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| I Love It When A Plan Comes Together; Rho | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 2 2012, 06:28 PM (206 Views) | |
| Warpath | Jun 2 2012, 06:28 PM Post #1 |
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May 20th Skrullos JP between Rho and Warpath Dreams, no; horrible nightmares plagued his sleep. Visions and flashbacks of the same memories drudged up by an overdose of negative emotion inducing pheromones. He awoke with a startled gasp and drenched in a cold sweat; he looked around and noticed that he didn’t recognize anything. He was in a vehicle of some sort; he could tell from the sounds and occasional shakes and bumps. It was dark as well, and while he could make out shapes of objects and a few humanoid shapes, that was about it. He went to move and realized his wrists, waist, and ankles were cuffed and those cuffs were attached to the wall. In that position, it was hard to take anything more than shallow breaths without the metal banging up against his ribs, so it wasn’t long before his weak hisses drew the attention of his captors. A towering figure dressed in purple and black, with wicked eyes, razor teeth and a strange chin walked up to him with a menacing smile on his face. “You don’t seem too damaged; primitive. Xia did well getting you to us.” Just like his nightmares, a sudden flood of memories surged through his mind and he dry heaved. “Laurie…one of you.” The creature laughed and grabbed his cheeks. “No, primate…it’s not that simple.” A short distance away Warpath hid among the rocks in a craggy protrusion, peering down at the scenery below. Since being visited by the Sorcerer Supreme a few days ago, the X-Man had intensified his private war with the Skrull. The knowledge that he was no longer alone in his fight fueled the mutant’s spirit, and he had lashed out more ruthlessly, even recklessly, dancing the primal dance of battle and death with numerous Skrull foes. He had raided outposts, decimated scouting parties, and burned supply depots to the ground, all with a wild savagery that bordered on insanity. The Skrull began to murmur and whisper of the Hunter, the savage Earthling that had been but a myth and a shadow up to this point. Skrull high command had responded in kind, sending out their own hunting parties to attempt to subdue the lone rebel fighter. This might have worked when Warpath had first stumbled away into the wilds of Skrullos but now James was as much a son of Skrullos as its native inhabitants. He used his survival skills and wiles to hide and stalk the hunters, only revealing himself to strike at one or two who were separated from the group. Eventually he would whittle down their numbers until he left only one alive, and this one he would beat severely but turn loose, to spread word of his presence. Three times in the past five days the Skrull had sent out hunters, each time only one returned from the hunt. James was playing a dangerous game, but it was a necessary one. He wanted all the Skrulls attention focused on him in the hopes that his new ally, Dr. Stephen Strange could find a way to penetrate the Skrull defenses and find the captive mutants the Skrull were using to generate doppelgangers on Earth. It was something he had been unable to do in his long time on Skrullos, but James hoped that the arcane powers of the Sorcerer could find what he could not. In the meantime he would strike when he was able, staying alive to tether the Doctor to Skrullos in his work. An idea had come to James early in the morning when he had awoken from one of the few short naps he allowed himself. He was but one man, who had escaped more by chance and the overconfidence of his captors. Perhaps he could not find where the Skrulls were holding all the prisoners, but if he could but find one link in the chain, a prisoner in transit, he might be able to liberate an ally. So he had scouted all morning before choosing the spot where he now perched. If he recalled correctly it was near where he had escaped himself, and there was a large amount of traffic through a canyon he now oversaw. He was looking for a particular kind of transport, however, and it took many hours before he finally spied what he sought. Identifying the all too familiar type of ship that had borne him as a prisoner, James took a few quick steps back as it approached. Sprinting forward as it drew level with him below, the Apache jumped off the rocky embankment, rocketing through the air. He landed on top of the ship’s hull with a thud, rolling on impact. Lashing out with a vibranium knife, he was momentarily frightened as it cut through the hull with a shearing screech, before catching on something thicker. Warpath hung on for dear life, hoping that his gamble would pay off. “I’m going to take a little time to inform you of the situation you find yourself in, primitive. I’m not supposed to, but you’ll soon be in the most secure facility on Skrullos; in a cell designed just…for…you.” A pointed finger dug into Dontae’s cheek enough to draw blood and he thrashed, subconsciously phasing to get to the green asshole bent on making his bad day worse. He didn’t phase though, as pain suddenly wracked him from head to toe and he screamed in pain; he slumped and took a few breaths to compose himself. “What? What was that?” Ky’ros smiled and threw a punishing jab to Don’s gut; he had nothing to expel, but he tried to hurl anyway. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted; you, my primitive prisoner are on a transport to a secure facility where we will poke and prod and do many unpleasant things to you. All in the name of the Queen and for the glory of Skrullos, but unpleasant nonetheless. As for that painful sensation you just felt? Xia informed us on the basics of your abilities; and like others of your kind you will prove infinitely useful. But since it would be impossible to contain you normally;” he smiled and tapped a clawed finger against one of the manacles. Each of these has a bit of circuitry running through it, all connected to a device that monitors your bodily functions, including power usage. Whenever you try to alter your molecular density, it generates a neural feedback pulse. Can your simple mind even comprehend what I’m saying right now?” Rho spit at the creature and received a punch to the jaw for his troubles. “I asked you a question, primitive!!;” Ky’ros said as he wiped the spittle off of his shoulders. “Go fuck yourself, Jabber Jaw.” He smiled a bloody smile and tried to keep his head high while spitting blood to the side. Ky’ros was about to strike him again, but knew that he’d be reprimanded if he was delivered with too much damage. “What the pulse does is interrupt your thought processes by directly stimulating the pain centers of your neural cortex. We find that it’s one of the most effective ways of disrupting your connection with your abilities. So, to make things simple. You try to phase, you feel pain instead and go nowhere…understood?” Rho stared at him, unwilling to even admit defeat or that they’d won. “You say nothing, but I know the truth; you are beaten. I just wanted you to know that there is no escape for you, human.” Ky’ros stood and gloated a bit more before the ship rocked and a loud screech could be heard inside, but obviously came from outside. He ran to the cockpit and looked at the pilot, then the systems operator. “Fly this thing straight, Rawn; you probably ran against a rock formation. Status?!” The Skrull technician furiously typed at a futuristic looking keypad before looking up at their commander. “Sir, there’s a minor hull breach near the rear and whatever caused it nicked one of the fuel lines.” Ky’ros looked at him before slapping him upside the head. “Meaning?” The technician knew his place and accepted the light punishment for not giving him all the information he required. “Meaning, sir that we should perform repairs immediately before the line ruptures completely and we become stranded.” Ky’ros gave Rawn a look and the pilot nodded, slowing the transport before setting it down on an outcropping roughly halfway between the canyon floor and top. “Make the repairs, Tok, and be quick about it!” Tok got the tools he needed and walked towards the hatch before stopping. “Sir? What if it’s…him? What if it’s the Hunter?” Another slap upside the head, much harder this time. “Don’t be foolish. One of the hunting parties is searching for him as we speak. They’ll keep him occupied while we finish our job if nothing else. Now go before I take the boys powers for myself and use them to rip your heart out while leaving the rest of you in tact!!” Tok chanced a quick glance at Rho, then rushed out of the ship and to the top so he could make the repairs. Take his powers? They could do that?!?! Is that how that Laurie imposter made him relive all the bad things he’d experienced up to this point?! Just what the fuck had he gotten himself into? When Tok climbed to the roof and found the problem, the breach didn’t look like it had been caused by a wayward or falling rock; it looked like it had been cut with something. “Oh no.” Skrulls feared nothing, but extreme caution was another story. Tok went to pull his sidearm from its holster on his hip. A shadow loomed over Tok as the seven foot Apache engulfed the Skrull’s head with a massive hand, twisting it hard with a sickening pop. One of his knives carved through the Skrull’s back as a secondary precaution. James roughly threw the Skrull to the floor. He had been able to carve a hole large enough to slip through and had managed to hide in the shadows of the ship as the Skrull had approached. Wiping his knife on the fallen body, Warpath sniffed the air, catching the familiar scent of Earth not too far away. He stalked toward the holding chamber knife held low, ready to attack swiftly. A clawed, but hurriedly panicked hand fumbled to unholster the weapon that could very well be Tok’s salvation against the hunter that he was certain had stopped the transport vessel. He would have called for aid, but his personal radio wasn’t even powerful enough to get a signal from outside to inside the ship with the massive amount of interference rife throughout the canyon because of the makeup of the rock and the format of their communication systems. He finally pulled it out and turned in a cautious circle, trying to see where he’d get attacked from. “Face me, Hunter. Let’s see just how deadly you really ahrrg!!! Tok felt his head being grasped in an impossibly powerful grip and then being turned the wrong way; he couldn’t stop it!!! He’d died when his spinal column had snapped as a result of the Apache’s chiropractic attack, but if he’d still been alive the razor sharp blade splitting through skin and muscle would have definitely ended him. His lifeless body fell victim to physics and bounced just enough at the precipice of the outcropping and fall hundreds of feet to the canyon floor below. Rho couldn’t help but case a glance towards the walls of the vessel; these green guys had been talking about a hunter, and Tok? Tok had obviously been scared by the possibility of running into whoever it was. Could there be a rogue Skrull out there who didn’t like how they treated…whoever was here before him like Laurie and. Oh god! Laurie; they had to have her somewhere, and how many other of his friends had these monsters taken and replicated or cloned or whatever it was they did. Ky’ros walked back to Dontae and noticed a look of…was that hope on his face? That just wouldn’t do; not at all. “You think the Hunter will save you, meat? He cares only for killing my bretheren, and that’s exactly why we sent out the patrols today. He won’t, can’t miss an opportunity to try and prove his apparent superiority by killing most and sending back lone, traumatized soldiers. Besides; you mistake a random occurrence for a rescue attempt…you humans are delightfully and pathetically hopeful at any supposed sign of help.” Rho couldn’t help but smile at this guys attempt to shit talk him and break his spirit; if anyone was pathetic, it was him. He wasn’t a professional, but he’d seen people acting tough while being scared on the inside enough to know that this guy was one of them. “You’re talkin out your ass, chucklefuck. You’re scared and you fuckin know it. Hell, I bet whoever the hunter is; he done killed ya mans already and he’s just waitin for you to go investigate so he can put one between ya eyes.” In truth Dontae was scared that it really was just a rock or something and that he’d be stuck here forever. Everything he knew, everyone he…he loved. A particular blue haired lighting slinger came to mind over and over again. The thought of getting back to Surge and everyone else was one of the few things that didn’t have him sobbing in a useless heap right now. Ky’ros didn’t like this human; he had a dislike of all humans, but this one was grating a nerve and becoming a very annoying nuisance. A few swift punches to his torso made him feel better before he walked back up to Rawn in the cockpit. “It’s been far too long for a simple fuel line patch job. If your brother is collecting mineral samples again, I’ll put him in the medical ward myself.” His pilot knew better than to speak up for Tok, even though they were related; loyalty to Skrullos outweighed loyalty to family. “I’ll help you if you he is sir.” Ky’ros smiled and put a hand on his pilot’s shoulder; he was a smart man and knew how to keep his mouth shut and answer when the time came. “Good; now let’s go. I’m tired of waiting.” As was protocol, they both had their hands on their weapons as they headed towards the exit of the holding portion of the ship. Rho took it as a chance and tried to phase again. Pain flooded his body and mind and his brain told him to stop; he told his brain to shut up and let him do this. It took everything not to scream, but he somehow held it in while he bore the pain and got one arm, then another out of the constraints. “AAAAAARGH!!!” He finally couldn’t hold it in anymore, and he started outright wailing in pain as he continued to try and free himself. Both Skrulls turned when they heard the screams, and Ky’ros adopted a look of anger. How dare this human try to escape?! “Rawn, go get your brother and tell him to get this ship airborne, now!! I’ll deal with this insufferable waste of DNA.” The pilot nodded and stepped into the outer corridor, then began heading towards the hatch; Ky’ros headed back to the prisoner. He couldn’t help but glance back as he walked; humans seemed to have more going for them than they were given credit for. Rawn made his way down the corridor to the engine room. He was starting to feel uneasy about the situation. The humans were far too unpredictable. Not that Rawn would ever think the treasonous thought that it was anything the Skrull empire was incapable of handling. She loved them after all. Musing over his thoughts, he heard a scarping of metal and turned in time to see Warpath drop to the floor. Sloppy, way too sloppy, Proudstar. James berated himself. He had planned on landing silently behind the Skrull and ending him quickly but his foot had caught on the metal piping that he had used to hang from the ceiling at the last second. Guess it meant he had to do things the hard way. He quickly knocked the gun away from the Skrull, but was unable to avoid the soldier’s arm-turned-blade that slashed across his chest. James kicked Rawn backwards and touched the wound. It was superficial. He was getting lucky. Taking too many risks. It was time to end it. He pulled a knife from its sheath and sent it spinning through the air, embedding it in the neck of the Skrull who was struggling to rise. James retrieved his weapon as the last gurgle of life escaped from his enemy. Continuing on to the main holding chamber, Warpath surveyed the scene before him, surprised to see a familiar face. Ky’ros was trying everything to keep the human from breaking his confinements, but the feedback loop had been preset at a level that should have caused sufficient pain to keep him from using his powers; it wasn’t able to go high enough to levels that could potentially kill him though. So Ky’ros was forced to try everything else at his disposal. Punches and kicks and strikes with a blade arm did nothing as the physical couldn’t interact with the immaterial; a punch didn’t hurt air, and it wouldn’t hurt Rho. He had far more severe pain going on at the moment though as that neural loop prodded every pain synapse he had and his vision was beginning to blur the more he struggled. Ky’ros snarled in fury as the whelp continued to try and defy the natural order of things; and then he was free. He was definitely out of it, but Rho was free of his constraints and the floor had never been so comfortable; in fact, if he could just lay there a while, he’d be great. A boot in his gut snapped him back to reality and the severity of the situation; a green guy who’d help take Laurie and who knew who else was trying to kill him. The boot actually lifted him off the floor and expelled anything he had left in his stomach; apparently these guys had an incredible wallop. He managed to look past him and at the open door and slowly began to laugh at what he saw. Either he was hallucinating, or James Proudstar was standing there. “Heheheheh, hey Jimmy.” Ky’ros looked down at the boy and sneered. “Jimmy? What is this, Jimmy? Is that some God you pray to when you know your time is at an end?” Rho laughed a little bit more and shook his head. “Nah; Jimmy’s that really big, really angry Apache Chief over there. He probably killed your buddies already.” Ky’ros chanced a glance behind him and his breath caught in his throat; it was him…the hunter. His momentary fear became elation at the thought of him being the one to bring down this menace; his reward would be great. “So you finally show yourself; I was wondering when you’d grow a back bone and face me like a ma-urgh!!!” Rho was hurt, bloody, bruised, beaten, and disoriented…but he was still conscious and he was still pissed. So when Ky’ros took his eyes off him, he shifted his density and punched him in the face. The blow knocked him off his feet and sent him bouncing off a wall and into some supplies at the far end of the room, but he probably wasn’t dead yet; that was too bad because that was about all he could pull out at the moment. He fell back to his knees and hoped that Warpath would stop this guy before he decided that getting punched across the room warranted death for the guy who did it. Finally moving, Jimmy sprinted to Rho’s side. It was the first time in a long time that he had made a move away from killing a Skrull, but right now getting Rho out safely was far more important. “Go limp, Dontae. I’m going to get you out of here.” Scooping Dontae up into a fireman’s carry, he growled at the Skrull across the room. “Your time will come, Skrull. But I have bigger things to worry about than you today.” With that, he kicked open the cabin door and began to run. He needed to put some distance between them the ship and get Rho to one of his hideouts. |
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2:17 PM Jul 11