Introducing Project NEAMO

[keyya]

[This is a becoming a very nice story . Message from "Tussa", please...dont rescue her or kill her or whatever untill shes back on thuesday. thanks and keep up the good work ]

[Garfunkel]

It had been a wonderful weekend of fun in the sun by the pool at Lush Resort, enjoyable because it wasn’t on his dime. All he had left to do was to let the clan girl go free but first he had a little bit of fun planned for her. He checked his pocket and made sure he still had the flask of vodka and unlocked the VIP room of Baboons where she sat on the far couch. She looked horrible, weak and miserable, she still wore her black robes with the red clan symbol and Trybes imagined she hadn’t removed them at all through the weekend thus her body odor would be unruly. He had laid out a varied wardrobe and given her access to a private bath but like the food and drink he also gave her access to she refused.
“Still acting as if you’re a prisoner I see.” He smiled warmly, standing before her in front of the couch.
She peered up at him with sunken eyes that still showed signs of fiery hatred towards him. “Let me go…”
“Soon… soon.” Trybes reached into a side pocket of his jacket and withdrew a data pad, tossing it to her gently. “But first I’ve got some good news for you.”
She caught it and examined the blank screen. “What is this?”
“You have to place your thumb on the small scanner at the bottom to activate the pad.”
She did, placing her thumb as instructed, the pad gave a confirmation beep and came to life.
Trybes motioned to a waiting waitress that had entered behind him, she nodded and left the room silently. He turned back to Jenae with a coy smile. “As you can see the Devils Advocate’s have signed a deal to clean up that bit of mess in the Wailing Wastes.”
“Should I be impressed?”
“I’d hope so, after all I am going to be helping in cleaning up your backyard.”
Jenae threw the pad back him. “I want to go home.”
Trybes ignored the request, paying more attention to the data pad in his hands. He read it over quickly but carefully, he grinned with approval and tucked the pad back into his pocket. “I love fine print.” He said quietly.
At that time the waitress returned, carrying two coffees on a tray. Trybes turned his back to Jenae and moved to the waitress, swiftly he took the flask from his pocket and poured a sum of it’s contents into both cups. He took both cups and dismissed the waitress as he turned back to the clanner girl. “Now then, let us enjoy a drink to the building of a new bridge of peace.”
Jenae sighed and nodded as she accepted the cup. Trybes joined her on the couch and the two chit chatted in the form of Trybes making small talk and Jenae making bitter responses towards him. Trybes was enjoying it though, he smiles smugly as he watched the effects of no food for days and the mixture of alcohol start to take affect on the girl. When he did send her home she would be stumbling like a drunk, either people would believe her story of capture or they would think she was off partying for the weekend.
She finished her coffee, with added kick, and wrinkled her nose. “What kind of coffee is this?” She asked.
“It’s a special blend I had the staff prepare, normally I like my coffee with a bit of scotch; however, for this occasion I thought I’d do without.”
“I’ve had my drink with you, now may I go home?” she was trying to gain her focus.
“Of course.” Trybes finished off his cup and placed it on the end table.
Jenae blinked rapidly, staring at him with an opened mouth.
“I’m a man of my word, I said once it was safe for you to leave you could. You’re free to go, I’ve already removed the security measures from the doors.”
She staggered to her feet, almost falling headlong onto the floor. “I don’t trust you.”
Trybes shrugged. “Think what you will, but I assure you that you’re safe to leave this place.” He watched with a grin as she stumbled to the door, grabbing at the wall for support, the liquor had done wonders for her he saw. He collected himself and followed behind her. “Do you want some help?”
She stopped in the doorway and turned to him, she focused her attention deeply on him while locking eyes. “Don’t touch me…”
Trybes felt a stabbing pain in the back of his head, she had invaded his mind, drilling into his past to dig up bad memories. He fell to his knees and forced himself to stave off her attack, luckily she was too weak to do any real harm to him.
“You’re nothing but a two bit con and I will see you fry for what you’ve done!” She spat and turned on her heals to walk back out but turned to quickly and lost balance and bumped against the doorframe.
Trybes rubbed the back of his head where the pain still lingered. “You’ve got one hell of a way to say thank you.”
Jenae took in a deep breath, concentrated and walked out of the nightclub in the straightest line her intoxicated body would allow her. Trybes stood at the DJ’s booth and watched her, even in her drunken stride her ass swayed in the way that brought a smile to his face in the same way an expensive painting would bring a smile to an art collector’s face.
Trybes shouted over the music to her. “So what are we doing on our second date Darlin’?!”

[Astera]

((Great story, can't wait for more. ))

[Sundai]

"uhhh... different Sentinels. Those Sentinels are an Omni oganization. The ones Dabblez mentioned to you are clan... uhhh or goatheads as you call them" he told her. He smelled good, seemed to be strong, and she supposed he understood her as much as any dust dweller could. He was a fairly aggresive person, or perhaps just his hands were.

Politics and names on the Shere forsaken planet were confusing to her. Omni Sentinels, Goathead Sentinels, did it really matter? Most would be content to just die in the remains of their ravaged planet. Her world would never be like this. The forsaken would never be allowed to do that to her lands, as long as her and the people like her, still held the will of the shadows.

"And you love me?" Sundai asked. She wasn't really sure she cared about the answer but questions like this would lead her to the answers she truly wanted, the answers they wanted. "You know I do" he said as he caressed her. Dust Dwellers are such simple creatures. So quick to find love, so needful, and naive.. she thought. "Who would have taken her?" Sundai asked, trying to focus on the task at hand, and not his hands and what they were doing. "Could be anyone, but it would seem that they have some kind of background with Omni-Pol and knowledge of how we run things" he answered while pressing himself harder into her, "There's some rumors that it was an Omni organization... but it's probably just rumors."

She waited several minutes before continuing her questioning. "I'm confused, why would someone in Omni help the goatheads?" she asked. "Probably for money. You know Sundai, there are a lot of organizations out there who aren't quite as dedicated to the cause as you, and are more dedicated to the almighty credit" he said while trying to keep from grinning at her. "Oh yes, she is quite dedicated..." he thought to himself while his hand stroked the contours of her thigh. "I'm sure people like the Devil's Advocates will stand to make quite a hefty portion of money from the cleanup contract..." he continued "interestingly enough we've had frequent dealings with them. The riff-raff of Omni, you might say." He was more concerned with her and did not follow the thought through to it's conclusion, his offhanded comment wasn't squandered on her though.

"Perhaps I should talk with these Devil's Advocates..." she thought to herself, while making a mental inventory of the funds still available to her. She might need money afterall, if her will could not convince them to assist her, perhaps their god would. "I know this may be a bad time to ask but could you possibly give me some money? I saw some very expensive jewelry I want..." She asked, not aware of the cultural impropriety of asking such a thing at the given situation. "Yes, of course" he said while smiling at her. He quickly calculated who owed him money and what was readily available for sale from the Omni-Pol evidence room. His hands ran further up her thigh. Telling her he loved her didn't work, but that with the money would. How could she resist? "She is easier then I thought."

He undressed her and took her while she was lost in her thoughts; while the desire for a new captured spirit overwhelmed her reality. The spirits recklessly collided inside her, signaling to her that the prey was close. "Tussa..." Sundai inadvertantly and quietly whispered under his loud moans and grunts.

[Tussa]

Jen twisted and turned on the rooftop of the building in Omni-Ent. Right after he had released her, she had flown to the nearest rooftop and then collapsed, both from the intoxication of whatever it was he had spiked the coffee with and from exhaustion. She couldn't do the jump now. To get past the Unicorns and into the whompah or the grid, you had to be really fast, and she wasn't in any shape to go anywhere near it. Tucking the coat around her, she soon fell asleep on the roof, the wind softly stroking escaped hair from her pigtails away.

The next morning, she felt a little better, but still weak. Running the quantum wings program again, she flew to the park areas in Omni-Ent, finding a fresh spring of water and drinking from it. The cool water gave her the strength she needed as she with a determined mine set course for the nearest grid exit. She heard the voice of the Unicorn specialist ring in her ears just as she gathered in the familiar blue shape inside the grid.

Once she was back in Stret West, she took a long bath, had some light food and lots of water. Even after this, she felt weak and had to lay down on one of the sofas along the hallway in their HQ building. She didn't wake up until she heard Cord's voice in the new comlink she had picked out for herself.

A couple of hours later, she had explained to him, Kotts and Kya what had happened, in very short terms. She would rather not think about the man, and it was her pleasure to tell them that he was on their KOS list now. She gave them directives of what to do, who to contact and what to say. In some way or another, she would make sure he fried and preferably dragging RUR with him. If war was what they wanted, war was what they would get.

[keyya]

After getting some intel from various people, informants and AI's Kya sat himself in his chair at their Head Quarters meeting room. He spoke some commands into his NCU wich sent the information he needed directly into his brain symbiant that instantly flowed it through his consiousnes.

"Lega-Com, connect a secure line to *the cloak*"

A man on the other line of his comm-link spoke with a soft yet sinister voice.
"What can I do for you mister Davoudi?" He said almost making it sound like a loud whisper.
"I have a favor to ask you. We have some rollerrats in our backyard who need to be examined." The stranger replied with the same tone of voice "Physical exam or Inteligence Quotient?" "IQ...We might already have a solution, but I wanted to ask you to make any nescesary preperations." Without missing the beat the man said "I'll be ready when you are. Over and out."

Kya laid his hands in his neck and then leaned back into his chair scheduling all that needed to be done the next day. He stood up and walked to the front door, entered the grid and went straight home to his appartement in Tir. When arived he took off his armor and NCU belt. With help of his portable treatment laboratory he took out his brain symbiant carefully and placed it in its preservation slot in the implant backpack. He always took off his NCU belt and brain symbiant when he went to sleep. He wanted a clear mind when he was sleeping. Only that way could he come in touch with his true gemini representation of himself and so he did...

[Sundai]

Sundai wasn't very impressed with Trybes. A loud mouthed, egotistical, and flirtatious dust dweller, he was everything she despised about typical Rubi-ka'ns. He was as shallow as the words he spoke but was quick to tell her any information he had on Tussa. In fact, that was really the only surprising thing about him. A crime boss who released information so quickly, including the fact he had taken her, surely must not be a very successful one.

Then again, Sundai found that most people release their tongues when a dagger is against their throat.

The blade slowly presses...

She couldn't imagine why he had released her. A foolish move. An enemy of the dark ones should always be killed when the opportunity presents itself. Sundai would have killed him if she thought he had released her to help further their cause, rather she assumed it was his ignorance that had saved her.

Slicing beautifully, art etched in flesh.

Once Sundai had found out Tussa had been let go, it was fairly easy to find her. She travelled in small groups, presumably with her protectors, and she could be readily found most of the time in her city. As Sundai had watched her walk by from the shadows, she had fought her spirit to not attack. The desire, which burned painfully through her insides, did not want to wait for a better opportunity. "If I die, you will all die with me... now is not the time" an argument which pacified them at least momentarily.

The spirits stir, a crimson thrill...

The time was nearing for her to capture her prey. Sundai was not sure if she would need help, but she was reluctant to ask anyone else. Another shade who would understand her desire and surely be enough to overpower all of them would be perfect, but that shade may also fight with her over Tussa's spirit. "She's mine, she's ours." Sundai reaffirmed to herself, but mostly an act of assurance to the spirits inside of her.

A taste of blood, before the kill

Tussa's demise was approaching quickly and Sundai would be the executioner of her fate.

She giggled quietly while watching her blood run down onto the land. She licked her hand, knowing that soon it would be Tussa's blood and not hers she would be tasting.

"Yes, it is almost time..." she whispered to her spirits.

[keyya]

Kya flew towards the grid in Old Athens to get to his quiet, peacefull city. He heared a familiar voice before griding in. It sound like Jen talking with another woman...A nanomage perhaps. He couldn't tell because of the helmet she caried and while stepping out of his yalmaha he instinctively watched at the womans hands. Yes...must be a nano. "Hey there Jenny. Goodday miss." He said as he gestured a bow. "Hey Kya, meet our newest recruit." "Aaah. Good to have you on board miss..?" He smiled happily. "Muleva. Annah Mullevah, nice to meet you." *Tussa* glanced at Kya and pointed at the grid "Wanna join us in a drink in our city?" "Was just on my way there" playfully he added "Race you there!"
By the time he had gotten there Jen was already walking over to the bridge whistling to tease him. He made a joke trying to justify that he was slower and they laughed for a brief moment while making their way to the café. Kotts was already there and they all sat at a table with Chris also joining them.
Talks about political views of miss Muleva's relatives and hers eased *Legaron's* mind as he was happy that in the midst of all the work to be done they could relax for a while, just sit down and have a chat.
It didnt take long before his ease was disturbed by a report of one of their guards into his NCU. As if there was a tiny red light flashing on the upper left side of his eyes. He groaned and opend a comm-link to the city Guard House.
"Advisor...we spotted something for a brief second near the HeadQuarters. It went as fast as it came sir."
"It's...nothing, probably one of those damn chirops." He sighed.
*Chozo*, Chris' helper who had been standing beside them without moving sudenly turned his head 90 degrees and moved it back.
Kya raised an eyebrow and stood up. "Ladies...Gentlemen, if youll excuse me..one of the guards says he spotted something...its nothing really, probably some creatu.." His eyes narrowed as he saw a swift change of lighting on the grass field before him. As if a shadow had fell upon it and left in a matter of one tenth of a second. The nanobots around his head tingled as he took his Reaper out. He closed his eyes and focused. Drawing upon the powers of light from the shadowlands into his consiousness he felth a cold shadow at 2 aclock in front of him. "Security breach! Omni inside the city!"
He felt a breeze running past him and as he turned himself by the bar he saw a shade standing behind jenae.
"She's mine!" He yelled as he ran towards her. The shade ran into the woods with the big atrox following her.
When he looked around all he saw was trees. Not enough nanobots to focus or buff "Come out and face me, coward!"
Just as he screamed those words he felt the sharpness of a blade tearing through his Tier armor and thick flesh and hitting right beneath his tank armor.
Another hit to his side as he turned to face his oponent. He felt agonising pain in his back and the warmth of blood dripping and sticking to his armor directly into his spine.
He swung his scythe at the woman scarring her left arm, who returned his attack with two fast stabs to his stomach and a stab to his chest.
Kyarash looked straight into the dark eyes as he nudged back holding his stomach. He felt the iron taste of blood running up to his mouth and dripping out of it. While trying to resist from falling down, holding his wounds to his stomach with his left arm he made an attempt to swing his weapon once more, but the shade parried the attack with ease and pierced his head with her small but effective dagger.
Kya fell to ground...
When he became consious he felt all the nanobots doing their work inside of his body. As if stitching his body back together. He tried to say something but there were was no breath to be exhaled to make sound and when he finaly could speak, screams of pain came out. When his body had recovered he ran towards the grid as fast as he could.
Trying to get information at what has been going on panic and the recovery of his health couldn't make him think straight. What happened while he recovered was like a nightmare. The type that you have no control over. The type that keeps repeating itself and theres nothing you can do about it. When the nightmare seemed to be over and he had arived in his home town there was noone there except for his own remains and that of Chris and his companion *Chozo* that quickly perished into the ground.
He fell to his knees and closed his eyes as a tears dropped from them...

[Tussa]

The blade flashed through the air, gleaming promises of pain and memories of death. It cut through the tendon on the back of her knee like a hot knife through butter. She buckled, more surprised than in pain, her hands instinctively covering the wound.

"Annah...run! Run!" she yelled out to the young doctor that stood behind her, then turned to the woman infront of her, sneering.
"Who the hell are you?" she hissed, but her question was simply answered by a hand jabbing a needle into her leg. The world went black.

The woman sat studying Jen, who was still unconscious on the cold floor in the apartment. Her blade slid against the sleeping woman's clothes, her face only inches away from hers as the strange metal of the knife lifted up folds in the clothes. Jen slowly opened her eyes, squinting against the light, her eyes crossing from being under some sort of heavy drug dosage.

"Who are y-nnngnnph!" she started, but pain shot through her as the woman cut a couple of inches long gash on her cheek. The woman just smiled, looking at her with this odd expression in her eyes.

"Tussa, you're mine now," she whispered. "We have longed for you. I have been dreaming about you...we have been." A warm tongue rasped over Jen's cheek as the woman licked up a drop of blood running down it. She tried to push her away, tried to fight her, but her arms were heavy as stone and her head was spinning. The woman kept mumbling things, cutting away Jen's clothes and smearing blood out on her neck and shoulders, and she hazed away again. She woke up a little by the shout. The woman looking frenetic, eyes gazing to the walls, shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Shut up, I will..... I'm trying... leave me alone. I know what I'm doing, yes I do! Yes, I know... Yes, she will not come willingly... we can't do that anymore I told you.. Yes, I know!"

Jen winced, things moving by her too fast for her to keep up now. She was dizzy from the drugs and dazed by the pain. She mumbled at the woman, asking who she was and why she was doing this, but she didn't answer coherently. Kneeling down by her, she spoke of souls and beauty and being lovers forever. Through the fog she tried to get to her feet.

"You will get to know me so well Tussa..." The woman pressed the tip edge of her knife close to Jen's left eye and Jen tried to tilt her head away, her eyes still swimming.
"This will only hurt for a second...the darkness will embrace you"
"Wh- ..."

The woman unceremoniously stuck the knife in and removed the left eye. The eyeball made a popping sound as the suction gave in and the eye popped out. Jen drew a sharp breath, and mid-breath screamed out in agony, falling back and covering the eyesocket with a hand. The woman jumped up, beaming at the naked, staring and punctured eye, looking like a little kid on christmas eve.

"They say eyes are the windows to the soul...Yes, it is beautiful isn't it.. I know.. I think they will like it too," she bubbled, talking to the eye as if it was a cute baby.

Jen crawled for the nearest door, blinded by fear and blood, leaving a trail of red behind her. Behind the closed door, she heard the mumbling voice of Kotts. Her heart skipped a beat or two, she didn't know he was there.

[Dabblez]

“Ewww!” exclaims Dabblez as she opens the crude black box. Inside are three human fingers and an eyeball, all still rather fresh. “Why? Why would anyone do this? What the hell is matter with people these days? First we get that severed head a few months ago, now severed fingers.”

Minage, the RUR engineer, says “Sundai said it was a present for you. It was all rather gruesome.”

“A present? A present! What kind of madness is this? I tell you, they should not allow Shades out of the Shadowlands. In fact the sooner they close those darn portals, the better it will be for everyone.” Dabblez draws a deep breath. “Okay, we'll just have to call Omni-Pol.”

“Boss, before you call the cops,” replies Minage “You might want to know whose fingers those are.”

“Does it matter?”

“It might. They belonged to Tussa and Kotts.”

“Oh crud.”

“I thought that might be your reaction. You didn’t go out hire this Sundai person, did you?”

“No. Never. Absolutely not. Although…”

“There is an ‘although’?”

“I did sort of happen to talk to her a few weeks ago and I might have mentioned we were having a spot of bother with the Assembly and the Nanomage Liberation Front.”

“Cops might not see it that way.”

“You think?”

“Especially as this happens only weeks after we hired Devils Advocate to clean up the oil spill.”

“Oh come on Minage, everyone knows sanitation and waste disposal industries are in the hands of organised crime. Who else could we have hired?”

“Even so, it does not look good.”

“We could offer Tussa and Kotts cybernetic replacements in compensation, as an acto of good faith? Free of charge of course.”

Minage just shakes his head. “Can’t see that going down too well Boss. Besides, it would be tantamount as taking responsibility for the atrocity.”

“You are probably right. I’ll just have a caretaker robot bury it in the backyard next to the severed head for now. We’ll figure out the rest as we go along. But let me just say one last time, for the record, ewww!”

[Tussa]

[Posted for Cordell "Ragunn" Kirklin, member of Assembly]

Cordell was having a nighmarish day. It was eating him from inside, assailing with both rage and different types of worry. It had taken a can of ice-coffee to get him back to his senses after his little discussion with Kotras after the guv'ner had taken off.

Life's a long pain, Cordell had almost told Kotras. Now he found himself with tears in his eyes, something that didn't happen all that often. He had thought for a while that he could remain numb to the worry and just carry out his tasks in a state of divine fury, but he was no longer that certain. The last few minutes during which she had just... stated orders and Kotras had just looked like a stonewall had eaten Cord's resolve.

He couldn't even tell them how worried he was about them. Kotras. The boss, whom he still refused to call by her name out of habit. Try as he might, he couldn't quite say which one he would have wanted more to stay the same; it was just as bad without the warm charisma of the boss and the witty, sometimes borderline disrespectful remarks of Kotras. And even though this terrified him to an extent he hadn't considered to be possible after knowing them both for only so long, he still couldn't bring himself to say it the way he wanted. Granted, he had talk to Kotras, but in the end, it had seemed a little useless.

Right now he just wanted to go dig a little hole for himself and hide in there. And still he found himself writing the bounty statement, although with a glum face nobody could see from under the graft armor. The twin suns were setting, the sky darkening above him as he sat on a bridge over one of Tir's canals.

Smirking ironically to himself, the messenger boy eyed the text he had written.

Cordell sniffed out at it, then sent it on to the boss - and found himself staring at the name on his contacts list for a while. Biting his lip, he made a note to talk with Kya about more than one thing, and crushed the now-empty can of ice-coffee. It was innocent, but it was there...

Then the ragamuffin settled down to wait.

[Tussa]

To whom it may concern,

Due to recent developments, Assembly, a Sentinels-affiliated clan organisation, is now at open war with RUR and anyone who supports RUR. Assembly will go to whatever lengths necessary to see that RUR pays for their crimes which include an oil spill in the Wailing Wastes, attacks at Assembly's reputation and direct attacks at Assembly's personnel. Therefore, Assembly is posting bounties for several RUR members as follows:

• For bringing Charissa "Dabblez" Jurik alive to Jenae "Tussa" Godfray, ten million credits. Subject need not be unharmed.
• For killing a RUR member in close combat AND bringing proof of this, one million credits. This is a continuing bounty that will not end until revoked.
• Assembly is also offering a bounty of five million credits for the shade Ravvyn "Sundai" Div.

Please contact Jenae "Tussa" Godfray, Cordell "Ragunn" Kirklin or Kyarash "Legaron" Davoudi as necessary.

[Dabblez]

Memo to all RUR Employees

Please note that the existance of a bounty on your head is no excuse to come in to work late or still drunk on Monday morning.


Dabblez

[Mire]

Sleepless nights have been of norm lately. The continued pressure to work, revise and re-revise the corporate profit and loss statements for the up coming share holder meeting kept her mind running through out the night. With exhaustion taxing on her body and mind, Miremeld with the fresh printed papers still in her hand dozed off….

HELP….

soft shadow figures roamed just out of sight. A flash of a face so bright so quick.

BLOOD
a tunnel with a soft dim light at the end of it lit the area barely enough to see the shadows of those who were with her

YOUR GOD, OUR GOD.. DON’T MAKE US ANGRY!

the stench of blood and carnage reeked from a darkened place against the wall

COME, SEE WHAT GIFTS I GIVE, I SAID COME!

the two bodies, just shadows, bloody, almost lifeless. Blood every where hard to see…

MAKE SURE YOUR GOD GETS THE GIFT!

H..e…l..p..


The cold sweat and rapid breath came quickly to realization it was just a dream, just a nightmare. Looking down, she noticed the papers she held in her hand when she faded into sleep were now crumpled in her fist. “Damn, another hour of printing.”

[Tussa]

[Posted for Kotras "Kotts" Clay, member of Assembly]

Smell of leather...
Sharp pain...
He squinted, the room was dark. His face ached, from the sudden shifting of flesh.
"Where am I?" Kotras thought to himself. His eyes grew heavy. He didn't care where he was. The dark room seemed to engulf his body, his consciousness.
Sleep...

Sharp cutting pain on his chest, the smell of blood, soft seductive female voice flowed through his ears. " ...pleasant surprise.. you'll be mine as well.. lovers for all eternity." Something warm and wet traced the trail pain on his torso.
The smell of blood grew stronger...
A muffled scream...
"Kotts!" He knew that voice. Jen. The room was blurry. He tried to push himself up. His arm gave and his frame slammed on the metal floor. The door swung open, the light was blinding. Someone was being dragged by red hair. Jenae. His leg refused to move. His stomach clenched as he lunged upward. "It's not your time!" a voice shouted.

A solid punch to his jaw sprawled him on the floor. Tussa clawed her way to the corner, and curled up. "Jen!" his voice was scratchy and it hurt him to yell.
"I said it is not your time yet!" The woman straddled his chest and jabbed a dagger into his face and drug it to his jaw. The pain was intense.
"I said quiet!" She drug the blade down his face a second time. "Quiet!" She jammed her thumbs into the open wounds and dug into his face. It was all he could do to fight her off.

"Stop it!" Jenae screamed from the corner. " I said shut up!" the woman shrieked. With a quick swipe Kotts lost the feeling in his fingers. His arm began to burn, he doubled over in pain. All he could do was watch as the shade did the same to his boss. Blood splashed on the floor. Her fingers dropped like limbs from a branch, bounced once and rolled to a rest in the crimson puddles on the floor. The woman jumped up and out of the room when there was a knock at the door. Kotts began shaking, he was losing blood fast. ".. Kotras.." He felt pressure on his legs. Jenae was crawling to him. Her face was bloody. Her eye socket was oozing blood. "Don't.. die on me..." his arm twitched with every beat of his heart forcing out more and more blood. He was cold.

He opened his eye again.. the smell was gone. The room was full with nosey silence. There was a whimper. Eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness. Jen laid on the other side of the room on a leather couch bandages on her head and hand. He knew where he was.. Kotts stood up and walked to the exit. "I can't sleep.."

Outside Kotts could get a better look at his hand. Bandages. They came off easy enough. His face ached. Breathing slowed and almost stopped. "They're gone." Stubs. Muscles in his neck gave out. His head dropped and hung limply. "... Jen..." the Opifex's head rose slowly to watch the sun peak over the hill. He didn't move for hours. Helpless...

[Virta]

"Those incompetent AF fools! How could they let Tussa escape?" Officer Virta bangs his fist at his desk after reading latest transmission on the issue.

"And a bounty on RUR employees? The well-meaning, peaceful robotics company? Preposterous!"

Virta opens a commlink to his assistant. "I want juggernaughts dammit! Three hundred juggernaughts, and five thousand strong company of officers in Assembly city right now!"

"Three hundred? And five thousand? You are sure Curly?" His younger sister Viie begins to count the available personnel, getting up to six in her count.

"Viie, send couple of hundred to RUR city as well. They may be in danger."

[keyya]

[Continiueing from what Legaron experienced]

In a daze the Keeper looked at the green gras in front of him. His vision was bluried by tears. In the back of his mind he could hear Chris investigating things with Sembly. He didn't know what to say. From the day that *Vengartius* had die...disapeared, he had become the Keeper of Assembly. A veteran at first taking his mentors position and after his return to back to Clan teritory finaly an Advisor. The position he had always dreamed of.
But today..after this all that crumbled. All his theories on how to protect the ones closest to him had faded. If only Gus was...

[Xelger:]"Sembly...give me all data on all people who have been in Assembly city in the last half hour."
[Sembly:]"Searching........Data found...Christopher Junior, Annah Muleva, Kotras Clay, Kyarash Davoudi, Ravvyn Div, Jenae Godfray.
[Xelger:]"Track down Ravvyn Div."
[Sembly:]"Last spotted in the grid terminal"
[Xelger:]"Eehm...Track down Tussa and Kotts"
[Sembly:]"Searching....position not found"
[Xelger:]"Damnit..their comm-links must be broken..Search for Ravvyn Div at pinpoint location"
[Sembly:]"Searching...this may take a while..."

Chris walked up to Kya and placed his hand on his shoulder. He talked to him, encouriged him to regain his strength. With that the Atrox stood up and said he was going to search in the Grid.
Inside the Tier1 of the grid terminal Legaron heard sembly.

[Sembly:]"Ravvyn Div found...Newland City..Backyard 11..appartement complex"

He hurried himself and reached the backyard. He looked around, but noone there to be found. "Pssst..their here.." He heared someone say and as he turned he saw a slim opifex male standing there with black Omni-Tek armor and shoulderpads. "Im trying to get the door open, he said." It was Cedric Clyburn.
He more than wanted to attack him, but he had his priorities.
As the opifex was trying to open the door with a lockpick Kyarash smashed on the door making the mans lockpicking work undone.
"Typical..I couldve gotten us in in a couple of seconds but you had to and break it.." The large atrox didnt listen. He stepped back and rammed the door in with all his strength.
The door of the appartement complex flew through the building to hit a wall and fell down to the ground. When through the dust Kyarash looked up he saw the shade. Still with the pin of her weapon scarved into Jenae's body. Surprised as the shade was her eyes narrowed and she disapeared quickly.
"Heh? Whered she go? Now if you hadnt smacked the door in like that shed still be here you know.." Kya didnt listen to the remarks of the Devils Advocate member. He felt something...knew something was behind her. He turned as fast as he could to face the shade who had already attacked him. He focussed on his battle to do better than the last encounter. For moments his Biococoon worked perfectly and the woman couldnt scar him a bit as he flung his scythe at her.
Clyburn stepped back and said "You get to have all the fun with her big guy..."
As he turned his face back to the shade one of her needles hit his face.
His Reaper lanced against the womans body. But the keeper who was stll harmed from the last fight was loosing health fast...

Out of nowhere he saw a foot hitting the womans face who flew to the other side of the room and hit the ground...Hissing angered remarks at both of them she stood up to attack them. The martial artist was much quicker at battle than the keeper. Hitting hits to her head and stomach untill the woman fell down.."Youre both going to pay for this! She was mine! OURS!" the woman spat. Her lifeless body lay there brused and slashed. "Just to make sure she don't stand up.." Legaron swung his weapon to the womans head decapitating it from her body.
"Yuck...Now was that really nescesary..?..She was dead already you know..?"
"No...not really...and yes..I know.."
They walked up to the tortured and helpless body. In a state of panic Legaron assisted them out of the building and as their new doctor miss Muleva tried her best to stitch them up he went through his backpacks trying to find any type of implant he could.
When the menace was over and they showed signs of life he nudged at the opifex. "We need to talk. What were you doing here?"
"Hey I couldn't let my investment be harmed..."
"Investe..?"
"Of love ofcourse...investment of love..." The keeper tried his best to investigate him but all he got out of the Opifex was tails about love and protecting his "girlfriend" wich he didnt buy in the first place.
"I'm on to you Clyburn...and so is Jen...I'll find out what your little trick is I will...Untill then I have to bring these two home."
He sat up in his yalmaha and placed the two still unconsious bodies on his lap.
As he flew off towards the grid terminal just outside of newland he got a comm-link message from Clyburn "Yes? What now?"
"My jacket trox..I put it around her, but I need it back. I got some stuff in it.."
"I'll make sure one of our fixers gives it back..its a ugly blooded piece of thing anyway. Don't worry."
The opifex' worried still. "But eh.." He heared him say as Kyarash disconnected the connection and entered the HeadQuarters.
He lay Kotras and Jenae on a surgery table. Removed their bloody clothes and clensed their bodies to put on new and clean med-suits.
He wanted to throw away the clothes but he felt a small piece of equipment in one of the jackets. It was Clyburns jacket.
From out of it he pulled a fancy comm-link. A little too fancy..."Omnis" he thought as he shook his head. Carefully he opened the comm-link and took out the personal card in wich all the data is stored.

"Hey I really need my jacket now, thank you!" He heared the opifex yell on the other side of the line. "Jacket..? What jacket? ooh..that was your jacket? ouch.."
"Yes! My jacket...I need it back..one of my three comm-links is in that jacket and it just happens to be my favorite one."
"Wellehm..last time I saw that jacket it was on Jen..Or no wait...did I see it in a Chirrops beak?"
The Opifex sighed. "No, now I remember. It was a leet in the chirrops beak! Not a jacket...but there was also this blubbag!"
Clyburn scratched his and sighed again. "Im just gonna have to go look for it myself. Its very important for me to get that jacket do you understand trox? Me...need..jacket..and..Comm-link!"

The trox grinned "Oh yeah...your probably gonna need more than just the comm-link...this personal data card too im guessing?"
"Hey thats mine! I need that back...Some personal contacts on it and a picture of me and Jenae stealing a kiss. Its very important to me."
The atrox controlled himself from laughing "I can't give it just yet..I need to know if Jen is alright with giving it to you. I can't be dealing with an Omni-Tek after attacks have been made on our Clan."
Anoyed the opifex replied "You have something I need...Now since I saved your butt back there you should give it back to me!"
"Well..you didnt really save me...but Jen..Ill have to ask her ofcourse. oh...and I don't see a picture of you and her snoggin...well not anymore" the atrox chuckled "I'll probably have to set someone up to guar...Hey! Don't touch that!"
"It was there a second ago. I swear!" the atrox couldnt hold his laughter anymore.
"Do not touch it!"
"Yeah yeah...and a very good night to you too."
The big trox stashed the card into one of his backpacks and went to his quarters for some sleep.

[DracoStrife]

Draco Strife, of RUR's security department, called his brother into HQ's laboratory late when everyone had left for the night. The lab was empty for the moment, and he wanted to go over what he had planned to do in response to Assembly's latest threat to RUR.

"One million for each of us dead? Like we're even worth that much." scoffed Artanis "Littlebro" Strife, to his big brother Draco. Artanis is RUR's sole Keeper, whom his older brother respected completely. Artanis gripped his Energy Scythe tightly in anger. Combined with his dark Exarch Robe and Modified OT Training Helmet, he looked like a futuristic Grim Reaper rather than a champion of good. "Besides, where is Assembly going to get the money from?" Draco smirked at the thought. He knew exactly where it would most like likely be coming from. "Tussa's going to pay right out of her own account; especially the one for Dabblez. Now every two-bit wanna-be bounty hunter's going to try to collect on her. It'll be our job to make sure that doesn't happen. Same goes for the rest of RUR." "Okay, so what are we going to do then? Or should I dare ask..." said Artanis, rolling his eyes.

Draco placed a large heavy metal box on one of the lab's tables and opened it up. Artanis watched his brother pull out what he had stored in there. "A leetbot?" said Artanis, totally confused. Leetbots were RUR's signature products, looked and acted like just your average leet, without the mess it makes of course, but what the hell did Draco have in mind? Draco set the leetbot down on the lab table. "Easy. If we're going to beat Assembly, we've got to know what's going on over there at all times. Of course, if we try to sneak over there, we're going to get blown to pieces. So we'll use a leetbot to snoop around Assembly's city. I called Issildari and had him put a small holocam inside of it, along with something extra." Artanis still had his doubts, and he certainly didn't like that 'extra' part. "Okay, sounds good now, but what if Assembly finds out. EVERYONE knows we make these things!" "That's where I go to Plan "B", and by "B" I mean 'bomb!'"

Draco got a screwdriver out of the table and opened the leetbot, revelaing what looked like some sort of holder for a nano crystal. Artanis smacked his forehead in frustration. "Are you TRYING to get us killed, or fired for that matter?" "Quit your worrying!" replied Draco. "There'll be no evidence left for Assembly to use against us! Besides, Assembly's 'city' is conviently located next to an Omni-Pol outpost...makes you already question their sanity. I'm sure an 'accident' there would spark much for support for us than them. And if anyone does suspect it, he isn't going to live long enough to talk about it. It's foolproof!" Draco's plan was extrodinarily risky, especially involving nano nukes. Then again, if it did work and Assembly doesn't suspect it, they'll certainly have an edge against them. "Okay, so where do I come in then?" "Your job's easy. Go keep an eye on Dabz. If anyone even looks at her the wrong way, take 'em out. Leave the rest to me. Now come and help me choose a Nano."

Draco walked over to a cabinet labelled 'Shadey's Nukes! Don't even think about it!' and picked the lock. "I really think Shadehawk is going to mind Draco..." started Artanis before Draco cut him off. "Quiet. Now let's see..." He opened the cabinet and rummaged through all the powerful red nano crystals. "Internal Combustion, Sudden Affliction, Searing Stream...dang these are nice." Draco's eyed one nano for a few seconds and grinned. "Atomic Collapse! This looks like a good one. Nothing like a nasty dose of Radiation to really give Assembly a bad day!"

[Shadehawk]

Shadehawk looked at the sad remains of what used to be a Security Type-3 lock on his cabinet.
"Damn! MacDuff got hungry again?" he tought. Rummaging through the cabinet he found that one of his lower level nanos where missing. Still, it could potentially do a lot of damage if not handled correctly. He requested a new lock and filed a complaint on the internal net.

Having been out in the Shadowlands the last week, he hadn't bothered to keep himself up to date on the latest news. He skimmed through the latest headlines. "What the ...?". He reread the memo. "Oh damn them! May they roast in all the lower halls of Inferno!". Whipping out his pad, he quickly typed a few sentences while huming softly to himself.

"Xerves!", he called. The pad burped an electronic acknowledgement. "Submit the following on all the standard open Omni channels and scramble all tracking info." No point in antagonising the few, good clan clients R.U.R still had.

---

From: [error]
To: [error]

Subject: Cry Havoc

Cry havoc, the raiders are coming tonight,
to savage the people, to ravage the lands.
Cry havoc for here comes the clans!

They pillage, they plunder, they murder our sons.
Destroying all good things, under the suns.
Cry havoc for here comes the clans!

With wanton bloodlust, they slay our young,
who cover in fear, their lives unsung.
Cry havoc for here comes the clans!

Stand fast, good Omins, defend your lands.
Put faith in your armor, the guns in your hands.
Cry havoc for here comes the clans!

Cry havoc, the raiders are coming tonight,
But this time we'll fight, ending this blight!
Cry havoc for here comes the clans!

---

[keyya]

Legaron walks up to the bartender and orders a drink. He takes off his Conscientious Knight's Helmet and stacks it in his backpack. He takes a long breath of the oxigen and looks back at the bartender to pay his drink and take a sip. He looks over the grassy fields as he walks towards the bridge leading to their Headquarters.
"omgz" Kyarash turned around looking left and right, but there was nothing in sight. He frowned and thought for a second he might be going crazy. "I have to check up on my ear symbiant" he muttered when he proceeded walking towards the bridge.
From behind him he heared tiny steps being taken. He turned around again to see there was absolutely noone following him. When he directed his eyes to the ground he saw a small brown leet standing in front of him and looking at him with big white eyes. He kneeled and smiled at the little critter. "You scared me there lil leety." He chuckled.
"I 0wnz j00!" The little leet replied. Legaron laughed as he stood up. He proceeded towards their HQ and when he reached the bridge he looked back at the leet seeing it was still following him. He kneeled again and looked at the leet.
"You can't come with me little leety. Theres chirrops and blubbags in front of our HQ who will kill and eat you." He said warning the leet.
"I 0wnz dem t00!" Legaron laughed again. "No no leety. Go to our Café where it's safe."
"Wrrzzzzt" The leet made a strange sound and Legaron stopped laughing. "Hey..Leets don't do *Wrrzzzzzzt*."
He shoved the leet into the other direction and but the critter kept comming his way anoying Kyarash just a little bit. Legaron got angered and poked the leet in the stomach. Next thing he knew the leets hide blew to pieces and everything around him went black for a second. When he opened his eyes the leet was gone and all that was left was a black trace of an explosion and black soot covering his face and armor.
"Grinfhhphphphahahahahaaha!!!!" He laughed not understanding what the heck just happend. When his laughter was finished legaron stood up and tried to think. "Hey..Leets don't do *Booom* either..." He smered the black thick dust covering his face. Looked at it and licked the top of his finger.
"Hmmm...Leets don't drink oil either..." He frowned and while walking towards their headquarters he put some of the dirty black soot on his fingers in an empty cannister. When he was inside the research laboratory he put the cannister on a table and commanded sembly to contact Kotras to examine the content.

[**edit** Sorry I couldn't resist writing this story. If you already had thought of a story you can always send more leets this way.]