Meanwhile on Rubi-Ka...

[MrTrocks]

*Mr. Trox sits behind a rock in Aegean,looking at the Omni-Tek base across the way* "Time to do this", he said. Sneaking around the rock he snuck up on the first set of guards and killed them quickly, moving on, he killed the next few groups of guards and disabled the robots and went inside. Once in, he heard an alarm go off "time to kick some omlet backside" he thought to himself as he started charging into a group of omni guards, he put his blades into their backs, through their helmets, decapitated and broke their necks one by one, two by two they all died and Mr. Trox emerged unscathed. "Well well well, what do we have here?" said a voice from just beyond the hallway, quickly Mr. T ran into the room and saw an Omni-Tek general holding a clanner in one hand and a gun in the other. Thinking quickle Mr. Trox used his Mongo to attract attention from the general and ran up to hit the general with his axes . The omni turned around just in time to get a faceful of axe and fist as the general fell to the ground Mr.T grabbed the enemy's gun and ncu deck and rerouted the general's insurance...to Tir.

[StanimirB]

He sat there, idly picking up pebbles and skipping them across the rippling surface of the lake. What a mess. And this is where it all started. He sat up and stretched taking a glance around him at the scraggly tuffs of tall grasses, the knarelled and twisted old tree trunks that scattered around the edges of this calm spash of water nestled in the rolling dunes of sand.

He first found himself sitting here, being a friend to one woman. Listening to her problems, and giving his advice. And then with another lady, at the same watering hole, he made choices that he still isn't sure were the right ones. But it had been his choice to stay. And sit in that grass.

What is done is done. What it all means, and how he feels about it, is still to be decided.

And as he sits there trying to sort though his turmoil of thoughts, trying to sort out just what did he feel.....one word kept coming to his mind. Relief. Relief? Really? Relief?! He flops back into the sandy grass behind him, staring up into the featureless sky...trying to make sense of that.

If his head just would stop pounding from the hangover, he might get somewhere.

[Elleza]

She sat there with her bowl of icecream just looking out of the window of her new jobe appartment, the silence was something she was completly new with, always been used to having someone around for the last two years, but all of a sudden it was quiet, extremly quiet.
Ellie quickly shakes her head and puts her bowl down on the table and stood up as the door opened, she smiles faintly as she sees the familiar face of her parents walking trough the door with huge bags and different things, she walked over to them and gave them a gentle hug after they sat the things down on the floor.
"thanks mom and dad, i could never be able to get all that stuff here on my own" elle said and smiled to them, "no problems sweety, you know where to find us if you need anything, even a small hug" her dad said as they walk out again.

Elle walked over to the window again and leaned against it and sighed, closing her eyes as her mind once again flied off,
"was it my faulth?", "could i have done anything different?", "can it ever be forgiven?", "what happends now?"
she closed her eyes and sighed as a tear rolled down her cheeks.
"no, life must go on, even if things changes like this, stupid man!"

[Falikos]

It had been a few days since Kate last stood here and the place looked about as she expected. Tables were overturned and bullet-holes sprayed the sides of one of the walls. The door of the wooden shack lay on the floor beneath her feet where it had been ripped from the hinges. A smell of notum and gunpowder still hung on the air.

Something big had gone down here as she'd been told, and it was just dumb luck that had saved her from being there when it had. Picking her way through the destruction she paused here and there to rifle through what was left of the debris. Whoever had done the sweep and clear had known what they were doing. There wasn't anything left of value or note that could answer any more questions. Frustrated by the whole thing she stretches and exhales slowly, forcing her body to remain limber as the cannons sound in the distance.

Taking that as her queue to bail she steps out into the fresh air outside the mining shack. Lifting her face to let the breeze play in the loose strands of hair around her face she opens a comm channel.

"Hey Last.. Stan. Let the others know if I miss them. We've got a run."

[Elleza]

Elle looked out over the lake after she had watched him walked away from the same spot they had been sitting several times talking, smiling, laughing in the past, she wasnt sure what to feel really, confusion, but still knowing that it was now over was a relief deep inside. atleast hopefully things could remain peaceful enough without fighting, arguing, screaming and... well tons of icecream and booze to kill the pain.
Elleza placed her hand on her cheek where she was earlier kissed, glancing down on the ground before she said to herself,
"nope Elle, back to shadowlands for you, thats where you can do -something- to keep your mind clear"
She smiled and walked home, getting herself ready for a another trip to shadowland, to her second home

[Falikos]

The grass was soft and tall along the lake's edge where Kate lay in the grass looking up at the sky. It was a warm evening so the mosquitoes and leets were out in force adding their chitters and buzzing to the melody coming from the Phasefront vendor. Watching the stars turn overhead Kate casually sips on a bottle of Jack and smiles to herself. It really had been a good day.

Shifting to lean on her elbow she runs her fingers along the edge of a crisp white envelope and chuckles softly considering the contents. She'd been working the better part of the day on the letter and it had taken considerable stamina to complete it. Really it was something that should of been sent a long time ago, years even, but it would of been woefully incomplete before.

Standing up slowly Kate dusts off her bottom before bending to scoop up the letter and her half finished bottle. Laughing softly into the night Kate turns to the nearest leet and comments, "It is about damn time this was done."

The critters of the lake continue their tune as the nanomage strides off in the direction of Newland singing their song as if she had never been there.

[MrTrocks]

Sitting in his Old Athen apartment, Mr. Trox was going through his backpacks, finding things that were important and things that could be sold, he found countless implants and armor pieces. He kept digging in it and found something he hadnt seen in years, his Warhammer. "Good times, good times" thought Mr. Trox. He laid back, thinking about his first day on Rubi-Ka.

*SPLASH!* The ship landed in the water and Mr. Trox slowly pulled himself out of the broken Cargo hold hatch. "Ughhhh my head, where am I?" Mr. Trox slowly looked around and saw at least 20 people walking on the coast. " I better ask where I am and get out of here." He walked up to a man who was standing next to a supply crate. "Hello, newcomer!" said the man, "Hey there, where am I may I ask?" asked Mr. Trox. "Well, you are on the ICC Shuttleport, on the beautiful planet of Rubi-Ka!" said the man looking at him with a smile. "Are you alright?, I saw you crawl out of that ship back there." "Yeah, I am fine my stuff was destroyed though, so I need to get some but I am fine." said Mr. Trox. "Well then let me see what I have here!, well I have a few medkits and first aid items, here ya go! Oh! and the most important thing, a weapon! uhhh all I have left is a this hammere I hope that's all right." said the man handing Mr. Trox the items. "Oh, that will work fine." said Mr.Trox He quickly grabbed the hammer and the medical equipment the man handed him and was on his way, smashing the leets that were in his way. Mr. Trox opened his eyes, still holding the hammer, "Good times good times" he said as he put the hammer away and kept going through his bags.

[Towerblock]

He watched and waited for the correct time to act. Months and months of dealing with the overwhelming amount of every day issues that make deep cover operations so frustrating, finally are coming together for this one final strike. Standing behind a fair amount of computer wall is the only thing separating him from the final hail mary. The sounds of buzzing and security computers calculating the hacking attempts are wild and alive with displays, showing their operators just how deep they are in.

He watches...

He waits...

The power goes out. Good, the unwitting crew of friends and acquaintances got their end of the deal done. The Ghost Grifter sniffs the air. Before long, it'll smell like vengeance.

[MrTrocks]

Standing in his Jobe Apartment, Mr. Trox was racking his brain wondering how this happened, why it happened and if he could have stopped it. He remembered the day July 6, 29431 he remembered it perfectly, the smell of sweat and agony the sweltering heat of the of the mines. The sound of a plasma shot hitting his friend just 2 feet away from him the reason e chose to live this life. As he dons his helmet and his armor he mumbles an apology to those he abandoned years ago, to Gavin, Travis, Cody, Andy, and Ben. He whispered his apology as it fell upon empty air he shed a tiny tear that ran down his chiseled face reaching a wrinkle and using it as a slide to land on his armor and dry up much like his emotions and his feelings to others. " I will not let your losses be in vain. I will avenge you." Mr. Trox puts his hammer into its holder and his axe into it's sheathe and walks out of his apartment and jumps off the side to land in Newland.

[MrTrocks]

The Omni-Tek General was standing in the room, his perma kill weapon leaned against the wall, he looked at his list of commendations, he chuckled as he thought to himself that he was safe, but this man had perma killed 4 clanners in the last week, and this is what caused Mr. Trox to come after him...

Mr. Trox killed the guards and walked into the lush house of the General that had killed so many of his friends, four to be exact, Mr. Trox grunted in anger as he made it to the General's room Mr. Trox peeked in and saw the General looking out of his window his Perma-kill weapon against the wall 5 feet away from him, Mr. Trox snuck into the room the General turned around and grabbed the rifle, Mr. Trox smashed the hammer into the weapons barrel, bending it. He then tackled the General and broke his arm with the hammer. "This is for Trent" he said as he slammed the hammer into his shoulder with a sickening crack it broke into many pieces. "This is for Cat." He said as he threw the axe down into his Hamstrings severing them with ease. The General cried out in pain. Mr. Trox looked at him wagged a finger and said "No no no dont you scream you little baby." as he threw down his hammer into his chest breaking his ribs. "That is for Brandon." Mr. Trox said as he looked at the man who had made the mistake of screwing with his friends. This is for Garth he said as he threw down his axe and hammer into his Calves and smashing his kneecaps in the process. The general opened his mouth to say something but couldn't then Mr. Trox grabbed the Perma Kill weapon, bent the barrel back into shape pointed it at the General and fired. He laid there trying to scream as his central nervous system liquified. He watched the man die painfully and slowly and when he did, Mr. Trox got down and said " Now their soul have been put to rest yous left to stay their vengeance has been wrought this day, you will forever walk this rock with the pain of your evil weighing you down, you will not pass on you will stay and live in agony and dismay. I have done this deed my vengeance wrought and I have no problem bearing this evil thought. I have done this for the good of the people of Rubi Ka to ensure the freedom and liberty of all. While you rot in the belly of Hell, crying out for help. It will not come, you will live in agony as my friends spirits have moved on their presence lifted and into the heavens they ascend."

Mr. Trox stood up donned his helmet and walked out of the house and over the dead guards whistling on his way home.

[Termin Zawar]

Almost hidden in the shadows, a small non-decript optifex stands leaning up against the wall, observing the action before him. He shakes his head slightly. He had warned this team this subject would likley not respond to the processing quite as expected. And Katelin didn't surprise him in the unqiue and surprising ways her system seemed to be responding the the drugs that were being introduced into her system.

A man dressed in white, though Termin knew he was more often seen in the black most Reform agents wore publicly, glanced up from the readouts on his scanner where he had been reviewing the readouts he was receiving from the thrashing nanomage strapped down on the table in front of him. She had her eyes tightly closed, dealing with what ever demons were causing the beads of sweat to appear on her forehead as her head turned side to side, and she strained against the straps holding her in place on the gurney. "These readings show that she should be fully sedated, I don'd understand how she can be so animated in this state". Pulling himself up slightly, and walking over to the man in white, Termin glanced briefly at the readouts and frowns slightly. "I suspect, if her recollections are even what you expect, she will not retain them for long. I hope you have a backup plan. With her possition in the Neutral community, and the number of freinds she has, who have already been poking and proding to determine what has happened to her, you are running out of time." "Do you have any suggestions?" Termin turns a glace to the man, who suddently seems to start figiting under that long moment of observation that made him feel like a bug in a microscope before Termin finally replied. "You didn't listen to my recommendations before you decided to move on this particular subject, why would I waste my words now? I'm afraid this mess is all yours". With that he turns on his heel and quietly strides out of the room.

[Nulion]

A gloomy silence hung over the whole room, lit only by a faintly-flickering fire, starlight, and the soft network of lights strung out over Rubi-Ka's nighttime surface.

Life had become a slow burn, a quiet marathon of contemplation in the times it wasn't nearly overwhelmed by the delicate balance required in keeping the urges of a man and a beast in check. Nothing makes the task more difficult though, than the stresses only a human being would have to pay any mind to.

"Sssshould have been therrre..."

"...it doesssn't matterrr, you couldn't have ssstopped what happened."

"Yesss I could have!"

"......don't you sssee why it'sss betterrr to jussst....not carrre ssso damn much?"

He let out a gutteral, agitated growl at himself, his claws digging yet another series of punctures into the couch he sat upon. The whole of the once-pristine piece of furniture was littered with them. It felt good, he briefly thought, to feel what he could do with his bare hands to a couch...or to something a little more "alive".

"Not carrre? ...How could I not carrre?? Kate...meansss everrything. And now...now...ssshe'sss gone. What can I do..?"

"...could alwaysss follow that feeling in yourrr gut....and you *know* who did it. I know who did it. Isss therrre rrreally any doubt?"

His heart pounded at the thought...the idea of sinking every last tooth and claw into that man's soft flesh, spilling out whatever foulness that festered inside. It shouldn't have, but it felt exciting. The notion felt so exhilarating, just the *THOUGHT* of it...of staring at him with all the calculating emotionless of a snake before the strike.

His fingers twitched, as if they were mired in the organic mess that used to be a man's chest cavity....sifting through what remained of implants and chunks of muscle fiber, fragments of bone, all coated with the freshest of blood.

His green, slit eyes stared unblinking at the crackling fire, each snap issued from the flame sounding like bone being crudely ripped free of its moorings, revealing more of the tender innards beneath.

...It had been so long that he fought urges exactly like the one that invaded his mind in that moment, but this one seemed so...right. The perfect storm of human hatred and bestial territorialism, the gut-wrenching thought that something of his had been stolen, had been ripped away...and the creature that he had always feared he would become was finally having its day. That creature lurking deep inside of him had become so cunning, so cognizant of every exploitable flaw in his mind. After all, he and it by then had become almost indistinguishable from one another.

He stood up, suddenly tired of lying in conflicted repose as the world passed him by....tired of letting that feeble human derail his scattershot intentions with its constant "What ifs" and "Buts".

"but...it might not be him."

"Sssso what if it isssn't him?"

"....I.....yeahhh.....ssso what if it isssn't...? Hah hah.......ssso what if it isssn't..."

He laughed, knowing fully how he must have sounded, and yet he didn't give a damn.

"y...yesss Zawarrrr....you'll get what you dessserrrve."

[Andratrean]

Freezan sits on the floor of his apartment staring out oddly into space thinking "why?" It was several weeks of wandering the newland desert with nothing but bloodied rags and a scrambled cyberdeck before stumbling into an organizational city and accessing a whompah. Dragging himself into newland city he nearly stumbled into a citizen. "Are you alright?" Freezan responds "Water.... food... please.... help me..." It was the beginning of a nightmare for him. A nightmare come true and yet it was a nightmare he was unaware of that was taking place. After being set on his way and cared for by one of newland city's citizens he managed to make it back to old athen city and into what he believed may have been his home. "Nothing at all looks familiar to me. None of the furniture or the data pad I use to keep my journal entries seems at all familiar."

Everything at this point fades out as Freezan has an intense flashback of his day when his cover was blown. Gun fire was heard in the background followed by screams. Freezan is shown sabotaging various defense grids using focused and concentrated nanite based attacks against the machines. As he prepares to flee there is a lone girl standing in the background with a sad face just as she is about to call out his name Freezan blacks out. Freezan then awakens back in his apartment lying on the floor panting. "who is the girl?" he asks he screams out in rage and slams his fist into the floor unconsciously using nanites and creating a small impacted crater in his apartment.

Getting up he dusts himself off from the debris. "I want answers. I want to know who she is. Most importantly I do not wish to become a hunted animal. Those fools will pay for crossing me... only when my friend fails to find my answers is when I will retaliate." Freezan slightly calms down and decides to get up and slowly sits down to start meditating only in this act can he remain patient for the coming storm to subside.

[Falikos]

Kate's eyes rolled over to the right in their sockets toward the man in the white coat. She opened her mouth in a silent scream, dehydration having stolen her voice. He was bent down at the waist, his bald head shining under the medical lamp as he unfastened the leather cuffs at her wrist. Everything felt heavy and exhausted, her arm thumping against her chest as she tried to snatch it away from him. She did not want him to touch her again. No more drugs. No more needles.

"Easy now." Was all he said to her as he moved around her limbs, not sparing her so much as a glance. Each strap was soon dangling from the edge of the gurney, the soft clink of the buckles barely audible over her gasping breaths. Free. They were setting her Free.

Free...

[FoosballX]

He paces back and forth with silent footfalls across the floor of his station apartment. He stops and stands still in deep contemplation, he is worried about his friend. He didn't have many he really considered a friend and but she was one. He tried hard not too imagine the nightmares she might be going through as he couldn't afford to lose his temper and rush in foolhardy. Even if in the moment she was in main concern, he knew something bigger was going then just a kidnapping of a friend.

He takes in a deep breath and looks out the window at the twin suns, then his eyes move over to the plant on the stand and smiles for a brief moment. His smile fades as the image of that dark hair opifex man forms in his head. "That's two of my own you've sought to hurt" he says out loud, "No one can remain untouchable forever. And when see the crack in your armor I'm taking the shot." He claps his hands together and touches his two index fingers to his lips, "Or maybe I should just make you crack, and see what all of this is really about."

He stares out into the black thinking of his next move.

[StanimirB]

Questions. They rattled around in his head. Questions. He hadn't allowed himself to ask them. Not yet. He sits quietly watching over the sleeping woman laying by the quiet stream in his apartment. There will be time for the questions. Later. Quietly Stan stands, lightly on the balls of his feet. Almost feline in his stance. So accustomed to the form and movement, unconsciously adopting the feline grace even as he walked quietly across the grass in his normal human form. Quietly he walked up and tucked a blanket across the sleeping form of his friend, and returns to his vantage point, to watch over her as she sleeps.

[Towerblock]

Zeke surveyed the platform in which he parked his AV. It was highly unusual to be greeted only by automatons in the loading dock. Drones can be operated by remote, but that would still mean there would be someone manning operations. The delivery was on time, but something was not right. He smelled the air, to find notes of leather and mechanical lubricants. The sky was clear, and not a single flyer about, biological or otherwise.

The loading bay door opened, to reveal several wardroids, followed close by a couple of Omni-mining Corpsec Guards. They were wearing radiation suits and brandishing SMG's. He had almost no time to react, as they purged out of the alcove with a burst of inhuman speed and cadence. Zeke barely got the words, "Hey fellas I could really use some..." before the barking of bursts cut him off. The Nanotech had very little time to react.

Diving behind the AV, he instinctively reached for his comm unit. "Comms, this is Groundzer0. My twenty is-" Chips flew from the windshield as bullets left well cadenced signatures of their presence all over the side of the aerospace vehicle. There was no other cover. The wily Atrox only had seconds to make a last ditch effort to call for backup before the Wardroids would be on him.

"My twenty is a dozen clicks north of Clon****. I'm taking fire and pinned down." The operator would have been making a wonderful attempt to respond, if it weren't for the jam signal that covered all the local bandwidths. "****!" he slammed his ham-sized fist against the side panel of the AV. Just as the Wardroids crossed the threshold between the Omni Corporate Security, and the open ground of the loading dock, Groundzer0 patted the emergency survival panel from behind the rear turbine. Inserted cleanly into the bay was a large standard issue TacRifle, field medkit, and a radio.

From a deep, braying mechanical vox, came a warning from the lead Wardroid. "Surrender now and we will process you. Failure to do so, means death." The droids stood four paces away, near the front of the vehicle. Zeke stood fast against the AV, and his eyes lit up with an intense flash of incandescence. "Blow me," He spat, and wheeled behind the open hatch. The droids raised their main weapon, a helical fed heavy machine gun with smart optics.

Reaching out and gathering his will, the nano-technician began to compute destruction. A particle field raised around him, while a gloved hand pushed outward towards the combat engineers. "Huzzah!" He cried, as a brightly hued green bolt of entropy crashed around his targets, jolting them with ferocious arcs. Their RDCU sizzled and died.