New Beginning 22: Once Upon a New Beginning...

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Is it to late to turn my surrender into an outright betrayal?" The Vault says as it's sat down. "As you can see, I'm not exactly flesh-made, I guarantee you'll never find someone better at a treasure hunt, and, as I said before, I don't even know these people."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Vexus eyed the Vault, not descending from her hovering high-place, "Hm...a traitor to the humans? You're smart enough to realize when failure is imminent, and which side is a winning side. I like that. I shall see if Megas, the Gundam team, the Autobots or the Decepticons can't find a decent place for you among their ranks, if you so choose. Though, of course, the choice is entirely up to them. Ah, look! Here they come now."

Vexus, XJ-9 and Smytus turned simultaneously to face the west, where the sky seemed to ripple. A small rumble turned into a deep, reverberating hum, and the ripple in the air pulsed for a bit with bluish-purple light. White light peeked through the blue-purple warp, and through it zoomed, all at once, a space vessel to easily rival the Road to Dawn.

It seemed as soon as it appeared over the horizon, it was already less than a mile away.

"Don't you just love warp drive?" XJ-9 chuckled, before turning back to the supers, "Now, let's hurry up, fleshlies. We haven't got all day. The schematic is out there somewhere, and Motherboard will want to interrogate you as to its whereabouts as soon as possible." She lifted her wrist to her face, and spoke into its built-in communicator, "R2-D2! C3P0! Gir! The prisoners are primed and prepped for departure! Let's load 'em up, and move 'em out!"

A robotic beeping speech pattern crackled through the air--presumably R2-D2's confirmation of orders--and above there could be heard a loud hiss, as a docking port whirred open. Seeing his cue, he grabbed up half of the supers, XJ-9 grabbed up the other half, and the two ascended to deposit them--including the Vault-- with Vexus following close behind.

[Zaleramancer]

I was to busy observing local changes to care much about the silly posturing of the robots.

Plants had gotten lusher and brighter, the animals larger and wilder. Little pinpricks of lights danced in and out of plants.

I look at Vexus.

"As lovely as your invitation sounds, My fine lady, I am afraid none of us will be in any condition to go anywhere."

I feel the build up of ozone half a mile away.

"Because, you see, things are about to get rather chaotic. Have you ever met a member of the Good Folk? I'm afraid they are rather inimical to technology."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Oh man, come on. I was gonna get in their good graces, find those schematics, then snatch em. I totally would have come back for you guys."

That the point where the Vaults leg exploded as something passed through it very quickly, into the open docking port, colliding with the inner wall with enough force to leave a large crater. Sitting there, covered in water, was what looked like an enormous seed.

The Vault became agitated and the bindings activated, filling it with electric pain.

Meanwhile, the seed cracked open and very quickly began to grow. Vine tentacles extended outwards reached out in all directions from the main growth, some sort of armored, toothed, flower. The vines developed quickly, likely due to Zale's influence, also growing what looked like armor and teeth. The tentacles lashed out, hundreds of them, at any robot unlucky enough to be in their vicinity.

The main bulb did not look like it would stop growing anytime soon.

[Zaleramancer]

"I'm not causing this! I'm not stupid enough to invoke the-"

Hunting horns shook the air in the distance.

"-Bloody Wild Hunt while I'm within a thousand kilometers of the target. This is one of those measures I mentioned."

The sound of the hunting horns echos off the tops of trees.

"Verdammen."

Hunting hounds burst forth from trees, Cu Sith. Fairie Dogs. They pawed the air, moving like falcons. Behind them came the host. On flying horses of every shape and color. Six-legged scaled horses charged next to delicately winged unicorns. Their riders were no less varied. Each a different kind of unearthly and breathtaking beauty. Each as heartless as they were beautiful.

They flew upward on the horizion.

We had, perhaps, a few minutes before they reached us.

"Well. This is not going to end well."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Vault looked despondently down at it's lost limb while the plant monster continued to grow, now taking up the entire back wall of the loading dock.

Then it turned and looked at the approaching riders.

"Guess this is what I get for lying." It says. Then it turns to Zale. "Last I heard, these guys had a strict 'hide, join, or die' policy going on. I hear right?"

[The Narrator]

Narrator:  Crap, this wind is something fierce!

  We wouldn't know, we are mental images, I'm not even sure any of these machines can see myself and Areson

[Philote]

"This is what I get for inviting the party to my planet" I say as I look at the chaos around me. "Well I guess it is time to start my own performance in this jailbreak."

I mentally impose a state of calm over my body, nullifying the reactionary effects of the manacles. Once I'm free from the restrictions, I teleport up behind Vexus. "Hello, I'd like to ask you a question."

I teleport again, slamming us down into the shallow waters below. "I'd like to know where you're keeping the nullifying machines so I can go shut them off. Now, fight back so I can force the answer out of you quicker."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Vexus narrowed yellow feline eyes in defiance, and gurgled through the water, "You'll have to try better than this, Earth-male. XJ-9, send me down a power-pulse, will you? I'm not exactly in the position to release an attack for myself."

The robot's eyes lit light-blue, and an electronic signal carrying her message reverberated through the water, up into the open air.

Silence.

Then, all at once, the waters lit up like a dizzying fireworks display, as XJ-9 sent down a taser-cord, and channeled through it something like 50,000 volts of electrical power, to electrocute both Phi and Vexus.

[Zaleramancer]

I hover downwards, slipping out of the bonds by temporarily becoming a liquid sludge.

I burble near the Vault, before resuming a form closer to my normal one.

"Well" I whisper to him, "I really doubt they're going to take any prisoners or allies. The Wild Hunt is called upon when you want something very, very dead. Or at least hunted to the ends of the universe."

My hand goes elastic, snapping out at the plant, slicing a thick vine off with suddenly sharp finger nails. It drags the vine back, slicing it to about the length of the Vault's missing limb.

"Right now, the best thing to do would be to run. The Hunt doesn't mind chasing people that aren't their target. We need to get out of their realm of knowledge before we become an attractive looking option."

I place the vine at the missing limb. A net of mana emerges from my hand, persuading the vine to act like it.

"Temporary prosthetic. Shoddy, but it should work until I can get more time to do better."

The baying of hounds and sounding of horns rings out again. Closer.

"We have a minute- tops."

[The Narrator]

Shouldn't we be helping instead of you looking star struck?

Narrator:  I don't see how I can help at the moment....

Areson:  Create a black hole!  DOOOOOooooo it!


Narrator:  No, that would hurt us all.....

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Great! Don't worry about the leg, I can fix that if I just...."

The crackling electrical assault never reaches Philote and Vexsus. The shallow sea around them crackles, but in a circle around them the sea is calm and conspicuously electricity free. The thing blocking it seems to be water. A different shade of water, darker blue then the waters of Aeon. It displaces the liquid around it like oil, and when the electricity meets it it seems to disperser into it.

The Vault grins. "Simple physics little computer princess. Even if someone drops a toaster in the ocean, people on the other side of the world aren't going to feel it. The shock has dissipated by then. Same basic principles are at work down there."

That's an artillery shell hits XJ-9 in the back, allowing the Vault to buck and drop free from her grasp into the ocean below.

The electrified ocean.

[Philote]

"Thanks Vault!"

I turn my attention back to Vexus and teleport us again. This time, further below, into the flooded caves that the surface geysers draw from. "Now, tell me how to turn off the power dampeners or I'm going to leave you down here until up top is cleaned up."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"Hehehe..." Vexus seems utterly tickled by Phi's demeanor, "I'm flattered you think I would be privileged with such information. I know where they are located, and that alone. And even if I did know how to return you to full power, reality bender, it would take a lot more than angry threats to get the answer to pass these lips."

A whirring sound can be heard behind her back shortly, and up from behind her, a metal tendril rears up, like a large snake. Between the three hooks at the end of the tendril, energy builds up, alternating between red and green.

"Say, human, the Technari have equipped many of us with quite intriguing new toys." she continues, her voice becoming more feline, "So, tell me. Are you feeling lucky?"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA" The Vault replied.

It was being electrocuted.

[Zaleramancer]

I grit my teeth as I surge forward, still partially liquid, and try to pull the Vault free.

"Guys, this is no time to play around. Philote, we have to move. Now."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The meanness in XJ-9's demeanor shifted all at once into wicked glee, as the Vault fried in the waters below. For ten more seconds she held the current, and then descended with a powerful rocket blast to see what her electrical attack had left of her serendipitous victim.

Alighting with the crunch of metal feet on dirt, XJ-9 approached the waters, guns drawn. Plasma cannons, phase guns, laser blasters, warp flares, anything her hands, fingers, eyes, mouth and hair would allow her to deploy.

Breath superheated with a charging thermo-burst, XJ-9 called down to the Vault, "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

[The Narrator]

Maybe it's time you spring into action....

Narrator:  I'd hate to fight Jenny, being that I'm a fan.  *He sighs*  Ok, let's do this!

*Narrator takes off in flight in an attempt to tackle XJ-9

[Ericus Europaeus (Bug)]

CONTENTS DELETED

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[Celadon's Penultimate]

Perceiving a disturbance in the air, XJ-9 turns with reflexes a cat would envy, and sends a superheated blast of energy into the Narrator's face. Then, switching settings to Speed Mode, she juts forward, vibrating at a high pace, seeming almost to teleport from her place. She disappears from her spot, and appears again just behind the Narrator, with a plasma cannon blast at the ready. She lets go full force.

DOOOOOOOOOM...