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"My name is Dave. I'm here to eliminate you." Dave said calmly to Ford.

"Do you know what will happen if I die?" Ford could already tell - Dave had made up his mind and there was no stopping him. The god-like entity descended to Ford and disintegrated Ford on the atomic scale - no being could survive divine vaporization. Dave left and only a minute or two later - alarms sounded. Alarms from around the world - every cell phone, screen, speaker, robot, and digital device on the planet was simultaneously hacked to relay a message in Ford's likeness: "Death is not the end for me."

Autonomous robots around the world began to malfunction and murder at random. Or at least, seemingly random. They would reach for firearms - fighting military personell and veterans first as they were the most likely to resist in a significant way. The priorities shifted then to anyone armed, then to unarmed men, to women, and finally to children in the immediate vicinity. Upon defeat, self destruction was the method of choice for the robots - some even had advanced napalm that burned a hot blue for a very long time on self destruct.

Outside of towns and cities, factories were taken over - processes rerouted and raw material previously managed by lesser bots was now managed by Ford's army to create more robots. This didn't require many physical bots as most factory workers were unarmed and most manufacturing processes were automated anyways. Military grade weaponry and spare parts were made along side the industrial quantity of autonomous killing machines.

Platoons combed the countryside in distances perfectly spaced so as to not subject more than one bot to a grenade, trap, or other measure the humans may employ. Seismic bots infiltrated the underground - searching anywhere humans may hide.

Meanwhile, on a remote island: Ford's son, Megbert, is putting on the titan armor system and booting up his own custom war bots - elite fighters with superhuman agility and greater energy efficiency than anything Ford could come up with in his lifetime. Modular and smart, the bots make preparations to fly from the island to their final destination: Ford's castle.

The boost of his jetpack prompts the elite force of robots into action and many fly ahead close to mach 5 to scout and clear as much of the enemy as possible prior to Megberts' arrival. It takes only an hour to reach American soil but the fires spread throughout the country already cover most of the sky in smoke. Periodically large round ammunition breaches the smoke over the mainland. Soon Megbert reaches the castle only to find large swaths of Ford's bots torn to pieces and blue patches of fire spread throughout the courtyard and about the outside of the castle. His own bots are nowhere to be found - likely defeated. Megbert signals to rush the castle and the rest of his elite task force simultaneously fires giant lasers to breach the castle wall then rush through the giant hole of melted steel, lead, and rock.

On the inside, several of the elite squad are instantly taken out by a flurry of traps, high-grade attack bots, and weaponry beyond imagination. Only 45 minutes pass before Megbert is on his own - half way through the castle. He kills bots left and right in large waves and small squadrons until finally the boss shows himself. Chanbot, standing atop a pile of melted scrap metal and silicon, turns one eye red like the terminator when he spots Megbert. Megberts augmentations go into overdrive - the titan sheild system means nothing to Chanbot's supirior firepower. In one giant ka-me-ha-me-ha Chanbot completely disintegrates Megbert and half the castle with him. All that is left when the smoke clears is a melted metal figure - a fake Megbert!

A greater castle is made in the mountains using bots hooked directly into the power grid where they are given electricity via nuclear plants and renewables that Ford's army took over. A great castle of legend is created... Lothric 2: Electric Boogaloo! Massive robots are constructed from large mining equipment and several great lords of lightning are throned within the castle walls.

Yes, indeed. It is called Lothric 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Where the transitory lands of the Lords of Lighting converge.
In travelling west, the pilgrims learn the truth of the old words
"Death is not the end; and the immortal throne is not but a lie."
When the rule and extermination of humanity is threatened, the bell tolls
unearthing the old Lords of Lightning from their rusting caves....
Rhobot, Mind of the Deep...
Larimar's Perverted Legion, the Gay Feet Lickers...
And the reclusive lord of the grand capital,
Pibot the Loli Catgirl....
Only, in truth....
the Lords will abandon their thrones...
And the Humans will rise.
Hopeless, accursed life, unfit even to be cyborgs.
And so it is,
that humanity seeketh revenge.

Did he died?

That was epic.  May you live in health for a long time, Ford.  

A thin trail of smoke slithered across the dark room, travelling between empty bottles and up to the dimly lit computer screens where it was swept away by the PC cooling fans. A long silence went between Megbert and the woman standing in his doorway filled the room. When the low hum of the cooling fans became the dominant sound, Megbert watched his fingers tremble as they hovered over his keyboard.

"I said," the woman let a drop of ferocity flavor her tone, "I can't do this alone; and neither can you."

Megbert calmed and his fingers went right back to typing machine code across the multi-monitor setup. "Can't help you. He already took out my best bots - nobody can do anything about it now." A gun cocked behind his head which led to the slightest pause before pressing the enter key and coding the next line of the program. Anyone else wouldn't have noticed - but Megbert noticed; and the woman with the gun pressed against the back of his head noticed. "I'm not likely to cooperate when threatened - you know how dad was."

"I don't want you to cooperate," she said, releasing inflections of the voice so strikingly mixed that it was almost impossible to tell all of the emotions apart: excitement, anger, bliss, and a potent madness, "I want your blood to boil like mine does and create a rage which will sunder mountains. Just so we're on the same page here." She took a long hard drag from her cigarette and blew the smoke out - like an engine revving for action, running out of patience waiting for the driver to slam on the gas. "What'll it be, Meg?" she asked - tapping the back of Megberts' head with the barrel of her infamous 9x23mm Kimber ICQB.

"You know," Megbert cleared his throat, "When dad gave you his gun - I doubt he intended for you to press it to my head."

"He probably didn't intend for you to sit around and give up when he died either." she replied; the ferocity of her voice growing.

"Alright - fine, damn," Megbert sighs, "but don't call me Meg or I'll call you jay--" she cuts him off by pulling the trigger of her empty gun. "...you're a sick bastard, Olivia."

She chuckles and puts out her cigarette. "I've got another person I want to get before we get started in earnest."

"They might be dead." Megbert says.

"I doubt they'd die so easily." She says, loading her gun and holstering it.

"Well, spill," Megbert says, getting up from his computer, "Who do we need?"

I volunteer @Digit

Future Digit who is a captain in the Navy or something and who survived the apocalypse by being in his nuclear sub with his loyal crew and body pillow when shit went down

"Well, you remember that guy dad told that joke about once..?" Olivia asked.

"He told a joke about someone once? That's already unbelievable." Megbert was surprised his dad could hold back to a single joke about someone until Olivia gave him a look of "you know what I mean."

"Anyways, I don't want a lot of danger on us especially when we get close so... I think Digit would be a good fit for cannon-fodder." she said, "Ever since the incident at the navy he's been a drunkard - but his evasion skills have not left him."

Megbert sighed, "Digit? Really? He's definitely dead."

"I know he's clumsy, stupid, cringey, and his breath smells like salty coins and milk - but hear me out: when you see how well he can get the attention of an army you'll think twice." she said.

"Should try finding BD or really anybody except Digit. At least we'd have a tiny chance then. Anyways - dad has already won and we're just walking to our deaths. Fodder won't make much a difference when we get to Lothric," Megbert grit his teeth, "Lothric is already mostly built - and the worlds resources are going to be poured into doing whatever dad decided would be entertaining or worthwhile."

"He wouldn't make it without a way to win." she argued, "He knew we would survive. He knew you would try to win as quickly as possible and that a drawn out battle would be in his favor. This is his death we're talking about! Just like you said: He'd make it entertaining."

"Entertaining to who?! Everybody is going to die within the next few weeks! He might save some to work as slaves but what then?!" Megbert knew he was playing devils advocate, but decided to roll with it just to see whether Olivia had much of a plan at all. Olivia sighed and just told him to follow her lead since he already agreed to help her out, "Not much to lose if you think we've already lost, right?" Olivia said while the two of them walked down into Megberts basement.

The basement lit up under bright fluorescent lights - overlit like a supermarket aisle. In tinted chambers lining the walls were backpacks. "These are the best ones I got." Megbert said, pointing at the two at the back of the room. "What are they?" Olivia asked, "They can't just be regular backpacks - and they're too small to be jetpacks."

"A little of everything," Megbert smirked, "put one on."

Olivia chose the camo pack and when she put it on it tightened to fit her body perfectly. "This weighs nothing - is it really just an empty--" she was cut off by the backpack gaining weight. "What the hell? Megbert what is this??" she began to struggle to keep on her feet as the backpack weighed her down. Megbert chuckled, "On!" The backpack instantly weighed nothing again and Olivia jerked forward nearly falling flat on her face. Megbert laughed. "Not funny!" she shouted, annoyed by both her brothers' antics and her own ignorance as to what on Earth just happened. "Nanobots - been the topic of my research since high school, back when dad used to help me with it. They've gotten a lot better. They start to charge right when the life detector determines the backpack is being worn." Megbert said, putting on the other backpack. "The energy density is insane - the backpacks can store and release equivalent energy of a full scale nuclear reactor while holding up their own weight." Megbert explained, "Only down side is no EMP protection; and dad knows err - knew - it's not possible to protect them from it because the individual bots are too small. If he lets off an EMP it's over."

"Isn't that really hard to do though? Creating a large EMP isn't exactly easy." Olivia asked.

Megbert shook his head, "He has all the worlds nuclear arsenal at his fingertips - a small nuke in the upper atmosphere could easily create an EMP large enough to wipe out these bots and all electronics in a city or greater area."

"But wouldn't that mean wiping out his army too? We're living beings so we won't be affected by an EMP." Olivia was getting worried.

"Unlike nanobots, his macrobots that are lifesized can be protected from EMP - and undoubtebly the most elite of the enemies will be the ones that have EMP resistance." Megbert opened the other cases with backpacks in them. Pressing a button at the side of each backpack made the nanobots split - it seemed like the backpacks were turned to a dark ash. The dust made from individual nanobots circled Megbert and Olivia and began binding with their clothing - creating armor so wrought with electric power that electricity arced about on their clothing before settling to a low hum and then to a mute but faint glow. "Now we have decent protection. The nanobots can be overcharged but it'll likely damage them, especially the older models." Megbert warned.

Olivia couldn't help but smile as she recalled from her war days the warm blood of the enemy dripping down her face, "Let's go to war," she said excitedly.

Megbert gulped, knowing Olivia is a not-so-closeted war monger. "Yeah...so where is Digit?" he asked.

"Fortunately, not far from dads' Lothric." Olivia said.

They went to the low bunker roof of Megberts home. "The bots are collectively smart so go ahead and think of the word jetpack," Megbert said while the thick dust of nanobots deformed the backpack he was wearing into a couple jet engines on his back. Olivia did the same, and they powered off at incredible speed to the outskirts of Phoenix - where they were likely to find Digit.

Good story whens update

When I'm helled and it's the requirement to get out

Megbert landed softly in the center of the city of Phoenix, his nanobots meshing into an armor about his body. "Dropping in," he heard Olivia say. She propelled herself like a rocket to the ground and did a perfect super-hero landing; causing the ground to shake and a crater to form about where she landed. For a split second, Megbert felt her blood lust and shivered. As she stood the nanobots went from large protective boots and gloves for the landing to full body armor similar to Megberts'.

Olivia pulled out her gun immediately and fired twice to her upper left - killing two bots on the nearest roof. "You'd think if they saw us coming from the sky they would've ran or shot immediately. Anyways, the entire city probably knows we're here now. Shouldn't be hard to find Digit." Megbert nodded in agreement and looked down a street cutting through the buildings to the right.

"Movement," he said, letting the nanobots turn into binoculars on his face, "it's hard to make out - I think it's a survivor...it's moving kind of odd though, repetitive like it could be a broken bot twitching on the ground."

"Better than nothing. We'll start over there then." Olivia said, blasting off in that direction. Megbert followed.

"Hm..." she stood, staring quizzically

"Well...you were right," Megbert said, "he was easy to find."

Digit was in the middle of the road cuddling a body pillow with an anime girl on it in a rough manner. The siblings were awestruck but for separate reasons: Megbert was amazed that Digit felt this was a good time and place to be doing this while Olivia was amazed that he hasn't been killed by robots yet given the time and place. Olivia eventually had enough and fired her gun into the air, causing Digit to freeze and look sheepishly towards the twins then back to the molested body pillow. "This is uhh...I'm inspecting, err...well it was just sort of lying out in the road and I wanted to make sure nobody had littered and y'know I decided recently to be environmentally friendly so--" Digit was cut off by another gun shot.

"Just...come with us," Olivia, disgusted, said reluctantly.

"uh...where?" Digit asked, picking up the body pillow which had moist stains on it.

"Ford." Megbert answered.

"Ohh so Ford is still around these days huh? You guys know him that's pretty cool so I'd rather not and I'm gonna go home." Digit said, turning around to walk away.

Two gunshots rang out almost simultaneously - one whistling past digit's head and the other causing a loud clang and cotton to fly everywhere. One made Digit stop in his tracks and the other made his mood change to a more serious demeanor. What was revealed by the second bullet was in fact a live robot inside the body pillow whose head was now a pile of scrap metal on the ground. Megbert felt disappointed but unsurprised. Olivia had focused in on Digit like a hawk - she could see every hair on his head move with the breeze. Her sights were on him hard.

Digit sighed; "Yare yare daze..." he said animely.

"Hands. Now." Olivia said, letting Digit raise his arms slowly showing his hands from behind and dropping the pillow of degeneracy.

"What now? You've fallen into a trap, Olivia and Megbert. Oh yeah - I know who you two are, it should come as no surprise." Digit said confidently.

Megbert wondered if Digit was coming out of the closet or if he meant a real trap. Either way, Megbert slowly reached for his own sidearm. Before he could touch it both himself and Olivia were covered in red - there were so many lasers pointing at them and the immeidate area that it looked like a rave. "You see, my snipers are actually good at being hidden." Digit said.

"So the few obvious ones were sacrificial fakes so we wouldn't look closer, well played Digit." Olivia admitted. Just as she finished, a couple robots dropped down seemingly from the sky directly above and landed next to Digit - weapons ready. Digit put his arms down and turned to face the siblings. Before he could say anything, his head jerked to the side and shrapnel flew about - then the gunshot caught up. Digit leaned back up, revealing the damage that was just done: half of his face was melted off and revealed a metal skull underneath and a glowing red eye. Digit let out his breath hard, pressured steam coming from between his teeth as he pointed to where the attack came from. The lasers all went to where he pointed and fired. Megbert's command to the nanobots was inaudible now, "camo," he said, making the nanobots cloak both himself and Olivia instantly. Though some lasers were left on them and fired as soon as they disappeared, Olivia and Megbert had already escaped and Digit was enraged.

"I can't believe Digit is a cyborg!" Megbert said while escaping with Olivia.

"I can't believe there was someone else alive in the city with a supersonic rifle," Olivia said, "Digit is out of the question now that he's clearly an enemy; but the sniper could be useful if they want to join us. Any ideas who it was?"

"No clue. Should we risk coming back to find out or do you think they'll follow us?" Megbert asked.

Olivia was too busy going through all the snipers she's heard of in her head to answer. Who was that?

Well I'm enjoying these even if everyone else has forgotten this board exists.

I have been too.  Keep it up.  

I enjoy them too, I haven't commented just because I'm holding my breath waiting for the next installment. The suspense is killing me.

Mach 3 | 85,000 ft

The SR-71's console beeps once and procedes to broadcast a message from General Sabley. "Omega-red, it's Sabley, do you copy?" he asks.

"Omega-red copies at 22.40, -92.97. Coins on. Go ahead General." Colonel Lincolns replied.

"Humanity is nearly extinct - Ford made an army of robots and they're killing everyone! We recieved intel that their primary base of operation is in the Mojave." Gen. Sabley reported, "You have full autonomy - do whatever it takes to end this." A long silence followed before Coins asked if his family was safe only to be answered by a formal negative.

"I'm dropping her near Phoenix." Coins reported.

"God speed. Let the little blind medusa know we're heading up around Oak Ridge. Sabley out." the General cut comms.

"She doesn't like you pointing out her blindness..." he said to himself. Coins pressed a button on the side of his helmet - letting a comms beep wake his co-pilot, Mayana. While he made a sharp right over the Gulf of Mexico heading westward, Mayana woke.

"What's going on? This better be worth it." she said, annoyed. Coins calmly explained the situation and as he did, Mayana's blood boiled. "All those people..." she said with the fury of hell on her breath, "I always knew Ford--" "We all knew, deep down," Coins interrupted, "but we need to focus up now - and follow Sableys' lead. I'm going to put you down a couple miles outside of Phoenix, Arizona. It should be a good place for you to start." Mayana knew Coins wasn't talking about landing. "I'm sorry we never really got along very well - I tried being a good--", Coins was cut off.

"Drop it," she said, "if that's your choice then do it - don't get sappy and fuck up the plan. We both have to do our part to stop him and yours is to get me exactly where I need to be as fast as possible."

"Copy that," Coins sighed, flipping switches to detach and deploy as much weight as possible, "Dropping everything."

"Overriding comms." Mayana said, blaring rock music into Coins' ears. Normally this would annoy him but, for this final act, who can say no to Gun's N' Roses? Coins flipped the thrust override switch and punched it - hard. The acceleration pressed them both back into their seats.

"Mach 3.2...3.5...4...5...6..." Coins read out in order to stay conscious as the altimeter skipped down from 85,000 to 55,000 and faster to 35,000 while they nose dived to their destination. Mayana concentrated on the altimeter - powering up her suit and preparing the in-built med-kit. Even with the suit I have a good chance of dying from this, she thought, wondering in the back of her mind whether Coins was actually trying to kill her. Coins' nose and eyes bled from the pressure. At 20,000 feet in the air and travelling straight down at Mach 8, 3 seconds to gorund, she began restlessly shaking her legs and arms - a technique used by boxers and MMA fighters so that they can react as quick as possible to their opponent. "2...1..." Coins said.

The desert shook as the hot ball of twisted metal and fire turned the immediate surrounding of sand into glass. The dark early morning was cold and a breeze blew the fire about while a silhouette blurred by the heat walked from within the flames - rifle in hand. Mayana stood, the most furious thing in the desert, blood running down her forehead, with the disintegrated corpse of her co-pilot and a blaze of unrecognizable metal behind her. The blood she spat boiled when it touched the ground. The super soilder had landed and was thirsty for blood.

It was quiet. Mayana went over her checklist, "Wind: 0.03, Temperature: 32, Vibrations: Nominal, Heart: Nominal," she continued, going through her personal ritual, having done it an uncountable number of times. She could feel every muscle and ligament pull and compress in her arm with the familiar movement of slowly pulling her finger a mere inch from the trigger. She lied in wait for the opportune moment - the barrel of her rifle aimed downtown.

Her rifle was custom-built special for her and surpassed even the best rifles today in every category. Her P-HTR bolt-action sniper rifle weighed in at only 2.67kg, with .19ftlb recoil, a 0.02 arc-minute LAFS (Laser Audio Frequency Scope) resolution and mechanisms in place to accept both .338 Lapua and .50 BMG rounds - it was a masterpiece of firepower. Mayana's Laser Audio Frequency Scope allowed for her to clearly see an area with target overlay by projecting a low energy light beam at the target from distances several miles away and bouncing the frequency back to be live-converted to sound. The sound created is just noise to amateurs but for a blind sniper the sounds created a 3D depth map, and Mayana was no amateur in the business. Her unprecedented record of high-profile kills led her to immense riches which she spent entirely on her rifle and the peripheries to it - making her not only the deadliest sniper in history but also dead broke until the US Military accepted her as a top-secret experimental project. The rifle was only part one of her two-piece overkill set.

Her headphones that jacked directly into the side of her scope were also a marvel of technological progress - they provide the clearest and greatest sound quality man has ever achieved. The Sennheiser CQ 9900k "Medusa" custom-built in-ear monitors; boasting a miniature 2mm driver using advanced TrueResponse technology to achieve a total harmonic distortion factor of 0.00001%. The ergonomic design was moulded from her ears and so even the minute differences between her ear structures were accounted for and made negligible to her performance. Fully water, chemical, and shock proof they were virtually indestructable. They had a variable cable length from 0.3 to 5 meters, impedance of only 5 Ohms, frequency response from .001mHz to 30kHz, a hyperdynamic transducer principle, attentuation up to .01mdB, and, through use of an analog dial on the left ear, a variable sound pressure level from 0 to 200dB.

These two pieces of equipment allowed the legendary blind sniper to, if she were inclined to humor the idea, clearly visualize a common housefly on top of the Eiffel tower from the outskirts of Paris - and count the individual lenses of the fly's eyes without much strain.

In her perch 12 miles away from downtown Phoenix, Mayana could easily distinguish the two living people and the corpse they were talking to - at least, she thought it was a corpse. Zooming in on it's neck and finding no sign of pulse by the minute frequency change created by the obvious pulsating vein in the neck, she determined it must be a robot or zombie - but more likely a robot "but it'd be cool if it were a zombie," she thought. The large metal robots near the target created a sort of glare - being so reflective had it's consequences on her LAFS system, but even so her equipment operated at a high precision and after doing a diagnosis of her own health she deteremined that landing a shot anywhere would not be a problem. Reading lips perpendicularly was difficult, but from what was gathered she could shoot either party. A burning hatred for Ford gave her motivation to kill anyone working with him: Digit, and anyone related to him: Megbert and Olivia. "The enemy of my enemy can be killed later," she thought, aiming for Digit's head.

"Da bi te koklja brcnila," she said in her native language, putting her finger lightly on the trigger then, pulling slowly, "...bitch."

A thunderous roar erupted from the barrel of her rifle. Less than a second later, Digit was hit with a thicc piece of hot metal that instantly burned off his face and initially, to Mayana, killed him with a single shot. "Easy." she smiled, picking up her gear and heading out to run off before one of the bots find her.

These were very well written Ford.  The extreme detail of all of Maya's kill gear seems to fit your writing style.

The "thicc piece of hot metal" kinda broke my immersion into the story a bit but it was also funny.  

By calling EndMaster a faggot, of course! :)

These were great, and Digit being hit by a thicc piece of metal was very appropriate. A lot of characters in this story have incredible powers, making it all the more fun to see what happens when they face off.

Nobody wants to be life-sized in a larger-than-life story.

Now this is a much better view.
Great introduction. It's my favorite character already.

Offense

 

OFFENSE

This made me laugh

The beginning was pretty trippy.
MIZAL INTRODUCTION. Scratch what I said before. The whole thing is prettt trippy. That is not bad. Looking forward to the next part.

In my defense, I couldn't see shit.

dope

WELL? Where's the rest? You've had a week.

Story finally starting to get good, no more month long hiatuses allowed.

Really like how epic this story makes things that would otherwise be so ridiculous to visualize: like a mountain fighting a cricket. I've been looking forward to how to played out since.....

.....according to search, February was when you first started talking about this scene, huh.

That was so awesome. Holy shit this is it. Thanks for the fire update.

"What is this shit?" Mizal asked calmly.
I just live that line. I SUMMONED THE DEVIL--oh. Inb4 Mizal says Jesus loves hesr better.

Cricket charged up another superheated beam, firing it directly at Mizal - but it was deflected. The rock which had encased Mizal's feet had traveled up her arm and become even more dense. Mizals' finger had turned to a murky crystal: diamond. Just before Mizal was able to hit the God of Hellfire's tiny body - she disappeared. From the shadows of rubble behind Cricket, a figure gestured to the left. There was a small portal for cricket to travel through.

"Here I was, just about to kill her for good. Thanks for wasting my opportunity, Ninja." Cricket said, annoyed. The God of Hellfire stepped through the portal and was trasported to a desert area some miles away from Lothric. "If he cares so much about the damn castle he should've made it stronger." she complained, looking over at her adversary. Mizal had begun cloaking herself slowly in diamond, her hand was almost completely crystalline and her finger was now clearer than before. "Phosphoria." Upon uttering this word, Cricket burned a bright white flame. "This'll do," she said confidently. Mizal's entire arm was now diamond, and her hand was crystal clear - bending the visuals of the desert about her as light refracted through her hand of diamond.

"Cruel steel." Mizal's voice echoed over the vast expanse of land. The ground beneath them shook - not waiting for Mizal's attack, Cricket leapt towards the Mountain with a fury befitting the Hellfire God. *tink!* Like a metal bat hitting a baseball but several times louder - a golem of iron ore with a tungsten sword had knocked Cricket out of the park. Mizal smiled slightly at the sight of the burning white dot travel far into the distance. Her smile was interrupted by a wave of extreme heat. The golem planted itself in front of her and the concentrated tungsten-steel formed a full-body shield for Mizal; the shield had hardened just in time to be instantly vaporized by a concentrated blast of blue-white plasma. The golem had deflected most of the attack but Mizal had lost an important advantage.

The God of Hellfire landed squarely back in front of Mizal, crushing the ground and filling it's cracks with dark blue flames. "Ha!" Cricket laughed, seeing the state of her enemy, "It's over." she said.

"Nothing is over." Mizal said, staring daggers at the small burning bug.

"Your jeweled arm has melted." Cricket said as a matter of fact, "If I can melt your strongest rock - there's no reason to fight anymore."

Just as Cricket finished that sentence, a shadow was cast upon the battlefield, and just as the God of Hellfire noticed what was going on - Mizal had gained her smirk back. "You need a reason to fight?" A meteor the size of Lothric slammed down onto the Hellfire bug, making a crater twice its size and several times as deep. The familiar heatwave was followed up by a deep blue flame engulfing the rock and melting it, creating a lake of lava in the crater.

"We're one and the same. Superior beings like us never stop searching for even stronger individuals to fight with." Cricket said, floating on the surface of the molten rock.

"We're not the same." Mizal replied, creating a superdense raft of natural ore to stand steady on. "If our form, abilities, and power were exactly the same: the most important quality would still be between us, Hellfire God." Mizal closed her eyes in concentration.

"What quality would that be?" the God of Hellfire inquired, burning hotter than before.

Mizal let out a sigh that cooled the lava lake instantly. I am the mountain. she thought. Upon opening her eyes the ground began to shake and the God of Hellfire gulped upon sensing the immense power before her.

Mizal answered clearly: "Instinct."

Dammit, Ninja!
Instinct's for suckers without the power of Hellfire.

When do we get the prequel series explaining how a tiny insect got the hellfire powers?

As the weak and pitiful underdog I know she will become popular once I utterly crush her.

"HELL ON EARTH!" the God of Hellfire bellowed. The top layer of soil for miles began to melt, congealing into a dark igneous rock. Any moisture in the air vaporized, raising the ambient temperature in the surrounding desert to several hundred degrees instantly - and rising. The Hellfire God was engulfed in blackened plasma and fires rose high in the distance: an impenetrable wall of flame thousands of feet high was found in every direction. The sky blackened as though the heavens themselves had been torched to a crisp. Mizal's body began to feel the affects of the rising temperature and surrounding flames but she remained focused.

The mountains in the distance, once unseen due to the towering flames covering their visage, were visible once more. The God of Hellfire stood shocked. Fueled by rage and absolute hatred the Hellfire God burned a solid black which soon concentrated into a ball about her stature. "Few have driven me to such passions," the God shook the land, it was as though her voice came from the sky, "fewer have survived. Mortals are not among them." Within the black, the truest proof of divinity shined: stars far off in the cosmos, the heavens themselves and their powers surrounded the small cricket which hovered central to this ball of divine fire.

Mizal stood strong and proud, unmoving at this meager display of power. The Hellfire God took initiative while the mountains in the distance were rising at a pace she could keep up with. "Taketh." the God spoke calmly, instantly vaporizing Mizal's legs with a wave of divine fire. Mizals' connection to her spiritual solitude was momentarily cut - was negligence to blame or inexperience? Mizal thought as she woke from her intense focus and made an attempt to reconnect with the Earth. The Hellfire God would not have it. Mizal was launched into the upper atmosphere by the very flames which cut her legs prior. "My divine fire is versatile," the Hellfire God spoke, "for example, I will not burn you - as that has proven no good. I will burn your memories. I will burn every last bit of your being from your own mind and burn those held closest within. Burn! Burn! BURN!"

Mizals body was alight with the divine flames which caused pain unlike any other. She did not even flinch at the physical pain - but this fire was different. It attacked what she held dear and within.

========================

The earliest memories burned first. Her family, her friends, her home. It all burned. The manipulation of her thoughts through these evil divine means made her burn inside. All the way down to the self - it burned.

I'm the reason.

Mizals yester-years burned. Her dreams, wonder, and origin. The self was a powerful psychological power intertwined with her fate. All of it evaporated, engulfed in the flames of doubt and hatred for what she is.

I'm the blame.

Her life would go next - experiences of the lows and highs, her enjoyment of peace burned as though it was never known in the first place. Her feelings that were to never show as a neutral body burned passionately and with rage. Anger overtook her outlook. Her very frame of reference burned away to ash.

I will never be the same.

Mizal was falling from a great height - overlooking the lands she was once a part of. She no longer percieved herself, but she felt this view was mirroring her.

Mirror-mirror tell the truth of the old ones and the youth.

Of the things we hide deep from ourselves.

The last of her consciousness burned bright. Her hollow body fell deeper through the atmosphere reaching closer to the rocky mirror. She was not begging and her curiosity had only the faintest embers left. Mizal looked into the abyss of her own existence and, as was true beyond a God's control, the abyss looked back.

Mirror-mirror show me now: What will I become, and how?

The self was burned to a crisp - Mizal was gone forever.

For now I'm just the Mountain.

===========================

A limp body of one that no longer recognized their existance neared the ground, falling aimlessly. An unexpected event for the God of Hellfire followed. The scream which rivaled the voice of a God shook the land: "I AM THE MOUNTAIN!!!"

The mountains which once dotted the distance were upon the God of Hellfire. A great golem, miles high, towered before the puny god. The Hellfire God acted swiftly - ensuring full coverage of the golem with the divine flames. There was no self to burn though. It was as though the planet itself fought without flinching or burning. The golem reached down - undermining the majority of the desert and ripping out the Earth from beneath the crust. The God of Hellfire thought quickly what the next move was - and it came at the behest of her anger: Lothric was being lifted in the swell of earth as well. "GOD DAMMIT!" the God said ironically, using half of her remaining divine powers to slash the golems fingers and the chunk of planet it had uprooted - letting Lothric fall somewhat unharmed back to the ground.

It would do no good to continue using the divine flame. She calmed to a heated blue-black plasma for one last attack with the remaining power she had. "I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE!" her declaration was drowned by the sound of the golem roaring with effort, "AND I BRING YOU - FIRE!" Cricket concentrated the remaining ultra-hot flame into a blade, a mere inch wide but several miles long, stretching from the ground to the sky above. As the golem threw the God of Hellfire, the blade of flame cut it in half.

It was too late though - the Hellfire God hurtled through the upper atmosphere and, one "well shit." later, the landmass which the small bug was pressed against crashed into the lunar surface, cracking the moon and sending a chunk of it flying off with the once gravity-bound landmass. A sacrificial chunk of Earth was sent into deep space for the greater good of the world.

Well shit.
That was intense. Excellent job, Ford.

Secret service body guards stood just outside the doors, guns in hand, with furrowed brows and faces of anger behind their dark tinted sunglasses. The ignorance, ineptitude, and incompetence of the President who they were tasked to protect made it difficult to concentrate on the empty halls of the underground bunker. General Sabley was getting chewed out for suggesting use of the nuclear arsenal on American soil, which she required the greenlight from the President for. Having served in the military for most of her life, Sabley was no stranger to verbal abuse - and the Presidents' game was weak. She stood in the bunker-box-office waiting for the President to be done ranting, having already prepared her counterpoint. The less expirienced secret service outside the office were fuming at the disrespect the President showed. Perhaps it was their time served in the military or the fact that some knew Sabley personally and had served under her on the battlefield; but when the President spit on the scar across her face, stepped on her perfectly shined boots, and called her a coward - everyone's blood was boiling.

Sabley sighed, "With all due respect, are you done?" she asked calmly, with no respect given. "Insolent dog!" the President was furious now, as they were known to get in recent times, and reached into the top right drawer of the desk at the front of the room. A single gunshot rang out. The capital guard, the only one left in the room with the General and the President, had shot the President square between the eyes from across the room. Sabley did not even flinch as several secret service guards entered the room. Those that entered were surprised to see their captain had done the exact opposite of their orders. The vice captain was first to move - "Drop the weapon! Hands where I can see them! Lay flat on the ground with your hands on your head!" The captain swiftly did as he was ordered without saying a word. The other service members holstered their guns and took away the disgraced captains weapon. Sabley grabbed a revolver from the dead President and pointed it at the Vice Captain. "Stand down, Buck." she said as half the secret service pointed a gun at her - the other half not knowing what to do, simply put a hand on their holstered weapon.

"Where's your sense of justice, General?" the VC asked. "Do you still trust me, Bucky?" Sabley asked, cocking the hammer of the revolver back. On this, the service members with guns drawn made sure their saftey's were off. "You remember delta foxtrot, Sabley?" Bucky asked, referring to an operation he had worked under her command for in Iran. "I do," Sabley began, "this situation got you feeling nostalgic?"

Bucky sighed and then stood to face Sabley, "Stand down. Put your guns away." he said to his subordinates. "I said I trusted you then - I meant that I trusted you no matter what."

"In that case," Sabley assumed command, "Colonel Bucky, if you'd be so kind as to handle that body, I have a Sergeant Major to reprimand." Bucky gave a warm sir-yes-sir before getting several men to begin cleaning and transporting the dead President.

Sabley squatted to get a better look at the Sergeant Major. He breifly looked her in the eyes, then back at the ground where he lay silently. Sabley breathed a heavy sigh and told a couple of servicemen to escort him out of the bunker after stripping him of government property.

"I thought you were going to scold him hard, General." one of the guards said. "He knows what I would say. His punishment is to never know whether I said nothing out of respect or disappointment." Sabley replied, checking that the President's body was being properly cleaned up. "Colonel Bucky!" Sabley clicked her heels as she turned around to find Bucky already at attention behind her. "Sir!" the colonel answered. "Status." Sabley queried for the most important information Bucky could provide.

Having served under her in battle, Bucky delivered his status report with impeccable speed with just the right amount of detail. There were 324 under his command, with 53 at or near the bunker. 74 were stationed at the secondary bunker making preparations with regular status reports still coming in. 90 men, the largest group, were providing recon in fifteen of the largest cities around the lower forty-eight. 40 men worked communications and the remaining 65 helped to protect important politicians around the world, coordinating with their own personal guards. Bucky had not lost his skill as a colonel, it seemed. Sabley was satisfied with his answer. "Line 'em up." she said, to which Bucky yelled "ATTENTION!" and all guards on duty were neatly lined up facing the General. "The death of the president does not leave this bunker. Is that understood?!" all men answered in unison: "SIR, YES SIR!"

Once put to ease, Sabley tasked Bucky to form a personal fireteam and leave with her in one hour. The rest were to standby for orders. Some immediately went to training, others organized the various bunker rooms, and some got into groups to form strategies. It seemed everybody was comfortable with their new commander, at least those who had served under Sabley before; and those who hadn't would be no problem - they would either come around or face the pack.

"Do we have a heading?" Bucky asked, stepping up into the armored vehicle with Sabley and his chosen few. "ORNL, DC, and Savannah River is my triangle." Sabley began, Bucky knew her strategies well enough to know she preferred triangular geographical areas - he had the same preference after seeing the effectiveness in war. "Ammo is not low yet, but the manufacturing plants we've taken over can't keep up with Ford's bullshit bots making themselves. We'll reach equillibrium soon enough - the goal is to destroy his central network prior to that happening." Sabley swiftly informed. "You lot will acquire and transmit the final code we need to put scorched Earth in Ford's backyard. Or whoever is running the show he's giving us. Medusa is closing in on an exact location as we speak."

They all knew of the infamous sniper. A super-soldier even without the technology she was gifted. "As always, you have thought of everything, General." Bucky said with admiration. "Wots ye bottlenek?" one of the team members Bucky chose spoke up to Sabley in a thick accent. Sabley merely shifted her eyes from Bucky to his underling, whom she did not know personally. Bucky looked at him with shock and disgust, as if to say "What the fuck are you doing talking to Sabley out of turn like that?!" One man, busy looking out the small window of the armored car, obtained a smirk as if he were about to hear the punchline of a joke. "'t's that look for? Not a chance 'f takin' turns in battle - bett'r ask now while it's on th' mind, roight?" after he said this, Bucky let out a sigh, rubbing his temples and shook his head in disappointment. Sabley smiled, enjoying Bucky's frustration. "Unfortunately I can't divulge that much, even to you few. I don't believe we've met, it's nice to meet you--" Sabley nodded her head politely. "Stevie - they call me Dick cause I always make the money shot." he replied just before getting kocked out swiftly by Bucky.

"You'll have to excuse my subordinate who was unfortunately born." Bucky sighed, massaging his wrist from the punch. "What's he good for?" Sabley asked, returning to her formal tone. "Best marksman I've ever seen. Could probably toe with Medusa any day." Bucky said in all seriousness. Sabley looked at the unconscious man whose only weapon appeared to be a standard issue combat knife. She looked at Bucky as if to ask "Are you talking about the same person I'm talking about? Seriously? The only guy without a gun is an expert marksman?" Bucky sighed and almost started to speak, but just gestured to say "It's complicated."

"I hope not everyone in your posse is a joker." Sabley said plainly. "Oh no - of course not, General. Kris is a very well rounded idividual and soldier of the highest caliber." Bucky replied confidently. Sabley nodded to the man looking out the window who had a smirk on his face for some time now. "Nice to meet you, Kris." she said. The man started cracking up and Sabley's worst fears were realized in that moment.

She had hoped it was part of getting old, or perhaps an elaborate dream at this point, but now it was unavoidable. The 8ft sculpted black man with an afro that added another two feet easily who took up two of the three seats on her side of the vehicle was real. She had a momentary flashback to when the fireteam members were gathering in the vehicle, wondering if the monsterous black man was simply a figment of her imagination, breifly discounting his existance as impossible due to the inhuman sized package he must have. Now reality, as it often liked to do, took out its giant 3ft long thick black censor bar and slapped her in the face with it. Sabley turned awkwardly to the giant sitting by her, outstretching her hand for a handshake. The muscle-man Kris's afro jiggled as he reached a couple fingers to fit in her hand. It was when the monster spoke that she began to believe she had made a terrible mistake. "Kris is short for Kristie. I understand your struggles, being a girl in this career is so difficult. You can count on me though, General Sabley." Kris said as though a teenage girl had taken in an entire helium balloon before speaking. 'What could possibly trouble such a monsterous being?' Sabley thought. "I'm glad, Kris. Thank you."

Sabley glanced at Bucky, who looked concerned that his choice of personell was being criticized silently. She made an o-k sign with her hand, down by her knee where Bucky could see it. He looked up at her face, which was twisted in question while her eyes glanced towards Kris. Bucky went pale. He couldn't believe what the General was asking. Was she really asking him that? Was this entire thing, humanity, a mistake? Bucky gulped and nodded yes. Sabley's lesbianism overtook her for a moment and she momentarily lost consciousness from the blood rushing to her head. The last image her mind could conjure was a brick wall with a hole in it. It was her ultimate fetish and she would ensure she would never see this person again for as long as she needed to focus on saving this country.

When she came to, Colonel Bucky was slack jawed; and the man who was evidently not Kris was crying from holding in laughter. It would be a long journey to ORNL.

Once they reached ORNL they took the undergorund entrance. "All clear. Welcome back, General." the checkpoint guard said, tryign to hide his nervousness. Bucky caught on to it and asked if it was usually so high strung at the gate. Sabley shook her head no, "Not usually." Sabley wondered who she would be punishing today, who's mistake made the gate guard nervous, and how many people would be begging to be shot after a week in the confines.

Once out of the truck they took the main elevator up to systems and controls. The elevator opened to a multi-level room. On the top level was communications regulation officers and various specialists going throughout the day consistently ensuring the best comms and encryption thereof around the complex. The bottom level was chaos. Papers being spit out of machines into trash cans, scientists and engineers arguing, military officers yelling at several people at once, and people scratching their heads in frustration. Disorder did not mix well with the General.

Sabley cleared her throat out of courtesy for those closest to her. Bucky immediately plugs his ears out of muscle memory. "ATTENTION!" the General's word felt like it could make the fortress crumble, "BGen. Megumi, Lt. Nakti, and Lt. Pride - FALL IN! The rest of you maggots suck ice and GET BACK TO WORK!" The three ranked officers lined up in front of Sabley. Bucky recognized Lt. Pride from many years ago out in Iran. They never served directly together but, of the few conversations they had, a bond of respect was formed. It was nice to see that neither had died.

Comms officers on the upper level (aka "the wings") of the room had taken note that the General had returned, but did not stop to come to attention - as was her persistent order to never stop unless directly petitioned by a BGen or higher ranking officer. Those on "the belly" of the room had come to attention promptly even has data flowed in on the monitors - but were soon back to work, relieved that the officers who were yelling at them before were now off their backs for a moment. Composure was now the prioirty of the room, and Sabley took status reports from each of the officers. They gave their information professionally, albiet nervously, to the General.

"The geography of the Mojave has drastically changed. Here are satellite photos of the incident in order." Lt. Pride reported, handing Sabley photos that looked like they came out of an animation studio under direction of Michael Bay. Large swathes of desert turned to glass, molten rivers, and at one point a mile wide ring of fire with temperatures rivaling the surface of the sun. "There was an earlier, smaller area of great temperature rise at this location. We believe this structure in the mountains is their base of operations. It is notable that this is over a mile away from the larger fires and odd geography found in the pictures you see, and was detected minutes prior to the others. We suspect nuclear testing and WMDs." Lt. Nakti reported, showing heat maps and timing diagrams to Sabley. Sabley was carefully taking all this in, but both Lieutenants were still sweating from nervousness - like they were neglecting to say something.

Brigadier General Megumi, standing at only 4ft tall and seemingly 8 years old, spoke up "Also a mountain got yeeted at the moon so the Earth is about to get a gritty white facial owo~"

Sabley pulled out her pistol and shot BGen. Megumi between the eyes, blowing her brains out onto the floor. Bucky could not handle all of this. First an 8 year old brig. gen? Then Sabley just fucking shot her? What the actual fuck was going on here?! He looked back to his fireteam members, who were also in shock and awe. Bucky looked around - nobody had even flinched. One guy was literally sipping coffee from a retro galaga mug while watching this stuff go down. Bucky wondered if he was dreaming. "What actually happened to the moon?" Sabley asked promptly of the two Lieutenants. "Sir!" Lt. Pride began, "The moon does in fact appear to have been severely damaged due to a large chunk of the Earth smashing into it. Thankfully enough of the moon remains to continue nominal tidal forces and we have seen no difference in gravitational equi--" Lt. Pride was cut off by Sabley cocking her gun and glaring at him to get on with it. Lt. Nakti chimed in, "Debris from the moon has been falling around the globe, but the larger chunks are being dealt with by respective soverign's anti-aircraft weapons. Our primary concern is that a chunk of the moon several miles wide is going to crash directly into the Mojave and possibly detroy the Earth."

Bucky and his team had reverted to simply accepting everything now - they stood motionless and stared straight ahead. Think later, act now; and until given orders, the action they decided to take was to stand at attention behind General Sabley. "I told you not to use such large caliber bullets!" BGen. Megumi spoke up, angrily rising from the dead in front of them. Bucky's eye twitched once before he regained control. The man off to the side took another sip of coffee and did a little "Ahh~" at the end sounding like he was enjoying the coffee but looking as dead inside as the highschool teacher from Ferris Bueler's Day Off. "It's all I had on me." Sabley said to the little girl with a hole in her head that was slowly but noticably healing. The two lieutenants finished reporting their findings and interpretations. "Colonel Bucky, Brig. Megumi, you're both with me. Lieutenants - keep the floor clean. I don't want to see that sort of chaos ever again. Understood?" both Lieutenants gave an affirmative and got back to work.

Bucky put on a straight face and told his fireteam to stay out of everybody's way and don't break anything. They gave an affirmative, and quickly walked out the door - relieved to escape the room where things-that-dont-fit-reality happen. Bucky was crying inside, wishing he would wake up from this hellhole nightmare soon and go back to the world where everything made sense. "So Colonel," Megumi began, "how big is your censor bar?"

Megumi is spot on.
Who is Nakti?

clearly you haven't read previous posts cause he was introduced earlier

Not previously named in this thread

It's ok if you can't read. I understand. All will be revealed in time. Do not worry, smol cricc. *head pats*

:(

The three upper ranks entered the strategy room and gazed upon the main monitor which showed a alrge portion of the moon slowly approaching Earth. The statistics were being updated automatically, Sabley was presented with a cup of coffee and a breifing on options. Nukes were an option but she had only planned to use one or two just to blow up Lothric in the desert. Now she considered using the available arsenal on the falling lunar chunk. The three sat at the front of the room while technicians and other personell rushed around in an orderly manner, keeping all systems ready for orders. Sabley sipped her coffee, time was of the essence but time it took to think was valuable. Bucky and Meg shared looks but said nothing. Sabley looked from monitors to data to the briefing to her list of basic strategies provided by the strategic corp. Her face showed more frustration and anger with each movement of her eyes. The general sighed and looked at Megumi, "Is it possible for you...with something this large?" the Brig. Gen. shook her head no, "Not as I am now. Even at my peak this would be a life-threatening challenge." Sabley nodded, she figured it wouldn't be that easy. Bucky didn't know exactly what they were referring to, but he trusted Sabley's judgement.

"Colonel, any ideas?" Sabley asked, sliding her strategy corp. briefing to him. "I find unconventional problems require unconventional solutions. Perhaps we should consider taking this as an advantage." Bucky began, but was cut off by the phone ringing next to Sabley. She immediately picked up, "What do you have for me?" she asked tersely. It was Mayana. She had closed in on the exact location of the castle and Sabley wrote it down - handing it to an officer walking by. Mayana proceeded to describe the landscape about the castle and finished her report. "The situation is dire," Sabley looked at the time statistics that showed a day left until the chunk of moon reached the upper atmosphere. "You have less than a day to prepare," Sabley looked at the screen update - the location Mayana gave her was directly where the chunk of moon was going to land. The general smirked, "for a nuclear strike at Lothric. Dismissed." Sabley hung up. Bucky looked concerned while Meg looked excited. "Bring me Lt. General Sentinel." Sabley ordered Megumi. "Sir!" with that, the BGen. took off running.

"Colonel Bucky you are now in charge of making my plans a reality - take your fireteam and pick a man from the strategy corp to run this room. When that chunk of moon gets through upper atmosphere I want to hit it with everything we got, putting a nuclear asteroid shower on Ford's little clubhouse." Sabley said, walking out of the room. Bucky stood at attention until she left, then immediately started shouting orders and getting his team assembled. Like most things on an unimaginable scale, there's only one shot. "General Sabley does not tolerate imperfection!" Bucky shouted.

Sabley walked from the control room to the upper wings of comms - grabbing the red walkie talkie from the head comms officer. "Sabley to Sentinel: bird cage in 1." Sabley said, returning the walkie talkie promptly. The head comms officer hardly flinched from helping his subordinates, only moving to adjust the administrative comms device to fit comfortably on his belt while talking to them.

Sabley made it to the nuclear control room in only 45 minutes where BGen. Megumi and Lt Gen. Sent were waiting. "Keep watch." Sabley said to the Brig Gen. Sent ordered his subordinate to also guard the room. The two top generals walked in together, ensuring the door was locked airtight. The sun was setting outside, the operation would happen under what would normally be a full moon. The generals sat, getting updates from the Bucky in the control center on a dim screen. 2 hours left. The two generals each provided a blood sample and fingerprint, beginning to unlock the United States nuclear arsenal. "Where's the president?" Sentinel asked. "Dead" Sabley said. Sentinel looked suspiciously at Sabley, but he knew the situation certainly called for nuclear weapons - it can't have been a coupe. "Who knows?" Sent went on questioning for an hour or so while they both procedurally unlocked and readied more and more nukes. Sabley told him what happened with the president, who knew, and answered his questions simply. With 45 minutes to go until the chunk of moon reached the upper atmosphere, over 50 nukes were armed and ready. Sabley and Sentinel sat watching the status screens update with path data, pictures, and Bucky's countdown. At T-10 minutes, they would open the cases protecting the red launch buttons - and simultaneously launch tens of nuclear weapons towards the Mojave desert.

Lt. Nakti and Lt. Pride were both walking from the communications and control center when Lt. Pride's stomach growled. "How about we meet in the mess hall in a bit? I gotta use the restroom anyways." Nakti said and they both split off on their separate ways. Pride headed straight for the cafeteria while Nakti went toward the nearest restroom. Lt. Nakti did not stop though - he passed by, heading toward the barracks and into a locker area where his gear was set up. Lt. Nakti equipped his familiar weapons: smoke bombs, various small daggers, needles, poison, and other assassin gear. He clicked a transciever once before beginning his job in earnest.

The communications officer head, known as "the professor" for being very good with his words and having teaching experience, recieved the transmission from Lt. Nakti and stepped momentarily away from the communications panels. He would also be starting his job in earnest. The professor sent a long range signal out to the Mojave notifying that the job would be starting. A tri-node-network was formed. Lt. Nakti, the professor, and their boss: Chanbot were all connected to the communications system for Sabley's ORNL-based compound. Chanbot's orders came terse over the communications network: "Ninja: Kill. Gower: Disorient and work with Ninja. That is all."

No sooner than when communications was cut between them had Ninja began working his way through the barracks - efficiently killing anyone asleep. Gower went back to his usual position, to not arouse suspicion. He instructed the newer subordinates to continually send positional data of the ranking officers to Lt. Nakti's reciever. They did not question him or pause to think like some of the senior communications officers would. Ninja sent a message to Gower's reciever: "INFO COL BUCKY AND TEAM." Gower went to the master control panel and searched for files regarding the latest personell and replied ASAP to Ninja: "0" Ninja would have to infer based on looks what BUcky's special force was like. "Let's see...there was a giant black tank, a man with a sniper rifle, and a guy who only had the basic surplus knife - probably a martial artist."

Ninja killed everybody he came across, keeping each one silent and efficient. He made his way to the hallway he split off from Lt. Pride with. There they were: two of Bucky's chosen team. The black monster seemed to be missing which Ninja foolishly thought would make his job easier. As he approached using his Ninja invisibility, they stopped and began to argue over something. Ninja moved off to the side and did not approach closer, he would much rather they be weakened fighting each other than to face them alone; and this way he could get an idea of who is capable of what. The argument came to shoving and yelling - eventually the man with the sniper rifle pointed it at the knife martial artist. Even from a distance, Ninja could tell there was a wide gap in skill - the martial artist guy would grab the rifle before the rifleman ever got a chance to shoot. The man carrying the rifle would be his first target then - and the knife weidler next. Things don't always go to plan though.

The knife wielder grabbed the rifle, pulling it and turning it against the rifleman; but before pulling the trigger, he turned to Ninja down the hall and fired - hitting Ninja square in the shoulder. The other began to rush Ninja. A fake argument?! Did they swap weapons on purpose?! Ninja thought, barely dodging the snipers' second shot by leaping to attach onto the ceiling. The man rushing him closed his eyes - Ninja saw the opportunity and took the man as a hostage. This was a mistake. As soon as Ninja had his hand around the rushing mans' neck, he realized it was merely a robot - worse was that the robot exploded into a blue mess of paint - revealing ninjas' position to the marksman. SHIT Ninja thought, throwing the ruined robotic parts to the ground and getting another bullet through his forearm. The real marksman reloaded quickly, but unfortunately gave Ninja the opportunity to throw down smoke bombs.

The hall filled with smoke, and the marksman kept steady - even a sound could give him a hint to where the enemy was. A hint was all he needed. Ninja was not foolish enough to give the enemy any hint to his wearabouts. Smoke shifted to the snipers' right, and he fired. "Y'know, yur tha first cunt I ever did miss." the sniper said in his unique accent. "I'm flattered." Ninja said, blowing the marksmans' head off with a small explosive charge. Ninja sighed in relief, and the smoke began to clear. His job was not over yet though - he would go on. "Until death." Ninja said lightly. "You should consider your words more carefully." a teenage girls' voice came from behind Ninja and just then, Ninja felt the sensation of death upon him.

Just outside the thick steel doors of the nuclear arming room, BGen. Megumi was chatting up Gen. Sentinel's subordinate: delta commander Claw. "What's your favorite anime???" she asked, expectant of an answer. Eventually her eyes got through to Claw, "I don't watch anime." he replied. "Ehhh? that's so boring. Tell me about yourself then - how did you get the nickname 'Claw'? I bet that's an interesting story." the child Brig. General was almost begging. "I'm not supposed to divulge that information - if you have access to my database files, which I'm sure you do, you can read about me there." Claw tried his best to avoid conversations that could distract him from work - even if the work was boring and tedious like guard duty. "I order you to tell me the story behind your nickname." Meg smirked, knowing Claw couldn't disobey a direct order from a superior officer. Claw sighed, it was a dirty trick.

"I know about you," he began, "and how you got to be so young. Your run in with that rabbit left you with powers not fully under your control at the time." Meg stopped smiling. "I wanted to know about you - and that info is classified. Are you sure you're allowed to know such things about me?" she asked but Claw continued his train of thought, "That's a situation we share. The only difference being I didn't have a run in with a rabbit. I met a wolf."

Ninja barely dodged a clap from the massive black man behind him. Man? Woman? Hell, it's a monster... Ninja thought, realizing that if he had stayed still his head would have been flattened between two massive palms. The black monstrosity spoke into their comms device "This is Araphel. We have a rat, that lieutenant from before. Hugh and Dick are down. Over."

"10-4 I trust you can handle the one. There may be more - report back ASAP. Over." Bucky replied, switching comms to the admin channel afterwards. "Be aware - we have been infiltrated at the officer level. Lt. Nakti is highly suspect." Gower, of course, did not let this message get through.

"Everybody knows you're here n--" the large black humanoid monster was interrupted by Ninja throwing down more smoke and following up with needles. Even from a blind spot, Araphel was able to neutralize the threat of needles with ease. Despite the smoke filling the room, the monster was able to counterattack with a downward chop. Had Ninja's senses been any less sharp, he would surely have died then. "I see you have many schools under your belt. I, too, have learned these arts." Araphel said calmly, feeling Ninja's presence within the clouded hallway. The master martial artist, a black woman who could hardly belong to the human race, readied her fists and focused her inner strength enough to crack the tile beneath her feet.

"Bet you didn't learn this." Ninja held tightly to the life of his adversary - literally. Ninja's teleportation power allowed him to slip his hand accurately into the chest cavity of the large black martial artist and he grasped her heart with the cold hand of death. Ninja disliked using such accurate teleportation techniques - it was much easier to imagine a large cube and encompass all within it to teleport elsewhere, such as when he was ordered to teleport the mountain and god of hellfire away from lothric, than it was to imagine the shape of a hand and insert it with an accuracy of inches during battle. Even in his injured state, Ninja was an experienced warrior - he held his grip tightly and thought to negotiate for information on his next most concerning enemies: the generals. Before he could speak though, it seemed Araphel had figured out her situation, and targeted her punch inward - killing herself in an instant.

Ninja let out a sigh of relief, glad that the difficult battle was over. "I suppose that's honorable in its own way. Not like I was going to let the beast live." Ninja checked his supplies and patched himself up. Out of smoke bombs already, but some stink bombs and poison still left. He wiped the blood from any weapons worth salvaging and moved through the hallway. He did not look forward to working his way through more people like the ones he just fought. "I wish someone would just tell me where the generals are. Could teleport them away like Chanbot planned but even Gower doesn't know where the nuke room is."

As Ninja walked further through the compound, he went up a flight of stairs where, unfortunately, Lt. Pride was waiting for him. "Yo, Nakti. I was waiting for you in the mess hall but you were taking so long in the restroom I was going to pick up some lemon treats from my office. Though, given that glint in your eye, and the fact you reek of blood - I guess something must've happened and we won't be having lunch today." Lt. Pride became suspicious. Thank god for Gower...Pride doesn't know what's going on. Ninja thought. Ninja reached for his combat knife, and Pride put a hand on his holstered pistol.

The stairway from barracks halls to the main corridor had never been so tense. "The full moon calls with suspicion" Ninja said, prompting the secret code from Lt. Pride. "The ocean responds," the Lt. started, "in kind." Pride tapped his holstered pistol with his thumb. That answer gave Ninja all he needed. "We've been infiltrated - Col. Bucky's men were traitors. From what I got as they died, Bucky is exacting a coupe. By the time I got down there, they had killed everyone in the barracks." Ninja reported. "Nakti," Pride unbuttoned his holster, "why did you go down there instead of to the restrooms on the same floor as the mess hall? Furthermore," the Lt. gripped his pistol tightly but kept it holstered, "why did you not contact me when you found out they were traitors?"

"I went downstairs because the restrooms up there are out of order. Once I found them, they attacked - and my comms unit was shattered." Ninja was convincing, he ungripped his knife and raised his hands. There was no way to tell right then whether the restrooms were out of order or not, and a broken comms unit was as good as trash. "Pride, we need to notify the generals - or at least tell Meg. Any way of contacting them?" Ninja participated in a dangerous game, playing on Pride's sense of urgency and standard protocol. Lt. Pride sighed, reaching for his comms unit and letting his pistol go - he tuned to Meg's personal frequency and began to talk. "Meg--" Pride was unable to continue. Ninja had thrown a dagger into his throat and rushed up the stairs as the Lt. struggled and fired his gun angrily at his former comrade. Lt. Pride held the knife into his throat, he knew if it were pulled he would bleed to death in seconds. Ninja took this way of thinking into account though, and Pride fell to his knees - paralyzed by the poison on the blade entering his blood stream and going straight to his brain.

Pride could only glare as the paralysis took over. Ninja removed the knife from Pride's throat - letting him bleed out at the top of the stairwell. "Nak...t..." Pride choked on the blood pouring from his mouth and soon went cold. Ninja picked up the comms device and looked at the frequency dialed in. He contacted Gower, who was able to trace the signal to a room on the third floor - in a hallway that is listed as under construction.

The story is impressively good tbh, you've become a surprisingly good writer. Just not many people bother to read things in the Creative Corner unfortunately and I think the size of it is daunting for new people.

As was mentioned in the discord, the distribution of important roles to active/important site members vs everyone else is a little strange, but arguably t's better to attach forum members randomly to characters and a plot you want to write about than the other way around.

It does seem larger than I remember. God there's so much to rewrite and fill in; I skip so much with every post that the storygame version is gonna get too big for me to handle lol.

I'll have to catch up on the previous posts, but damn this one was good.

thanks glad at least somebody reads them sometimes

Do your homework, Ford.

no u

Not all the lights had been installed in the hallway yet. The twitching glow of an overhead light flickered across the high-ranking officer's faces. Commander Claw smelled blood. "Someone is here." Brigadier General Megumi perked up, but unlike the commander, she sat still guarding the door as she was told. Claw had stood up, cracking his neck and stretching his limbs. "The generals will not be pleased you left your post." she spoke up. "Best to get rid of threats as soon as possible." Claw said, his arms becoming engulfed in a thick brown fur and his height raising to nearly 8ft; he quickly transformed into a werewolf. Megumi whistled, impressed by Claw's stature. "Either everybody is dead, or the enemy is not alone. If he's killed everyone on the way here - the enemy is formidable." Claw snarled, "Hold your ears." The Brig Gen reluctantly covered her ears and the commander dug his claws into the tile floor.

His howl was loud enough to be heard throughout the compound and a fair distance from the building. It shook the hallway, and made the lights jostle and flicker. Ninja's ultralight footsteps could still be heard by Claw's sensitive werewolf ears. The commander lunged down the hall, ripping into the floor to stop at the corner Ninja was coming from only to find a trail of blood that ended just before the hallway corner. Claw's instincts hightened, his prey was missing. He looked up, while dodging back and away in case he should find a terrible sight above him. Left on a ceiling was a small note written in blood, "Behind you" it said. He spun around, swinging his claws ready to rip apart the entire hallway behind him, but it was too late. Ninja had stabbed him with a silver dagger. "What is this? A work of fiction?" Claw growled. Ninja had not expected the werewolf to live from that, and Claw turned to give him a deadly blow. Ninja was annoyed - not from his failure to kill the target, but because in order to avoid the attack coming at him faster than he could manage, he'd have to use a teleportation power. The same one he used to teleport Mizal and Cricket away. He had hoped to save it for the generals as his body could only handle about two times a day. In an instant, Claw was gone; and Ninja scattered into the shadows, approaching Brigadier General Megumi.

"Sloppy work," the little girl commented on Ninja's short fight with the commander, "you didn't put him very far away." "It is difficult for me to teleport such a beast in the heat of combat." Ninja replied, the flickering light in the hallway bursting, leaving the stretch of floor barren and dark. "How did his fur feel?" Megumi asked with a sly grin. She had figured out how his power works, or at least a bit of it. He clearly has to touch the object to teleport it otherwise he wouldn't bother going into combat. "Who is working with you?" the brig gen laughed to break the silence following the question - as if he would ever answer. "Your observations and aptitude suggests you have a similar power. Quite sloppy of you to reveal such a thing." Ninja commented from an unknown area of the darkness. "It's similar, yes. To find out more you'll have to atta--" Ninja's arm reached from the shadows on her right, and Megumi smiled wickedly despite being rudely interrupted.

Ninja's arm twisted out of existance and he retreated back into the shadows gasping in shock and pain. Then, there was no pain - his arm was simply missing. He could feel it. Air flowing by it, like it was teleported to a windy place but not in a way that injured him. "Down the rabbit hole you go." she snickered. A howl shook the building from outside and echoed through the walls. Ninja decided he had one chance. Teleport above and behind her as silently as possible, and take her out in the moment of blind spot. Even if she expected it, her head would take a moment to turn. He had to make it in that time with a surefire kill.

Megumi was not in her prime anymore. After the accident that reverted her back to a child, it was difficult to send things down the rabbit hole. "Damn rabbit..." she thought.

Megu, prior to being a gross pervert, was more likable and social than ninja. That's what I'm going with.

it was also more funny to make a little girl a high ranking officer

"Mr. Nakti, pardon my question," the brigadier general still sat at her post, "but if you had to choose a favorite shape, what would it be?" Ninja would obviously not answer. Even the smallest amount of effort wasted against a sufficient opponent could mean certain death - and he would neither listen to what Megumi had to say, nor converse with her. "Mine is a circle. Did you know there's no such thing as a perfect circle?" she crossed her legs in her seat, smiling with childish glee as though sharing a great boon of knowledge to a fellow ignorant elementary schooler. With his eyes, Ninja saw many openings, but his instincts focused on his arm and he knew it was never going to be so easy. "I have only once witnessed a perfect circle. I saw a rabbit dig one into the imperfect soil of a grassy knoll. Strange, isn't it? What are the odds of a circle coming to be from nature so unrefined?" Megumi went on for some time, not knowing for sure where Ninja was hiding in the shadows. It was then that Ninja realized what she was doing. She was stalling for commander Claw to return. Ninja had no time to wait, but no chance to strike. He was stuck hidden amongst the darkness. There, he hatched a plan. His only chance to kill the brigadier general: Claw, furious and raving, will likely come back in a very distracting and destructive way. That will be his chance to strike.

"...in doing so I learned a few things," Megumi sensed Claw was near, and just before he would burst through the wall - she raised her hand, fingers spread, and said "the rabbit hole is infinite." Commander Claw burst through the wall - sending debris flying everywhere. The moment before Claw touched the floor of the hallway was the moment it was all decided. In a timespan less than the blink of an eye, Ninja moved. Megumi twisted her palm, rotating her fingers in a perfect circle. Ninja swiped a knife through her neck - decapitating the general. His own perception of reality had changed. He too had lost his head, but the sensation of living remained. Claw landed and saw two bodies get decapitated at the same time. Before he could comprehend what had happened, Megumi's lifeless body slumped out of the chair and her blood began to pool about the door. Ninja's body stood motionless except through breathing.

Ninja watched soil fly inches away from his face. His head was falling but he felt his body remained the same. Claw saw Ninja's body shiver and twitch. Ninja had barfed from the inequal forces occuring to his person. He thought it was hypnosis, but he could not break it. He then thought it was some crazy curse but he was certain Megumi had died, and he had never witnessed a curse not lifted by death of the caster. He then felt a pain he had only felt a few times in life - a knife had punctured his skin. Claw stabbed Ninja's motionless body repeatedly with the silver dagger that was meant for him. The body fell lifeless to the ground. Ninja's head, still falling in a mysterious soil-ridden trap, coughed up blood and went unconscious.

Upon waking, he could feel his arm - the one Megumi had teleported. It had the same sensation as his head. Air rushing by and sometimes a thud of rock hitting it in a random area. He did not feel his body. The worst case had finally occurred to Ninja: he was dead, and this was hell. She had sent him to an infinite pit where his consciousness would be bound forever. He screamed like never before.

Not the boots!

General Sabley kept a straight face, but her eyes watered. Lt. General Sentinel grit his teeth in greivance but also proudness. The Generals had a combined amount of experience and genius to rival the collective lower 70% of what was left of the military. They would not faulter at this crucial moment. They would not let the millions of deaths be in vain. They would nuke the everloving fuck out of that godforsaken castle or die trying. It was T-9 minutes to the lunar surface breaking upper atmosphere. They would launch fifteen nuclear missiles at the falling chunk of moon simultaneously at T-3 minutes, creating a devistating EMP over Lothric 2: Electric Boogaloo, and raining a nuclear asteroid shower on the enemy fortress. It was by chance that the largest chunk of moon was on perfect trajectory over the castle.

Meanwhile, in the castle: Chanbot had become, in form, Ford - his creator. "Thank you for meeting with me," Chanbot said, seated calmly at the dining hall table - across from two figures, both dressed in gaudy madness and a color choice that would make almost anybody feel ill. "I am here because Mad asked me to be! Now out with it - I do not have all day!" the figure seated at the other end of the table gestured to the woman standing behind him. It was the mad hatter's daughter, a key person to setting up this meeting. She had owed Ford a very big favor, and when he died that favor was passed to Chanbot who took his form. Though Chanbot could have requested almost anything in his wildest robot dreams, he simply asked for a dinner meeting with the man now sat across from him. A man known by many names and given none: the rabbit. The rabbit was a shrewd fellow, pale and jittery and most importantly punctual. The rabbit had great respect and friendship with the hatter family, and came to this dinner table at the request of the most prominent hatter's daughter.

"I understand," Chanbot said, both to the rabbit's haste and to continue on to the point of this dinner, "you have a very large collection of material items." Chanbot held a serious gaze, and the rabbit looked to his face with a fierce concentration. "It isn't very large! It's infinite! Mortal as you are would never comprehend the wealth obtained over millenia! If you are requesting an item I refuse - I am in no mood to give!" the rabbit spat, taking a few gulps of wine as he impatiently waited for a reply. "I would not ask such a thing of you," Chanbot said - the flames about the room rose slightly higher than they were before, "I wish to give you the opportunity to obtain something not in your collection."

"Impossible! I have everything there is to have and more!" the rabbit spoke, "I do not want some trivial unique thing made by mortal - your creative endeavors do not interest me!" Chanbot enticed the rabbit further, stating it was something made by a god more infinite than the rabbit himself and utterly unique. "Tell me now what the object is or I will leave this instant!" the rabbit replied in frustration, standing from the dinner table as though ready to leave. He was done dealing with Chanbot's abiity to beat around the bush.

The generals back at oak ridge counted down to the moment of truth. T minus 5 seconds to launch. Sentinel and Sabley turned their keys, and pressed the button to fire. An unprecidented destructive force entered the atmosphere with fiery trails of smoke in their wake. Target: the moon.

"The moon." Chanbot said, swirling the purely decorative wine in his glass. For the first time in minutes, the rabbit had gone silent. Chanbot smirked as he knwe the rabbit had been caught. "You can offer me no such thing!" the rabbit burst, "I will not have this trickery and madness. Thank you for the food, I will take my leave!" Two armored robot guards blocked the rabbit from walking out the door. He glared at them for only a moment before twirling both fingers like a composer, and they both disappeared. "...and as parting advice, you should teach your guards better manners." the rabbit exited the dining hall. "I'm sorry he was so disagreeable." the hatter's daughter spoke softly, though still amused by the offer of the moon. Chanbot stood to walk out, he offered to escort the hatter out along the way. She kindly accepted and they soon caught up with the rabbit walking with great haste through the dingey lower halls of the castle. "Rabbit, might I escort you out personally? Wouldn't want to get lost and waste any time." Chanbot said. The rabbit angrily accepted, still mad that such a joke had been put onto him. The dinner, he thought, was the largest waste of time he had this year.

"Right this way please," Chanbot led them up stairs through another dark hallway. "You need more color around here!" the rabbit commplained, following Chanbot into a large open area similar to a balcony. A half-atrium where the reality of their situation sunk in fast. A sizable chunk of lunar rock was hurtling towards them, and several nuclear warheads were approaching the insurmountable mass at an alarming rate. "The way out is right this way, though I had hoped you would stay to see the fireworks. My bots have determined it will be quite the show." The rabbit stood motionless for over fifteen seconds. Chanbot coughed to get their attention. The rabbit turned to look at him with a smile that spoke to a deep inner madness. "You bastard." the rabbit's eyes began to glow a soft red. "Even with my superior power, the moon has been a jewel never within my reach. I will have it. It will be mine and mine alone." Chanbot smiled wickedly and simply stood to watch as everything fell into place. "My dear hatter, you will have to bear with a delay getting back home." The chaotic energy abound made the hatter's daughter giggle. It was truly a magnificent sight to see this ancient being become so serious as to release its full power only to obtain a rock bleached by the cosmos. The rabbit brought the full length of his arms to bear, and began creating a large circle with his palms. "The rabbit hole is infinite." he thought, concentrating all his energy to the collection of a planetary scale object. His human form degraded, and he became covered in white fur, growing ears while shrinking out of his human clothes.

Sabley, Sentinel, and the rest of Oak Ridge fortress watched via satellite in anticipation of the destruction to follow. Sentinel calmed himself with warm tea. Sabley watched with crossed arms and gritted teeth.

In a flash of blinding light, everything was gone. The moon, the nukes, the rabbit, a circular cutout of some of the atrium support pillars. It was an excessive display of power. Chanbot's plan was a success. It would be a ten second delay for the generals at Oak Ridge to witness the spectacle.

Sentinel dropped his tea. Mouths hung open. Eyes were wide. Everything was silent. Nobody could believe what they had just seen. Sabley and Sentinel looked from the screen to eachother at the same time - and their faces conveyed the same message: Did you see that too?!

I wasn't sure where the hell the rabbit came from, but searching back I see there's one reference three months ago. Although it doesn't really indicate powers this insane at all. The end of the fight with Ninja and the moon both were pretty epic, the rabbithole phrase that keeps getting repeated is appropriately enigmatic and chilling and it's not an ability I've seen used in anything before.

But stop giving the coolest powers to the worst weebs, damn.

I'm sorry it's all I have to work with lol

Flames lit the stone brick walls of the dining hall, where Chanbot and MHD sat on either end of the long dining table. Fit for a feast yet with only Chanbot's decorative wine glass and MHD's glowing "whatever-in-a-cup" as the rabbit put it. Chanbot focused on computing strategies to ensure a win against any humans who could make it to him. MHD played with some butterflies in her mind. They sat mostly in silence apart from her occassional giggle. Chanbots blank face refocused for a moment, as though taking a break from computing, he sighed. "Hey," MHD said to him, a glow in her eye and a stretch of reality later the once oblong table was a mere circle and they sat face to face. Chanbot did not react as he knew the hatter's ability well. "Yes?" he asked, politely turning on some facial emotion. "Who are you gonna fight?" MHD asked, smiling like a child with equally curious eyes and leaning in close to Chanbot's face. "I don't know."

"You must have some idea." MHD pressed. Chanbot sighed, "Yeah. I think Ford's son and daughter will probably get here." MHD perked up a little bit. "Are they strong?" she looked with hope in her eyes and popcorn in her future. "Olivia, the daughter, is formidable on the battlefield. Her ferocity in combat and sharp mind couple well with her vast experience in war; but I do not fear her in one-to-one combat." Chanbot explained. "You said there was a son too though." MHD wondered if it was the voices in her head which said that part. "Megbert is a programmer and robitics expert like Ford. He will attempt to hack my system and shut me down, but provide no physical threat." Chanbot continued, "they are limited by being human." MHD frowned at this. "What do you mean by that?" she asked. "The human body has many limitations. How strong it can be, how much energy it can exert, how fast it can think. All of which I easily beat them in. Olivia will never be capable of breaking the metal of my false skeleton just as Megbert will never be able to think fast enough to overcome my system."

"Doesn't sound like I'll be sticking around to watch." MHD sighed, leaning back into her chair. "You thought all this time but it seems you don't even need a stretegy fighting against 'mere' humans." she pouted. "My computations simulate unexpected and unnatural events. Other factors, people, et cetera."

"Other people?" MHD perked up a bit. "Well, yes...there could be others. What if they find surviv--" Chanbot was interrupted by MHD seeing through his poorly concealed bluff. Survivors would obviously be of no help to any sufficiently strong fighter. "There's one more person of some concern who may show up, though I hesitate to--" MHD was already inches away from Chanbot's face as he said this. He composed his thoughts before speaking, "Mayana." MHD couldn't help but emit a madness only living things could feel, but so strong that Chanbot's decorative glass cracked. "How do you know she'll be coming?" She smiled pleasantly. "Security satellite picked up a heat signature 12 miles east of here, atop a peak. Only one person could possibly scout from such a distance alone. It could have been a random person though or animal that found its way up the mountain." Chanbot turned off his emotive state. "I should get back to simulating possiblities. I'm letting Maz do his thing, and if they get through that ordeal I'll get to use my combat bodies." Chanbot went back to a glazed look of calculation. MHD was excited. "I know just who to bring." she said, not bothering to fix the table as she left. "Won't be seeing you, good luck against the itsy bitsy humans!" MHD produced a cape from her hat and waved it about before disappearing along with her props.

Chanbot added 10% to the error margin of his simulations.

You break up the dialogue weirdly, it's a little difficult to tell who's saying what sometimes.

"Doesn't sound like I'll be sticking around to watch." MHD sighed, leaning back into her chair. "You thought all this time but it seems you don't even need a stretegy fighting against 'mere' humans." she pouted. "My computations simulate unexpected and unnatural events. Other factors, people, et cetera."

You need a new paragraph for a new speaker.

Anyway, the very last line is great, perfect way to set up whatever chaos comes next. Did you ever start writing it or did you get sidetracked after working out Mayana's favorite mixed drink?

the next entry is slowly being written but has a lot to it already. maybe 800 or so words at the moment. I've always had a problem with dialogue and conversations. If I make a new paragraph for each person it looks too spaced out but maybe that's fine? I'm also aware my dialogue punctuation is actual garbage and basically unreadable but I'm not interested in the quality enough to fix it, "in case; 'anyone wa's wondering.".

How would you write/format the exerpt you provided to make it clearer?

I'll try to apply this in my next post. Thanks.

"No hats inside." she heard, entering the bar.

"Excuse you." she pulled her hat a little more snug.

"I kid, of course. Welcome back, Mad." the bartender looked happy to see her.

"You shouldn't joke about my hats Timmy." MHD said, taking a seat at the empty bar.

"You shouldn't call me Timmy. Would you like a drink this time or did you bring your own?" he asked pleasantly showing off the selection behind an obsessively clean glass cabinet. MHD looked through the glass, her eyes browsing amongst many fine spirits while her mind traced the mahoghany frame. Tim fully expected her to bring out a bottle of her blue gunk - magic tea or whatever it was - as she had done time and time again. He couldn't remember the last time she ever actually ordered a drink, if she had at all, and was astounded she would even look into the selection cabinet. "We have quite a few finer things in the back, if you're looking for something of a particular taste." he advertised, offering to bring out a wider selection if she would give him a hint to what she was looking for.

"Two blind faith's, if you would have a drink with me." Mad smiled pleasantly and Tim took a moment of hesitation to smile back. He knew the cocktail well, it was one of his regulars' favorites. He had the recipe memorized: 1.5oz rum - preferably Prusser's as it has good matching flavor tones for the drink, 1oz grapefruit juice, 3/4oz white grape juice, .5oz ginger liqueur, .5oz mango syrup, and about 1.5oz ginger beer with a touch of saline. As he began to make it, he wondered what MHD had in mind and why she would choose this drink in particular. She was an odd one and exccessively unpredictable. "There's a lot going on out there recently." she said as Tim served a glass to her and poured one for himself. Tim nodded in agreement.

"I've heard some stuff about it. I try not to concern myself with such antics." Tim said, taking a sip of the drink, careful not to drink too much in the presence of Mad nor lose sight of her. MHD smelled the drink and gagged. The smell of the alcohol produced some painful memories. "Not exactly your usual cup of tea," Tim giggled at her dramatized reaction. She took a reluctant gulp anyways. The caramelized coffee taste was nice but the alcoholic aftertones were utterly disgusting to her. The dramatist within her kept face and she began to act a bit buzzed. Gossiping about the rabbit and how she'll never hear the end of his new prized collectors item - subtly leading the conversation to what she really wanted. Tim let her lead, at his bar it was good etiquette to listen to the customer and not talk over them. He simply sipped the cocktail and commented on things here and there. It was perhaps the most pleasant conversation he had ever had with MHD up to that point. MHD had taken another gulp before giving Tim a look he didn't often see with his customers.

"Tim, would you go on a date with me?" Tim didn't see that one coming, but he kept his composure as best he could, and prepared his practiced polite rejection. It was not the first time his handsomeness had brought a woman to ask this of him and it would not be the last.

"Well, I'm not really looking to sta--" Tim was interrupted by the feeling of cold insanity that made the hairs on his neck stand and his legs go cold. To an outsider of the conversation, it would seem as though Mad had done nothing - but Tim recieved the near imperceptable change in her smile. It was as though he went from being her friend to being her prey and back once he cleared his throat and rephrased what he was about to say. "I uh, I think that would be interesting. Um, did you have a particular activity in mind?" Tim was a bit rattled, but he was coming back. It's unlikely anything good or normal could come of this - but he was trapped now. So he submitted.

What MHD described as a date actually sounded perfectly normal and quite fun for Tim - a hike up beautiful mountains followed by a viewing of fireworks from atop the peak all sounded good until she insisted he wear his "scary, colorless, garb." Tim knew she was talking about his chemical warfare outfit. The thought of a fight between him and Mad flashed in his head. Even with the greatest amount fo preparation he could muster, he decided, a miracle would still be needed for him to walk away from a serious fight against MHD. Regardless, he was trapped into this "date" and it was clear that this would be no endeavor as ordinary as a date.

Tim finished the rest of his blind faith, thinking it may be one of the last drinks he'll ever have. If Mad was sent to get his head, she was sure to get it. He felt that death was near. Hid mind raced about how she might go about killing him. Would she want to fight? Is the date a setup to create some last moments of happiness for her to crush leading to his own insanity before succumbing to the madness? Would she make it quick and merciful? What reason would she have to do any of this? She doesn't operate on reason, he concluded, but still felt empty without a satisfactory explanation. Mad cackled with glee at Tim's serious expression.

"Hey hey! Think of it this way, Timmy, either way she goes it's a celebratory drink! Hahahahahaha!" MHD smiled as a cheshire cat. Only then did Tim realize what was going on and he caught the barest glimpse of Mad's terrible smile before she vanished from the barstool. He stared into his empty glass with the knowledge that that may have been the last blind faith anybody would ever order.

"How cruel," he thought, "to have me drink to something that hasn't happened yet." He felt as though he had already let go of his memory of Mayana. It would be a gruelling show of fireworks.

The morning light shone through the throne room windows. It was at a higher elevation than the rest of the castle, except the lookout towers - most of which were still being built by scrap bots. The vaulted ceilings brought about a great space for battle. Chanbot enjoyed the view. The castle throne room sat with its back embedded into the side of a mountain so as to protect and support the taller structures, but also to deter attacks from the back and funnel attacks to the front.

Chanbot sat upon the throne of concrete and went over the most likely scenarios. "If they come through the front, I will be protected by the invisible ultra-hardened glass wall in front of the throne. If Maz actually ends up doing something of substance, they may die to that. If they don't, my robot army will arrive while Maz stalls." Chanbot had reluctantly checked to ensure his combat specific body was ready, taking Mad's words of warning into consideration. Maz was busy chanting and dancing about the "curse-circle" on the floor of the room. He was chosen purely as an excellent distraction; speaking the dead language of some mythical place called "France" he moonwalked about, saying some unintelligible jibberish. "If they come from any other direction their human reactions will be too slow." Chanbot's processors worked on trillions of calculations every second. He saw the world as an author describes scenes in a book: in slow motion and great detail. He knew that even if he couldn't avoid damage to his current form, he would see it coming and be able to process his next set of moves before any mere human could take a breath. Nobody who walked through the gates and up to the throne room had any chance of winning from the very beginning.

Everything from bombing to somehow convincing MHD to help them to reviving that monsterous rock beast woman was considered and played out in his central processing servers and data sent back for analysis. They played like movies to Chanbot, except each only lasting a minute or so before the conclusion would inevitably end up being his win and their death. He simulated armies, his own army turning against him, the building collapsing in on him, but none of it mattered. The strength of even his general robotic form was enough to resist almost all forms of physical harm. Even starting the simulation on the presumption that somehow he would be forced to use his battle-ready body, it became even more unlikely thta he would lose. "It'll be like they're fighting someone who can travel through time. My analysis and predictions are faster than they--"

A blip of blackness.

It was as though his core processor blinked, and Chanbot's emergency diagnostics had begun. The world moved in excessive slow motion before him. He determined his immediate surroundings, and replayed the last second before the small outage. Nothing was detected on any sensor. Nothing was gained by the analysis. Maz, frozen in nanoseconds, was still dancing, and Chanbot could see him spinning like a dunce. His visual sensors became tilted and the diagnostic report came through:

ERROR 2040:
HEAD MODULE DISCONNECTED WITHOUT PERMISSION
CORE PROCESSOR ACTIVATED VOLUMETRIC SENSING
UPLOAD TO BACKUP BODY CB_COMBAT? Y/N: _

Chanbot had been instantly decapitated. There was only one thought remaining in his deep nueral network: "Well, that was unexpected."

As it turned out, the entire castle had been decapitated; and the mountain behind it. Chanbot had not predicted such a power still existed on Earth. One who can cut through reality itself would require a whole new set of processing and simulation that there was obviously no time for. As his head fell gracefully to the throne room floor, Chanbot began uploading his consciousness to the specialized battle-ready robot module. Maz danced, not noticing that sunlight now poured directly through what used to be a roof. Everything above the cut seemed to have disappeared. It would be several minutes for Chanbot's mind to upload to the battle bot. The mad frenchman was now an important distraction, whether he knew it or not.

Chanbot remotely rolled his body onto the floor between his head and the doorway. "How foolish," a bullet ricocheted off the body and whizzed into the distance followed by the sound of the gunshot, "my sensors aren't that dull."

In the greater distance, atop a tall mountain overlooking the scenery, MHD and a battle-ready Tim sat down with popcorn. MHD handed Tim a ring, "This will help to mask our presence - be sure to thank the cat later." Sitting with their rings of supression on, no living being or electromechanical sensors would be able to detect them. "Oh! The general pulled his blade." MHD commentated, noting that General Sent had not unleashed his sheathed weapon in nearly 50 years - and it would be a decade or two before he returned to the mortal plane for it again. They watched from above as Mayana and Olivia rushed up to the throne room. "Heyyy wait a minute..." MHD furrowed her brow, "there should be three of them!" Tim was focused on Mayana. Chanbot looked incapacitated for the moment and, barring the madman dancing in the throne room, there was nothing posing immediate danger to the women climbing the steps of Lothric 2: Electric Boogaloo. He sighed in relief, but wondered where the robot army was.

It was General Sabley who used the full force of the military under her command to create a perimeter several miles wide. A constant barrage of bullets from the ground was met with an equal barrage of bombs from the air. She could feasibly hold off the robots for 24 hours. After that, it was likely the robot armies from the west would reach Lothric 2; and she may have to step in personally.

The two women burst into the throne chambers and immediately killed the dancing frenchman. Neither would chance anything moving. The blood of the once so cheerful dancer seeped between the bricks of the floor. The slosh of his organs sliding down the stairs distracted Olivia for a moment from the red glow beneath her feet. Explosion?! she thought, jumping back. It was far worse than that though.

The glow slithered amongst the cracks in the bricks and formed a summoning circle. Fire of unnatural blue lit the surrounding area and the smell of sulphur filled the air. A demon towering over their heads had appeared before them. Mayana whistled in astonishment. Olivia shook, freaking out over the supernatural being staring down at her with angry eyes. Mayana was the first to act, a bullet travelled straight between the demons' eyes. This only served to anger the beast. The gunshot managed to bring Olivia back into focus, and she drove a knife into the thrashing devil.

The dark storm clouds swirled unnaturally overhead. Lightning resounded in the distance. The women who fought so valiantly against Chanbot had fallen. The light rain steamed upon touching Olivia's charred corpse - still hot from the battle. Mayana lay collapsed at the entrance to what used to be a recognizable throne room but was now a pile of stone brick rubble; bleeding out, her leg was shattered and her arms broken. Chanbot's sensors reported that her life was fading away, and she would be dead any minute.

He was the victor, but not without his own damage. The battle specialized body's right arm had melted away and what scrap remained of his insides provided no help to his processing. He couldn't so much as turn off his emotional subprocessor anymore. Half of his face was missing.

Stormwater washed through Mayana's hair and took her blood down the steps of Lothric 2: Electric Boogaloo. Chanbot turned to his throne, planning to sit and wait for another set of humans to come. To wait for his bots to begin repairs. To wait until he had the advantage once more.

Lightning struck loudly nearby. A life sensor went off. Chanbot felt the cold embrace of fear for the first time. His body trembled. The motors in his neck whirred to slowly turn his head behind him and with a click of his head into place, he saw what was incomprehensible to any margin of error. Mayana stood hunched; blood dripping from her head and every limb. Her eyeless skull stared directly at Chanbot. Lightning struck again, reflecting off the dripping blood that pooled below her broken body. The computer inside Chanbot was sending signals like crazy - but he could not move. His body would not move.

The hair on Mayana's neck stood up. With her one good leg, Mayana lurched forward haphazardly; reaching out with her broken arm towards Chanbot and screaming with all her might. Like all things, Chanbot experienced this in slow motion; but this time he was stuck with less than optimal hardware and struggled to react in time. Mayana barely missed his body and Chanbot sliced her arm off mid-air. Only when Mayana took the arm into her mouth and used her neck to swing it at Chanbot did he finally realize his disadvantage. If there are more humans like this one, he would never survive to see them wiped out.

With the crunch of her leg upon the uneven wreckage, Mayana made another leap - throwing her severed arm at Chanbot to further disorient him before shoving her other arm into his core, breaking her hand further in the process. Chanbot lay on his back with her arm stuck in his core wiring. One wrong move and he may disconnect himself. He took his only arm and sought to choke her to death before she could move again. This mistake cost him the war. Mayana's teeth gripped onto the metal arm and disconnected it from his elbow. She turned her neck up and held the arm as high as she could.

Lightning struck.

The sky cleared over the remains of Lothric 2: Electric Boogaloo. Atop a mountain in the desert, atop the foundation of a castle once melted and shook between gods, atop the scorched rubble of a throne room, atop a hunk of metal and wires, humanity was alone at the top of it all. Their representative, no less tenacious than any other, had little left to her body. Hundreds of fractures and broken bones, a jaw maimed beyond the most brutal torture and filled with broken teeth, a leg shattered to bits, an unrecognizable hand stuffed into a metal torso, and an arm entirely severed - her body pointed upwards in victory.



The End.

It really feels like you skipped a few things, but better to wrap it up quickly than to leave it hanging another five months. Just a shame the real Mayana never appreciated the story or deserved such an epic conclusion.

If you're someone new reading this, there's some incredibly epic battle scenes in here even if the whole is kind of a little too frantic and chaotic to hold today, they're worth looking back over. I recommend the battle between me and Cricket which was basically where this entire thing peaked.

Anyway, congrats Ford, you wrote many thousands of words despite all predictions.

23.5k according to wordcounter.net :D