Archangel
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And thus did the Archangel descend from Heaven itself...
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Post by Archangel on Mar 20, 2006 19:16:09 GMT -5
The Infinity Child swung its legs, quite childishly, as it sat on the barrel. It had heard Austin's demand to get out of his mind, if a little fuzzily, because his anti-psychic shield made mind to mind contact more difficult, and mainly because it didn't care. It really felt no need to search the minds of these two creatures, because it simply did not care. Unless it was something fun.... It looked at the two of them, and sniffed superciliously.
"We do not like you, Lost One. You make our Minds hurt. But we do not like Aster-hox. Big Man makes our Minds hurt even more than you do. And Cold One...makes Us freeze. Hmmmm...." It thought for a second, its face twisted in a severe mockery of human contemplation. Then it spoke again, as if it had decided something. "We will come with you. It would be....fun. Maybe We can play with someone. Jackal, would you like to play? We have a very fun game for you...."
Suddenly, Astarte could feel a jabbing, sharp pain in her side, a ridiculous amount of pain that came from no normal source, an amount of pain that surpassed anything she had felt before without any numbing at all. Before she could even make a sound, the pain dissipated, only to be replaced with the most amazing feeling of euphoria the demon had ever felt. It was like a billion "happy" neurochemicals had been released into her brain. But again, before she could even relish the feeling, it went away just as quickly, replaced by a feeling of absolute worthlessness. The Infinity Child watched her carefully, its face expressionless.
"We call it The Crying Game. Which makes you cry faster, Jackal? The application of intense physical pain, or the absence of all joy? And trust Us, Jackal..." here, its face got very serious, and it spoke in a deep and unmistakably masculine tone. "You will cry."
Suddenly, the being smiled, the solemn mood lifted instantly. "We find this a very fun game. Perhaps you would like to play with Us while we go to...the...ummm....place of Aster-hox? Lost One, is this a good idea? Would you like to play as well? It is much more fun with more people. And you can play as We join you to fight the Big Man! That would make Us happy."
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Post by Kai! Kai! on Mar 20, 2006 23:55:03 GMT -5
Astarte shivered all over as she turned her head to look at hte infinity Child. Smothering all fprm of anger and emotional turmoil as she spoek ni a vocie so level and undertoned that she sounded almost mechanical as she spoke. 'That infinity Child is no game to other species that are not devoid of emotion and morals such as yourself it is considered torture. the kind of things you do to rats in laboratories because htey are of little worth or meaning to you.... Inflicting such suffering upon others in such a manner is beyond abominable... it makes you worse then a monster.... are you a monster infinity Child? Are you such a creature?"
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Archangel
Recruit
And thus did the Archangel descend from Heaven itself...
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Post by Archangel on Mar 21, 2006 12:36:20 GMT -5
The Infinity Child stared at Astarte as she spoke, its eyes quizzical, its expression thought-provoking. And when it spoke, suddenly a change came over all of its features. It became...almost ancient. Wise in the way of the world, its face was dark, and its mood solemn. When it spoke, it was not in the inflections of a child. Rather, it was in the crackling voice of an old man, worn beyond his time, wise beyond years.
"A monster? Astarte, you do not know the definition of a monster. Who is to say which of us is the rat here, and which the laboratory researcher? Who are you, to define morals and emotions? Maybe to Us, you are suitable for tests. Maybe We are allowed such things. Or maybe not. Maybe We have morals, but they are beyond your very imagination, and to understand them is to understand Infinity. Maybe We possess emotions that surpass your own, that overshoot yours like yours could overshoot an insect's. It is not for Us to say. However, you must know this: everything We do to you, every word We say and every action We make, has a purpose. We are not monsters, Astarte. We are students. And you, and Austin, and the entire world...you are Our textbooks. Our teachers. Our...subjects."
The Infinity Child looked over the demon, and suddenly its face cracked into a wide and guileless smile, and its voice instantly switched back into its normal childlike cadence.
"So...shall we go? We wish to see Aster-hox again. Jackal? Lost One? We wish to go now. Maybe We can think up another game for you to play, one which you may like. Yes? We go now."
The creature stood up, and waited for the other two to rise as well. It seemed to have completely forgotten its words to Astarte a moment ago, and could only think of moving on, playing more games.
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v
Trooper
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Post by v on Mar 21, 2006 14:46:58 GMT -5
"This thing speaks in paradies and metaphors." Austin grummbled as he curiously proded his wounded palm. The blood was no longer flowing, and the flesh below already seemed to be healing. Apparently unphased by the Infinity Childs 'game', or chosing to ignore it, Austin instead focused his attention on the tasks at hand. Astarte was a demon, true, but she also seemed to be quite intelligant, and her idea certainly held some value. In this war, confusion would be a valuable ally, if Astrox didn't know that a single cohesive resistance exsisted, and instead thought it was fighting civil unrest, that would buy them some time before Astrox brought in its elite units.
"I am in contact with a certain individual in the 16th District Slums, he resides upon Brassington Row, I am sure he would be able to assist in this, and maybe help to draw the guards away from the Barracks." Austin resummoned Endless Night, a black, murky mist swirling around his hand as the blade formed. The weapon shimmered slightly, as though still not quite physical, the blade seeming to continually shift, if only slightly along its edge. "Astrox refer to him by his allias, Inky Octopus, have you heard of him?"
Inky Octopus was one of the most irritating people Astrox had ever had to fight. An eccentric, lacking a true grasp of reality and slave to his wild impulsions which had become increasingly bizzare as he had aged. That said, such impulsiveness, and complete disregard for his own safety, was a key element of his sucess. He had stolen Astrox company Generals cars from outside their houses, or while they attended important meetings, he had blown up the occasional road sweeper, and had a list of other petty offences to his name. While never truely malicious, or particularly vindictive, he did hold a grudge against Astrox. Anyone whom lived was a potential victim to Inky's practical jokes and wild pranks, but Astrox were his 'speacial friends'.
"We will travel there. Astarte, you know these sewers, will you lead?"
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Post by Kai! Kai! on Mar 21, 2006 16:32:49 GMT -5
Astarte Nodded and rose form her seat. she moved over to her bed and collected her weapons attacking them to various places on her person before leading Austin out of her den back inot the sewer system. Sealing the door behind her once everyone was out AstarteAltered her form to that of the large blade-backed jackal and started to walk her four paws carying her quickly through the labarynth of the sewer. After an hour of walking however she slowled then stopped nad changedher form back to her human one and looked about. "we're below the 16th District now.... hmm...." she moved over ot the wall and then looked at Austin. "There is no way up to the surface from here. All the manhole covers are burried or covered over so we'll go the dark ways..." She grinned and took Austin by the arm stepping towards the wall. One moment she was walking towards the wlal the next they were passing through something very dark almost liquid and htne hte next they were out in the street stepping into a dark Alleyway that smelt as bad as it looked. "Can you find your way from here?"
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v
Trooper
Posts: 188
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Post by v on Mar 21, 2006 17:05:55 GMT -5
The 16th District, when it was first built, had been considered one of the more affluent areas of the city, away from the Astrox HQ, yet still centeral enough to avoid the smog from the outlying factories. Yet as the massive self contained city had expanded, the 16th had been surrounded on all sides by a large factory, causing the area to be continually covered with a thin dust, slightly yellow in colouration. Though not particularly harmful, it did irritate the eyes if exposure was for too long, and it was quite offensive to the nose. Most of the occupants of the 16th seemed to wear goggles and large, heavily built overcoats to prevent themselves getting any of the dust on their skin or work clothes. The buildings of the 16th were covered in graffiti, some simple name tags, others large, ornate designs, clearly rival gangs declaring their dominance of a particular territory.
A few posters by Astrox exsisted, decaying and faded on the walls, though there original message was long since lost by a layer of defacement. The 16th seemed to have its own economy, to an extent, as Austin led the two through the streets, small shops selling just about everything lined some of the streets, while street lights gave a sodium glow to everything in an attempt to eliminate some of the effects of the dust. While the streets were not clogged, there was a high level of activity in them, some legitimate transactions, some clearly not. The sort conducted face to face, the package transfered never truely seen.
Eventually Austin led them to an area that could best be described as an area of total destitution. The sign at the end of the street had once read Brassington Row, though the letters had been sanded down and replaced with the streets occupants own name for the place. Asid Row. A name also reflective of the intellectual level of most of the occupants.
Most of the houses were in various states of self induced demolition, and all would have been condemned. The street lights had been smashed down long ago, the road was covered in pot holes, drain covers ripped up and scattered across the road and pavement. No addict after a quick hit wandered this street, there were much nicer, safer places to go and get ones hit of drugs. That said, Asid row seemed to be a world apart from the slums themselves. Literally no one was on the street. Rather than it ending with houses, or a road, it ended with a large brick wall, topped with spikes, behind which was the recycling plant. Austin pointed to a house halfway down the street, unlike the other houses, this ones windows were not boarded up, and its doors not braced in anyway.
"Thats Inkys house, if you don't want to go down Asid row I will understand. But if you do, stay close to me, and don't look anyone in the eye."
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Post by Kai! Kai! on Mar 21, 2006 17:13:03 GMT -5
"Don't worry about that, though if anyone comes looknig for a fight i'll be happy to oblige of course... it will be the lats fight they'll ever have..." Astarte growled softly. You could actualy hear the deep dog like growl that issued form her throat. She could smell blood in this place even over the stentch. blood and fear, the kind of smell that made a demon happy because that normaly came with thier victims final breaths, the moment in which they knew they were oging to die. She should know Astarte had slain enough souls to last a lifetime ni that vile collosium not two years past.
"Lead on leader,"
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Archangel
Recruit
And thus did the Archangel descend from Heaven itself...
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Post by Archangel on Mar 21, 2006 22:27:52 GMT -5
"Yes. Lead on, leader. We wish to see this...Inky Octopus."
The voice came from behind the two of them. The Infinity Child had obviously followed them, although neither of them could remember hearing it or seeing it behind them. It peered curiously down Asid Row, its yellow eyes disturbingly serene even around such dismal environments. Austin and Astarte were mildly relieved to note that the Infinity Child had not played any games on its way here. If there was one thing you avoided with an Infinity Child, it was its games. As Astarte had already learned, Infinity Children did not think like normal beings did.
Carefully, as the three of them made their way down Asid Row, the Infinity Child probed their surroundings. Even though it knew Austin probably did not care, it thought maybe Astarte might, and spoke its findings.
"Many people are here. But they are scared. They hide in their dirty homes, and look out the dirty windows at the dirty streets, and wait for a dirty end. The live in constant fear, of Aster-hox, of other people, of themselves. They are small and poor and filthy. We do not like it here. It is not like home. It makes Our heads hurt."
This was the first time the Infinity Child had spoken of a "home". Did this thing have a home? Obviously it did. Somewhere out in the Wastelands, somewhere far removed from civilization and the evil of Astrox, this thing must have a home. A place that was shared by Infinity Children everywhere, where they were pleasantly happy and played no tricks and worked no more. At least, that's what Astarte and Austin probably assumed. But home...that was quite a different concept for an Infinity Child. Pretty much every concept was a different concept for its kind. It was not human, or demon, or anything in between. It was its own, and it moved to the beat of a far different drum.
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Post by Skye on Mar 22, 2006 21:37:57 GMT -5
Name: Salra Allias: Killer,Tempest Age: Unknown Race: Half-Breed Appearance: i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/Laurlie/Salra.jpgDistinguishing Features: idk Fighting style: Close range Magic: None that she knows of Psychic: Can simply sense fear History: Created from a sick program in Astrox, a dark history she found out by a man named Jehric Personality: Trusts no one and it is hard for her to fight alongside others. If you gain her trust she is loyal and quite the savage fighter. She does not like to be touched and can lash out at anyone if they make the wrong move. Special: Prehensile tail that can constrict, and a human form. ----- Salra roamed the streets, sniffing, her sharp teeth bared. Her blood red hair was matted in another crimson matter which was splattered all over her mouth and hands. It was the fear she could smell, but where was the fear? It was not from her, no. Or was it? She looked down to her leg, a long, deep stab wound seem to sparkle in the failing light. Moving on she kept an eye out for killers, for those who hunted her. Salra wasn't in the mood to fight, not right now. Her emerald eyes watched every nook and cranny closely as she sat down. Her skin was a deep purple, darker purple stripes running along the length of her body and arms and as she rested she watched the dark bloated clouds snuff out all moonlight in a matter of minutes. Leaving the street lights to do the work of giving false security to those who believe the light will protect them. Salra pulled her leg up towards her from the shadows and began licking the cut, she would be on the move again soon.
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v
Trooper
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Post by v on Mar 30, 2006 9:45:46 GMT -5
As they walked down the street towards Inkys house something lept from the window of the house next door to his. Its form rusted, apparently hewn together from scrap metal, yet it moved with a fluid grace that, unless seen, would not be associated with something of its build. It landed with sufficent force to cause the ferrocrete to crummble and compress beneath it, yet its legs were barely any wider than a mans. It chest was extremely bulky, heavily armoured, as were its arms, two thick cable like wires trailed behind it, a bald head, eyes glowing a soft red, mouth twisted into a permenant, demented grin, perfected the image of something which clearly would not be made by a humanoid. This thing had long since deviated from its intended purpose, and forged its own. It mummbled something, apparently aimed at Austin, yet its derranged grin made lip reading impossible, before it spun on its oversized feet and lept over the wall at the end of the street and into the recycling plant. A few seconds later gunfire, clearly from the guards inside the recycling complex, followed by the sounds of richoeting rounds, something pneumatic pressurizing, then releasing. Something smashed against the wall of the recycling plant, before falling to the ground with a wet thud which echoed down Asid Row and up to Austin and his companions.
A moment later, apparently intrigued by the noise, Inky walked out of his house, wearing nothing but a pair of grey boxer shorts. Can of beer in his hand, he looked up and down the street for something intresting. He waved enthusiastically when he saw Austin, apparently forgetting about what had caused him to emerge from his house, spilling his beer across the floor. He ran towards them, grabbing the three of them in a strong bear hug, before stepping back and actually bothering to look at Austins companions. The man was clearly world weary, at least in body. His body size and structure said that he would have barely broken 20 years, yet his face and eyes were sunken, weather beaten and almost old in appearance, maybe more akin to that of a 50 year old.
"DUDE! Haven't seen you in ages! And you've had a love child, you dirty dog, I knew you had it in....wait....thats one of them isn't it?" Inky poked at the Infinity Childs face, a look of intrest across his face. Inky twitched constantly, moving from foot to foot, apparently incapable of standing still for more than a few seconds, his mind also, it seemed, had a similar attention span. "And Astarte! The jackal half breed. I don't know you. But Astrox have a big bounty on your head, so you must be cool. What a strange gang you have brought with you Austin!."
He looked at the Infinity Child again. "Are you real?" He asked after a few seconds, his voice filled with suspicion, eye brows arched. Apparently he didn't want to be seen talking to something that wasn't real.
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Post by Skye on Mar 30, 2006 17:01:16 GMT -5
Salra was running again, but slowly she was beginning to feel angry. Salra really wasn't used to running, she was used to killing, so it wasn't a surprise that when she finally stopped she began stalking her pursuers. There were only three, before there had been at least six. Maybe she killed them already? She didn't know, she was in such a frenzy before the only reason she ran was because she got startled by a shot gun. Anyway, three of them ran past and she tip toed after them. Her large feet cushioned her weight comfortably as she was quite the big half-breed. Hunching down they were toally un aware of their own death that was lurking behind them. Teeth flashed and one man was already dead, his neck in the jaws of Salra. Bullets were fired and two struck Salra though she wretched the weapon out of his hand, bashed in his skull (while being showered with fragments of brain and bone). Whirling upon the last man, she reconized him as the one who had slashed her, the same blade already in his hand with her blood on it. The circled each other slowly, watching each other intently, though Salra had one advantage over this human; she was faster. Lunging at him, his striking hand was being held by hers, tail wrapping around his chest she came up behind him and hissed in his ear, "I'm not the one for goodbyes." Her tail began to squeeze the air out of his lungs, "so either I could kill you quickly, or let you live and pass on a message. Which do you prefer?" A bone crunched and the man screamed out, she eased up a bit, "what do you choose?" she snarled. "Message," he choked, "message!" "Good choice..." she smiled and slide infront of him, making sure he got a good look at her face, teeth, and sharp eyes, "Tell the head honcho to piss off and leave me alone, the more he sends out to kill me... the more who will die." Salra let go of the man and pushed him out of the way, what she wasn't expecting was him lunging at her with his knife. "You didn't want to die!" she turned around and clawed him in the face, effectivly rendering one of his eyes useless. Salra didn't wait around.
Arriving to another empty street Salra began to think about pulling those bullets out. Her body had already begun the healing process and had pushed the bullets a bit. Though they were irritating, and she wanted them gone. She stuck two claws in her small bullet wound and began digging it out. Finally after many sharp pains later, it popped out. "Maybe i'll just leave the others." She licke dher claw clean and looked up, "16th avenue." Hm... She spotted the street sign but also a line of laundry. Climbing the brick wall she grabbed some various garmets and began wrapping them around her wounds. A shirt around her leg, boxers around her arm (bullet wound), and socks around the other bullet wound found in her arm. Now she sat down, waiting for herself to heal a bit more.
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Archangel
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And thus did the Archangel descend from Heaven itself...
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Post by Archangel on Mar 30, 2006 22:11:05 GMT -5
The Infinity Child cocked its head at the man, standing there in his boxers. It shrugged at him, and a strange smile spread across its face. It was not the most pleasant smile. In fact, it almost made Inky's skin crawl.
"What is real? If real means Natural, then yes, We are real. If real means corporeal, then yes, We are real. If real means that We can kill you....then yes. We are...real.
At those words, the Infinity Child stepped past the man, and walked directly into his house.
It looked around, intrigued. The place was a dump. At least, the front room was. Paint peeled off the walls in uneven clumps. The floor was buried under piles of newspapers, empty food boxes, and empty and partially full beer cans. In fact, it smelled rather disgusting, mostly like rotting pizza and alcohol. There seemed to be a couple lumps in the scattered mess, and the legs of a sofa and a chair stuck out from under piles of paper. There really wasn't much of anything else. Besides the mess. The Infinity Child gazed around the room, staring at each pile, not bothering to read the papers or explore under the dirty boxes.
"Interesting. It is...smelly. It makes Our heads hurt." It spoke to no one in particular, and didn't really care if anyone heard it speak. It waded in through the trash, and began exploring the junk piled all around this front room. It lifted papers and tried to read them, although most of the time the papers were upside-down, so it obviously wasn't actually reading. It brought one slice of old, moldy pizza to its nose, sniffed, then dropped it in disgust. It put one hand to its temple, imitating the gesture humans make when they have a headache, and continued poking around the room, lifting things and throwing them over its shoulder, making the place even messier than it was before, if that was possible. It completely ignored the others, did not care whether they had entered the house or not. It was too busy exploring the mess.
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v
Trooper
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Post by v on Mar 31, 2006 7:10:14 GMT -5
"That things weird." Inky mummbled to himself as he led Austin and Astarte into his house. He walked over the staircase, before removing a slightly discoloured panel and typing on the keypad beneath. "I built this place beneath me house, ya know, to store stuff in." A crawl space appeared next the they keypad, Inky smiled and lifted a torch from the mess on the floor and shone a beam of light inside.
The secret room seemed to be in the same state of disarray as the rest of his house. Screwed up papers and semi-eaten food littered the floor. An old chair, moulded to Inkys shape with time, was given pride of place in the centre of the room. At a gesture from Inky, Austin crawled into the room itself. An old computer terminal, apparently stolen from some Astrox building, was on the floor, charred in places, though a few dim lights showed it was still active to some extent. "This is just filled with junk Inky. I do not see why you would need a hidden compartment to store it."
"I know, I've got the cool thing in my hand." Inky dangled, what appeared to be a fibre optic cable before the crawl space, letting Austin see it. There was clearly something amiss with this cable though. For one, it was somehow managing to twitch and move slightly, despite possessing no visible power source of sensory systems. The other factor was the multitude of serrations and nodules across it, though the later seemed to serve no purpose. Austin looked at it for a moment, before pulling himself back out of the secret room and snatching the cable away from Inky, holding it in his hands at eye level, before almost dropping it with amazement.
This thing had an aura. Psychic. Weak, though detectable. Stuttering binary, continuially starting, crashing, then restarting once again, incapable of ever completing its calculations and commencing the next task. "Found it next door when that weirdo bot moved in. Right freak it was. Disappeared for days, came back for a few hours, then bounded away again. And the noises." Inky picked up a half empty beer can from a small table next to him, before taking a few mouthfuls and throwing the can into the front room, which apparently served as the garbage bin of the house. "Sometimes it was just throwing shit around, other days it sounded like it was torturing itself to death! Barmy 'bot it is. Hope its finally gone, but its left that thing, any ideas?"
Austin sent a jolt of anti-psychic energy through the cable, which didn't seem to be affected at all by it. Instead he turned to examining it with his fingers, though the cable apparently lacked any identifying marks or numbers which may betray its origins. The technology was highly advanced, implying it was of Astrox origins, however the design of it seemed to run counter to anything Austin had seen in the Astrox labs. That and only a select few of the most advanced robots had ever shown psychic ability, and even then, removal of the armour didn't leave the armour psychic.
"No I cannot, but I do need your help in a certain matter of some importance." Austin gave Inky the cable back, who chose to casually throw it back inside the secret room and close the crawl space. "My friends are intending to destroy the security barracks in this area, we need a distraction, any ideas?"
"I am sure something could be arranged....later. At night. I will get to work on it. Make yerselves at home, or go and wander about the 16th for a bit. Most of the dudes here on Asid row are pretty friendly. A bit psychotic maybe, but they are cool, long as you ain't making trouble, they will leave you alone. See you guys later tonight."
Inky ran into the kitchen, picking a few cans of cheap beer up, before racing upstairs with heavy foot falls to arrange whatever he needed to. Austin turned to his companions. "Any suggestions on what to do until nightfall?"
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Post by Kai! Kai! on Apr 1, 2006 4:25:07 GMT -5
Throwing herself back onto a couch Astarte snorted and looked about the room. "I might sleep for a little bit and dream of big explosions and battle..." Seh swung her legs aroung and tucked her arms behind her head closing her eyes and seeming to fall asleep within a few moments. Though her foot did twitch on occasion like a dog dreaming of the chase.
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Post by iason on Apr 13, 2006 16:32:59 GMT -5
Acid Row heard the explosion of an Astrox-controlled barracks. And the gunfire that followed.
"In the name of God, impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation." There was screaming. "B-b-but I'm n-n-not a-a-a!" The man in black over the injured soldier of Security Personel Barracks Gamma said, "Amen," and pulled the trigger of his machine gun.
"Sir!"
"Report."
"We are done with our operations, sir! But it appears Astrox has mobilized. And so long before our calculations, the bastards!"
"How much time do we have before we are surrounded?"
"Approximately..." The sounds of Astrox reinforcements could be heard not far off, "...party time, sir."
"Excellent." The man in charge set off an alarm of sorts in his longcoat and set off to prepare his men. "This better work, you old coot."
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