| From: | Mike Goldberg <m_goldberg@**.COLORADO.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | The silence of night (part 2) |
| Date: | Thu, 9 Jun 1994 18:02:46 MST |
+++++ Continuing Transmission (y/n)? y
Shadowfox and Nightmare immediately registered the statement that WHAT had
screamed and hit the deck and rolled to the side. DragonEyes was utterly
confused, and just plain hit the deck. Doomsday jumps up and says, "What the
frag did you see?"
Bruce picks up the shotgun and calmly loads it.
What: Nightmare.
Bruce, no longer calm, quickly finishess loading the gun, and prepares to move
out. Doomsday blocks the door.
Doomsday: Hate to break it to you both, but I guess FireWraith wanted him here.
She had DragonEyes invite him.
WHAT: WHAT!?! Has she ....
Bruce: Just fraggin' great.
Doomsday gets tapped on the shoulder.
Shadowfox: A couple of centimeters further back and you would have flatten
DragonEyes. Care to let me in.
Doomsday (smiles and shakes Shadowfox's hand): I see you got in okay.
Shadowfox: Well you could say that (picks up DragonEyes) it was an eventful
trip. How did hunting Gallean go?
Doomsday: He's dead as a doornail.
Shadowfox: Hi Bruce.
Bruce: (angerly) Hi Shadowfox, you, Doomsday and DragonEyes knew about this all
along and didn't say anything! How could you!
(What trying to control his anger, lights another nico-stick)
DragonEyes: Wasn't our choice to make. It was FireWraith's. I guess she --
A feminine voice from behind Nightmare says: I wanted you all to be on unequal
footing.
The image shifts. FireWraith still looks as stunning as she always had, With
her long wavy red hair, green eyes, and wonderful looking legs. She's wearing a
decent set of clothes, that fit her nicely. She is carring no obvious weapons,
(besides herself).
FireWraith (coldly): Greetings asshole (directed to Nightmare). You mind
entering the room so we can get this under way.
Nightmare (cooly): No not at all. I would be a gentleman and offer you entry
first, but gauging your face, I would say all you want me to do is just up and
die. So I'll enter.
Nightmare enters the room. He scans the room, noticing WHAT visibly shaking, to
Bruce's glaring. What stops his scan is Blitzkrieg. Nightmare walks up to him,
and kneels down. He lowers his head, and you can hear the pain in his voice.
"How our family was used...."
Blitzkrieg: (bitterly) and you bought the line of worms they were feeding us,
hook, line and sinker.
Blitzkrieg shoves him. "Get out of my face."
Blitzkrieg gets up and walks to the bar. "What's this... all non-alcholic
drinks... what gives?"
DragonEyes: I figured we didn't need anyone's judgement being reduced by
alchol, so I made sure none was present.
Doomsday: Why am I not surprised. Well instead of everyone glaring at each
other, why don't we take off our jackets and stay a while. This is going to
take a while, and I don't think it is going to be too comfortable in jackets.
DragonEyes: Not a bad idea.
He goes over to the make-shift oven and makes himself a cup of tea. Shadowfox
goes over and grabs some soda. He then takes off his jacket and sits down. He
is wearing a plain brown t-shirt. On his left bicep you can see part of a
wildcat tattoo, and on his right forearm he has an ornate tattoo of an Eagle.
DragonEyes sits down, at the far end of the table, back to the door. FireWraith
puts herself at the far end of the table, opposite DragonEyes. Blitzkrieg was
already sitting on DragonEyes immediate left, and resumes sitting there after
fixing himself a cup of ice tea. Shadowfox is sitting next to Blitzkrieg.
Doomsday takes off his jacket and on his right forearm there is also an ornate
tattoo of an eagle. It's hard to say, but you think there are some major
differences in the tattoo. He grabs a mug of coffee and sits down across from
Shadowfox.
Nightmare gets a cup of water. He then sits down inbetween DragonEyes and
Doomsday. You notice that Nightmare too has a tattoo of an eagle on his right
forearm. It would probably be a safe wager to assume that it too is different
from Doomsday and Shadowfox's. What seeing what seats are left takes off his
duster and sits down as well inbetween FireWraith and Doomsday. Bruce noticing
that only one chair is left sits down between Shadowfox and FireWraith.
For a few moments everything is tensly quiet, the only sound is that of the
swamp cooler and the white noise generator.
DragonEyes: Well, while it's all dandy that we are in the middle of nowhere and
sitting here nice and proper don't you think we should get this show on the
road? (looks at FireWraith) You wanted this... you start it. I just want to
make it clear that I think you are wasting your time.
FireWraith gulps, and looks around the room. You immediately notice that she
had to force herself to look at Blitzkrieg. Her looks varied from casual at
What and DragonEyes, to anger at Doomsday, Shadowfox, and Bruce, to absolute
hatred when she looked at Nightmare, to pain when she looks at Blitzkrieg.
FireWraith: (softly) I guess the reason I called this was so that I could
figure things out. From what I know, you abandoned me to Nightmare and Hammer,
who used me as a tool to break Blitzkrieg, and then Bruce, What, and Diana
try to kill me, and instead, I was barely able to save myself. What gives?
She looks around the room silently. Bruce clears his throught a little.
Bruce: At first we tried to find you when you disappeared. Then by the time we
figured out what happened to you, DragonEyes and I had trouble making a
decision on what to do. I suppose most of the indecision should be pinned on
me. I -- was afraid that I would kill you, but I was also afraid of the
inaction that was being caused by my indecisiveness. When I made the decision
to try the spell out, Diana and What were adamant in going with me. I (he
trails off)...
WHAT: We didn't want you to go alone. (coldly) I wasn't expecting Nightmare and
Hammer to turn up, but it wouldn't have changed my decision. Words bloody well
don't describe what I went through, but I wouldn't leave a friend in a lurch.
FireWraith: (angerly) What gave you the right to decide my "fate"? What gives
any of you the right.... (she looks at Nightmare) I thought Hammer would be
coming with you (you could have easily added the word "bastard" afterwards)
Nightmare: I didn't think that was wise given the fact that he wants me and you
dead.
Bruce: (sarcastically) What a shame he wants you dead!
WHAT nods in agreement. Doomsday snorts.
Shadowfox (sighs): Perhaps the whole story might be told, to clear things up.
As you have all probably guessed by now, I traveled with Nightmare here. I was
that other individual on the building when Steelwings died.
Nightmare: (mutters) I didn't mean for her to die.
WHAT: Bloody hell. You mean for that fate for everyone that faces you.
Nightmare: THAT ISN'T TRUE.
Doomsday: That sure was the case with Gutterrat.
Nightmare: That was life and death for me. You have a survival instinct and so
do I. So mine gets a little more destructive with life when I get desperate. I
noticed you don't worry about sparring a life when you and I were trapped in
one of the mine shafts...
Doomsday grunts.
Bruce: But selling your family members in for torture is, eh?
Nightmare and Blitzkrieg both wince.
Nightmare: I was blinded by the promises of my government if I did what I did.
I have plenty of regrets, about what happened to my family. I probably caused
most of the damage here.
DragonEyes: As I suspect as always, either you or Shadowfox could step up to
the plate for that one.
WHAT: What does that mean?
Shadowfox: Let's face it, while Nightmare and Blitzkrieg's histories are long
and twisted, if I hadn't been so stubborn and just let go of Rebecca, you would
have never gone to Boston, and then crossed over. It was after Blitzkrieg came
to their attention again, that Nightmare remembered what he long ago tried to
forget.
Nightmare: Blitzkrieg had some sealed memory storage that contained information
about what turly happened in the Euro-wars. It was planted there by our father
who was soon afterwards arrested for treason. In his debriefing, they found out
where he hid the data, and sent a manhunt after Blitzkrieg. My step-mother
bolted with him. The government in response raised me. Lords, know that I
should have seen what was coming when they got there hands on Blitzkrieg.
Bruce: What... that they would use you as an escape-goat?
Nightmare: (laughs sadly) No Hammer started spreading rumors that I like my
true mother and father, and step-mother and half-brother were traitorous. Our
superiors listened and watched. I performed within the assigned duties to keep
them for labelling me a traitor. Part of that was assisting on breaking
Blitzkrieg. They saw I had no stomache for doing that and they ordered Hammer
to do it instead.
FireWraith: I remember the ordering. They had you in tears, and you didn't even
fight the command when you knew full well, what I would be used for.
Nightmare: (bitterly) How can you fight it, when if I did, I wouldn't even get
out of the building alive?
Shadowfox: You don't fight it, and you live. I remember those choices very
well.
Bruce, Blitzkrieg and DragonEyes just stared at Shadowfox.
Shadowfox: Sioux government uses similiar ways of keeping loyalty if you are at
risk of not being completely brain-washed by their propaganda. I left them
rather quickly because of it.
What: In what way did you work for them?
Shadowfox: I was one of there top scouts in the Wildcats. It seems I had an
aptitude for that type of work. They questioned my loyalty and when I realized
that I was being set up to be killed to remove the questions, I bolted. But not
before foolishly proving how good I was. I am constantly being rewarded for
that one. My family was disgraced in society, and they went from being fairly
important to beggars in under a week. It was dishonorable to them for what I
did. (Shadowfox stares at the table).
Bruce: Wait a second... what do you mean in that mine shaft? What the frag are
you doing working with this ... this drek?
Shadowfox: After being making a rather hasty leave of Germany he hunted me
down. Not hard, if you were looking for the right signs in merc quarters. I was
forming a mercenary group. Nightmare, along with a lot of the people I worked
with before joined.
Doomsday: I actually told DragonEyes to relocate before I disappeared. That was
because I saw Nightmare in Denver, and didn't want to risk getting Blitzkrieg
caught.
Nightmare: (snorts) The only thing that finding Blitzkrieg would have granted
me is more misery.
Doomsday: Yeah, well I followed him, and after a long discussion of what the
hell happened, we gave him a series of tests to perform. He did them
exceedingly well.
Shadowfox: And he proved that he wasn't going to backstab me. So I hired him.
Our first job was/still is in Africia. But it got too hot down there for the
time being so a little break from it all was a nice alternative. Doomsday left
before us because of the job offer from Nightstalker. Actually though Doomsday
wanted to do the job, it was Nightmare that forced him to accept it.
Nightmare: People who can't make a decision to help other of his friends out
when they need quality back-up aren't any help to thier friends.
Bruce: I'm amazed you even have loyalty.
Blitzkrieg: Knowing my brother, if he didn't have loyalty he wouldn't be alive
today.
Bruce looks stunned by Blitzkrieg's talking.
Bruce: I'm amazed your defending him.
Blitzkrieg: (coldly) He's the only family I have left. I damn well better give
him a chance before I ignore his overtures.
DragonEyes: A wise man once said, never ignore a person who offers friendship.
Shadowfox: Add a little side note to that, just because they are offering it
doesn't mean its a sincere offer.
Doomsday: But knowing who you can depend upon has always been important in our
business.
After a silence moment, Bruce glares at Nightmare.
Bruce: While we are on the topics of philosophy, why did you scar me like this?
A constant reminder of 'fuck with me and I'll make you miserable?'
Nightmare: Actually, I was puzzled when Doomsday, in an arguement, shouted that
very fact at me. It was supposed to fade and be gone in under a month. I really
haven't had the time to dedicate to why it didn't, but I suspect that because
it happened on the metaplane of fire, the spell was somehow made more powerful.
But the reason I did it was to put you under for a few weeks to make one less
to opposeme in combat. It turns out that I have killed quite a few by the
spell. I'm still working on fine tuning the damn thing.
Doomsday (angerly): That doesn't excuse you from the damage you caused. You
promised me that you wouldn't use it against people until you fixed it.
Nightmare: I thought I had. I guess I was wrong. Shadowfox hasn't stopped
badgering me about it.
Bruce: Maybe you should take that as a lesson and not play with magic you don't
fully understand.
Nightmare: If that is the case, then no magician worth his or her salt would
cast a fraggin' spell. Steelwings was a mistake. She held in her view that I
was an enemy to all and therefore needed to be destroyed. I wanted her to
understand the errors of her ways, but, I slipped and before I realized what I
was doing, casted the spell on her. I fragged up. And as I said before
Shadowfox hasn't let me forget it.
Shadowfox: Somebody has got to bother you about your mistakes. I didn't think
you even had a conscience about it.
Blitzkrieg: If he is anything like me, he has plenty of one.
WHAT: Ya killed Steelwings... ya bloody fragger. Why I out to....
Doomsday grabs WHAT and whispers something in his ear.
DragonEyes: It surprises me that --
*Highlander* Och, sorry to interrupt folks, but we have an armed team heading
this way. I've identified the leader. It's Hammer.
Nightmare: Then let justice be dealt.
Bruce: I agree.
Bruce picks up his gun and almost gets a shot off at Nightmare before Shadowfox
smoothly disarms him.
Shadowfox: You know, Hammer probably would rejoice if you did his work for him.
I would appreciate that you save the bullets with our names on it. Until after
we deal with this. (He slams the gun on table)
*Highlander* Shadowfox, Doomsday, and Nightmare. Since you three seem to be the
merc experts amoung us, what are the chances that this is MET2000 in action?
Doomsday: Too good.
*Highlander* They are splitting into teams of seven teams of three. This could
be real bad. They have a few spellcasters apparently, because they are having a
field day with the spirit guardians that are at least materialized.
DragonEyes: Just fraggin great. You know the town that is near here, I assume.
Let's meet there in as soon as possible. There is an abandoned barn on the
northwest side of town. It won't be as comfortable as here, but we shouldn't
have company.
Nightmare: We should split into teams.
WHAT: (suspiciously) Why?
Shadowfox: So it is easier to disappear into the surrounding area.
Doomsday: 3 teams of three, assuming that there is no other hidden people
besides Highlander....
DragonEyes: There isn't.
Shadowfox: Here goes nothing. Doomsday, go with DragonEyes and get Highlander
and get out of here. If your vehicle looks tampered with don't touch it, it's
probably been tapped.
Nightmare: I'll go with my half-brother and FireWraith.
Shadowfox: And I'll go with What and Bruce. Very well. Doomsday you have
priority get out of here, fast.
Doomsday: Alright. DragonEyes you set?
DragonEyes: (sighs): I really hate large combats. Set. Catch ya all at the
other place.
DragonEyes grabs his drum. Doomsday throws on his jacket and grabs his sword
and guns. And they leave out of the door.
Shadowfox: Nightmare go in the opposite direction. Try pattern D. I don't think
it will work but it's worth a shoot.
Nightmare: Actually, I had other plans. I'm going for the gold. I'm going to
try and take out Hammer. I am going to use Plan Nightshade.
Shadowfox: Good luck then. I bet Gawk wishes he could have a shot at him.
Nightmare: No offense to him, but I don't care about Gawk right now. He's
minor. It's time for revenge.
Bruce: (coldly) No. That will come later.
Shadowfox: Move out.
Everybody grabs thier gear.
*Highlander* 1.5 minutes till they get to the mansion. About 15 seconds before
they hit, I'll be jacked out. Your on your own then. Good luck. ]<<<<<
-- DragonEyes <19:00:00/6-9-55>
