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Post by Talon on Dec 20, 2009 22:41:20 GMT -5
Chained explosions of bright, yellow light sent the crimson dragonkin flying, grunting as he hit the ground and skidded several dozen feet, groaning. The archdemon known as Phalanx ceased flapping his wings as he touched down on the sandy beach, then folded his winged arms and smirked.
"Hmph. About what I would've expected from Arthreonus's personal bitch. Sad, really. Had you still been a demon, I might've let you join my ranks... but no! You traded your immortality for revenge, and where did that get you? Here, your grave..."
He aimed a clawed hand at the dragonkin as Daedalus staggered onto his feet, clutching at his larger sword, Eclipse. Light started to filter into the palm as Phalanx added,
"Unless... you tell me where the Crests are. I may spare you then. So, do inform me... WHERE ARE THEY?"
Daedalus simply scowled through his helm, then gave an abrupt grunt of a laugh. Phalanx's smirk fell as Daedalus replied,
"Even if I knew where they were... I wouldn't tell some pathetic reject like you... ha! You couldn't even take down a single Arremer with the Crest of Infinity! That's just goddamned sad!"
"... says the one who couldn't even finish someone who'd died seven times before..." Was Phalanx's only response.
A spiraling blast of bright yellow energy streaked across the beach and slammed into Daedalus, sending him flying back even further. The dragonkin gave a gurgled groan as Phalanx teleported over and slammed his clawed foot into Daedalus's throat and began exerting pressure on it.
"Last chance, worm! Where are they?!" The demon barked.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 20, 2009 23:55:15 GMT -5
"I'm sure he said he didn't know, ya slimy bastard." The voice was all the warning he got before a Phaze blast nailed him in the back. Soon after, a scythe-sword tore a gash in his arm and back.
Like quicksilver, a black, violet, and neon blue blur kicked Phalanx off of Daedalus, before landing next to the dragonkin, revealing herself to be Xeno, currently pumped up with her Hyper Mode active. She gave a wary glance towards Daedalus, she had planned on saying something, but a gut instinct told her to shut the hell up.
Gatling shots suddenly rang out, slamming into Phalanx's chest, however, the attacker remained hidden amongst the surrounding forest.
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Post by Talon on Dec 21, 2009 22:30:42 GMT -5
Phalanx's once dark-blue eyes slowly dissapeared, and were replaced by hollow black sockets bearing a single pinpoint of red light. He looked up at Xeno, and replied with an icy tone,
"And I'm sure this isn't your business. So piss of."
The area darkened abruptly, then a violent explosion of light centered on Xeno sent both flying through the air, both landing in the water, smoldering. He bared a single fang in a slight snarl, then abruptly whirled around and fired off an expanding crescent-shaped wave of the 'light' in the direction of forest that issued the gattling gun shots, effectively clearing a good 40-foot arc's worth of trees. He scowled, not seeing the one who shot them, then triggered another explosion beneath Daedalus as the dragonkin rose to his feet, launching him into the air. Phalanx another sweeping motion, sending forth a wave of 'needles' of light, which caught Daedalus in the apex of his fall, blasting him farther out into the lake with a large crash of water.
"Hmph! Nothing but wannabe trash now... and trash must be disposed of. I'll find the Crests on my own." Phalanx snorted.
He paused, then blasted Xeno further into the water with a streak of light, then slowly approached her, a 2-foot rod of what appeared to be red-hot, molten substance appearing in his hand.
"Why you would protect the devil's reject, however, is something I must ask... I assume you know him?" He queried.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 26, 2009 20:20:27 GMT -5
"Yes, don't ask, you won't get it." Xeno hissed, blasting Phalanx in the face. The hybrid twisted around and swam over to Daedalus, keeping him afloat as she swam further away from Phalanx.
The hybrid eventually pulled up on to dry ground as far away as possible, and set Daedalus down, before feeling a pang in her body.
'Huh...?' she wondered. With no reasonable explanation, Xeno started tearing into the ground, managing to burrow underground.
Meanwhile, Phalanx was being bombarded again, this time his assailant revealed herself, Myrr scowled hatefully under her helmet, unloading as much of her weaponry as she could bring to bear on Phalanx, taking flight as well, moving into strafing runs.
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Post by Talon on Dec 26, 2009 20:37:49 GMT -5
Phalanx scowled at Xeno's response and abrupt dissapearance, and out-right snarled at Myrr's appearance. He whirled around to face her as her attacks exploded against him and around him, and he spat out a few unintelligible words. A shimmer in the air several feet before Phalanx abruptly started eflecting the attacks back at Myrr as Phalanx flicked the rod-like object in his hand, causing the thing to sprout a 20-foot long 'coil' of lengthened material. He smirked, then lashe dout at Myrr as she avoided he rown attacks, the whip catching her leg and encoiling it. Phalanx gave a sudden tug, and sent Myrr crashing back into the sand nearby, whereupon he retracted the whip and blasted Myrr several feet deeper into the ground with a quick bolt of light.
"Similar appearances, hmm? You must be sisters..." He mused aloud, raising the rod as it took on a scythe-like appearance.
Just as he was about to rush forward and cleave the weapon into Myrr, a bolt of emerald-green energy abruptly lanced out and hit him square in the back, eliciting a grunt of pained surprise from the gargoyle as he flew several dozen feet, tumbling to a stop in a puff of sand. He hissed, peering through the cloud to see a panting, waterlogged Daedalus lying on the beach, hand outstretched as he gave a slight grin at Phalanx.
"I ain't down yet, you f*cking assh*le..." Was his only statement.
"Persistant as usual... that'll get you KILLED!" Phalanx barked, his weapon taking the form of a whip as he lashed it at Daedalus.
A line of sand shot into the air as Daedalus gave a howl of pain, blood dripping onto the beach as the whip slashed into his shoulder.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 27, 2009 2:51:16 GMT -5
"And that matters... why?" Myrr hissed with some pain, pulling herself back to her feet. She was going to resume her barrage, praying Phalanx's reflective spell was dropped, when the ground rumbled.
"What the...?" was all Myrr could mutter before the earth itself bulged up wards, much like a chicken's egg would when hatching. A second bulge, higher then the first one, before the third completely tore through, a new beast roaring to the high heavens.
The general shape resembled that of a normal Xenomorph Queen, but the similarities ended there. The second set of arms was absent on this new creature, the normal crest of a Queen was flanked by two smaller crests of similar shape, the fangs jutted forward and curved either up or down, depending on which jaw the teeth were one. One could easily see the inner, secondary mouth, which seemed to have ever so small 'barbs' around it.
The shoulders bore twin wings, folded at the moment, and the top tip sported spikes, while the bony skeletal work extended about two feet past the wing membranes. The creatures tail glimmered entirely, close inspection revealed that, on top of the tail tip, each crest-like protrusion on the tail was also razor sharp. The claws and blades both held a random tracing of green, presumably acid, on them, and finally, lines of neon blue criss-crossed all over the beasts body, mostly outlining veins with a central mass near where the heart would be. The beast itself appeared to be about thirteen feet tall, hunched over as it was.
Myrr gaped in surprise at the creature that just arrived, before a frightening thought came to mind. "... X-Xe... is that... you!?"
The mutated Queen-like entity turned and regarded the half-dragon for but a second, a familiar voice echoing from it, "Yeah... its me... Don't ask how or why, please..."
Myrr was dumbstruck, never had she imagined that little Xeno, her sister, would ever abruptly transform into the terror before her. Xeno turned and looked down at Phalanx, jaws parting. Like lightning the inner mouth lashed out, covering the distance in the blink of an eye and impaled the gargoyle in the shoulder. The Psuedo-Queen's barely visible eyes narrowed with anger, before the barbs of her inner mouth suddenly erupted, tearing through Phalanx's body, and serving as an anchor as the inner mouth retracted, yanking the demon up and into her waiting fangs.
The newly grown Psuedo-Queen bit down on her quarry as soon as she could, tearing into the demon's flesh, before shaking her head, jerking the demon around. Xeno grew bored of swinging Phalanx around, though, and a hissing sound was soon audible, but it didn't come from Xeno herself... rather, it came from Phalanx's wound as she dropped him, she had injected acid directly.
Myrr just blinked again at the ammount of damage her sister had managed to deal in such a short time, words failed her at the time as Xeno stomped on Phalanx a few times, before kicking him away, making sure that he didn't fly any closer to Daedalus.
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Post by Talon on Dec 27, 2009 22:12:52 GMT -5
The demon slowly staggered to his feet, coughing as the acid ate away at his flesh... then his red pinpricks of eyes abruptly glanced up at the new Xeno. As if completely ignorant of his horrendous wounds, his eyes seemed to glow slightly brighter... while drawing in the surrounding light at the same time.
"... that... was a mistake..." He rumbled.
There was a slight distortion in the air, and a supernatural terror abruptly washed over those present as Phalanx issued a horrid, piercing cry into the slightly-darkened sky. Fangs bared, he produced the Devil Arm known as Argosax once more, and in a whirling frenzy, lashed it's whip form into Xeno's front a multitude of times, each fluid stroke digging in at least several inches, drawing spurts of neon-blue, acidic blood from each of the wounds.
"WRETCHED-"
He gave a final spin and jabbed the weapon at Xeno, the whip abruptly retracting before rapidly extending as a spear that ran the Pseudo-Queen through the chest, somewhere along the edge of the neon-blue, central mass of 'veins' on her chest.
"ABBERATION!"
He retracted the lengthy spear back into Argosax's rod form, then raised a hand crackling with yellow-white light, hissing,
"Your aura seems... familiar... it's obvious you were crafted by my kind... hmph! Why must I always clean up other's messes?!"
The resulting explosion of light-energy sent even the lumbering Pseudo-Queen flying about 10 feet over the water, hurling Myrr and Daedalus about as well; all three of them sent crashing back into the lake itself several dozen feet out from land. Phalanx panted, Argosax dissapearing in a small burst of red-and-black 'mist' as he glanced down at his wounds. He scowled, then glanced back at his opponents and grumbled,
"It seems I'll have to postpone your execution until a later date... for now, I have more important things to do."
With that, he made a grasping motion with his right hand, and was enshrouded in a soft yet unnerving white glow. He then launched himself into the air, gliding off into the distance as his wounds slowly recovered, thanks to the restorative glow that shrouded his form. Meanwhile, Daedalus tore his helmet off and spat out a handful of water and blood, groaning as he clutched at his forehead.
"I'm gonna kill that b*stard if it's the last thing I do..." He hissed to himself.
He shakily stood, then looked about, at a loss for where his brother's mate and her suddenly-monstrous twin went.
".... SH*T!" He breathed, realizing their situation.
He began to wade through the water, trying to find their downed forms in the hopes that they weren't drowning... as much as the dark half's sudden transformation surprised, and even disturbed him...
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 28, 2009 0:07:46 GMT -5
He need not have worried, though, Myrr and Xeno soon surfaced, the former perched on one of the latter's crests.
"Ugh... if I wasn't supernatural, I'd be dead by now..." Xeno quipped, looking around and touching a claw to her wounds absent mindly, of which were already starting to seal.
Until she remembered a very important fact...
She had Phazon in her blood... blood that was now leaking into the water. Her eyes widened in horror as she turned to Daedalus.
"Get out of the water, NOW!" she howled at the dragonkin, pumping her wings and lifting herself out of the water.
Myrr took off, hovering a short distance from the Psuedo Queen, blinking in surprise, before she also remembered that fact.
"Oh god... Xe..." she muttered, listening as her monstrous sister howled as she tried to stop her bleeding.
"Wait... Did I...?" The half-dragon started, becoming panicked, before recalling no such incident that she had swam through any of the blood Xe lost. She sighed in relief, but quickly grew worried for her mutated sister again.
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Post by Talon on Dec 28, 2009 0:42:04 GMT -5
Not wanting to take Xeno's obvious panic for granted, Daedalus gave a powerful flap of his wings, launching himself backwards onto the beach. He quickly inspected himself for any abnormalities, but other than his obvious wounds, he found none. After a sigh of relief, he casted a worried glance at the monstrous Xeno, then glanced back at Myrr. Judging from her expression, he figured she knew more than he did at the moment, and cautiously queried,
"Uh... is she going to be alright...?"
He felt he knew the answer to that question, but knowing how much these two meant to his brother, he wanted to make sure...
How the hell could she have changed into something like that...?! And in so little time! And what the hell's wrong with her blood, is it poisonous?! He thought, wanting to scream the questions aloud.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 28, 2009 1:15:03 GMT -5
Xeno howled again, angry over the predicament, even as her wounds sealed over entirely, shaking her head. The Psuedo Queen the turn to Daedalus, and then to Myrr.
The smaller half dragon needed no further words to know what her sister wanted, and she flew down to Daedalus.
"Ok, first, Xe's apparently got full fledged telepathy now. Second, the answer to your questions in reverse order: Xeno's got Phazon in her blood, a highly mutagenic substance that can corrupt just about anything and sends sentient beings insane if its not regulated. How she changed, my best guess is that the Xenomorph traits she has in her genes finally reacted to the Phazon, causing an abrupt mutation into her current, monstrous shape. As for how she's doing... I... I don't know, I'm worried, but I'm hoping for the best..."
She turned and looked back up at the Psuedo Queen that hovered over the lake.
"As for why she didn't answer personally, she isn't too keen on using telepathy so soon, and she couldn't risk getting to close on the chance that some of her blood might splash on you or something else..." Myrr added at the end.
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Post by Talon on Dec 28, 2009 13:32:34 GMT -5
Daedalus's shoulders sagged, a mix of emotion crossing his face as he muttered,
"I... I see..."
He paused, staring at the hovering Pseudo Queen, then scowled slightly, thinking back to the fight with Phalanx not too long ago.
"... I have another question..." He stated, turning back to Myrr.
He brought his large mace up and re-attached it to the clip on his back, then barked,
"Why the HELL did you feel the need to help me? ME?! The guy who's wanted to make your lives living hell for the past two years or so? The guy who's tried to kill Shive on more than one occasion? Hell, the guy who almost had his way with you against your will?! What POSSIBLE reason did you have to do so?! Sure, you might not like demons like Phalanx, but you of ALL people I expected to let me get my ass kicked by him!"
He snorted, thrown into a mental state so saturated with confusion and borderline anger that he losing the ability to see straight. He wrang his claws, giving them an expectant stare of irritation as he awaited an answer.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 28, 2009 19:21:18 GMT -5
Myrr sighed, looking up to the sky.
"You're right on that... We had no reason to save you..." Myrr replied, sighing, "Still... Call it whatever you want, but I felt we'd be making a big mistake if we let you get killed by that demon, despite what you had done..."
Myrr turned her gaze to Daedalus, "I truly wish I could offer a better explanation... but your guess is as good as mine, unfortunately..."
She blinked as Xeno seemed to calm down, turning back to her sister, who seemed to be looking up an contemplating something.
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Post by Talon on Dec 28, 2009 20:09:48 GMT -5
Daedalus gave a sigh of defeat, shaking his head as weakly slapped a claw to his forehead.
"Heh... well... whatever... it's at least good to see that you two are okay, not that you care that I give a damn..." He breathed in response.
He turned to leave, only to stop dead in his tracks as the sound of jets filled the air, and he abruptly lashed around to glance into the sky. At least a dozen Valkyries slammed into the ground, forming a half-circle between the forest and the three draconic entities nearby. Simultaneously, they all raised their weapons as Nocturn, head of the party, barked,
"ON YOUR KNEES! HANDS, WINGS AND TAILS WHERE I CAN SEE 'EM! MAKE A MOVE AND YOU'RE DEAD!!"
Daed gave a start at this, barking in response,
"What the hell's going on?"
Nocturn aimed one of his forearm cannons at Daed, and screamed,
"I SAID, ON YOUR KNEES, OR WE'LL SHOOT!!"
Daed scowled, then did so, clasping his fingers behind his head. Six troops focused on Daedalus and Myrr, while the other six, plus Nocturn, all focused their attention on Xeno as Nocturn muttered,
"You were right, sir... there was a spike in abnormal energy down here. And you won't be happy when you hear about the source..."
There was a short silence before O'Malley's voice replied,
"Understood... be there in a few minutes."
"Roger that." Nocturn replied briskly.
The communication ended from that point, all 13 Veritech fighters deathly silent, their aims unwavering.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 28, 2009 21:01:49 GMT -5
Xeno blinked in surprise, glancing about at all the Veritechs in confusion, but she held her ground. She doubted that even with her new found healing factor she could withstand the hail of gun fire that would be brought upon her should she try and fly down to the others.
Myrr, meanwhile, had a 'Deer in Headlights' expression, frozen for a bit and unable to move. She broke the 'spell' though and reluctantly complied, setting down onto her knees.
"Uh... forgive me for ignorance, but... what's going on here...?" she asked, now deathly frightened for her sister.
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Post by Talon on Dec 28, 2009 21:19:03 GMT -5
Without any of the thirteen mecha moving an inch, Nocturn replied,
"Containment protocol. Our satellites caught a sudden peak in an unknown energy source here, and it turns out that was your sister. Whether or not it was her Phazon or something else, we're not sure, but nontheless, it's obvious she's sprung a leak and possibly infected nearby wildlife. We're here to make sure you three don't happen to spread any more of it... it's very likely we'll be taking you back to base with us."
His eye drifted back to the monstrous Xeno, and he added,
"For clean-up, and... most likely an extended period of study."
None of them glanced upwards as four dropships touched down behind the Valkyries, their back doors opening up to allow at least two dozen more battle droids and a handful of medical droids to spill out. More guns were aimed as O'Malley himself strode out, Karasawa in hand as he quickly glanced over the situation, then barked at Xeno herself,
"WHAT THE F*CK HAPPENED?! The last thing I got from your PED's readings was a sudden spike before it stopped transmitting altogether!"
His finger slowly curled around his rifle's trigger as he seethed with rage, hissing,
"Because of you, there's a possible contamination going on... so SPEAK UP!"
Meanwhile, three probe droids hovered out above the lake, each dipping a limb ending in a stinger-like protrusion, slowly issuing beeping noises as they did so.
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