The Last Stand

[Kazumaru]

"Saving lives of people who might already be dead or near-dead is pointless if we don't win this battle, coolpikaaa. If they're not already dead, I'm sure they can wait until after a firefight or sixty for saving." Sentinel said. "Unless you plan to eat them to feed yourself, as it seems you meatbags didn't bring food."

[Netdroid9]

*Net sighed at Sentinel, he'd never liked the robot that much. Still, maybe he had some uses, he wasn't exactly the most irreplaceable member of the rebellion.*

Someone of your skills, wasted on mere communication? Like some kind of telephone? You should be doing more important duties. Tell me, can you detect life-forms? You could make an excellent scout. The thrill of the hunt, stalking, watching, and of course, all robo-chicks love the 007 angle .

[3kul]

Genkaku glared angrily at Sentinal (which wasn't all that threatening, given how weak he was), but gratefully accepted the water that coolpikaaa was offering him. He moved his arm in an excruciatingly slow manner to get the cup, as it still hurt quite a bit, but his thirst was currently hurting him more.

"Thank you..." He managed to say before gulping down the icy water, figuring that he should at least be polite to the people who were going to help him, even if some seemed less inclined to help than others. He didn't wait for his healers advice, he knew that he was dehydrated without somebody else telling him.

"Ah, that's better." He said after finishing the last drop of the chilled liquid, sounding a little healthier already. It was as if the water had brought him partly back to life, and he proceeded to blurt out his story almost exactly as Little Sister had told him. "The people going for my friends should know that there is an elderly man, a mother and her daughter amongst the slaves. I can't really remember the rest, they just followed me to the Citadel. We headed there a few days ago, I guess we were hoping to find somebody else there to help us out, but..."

He suddenly started coughing again, realizing that he was trying to say too much too soon. He swallowed, took a few deep breaths and continued a little slower. "But we didn't find anyone. We hid out in the Citadel and we were safe until today, when the Evil Council came along. Perhaps they too were hoping to find rebels, but all they found were us slaves. They told us to run, told us that we'd be hunted for their own amusement, and then they blew up the Citadel!" More coughing, he'd gotten a little too worked up with that last bit, but he needed to let these people know what had happened.

"I guess I got my injuries from the hunting part, though I probably managed to escape with a few tricky illusions. That's my specialty, you see." He covered the ice cup with his hand as he said this, then removed it to reveal that coolpikaaa's ice cup had turned into a beautiful flower. The flower smelled like a freshly roasted trout, and remained still for a few moments before turning back into a cup. "Of course, you can't expect me to get much right in this condition." He laughed, which of course induced more coughing.

He seemed to be focusing his attention on coolpikaaa as he told his story, as this one seemed to be the most willing to help (although to be fair, he hadn't really heard from everyone here since he'd regained conciousness). "I'm sorry, but would it be too much for me to ask for some more water?" He asked coolpikaaa, holding the cup out to him. "I don't mind talking but it seems to be a lot harder than it usually is, I wonder what those EC thugs did to me..."

------------------------------------

Little Sister glared angrily into the seemingly endless frozen scenery, hoping to spot some trace of rebel activity. She was beginning to believe that Noten's worshippers had beaten Genkaku too hard, perhaps he'd died on the way to the rebel hideout? That wasn't exactly pleasing to Little Sister, and neither was the fact that she'd yet to see any traces of EC activity either. HollowEyes was once again keeping her out of the loop, and it made her feel very frustrated.

"How much longer do we plan on waiting?" Noten asked. He didn't mind staying out here, but he could tell that Little Sister did. "Keh! How can they call themselves saviours of Blackstar and take so long to rescue a bunch of crappy slaves?!" Noten tilted his head to one side, slightly confused by her answer. "I don't-" "Five minutes!" Little Sister interrupted, answering his next question. "That's all they get, then I'll just leave these damn losers to freeze to death."

[Netdroid9]

*Turning his attention from Sentinel momentarily, Net realizes this may be his chance to question the newcomer.*

Illusions... What's Paranesia got invested in this man?

I'm sorry to put you through any more pain, I really am, but I need to know a few things. Firstly, can you remember your name, at all? It's hard to make polite conversation when you haven't even introduced yourself. I'm Net, by the way, and you were given the water by Coolpikka. The robot is Sentinel, and the lady who treated your injuries before is called Danielle. I'll let the others introduce themselves.

Secondly, I know it may be hard to remember, but when did you learn to make illusions, and how? It's a very difficult skill to master, and you're most certainly better at it than I am. Finally, in order to help your friends I need to know if you noticed anything odd when you were with them after the citadel explosion. Anything non-human, supernatural, or just plain strange.

He doesn't look like he's mutated, but you can never be sure. Just because he's not affected doesn't mean the explosive wasn't mutagenic...

[3kul]

"That sounds like quite a lot of things but I'll answer you as best I can... Net." Genkaku was not sure how to address this one, he did not seem quite like the others here in the room. He felt a little uncomfortable calling him by such a name, as if he deserved something better... It was the same kind of aura that Paranesia gave off, only not so much so. Very confusing, Genkaku decided to simply answer Net's questions and not think about it for now.

"My name is Genkaku, and I am a Gei'ei - a worshipper of the Illusionary Goddess, Paranesia. My people were all worshippers of Paranesia at one point, but then she disappeared for a while and people lost faith and turned towards more crude and powerful Gods for their worship." He paused for a moment, trying to preempt his next coughing fit, then figured that it was safe enough to continue. "Mine are a war-like people, never needed a reason to slit each others throats and they probably never will. Regrettably it would appear that this shows in our illusionary skills too..." He seemed to have very little love for his people, though from the sounds of things nobody in the room could blame him for feeling that way.

"I hope you'll understand if I don't go into too much detail with how their society works, but basically illusions are taught at temples, and I used to work in one. After I left I met Paranesia, and when I can find her she teaches me a great many things about illusions, as I have much to learn. Although..." He stopped talking at this point, and for a moment he looked as if he didn't want to say anything more, but then decided that not talking wasn't really going to do him any favours. "I haven't been able to find her at all lately. I'd heard that she'd taken over from the God who lived here, which would have been wonderful, but she seems to have disappeared, and the Evil Council are the only ones in charge now. I believe that she may be testing my faith, although as with all tests of faith it's kind of hard to tell until it's over."

More coughing, he'd hoped to get some more water before being made to answer anymore questions, but since he felt that he had to he continued. This was the most important part, the part that would help his injured friends. "When I found my way back to the outside of the Citadel I found a few other slaves lying there, injured and unconcious." He began to think harder, as though he might be missing some kind of crucial clue to this puzzle. "There was nothing particularily strange about them I don't think, they were very badly hurt but I didn't stay for very long so I didn't get that good a look at them..."

He furrowed his brow as he thought about this, as this was the part of his story that made the least sense. "It probably sounds quite odd, but there was a ghost there who helped me. She was quite horribly mutilated by the blast, I won't gross you out with too many details, but it looked as though she'd suffered a gruesome and painful death, poor little girl..." He said this in a very sad tone, wishing that he could've helped the 'ghost' somehow. "She told me that I could find help here, and then disappeared. I didn't see any other ghosts, so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the explosion or not."

He realized that he'd forgotten something else, and painful though it was to do so he turned his neck back towards his healer. "Ah, thank you very much for healing me also Danielle, I'm thankful that somebody as skillful as you found me. I'm not very good at that sort of thing myself - I tried using an illusion when I broke my leg once, and it worked fine for a while but once I fell asleep it wore off. A leg breaking a second time makes for quite the painful wake up call." He laughed as if people broke their legs all the time, although once again laughing only caused him to start coughing.

[Netdroid9]

Genkaku... Genkaku... That name was oddly familiar... Paranesia's pet human? And what's with the ghost? Hallucination, probably, he was beaten up pretty bad.

*Net quickly found some more water and refilled Genkaku's cup as he descended into another coughing fit.*

Thanks for your help, it'll be of great assistance. Your reputation precedes you, Genkaku, I've overheard Paranesia talking about you. You seem to be one of her favorites.

*In reality, all Net had heard was complaints about his incompetence, but the Gei'ei didn't need to know that. Suddenly realizing something, Net blurts out a question which he immediately regrets.*

You wouldn't know where Entrails is, would you?

[Kazumaru]

"Net, I'm unable to do much beyond communication work in this body. It's just a bunch of parts thrown together, really. It's hard enough learning to move around, let alone moving around with just one point of view! If we were at the lab, we'd have a twenty kilometer radius laced with cameras, proximity detectors, and similar." Sentinel said, "THough, the term double-oh seven is unfamiliar to me... Are you referring to Crydex file zero-zero-seven, the Harmless Polar Teddy Bear of Menacing and Harm, by chance?"

He stopped, and listened to Genkaku's story. "Hmm... Didn't know anyone else was stupid enough to follow Paranesia." he said, "Though I've never had a very high opinion of the intelligence of meatbags. Sorry to hear about those people, but a lot more will die if we split our forces. And since meatbags can't be rebuilt, that's bad."

[Micka]

A short distance from the dome, a pair of figures appeared. Pulling the hood of his heavy coat over his head, Micka looked around.

"Are you sure we're in the right spot?" he asked his companion. "There's nobody else out here."

Scratching her head, Melody looked around as well. "It should be... I'll try again."

She grabbed one of his hands, and they both vanished, only to reappear a moment later in the same spot.

"I can't get us any closer. There's something that's stopping me."

"It'll do I guess," Micka replied, trying to get his bearings. In one direction he could see the ruins of the Citadel, in the other some sort of dome. He could feel the presence of several people at both locations, and after a few moments, set out towards the nearer of the two, the dome. Melody kept pace beside him, and together they contemplated the comming battle.

[Netdroid9]

Ignore him, he's just a bit grumpy for some reason.

*Net turned to Sentinel.*

Only communication? I suppose that means you won't be much good in the fight, unless you've got some kind of giant laser beam you've been hiding... Although... Can you intercept communications? I memorized the EC encryption codes, although they might have changed them since then.

[3kul]

"Entrails? She's right here, why? Did you want to ask her something?" Genkaku shuffled about slightly and the dead fox that he usually carried about with him flopped out of the shell on his back, landing with a slight crack next to him, along with his gun and a bunch of empty sugary snack packages. Entrails was the source of the smell of burning fur, she appeared to be singed and crackled a little with static. "She's probably not going to say much though, she's pretty quiet for a fox." Genkaku added somewhat thoughtfully, gulping down the water as soon as he managed to get it out of Net's hands.

As he drank the cool refreshing liquid he examined Net a little closer, feeling much more suspicious of him than he was before. Paranesia had never spoken highly of him or his illusions, so why would she go bragging about him to this person? Unless... "Oh! Net, you must be a worshipper of Paranesia like me, right?" Net said that Genkaku's illusions were better than his own, and if Paranesia was working with Net as well then perhaps she was comparing him to Genkaku, and Genkaku was the superior Gei'ei. In Genkaku's mind it made perfect sense, and he felt a little more at ease with Net now.

Though he still felt unhappy with his current situation - Net and Coolpikaaa had told him that somebody was going to get them but he was still worried, he hoped that they'd be okay. He lay back down and frowned, wondering if the other slaves were okay.

[Kazumaru]

"Laser beam?" Sentinel said. "Yeah, I have one. Luckily the furbag had the foresight to give me at least ONE weapon..."

"Theoretically, yeah, I could intercept some communications. However, they might not be very clear..."

[Danikat]

((Apologies in advance f0r the random use 0f 1337 but its the only way 1 could get around what 1 assume !s more EC nonsense and still make my post somewhat readable.))

Danikat had been standing nearby, seemingly paying no attention but in reality listening to Genkaku's story and relaying it to Arian who compared the details with the reports from h!s field opperatives at the Citadel. And came up with one glaring contradiction.

"1 don't understand this Danikat, he says he led 4 group 0f slaves to the Citadel and then th3y g0t caught in the EC attack, but all the eye witness reports 1 have say Little Sister was there first, these slaves walked in, g0t beaten up and then this one left. Since then nothing has happened at the Citadel at all."
"Strange..." Danikat thought f0r 4 moment. Her armadillos had been wrong before, but never about something like this, only technical details. Her instincts told her Genkaku believed what he was saying but it simply didn't match up to the facts. Which meant there had to be more to this story somewhere. "Did you check h!s mind yet? Has anything been done to him that might have damaged, or changed, h!s memory?"
"1 tried. H!s mind !s pretty fried. 1 can't tell whats damage from being attacked and whats artificial, esspecially without knowing what state h!s mind was in before. Net says he's worked with Paranesia so who knows what might have been done in the past."
Danikat considered the armadillos words, their present situation, what she knew 0f these people, Paranesia, what the EC might be trying to do and what she thought she should do. Then she decided to hang it all and go with what she wanted to do.

"Right. This !s silly, we could stand around here in the snow debating this till the cows come home. But the fact !s there are people in that Citadel who are injured, maybe even dying and 1 want to know why, and whether we can help them. So here's what 1'm going to do: 1'm going to send 4 section 0f my troops ((See Arma-llama)) in to investigate and to help where th3y can. If theres trouble th3y should be able to deal with it. If not then...1'll think 0f something else to do. Any objections?"
"Arian, go ahead and send the order to the llamas, and have Veamoth standing by f0r support?"

"You're not going to wait and see if there are any objections?"
Danikat frowned, "No, why would 1 do that?"
"Just asking..."

[Kazumaru]

((Sentinel now talks like uh typical redneck. Sound it out if you don't understand.))

"Ah think that's uh good plan..." Sentinel said. "It certainly beats sending any ahv the meatbags here away."

Sentinel cast uh glance at the dead fox. "Ah'm not even going to ask about that..."

[KC11]

( t- h- e- - c- e- n- s- o- -r -s- !- )

[Netdroid9]

*Net mentally sighed with relief. He didn't know what Genkaku'd do if he'd been separated from that dead fox of his, from what Paranesia had said it certainly sounded like there was some weird attachment of sorts.*

I guess you could call it that, yes. We were part of the same... Group, at one stage, but we got separated and I haven't seen her since, sadly. Say, would Entrails be able to relay what she saw recently? It might help us find your friends faster.

*If Genkaku's memories had been manipulated, perhaps Entrails had been left unscathed. Turning to Sentinel, he filed it away for the present moment and turned his attention to more current matters.*

So you could intercept communications, then? I don't suppose you can track the signal locations? It'd be ha-

*Suddenly realizing something, Net interrupted himself.*

-Say, you can't try and get in contact with the Citadel, can you? There could be some equipment left there that we could control remotely.