Barracks, Ghost Corp
Val felt an unexpected softness when he heard the little Wild speak, but he permitted nothing to show in his body language while he was facing down Le Frey. He felt an even bigger pang of guilt when the Ghost Corps soldier went to comfort the creature, something Val would never have had the guts to do himself. Emotions meant holes in your armor, holes in your armor made you vulnerable. Vulnerable in the Dust, made you dead.
Distantly, he heard the girls agree to stay for the time being and let out a long sigh of his own. He had been half-hoping they'd make a break for it, but they were willing to give the Ghost Corps another shot which meant Val could either break his word and leave on his own... or go have a chat with the General. His fingers itched for his weapons, but he doubted any Ghost Corps was going to give them to him without an order from Le Frey or the General.
”Your other friend seems occupied. Val hasn't eaten yet…”"You'll need to eat to gain strength if you're gonna give the Captain a run for his money." Wren said with a small smile, "Honestly I'd pay to see a fight like this, but... Just don't get yourself killed, alright?"Val couldn’t help but grin a bit, at first thinking of turning down the ration to avoid causing trouble between Wren and Le Frey. However, technically the order had been given that VV was not to be fed, it said nothing about sharing with Val and if it was offered as some kind of olive branch well… it might be wise to accept it. Rather than eating it, he tucked the ration away in his pocket for later if it survived whatever the General had planned.
"Val shouldn't eat before a fight anyways, tends to make the food come back up," he said, referring to himself in the third person almost as a joke.
"I'm heading to the General now. I'm trusting you three there won't be any problems before I get back," he said, directing the words to Le Frey, Wren, and Mimi. His eyes lingered on Mimi a bit, still surprised by the sympathy he felt for the creature. Sympathy that only stoked Mercy's ire inside of him.
Good, little Val. Choose violence. Peace will get you nowhere in these lands, Mercy's laughter echoed again in his mind.
Without any further word he moved to the end of the hall, looking back and giving a confident grin back towards the fallaways.
@SporkoBugLe Frey watched as Mimi nestled in his chest. Hesitantly, he reached out, and gave them a soft pat on the head.
”No one is gonna hurt you now, I swear it. Or they'll have me to deal with.”His righteous anger smelled like desert and sunbeams, but it was soft. Colored in hope and confidence, like he wanted to give what was best to Mimi.
Le Frey’s head stooped down, trying to catch Mimi's eye on their level.
”And if you were to kill me because the Wild King asked, I wouldn't be mad. I've lived a good life, under the gaze of the General.” His emotions, again, were clear, and comforting.
As Val headed upstairs to face the General, ans as the girls were softly talking amongst each other, Le Frey gave a glance to Wren and Ferz before glancing down at Mimi.
”Hey. What do you say about raiding the Mess Hall, seeing if there's any synthesized chicken for ya, mm?”And he started coaxing Mimi upstairs for food and decompressing.
Inner Courtyard, Ghost Corps
In collaboration with @Herald
Val walked out into the courtyard, unsurprised to see the General alone and waiting for him. Already he could feel the adrenaline surging in his veins, and Mercy straining against his will to be let free to wreak havoc on the Ghost Corps. It was still a tempting option, if there wasn't an eighty or so percent chance of Val's death involved by his guess. Mercy was powerful, but Le Frey and Wren had Wilds of their own.
"Sorry for the delay, we were having quite the conversation when you asked for me to come up here," Val said, fulfilling his promise of apologizing while also barbing the General that he couldn't really give Val orders. Threats, bribes, conditional agreements, and favors, sure. But never an order.
"So how does Ghost Corps handle insubordination," Val said, taking his hands out of his pockets and holding them wide as though to show he had no real intentions of resisting just yet,
"am I looking at thirty lashes or should I scribble the words 'I'll never ignore the General orders again' a hundred times on a piece of paper?"The General turned to look at him, the orange light of a dying sun glinting down. Slowly, shadows began to crawl across the sandy courtyard.
The General still lacked a cloak, and the courtyard appeared completely empty this time around. There was a slight hiss of filtered air as the General breathed through his mask, as if in anticipation.
”No. Nothing like that. Instead, your punishment will be demonstrating your resolve to me. Your resolve to those fallaways.”His feet spread apart a little, but besides that, his stance was relaxed. A gloved hand reached out and curled at him, beckoning Val forward.
”You have permission to use your Wild here.
“Try to hit me. For real this time, Guardian.”Val’s eyes narrowed as he wondered why in the Dust the General would care to measure his resolve. The General had little to gain regardless of Val’s ability to stand his ground and keep faith with the fallaways. If he thought the General would answer him, he would have asked, but he recognized a game when he saw it.
"I don’t need to prove squat to you," Val said,
"either you believe my word, and the fact I am clearly at least willing to piss you off for no other reason than their general health. Or you believe I am weak, in which case you must have something more in mind for the fallaways anyways." "That being said, I’ll play this game, but with a slight change to the rules," Val said, rolling his neck and shoulders and already trying to read into the General’s stance,
"I’ll play for VV’s freedom. If I can knock you on your ass, you let her out of the cell effective immediately."Mercy was already biting at the bit, sensing the impending violence building up and Val’s willingness to unleash it. If it was going to be a fight, then it would be a fight. He wasn’t ready to risk a transformation just yet, but already his body and Mercy’s power were adapting to each other, both sides influencing and changing the other. Val’s skin reddened, and slight wisps of steam leeched from the exposed parts of his skin. Despite that, Val still felt calm and in control, able to hold a small piece of Mercy’s power without succumbing to the Wild’s destructive nature. Not yet anyways.
A single nod.
”I agree to your terms. That is, if you can ‘knock me on my ass’.” The General said.
Val drove himself forward in a rush, letting Mercy’s excitement for violence fuel his body. The same as the first time they had clashed, Val feinted with a right hammer punch, but this time followed it up with a flurry of punches, trying to maneuver one of his feet behind the General’s lead foot to trip him backwards.
Val could practically feel the smile under the General's mask. As Val moved forward, the General moved backwards. And as Val attempted to trip up the General's feet, the General's hand glowed a frosty white, and the sand under Val's feet crusted over in slippery ice.
At the same time, the General did a downwards block of any remaining punches, his wrist twisting to wrap and try to attempt to trap Val in his grip. If he was successful, he'd pull, quick and hard, to
encourage Val to lose his balance on the ice and fall.
Val’s eyes widened a bit at the sudden ice beneath his feet, confirmation that the General had a Wild connection of his own. The tug pulled him off balance and he fell forward, already twisting his body to keep from eating a face full of dirt. Fighting from the ground was harder, but Lawless were used to murder work in their fighting style, combat with massive disadvantages on either side.
Normally, Val would have scooped up some dirt and thrown it up to blind his opponent, but the General’s mask would have prevented the worst of such tactics. Instead, he pulled his arms up and crossed them over his own face protectively as his leg pulled up and lashed out hard at the General’s knee.
He met unexpected resistance as the General's knee coated itself in a thick casing of ice, protecting from the attack.
”If you don't use it, I'm going to force you to use it.” The General said in a surprisingly calm tone as he lept back, ice falling away from him.
His hand raised, and sparks of lighting arced forward, aiming to give Val a powerful, and certainly a bit painful, jolt.
Laying prone on the ground, Val had no method of rapidly moving himself away from the shot and so he turned his body to take the bolt on his left shoulder. The lightning arced through his arm, causing it to seize up momentarily as he curled up from the pain. He planted his right arm hard against the ground, regaining his feet.
Fire.. Ice… now some kind of electricity? What the dust am I up against?, he thought to himself.
“Maybe old man,” Val spat, but from the way his eyes were turning molten red and the way his veins stood out on his skin it was clear Mercy was far closer to the surface than he was willing to admit.
Not yet, not fragging yet., Val stubbornly tried to force Mercy back, but the distraction was costing him open windows of attack and counterattacks. Val viewed Mercy as a trump card, to be called upon only when the need was dire… because he was still afraid of what might happen if Mercy took control. Val was already a weapon, forged in the blood and dust of the world. What use was he if he couldn’t even push a Ghost Corps into breaking a sweat.
The General’s ability to shoot lightning meant Val could no longer afford for this fight to be kept at any degree of range. He closed the distance hard again, feinting a straight punch towards the General’s nose, then pulling back and raising his foot to stomp against the side of the man’s knee. If the ice was again called up as defense, he intended to use it as a stepping platform to launch a flying knee into the General’s chest.
And that was Val's ticket to gaining some ground. Indeed, the ice was formed to block. However, the General didn't foresee the flying knee.
”Mmrph!” The involuntary growl escaped him as his diaphragm seized and he was knocked back. Finding his feet, he twisted, his boots digging into a circle around him. If Val was close enough, he intended to trip him up and knock him back. If he was far enough, the movement caused fire to roll up from his foot. It created a vortex shape, spilling out in all directions. Val would see a disc of hot, condensed flames racing towards him.
”Use it!” The General's voice was ragged.
Val tried to press his attack, but the flames springing up made him flinch and that once again cost him his momentum. The heat seared against his skin, but to Mercy it was a siren’s call to violence.
”COWARD! WEAKLING! KILL OR BE KILLED,” the voice that ripped free of Val’s throat was no longer his own and Val could finally feel the searing heat of his Wild passenger ripping it’s way through his will and forcing the transformation on him.
Val’s veins glowed like magma tunnels, steam pouring out of his clothes as he surged in size. The transformation was easier this time, his body having some clue now what to expect as the Wild’s power overwhelmed his humanity. Thankfully there was no roof above him to stunt the growth this time or endanger his comrades.
Heat waves billowed off of Val’s new form, a duller red than the original Mercy but still radiating incredible heat that would scald the skin of any regular human. He towered over the General now, even reduced to hunching forward like some kind of ape that used it’s hands to run as much as it’s feet. His eyes were now the striking red slits of a predator, but the very center of them radiated the cool blue of Val’s original eyes indicating this new creature was still some kind of symbiosis of the two, even if the metaphorical driver had been switched.
”YOU SEE MERCYVAL, GENERAL. LET YOURS OUT OR BE DEVOURED,” the creature demanded, but even the demand for a worthy kill would not stall it’s need for violence. It immediately launched itself bodily at the General, its arms sweeping across a great swathe of the courtyard as it attempted to reduce the man to a fine paste beneath it’s limbs.
There was a great electrical static that coated the sand, causing fine dust particles to arc into the air. It was this cloud of dust that MercyVal swiped their arm through. And, just as suddenly as they swiped, they hit resistance. And teeth.
The transformation was not as striking as MercyVal’s, but it was quick. A three-headed cerberus rose out of the dust, the red-coloured dragon head digging it's teeth into MercyVal's arm, trying to pull him off-balance. The other two heads opened their maws, one leveling a beam of ice at MercyVal, the other leveling arcs of raw lightning, much stronger than before.
”BE DEVOURED IN YOUR ULTIMATE FORM, MERCYVAL.” The two heads growled, before sending more elemental breath at him.
For Val it was like being suspended in a void, a thousand tendrils attached to a thousand different nerve endings that fed the same sensory information he knew Mercy was experiencing. He felt like he was running an intense fever, but he could also feel the dirt beneath Mercy’s claws, the teeth digging into Mercy’s… his arm, and Mercy’s savage rage. Finally it had broken free into the world again. Finally it had found a target worth devouring.
Val could feel the intense cold frosting over Mercy’s side, the behemoth’s movements shattering the ice and causing it to fall in sheets across the ground. His shoulder felt the cracking impact and burn of the lightning. Any man, hell, even most of the smaller wilds would have disintegrated under such force, but Mercy’s hide was strong. It roared in defiance and planted it’s feet.
No, let it pull you close, the heads ca-DO NOT SPEAK, I WILL NOT BE DENIED ANOTHER MEAL VALENTINOMercy’s teeth snapped at the nearest head, but it could not reach it’s target with it’s arm restrained. It turned it’s fury against the head biting into it’s arm and swept a claw to try to rake along it’s neck and face.
That claw that tried to rake was exactly the opportunity the General was looking for. The white dragon head reached out with its teeth, aiming to have that raking arm slide right into its jaws, which it would quickly snap down on. Then, the head would unleash a devastating blast of ice that would slowly creep up the arm, cooling the molten lava form and slowly turning the arm blue, bit by bit.
Then, the yellow dragon head glared right at MercyVal, and unleashed a volley of electrical breath from its maw. It was thick and strong, aimed to blind MercyVal, and fry his eyes. At the same time, the massive forearms of the General’s form reached up. For a moment, he was on his hind legs, before shoving forward, aiming to body MercyVal and knock him to the sand, and pin him there with heavy clawed paws.
It was a disturbing feeling, the arm growing cold and locking up. Val could swear he could see his own limb blackening with frostbite, a sheen of frost covering the limb. A horrific image of a flex of the fingers shattering the entire limb.
Strength isn’t enough here Mercy. Whatever this Wild is, it clearly has more experience and more methods of attack.I AM THE DEVOURERYou’re going to GET DEVOURED if you don’t start listening!Mercy turned it’s head, protecting it’s vulnerable eyes from the lightning but still taking his eyes off of the other Wild for entirely too long, by the time it looked back the other Wild was past the point of vulnerability when it stood up and already crashing forward. An image of the Wild pinning Mercy to the ground and breathing until it’s head was gone formed in both Mercy and Val’s minds.
FINE!Val felt the threads surge with energy, and Mercy’s eyes became blue flames.
WE are damaged. WE do not know if we can win. But WE WILL LEAVE A SCAR.Mercyval read the attack for what it was, a crushing rush that would put him at a critical disadvantage. He had no choice but to take the strike at the chest, but his knees bent and he hauled hard on the arm held in the fire heads teeth, yanking it into the path of the attack and using it as a shield against any further breath attacks.
He crashed hard onto the ground, but the moment his weight was off his own legs he coiled them both and drove them hard up into the Wild’s belly, claws aiming to dig in on anything they could find purchase on and rip it away from the other Wild.
The General had anticipated this, and when they hit the ground, the General had shifted his body at an angel, MercyVal's clipping his side. Claws raked the skin, but the General didn't make a sound. Instead, he shifted to be more perpendicular. While the red dragon head and white dragon head continued to dig down on MercyVal's arms with their teeth, despite MercyVal's move to shield himself, the General used a move that was hundred of years old.
His own left forearm wrapped around MercyVal's right hindleg. Then, the General's right forearm found purchase around MercyVal's neck. Then he squeezed tight, aiming to draw the hindleg up and away from the power source of the body, and aiming to cut off the molten blood in MercyVal's neck veins. An ancient move: the Cradle Pin.
The white and red dragon heads thrashed with their purchases, attempting to tear hide and cause pain so MercyVal would more obediently lay them flat on the sand, allowing the General to increase the hold of his pin.
Then, the yellow dragon head rose up, looming over MercyVal. It rumbled, mouth glowing with the preparation of another round of electricity.
”SHOW ME YOUR RESOLVE!”Mercyval’s free leg lashed up and slammed down hard on the leg that the General was attempting to pin to his chest, kicking hard and straightening his body. The effect was dampened by the head’s hold on his arms, but it raised his body enough over the General’s arms to allow him to twist away and fall with all of his weight dragging against the hound heads.
[“WE WILL SHOW YOU OUR TEETH!”, Mercyval screamed and hauled again on the fire hound head to expose it’s neck to his fangs, spinning it’s body and lashing out with a clawed foot to the General’s chest. The combined movement was intended to offer the General two choices, release the arm or have one head ripped away from it’s body.
Of course, the arm was released. Both arms were released. And, as the General was pushed back, sand scattering at his feet, he straightened his pose, heads poised and moved over MercyVal, ready for another strike…
Before the heads snarled in what could be called an
attempt at a smile.
”So it's true… You really are the one.” All three heads rumbled in unison.
”Reign your Wild, Guardian. You have passed my test.”Mercyval roared in defiance, it’s frost-blackened arm hanging limp at it’s side and molten blood raining from the other. Val could feel it all, but beneath the pain was the endless ocean of Mercy’s need for violence. His legs tensed, ready to spring back into action and finish this fight one way or the other.
Mercyval’s eyes danced from blue to red and back again, but his body was tired, and Val was offering himself a way to feed another day. He would remember this Wild, and next time they would fight with both sides invested in the battle from the start.
Val felt the threads attached to him snap, at first just a few, then by the dozen until he felt himself falling. He landed hard and went to his knees, dry heaving specks of blood and looking at his arms. Their were marks there from the wounds Mercy had suffered, but the effects seemed largely cosmetic. As the adrenaline faded, it sucked the strength right out of him and he couldn’t get back to his feet just yet. So instead, he stared up at the still Wild formed General and waved with what he thought was his ‘good’ arm.
“All due respect General, what the Dust are you talking about,” Val said, breath heaving from the effort of transformation.
Mist started pouring off the General's form, the cerberus body and dragon heads slowly losing their solidity, melting into fine particles that disappeared into abyssal energy.
Eventually, it was just the General there, kneeled in the sand. His gaze was focused, staring almost
through the Guardian.
His voice carried, though it was easy to tell there was fatigue in it.
”There's… well, not that the people of Dust put a lot of stock in it. But there's a prophecy.
“The Guardian of the Sky Children
Blood Brothers of Nature
Will Cause the King's Throne to Empty,
And the Water will make a Verdent Glen.
“There hasn't been anyone to come down from the sky since the Perishing, over a hundred years ago. So I had to be sure.”The General winced, holding his shoulder. His voice became a bit pained.
”I had to know… if you were the one.”A pause, the midnight sky hovering over the precipice of the pyramid.
”If I'm right. The tests for those two will come back negative. After that, the Ghost Corp will be at your disposal, Guardian.
“To fulfill the prophecy.”Val stared at the General as though he had just pulled a rabbit out of his mask. Slowly, he struggled back to his feet.[color=f26522][b]”Great, I just got my ass kicked by a nutjob,”[/color][/b], Val said, shaking his head. Everyone’s crazy uncle or grandparent had a prophecy in the Dust. Some said the world would end when a hole ripped the sky asunder again. Others said great armies would meet on ancient battlefields in a match of some universal good versus evil.
[color=f26522][b]”I won’t pretend to know what’s going on, but I think I need a drink. Any of that coffee left?,”[/color][/b] Val asked, already turning to limp his way back into the facility, the prophecy still echoing strangely in his head. He might not believe in such things, but fate didn’t require you to believe in it for it to work its own will.
The General didn't move. It may have been a situation of
couldn't move. But he said easily enough.
”We have blue alcohol in the mess hall. Just ask one of the cooks.
“...Goodnight, Guardian.”
Briefing Room, Ghost Corps
@Herald, @Qia, @SporkoBug
The morning greeted them with feelings the group wasn't used to feeling.
Hope.
VV had been let out of her cell moments after the General ended the fight. And, after everyone had a restful sleep, they had gathered in the Mess Hall for lab-grown muscle: steak seasoned with salt and water. It was a gourmet meal unheard of in all of Dust.
Afterwards, they had been gathered in the briefing room, a room made of steel and leather. They all sat at the oval table, eyes on the door. Until, finally, the General walked in, and new cloak adoring him. And behind him was Doctor Willfreed. Her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she seemed to be a little self-conscious, glancing at A and VV every so often.
The General looked over the group, before he nodded to Doctor Willfred.
”Give them the news.”The doctor nodded and stepped forward, reading off her metal clipboard.
”After we conducted our tests and analyzed the results, we have concluded that…
“A and VV do not fit the description of the super soldier we found in Umbra's abandoned research notes. Their hearts are made up of several slivers of Wild hearts, yes, but not the thousands of slivers we were expecting. There is also a lack of black-hole-like AE that would denote the subjugation of thousands of Wilds.
“So, looking at this data analysis, A and VV are cleared of their suspicions and are free to go.”The General nodded at that, turning to A and VV.
”Congratulations.”His gaze landed on Val.
”While Val and I were… discussing, last night, I have decided to put my efforts behind you and your mission, Fallaways, Guardian, and Mimi.”He took a breath, before laying out some hard news.
”If your goal is the central spectral woods, we have detected a high level of activity on the eastern side, where you would enter. It appears there is a force out there preparing to block your path…
“I will send my men to accompany you, and ensure you reach the Wild King safely. After that, you'll be on your own.”Before his head tilted, glancing at Wren.
”I overheard you wanted to accompany them, captain? You have my permission.”While he spoke, Le Frey moved around the edge of the briefing room, presenting Val his arms once more. And, if Val were to inspect his rifle, he would find it to be spotless and dust-free.
Le Frey gave the man a cheeky smile, hidden under his mask.
"Congrats, Guardian."
