The Evrensel Conflict -- Prologue: Chapter 2B -- From Ashes (OUTDATED)

Wade Von Doom

All Caps when you spell the man's name
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. Speed of Light
  2. Multiple posts per day
Writing Levels
  1. Advanced
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
Genres
Sci-fi, modern, horror, a bit of dark romance stories.
"Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."
-George Orwell

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In one second, you are in your home world, doing something of great importance, minding your own business, or relaxing in a place you find comfort in. Then, before you could blink, something flashed before your eyes. A bight neon green blinds you, like a camera flash suddenly went off in front of your eyes. Suddenly, your body feels like it's falling. Gravity pulls your left, right and center, spinning you all around as the ground beneath your feet disappear, as if you jumped out a plane, and now gravity was sending you back down to the ground below, with the wind and speed of your falling hitting your face.

As quickly as it began, your feet hit the ground as if you simply jumped only a few inches off it, or perhaps you landed another way, on your face, back, you did feel like you were falling from a great height, so maybe you feel nauseous from such an experience, if you've never fallen like that before. You'd only have a scuff or two on your body from the fall if you didn't land on your feet, no bruises or broken bones. You simply fell, with that lights blinding effect still wavering as your eyes adjust. However, the scenery has changed drastically. Cold wind is blowing at your face, already chilling your face. Snow lightly trickles down from the sky to the ground, with clouds blocking the sky, no way of telling the time of day. Around you are broken down cars and ruined buildings, decades old, with holes around the ground from explosions by artillery strikes. Old skeleton bones rest under the snow, some human, others not.

destroyed-cityscape-everlite.jpg


Ruins of what once was civilization. Now barren and lifeless. There is however a glimmer of hope, as beyond the crumbling buildings lie bright lights, those coming from buildings just like these skyscrapers. Perhaps beyond where you stand now, there is still some part of this city still standing from whatever happened here.

But, you are not just a regular person standing in this wasteland. You were important in your world. You know this, because the world seemed against you. People tried to stop you from achieving your goals, whether justified or not. You played a role in your world you were to play, and now, it seems that progress has been haulted... or has it?

This is a Brave New World, after all.​
 
Red "Jason Todd" Hood

Jason's day was going swimmingly, at least in his eyes. He had managed to track down Professor Pyg and shot the sick man down before he claimed another victim.

All it took was five rounds, as Pyg took the first two shots to the chest like a champ so the third one was put into his knee, the fourth into the other knee and the final one into the skull. All the while Pyg's making that god awful noise that sounds like someone put a snorkel onto an actual pig and went through the process of 'preparing' it for the slaughter.

The would-be victim was thankful but scared of him, which was understandable. If you were about to sliced up or kidnapped to have some psycho work on you to fulfill some plastic surgeon fetish or something, then all of a sudden a more heavier armed masked psycho gun down the first one, you'd be a whole less thrilled to be near the area.

So as she ran off after saying a quick 'thank you' Jason holstered his two custom handguns, before making his getaway before the cops or even worse, he showed up. As while Jason was armed and dangerous in his own right, getting the attention of the police or the Caped Crusader would not end well for him. But as the man ran down the alleyway to get away from the murder scene, he felt the ground beneath him give way with a bright blinding flash of light. Which made Jason think that Hal had shown up and ambushed him.

The lack of a cheesy one liner about rings or something made Jason reconsider that idea. As he continued to fall for what seemed like forever, making him regret not snagging a grapple gun in the past. As surely when he landed, Jason would at the least break a couple dozen bones before dying a agonizing death.

So imagine his surprise when instead of landing and becoming a sudden stain on the pavement, he landed roughly but not enough to break anything, on the ruined remains of a car. Rolling off onto the dilapidated road that said ruined car was on, nausea suddenly filling his mind as if he just did eight shots of hardcore whiskey and been spun around. Fighting back down the bile that had risen in his throat, he would slowly get up. While he didn't break anything, he could feel a bruise or two getting to form. Which would be bad, but for someone who dealt with them almost daily. It wasn't horrible.

As he looked around, his pistols at the ready, he realized the state of the nearby area.

"The hell?" His voice came out, slightly altered by the helmet.

Just what had he gotten himself into?
 
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Arc
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Arc had planned to have his day off without any stress. His favorite place to relax had been the small little tree in the center of the park in town. Despite the town constantly being in motion and making sounds of crushing rocks every few hours, the place was quite peaceful. It was a large area of grassland, having a few trees speckle the area. Flowers grew and bloomed softly in the wind. Every once in a while, a pedal would be plucked from one of the many flowers and carried by the wind into the distance. There was one tree Arc particularly liked in the field of flowers and trees. This specific tree had a small carving of a heart on it with no name in it. Even though it probably hurt the tree’s growth, it was always nice to see on the large tree.

The grass and roots of around the tree felt like they had molded around Arc after he had laid in the same spot so many times. Leaves slowly floated down from the tree in the summer breeze. One landed on Arc’s nose and sat there for a few seconds, before blowing off and into the distance. He closed his eyes and slowly lit his pipe. His assistant had supposedly given him a strange new herb they had found in the area the city had been traveling through, so Arc decided to give it a try in his favorite place. A feeling of warmth washed over Arc as he puffed the pipe and slowly blew out the smoke. The feeling wasn’t quite as rough as tobacco, in fact, Arc actually thought the herb might have been better.

A flash of light momentarily covered Arc’s eyelids. He supposed it might have been a beam of sunlight hitting him from between the tree’s branches. As the light washed over him, weightlessness enveloped Arc’s entire being. It felt like he was falling through a large well, until he eventually felt like he was lying on some type of pavement. A cold breeze then nipped at his cheeks, causing discomfort. Arc was beginning to no longer like this strange herb anymore. Arc opened his eyes to try and shake off the sudden cold feeling, only to find himself in a large city. Gigantic pillars of concrete stretched into the sky and strange metallic carriages stretched the pavement he was laying on. Slowly, Arc stood up. He felt slightly refreshed, but that was immediately washed away by the ruthless chill. In the distance Arc began to view a myriad of bright lights, twinkling ever so slightly. From behind him Arc heard a quiet voice, questioning the world he had just appeared in. Arc turned to see a slightly taller man atop one of the metal carriages. In one hand he held a strange machine, and on his face was a red mask. Other than that he was dressed in a very rugged fashion.

“Excuse me?” he called out to the man. “Do you by any chance know where I am?” Arc asked. At first Arc had thought the entire scene was an illusion, but this was too large of a scale. He needed information and this man seemed like he could provide some assistance. “If not, then follow me, I see some lights in the distance, and I’m not sure how much daylight we have left” He said, waving for the strange man in a red mask to follow. Even if this man was just as clueless as Arc, at least he could provide both protection and someone to talk to.
 
It happened so fast…

All he really remembered was holding onto Gaeira and Alken as tightly as he could, until a metal plate rushed towards them and he was forced to push away so he was not cut in half. As he parted from the SOLDIERs the current forced him out of the corner and down the hall.

“Luer!!”

Gaeira called after him, and despite the obvious impossibility the archer held his hand out in hopes to be caught.

But nothing would catch him. He lost sight of the SOLDIERs quickly as he was washed down the hall and tossed around in the current. He eventually found himself under, and despite trying his hardest, he could not find the surface. Is this really how it ends…?

Luer’s sight went dark. He could not breathe, he had no control over his body. There was nothing he could do…

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When he came to Luer was extremely confused. His initial thought was that he was dead and waking up in hell. But it was nothing like he imagined it would be. In fact it looked very similar to where he was before, in this cold, frozen, strange land. This was not where he expected to be upon his death. He expected to see his friends, his family from Retora. Not this unfamiliar frozen hell.

At the very least he had expected to see some of his old lays or fellow dancers that died or were killed. He was going to hell for what he did in those days for sure. So why was here…? One of the bigger reasons he believed he was dead though, was because he was here in this iceland, but he was not cold. He did not feel cold, was not shivering- it was almost as if he was numb to it, or it was not real. He felt heavy though, which is another thing he was surprised by.

Luer had no idea where he was, or what he should do. All he found himself doing was walking aimlessly, numb to the world- a familiar feeling. He felt this way on that day too, when he lost everything. Is this what dying was like? Shock, numbness, nothingness…
 
Shi Ying

I wipe the mix of blood and sweat off my face and push myself up to my feet. Ever since Mistress Nagarani gave me a second chance at life...have I changed as a person? Perhaps I have. That's not for me to say. But regardless, that doesn't mean my mistakes magically erase themselves. At some point, we all have to face our past mistakes. And that's what I'm doing today.

Case in point the motley crew of bandit 'lords' in front of, and in pieces around me. Ex-commanders from my short lived regime as an 'Empress'. I exiled them for war crimes, but when you get down to it I'm as guilty as they are, if not worse. But I got a 2nd chance at life. They didn't. There are scenarios where I can see myself willingly giving them my head...but not in this case. Not when they burned and crucified an entire village's population.

One of the two remaining bandits charge me. Fatigue burns through every inch of my body, but I force myself to sidestep to the side. Raising 'frontier tamer', I bring it down. It bites deep into my foe and cleaves their head in half with nary a hint of resistance. My victory is short-lived as I feel a bullet lodge itself into my shoulder. Exhausted, I fall to the ground as the heavens part and begin to shower the area with rain.

The Ringleader makes their way over to where I am and crouch over my form. Their lips are moving and judging from their facial expression, they're probably gloating. Between the wounds, exhaustion and the thunderstorm above us, I can't hear what they're saying. Not that I'm missing anything.

"...And that's why I won today, your 'majesty'."

"...No."

With the absolute last of my reserves, I pull the last trick in my repertoire. The old 'hidden dagger' gag. It sinks deep into the side of their skull. They fall down, dead, with a look of shock on their face. I can't believe that actually worked.

As I lay there, dying, I see a flash of light and everything goes dark. Is this what death feels like?
 
CATRA

"Catra! Please! Don't!"

The desperation weighed heavy in the air. They had been boxed in, and the little rebels from Brightmoon had finally made their way into the Sanctum. Catra had fought for this moment, to finally open the portal and crush the Rebellion once and for all.

So when Adora's voice cried out for her to stop as her hand rest on the lever, Catra looked over her shoulder into the eyes of the woman betrayed her. Threw everything they worked for away. Left her.

And she smiled.

CLICK!

The flash of light was blinding. As the power from the sword of protection surged, it filled the Sanctum with a bright white light... which quickly turned neon green. Suddenly it felt as if she were falling, being pulled every which way until she couldn't tell which way was up anymore. As she drifted in and out of consciousness, Catra considered for a moment that maybe the portal backfired, exploding and taking her life with it.

Maybe that wouldn't be too bad. Maybe she could finally rest a little. But when she hit the ground, jagged rocks and rubble digging into her stomach, she knew she wasn't done just yet.

Catra took a quick breath, eyes snapping open to be greeted with the sight of a desolate city landscape unlike anything she had seen before. Was this... Still the Fright Zone, or what remained of it? As she pulled herself to her feet, a quick whiff of the air confirmed that it wasn't. It lacked that distinct toxic, smoggy smell. She was somewhere else completely different. And it seemed like she wasn't the only one.

Picking up what appeared to be an old and rusted metal pipe from the pile of rubble she landed on, she knew she had to act fast to figure out what the Hell was going on. She darted out from cover, jumping atop a ruined car to reveal her presence to the people on the road, pointing her lead pipe at them.

"Hey! You there!" She called out, scowling as her feline tail swished in the air. "Where the fuck am I? Where is the Fright Zone?!"

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

SOTHIS

She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep for.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. To escape the great never-ending abyss they had found themselves in, Byleth needed her power. All of it. It was a painful choice to make, knowing that she would no longer be able to speak to them as a separate entity. Instead, Sothis knew she would become one with them. Their thoughts, their emotions, everything. Byleth would become enlightened, and inherit her powers to do that was right.

As the golden shimmering light faded into that of a bright green, Sothis allowed herself to drift wherever the afterlife may take her. It was there she floated for awhile, sleeping away eternity.

... Or at least, so she thought.

Voices in the distance. A chill in the air. It didn't register at first, Sothis so deeply in her slumber that it was difficult to rouse her. But the sudden sound of a very angry lady yelling nearby was finally the push she needed to jolt awake, eyes fluttering open. She was laying on her side, wedged up against some rubble. The aching in her body and the cold temperature outside, it was all sensations that she had not felt in a long time. Not... Not since she walked the mortal plane, all those thousands of years ago.

Just where was she?​
 
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Arc
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As Arc waited for the masked man’s response, several noises rang out from behind him. One of the noises sounded like a bag of potatoes had fallen, while the other was a soft landing, followed by shrill shouting. Arc turned to see a tall woman with very feline features. In the wind a long tail of fur swished back and forth as she held a large pipe. He couldn’t create enemies with anyone yet until he knew their abilities. For all he knew, this woman could have the ability to reduce him to dust with a snap of her fingers. Arc knew the idea was preposterous, but he didn’t want to test it quite yet. Slowly, Arc raised both his hands up, as if trying to calm a lion. Large bolts of electricity crackled from him and hit a nearby stoplight, showering him in yellow sparks. The electricity wasn’t really helping his calming tactic.
“I know no such thing of this ‘fright zone’ you speak of, now please lower the metal pipe so we can talk calmly” Arc said. His voice was very easy, almost soothing in a way. Arc took a few steps forward, noticing a body with blood pooling out from it behind a car. “Or at least let me take care of this woman’s wounds before we commence our bout” He said, gesturing to the humanoid hybrid. He squat down, trying to analyse the damage. This was strange, she had a small hunk of metal driven into her shoulder. A small bolt of electricity jolted the ball, not enough to cause damage, but enough to detect its existence. With magnesis Arc could pull it out, but he would need precise focus to do it. It all depended on the actions of the people around him. Arc didn’t desire to help this creature, but it would assist in his persuasion if this person really was “good.”
 
Red Hood/Jason Todd

Jason looked around for anything that could maybe hint at to where he was currently, a strange man approached him, questioning him if Jason knew where he was.

"Do I look like I know what the hell is going on?" He snarked to the man as he offered for the two of them to go investigate some lights, that was when the universe threw more curveballs as the shrill yell of a girl got their attention, well the man's attention and Jason's pistols' iron-sights. His fingers resting on the triggers, ready to fill people full of holes, another bright light shined off behind a ruin car as someone that looked like they went through a blender but had the misfortune of living dropped down.

The man that had approached him suddenly let of a spark of electricity that curved up a stoplight, cascading the man in a shower of sparks. He spoke to the cat-girl with the pipe with calm and reassurance that he didn't know what this 'Fright-Zone' was. Jason didn't either, in fact it sounded like something you'd find in one of those run-down amusement parks.

"Before you ask kid, I don't either." He'd call out as he relaxed his stance just a tad bit. His guns were still out, as he was positive that if any of the newcomers tried anything, they'd be filled with the custom-made ammunition that was Jason's pride and joy. The rounds would hopefully be fast enough to get them before they could react. But then again, he was dealing with now three unknowns who could have something to enhance their reaction or durability. Or be in the strange man's case where electricity could come off of him like nothing. So Jason would have to be careful.

However, the cat-girl fell into what Jason's code that was simply "No women or children." Which she was both, or from what Jason could tell. So maybe no killing, just pure old incapacitation. Egged on by the built-in taser on his guns.

But for now, it seemed that they were to engage in the good old fashion method of figuring things out by simply talking matters out. A method that typically annoyed Jason as it was a pain in the ass to do and deal with as everyone always had something in their heads, scheming and hatching the best words to say to convince someone of something. And needless to say, Jason preferred not to be someone's tool. Especially now when he didn't know who he was dealing with.

The strange electrical man could be a criminal, same with the cat-girl or the wounded one behind the car, or maybe Jason had spent too much time hunting scumbags and criminals that his ability to trust people had taken a bigger hit than when he d-

He shook his head to clear that train of thought, right now he was in a unknown place with strangers who could be dangerous. He needed information, starting with names. Which he would offer an olive branch to them.

"Name's Red Hood. What are your names?" He'd quickly add. "And no, you're not getting my real name."

@OSDDefrag @Wiggin @always_confused
 
I feel...I feel...I feel absolutely terrible. The pain is immense, I can feel the sheer exhaustion from Chi depletion and even worse, I seem to have a pounding headache completely unrelated to the various wounds I've suffered. The one good thing is that I can feel my Chi ever so slowly flowing back and mending my broken body. But it'll be a while yet before I'm at even a quarter of my old-self.

The 2nd thing I notice are the various voices, suspicion practically flowing off of their tone, and that where I've ended looks nothing like anywhere in the Celestial Empire.

Grabbing onto a nearby object for support, I slowly push myself up to take a look at the new people present and what a colorful bunch indeed. At least one of them appears to be some sort of being I've never seen before, although they do have the same number of limbs as I do and stand upright like the rest of the races I've seen. One appears to be similar but is wearing a Red Helmet of sorts and the last appears to be a Feline-Person like those from across the South Sea of the Celestial Empire.

"For fellow spirits in the afterlife, you lot are awfully loud." I say, dryly. "Of course, if this is the afterlife, I'd like to fling every priest I ever spoke to into a bottomless ditch. But I get the feeling this probably isn't the afterlife and the sweet embrace of death continues to evade me. Anyway, never mind me. I'll take a seat and enjoy the view."
 
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SOTHIS

Wherever she was, there was certainly a lot of yelling going on. It took Sothis a moment to get to her feet— she felt exhausted. Not merely sleepiness, but like someone had struck her in the gut, rendering her winded. Dusting the dirt and bits of rubble off herself and her poor dress to the best of her ability, the Goddess took to levitating over in the direction of all the commotion.

Coming around one of those strange hunks of broken down metal, she stopped as everyone came into sight. She could hear them clear as day with how loud they were being. There were all manner of people here, many of them like she had never seen before. How strange. Her questions grew by the moment, yet she had none of the answers.

"What is going on here?" Sothis spoke aloud without a second thought; she was very used to mortals not being able to see or hear her. What made these people any different?

CATRA

These people looked like they didn't belong. They seemed to be just about as confused as she was. She wasn't stupid; she knew full well that these people could be capable of besting her in a fight if she wasn't careful. Catra's eyes narrowed, watching sparks rain down by the man's whim. If he was a sorcerer, she'd have to play it careful. Far too many times had she been brought to the brink of death by those with magical powers.

"You mean to tell me that none of you have a single clue where we are?" Catra scowled, assuming a crouch atop the car. Her grip remained firm around the measly metal pipe. "... None of you look like Etherians." She leaped from her crouch, landing on her feet on the pavement below. "In other words, either the portal failed and sent me off to who knows where, or..." She trailed off, gaze darting between the various people before her, some of whom were only just emerging into sight.

Catra smiled. She looked like she was about to burst into deranged laughter— or cry. It was hard to tell. "... Or I'm dead. Wouldn't be surprised either way." Her smile came and went quickly as she composed herself, assuming her stoic expression once more. "You can just call me Catra." The faintest of an eye twitch.​
 
- Shao Kahn, The Konqueror of Realms -

Within the depths of a hollowed out, burnt and decaying carcass of a Kytinn Hive, Shao Kahn and his compatriots had all but recently been saved from certain defeat by a creature once regarded as an enemy of Outworld: The Kytinn D'Vorah, who would go on to repeatedly evade the questions of the Past Kahn of Outworld, turning away from his curious survey of the desiccated husk around them to face the insect and begin applying the pressure.

"You evade my questions, D'Vorah. I routed your people, burned this hive, yet you aid me..."

A warning hand fell upon the Kahn's shoulder, followed with words of a similar tune from Shao Kahn's ever faithful Naknadan servant: Kollector, to which the Kahn slowly faced him as he would a trusted friend, which is more than can be said for most.

"We can't trust her, Excellency. Kotal Kahn did, and she betrayed him to Shinnok."

"Kotal "Kahn"...how is it that I'm dead and he sits on my throne?"

"You tried merging Earthrealm into Outworld. The Elder Gods intervened, and Raiden killed you. That's when Mileena became Kahn."

Shao Kahn's words were at first seething contempt toward the pretender of an Osh'tekk that merely served to keep his throne warm, but gave way to a calmer, yet insistent tone as he questioned the Naknada. Kollector's words were concise: Shao Kahn got greedy and paid the ultimate price for disobeying the toothless worms up above, his final death all but written already. The Kahn raised his head in interest and pride however, when Kollector made mention of his daughter, Mileena, ascending to her rightful place on the throne of Outworld, though he almost already knew that it was a fleeting moment in history, for now Kotal Kahn was upon the throne and clearly well established as its leader.

"After This One killed your daughter, Kotal claimed the throne."

D'Vorah's matter-of-fact statement did more than just confirm the Kahn's suspicions of Mileena's inevitable deposing, but served as a source of great rage and shock to Shao Kahn, for the murder of his daughter was spoken by a sworn enemy of his people like it was but a stroll in the desert! An inconvenience, a mere fact. Nothing could anger the Kahn more.

"You killed Mileena?! If this is true, you will die!"

As Shao Kahn's rage boiled over and he prepared to do battle with the filthy Kytinn who too would ready her defense, the once living cavern would rumble and sands would begin to surround them. Before their progenitor could show her face however, another force manifested around Shao Kahn: An emerald green energy not unlike his own in its hue, but couldn't be any stranger to him and before he knew it, the Kahn was falling, falling, falling.


-------------------------------------------


Just like the others present, a green glow signified the arrival of someone new, though the glow was ferocious indeed and was close to the other ne'er-do-wells, close enough for them to almost make out the figure before they had even arrived. Soon enough, a figure equally as fierce and fittingly large emerged, taking a few angered steps forward, looking like a man denied his vengeance for no good reason and now he really needed someone to take it out on, as he scanned his immediate vicinity, his body glowing with emerald green soul energy.

@OSDDefrag @always_confused @The Wanderer @Wiggin

fnSk91I.png
 
Pathfinder - Apex Games.

The third season of the popular bloodsport known as the Apex Games has arrived. Pathfinder earned some fame for being in the past two seasons, sadly however he lost those seasons to Bloodhound. Regardless, he hopes that with his adventures in the sport would gain him some recognition as well as possibly the notice of his creator... whoever he or she are. Jumping on board the Jumpship, Pathfinder met the contestants including a new challenger to the sport; Crypto.

"Good to see you all, friends. I wish all of you could fight tomorrow too, but you'll be dead."

Everyone ignored him by the seems of it. Once the games had began, Pathfinder rushed to the nearest group of Supply Bins. He found two weapons; a R-99 SMG and a Peacekeeper Shotgun. An ideal setup for a close-range aggressor, as Pathfinder often utilises his Grapple to close the distance against his opponents, and perform tricks to get behind and kill. As he grabbed the two weapons and got ready, something happened. A flash of neon green hit Pathfinder and he suddenly faded from the ship. The experience that was to befall Pathfinder was a sensation of falling, which due to the nature of the Apex Games, was nothing short of normal to him.

Snow lightly trickles down from the sky to the ground, with clouds blocking the sky, no way of telling the time of day. Around you are broken down cars and ruined buildings, decades old, with holes around the ground from explosions by artillery strikes. Old skeleton bones rest under the snow, some human, others not.

destroyed-cityscape-everlite.jpg


Ruins of what once was civilization. Now barren and lifeless. There is however a glimmer of hope, as beyond the crumbling buildings lie bright lights, those coming from buildings just like these skyscrapers. Perhaps beyond where you stand now, there is still some part of this city still standing from whatever happened here.

Once Pathfinder's sight was restored, he was met with practically a war-zone of sorts; crumbling buildings and skeletons resting around the place. Whatever happened, he was unable to figure out exactly where he was but he knew this; he could see people in the distance. Were they dropped here too by that unknown light? Whatever the case, Pathfinder ran on over to them and introduced himself.

"Surprise! I hope I didn't scare you. I'm Marvin, but my best friends call me Pathfinder."

@The Wanderer @Wiggin @LenxKaitoYaoi @always_confused @OSDDefrag @Nero Kunivas
 


T-851 opens her eyes and does not see downtown Los Angeles at 1:00am on July 25, 2004. She sees instead devastated cityscape all around her. The cold air registers on the receptors beneath her flesh and it breaks out in goosebumps as human flesh should, but the machine is not affected otherwise. Skynet’s calculations could not have been wrong why she had only been transported to some other part of the world in the same time period.

Something else had interfered. That is the only logical conclusion. The Resistance must have devised something to interrupt her transit into the past. This required 851 to find a way to contact Skynet to inform it of the situation. The current mission was impossible to fulfill until then.

First priority was clothing and weapons. A nude woman wandering ruins drew unwanted attention for her current mission profile. A scan of the area yields one source via a sign hanging half off a wall that reads ‘Hannah’s Boudoir’

Boudoir. A woman's bedroom.Optimal source.

Entering Hannah’s Boudoir, 851 finds it is less-than-optimal. While the inventory has been spared, it was spared because it consists of mostly women’s underwear and other revealing clothing. One set of the underwear is taken and worn. For reasons that still escapes her logic. Habit, as humans call it.

There is one set of clothing that is optimal. It is in a glass case behind the register and will serve her well for a time.

No weapons present. Continue search

T-851 steps out of Hannah’s Boudoir. Distant voices register and she looks in that direction.

Humans. Potential source for radio equipment. Enter Distress Mode.

The Terminator's expression changes from its cold neutral thousand-yard stare. It softens would fool all but the most observant that she was a woman in distress. 851 proceeds in their direction, darting around ruined vehicles and chunks of concrete or metal even though there is no immediate danger.

At least there was when she first started towards the voices.

From a street near the group she approaches, there is a flash of green light. T-851 is able to see down that street and witness something that does not compute with any data from Skynet's vast banks.

Three large robotic beings materialize from that green light.

Robotic units. Make and model unknown. Not of Cyberdine Research Systems design.

"This is not Muunilist." drones the one in the middle.

"Correct. We have lost command signal." another adds.

"Biological readings detected nearby." A third says.

"Search and destroy until command signal resumes." All three announce and march towards the group.

The hulking trio marches over all obstacles they can, crushing human remains and small chunks of concrete underfoot. Stepping over or around anything too large. When they get in scanning range, T-851 stands to better scan them. They see her, extend their right arms that were being held upwards, and fire. Red bolts of energy erupt from the weapons in their arms. Several hit the pile of concrete behind which she had been hiding, and it's pulverized in seconds. She uses the resulting cloud of concrete dust to evade them.

Plasma weapons. Terminate or be terminated.

T-851 picks up a long piece of steel rebar, and throws it like a spear at one of the robots. The bar sticks in the joint of its left arm. The robot keeps moving towards her, firing even as its left arm starts to fall off. 851 is able to dodge the bolts by only seconds, managing to run and spin to avoid them before jumping through an open window into a former coffee shop. That one appears to give up its pursuit the moment 851 is out of sight and turns to rejoin the other two.

Which have begun firing their blaster-arms at the group she had been going towards.
 
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Caustic - Apex Games

The third season of the popular bloodsport known as the Apex Games has arrived. Once he had heard of these events, Alexander Nox took this as an opportunity to see just how effective his new Pesticide Gas was against living beings. Of course in these events, he's labelled as "Caustic" as he is presumed dead due to the 'disaster' at the Pesticide Labs where he used to work. He didn't care about making friends, he only cared about testing his gas and eagerly recording the results, taking pleasure in the kills caused by his own creation.

He had jumped on-board the Jumpship that were to take the contestants to the latest arena; World's Edge. Everyone looked upon him with disgust as he had participated in the second Season and lost to Bloodhound, but causing mayhem along the way with his Nox Gas. He didn't care upon his contestants as they were just test subjects to him; 'volunteers' to his ever-lasting experiments.

"Life is meant to die. Accept your fates."

The drop had begun. Caustic immediately went to a drop spot that looked promising for high loot. Dropping there, he rushed into the building and grabbed two weapons; a M600 Spitfire Light-machine Gun and a Peacekeeper Shotgun. He had company in the building but they were quick to fall victim to the Canisters he left behind; releasing his Gas which slowed them down and dealt damage to them; ignoring shields. Just before they died, he slow walked towards them in which he slapped them across the face which caused them to drop to their knees. Then he grabbed a Nox Gas Grenade and dropped it underneath the victim's head and walked off while the grenade went off.

"To say your death is a waste is the understatement of the century."

That was when a neon green light took hold of Caustic and made him disappear from World's Edge. The sensation of falling was not new to him as he had participated in the second season of the bloodsport.

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Ruins of what once was civilization. Now barren and lifeless. There is however a glimmer of hope, as beyond the crumbling buildings lie bright lights, those coming from buildings just like these skyscrapers. Perhaps beyond where you stand now, there is still some part of this city still standing from whatever happened here.

When Caustic came to, he discovered that he wasn't at World's Edge anymore but instead a urban wasteland. Destroyed buildings, rubble everywhere and skeletons. To say this was fate is an understatement but this would be an opportunity to survey and find new subjects. However in the distance, he would spot three mechanical droids attacking a group. The last mechanical person he had to deal with was Pathfinder but the gas had proven to work against him so he took it upon himself to act.

The group that were to be under attack by the three Super Battle Droids would find an incoming grenade towards the droids. It took a moment to explode but when it did, a green enveloping gas emerged from it and engulfed the droids which would cause them to slow down in speed and lose sight. Emerging through the gas cloud with a Shotgun in hand was none-other than Caustic who was slow walking towards the group.

"Breathe it in."

@Not_Amy @The Wanderer @Wiggin @LenxKaitoYaoi @always_confused @OSDDefrag @Nero Kunivas
 
Jason Todd

"Catra? That's a weird name." Jason would mutter to himself quietly, his tone just similar to a breath of air. But before the situation could be made any less confusing, a big burly man that looked like he was wearing a skull mask that was crossed with a samurai's helmet, a big ass hammer in his hands.

The second the guy showed up, Jason's guns were out and trained on him, both ready to let hell loose. He didn't know if the bullets would do anything, hell as far as he knew, the bullets would only piss the guy off and earn him a beating with that hammer. But Jason wanted to at least try something if the samurai hammer guy rushed at them.

But that was when a robot showed up, waving at them. Then said robot was followed by what were three gigantic robots that fired beams of light at them, the shots pulverizing the area around them into scolding ruins.

"Oh you are fucking me!" Jason yelled as he aimed his pistols to return fire, with him pulling the triggers so fast that he damn near used half of the clips. The bullets whizzing faster than what some could see, save for anyone with enhanced vision. The bullets impacting the robots' chassis, making some holes in them but just barely doing enough damage to be effective. Just when he was about yell for them to haul ass out of there, noxious green gas overtook the robots, enveloping them in the fumes, causing their aim to deteriorate. And from out of the fumes walked a man in a gas mask-esqe thing with a shotgun that said something that quite frankly freaked the hell of him.

"Yeah no, not in the mood to deal with whatever the fuck is in that gas."

Jason's guns were trained onto the man. "Identify yourself or those robots are gonna be the least of your problems."

@OSDDefrag @Not_Amy @Wiggin @Nero Kunivas
 
"I am not fucking you. I could if you really wanted to, I've never tried it before. But now is not the time."

Pathfinder exclaimed towards Jason before being shot at by the three Super Battle Droids. He pulled out his R-99 and began opening fire against the droids, the bullets bouncing off of them and just knocking them back only slightly. The size of the clip wasn't high but the bullets came out a lot faster than a regular rifle. That was when Caustic made himself known and Jason asked for identification.

"Know your place. I know mine. Worry about your own life, and if you were to die, I'd like to observe it."

Caustic muttered as he continued to battle the three droids.

"That's Caustic. There's a lot of rumours going around about him amongst the Apex Contestants. I like him, but he doesn't like me, which is okay! Now come on, friends. We have a battle to win."

@The Wanderer @Not_Amy @Wiggin @Nero Kunivas
 
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Arc
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Before Arc could get a word out for the rodent woman to sit down and stop the bleeding, chaos broke loose. From one side of the street, large metal humanoids hulked out at wired with robotic clanks. Immediately, Arc thought they would be golems, but they didn’t radiate any magical energy. What were they? His thought was then interrupted by a flash of red light whizzing past his face, providing a small amount of warmth as it passed. Arc quickly hid behind the nearest car and waited for the red beams of light to stop. When they did stop, he heard two more voices that had joined the fray. One of the voices was reverberated, almost like it was inside a tube, and the other was nearly the same, except more husky in tone. Arc raised his head from the car to see the voices’ sources. On his right was a larger man with an apparatus attached to his face, surrounded in a sickly green smoke. In the middle of the street was a pile of metal filled with holes, presumably the beings that had attacked the group. To his left was another metal being, but this one was of different making. At least it wasn’t firing at them for a moment.

For now it seemed like everyone was shouting at each other in confusion. The man in the mask seemed like he enjoyed killing. That was fine with Arc, he was usually surrounded by those type of people. The metallic being however, seemed almost too cheery. The amount of happiness in the creature’s voice was almost unnerving. They were just as confusing as the feline woman with her talk of strange lands. “Can we just all agree to not attack each other for the moment?” He shouted, a little shaky from the adrenaline.

“Also are you alright to walk?” he mentioned to the rodent person. If she wasn’t able to he would need to leave her. The extra baggage was too much at the current moments seeing as how there was a constant racket of people shouting and attacking. “And my name is Arc by the way!” he shouted back at the man in the red mask. Listing out his full name might not be the best for the moment and he needed the one with the strange weapons to trust him. He was trying to account for the amount of stuff that had happened, so his speech was a little fast. Arc rubbed his forehead, he just wasn’t used to this much stuff happening in the span of ten minutes.
 
Regular bullets did little damage to the droids, as whatever they were made of, they simply ricocheted off. In contrast, their blaster fire broke through the metal on the rusted and ruined cars, making the cover useless. The battle didn't last long, however. As the droids came closer, and more joined in to fight back, the right side of the street suddenly exploded; like a truck full of oil suddenly caught fire. It was massive and intense, with a cloud of dust and ash blanketing over the group. When it faded, the droids were all but fragments of scrap, barely a piece of them intact. From the large hole the explosion caused, something glowed green. It wasn't the same glow that brought them all here, it was a darker shade. It was something different.

Raw power.

A shadow silhouette was casted by the green glow by the cloud. A man, draped in a cloak that flapped lightly as he walked into the street. When the cloud dissipated around him, his image became fully clear.

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His hands were covered by a round glow of that green color, and once he noticed the group, it faded. He approached the group calmly, unafraid of their numbers. He first spotted the 'Red Hood' and Arc, then the rest of these misfit soldiers. Including the strange rodent gasping for life. Following behind the metal man were soldiers, each carrying assault rifles and securing the perimeter.

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"Clear left!"

"Clear right!"

"South clear!" Some of the soldiers yelled once they finished scouting the area. "Area secure, sir." They spoke with cockney/Welsh accents, and soon another figure entered the street from the large hole the cloaked man made. This seemed to be their commander.

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"Which of you is the leader of your pack?" The cloaked man asked.

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"So!" The 10th Doctor yelled out with his group, fumbling with his console toys-- I mean, commands.... They were mostly toys. "Whole world undergoes a catastrophe of impossible lengths, with monsters and diseases poppin' out of nowhere from other worlds, wrecking havoc on everything till the world's nothing but a big ball of remains, so why? Why do this, how long ago was it, and why were we brought in after decades of fearing people like us?" Those were the big questions they were here to try and find answers for.

"Perhaps there are gods here, using us to fight in a war they created long ago?" Luxem suggested.

"Possible, but not likely." 10 immediately shot it down. "There's been no indication that whatever brought us here is magical, rather it's been more of a randomization, like, no offense, but why are you here?" He pointed to Luxem. "You're a regular ol' soldier in the military, right?"

"Yes?"

"Are you some noble hero for your kingdom?"

"No."

"Did you do anything heroic in the past few years?"

"No, I only started in my kingdom's army just a year ago."

"Then why are you here? Or Alec, or Abby, or Trigger, clearly they know who the more powerful and heroic people are, Thor and Moire are here with us, but why people like you? The regular men who follow leaders, not actual leaders.... Again, no offense."

"None taken." Luxem was slightly annoyed.

"So if this is a battle between gods, why send the most random people imaginable here, and why haven't they contacted us? Surely, if they want fighters, they'd need to inform them of what's happening, but there isn't a battle here, just the remains of ones that happened."


"Maybe they want us to fix this world?"

"Aha! There's a possibility, someone brought us here in hopes we might be able to fix things, but that leads to another question: Who? Because why so far from actual civilization? If they have the magic or technology to accurately pull people from other worlds here, you'd think you'd put focus on where they land, and even then, when troops did find us, you all got put in cells!"

"Then what is your guess, Doctor sir?"

With a pull of a lever, 10 answered with, "Hard to say without some proof of the answer. Best I could say is, 'because....'" Grabbing his coat and ending his sentence like that, 10 wisked himself out the door to see the scenery. With the coordinates Scott gave them, they were near the last remaining city on Earth, just outside its borders. The TARDIS had landed on a building rooftop, and with wind in their faces, they had a good look at what this city was like. It didn't disappoint.

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Using a hand to block the sunlight shining into his eyes, Luxem stared in astonishment over the city, as it was nothing like Derdriu, the capital of his home land, or even the Garreg Mach Monastery for students of all three nations. This was the future, one centuries away from where his world was currently. "This.... is extraordinary!" Luxem commented with his eyes wide, or as wide as he could get them with the sun in the way.

"Human beings. Even with the world at its end, you still pull off great feats." 10 added.

"How could the whole city be this populated?"

"Well... I don't think it is." The Doctor pointed out. "Everything down there is abandoned. Remnants of the old world before the scattered started showing up." The smaller buildings did look as destroyed and decayed as the city they arrived in, while the highway was risen above most of them. "I think maybe everyone simply moved into the towers." The further up the larger towers you looked, the more you saw how there were additions added to them, like they had continued growing bigger than what they were originally designed for.

"So, instead of expanding outwards, they just... rose?"

"Could be. If most of the world is infested with plagues and deadly creatures wanting to eat you alive, rebuilding charred land wouldn't do you good. You'd wanna go above that. And maybe, they didn't have the technology to make a floating city, but found a way to keep going up."

"Then, where should we go? There are a dozen or so towers to search."

"Oh, that's easy. Go to the big one first." The Doctor pointed to it, which was right in front of them.

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Using the TARDIS, they transported themselves to the nearest docking station, as the building was sure to have one for the highways. Sure enough, once the ship materialized, they found themselves along the edges of the massive building.

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With a train pulling up... a really big one.​
 
When the cloaked man and his group of Soldiers approached the group and cleared the area, Caustic and Pathfinder reloaded their weapons and halted for the time being. Sure, Caustic hated everyone's guts but even he was willing to listen to whoever this person was who strolled on up the way he did.

"I don't concern myself with the ambitions of insects. All I see before me are willing test subjects for my experiments. However... Close Combat gets... Messy."
"He's Caustic, and I'm Pathfinder. It's nice to meet you, Friend."

Pathfinder strolled on up to the cloaked man and held his hand up for a high five, while Caustic just stood behind him with his arms crossed; eyeing up the armored party that accompanied him.

"It looks like I'm reuniting with actual competitors. *Cough* *Cough* A net positive result."
"It's good to see you too, friend. Are you having as much fun as me?"
"I've noted your enthusiasm."​
 
There was no one around, was there? Maybe this really is hell. Luer is alone wandering in the state of shock, numb to everything around him. But then a sound reached his ears. Finally, a sign of activity. Maybe he was not alone. When he turned and saw the cloud of smoke from the explosion he rose a brow. On second thought, maybe he really is not dead. He glanced around himself. Well, there was nothing here to do. Gripping his bow he headed for the cloud of smoke rising, finding it oddly difficult to so much as jog. He still felt heavy.

Once the archer had made it to the part of this town where the explosion happened he heard voices and, out of instinct, felt it best to stay hidden somewhere he could see the situation and not be seen. He hid behind the corner of a building behind the newest arrivals, luckily enough right after the soldiers cleared the perimeters. He laid flat on the ground and peaked just far enough around the corner to see what was going on.

He could only make out a few things from where he was. One being the injured… rodent person? Damn, he cannot help from here. Hopefully they would manage until he could get over there. Right now he was not in a good position to try getting to them. Not until he knew the danger was passed. It was safe to say he was not dead… or he was and this was some sort of sick test but he can contemplate his existence later.