A Tale of Knives

Now he was Clan.

The thought dawned upon him as the young man called Knives stepped up on the podium and strode over to the Master Engineer and recieved his diploma. Finally. After 5 gruelling years of schooling, he stood ready to face the legion of Omni-tek corporate lackeys he had learned to hate since his diaper-days. Finally, he wold exact revenge for the death of his familiy.

The Master Engineer still blabbered on about the grades and accolades Knives had recieved in his 5 years of tutelage in the West Athen School of Practical Engineering. Knives didn't really listen at all. He had grown tired of listening to other telling him what to do, and had woved that the day he recieved his diploma and Clan tokenboard he would stop listening to what others said he could and could not do.

He suddenly became aware of the eyes staring at him. He had totally forgotten that he was supposed to say a few words to the crowd of people come to see the ceremonial giving of diplomas and tokenboards. As the highest graduating pupil, that was his task. He already had had many an argument, even with the Master Engineer himself, about what should and should not be said. The Master had warned him about using the time at the podium for uttering his meanings about Omni-Tek, because, as the old fool said; "we do not want to do anything that puts the ceasefire at risk". Bah! The ceasefire was no good! Why could they not see that? Engineers was supposed to stick to cold, hard facts, and not to believe in myths, fabrications or petty deals among politicians who only tried to squabble amongst themselves and further gain influence and power. "Engineers has no use for such", mused the young man. "Cold, hard logic, as hard as notum-enriched Tank armor, was the only thing that matters."

Clearing his voice, he began to speak: "Thank you, Master Engineer, for giving me the skills and mindset neccecary do drive the Omni-Tek scum from our beloved Rubi-Ka." A sea of Dumbfounded faces stared back at him, and the Master Engineer and his colleagues looked like an Atrox had planted an I-beam smack in their faces. "I, as the rest of my fellow classmates, has now completed 5 years of training and schooling in the noble art of Engineering." A sarcastic and scalding tone entered his voice as he spoke on. "We have all learned from our esteemed masters," , "the ways of atoms and molecules, of notum and nanotechnology, how to make bots, weapons and other items. We have also been taught about the Clans, the pathetic Neutrals, and the disgusting Omni-Tek scum that we share this planet with. They have warned us not to be outspoken of our meanings about the Omni's, and have told us that we as Engineers should keep to the undeniable Logic and Truth." An ominous silence had settled after the many ghasps and cries of outrage from the assembled people. The Master Engineer looked death-stricken, and two of the women in his entourage had fainted. Knives, on the other hand, looked at the people and the Engineer Mentors with disgust, and let his next string of words come out as a halv-grown, halv-snarl. "I say their so-called Logic is Flawed, and that their much-vaunted Truth is no more than Lies ment to make us complacent with the threat that Omni poses to us all. They are dogs, and should be hunted like what they are!" More yells and booing now echoed from the assembled people. The Master Engineer looked ready to call forth a SlayerDroid to take care of this affront to his and the schools Honor, but Knives didn't really care. In his eyes they where all weak, and not willing to face reality. "Bah!", thought Knives. "If they cannot save themselves, why should I try to do so? Wasted energy, that's all."

But as he opened his mouth to speak once more, the Master Engineer surged up from his seat. His mouth opened and spewed forth a myriad of words, wich of none would be compliant with etiquette or politeness. Knives let it all wash over him with the same straigt-faced disinterest someone might look at a twig or a Leet. "Pathetic", thought Knives. "How on Rubi-Ka's three moons could a person like him lead the Engineers Collegium?" As Knives continued his musings about the Master Engineer, he became aware of movement at the edge of his vision. Before he could act, though, a HUGE Atrox stepped forward, grabbed his shirts collar and hauled him off the stage and into the darkness behind the podiums heavy curtains. Knives fought with all his strength, but soon admitted to himself that he had little chance against an Atrox in full ceremonial Tank-Armor, a Queen Blade at his side and a full Tokenboard.

The Atrox carried Knives straight to the Master Engieeers office, and was put in a chair rather roughly. When he tried to get up, he got shoved down with enough force to make his ears ring and his shoulders feel like they had been ripped clean off his torso. "Now What?", thought Knives. "Probably another confrontation with the Master Engineer again." This was not the first time Knives had been at odds with the Master, but this time, Knives thought, it WILL be the last.

Suddenly the door flung open, and impacted with the large bookshelf with a bang. Again Knives tried to stand, but he was not a bit more successful this time. In through the door the Master Engineer burst, still in his ceremonial robes and looking more than furious. "He looks ready to pull a gun and shoot me", thought Knives. But instead, the Master Engineer calmed visible and got himself under control. When he spoke, it was with a calm, flat voice that was totally devoid of any emotion. "You had to do it....you HAD to open your big blabberhole and say something as bot-headed like that? I would have thought you smarter than that, especially with your grades. But then again, you have always been rebellious. I have not forgotten when you deliberately blew up the chemistry-lab just because you "happened" to misunderstand what the Mentor told you." The Master Engineer gave Knives an even stare. "But since you have graduated, and waited until AFTER you had recieved the diploma, there is not much i can do except to send you on your way with a startup-package." Knives got a bad sinking feeling in his guts because of the malicious smile on the Master's face. "So, here it is", the Master said while he threw a package to Knives. In a heavily sarcastic voice the Master spoke on; "I hope you find it to your liking." Knives opened the box and looked inside it. The contents was an old solar-powered pistol, a cheap startup medkit and treatment lab wich both had gone over their expiery-dates by a good number of months, and a nano for a Feeble Automaton. Knives was shocked! They'd send him into Rubi-Ka with only this? And that for speaking the Truth about what whas going on? They can't be serious! But as he began to stammer a reply, the Master Engineer held up his right hand and said "Do not speak a single word to me, you spoiled little puddle of Rollerrat-spit! The only thing you will do is to make me regret even giving you as much you have gotten! Now, get out of my sight!" A small gesture to the Atrox was enough for the atrox to grab Knives by the neck, carry him to the room Knives and another student shared and toss him on the bed. Stuffing all of Knives posessions into a large bag, the atrox grabbed hold of Knives again and once more carried him around. This time they where on the way for the Main Gate of the Engineers Complex in Athens.

Reaching the gate, the atrox first threw the duffelbag stuffed with Knives possessions into the street, before Knives got the same treatment. A bone-jarring impact with the ground made Knives gasp in pain, but the Atrox only turned around and lumbered into the complex again. "Stupid son of a...", muttered Knives and collected his posessions which were now spread over the lawn and sidewalk outside the gate. Gathering up his things, Knives wondered about what to do now. He had no money, no friends and no place to stay. He headed towards the sighs saying BackYard Trainign area, and hoped that these also had some kind of dormatory he could use for the time being. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw people piling out of the main auditorium of the Collegium. "Can't say I'm sorry to get out of that place, but by the Two Suns, I will have my revenge on both the Collegium and the Omni-scum!", Knives thought as he headed for the Backyard. "I'll be back, and then we'll see who's laughing......."

To be continued.....

A Tale of Knives, Part II

Now:

Pain...

That was the predominant feeling Knives felt when he finally awoke. Every part of his body seemed to have something to tell his brain, and every breath hurt. Most of all his feet and hands, but why he had no clue. "What happened?", Knives thought. "Where am I?" Knives couldn't see anything, or hear, but he felt the heat of the twin suns on his body and a weird, grainy feeling to the material his back and legs. Something light and soft covered his eyes. He tried to sit up, but somehow his hands wouldn't move. As he tried once more, pain suddenly flared throughout his hands and lower arms, but Knives was no closer to figuring out why. Even just moving his fingers hurt like there was a Rollerrat gnawing his way through his hand. "What has happened to me?", Knives once again thought as panic started to set in. "I'm stuck! And I've lost my sight and hearing!". His struggeling only intensified the pain being reported by his hands and feet, and that only heightened his panic. "Why can't I move?!?"

Gradually Knives got control over himself, and he moved farther away from the edge of total hysteria. "First, I need to find out what's wrong with me and where I am, then what has happened to me". Slowly he folded the fingers on his right hand inwards, ignoring the lightningstorm of pain coming from his hand. "I WILL endure this!, Knives snorted. "This pain is NOTHING! Only Omni-scum take notice of pain, but they are weak! I am Clan! I am BETTER!" Grabbing hold of the pain and using it to fuel his anger and rising adrenaline-level, Knives ripped his hand off the ground while shrieking ancient Nordic obscenities at basically everything his pain-addled brain could think of.

His hand continued to convey it's feelings to Knives' brain, but the brain was already dealing with the massive wave from a few minutes ago, so only a fraction of it was recognized as a dull pressure. With his now free hand Knives slowly put his hand against his eyes and felt fabric. Following around his head, he found that it was a piece of cloth tied around his head and eyes. He slowly slid it off his head, and tried lifting an eyelid to test his eyesight. Knives had already figured out that the grainy feeling on his back was sand, and, judging by the smell of things and by the heat, he had drawn the conclusion that he was in a desert-area. But wich? and Where?

Lifting an eyelid turned out to be harder than it sounded. His eyes was caked with tear-packed sand and grit, and that made his eyelids stick together and making them hard to open. By carefully using his aching hand, Knives was able to remove the most of the "glue", and opened his left eye a fraction of an inch. He was instantly battered by a sharp lancing pain into his already overloaded pain, and had to fight to remain concious. As the darknes nibbling on the light that was coming through his eyelid started to fade, he slowly opened his eye again to survey the area. What he saw nothing could prepare him for.

He was sitting in the middle of a battlefield in the desert, upon a small hill overlooking a lake that would have been idyllic if not for the hordes of scavengers milling in the water. Turning his head aroud to his right, he could see a shallow valley riddled with black shapes that from time to time moved. He could see wings flapping and heard muffled squeaks and scrawls coming from the winged forms. Knives tried to twist his head further to the right, but he realized that his left hand still was stuck about a nanosecond before a blinding wave of pain hit him and making him flop limply to the ground.

Coming to his sences again, Knives opened his eyes and looked at his hand and feet. That's when he noticed that he was actually staked to the ground. Someone had left him a Treatment Lab in the sand, but it looked like everything else had been taken away. His armor. His weapons. Every nanoformula he had and all credits. The only thing he had was a treatment lab (and not a very good one judging by the looks of it) and a loincloth around his hips. And he was still staked to the ground.

The pegs holding him was made of raw notum. He could feel the tiny vibrations the notum made in his hand and feet. Clearly hand-crafted, they looked like they where about 4 inches long, 3/4 of an inch wide, and smooth. They also had some kind of writing on them that looked vaugely familiar, but Knives could not for the life of him recall where he had seen that kind of writing before. Working carefully Knives managed to remove the peg from his right hand, and by using the peg he was able to drag the Treatment-kit over to him. Checking it over he saw that his fears about it's state was correct. "Great.... I'm in a desert, I've got no guns, no armor, no cash and no way of getting any help." Disgusted, Knives threw the notum-peg as far out onto the plain in front of him as he could, and was rewarded by another wave of pain.

By careful manipulation of the Notum-peg holding his left hand, he was able to get his hand free without too much extra pain and discomfort. With both his hands free, Knives was able to heal some of his wounds by using the treatment-kit. The only problem was that it only held a few more charges, and that the amount of healing caused by it was small. "Well, It's better than nothing", he thought. "If not, I'll just use it to pummel someone just because I can." After daring to use one more charge from the kit, Knives removed the stakes holding his feet. Looking at his feet, he could see that no bones had been broken. "Good, that means that I at least can walk, although I don't know where to go. Where in the Niflheim am I?"

Coaxing another two heals out of the treatment-kit, Knives unsteadily got to his feet and scanned the area once more. He didn't recognize any of the predominant terrain-features around him, but he was pretty sure he was somewhere in the Newland Desert. And that ment trouble. Not only was there a few large and rather dangerous creatures out there; It was also infested with Omni's. "Their infestation should have been clensed off this planet a LONG time ago.They must have hit me with some kind of tranquelizer and then staked me to the ground just to be their normal, cruel and evil selves. Scumbags......", Knives thought, not thinking about the fact that there was no way that a tranc could penetrate his Storm Carbonium Armor.

Checking the treatment-kit again, Knives saw that the display on the thing showed a message stating that the kit now was empty. "Typical. The cursed thing quits out on me just when I could use it", he thought while looking at the sticker on the front of it. It was one of those annoying Omni-is-your-friend propaganda-stickers, wich enraged Knives to such an extent that he punched the notum-spike that where holding him to the hard-packed sand straight through the kit."Bastards! I always knew Omni's had a cruel and twisted sence of humor, but this is taking it too far! Whoever put me in this situation will PAY for what they've done."

"But first things first. I need a gun, and I need shelter." By looking at the sky, Knives was able to figure out that it was late in the evening. Soon the temperature would drop to freezing temperatures, and being out in the desert dressed in a loincloth where like a death-sentence. And the nocturnal predators of the Newland Desert were notorious for their Ferocity in a fight and tenacity in tracking their prey. And there were worse things out there than mere predators... "If only I could remember how I ended up here....."

Setting his sights on one of the nearest corpses, Knives crawled over as not to put any weight or strain on his hands or feet. Even though the wounds where nearly closed, the flesh was still tender and sore to the touch. "That'll make a scar, I bet", he thought. "I hate scars". The Body looked awful, and smelled even worse. It wore tatters of a robe, riddled with tears and what looked like bullet holes. Other than that, the body looked like a totally ordinary dead person. Knives had seen (and caused) things like that before, but there was something in the back of his head that was vaugely familiar with it. Or rather; It's clothes. But the thought was like mist. It disappeared just as quickly as it formed, and Knives thought no more of it.

Getting the clothes off the body didn't take long, and even though they stank worse than a Violent Vagabond in mid-summer, it offered a little protection against the sun and the cold soon to come. "No Weapons, though", thought Knives. All he had was the notum-spikes, but he had no training with meele weapons of any kind. "I'm an Engineer! Not a dim-witted Enforcer! I use my superior intellect to solve problems, not muscles!". It was well known that Knives didn't like Enforcers since they relied on brute force and roaring instead of intellect and mechanical excellence to reach ones goals. "If I'd wanted to use meele-weapons, I'd follow that idiot Xofus through the Enf-training instead!" Xofus was the resident bully in the school that Knives went to as a kid. Knives had always hated the fact that Xofus seemed to get all the nice girls because he was well-equipped with muscles that rippled with every tiny move while himself always was gaunt and skinny, with wiry muscles that didn't invite the Oooh's and Aaah's that Xofus always got.

Pushing these thoughts out of his head, Knives looked around for another body or weapon. He thought he saw something sticking up from the sand about 20 feet away, and started shuffeling over to it. Upon reaching it, he saw that it was a heavy staff, albeit a splintered one. "This could come in handy", Knives thought. "If I'm lucky, I can beat myself to death with it and respawn in a city". But even as that thought manifested itself, something heavy landed on his back, spilling him onto the sand. Knives heard a ear-piercing Shriek, and felt claws dig through the light robe he had taken from the first dead body he found. Rolling onto his back with a jerk dislodged the thing that was on his back, and Knives felt wind start to stir around him as the thing flapped it's large wings to keep itself aloft. Pulling the heavy staff with him, Knives jumped to his feet just to be knocked down again by what now was a Vulture. It dug it's claws painfully into Knives arm while flapping it's wings madly and screeching like an ancient Earth locomotive on rusty tracks. Pulling his right arm back, Knives felt his hand fall upon one of the Notum-spikes. He grabbed the spike and with a shout from the depths of his lungs yelled back at the screeching, flapping Vulture before lunging out with the spike. Knives hit the Vulture on it's broad torso, but failed to do any damage. But the bird let go of the arm, and pulled away and into a circular pattern above Knives' head. "Waiting for me to die, most likely", Knives thought.

His left arm now har four long scratchmarks from his struggle, besides the nearly closed wound in his hand. He had a splintered heavy staff, and two Notum-Spikes. And he was in the middle of nowhere, and he did not have any means of getting anywhere or contacting anyone. "Great....just effing GREAT!", he shoutet into the desert. "I'm seriously going to kill someone for this. And it won't be pretty! You hear me! IT WON'T BE PRETTY! YOU'LL DIE FOR THIS, WHOEVER YOU ARE!!!".


"Feisty, isn't he", a voice said. "Aye. We'll see how a few days in the desert will lighten his mood. He's been a nuisance for the High Counsil for far too long. Ranting about the need to clense this planet of the....what did he call it? ah. yeah. The Evil and Wicked Omni-bastards. That's it", said another voice. "C'mon. let's get back to the city before darkess comes. This place gives me the creeps."


End part 2.

Then:

"So, you want me to do a mission, Councilman", Knives asked. The councilman stood with his back turned to Knives, Looking out a wall-to-wall windows overlooking he Tir cityscape. "Yes, a Mission that will need a certain....candour on your part". "Great", thought Knives, "Another messenger-run to Athens or wherever". Knives was thoroughly bored by running these small, insignificant errands for some gimpy Conuncil 'Crat in a fancy suit and with a stupid servant-style bot by his side. Ever since getting out of the Engineer-school and starting at the mission-circuit, Knives had been bored by the lack of interessting missions. He had done tons of the normal "Go there and repair this or that"-missions, and also assisted that idiot Tirbo Ratcatcher up in West Athen in hunting Rollerrats. "What ever did that guy do to get sentenced to SUCH a totally un-interessting posting?", he mused. Knives, lost in his own musings, had stopped paying attention to the Councilman, wich in turn had turned around and was eyeing Knives with a sour face. "At least have the decency of paying me the respect I've earned, Mechanic Knives", the man said. Embarassement burned in Knives face. He had been up for promotion to Engineer four times, but he's continued public speeches in the scandalvids about Omni-Tek had apparantly irritated quite a few of the people in the Clan Administration. "Well, then will NOT shut me up. I'll never pipe down when the reporters ask me of my opinion on Omni-Dork". Knives schooled his features into an impregneable mask and apologized to the Congressman. "I'm sorry, Sir. Won't happen again, Sir."

The Congressman started the Mission Briefing. Apparantly this mission was of some importance. The High Council wanted someone to infiltrate and seek out the basis of a rather nasty rumour that had appeared around the Clan-controlled areas: That the "Eternal One", the High Priest in the Temple of the Three Winds had risen again. "Well, this could be interesting", Knives thought. He'd be doing something important, for a change. Knives paid attention to the briefing, sucking in as much details as possible and asking questions where he thought he'd misunderstood or was confused. "The mission", the 'Crat said, "will be a covert one. Now, I know that your are an Engineer, and not an Agent, but you're the only one we've got right now. So therefore I have been authorized to reward you with a QL34 Springfield Arms Home Defender Shotgun, some Xp, and about 5000credits. The mission will not be hard, and as such, the rewards will be low in the short term", the Crat said.

"Great", thought Knives. "At least the shotgun is something useable". Returning his attention to the 'Crat, he took the note holding the info he'd already heard. It was signed by three different Councilmen, but not the Head Counciller, wich Knives thought was strange. "Such an important mission should be signed by him.... Well, no use pondering on that now. I need to make a few stops before I head north" Making his exit of the 'Crat's office, he noticed a singularely bland man in a side-room to the office. He didn't react when Knives eyed at him, and only gave Knives a cursory look before returning to what looked like a holopaper edition of Clanspace. Clanspace was one of the more agressive slander-papers, and they had run stories about Knives before. "That can't be good", he thought. "I hope that wasn't the June-edition....." Knives had been especially outspoken in the June edition, since that was the month that Omni-Tek had slaughtered his family so long ago.

Before long, Knives was on his way North up to the Temple of the Three Winds. He needed to get in unnoticed by the many peering eyes around the site, and also needed some kind of disguise once inside. "The last part won't be hard. I'll just take one of the Cultist's clothes". Knives had seen some of the cultists in the surrounding area, but never talked to one. As far as he was concerned, the temple was just another Omni hideout that should have been clensed out long ago. That he became worse than the Omni's themselves by meaning such things didn't even occur to him. The only thing Knives was after was vengeance for his family, and nothing was going to stop him in that regard even if it ment that he had to get up to Title Level 6 to do so and then single-handidly storm Omni-1.

The trip was un-eventful so far. He had stopped at the Outpost to use the insurance-terminal and to buy another Treatment-lab just in case. He was sitting in a small coffee-bar checking a map one of the shadier characters in Tir had sold him, when suddenly a shadow fell upon him and he was struck hard across the jaw. Tumbling from his chair and going into a roll to dodge any more punches, he came to stop when his back hit one of the other tables. Dazed, he got to his feet quickly and scanned the area for what, or who, had hit him. The Bartender had a baseball-bat in his hand waving it menacily at an Fixer in Grid-armor with Omni-markings, who was yelling something back. Knives ears where ringing from the blow, so he couldn't hear too well. But once he saw the Omni-insignia on the Fixer's Grid Armor, his vision clouded over with a red haze and he went into pure reaction mode. First, Knives cast all his defensive nano's and the MatCrea and Spacetime Expertises, then started on the process of getting his Gladiatorbot. He had gotten the habit of having one inactive shell in his inventory for just like these occations, and silently cursed himself for not having done so now. Anyway, the nanocasting got finished a second before the Omni-fixer turned and fired his SMG. A staccato rythm of hammer-blow hit Knives' shield, and he was thrown over the table he had stopped against. Cursing loudly, Knives activated the Gladiatorbot-shell.

At the instant the GladBot appeared by Knives' side, he ordered it to attack the omni. Getting to his feet in a fluid motion, Knives pulled out his dual shotguns, screamed "DIE, OMNI SCUM", and blazed away. The dual-shot hit the omni, fumbling his casting of a nano ment to intercept the GladBot. Stretching it's talon-fingered hand toward the roof, the GladBot made a sound like a thousand nails scratching over a blackboard, a sound that Knives had programmed into the bot just for fun. The hideous screech grew in volume as the talons streaked down onto the Fixers GA, and he was thrown back to impact against the bar with quite a force. As he was trying to get up, Knives fired another one-two shot from his shotgun, taking the Fixer in the arm and chest. Bleeding from where the GladBot had struck him, the Fixer fired back at Knives, but only hit dead air as Knives already was up and running for cover.

Then the GladBot was upon the Fixer again. Slashing it's claws in from each side, it tossed the Fixer first to one side, then to the other as the second hand struck. The GA was now solidly red on both arms and chest, and the headpiece had started to turn amber. The Fixer tossed out an Entanglement Field at the GuardBot, and then started to get up. But he hadn't seen that Knives was now gesturing franticly and obviously in the process of casting a nano. Firing his SMG again, the Fixer ran at Knives. The GuardBot tried to follow, but the Entanglement-Field held it in a firm grasp so that it's motions where painfully slow. The shots from the Fixer once again threw Knives to the floor, but not before the Drain Stamina-nano had taken effect on the Fixer. Knives tried to roll with the hammerblows from the shots hitting him, but caught his feet on a low step and went down in a tangle with one of the chairs. "Oh No!", Knives thought as the Fixer advanced with his weapon ready, and a hideous grin shining through the gaps in the Grid-Armor.

"Say your prayers, Clanner! This WILL hurt, and I'll be able to bring another clan-gimp's scalp back to my Section Leader. Who knows? You might even bounce my standing in the Org, although I doubt it.", the Fixer said. "Who...who are you?", Knives stammered, looking into the barrel of the SMG now aimed at his head. At this close distance, his shields where ineffectual against such a ballistic beating, and his cloth hood would not stop the bullets. "Not that you have any need to know that info, my name is Ghostbane. I should have been named Clanbane, as I've hunted an killed quite a few of your silly and weak clanners", The Fixer said, still with his ugly grin on his face. "But now I have a meeting to get to, so I'll just blow your head off and then grid out of here". The grin stayed in place as the Fixer leaned down to put the SMG right at Knives forehead.

But he didn't see the shadow coming up behind him. His grin suddenly faded, and what could be seen on his face suddenly became a look of pure horror as Screech, Knives' GladBot, struck from behind. The Fixer's SMG went out of alignment of Knives forehead, and Knives put both his shotgun right into the Fixer's abdomen and pulled the triggers. Two muffled booms could be heard, muted by the proximity of the target and by the screech from the GladBot. Ghostbane was first thrown up and backwards because of the impact of the slugs Knives was using as ammo, then tossed sideways and over two tables when the claws hit him in the side with full force. Getting to his feet, Knives stalked closer to where the Fixer lay. Guns at the ready, he peerd out from besides a table, but quickly saw that there was no need for that. The Omni lay curled up in a ball clutching his left side and shrieking incoherently because of the pain. Knives could also see that the tumble across the tables har broken one leg, and that parts of the torso was open to the day.

Knives got to his feet and walked slowly over to the Fixer. He had gotten himself under control now, and was whimpering and trying til get a treatment-kit out so that he could heal himself. Knives didn't let him get that chance, and gave the treatment kit a kick so that it spun out of the Fixers weak grip. Kicking the Fixer onto his back, Knives placed a foot on the chest and pointed the shotgun at the now-exposed head of the Fixer. Ghostbane started to say something, but stopped when he looked in Knives eyes. He knew he would find no mercy there. Aligning one of his shotguns to Ghostbane's head, Knives bared his teeth in a grin of pure hatred. But before he could pull the trigger, the Atrox Bartender stepped out from his hiding-place with an I-beam in his hands, bellowing that they'd already trashed and shot up the whole place and that he wouldn't have this in his establishment. Knives only looked at him with the same look of hatred on his face, making the barman take a step back and swallow heavily. Knives straightened from the whimpering Fixer after tossing the SMG well into the shadier parts of the cafè. Slowly walking over to the barman, Knives opened his mouth to speak. "There will be no more bloodshed done here by me this day", Knives said in an arctic voice the bartender would have nightmares about for months, while getting out a few thousand Credits and giving them to the Barman. "But if you ever get in my way again, I won't be so forthcoming as I am now". The barman swallowed nervously again. "Ah...eh....Thank You, Mr...?", he stammered. Knives just looked at him with the same hatred-filled look on his face.. "Knives. The name is Knives"

The barman started to thank Knives, but obviously thought the better of it. He just stepped out of Knives and let him pass. Ghostbane, the now rather messy Omni Fixer, opened his mouth and was starting to say something when Knives turned around and barked the command for Attact at the GladBot. Knives only turned around when the screaming started and walked calmly out of the establishment, leaving it to Screech to finish the job. The witnesses in the bar would have nightmares for years to come. A GladBot is not known to leave it's victims in a good shape, and Screech was tuned to a barely controllable level of agressiveness.

Getting outside, Knives drew a long breath and headed over to a barrel full of rainwater. He soaked his head and neck with the soothing, cold water just as the barman came running out with the GladBot lumbering out after him. The barman stammered something sounding like accusations of Knives breaking his word as to not shedding more blood in there today. Knives only regarded him calmly. "I did not shed more blood. It did", he said, pointing at Screech. Knives let the barman stand dumbstruck, and started at the final leg of the journey to the Temple. He tried searching his feelings for what he was actually feeling, but could not find neither hatred nor remorse for ordering Screetch to kill Ghostbane. "After all, what's another dead Omni?", Knives thought.

Soon the temple was in sight, and so was it's many "inhabitants", so to speak. The grounds surrounding the temple was infested by several large Bloodcreepers, wich had a peticular taste for humans. They didn't differentiate between Clan, Omni or Neutral, and simply attacked anything that came into their view. "Psychotic creatures", thought Knives. "Not the thing that I want to tangle with right now". Turning east, Knives quicly found his goal: A small accessway into the temple's extensive airduct-system. Pulling off an Access-hatch, he climbed down into the darkness. About 8 feet down, he hit a horizontal tunnel going back west toward the temple proper. "Strange", thought Knives. "I thought that there would be more security here". The tunnel began to get smaller, and Knives had to crouch to go further in. "There's a draft coming trough here. That's strange. this system is supposed to pull air IN, not out. I don't like this one bit...". All of a sudden, Knives came to another access hatch. Carefully opening it, he peered into the gloom. he could not see any movement, but his Nightvision-scope was totally useless with so little light. He climbet out and found himself in a square room about 20 feet to a side. he couldn't see any doors, and sensed that the room was higher that he'd first had thought.

Then two things happened. First, the access-hatch clanged shut with a crash. Second, the nine spotlights suddenly flared from overhead and Knives found that he was standing in a circle of people in black robes and hoods. Suddenly, a booming laughter sounded, wich made Knives skin crawl. "So, you have come to spy on us, little man", the voice boomed. "You have come to see if there is any substance to the rumors of The Eternal One's Return. You shall not be disappointed. Behold! And face your own Destruction!!!" A single beam of white light came down from the roof, illuminating the origin of the voice.

Knives screamed, and all went dark and silent.

The story is not finished, so if someone would like to see the rest: pester me :D

[*pesters* :D]