He still remembered Collector and Gamesmaster. He spoke with a voice reminiscent of that of Keith David. "I'm offended and insulted."

"Watch what you say, Mongul," Cloak said.

"Mon Gall," he corrected.

"Like that's so much better," Cloak retorted.

"Don't take that tone with me, thief," Mon Gall said, apparently assuming Cloak was Collector or Gamesmaster, despite obvious size and build discrepancies.

"Learn to cope," Faerie said, pulling out a battle axe from nowhere. She had apparently found a replacement for her Gale Blade. She charged the Mongul with Sakki and Az in short pursuit.

Mon Gall easily sidesteped and slide the axe out of her hands and kicked her aside. He grabbed Sakki by the head, released her, punched her to his left. Then he backhanded Az, felling him.

GH had already unshouldered his guitar and was playing a brief musical introduction, before blasting out one his favorite heavy metal tunes. One of which Cloak was decidedly not a fan of. And neither was Mon Gall apparently, as he described it, in an annoyed utterance, as noise.

GH snorted, "Everybody's a critic."

Cloak fired a blast of fire -- yet, he held back. He never liked using more force than he believed was necessary. It would be too easy to go down a dark path that way, too easy to throw your weight around and become a tinhorn dictator. Power can have an addictive effect on some people, and Cloak rather not get drunk on power. Especially as he saw that the Mongul clearly was drunk on it himself.

Anyway, after Cloak's blast, Faerie swing with her axe again, only for it not to penetrate his hide. His skin seemed as strong as a Kryptonian under a yellow sun. He grabbed Faerie as her axe clattered noisily and ominously to the ground. He began to choke her out, as he wore a sadistic smile.

Then Underseen, in the guise of an anaconda, wrapped around him, but Mon Gall just flexed his muscles in such a way that Underseen was forced to slither off and recuperate by shifting back to his base form, his default form. Only to be swiftly kicked by Mon Gall, landing next to Inspector #86's headless, lifeless body.

Cloak stamped his feet and raised his arms in a swift, strong movement, which caused the metal in the floor to rise up pinioning Mon Gall's arms to his sides. This allowed Faerie to take up her axe again, and put in several noneffective blows. But he broke out of the metal binding with his superhuman strength and a sigh of exasperation. Then he grabbed Faerie and threw her to the ground.

Underseen took the form of a white wolf (and Cloak was unintentionally reminded of Aniyu), and attacked Mon Gall, attempting to chew through his left shoulder. It didn't work, and Mon Gall just ripped him off and tossed him aside, as he continued to ignore GH's music.

"The novelty of this encounter has officially worn off," Mon Gall said.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TEN:
It's Not Over

"Agreed," Cloak snarled.

Mon Gall had thrown Underseen into Sakki, knocking them both out for the time being it seemed. And it was at this time that GH decided that it was time to change track. He had never tried this before, as the music he played rarely -- very rarely -- included lullabies.

"Nap time, ugly," GH said, as he began to play a slow, rhythmic song. A song designed to be somnoferous.

Mon Gall didn't even bat an eye or so much as yawn, yet all his fellow Gamma Team members, save Cloak, clearly felt the effects. Mon Gall just looked irritated, and Cloak saw what was about to happen before it did.

Mon Gall charged his friend, and Cloak, more accustomed to being a long-ranged fighter, actually charged and tackled Mon Gall, then he quickly maneuvered around. He pushed off Mon Gall's chest and somersaulted away, as Mon Gall tried to grab his cloak -- which was often a liability in close-quarters combat. It was a good thing, too, as Mon Gall was going to try to break Cloak's back as Bane did to Batman in that one comic.

But Mon Gall charged forward, and reached for GH's guitar -- a very bad move no matter how strong you are. For, as soon as GH realized what he was going to do, the guitar became a battle axe, and GH began to attack Mon Gall with the speed, agility, and frenzied brutality of a madman. It did nothing, but GH didn't care.

"Do you really not understand?" Mon Gall said.

"We understand plenty, Mon Gall," Cloak said, standing defiant.

"Your deaths today are a mercy for what will come next," he continued.

"We're not dead," Cloak said, as GH struck Mon Gall in the groin with his battleaxe. But it did not bleed nor did Mon Gall show any discomfort. He flicked GH away, as if he was an annoying insect. Cloak continued, "And you haven't a clue who you're dealing with."

"Do you?" he continued, now walking away from him. It was a calculated insult. "My grand laser emitter will end your world in minutes. Too bad you decided not to leave it as gold. Then maybe it would be spared, then it could have been useful as a trophy. But, now?"

"You haven't any right," Cloak spat.

"Might makes right," Mon Gall said, dismissively. "And it seems my allowance of your puny mudball to exist, my mercies, are not appreciated. So be it. Now the Warworld will unleash all its weapons upon the Earth for your -- ahh!"

A gash appeared on his right shoulder, inexplicably.

"What the -- ?"

Cloak landed, semi-crouched, his right hand extended and his left upon the floor. A golden-scarlet blade extended from his right hand. And Cloak's eyes were suns of power.

"Didn't you get the memo?" Cloak said, savagely. "You haven't won yet."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Ring Around the Core, Ashes, Ashes . . .

"How do we go about doing this?" Xeno asked.

"What? You're not gonna say it's too easy?" Mithril ribbed him.

"Enough of that, Mithril," Goom said, all business all of a sudden. "We need to get rid of these oscillating columns first."

"Should be a simple enough endeavor," Aquilai said, brightly. Then he and the others scrutinized the ever-circling columns with the turrets. It was clear that they would need to improvise a hivering craft, as they would never be able to climb up there and do what they required to destroy this core.

It turned out there was one at the base of the edge they were standing on. Clearly, its only purpose was for the maintenance droids to maintain and service the core at any time it was needed. Xeno opened his mouth, then shut it, deciding maybe he was just being paranoid, and he failed to take the arrogance of the lord of this Warworld into account.

"If we reprogram one of these turret tower things," Guy said, as he worked, not unlike a Survivor character working on a generator in "Dead By Daylight". "Like so, then they should all turn and fire upon the core, then themselves."

"We've been gifted with auspicious fortune before now," Goom said, as each took a column, each using their own maintenance platform, "let's hope it lasts."

"Aw! Why'd you have to call attention to it?" YeerkSalad groaned. "Now it's doomed."

"Don't allow superstitions to cloud your objectivity," Xeno warned.

"Or paranoia," Wild teased subtly. If Xeno heard him, he didn't show it.

"There. Done." Xeno said.

"Finished mine, as well," Goom said, "and that's not easy for someone without hands!"

"Done and done," Guy announced a few seconds after.

"I've been done for five minutes now," Salad boasted with bravado. No one seemed impressed.

Aquilai spun his sonic screwdriver as if it was a pistol, and then "holstered" it in his pocket. "And that's me, done."

"I'm done. Is that everybody?" Wild asked.

"Yes," Goom said, decisively, "we should retreat to a safe distance and watch the fireworks."

"Has anyone considered what would happen to us if life support went offline?" Xeno asked. Apparently, no one heard him over the successive explosions that were reaching the core.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Auxiliary Annoyance

The core was powered down. And yet there seemed to be no adverse effects yet. The lights did not dim, the gravity did not turn off -- nothing. Nothing at all happened.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," YeerkSalad said, in an unnecessarily airy way.

"How is this possible?" Wild asked. "Was this core a decoy?"

"No, it was legitimate, I'm sure of it," Aquilai said, his jaunty positivity lost. "It generated power at least."

Xeno's eyes widened, "We failed to take into account that there probably would be some sort of backup generators in the event the core was destroyed or otherwise incapacitated. It would be stupid not to have any contingencies --and I assumed this guy was arrogant in thinking that his or her Warworld was impenetrable."

"Or possibly a completely redundant system," Guy speculated. "It must take a lot of power and energy to run a place the size of Earth's moon."

"This could just be one of many more power sources," Wild said. "We may have just accomplished nothing of value."

"But I thought this was the center of Warworld," YeerkSalad said.

"It is," Aquilai said.

"Then, by all logic, shouldn't this have been the most important one?" Salad queried. "Should have destroying it have affected more?"

"Not if there were one or more fully redundant cores," Xeno said.

"But that would take up space," Goom noted. "Despite the nature of the Warworld being an artificial planetoid, it does have finite space. I doubt any magical extension charms have been used here."

Goom ticked his head over towards the core, "This wasn't on the small size, either. Perhaps just a fraction of the size of Earth's own molten core. But there's only so many cores that could fit in here. At most, I would hazard to guess only three or four can be in here and be viable. Six at most, but even then, that would be pushing it, and most of the ship would be made of these cores."

"Right," Aquilai agreed. "If there are more, and they exceed five, say, they'd probably be smaller, and thus their power output smaller, as well."

"The thing is, though," Mithril said, getting weary of the circular shop talk that was happening, "we don't have the schematics of the place. We just don't know if it has multiple redundant systems to prevent this sort of thing or just an auxiliary one."

"What's our next move?" Wild asked Goom.

Goom waited and considered before responding.