Twentieth Jump (Shadowrun) Part 4

A Day Out on the Town

            It was a dusky, fog-ridden morning as I went along the busy sidewalk with a Yankaka close at hand. The lower half of her face, along with just about everyone else’s that we passed, was covered by a thin respirator to keep their lungs clear of the low hanging smog that blanketed the streets and was almost one-and-the-same at this point. Yay… Urbanization. I was one of the few that was not wearing one as I simply did not have to breathe the noxious fumes and, even if I was forced to for whatever possible reason, my body was more than capable of processing the toxins.

            Yan was sticking close to my side as to not be separated from me because of the heavy foot traffic that the wageslaves and sararimen (Apparently street names for those who worked for the corporations.) went to and from work. She had apparently found a restaurant while she was out exploring the area and, as always, was keen on dragging me out of the apartment to try it out. Honestly, it was kind of sweet how she wanted to share her findings with me (Though, I am sure it was also because I always paid for the food.), plus it gave me an excuse to leave the apartment and, in this case, an excuse to avoid the plans that Bang, Cannonball, and Chopshop were currently fabricating for the job that we had been given.

            Now this was fairly normal of her, staying close and physically dragging me to wherever she happened to want to go. I did not mind such things, but she seemed a little more insistent this time around. If it so much as seemed as if I was drifting more than a foot away from her, she would pull me close once again or, at the very least, pull herself closer to me if I didn’t budge… At one point she even jumped onto my back under the notion that I apparently wasn’t allowed to run off without bringing her along.

To top it all off, she seemed a bit more jealous than usual. Now, ever since we had started dating, her jealousy was, for the most part, under control whenever she wasn’t in a bad or paranoid mood. What surprised me, however, was the fact that she was smiling and chatting away as we walked, but if anyone glanced my way she would begin to glare and then even growl if they got what she apparently deemed as too close. Heck, she almost lashed out at someone who complimented her jacket while saying something along the lines of “No, nya! You no have Yankaka. Yankaka with Sweet Guy, nya.”

Something was amiss. Despite her psychosis and her usual behaviors, this was a bit… odd… even for her as far as her normal, moment-to-moment behavior, especially around me. She was always a calmer individual around me and, while even I realized that she could be argumentative and aggressive when I wasn’t around, she was normally quite in control of herself if I was present. At least we arrived at the restaurant without any real issue.

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            The restaurant was an in-the-wall and out of the way establishment. The room was small, lit by only the glow of faint, neon lights that lined the wall and the small, hanging lamps that dangled above every table. There was a bar-kitchen mix up against the left and only five booths along the right wall, which might cause someone to wonder how it even remained in business at any given time with such minor holdings. Yankaka was clinging to Tadek’s arm as they entered, tugging him along while he was left to glance around the establishment with a curious eye.

            She had been looking forward to convincing him to come to the restaurant. It wasn’t of the same quality as the last one, but she was sure that Tadek would enjoy a higher quality restaurant such as this. Their serving sizes were actually more than slivers of food just barely larger than the palm of their hands and didn’t take fifty minutes to cook! Though… She did recall never getting any food, but that was the waitress’s fault for flirting with Tadek and forcing her to take action to prevent a new challenger from getting their hands on the object of her obsession.

            Once they were seated, Yankaka made a point to sit across from Tadek with her arms outstretched toward him while they waited for someone to come over and take their order… At least until the Orc that was standing behind the counter called out with a rough “What will ya’ have!? I’m not going to you just to know what you want!”, which was answered with an order from the both of them after they took the time to actually figure out what they served. Soy, krill, mushroom… Really, there was barely any “real food” on the menu to choose from, so in the end they shelved out the extra nuyen to purchase one of the few choices that had the actual meat for the way it would taste or look if it was simply soy.

            Everything seemed simple enough at the least. Lot of food ordered, lot of food eaten, and simple conversation. “Just have to get Sweet Guy to speak, nya. He will tell Yankaka who is after him… Have to be subtle, have to find out what he wants. Then Yankaka can have him for herself, nya.” She thought to herself throughout their conversation, trying so hard to keep things subtle by asking him more about what he had been up to whenever she wasn’t around. She had to find out. She had to know who was between her and what she desired.
            It took some time, but she eventually dragged out how he had been spending a lot of time around a specific Stuffer Shack, a mass-chain convenience store, where he had been meeting new people to converse with whenever he was wandering around the area and wasn’t either practicing his new abilities, such as the magic that Yankaka listened to… and whatever caused him to go limp and not respond to anything that she did. Really, she didn’t know what he was doing, but the Dwarf and Troll explained that he was probably in the Matrix doing what they called “technomancer stuff”.

            That was all the information that she needed, though… She knew that he was talking to people, so now she just needed to find out who might be trying to distract him or take him away from her. Once they were taken care of, they could have a proper date… She just needed to figure out who to remove from the equation.

Twentieth Jump (Shadowrun) Part 3

Espionage and Murder

            It took a little more time, sifting through the jumping, dancing, and otherwise sweaty bodies of the club-goers, but eventually the sprite signaled to me that it picked up someone who matched the rather vague description that I was given; a male elf with long, purple hair, that was currently advancing upon my position.

            I simply remained where I was for the moment, checking my commlink for various features to pass the short instance between learning that someone was approaching and the feeling of a pair of thin arms slipping in around shoulders to pull me in. “Hey, Sweetie! There you are. Got lost in the crowd again, didn’t you?” Honestly, I felt quite uncomfortable from the attention and was forced to resist the urge to slam my elbow into their gut as they came in close… Thankfully to whisper something to me. “Just act natural. It’s not like I am going to shove my hand down your pants. Follow my lead.”

            With a small huff, I followed along as they led me off to one of the booths off to the side that possessed a white noise generator, if the constant buzzing in the back of my eardrum was any hint at such a thing existing. It was annoying, but required for privacy. Once we took a seat, they stayed a bit too close for comfort, one arm wrapped around my ribs, and kept a cheerful, flirtatious demeanor the entire conversation, which only made things ever more awkward for me. “Here I thought that you were supposed to be the greatest infiltrator in the world according to your friends. A little too stiff to be any good at acting.”

            “While I am very good at disguising myself and going unseen… Acting isn’t part of my skill set. Now, what is the job, hmm? You won’t have to worry about anything going wrong with whatever tasks you give me.”

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            Yankaka had climbed out of the van at Gerald’s direction, ducking into an alleyway while Jayla went across the street to take care of her own given task. The cat woman was given a very simple task… Keep an eye out for anyone suspicious approaching the building or attempting to enter through the roof and restrain them. There was a straight-up bounty on Tadek’s head that was posted by one of the AAA mega-corporations on a public forum.

This fact simply fueled her reemerging instability… She knew that Tadek had done a few bad things in his past, actions that made the very criminals and monsters they came across appear more as innocent sheep than the cruel, immoral beings that they were. Yankaka forgave him, though. There was no reason to as he had done nothing to harm her on purpose, but he showed her the sweet nectar of forgiveness so she showed him the same in return. What was it that he said…
            That question stalled the kaka for a moment just as she hauled herself up onto the flat, square roof of the club. What did he say again? With a little whine, she patted at the side of her head for a moment, trying her best to remember what he had said about her, but eventually her attention was brought back to the forefront when her commlink buzzed for a moment in one of the inner pockets of her jacket.

It was Jayla on the other end, a few clicks and the sound of shifting in the background as the large troll spoke. “Hey, Kitten! Wake up over there. I don’t know what your boyfriend did when he came here, but it really shook up the Samurai. They probably won’t send the Reds in, but keep an eye out. Don’t know how they would find him here, but you can’t be too careful.” The feline woman took just a moment to glance over toward the other building and give a small nod… Mostly because she couldn’t touch the little push-to-talk button on her commlink and had answered the call by sheer accident as she was still getting used to the way her new jacket covered her hands.

Thankfully it was Jayla who ended the call and Yankaka simply tucked the commlink back into her jacket as she, while staying low to the ground, made her way along the top of the roof to keep an eye out for any possible intruders. Hmm… She was going to drag Tadek out on a date… Yes, that should make up for all of those times that he went off to work.

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            “So… You want me to sneak into one of Saeder-Krupp’s facilities, implant a datachip into one of the internal decks that are a part of the mainframe… so to speak… and get out without anyone knowing that I was there to begin with? So, you’re giving a new guy an extremely difficult task?” I asked simply, my eyes closing slightly as I gave the elf a rather confused look.

            He simply gave my shoulders a squeeze and slipped me the datachip with a quick movement of his hand beneath the table. “Just finish the job and I will make sure to get that criminal status on your SIN revoked. Deal?” I slid the datachip into my sleeve and slowly pulled away from the other man, of course making sure to at least play on the whole act that we were dating, which we weren’t… It honestly twisted my stomach into knots, but work was work in the end and we had done nothing more than a hug here and there.

            “Right. It shall be done… No worries. Just give me about a month. Have a nice afternoon.” Once I was finished speaking, I sauntered on out of the building and back toward the van that I had climbed out of. Come to find out, Yankaka was missing as Jayla was just climbing back into the van.

            “Don’t worry, String Bean. Your girlfriend’s on her way. Saw her climbing down the side of the building.” Stated the troll with a small chuckle from the dwarf from the nickname that she had apparently gave me. Well… At least no one had died.
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            “Nice Guy’s going to be mad at Yankaka, nya.” The feline woman whined softly, her claws dragging on out of the body of a purple-haired elf that she had personally thought was the one he had been talking to. She saw everything through the skylight on the roof, every little action simply causing her blood to boil and her claws to scratch at the stone of the rooftop.

            She had waited for a purple-haired elf to come out of the building, simply dropping down upon them and sinking her claws straight into their ribs, severing bone, lacerating blood vessels, and puncturing their lungs in a single, harsh motion. They writhed for a few moments, but it was a quick death. It was all to prove a point that no one was to touch her Tadek. He was going to be so mad, if he found out, though… She knew that, but he didn’t need to know.

            Once her claws were free and the blood wiped away on their clothes, the kaka could already hear a few of Nice Guy’s words because of her audio implants. ‘Good’ was the word that she kept repeating, her nearly invisible lips pulling up into a broad, fanged smile as she knowingly used a recording to reinforce her actions. “He will like it in the end… Yankaka did good, nya. Yankaka did good…”

Twentieth Jump (Shadowrun) Part 2

The Yandere Has Returned

            After the long, in-depth explanation of what was going on, they handed over a small crate of equipment that they had been told to give me, one for Yankaka, and one for Bang with a different assortment for each of us. Mine, specifically, came with a rifle with a little card attached to it that called it a ‘Yamaha Raiden’ that came with an internal suppressor, a smartgun system, and a recoil suppressant stock… Neat. There was also a small ring in the crate, which I slipped onto one of my fingers, a small, wasp-like drone, and a smartphone-looking thing that they called a commlink, which I simply slipped into my pocket.

            Yankaka’s simply came with a new, armored hoodie that, well… You couldn’t even tell the difference between it and her regular clothing, a commlink of a different design, and a book on accepting your new, cybernetic self. Bang’s was the smallest of all of our crates, only possessing a new outfit, a commlink, and a taser… The two new ones said that he wouldn’t need much else. With everything in tow, we set out to climb into their van and get acquainted with the neighborhood.

            With them in the front of the van and us in the back, I simply took my time on linking up the drone and the rifle with my own cybernetics, specifically the mental control of Shenfield from Black Bullet, which was already linked to my ‘natural’ HUD. Didn’t have a smartlink, so I had to improvise on getting everything to work properly through the odd mix of my own biology… if you could call it that anymore… and my new technomancy abilities. Those little sprites were quite helpful, honestly. They were in the visible world to me and any that I created were like little, humanoid wisps of a blue-black coloration.

            While Jayla and Gerald were busy talking, mostly explaining everything that was going on, they did ask a few questions about all of us. We each answered in turn, but otherwise there wasn’t anything of any real interest going on up until we arrived at a club (Seriously, these things were apparently everywhere in this place. Can’t even specific which one it was because there were three that were connected to it.) and they told me to get into something fancy and talk to an elven man with long, purple hair. Seemed simple enough. Though, they did warn me to act like I knew her for years and that we were dating… Which made Yankaka visibly and audibly uncomfortable.

            “Why? Honestly this doesn’t exactly seem professional to begin with.” I stated as my clothing shifted into a basic suit-tie configuration, I activated ‘civilian mode’ for my power armor, and shifted my internals around into a much more human configuration. Because of how this world functioned, I honestly toggled everything off except enough to keep myself on par with others. “Cause he’ll be acting the same way and is expectin’ such in return when he sees a blue tie with a lion’s head print.” The dwarf, which he apparently was a dwarf, pointed out with a small thumb over to my tie, which I shifted into the proper pattern and the coloration before climbing out of the van.

            Because of the situation, I had my Zenith my Deus Ex in a formed holster underneath the suit at the small of my back. They told me that cameras were just about everywhere, so I was being extremely mindful to stay as ‘human’ as possible. As far as the drone was concerned, I had directed a sprite to inhabit it and instructed them to stay within thirty feet and keep an eye out for the elf in question as I slipped past the bouncer with a flash of a false ID and waded into a large, hopping group of people.

            I was blinded by the sheer amount of color, body shapes, light shows, deafening music, and my newly-acquired technomancy was allowing me to pick up all of the augmented reality displays and additions that were present…. So. Many. Fucking. Advertisements. Everywhere.

            The drone’s POV was up in the right-hand corner of my vision as I went along through the club, glancing around at each individual face that I could see, but sadly there were just too many people… and about ten elves with long, purple hair that I came across and roughly six of them were male or, at the least, where I was unable to actually tell what gender they were at a glance. Hopefully they found me first, if anything else…

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            Back in the van, Yankaka was nestled back into one corner of the vehicle while Bang was off with Jayla and Gerald talking to them about the importance of love and justice as they obviously required the lessons of truth for they possessed neither of those things. However, that left Yankaka unattended, left to her own potentially psychotic devices.

            The feline woman was holding onto the wooden carving of her obsession between her hidden hands, a single claw visible and currently in use to slowly carve away any splinters and, with the use of her new eyes, work to add an ever-increasing amount of detail through the use of magnification and a picture that she had took of him when he wasn’t paying attention. She had even tested the enhancements of her ears to record a few words that he had stated when the small man and the large woman were explaining everything, something she had only paid half-attention to.

            Her voice was quiet, loving, but held an edge of… discomfort to it near the end of each sentence as if an old, untouched screw was slowly loosening in her head once again. “Nice Guy is My Guy… Why does Yankaka feel uncomfortable, nya? Nice Guy busy here… Not pay attention to Yankaka. Busy last place, too, nya. Place before that…”

            The Kaka took a moment to rub her invisible cheek, her ears flattening down a hint. “No… Yankaka and Nice Guy went on date, nya… He ran off… Came back and Yankaka ruined the date- No.” She hummed, her claw gently tapping at her unseen cheek as she thought over it for a moment. “No… Yankaka no ruin date, nya. Competition did…” Her fang-filled smile quickly dropped down into a frown, her claw coming back down to stroke along the curve of the carving’s cheek with a small growl. “They get in the way… They always in the way, nya. Back where Yankaka’s from, waitress at our date, people nyou fight get in the way, nya.”

            With a long, drawn-out sigh, the spited woman attempted to calm herself, simply stroking along the carving’s cheek while playing those same few words in her ears to try and cheer herself up. She knew that this wasn’t proper… That her Tadek wouldn’t approve of such, as he would put it, discomforting behavior. He didn’t need to know, though. “Don’t worry… Yankaka will take care of it… Yankaka won’t let people get between us again, nya. Yankaka stronger… Can do more. Yankaka make sure that no one attacks, no one tries to take you from me.”

            The woman brought the carving close to her chest with a comfortable, relaxed exhale before stowing it away in her jacket once again. “First… Horn Girl must learn… Tell her that Nice Guy is Yankaka’s before she tries, nya… Get her alone…” Bang suddenly piped up with a “Miss Yankaka of the Kaka Clan! Come here and help me explain to them that they truly can be good people!” That broke her concentration, her smile returning as she moved to the front of the van to help Bang out.  

Twentieth Jump (Shadowrun) Part 1

New Challengers Approaching!

            After the boring, uneventful years of Kingsman… Besides the laser pointer and killing everyone in a radical cult… I was surprised to appear in my apartment (Thankfully the one that follows me from jump to jump.) instead of having to go out and search for it in such a wide world. However after a moment of glancing around, I climbed up to my feet and, just as I stood up, I heard a knock at the door.

            I had no memories of this place, but everything seemed relatively fine. When I opened the door there was a large… I mean LARGE woman standing in such a manner as to block anything that was possibly behind the door. From what I could tell she was roughly 7’ 4” and broader than the door frame by a good margin. Though, I couldn’t see the head until she had crouched down just enough to walk right into my apartment without even a ‘hello’. She possessed these small, slightly curved horns with these color-changing lines set into them, her features were kind of an odd mix of Butch and primadonna with tusks, brown-tinted skin, and surprisingly long, smooth hair that rain down the length of her back… though, the sides of her head were shaved.
            Trudging into my apartment for whatever reason with a wife beater, cargo pants, large boots, and a pair of tinted goggles on the top of her head. “Morning. My name’s Jayla, but you can call me ‘Cannonball’.” She stated as she walked over to the couch and plopped down onto it before crossing her legs, leaned up against the armrest, and turned on the TV. “You don’t even have trideo? You really aren’t from here, are ya’?”

            I heard those words from behind me, my heading turning back to the door and then down to glance at the short, maybe 3’ 10” man with a waist-long beard staring up at me. He wore what appeared to be a lab coat with no sleeves over a mechanic’s jumpsuit that, again, had no sleeves, and a pair of gloves with what I personally thought was a futuristic half-mask that dangled around his neck. Instead of just walking past, he actually raised up a hand and offered me a hand shake. “Evenin’. Name’s Gerald… Just call me ‘Chop Shop’.”

            With a hum, I bent over just a hint to reach out and give him a small hand shake. “Afternoon. My name is Tadek. Bang and Yankaka should be around here somewhere. Any reason for the nicknames? Though, I am going to assume that you’re the two that are going to help me out.” I asked, glancing back over toward Jayla with a small hum before simply pulling the dwarf-looking man inside and closing the door behind him. “Well, you would be correct. Careful with assumptions, though. They might get ya’ killed. The nicknames are more our Matrix and street names than anythin’ else.”
            As the man spoke, he ambled on in and climbed up onto the couch with a groan on his part. “Welcome to the Shadowrunnin’ business, Tadek. Only reason we can talk is cause I’m sure that your house ain’ bugged. Too low tech to be… Seriously, says here that it was made before that whole RFID thing.” He said as he took the remote away from Jayla and gave it a once-over. “Right… Could have asked before coming in, you know.”

            They both simply waved me off as I took a moment to go into the kitchen and grab a bottle of rum from the cabinet. Just as I came into view of the hallway that led toward the bathroom and bedroom, I heard a cry of either surprise or anguish before the sound of hurried footsteps and then a mix of clinging claws and the weight of a disheveled cat woman slam into me and hold on. As I still had everything active, I simply stood there for a moment, took a sip of my drink, and then set it down.
            “Ah, nice of you to join us, Yankaka. What’s wrong?” As I spoke, I reached up to take a gentle hold of the back of her jacket and pry her off of my body… Though, it took a moment to convince her to let go. “Yankaka have metal, nya. Thought about competition and Yankaka’s vision grew closer and my hearing focused in on something!” She whined, her eyes not really appearing any different while her ears twitched a little underneath the hoodie. To attempt to calm her, I simply reached up to slip a hand underneath her hoodie and rub the top of her head for a moment. It seemed to help a hint as she simply embraced my arm for the moment.

            Though, when I glanced over toward the dwarf-looking mother fucker and the massive, horned woman they just gave me a look before turning toward each other and simply raising their shoulders up in a shrug. “Eh, whatever he’s into, right?” Stated Gerald with a simple “Yup.” From Jayla as they turned their attention back over toward the TV. I knew that I had a few new abilities, so I simply kept my hand on the top of Yankaka’s head while I mentally went through the list of technology that had apparently been installed into her body. (Look to a separate post for the list.)

            It took just a few moments to explain what was new and, while she seemed quite… uncomfortable at first, a quick mention of food was enough to distract her from the current situation. Though, as soon as I turned my back she tried to cling to me once more… Thought I broke her habit of that. Eh, it was a kind gesture, so I didn’t complain. Besides, it can be rather difficult accepting that you now have chunks of metal in your body, which was something I understood all-too-well.

            It took an hour, but eventually Bang showed up with all of this clothing in hand, on, and so many other items in hand… Apparently he went shopping. Though, the large woman and the smaller guy ran up to him, ‘confiscated’ it in quick order, and began to run this little device over it in one hand and another small device in the other as if they were searching for something… Which left Bang with only a pair of shorts, but still.

            “Uh…. Who are the newcomers?” He asked, moving off toward me with nothing but a pair of cargo shorts. Taking that as the time to introduce everyone, I motioned from the two newcomers to Yankaka and Bang before motioning back over to them. “Jayla, Gerald… Yankaka, Bang… Yankaka, Bang… Jayla, Gerald.” I explained simply before taking the chance to walk over and close the door that Bang had left propped open.

            “Ah! I see. It’s good to see two new heroes of justice!” As the ninja spoke, he stepped up to them both and offered a hand… Which they simply broke out laughing for a good, long while at being called ‘heroes of justice’ before they each shook his hand and properly introduced themselves.

            After that, however, they set us all down and began to explain everything that was going on… Mega-corporations, magic, metahumanity, technology, social changes, the works. Though, they also gave us some advice such as ‘Don’t make a deal with a dragon’ and ‘Don’t go up against the Red Samurai’.

            Hmm… Simple enough. Though, now I must be careful of what I have on my person and with me at all times it seemed.

Twentieth Jump (Shadowrun) Perks/Equipment/Companions

Shadowrun

Location: Hong Kong

Background/Race: Newbie (Drop-In) and Human.

Team: 300cp

Yankaka: Razorgirl Human(?) = Yankaka is now much more proficient at murdering people in melee combat and has quite a few cybernetic upgrades... Why did I allow this?

Bang: Physical Adept Human = He is now a proper monk!

New Guy: Middle Aged Male Dwarf Ace Street Doc = I have no idea who this guy is, but he seems to be a very good medic.

New Girl: Young Female Troll Mercenary = Again... No idea who this woman is, but they are packing a rather big gun and just shot someone's ear off from a good mile away... They were aiming for said ear.

Perks: Awakened (100cp): I can now access this worlds magic, read auras, detect stuff on the astral plane, so on and so forth.

Resonance (600cp): Technomancy. Mental control of technology and the creation of sprites... These semi-autonomous programs. Cute, little buggers. 

Build/Repair (100cp): If I can understand how it works, I can understand how to make it work. I can easily construct any object as long as I have the tools and can easily repair/diagnose any existing object with practiced ease.

Sorcery (300cp): The casting of spells through sheer will power, I even start out with quite a few spells from various categories.

Equipment:

Contact: Johnson and Fence (Free): An agent and a merchant. Simple. 

Meta link (Free): Very basic commlink. Still much better than my phone from back home.

Spell Focus: Counterspelling (Free): A ring that makes it easier for me to counterspell. Simple.

Yamaha Raiden (100cp): Smarlink, internal silencer, and a recoil compensation system. Neat.

MCT Fly-Spy (100cp): Looks like nothing more than a large insect. Comes with thermographics, ultrasound, and a few other neat things.

Drawbacks: Assassin’s Creed (100cp): A code of honor that I agree with? Fair enough.

Criminal SIN (200cp): Apparently this says that I kicked every puppy in a pet shop, so now I am a criminal.. Great. Wait, 15% tax on everything!? That's just plain unfair. 

Hot under the Collar (300cp): Got a corporation after me... Shit.

Nineteenth Jump (Kingsman) Part 2

Intermission during the Kingsman Jump

            I let out a small sigh as I stepped up to Yankaka, who was currently laid out across the bed that we personally shared. We never did anything in this room, but I felt like it was time to change that fact… We had been together for more than a decade, so I thought that it was time to move things forward a little. As I stepped closer, she stretched out a little bit, her back arching just a hint that forced the hidden curves of her body against the fabric of her hoody.

            Ten years and I still did not know what lay beneath the black and white cloth that she wore, even on laundry day she never seemed to be out of one… I honestly didn’t even know where she kept obtaining them, but that wasn’t truly important to me. Kept an air of mystery about her and, if what occurred when her hood was pulled down the first time was anything to go off of, it was in everyone’s best interest for her to always have one.

            With a nervous sigh, I stepped up a little closer, the feline woman reached out to wrap her arms around me and gently pull me down onto the bed. I could feel her shivering, one of excitement at she pulled herself up close to me for the moment. “Sweet Guy… You look nervous, nya. Yankaka help?” She asked, that hidden chin coming to rest on my shoulder. She always could figure out how I felt emotionally… Couldn’t tell anyone as to why or how, but I welcomed the fact that she could.

            I simply reached back to set one of my hands over her own, the other lifting up an object that caused the woman’s bright, red eyes to widen as if she had saw one of the most wondrous things in the world. “Oh, actually I got you something. A new toy, heh. Would you like to try it out?” The item in question was smooth, narrow at the tip and fit snuggly in the palm of my hand. A tiny button was set near the base, indicating that it was exactly what it was meant to be. It was built for one purpose, fit to bring pleasure and enjoyment to those who made use of it.

            The Kaka simply smiled, pulling herself a little closer so that she could reach out to take a gentle hold of the hand that was holding the toy in question. “Why don’t Nice Guy use it, nya?” She suggested and I was more than happy to go along with it. Taking just a moment to pull away and lay down on the bed, I held up the toy, letting her take a look at it before I finally pressed the button.

            In an instant, a little, red dot appeared on the ceiling, which I brought down to the bed and then flicked it over to the wall, the Kaka leaping off toward it with an excited meow. Heh…. I knew that she would enjoy having a laser pointer to play with. Was it racist… Yes, but she knew what it was and still went after it.

APRIL FOOLS!

Nineteenth Jump (Kingsman)

Kingsman

Origin: Chav (Free)

Location: A random, decently sized, southern town.

Perks: Unflappable Manner (400cp): I will be almost impossible to startle or panic and I have very good control of my emotions.

Equipment: The Mightiest Pen (200cp): It is a very nice pen... With a point dart inside. 

A Proper Spark(200cp)(Click this.) The Watch to Observe (200cp): A very nice watch with a taser and amnesia darts.

Ah, Such a Relaxing Day

            It had been about a week since we arrived in this modern world and, considering the setting, I didn’t really keep any of my abilities active besides a few cosmetic additions for clothing and the like. No need to scare the populace and, besides, I had a few new toys… Finally have an actual lighter for my cigarettes. Either way, I was sitting in the main room of my apartment, enjoying my weekly glass of rum and watching TV when Bang came running out from the hallway and dived out the front door. “Tadek! Yankaka wants you!” was all he managed to get out as he left.

            If that wasn’t foreboding, the fact that Yankaka stepped out from the hallway with a large, pleased smile on her face as she stepped in front of the TV and leaned over for a moment. Every one of my senses were telling me that I should run for some reason, but I simply set my glass down on the coffee table. “Afternoon, Yan. Is everything alright?” Her hands were folded behind her back as she leaned just a little closer toward me.

“Yes, Nice Guy… It will be, nya. Yankaka found tickets to special event, nya. Tadek take Yankaka?” She asked with a worryingly soft tone of voice, her hands coming out from behind her to show off two brochures to this restaurant that was opening up today, right next to a rather familiar church… Oh well. It was a high class establishment, so I took just a moment to, in a small wave of black, shifted into my usual, classy attire and stood up from the couch to look the cat in her red eyes that seemed to be twitching a little. “Gladly. I owe you a date.”

The Kaka threw those brochures up into the air and jumped up and down with little hops, her usual tone of voice returning on the spot. “Yay! Sweet Guy and Yankaka finally go on date, nya! Now Yankaka doesn’t have to poison your drin-…” She paused for a moment, her ears lowering down a little at her admission. With a huff, I simply reached out to gently rub the top of her hoodie-covered head. “One… That wouldn’t work. Two, we have been over this. No taking Lina’s advice. I forgive you, though, as you seem to realize that would be a bad thing to do.”

Once Yankaka was smiling again, we headed out to the restaurant. The place was for the wealthy, sadly, so it wasn’t really of my own personal tastes… but, as Yankaka was smiling as wide as her visage would allow and occasionally wrenching her braid out of excitement, I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint her… especially not when I felt like doing so would be a very, very bad move on my part. We went to our padded seats, led along by a waitress who gave us about three different menus and took the time to explain today’s specials.

This seemed rather odd to Yankaka whose head was turning one way or the other, her ears and tail twitching with a mix of curiosity and continued excitement. Before we even got our bread, which I had to keep my date from reaching over for other people’s food and keep her attentive with conversation, a man came out, apparently he was the owner of the establishment, and stepped to the front of the room with a microphone in hand to welcome and thank us all for coming.

“Thank you all for coming! This establishment was built as a memorial… A memorial to my sons who passed in the line of duty, a memorial to my wife who died of heart break, and finally… a memorial to all of those who have lost loved ones to the grievances of war.” There was a moment of silence… and me nudging Yankaka with my foot to keep her from speaking up. “Again, thank you. May this restaurant remain open for many, many years to come… The proceeds will always be devoted to aiding those in need-“ He was interrupted as these people with signs and everything else came in, yelling and chanting various religious statements and causing issue.

One of them had the audacity to run up to Yankaka, yelling in her face, questioning her about her appearance and the fact that she had a moving tail and everything else. She, in return, yelled back at him and I took notice of the fact that her claws were starting to show. With a calm sigh, I stood up and moved in-between them, one of my hands reaching down to set itself on her shoulder as she was about to stand up. “Yan, put your claws away.” I mentioned quietly, the man in question glancing down to see those large, sickle-shaped claws that were disappearing into her sleeves.

“And you have no place yelling at her or speaking here-“ Before I could actually get my word across, he went running back to his group and they ran off, yelling something about a demon and needing to cleanse themselves. With a little growl, I gave Yan’s shoulder a gentle squeeze and glanced over toward the owner of the restaurant, who was visibly tearing up, before walking off to follow the group.

This led me to a little, one-room church where I was greeted by the speeches of their priest and, once they saw me, one woman with blonde hair stood up and started preaching at me for whatever reason. Instead of pushing my point, I turned around and started to walk out, all the way up until someone, I couldn’t tell who, yelled out “Be gone! Go back to your devilish harlot and the sinful establishment that you came from!” With a small wave of black, I transformed into a different appearance… Just in case one of them survived. Though, an odd ringing started to sound out for whatever reason.

Fight Scene Link (Click This)

            After I had left the church, having taken care of the disrespectful bunch, I shifted back into my actual appearance and attire before heading back over to the restaurant. Yankaka, for whatever reason, was sitting outside on the curb. “Yan, why aren’t you at the table?” I asked, moving to take a seat down next to her. She was gently clawing at that wooden carving she had of me with a sad expression to her visage.

            “Yankaka wanted first date to be good… They ruined it, nya. Now Nice Guy won’t take Yankaka on another date… First one’s bad, so he will think others are bad, nya.” From the fact that she didn’t seem to notice that I was there and how she never reacted to me speaking, not to mention the way she was talking, it was a safe bet that she had zoned out. I simply reached out to wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her in close with a huff.

            It took a moment, but it did break her trance. “Yan, don’t worry about it, alright? The date isn’t over and, even if it was over, we wouldn’t be alright. I would still want to go out on another one… Just cause a few bastards, may they rest in peace, came marching in wouldn’t change the fact that I enjoy spending time with you. Got it?” I grinned, the Kaka moving to lean up against me, one of her arms moving to slip in around my waist as she did. She still seemed worried, for one she wasn’t speaking anymore, but after a moment I managed to convince her to go back inside with me so that we could eat and enjoy the rest of our date.

            It wasn’t five minutes before we were kicked out when she attempted to knife the waitress for giving me a flirtatious compliment.

Eighteenth Post (Metroid)

Morph Ball… Worth it!

            This time around, we actually found ourselves back in the old Light of Terra… At least that’s what I thought it was considering there were tech priests running around and one of the Eldar on the ship came running by who I personally recognized and who had come with me on the ship. “Sir! Where are we?! What happened to the ship?” He asked as I simply climbed up to my feet and took a glance around my own personal bedroom.

            The walls, floors, ceilings, and even the furniture had taken on a much more advanced appearance. Smooth, lightly colored, metal hexagon plates lined the walls, smooth flooring with more curves and less, well… dark, gritty rails and plates. After going through my head for just a moment, It brought a bright smile to my face as I stepped up to the Eldar and gave him/her a small pat on the shoulder. “Welcome to Metroid this time around. The ship just got an upgrade you might agree with, heh.”

            After I sent him off and took the time to actually explain to everyone what just happened to the ship, which the captain was half and half about, I slipped off to gather everyone up and see about getting us out of the void of space and over to a proper docking area so that I may leave everyone to get acquainted with their 'new' ship and the technology attached to it.

            For now, however, I gathered everyone up into the dining room, except for Yankaka and Bang, who I had asked to leave me alone with the Sisters, of the warehouse for a bit of conversation… Specifically, I needed to talk to them about the fact that they were planning on leaving. Considering how this universe was, it was honestly one of the better ones for them to be left at, if they stayed with the Federation.

            I did my best to try and convince them to continue traveling with me, but as it was their choice in the end, I was less… adamant about such things. They each gave their reasons, Celestian being the most outspoken this time around as what I physically was and what I accepted, my very existence went against her views and, in turn, it did affect the other three.

Cierra’s reason was that she figured that I would be fine without her around, and besides, I could always visit post spark or with the return pad and, since they were probably going to be stuck in timestop, it would be as if no time passed. Fia was similar and, while Lina was a bit more ify about all of this, she settled down once I informed her that I would be visiting… Even if Celestian’s brow furrowed at the possibility. The fact that she didn’t object surprised me, but was quite welcome.

In the end, we parted ways at the first stop that we came to. I left them with the gifts I had given them throughout our time and, well, while it caused my heart to sink that they would be removed from my travels, it was just like anything else. I would see them again, so there was nothing to worry about.

They each did leave me with a memento to remember them by… Celestian left me with the car from Young Justice as she had no use for it anymore, Fia left me with a rather large pile of stories that she had wrote, Cierra actually gave Yankaka a cookbook of her very recipes and asked her to make sure I continued to have something sweet each day to make sure everything was well… which Yankaka was more than happy to agree to… and Lina left me with one of the paintings that she did in her spare time that was of herself. I would explain further, but it’s Lina and Yankaka was twitching a little by the time it was put away, if that answers anything.

Once they were gone, I decided to stay in my quarters for the day… Give myself some time to settle. I still had the picture and Meddy was kind enough to keep me company. While I didn’t want Yankaka around while I was in a bad mood, Meddy has seen every face I have, so I didn’t mind if she spent some time with me. Besides, I assured Yankaka that we would finally go on a date while we were here. Come to think of it… I am a terrible boyfriend sometimes.

We spent time together and went on short outings, but we never went on an official date because of the whitelight virus monster (Which popped up again cause I forgot about the arm.) and because the military was after my hide. Now that we were relatively safe and I had full control of my body… Though, there was something gnawing at the back of my mind, I simply pushed that off to the side. I knew what it was, but it was of no importance as of this moment in time.

For now, however, I took some time to myself to get used to my new upgrades. Because of the combinations and everything, I could actually transform properly… Change appearance, physical sex, voice, everything that I could physically change about myself. Even my cybernetics and other technologies, once integrated, could change with me as they were incorporated into my cellular structure on a level that I physically don’t have the knowledge to explain it properly. In short, the line between biology and technology had been erased at some point for me.

All of this was minor, however… There was one thing that was truly of note, of being mentioned. Setting myself up in the main room of the warehouse where I had plenty of open space before I took a step forward and rolled into a ball. I appeared very similar to Samus’ morph ball from what I could tell, but there were a few obvious changes in appearance.

The outer shell was the smooth, grey carapace of my Prototype armor, a smooth, dusky organic metal running through the gaps with small traces of black running through it all as if it was keeping it held together, the circle in the center of each side being a small, blue orb of similar make to the black material… Aka, organic.

I felt so compact, aware of everything around me and able to… to roll… So nostalgic. I remember playing Metroid Prime back home and this was the most entertaining part of the game. Worth every penny or trouble. I felt on top of the world… up until I realized I was a little stuck. As this was the first time I did such a thing, I was having trouble actually unraveling for one reason or another, which forced me to call out for Yankaka (As Bang was elsewhere.) for aid.

She came in with a little meow, glancing around for me until she caught sight of the rolling ball that was obviously new. “Hey, Yankaka… Can I get some he-“ The cat woman suddenly leaped toward me, barreling over with me in claw as she came to a stop, instinctively… At least I hoped that it was instinct… batting me from side to side, relentlessly rolling me around without any sort of mercy. “Oh, Nice Guy got Yankaka a present, nya! Little racist… but, I love it! He's so nice to Yankaka... Needs to take Yankaka on a date, but this make up for it, nya!” She exclaimed, which informed me that she did not hear me speak from the ball... and that her dangerous attachment may run a little deeper than I thought.

“Yankaka! It’s me! Stop knocking me around, I am not yarn!” I stated firmly, which caused her to pause for a moment. Everything seemed fine until she let out a sharp gasp, her sickle-shaped claws extending from those little slits in her jacket. “Nice Guy alright, nya? Yankaka help… Get you out of that trap gift!” Her toothy grin lowered, her eyes gaining lines to denote anger. Ah… Fuck… Still worth it!

Eighteenth Jump (Metroid) Perks And the Like

Metroid

Location: Hmm… So, I can choose? I choose… That place. That one right there.

Age/Origin: 20 (Does my age matter at this point?)/ [NO-DATA]

Perks:
Find My Way (Free): Something of use or interest always seems to find me or I find it. Hmm.

Justice Will Prevail (Free): To ease the burden of my own mind, my words have apparently become earnest and true.

One With The Galaxy (100cp): No matter how much of me is machine, I will still have a soul and the metal won't interfere with spiritual senses or abilities. I am also a bit better at using esoteric practices to give me new insights into technology.

Power Armor (1500sp free, 1500cp to sp): What’s Old Is New Again – Praetor Suit (100sp), Life Support (Free), Internal HUD (Free), Suit Up (200sp), Bio-Suit (200sp), Power Insulation System (Free), Varia Suit (100sp), Hazard Shield (200sp), Gravity (200sp), Light (300spD), Fusion – Blacklight Virus (600sp), Legendary (600sp), Arm Cannon System (Free), Power Beam (Free), Light Beam (200sp), Dark Beam (200sp), Annihilator Beam (100sp. Requires Dark and Light.), Scan Visor (Free), Morph Ball (200sp), Dark Visor (100sp)

Equipment: Masked Identification Signal (Free): A simple ID that lets me, both physically and electronically, come off as a civilian... Useful.

Recharge Station (Free): Refuels everything in my power armor, repairs it, reloads everything. Simply a warehouse attachment.

Spaceship – Imported the Light of Terra. Now with cryostasis systems, an improved look, and properly FTL. (Free),

Drawbacks: Corruption (+400cp) In short... Mental corruption for awhile that I have to fight off till the end of the jump.

A Ravenous Abyss (+200cp): Everything that could be considered a enemy... Space pirate, alien creatures, and other things of that nature... Is much better at giving killing me a shot.

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Life Support: Provides protection against vacuum, has a self-sustaining oxygen supply, and helps to repair the suit. It also combats toxins/poisons that move past the seal, but it does take time. Only possesses one tank.

Internal HUD: A HUD that depicts the status of life support, weapons (Ammo included), and a map system that automatically updates. Needs to be modified manually upgraded, but it is quite flexible.

Suit Up: Allows me to read as flesh and bone/whatever I am made of instead of a walking tank.

Biosuit: This seamlessly integrates my power armor with my biology, making it impossible to outwardly tell that I have any physical augmentations. It even allows my body to naturally repair the suit. In short, it was turned into special cybernetics.

Power Insulation System: Protects against hacking, general systems damage, and prevents short circuits. The system will reboot if it is compromised in any way.

Varia: Creates an isolated temperature environment for the user. Protects against extreme heat, including volcanic caverns or the lack of heat, such as the nighttime arctic. The internal body temperature of the user’s body can be adjusted at will, too!

Hazard Shield: A self-sustaining energy field that protects against radiation, toxic waste, poison, acid rain, Phazon… Anything of that nature. It isolates them and prevents it from affecting the user. Even if something is strong enough to get through, the shield will still block any poisonous or long-term effects.

Gravity: The suit creates an isolated gravitational field around the user. Pressure and force have a mitigated or nonexistent effect on the user and allows them to adjust the personal ‘gravity’ of the suit as long as some form of gravity exists near them. As a bonus, impact based weapons or things relying on kinetic force do less damage.

Light: If a dimension or world will simply kill you by you existing there, it no longer will. The suit and it’s user will never be altered against your will nor harmed by an environment where bent space, dimensional horrors, or even the howling winds of the soul will affect you. The beings of such worlds will have to fight you personally to have any power over you.

Fusion: A perfect fusion between technology and biology, created from the Blacklight Virus that inhabits my own being and meshed with power armor technology. The benefits are twofold. Any sort of biological natural ability the virus possessed is accessible through the suit and any technology that is installed will immediately integrate with the suit’s biology without fear of conflict. I can even genetically modify the suit like any other organism and the technology will adapt in turn. Not always a 1:1 effect and will require research and trial and error… but, it may, no… is… the link between a bioweapon and a suit of armor.

Legendary: Now the power armor can take damaged/stolen technological devices from friend or foe and immediately install it without error or fuss. For example… Taking the module behind a flamethrower will give me the same flamethrower’s ability… Even applies to stuff taken from cybernetics.

Arm Cannon System: The classic arm cannon! Of course, it is stylized to my exact strain and can, because of the previously stated abilities, be transformed in appearance, but still. Oh and it has the neat ability to toggle or combine weapon systems that are now going to be mentioned and has a switch to set it to ‘stun’ or ‘kill’.

Power Beam: It fires yellow, pellet-sized charges of energy… Hmm.

Light Beam: A high temperature beam of light that is good at piercing defenses, but is also the natural enemy to things that rely on the ‘dark’ or the ‘absence of light’ to power their physical forms and can even be counted as a ‘holy’ weapon.

Dark Beam: This beam acts similar to an acid, attaching to and burning through the flesh and armor of whatever it touches. Even gets worse if it touches vital organs. Even spatially displaced or dimensionally intangible beings can be hurt by this weapon.

Annihilator Beam: This is a combination of both the Light and Dark Beams with a rapid rate of fire, being able to home in on targets without any user input, and takes the best qualities of both beams and mixes them into one. Even has a faster rate of fire.

Scan Visor: It scans individual objects, persons, or otherwise and can give basic, cursory details about the subject in question. If the armor has access to a larger intelligence network or any sort of long-term data banks, it can even give fairly accurate conclusions and guesses about the scanned subjects.

Dark Visor: This allows me to view things that exist in spatial or dimensional distortions between the reality I am in and the one they are “close” to. Also good at spotting portals and the like.

Morph Ball: Need I explain this one? Has the Prototype look and even has those little energy bombs.

This armor also possesses everything from the Praetor Suit and is integrated with every single piece of technology I have had installed in/on my body at some point that would be reasonable to install. What this specific combination is telling me is, though. I can actually alter my entire body... Have to try and figure out where the cybernetics begin and end and where the biological aspects begin and end now... Kinda weird, really.

Installed cybernetics include: The MC Package from Deus Ex, Cyborg Hindu God Body enhancements and Mantra Reactor, Monofilament Whip, Shock Hand, Dermal Armor Plating, Shenfield, and the Deus Ex sunglasses… Even if they aren’t actually cybernetic.

Installed weapon systems: Plasma Gun (LoT), Storm Bolter, Stakethrower, BFG 9000, Gauss Cannon

Seventeenth Jump (Prototype) Part 2

((As a out of character note. Tadek can regenerate the primary cybernetics of his body because of Cyborg Hindu God Body stating that they can be regenerated. However, this does make it to where he still loses cybernetics that are outside that perk. Second... Any weapons formed from his limbs are actually extensions being grown around his cybernetics and not the cybernetic aspects being altered.))

Armor Reference
Claw Reference

To Accept What You Have Become

            Fire and smoke filled the air, people screaming and buildings collapsing wherever that beast chased me. Further and further into the city the fight went, leaving pain and destruction in our wake. I attempted to step away from the city and lead him to a deserted area, but the large, viral monster did everything it could to keep me near these people and the structures they resided within. I came to realize that it was to make sure it continued to have fuel to regenerate and function with, as well as a psychological tactic against me.

            My companions were spread throughout the city, helping where they could to get everyone out of the city while I simply kept the blasted thing busy. It wasn’t in my nature to help everyone, but the least I could do was give them a chance and prevent a few casualties that the abomination, and at times my stray attacks, were causing. Fire worked… Anti-regeneration worked… but, both were temporary as even anti-regeneration was never permanent, at least the form I possessed. Only really worked against the immediate injury and still allowed for extreme levels to surpass it. Heck, I saw the thing pull flesh around the injury for limbs and physical structure to work by bypassing the injury entirely. It simply grew flesh around it instead of healing until the anti-regeneration ceased.

            Sad thing was, it was pulling out everything while I continued to suppress abilities that it had nothing against using, primarily those that came from this world itself and I wouldn’t activate my Ghost Rider aspect or use Mantra… Not here and not against this thing. The downside was I couldn’t even figure out why I wouldn’t… They would help to end this sooner rather than later and it didn’t have access to them.

            I did not have any time to really think about why, instead being knocked through buildings, the monster always caught within the chains of my flail to keep it within reach, but I could not pull it around, only fight to keep it from going off and eating. That was up until it tore the length of the coiled links from it’s body in a show of blood and torn sinew. It’s claws closed in around it and, with a sharp yank, swung me around into a nearby building.

            Next thing I knew, I was on the ground with a chunk of rebar sticking out of my side and glass slowly falling away from my body as each were individually pushed out by my comparatively minor regeneration. Like they say… Material matters not if they can hit you hard enough… Best example from back home was a record that was half-way into a foot thick, wooden pole from a tornado.

            With a sharp groan, I rolled over and took a hold of that piece of rebar, slowly pulling it out from my body while I watched the monster take it’s time to recover. People were running around us, trying to find refuge where they could or simply get some distance. Honestly, it looked as if that walking virus was taking it’s pick from the running humans around it. “Look at them run. Does it remind you of anything? Of anyone?” It asked, taking a moment to stretch it’s claws and transform one of it’s arms into a coiled, bladed length that I personally knew as a Whipfist.

            “Ah, shut the fuck up. You’re just trying to get under my skin.” I forced myself up to my feet, ignoring the concrete that fell away as, despite having been half-way buried in it, the weight meant nothing to me. “Even if I am not a hero, I am not a monster. While that means I can’t defeat you, at least according to what you say, I can at least make your life hell.” The rebar came right out with a sharp hiss of pain on my part as I tore it out of my torso, the thing having just missed what I think was still my liver by an inch or two… Not that such a thing would kill me at this point.

            The creature didn’t comment at first, instead flexing the shifting coils of it’s arm and the massive spearhead where the thing’s fist used to be. “Then, if you’re neither hero nor monster… You shall not care if I feed.” Up to this point, I really hadn’t cared in the same way that most others would. A few dead were to be expected, after all. All were adults from what I could tell… I expected non-adults to be caught in the fight, sadly, but it was something I tried to avoid to the best of my ability.

            My attention turned over toward where the monster was looking. There were two children off near some of the rubble, one attempting to get the other one free of the rocks with tears streaming down his cheeks. The creature looked back toward me before turning and sending that Whipfist out, the links extending and seeming to grow in number as it shot toward the two of them. “Fucking shit!”

            Yes, I expected even the younglings to be injured during all of this, but that was a direct attack toward them. My feet moved first, my arms second, and with only a following gust did I cross the distance. Concrete tore up underneath me as dust blew past, my hands gripping onto the spread digits of the Whipfist to keep it from reaching the children in front of me. Wait… In front of me?

            Glancing down, I realized that in my rush I didn’t actually turn the correct way, the claw-like protrusions that came from the spearhead had gone through various points of my body before I had grabbed them to stop them from advancing any further. Blood ran down my body, those claws starting to close on my torso, catching metal, bone, and flesh at it tried to close. “I… am incompetent… when it comes to saving people.”

            While the children were safe, my feet came out from under me as the monster pulled me close, the length of the Whipfist curving as I flew through the air and was brought straight down through one of the closest semi-untouched skyscrapers, going from the twelve floor straight to basement, the building closing in on itself as glass, concrete, and all came down around me. At least those claws were out of me, but I felt hollow… Physically so, as if chunks were torn out of my body as the spearhead had been retracted.

            I couldn’t see much, but I could feel plenty. My body was wrenched in odd ways… Limbs forced to take unnatural positions, rebar and glass sticking out of my body while I denied my physiology from doing as it should through the use of ‘Toggle’. Hmm… Seems I was going to die here… A world left to die as I would either remain dead or be forcibly sent back… I didn’t know which, honestly. I didn’t like the possibility of either, but it would be my fault a world died, too stubborn to accept the cards I had been given and took so that I could stop something worse than I.

            Nah, come to think of it, that would make me worse. Condemning an entire world to death and worse just because I refused to change and to accept, grasping onto old, corrupted ideals and thoughts simply because I didn’t want to change. My eyes, clouded by dust, stone, and blood, slowly started to close, my body weakening as I could physically feel myself dying… and then I refused.

            My teeth clenched, a broken jaw being pulled back together by dark tendrils, my body slowly pushing up against the weight that was resting upon it. Limbs forced themselves back into place with sounds of shifting metal, bones and metal being forced back into place as wounds closed and fire enveloped them all. As one of my arms snapped back into place, it erupted through the stone to grasp and claw at whatever it could to help pull me through. Thing was… My arm wasn’t that long, the biomass itself listening to my desires to make it all possible.

            When I refused to die, to condemn a world, I accepted everything else. I was no hero… but, I could be a monster… and by what I was given, I wasn’t human by even the descriptions of my perks. I climbed out of that hole, my blackened body crawling out as smoke filled the air, the very stone and metal around me melting from the warp fire surrounding me. “You’re… Fucking… Dead!” I called out to get the monstrosity’s understandably surprised attention. He knew what I could recover from and what I refused to activate… but, I don’t think he expected me to accept it.

            “You’re right… I’m not a hero! I am not even human anymore! Not physically, not mentally… but, that doesn’t mean I have to slaughter others… and I am fucking done focusing on the past!” My hunched form stood up from the rubble, a black and grey carapace growing around it as I stood straight, the flames dying away to reveal the faint, blue ones that escaped from any gaps that they could find in the forming armor. “Always beating myself up over it… Letting the horrors I caused tear at me when it is all in the past! I may not have had a reason to fight, to kill, to go against what I thought was right… Nothing justifies what I have done, but if I let it continue to consume me, I won’t ever grow!”

            My feet slowly stepped forward, my arms dangling in front of me as I stumbled along, my body forcing everything back into place underneath the armored carapace. The flesh and the carapace moved as commanded, my fingers elongating, segmenting into proper, forearm length blades as I continued forward. “Too stubborn to accept new ideals… Too thick headed to realize I could be so much more or even act upon it when I realized such… and I am tired of giving these speeches when I realize something!”

            The creature was speechless, it’s large frame shifting as it actually seemed to take a step back away from my advancing form. “And now… I actually care. I care what is going to happen… Looking forward and in the present instead of focusing on the past. My name is Tadek Pezrin…” I took a solid step forward, my back snapping straight as I did. “I am no longer human, but I am not evil…” I took another step, my claws stretching out as if they, themselves, ached to sink into whatever they could. “And I will stop whatever gets in my fucking way in making sure others don’t do or see what I have wrought before!” If I wasn’t pissed, I would realize how cringy this was.

            After those last words left my mouth I burst forward, concrete beneath me being turned into miniature craters of dust and sundered stone with every movement. The monster was quick to act, knowing full well what was to come. One of it’s arms shifted into the iconic sword and came forward and came forward. I simply walked right into it, my body coming to a stop once it was firmly nestled into my abdomen. “Seems you’re not as scary as I though-“

            I cut him off, one set of claws sinking straight into his arm to hold it still while the other came around to cut it off at the bicep in a spray of blood, fire, and torn flesh as I severed the limb, leaving behind a trail of the blue, holy fire from being a Ghost Rider where I had freed the sword from it’s owner. As the creature stumbled back, I calmly pulled it out, the flesh and metal sealing in behind it as it was freed before simply tossing it away. “Got your arm… You know how many times I lost mine.”

            I had him at this point, the creature starting to turn so it could take a tactical retreat, only to be stopped as I leapt on top of it’s back, those segmented blades tearing and cutting away at anything they could reach till the thrashing, fleeing creature’s very body gave in and collapsed. The flesh that was left behind tried to seal itself, but the fire prevented it from healing too quickly and, after a few seconds of this, it began to slow down any further. Every time it tried to stand, I turned around to grab a leg and tear it away, slinging it away with little care for where it went. Another arm here… Flesh there… Tearing the skull away every few moments till the creature finally stopped moving and it’s regeneration had come to a crawl.

            As a point, I didn’t stop. People kept their distance from what I could see out of the corners of my eyes as I widely tore away at a lifeless, burning corpse, attacking till the blood and the sinew had melted away into nothing but ash and scorch marks. Once it was all over, I eventually clambered up to my feet and started to wander off, the armor, claws, and fire vanishing in a rolling, black wave across my body to be replaced by my usual, classy appearance.

            Taking just a moment to pull out my cigarettes, set one between my lips, and light it before stashing the container away and turning to wander off… Only to be greeted by the watching eyes of a large crowd of people that were hidden away in buildings, behind cars, and various other means of cover and the nervous gaze of those waiting for me to attack. Just how long was I tearing at a body for people to actually stop running? It wasn’t until I saw my companions, who were split up across various points in the crowd that I actually felt a little nervous as to what was going to happen next.

            Celestian would never approve of this by ANY means, nor any of the other Sisters of Battle more than likely. On top of it, Bang seemed to have hopes that I could one day become a hero and I went out and outright denied, potentially even refused the possibly in his eyes. Yankaka, well… I don’t even know how she might act to such a thing when it came down to it after watching me be put through so much, only to do things that no normal being should be capable of.

            They knew that I had all those perks… It was probably fine, right? They knew I was infected, that I had those Ghost Rider abilities… They knew I could do things that humans shouldn’t. I was given my answers when they each stepped forward, a few people trying to stop them only to be put at ease or simply pushed away, depending on the person. First… Were the Sisters.

            Celestian came up and gave me a disapproving glare, one of her hands coming up to adjust her monocle before she spoke. “The initiates and I have come to an agreement, Mr. Pezrin. We had assumed that there was the chance that you may succumb to what you were and we came to the conclusion that, if you happened to do so, we would have no choice but to leave.” That caused my heart to sink to my stomach and, while I did take a glance at the other Sisters, they glanced away uncomfortably. I could understand why, though. For them, they honestly had only been through a few decades, but… They were indoctrinated into certain beliefs and they had few actual ties to continue staying with me at this point. “We will await a suitable universe, however, before we leave… As long as you keep control of yourself.”

            Bang stepped up next, setting his hand on my shoulder as he did. “Don’t worry, Tadek. I will stay around. Even if you think of yourself a monster, I know you aren’t. Even if you are, I shall help lead you onto the correct path!” He stated firmly, offering me a reassuring smile just before stepping away and allowing Yankaka to step up.

            Her ears were pinned back and, really, I had no idea what to expect as to how she might react to the overly dramatic mess I had caused. It took a moment, but she eventually stepped up and simply wrapped her arms around me and rested her head against my shoulder. “Nice Guy isn’t a monster. Not normal, but not a monster.” I simply returned the embrace and, while I realized that I had bigger issues to handle… For one, I need to get all of them out of here before the military catches up and shoots us, but I also need to see if I can work something out with the Sisters, if at all possible.

            All in due time, I suppose… All in due time.

Seventeenth Jump (Prototype) Part 1

Only Heros Can Kill Monsters

            We were sadly split up at the start of the jump. Another drop-in scenario where I woke up with no idea where I was for the most part till I had ran through my head for memories and actually saw what was going on. The Prototype universe… Not exactly where I wanted to be at any given time, but at least it was one of the many universes that I knew something about.

            It took some time, but once everyone was gathered up, we worked on getting out of the city before the quarantine hit and, honestly, it wasn’t too difficult to do as we got out within the first week. It was… heartwarming to see that everyone was with me. Granted, their reasons were a mix of insults, forgiveness, and Bang’s exact words were “You just need an example to set yourself on the path of love and justice!”, so… Eh. Still, I welcomed their company and, after having to explain that I was now dating Yankaka and all of that was over… Which didn’t take long as Bang expected it and everyone else seemed fine after a week or two, we went about finding somewhere safe to set up shop for a while.

            After going through the mental checklist of what I had from the jump, however, I did realize one little issue… There would be something coming this way eventually. I don’t remember when the being actually infected me, but it apparently had and was waiting to find and finish consuming me… That or simply kill me because I was the only threat on this planet for it at this point.

            As we had setup shop in Chicago, we were fairly safe as we were a decent distance from New York. I sadly didn’t know exactly how long it might take for a now super-powered, Ains-level intelligent monstrosity to find us.

            While I hated it, I still had to eat raw biomass… While everyone in the group did know that I was infected, I kept everything turned off… I couldn’t turn off the origin, however, so I had to venture out into the closest forest in search of deer, coyotes, and other beasts to get the biomass required to continue existing at this point and, after enough time, I decided to return to New York… Needed to take Alex Mercer and that one woman whose name I can’t remember. Otherwise, the virus was going to continue to spread, destroy, and evolve.

            As I had my own abilities, I was thinking not at a disadvantage. It took a while to find Alex Mercer, but once I found him, I tracked and followed him for a few months till he found that one woman and, right when he finished consuming her (Just as he did at the end of the first game.), I lit him up like a Christmas tree with warp fire till there wasn’t even any blood left. Simple. The virus couldn’t direct itself, so the hive should fall apart, given time.

            What surprised me was the fact that I didn’t run into the Supreme Hunter. Would have thought that it was going to attack me during my time in the city, but it never did… Considering I could fly, the quarantine couldn’t stop me from leaving once my business was done, so I did instead of trying my luck.

            Well, I should have expected what I found. Everything from New York to Chicago was in ruins. People were outright missing, trees and concrete were torn up, and buildings were in shambles, if they were even present at times… Not to even try and describe what happened to anything they could even attack whatever passed through. I followed along the path as fast as my legs could physically take me. The good news was that I still had the magical aspects and, probably, the cybernetic enhancements compared to the creature, but if what the stuff I was given from the jump was true… This damn thing wasn’t going to die that easily.

            When I got back to Chicago, I was greeted with a mix of gunfire, explosions, sirens, and the yelling of both civilians and military personal. It was obvious that the creature wasn’t actually trying, otherwise there wouldn’t even be a city. “Probably trying to draw me in... I hope that my companions are staying out of it.” I commented with a slightly worried huff before continuing on into the city. Being mindful of myself, I moved as quickly as I could, flashing miles at a time in search of that sentient, viral monster.

            As the usual stories go, it found me before I ever found it. This came to my knowledge with an arm to the face. The monster close lined me, sending my head back as my feet went out from underneath me. My momentum carried me forward, sadly, causing me to skip along the concrete like a stone across water through a few buildings till I eventually came to a stop in a tank that was now twisted and torn metal, the head of one of the crew members sticking out from the wreckage to greet me. “… Ow.”

            With a huff, I climbed out of the wreckage and, just as my feet were about to touch the ground, I found my vision obscured by concrete dust and a large, white-red fist that was soon followed by another, and another, and another. Thing was, I could actually feel my face starting to cave in as these earth-shattering blows connected, each one harder than the last before I could see this grey, carapace-like substance grew around his entire arm before it came down like a hammer.

            Thinking quickly, I used my psionic ability to bring me up and fold inward, barely avoiding the strike that sent jagged obelisks of rebar and stone up into the air. I brought my legs around and snapped them out into the side of my opponents head, send him flying through the obstructions a good ten feet away. While one half of my face was slowly repairing itself, blood pouring out from that side as I floated out of the crater and set myself back down on the ground. “Ah, the-… Thrrre…” I held up one of my fingers to tell the creature, as it pulled itself up out of the stonework, to give me a moment. My free hand reached up to snap my jaw back into place. “Ack… Ah, there you are.”

            The creature was hulking, standing at what I personally thought as over seven feet tall and easily five foot wide with a surprisingly humanoid shape. It appeared similar to a white and red Carnage, only much more massive with broader shoulders and thick limbs. “There you are.” It stated, those bleach-white eyes narrowing while its fang-filled jaw never moved. It didn’t appear to possess lips, constantly baring six inch long fangs that were as thick as large kitchen knives. “Others fled… Will you flee?”

            “No, cause I am a hero-“ I was cut off short, my body dropping into a crouch to avoid a wild strike from the beast, those carapace-sheathed arms flailing over me. I brought myself up, slamming my fist straight into its vulnerable gut, only to be stopped. My forearm was embedded into its gut, the creature preventing me from moving as one of those carapace fists slowly morphed into blades, curved and sharp, reaching out as long as my forearm. “No hero. Denying monster.” It stated before that clawed hand took hold of my torso and physically tore me away itself… Leaving my arm behind in the process. “I know your memories. You deny. You’re no hero!”
            It slammed me into the ground a few times, my ribs cracking and the concrete below raising up with every crushing movement before it simply tossed me aside. It all happened so fast that I barely had time to react, my missing arm causing me quite a bit of pain… What was with me and losing limbs?! “I’m a monster to you. You deny you’re a monster and it takes a hero to kill a monster. That's how stories go.” The creature stated as I slowly climbed up to my feet.

            “Fucking shit… Why do you even care!?” I directed my working arm toward the beast, sending a blinding flash of heat, flames arcing from my eyes as it simply formed a shield to deflect the blast of heat. Flesh melted on contact, smoke and steam filling the air as the monster advanced upon me. It’s free arm took on the classic, elongated cleaver that was iconic to the series. “Worthless. A hero kills a monster… A monster kills a monster. You kill only things monsters kill.”

            From what I could tell, the creature was simply playing with me. We were still in the same area, so I know it was just chatting… Playing with something it probably considered prey at this point. My arm was slowly reforming, but I had lost sight of the first one that I had just lost. I planted my feet and burst forth, the monster’s shield caving underneath the force of my repeated blows before I simply grabbed the edge of his shield and vaulted over. Meat and sinew snapped and wrenched grotesquely under the force of my kick, the creature’s lower jaw twisting before finally snapping free.

            It’s upper fangs dug and tore into my leg, metal and blood flying as it brought that big cleaver around in a wide swing. Twisting my body sharply, I narrowly avoided the blade as it glided across my chest, the nearly monomolecular weapon cutting clothing and all as it went across. With a burst of flight, I flipped back, my hand grabbing at its jaw, completely ignoring the fact that they were impaling my palm as my feet planted themselves and, with a quick push and pull, I leaped away from the monster in a shower of blood, the top half of its head held between my fingers.

            As my other arm had yet to heal fully, I lowered my hand down, planted my foot on the torn portion of the creature’s skull, and ripped my hand free of it’s teeth. The main body never stopped moving, the head visibly reforming in a few seconds as it turned to face me. Our movements, while normal to the both of us, were barely even flashes of color to anyone who happened to be looking, sometimes it wasn’t anything more to a focused observer than sudden bursts of splattered blood and crunching sounds before their brain registered anything happened once we paused our movements.

            My arm had almost recovered by the time the creature spoke, glaring at me once again. “You can’t keep up. You will die.” Just before it finished recovering, the creature moved toward me at full speed, it’s shield melting away to form another cleaver. While I was trying to figure out how the being could form metal, I wasn’t entirely worried about that at this moment. I reached into the black void of my inventory and drew my flail, the chain straightening into a proper haft through telekinetic manipulations so that I could parry each of the blows that the creature sent my way. As I only had one hand currently, I was being slowly driven back and knocked around with each parry.

            This went on for a full minute, sparks flying with every parried blow, my body bending and twisting to avoid any secondary strikes he sent my way, even once I had my other hand once more to brace each blow, the creature’s hulking frame kept forcing me back. Even if we were moving faster than any person could help up with the blows, I forced us to a slow crawl, trying to not lose what ground I had in the process. Every few swings from the beast was returned with a single strike in return, the properties of the flail allowing my blows to shatter bone, metal, and sunder flesh, but the being continued to regenerate faster than I could even damage it. Fire would work, but I couldn’t concentrate long enough to produce anything.

            Wait… I still had Ghost Rider and other flame abilities. Hmm…