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Post by Skyfire on Dec 28, 2009 10:14:13 GMT -5
En-route to Planet Z, sometime in the wee hours by Capital City Time (CCT)
The communicator pinged its wake-up call insistently, startling Buzz, Booster, and XR back to consciousness. All three had wanted to drop off while the ship was on autopilot, so Buzz had set his communicator’s alarm for half an hour before arrival.
Yawning, he stretched, his harness still strapping him to the pilot seat. “Booster, you wanna make us some coffee?”
“Sure thing, Buzz,” Booster yawned, rising sleepily from his chair and heading out of the cockpit.
XR yawned, then frowned. “Doggone infectious things,” he muttered. “Well, mon capitan, got a plan, or are we winging it?”
Buzz had the grace to wince. “Sort of winging it,” he admitted. “We’ll use our cloakers and go in through the back door, get to the throne room in the Z Tower… From there, we’ll just play it by ear.”
“We could sabotage or something,” XR suggested.
“You can sabotage if you want,” Buzz returned, his eyes narrowing as he stared out the front viewport. “I’ve got a bone to pick with Zurg and Hellboy.”
“Even though the guy saved your life?”
Buzz sighed heavily. “Yeah.” He had the feeling that, in another lifetime, he and Hellboy could have been good friends. But however much of a hero Hellboy had been, the fact remained that he now chose Evil over Good – for whatever reasons – and he was now a threat to innocent people.
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Post by Skyfire on Dec 29, 2009 7:37:40 GMT -5
Three cups of coffee (equally a welcome burst of energy) later, the navigational console pinged. “We’re coming up on Planet Z,” Booster announced fearfully.
Buzz nodded thoughtfully, then brought the Star Cruiser to a halt. “Okay…” He unbuckled, stood, then knelt down to get below the pilot console.
“Uh, Buzz, what’re you doing?” XR asked.
“Just a second…” Buzz opened a panel and reached into it. His hand returned with a plasma rifle. And another, and another, and then a…
“PLASMA PISTOL??” XR cried in surprise.
“Those aren’t even legal!” Booster exclaimed.
“Well, not quite legal,” Buzz amended, handing his Rangers each a rifle and pistol. “They will be, but right now, we can’t afford to wait for that.”
“Buzz –” XR began.
“XR, Booster,” Buzz cut him off, “you’re just going to have to trust me when I say that there are things going on that you don’t know anything about. Stuff that not even Warp, Mira, or Erin know about. You’re just going to have to trust me, okay?”
The younger Rangers nodded.
“No, don’t nod,” Buzz chided. “Say yes.”
“Yes, Buzz,” the two said, a bit meekly.
“Okay, good. Now get out your invisi-goggles,” he ordered, sitting back down and pulling a pair of goggles out of his chest compartment. “Turn on your individual cloakers, then I’ll cloak the ship.”
“Done,” XR told him, phasing out.
“Done,” Booster echoed, following suit.
Buzz nodded, and in a couple of moments, he was phased out, too. “Activating ship cloaker,” he announced, flipping a switch. 42 phased out.
It might have been difficult to handle a crew of three flying a Star Cruiser when all four were invisible, but that was what the invisi-goggles were for. The LGMs had designed the goggles to let their users see outlines on invisible matter, so that Space Rangers using cloakers weren’t literally “flying blind.”
42 approached Planet Z in total stealth mode. “Do we land or orbit?” XR asked in a whisper. It didn’t seem right to talk out loud right now.
“Orbit,” Buzz whispered back, initiating geo-orbit sequence. “Okay, team – launch tubes.”
The Star Cruiser’s tubes spit out three invisible Rangers, headed for the planet surface…
And a rendezvous with destiny.
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Post by eez on Dec 29, 2009 18:44:24 GMT -5
"Hornets."
Several battalions of yellow and black robots marched up proudly and saluted, standing at perfect attention.
"Beetles."
And beside the Hornets stood dozens of able-bodied, dusty red machines as well; equally prepared with their own cumbersome salutes as the two robot classes stood side by side.
A grub looked over its datapad at the loyal automatons and nodded silently. Out of all the grubs to be picked and left behind, it just had to pluck the shortest straw out of the sugar pot. It knew it shouldn't have gone last!
"You two, the Evil Emperor wants you stationed for defensive duties." The grub instructed with a gesture as it read the datapad. "Hornets, you patrol and provide primary fire while Beetles, you provide secondary lobbing with plasma grenades while covering the Hornets. You are NOT to engage en route enemies until the time is right, understood?"
Another minion, this time a brain pod, rolled up beside the insectoid comrade and tilted their cranial capsule quizzically; a plasma pistol held within one of their claws clumsily--they clearly weren't trained in the arts of combat.
This was brain pod 22 and they, too, also had the unfortunate chance of plucking out the shortest straw from the sugar pot.
"Since when are Hornets and Beetles on defense?" Brain pod 22 asked, gazing at all the marching robots. There had to be at least over a hundred of the storming robots, their collective metallic stomps sending a rumble through the ground. "If they're defense, then who's our offense?"
"His Evilness instructed that we allow the Space Rangers inside. Weevils and Louses will keep an eye upon them via infrared and echo visors." The grub explained, rubbing its chin thoughtfully. It wasn't quite sure what the master had in store but orders were orders and they were to be followed to the 'Z'. "And when the moment is right, he will spring his evil trap of doom--says so right here: Evil Trap of Doom."
Ew, what a tacky name; or at least 22 thought so.
"Allow? That seems rather bold of him, I must say." 22 mused, fumbling as they struggled to get the wretched safety off the gun. "You really think the Space Rangers are just going to walk right into his trap? It hasn't worked for the last 3,247 times, you know...Confounded contraption..." They grumbled at the stubborn weapon.
"Iunno, I'm just a grub Operator but what I do know is that the defense moons picked up a lone ion trail minus a ship." The grub answered, clipping its datapad onto its uniform belt and taking out a similar plasma pistol. "And you know what that means...."
"Ooooh, a cloaking device! How fiendishly clever of them!" 22 chuckled. "It's a good thing His Evilness learned from the Raenok's previous failure and adapted the defense grid for such under-handed tactics!"
"I'll say..." The grub muttered as it successfully primed its weapon. "Now c'mon, we gotta go finish preparations!"
"Oh right....after you..."
Both grub and brain pod trailed off into the darkened corridors of Planet Z and vanished, nothing left to be seen other than the fading lights of their plasma pistol.
Stuff was going to hit the fan and it was about high time they found another cooling unit.
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Post by Blacksteel on Dec 30, 2009 3:31:23 GMT -5
Hellboy crouched in the shadows in a natural slouching position, his lower jaw jutting out and his baleful yellow eyes the only thing you could discern if you looked at the patch of darkness he had taken roost in. His sharp gaze took in every nook and cranny of the room; from each crevice in the ground to each fragment of metal that could be used against them. He would not call the throne room a very defensive position, but he assumed that Zurg had something or other up his sleeve.
After appearing a couple of hours ago, there had been an apparent change in the emperor, something the demon could not quite pinpoint but could tell by the horned ruler's posture and composure. He wouldn't call himself an expert at reading people, but Zurg, for all his secrecy, was a different case.
Speaking of the embodiment of all evil, Hellboy's eyes drifted up to the said figure sitting upon the throne. Zurg appeared quite at ease, almost comfortable even, as his eyes kept roving around the room from doorway to doorway, his steely fingers gripping the armrests of his elevated seat. But there was nothing remotely anxious about his stance; on the contrary, he radiated a sort of strange patience, as if he could wait all week--heck, maybe even a month--for the enemy to show.
Hellboy was a different matter; patience was never his strong suit, and he kept flexing his muscles, though never once shifting a limb, to keep them from cramping up. Plans were never his strong suit as well, until the rare times he was struck with an epiphany. He usually just plowed through and beat anyone who got into his way into submission. Of course, those someones were usually creatures who could take a good whacking. Hellboy had never been against humans, so frail and brittle and as easily breakable as dolls in his hands. He would have to rethink his tactics, and that was a hard feat after over half a century of beating things to a pulp.
Though his mind kept drifting from subject to subject like this, his attention always returned to the never-changing emperor, who was a mystery in himself. He seemed to have a very fleeting personality; one minute he was all smiles and grins and the next as dead serious as one with an intent to kill. Zurg was no stranger to death, that was for certain. But there was something different in his gaze, something far older and far more deep than Hellboy could discern.
After all, he wasn't really good at reading people, let alone people he had meet two days ago.
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Post by Skyfire on Dec 30, 2009 7:48:43 GMT -5
Getting down to the planet was easy. Getting into the tower was just about the same.
The journey itself, though… that was a different story.
It was quiet. Far too quiet. Empty.
Buzz could tell that Booster and XR had the creeps, and he couldn’t blame them. He was kind of getting that feeling himself. More and more, the unmistakable feeling grew that they were being watched.
It wasn’t impossible, of course. You didn’t have to see a person to track him. There were other ways.
And if he kept his mind occupied with the getting there, he could keep it from having a field day with imagining what would happen once they were there.
He still wasn’t sure what he was really going to do.
“I hope you have a plan!” “No moreso than usual.”
He shook his head at the memory. For as long as he could remember, he was good at flying blind, improvising on spur of the moment.
This was different, though.
At last, just before one of the entrances to the throne room, he held up a hand to halt his team. Looked at Booster and XR, and wanted to say something to them, anything. But the words wouldn’t come.
He shook his head again and settled for signing out the words Be careful in there. They saluted in response.
Buzz nodded, took a deep breath, and motioned XR over to override the door lock. The bot nodded – the motion barely visible to Buzz – and plugged in to the terminal. It was harder than it had ever been before – Zurg must have installed a crater-freakin’ lot of safeguards since the last time XR had done this. After a good five minutes of struggling with the tower’s AI, XR finally managed the override.
The door hissed open.
And, taking another deep (and slightly shaky) breath, Buzz stepped inside.
((Holy cow, I've got the jitters I tend to get in theaters only. O.O!! ))
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Post by eez on Dec 30, 2009 17:08:27 GMT -5
And no sooner had those grand, dual bay doors open did the Space Rangers lose the element of surprise; their individual cloaking technology fading out within the first meter of entering into the throne room.
"Lightyear!" A cheerful and boisterous voice boomed ahead of them, the Evil Emperor springing to his feet at once with his arms above his head and a smile etched upon his face.
Even with his arch nemesis upon them he was still going to act flamboyant for old time's sake.
"It's so good of you to...ehehe...sneak in..." Zurg lowered his voice a few decibels, rubbing his hands in a very scheming fashion with that same wicked grin across his purple face. "I hope you don't mind that my new Anti-Cloaking Scramblers render your Star Command-grade cloaking devices useless--with all the charged neutrinos and what not. I had them installed after the entire underworld of crime learned about the Raenok fiasco on, well, Raenok...But enough of that!"
The Evil Emperor caught himself in a ramble and proceeded as planned.
"What I want to know is why you're down my jolly, evil neck of space~!" He said cordially, bringing up a hand to his mouth as he was wont to do when making small talk. "Don't you have a wedding to attend--oh silly me!" Zurg gasped, mocking as he caught himself.
"It was canceled; my....mistake." The Evil Emperor remarked sweetly, chuckling at his own malice. "But I digress; you're here for something else, aren't you. Something...more important."
There came a snap of Zurg's fingers and the giant overhanging monitors above all flickered on, revealing a picture of none other than--
"You're here for your precious, darling, adopted sister." Zurg cooed down upon the Space Rangers, shaking his head while still chuckling. "Of all the foolish things to come down here for, that has GOT to be the most foolish I've ever seen! Even more so than the time the Tangean Princess came down here with her new, energy-based powers--and you do know how that turned out, don't you."
The Evil Emperor finished his chuckling and stood erect, his horned shadow easily looming down upon the floor below; his eyes smug and that smile as confident as ever.
Your move, Lightyear.
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Post by Skyfire on Dec 31, 2009 8:11:11 GMT -5
When the cloakers phased out, though, it wasn’t uniform that Buzz was wearing, it was…
“The Shiv Katall armor?” Booster whispered in surprise to XR.
“Must’ve put on a spare after we cloaked,” XR reasoned back in a whisper.
“Zurg,” Buzz returned quietly, nodding once, his face impassive. The anger inside had solidified into something cold but still unmistakably there and alive – as if something living had settled in his gut. A dragon, maybe. Actually, he couldn’t help thinking about how many times this particular scene had played out, and yet how incredibly different the circumstances were this time, and how different the scene itself would end.
Buzz lifted his chin slightly. Huh, the LGMs were going to have to revise those cloakers.
The dragon stirred, and Buzz clenched a slightly trembling fist.
The younger Rangers both winced, XR with the knowledge that had Buzz and Zurg been standing face to face, Zurg would have been summarily decked for that one.
Buzz stared up at the monitors, his breath catching just briefly. Erin was still unconscious, her head in a bandage cap for her concussion, another bandage covering a facial burn that might leave a light scar this time.
…“NNOO!! NONONO!” “ERIN!! SNAP OUT OF IT!!”
“My dress.” “NO! ERIN!!”…
The dragon roared to life within.
“As I recall,” Buzz said, deliberately, but surprised by the rawness of his own voice, “it resulted in the top of the tower blowing because Mira overloaded the Zurgalator. Just how many times have you lost the top, anyway.” Not really a question, because there was no question mark tacked on at the end.
“But you finally managed to score a direct hit this time, after twenty years.” Buzz made a sweeping, immaculate – and mocking – bow. “Congratulations, Your Evilness.”
He straightened and began to walk slowly, deliberately towards the throne, his face hardened, his eyes blazing blue fire. “My sister is less the reason and more the catalyst – though don’t think for one moment that I didn’t want to throttle the living daylights out of you for what happened to her.” I should’ve done this a long time ago. Still steadily moving forward, his hand strayed to the pistol holstered at his hip in classic Western style.
“I can’t – I won’t let you hurt other people anymore. Both Erin and Mira could have died tonight, and it’s not even the first time. When’s it going to end, Zurg?” He was very close to the throne now. “How far would you carry this stupid vendetta with Warp? Would it be all the way to the children they want to have??”
His voice quieted. “You went too far this time. You’re finished.”
((EEZ, two things: (a) I forgot to tell you this earlier, and I’m sorry about that, but the “Inevitable” thread was awesome – it really was! (b) Is it possible for you to post sometime around noon your time? That would be 3pm my time, and then I might possibly be able to post again, and then you can post again later in the day. That way, this wouldn’t be dragging on forever and leaving us all in suspense~! ;D))
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Post by eez on Dec 31, 2009 15:41:03 GMT -5
"Yes, the overloading portion I will admit was my mistake, but regardless I'm still here, aren't I~?" The Evil Emperor continued to coo from his perch like a great big, purple bird.
But when he saw Lightyear bow, the Evil Emperor found the urge to raise a ridge at the gesture and didn't know what to think. Well, guess the man really wanted to pull out all the stops today, didn't he? Oh well, it was time come sooner or later, Zurg supposed as he aimlessly began to polish a set of cold, merciless talons upon his breast plate with a slight bored scowl.
And Zurg continued to tune out the Space Rangers heroic rant until....until Lightyear had the audacity to rest his hand upon a holstered blaster; a move that did not go unnoticed by Zurg's ever sharp, red, piercing eyes.
What, was the man actually going to think that he could just waltz onto Planet Z and just fire willy-nilly? Either Lightyear was seriously down-playing the situation or he had really gone off his crater.
"When's it going to end?"
The Evil Emperor ceased his trivial actions and let out an eerie, sadistic chuckle as he shook his head down at the ill-prepared Space Ranger.
"It should have ended approximately five decades ago, Lightyear, if you really want to know." Zurg digressed, fanning a hand dismissively. "But if you want to be more specific, it will end when I say it ends; not a moment before or after." He concluded with a sneer at the man.
"And as for the vendetta with ex-agent Darkmatter, please...I don't have the time nor attention to hound his offspring. What do you take me for, some cliche villain who has nothing better to do than hunt children!? Honestly Lightyear, you disappoint me..."
Again Lightyear, your move.
((Hey! Thanks for reading the thread! You could say that Zurg had to make amends just in case this would be the inevitable. XD
And I can try, but don't count on it. I work these days so I will try like I said before but it could be dicey!))
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Post by Blacksteel on Dec 31, 2009 15:58:42 GMT -5
All the while, the demon watched the exchange from the shadows, never moving, never wavering, his attention now wholly focused upon Zurg and the three rangers. He caught the underlying current of something more in their words, something far beyond his understanding at such an early stage, but he would think about it later.
He pressed his stone fingers against his wrist ray, taking careful aim. He did not shoot, nor would he shoot unless the need arose, but it never hurt to be prepared. He kind of wished he had the Samaritan right about now, lousy shot and all. Or maybe for someone to clear things up--this was all sounding strangely fishy.
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Post by Skyfire on Jan 1, 2010 7:26:14 GMT -5
“Oh right,” Buzz retorted acerbically, “you’re God, you can say that.” Buzz knew that he could get pretty arrogant sometimes, but Zurg had to take the cake. He shook his head briefly in disgust. Then stopped, frowning. Five decades ago? What happened fifty years ago? Craters, his mom would’ve been a young teenager fifty years ago. Buzz’s blue eyes flashed, and his hand instinctively clutched his pistol. “Mutual. And honestly, what am I supposed to think after everything that’s happened?? People. Could. Have. Died. And contrary to what some people think, that doesn’t happen much to Space Rangers, and this time was way too close! I have every reason to assume the worst!” Unbeknownst to himself, he’d begun to pace during his brief tirade. He stopped, exhaled… felt strangely better. As if in just venting all this at Zurg… well, the anger was still there, but it wasn’t so overwhelming. The dragon had weakened severely. He wanted to massage his temples, but the gloves were a little hard for that. The urge to strangle Zurg was still there, but it was now tempered by catharsis and a sudden tiredness. And one thing was still nagging at him, something that his Ranger sense told him was incredibly important. “You said ‘it should have ended five decades ago,’” Buzz said quietly. “What was it? What happened fifty years ago that was so important?” ((The thread was a part of the story - of course, I'd read it! ((And d'aww! Well, you post when you post, I guess. =( ))
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Post by eez on Jan 1, 2010 7:34:37 GMT -5
"God? As if I follow some human God." Zurg snorted with a roll of his eyes, that scowl of his deepening.
Since when was Lightyear a man of a book? But once again, the Evil Emperor caught the Space Ranger clenching that pistol even tighter, the purple monster slowly turning that frown into a wide, evil smile.
"I bet you're upset, aren't you--boiling with all that inner rage and turmoil." Zurg goaded, rubbing his hands out of sheer excitement and anxiety. "But you do realize, my dear boy, that such consequences were not of my intentions--not really. The gears of death hold no design in my grand clock--my greater...scheme of things."
And it was true. So a few folks became close to dying. So what. Zurg didn't care at all; not a drop to be honest. If someone or anyone died it was because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, not because he wanted it. After all, he was no mindless killer like the Evil Buzz Lightyear.
And Zurg was going to state this until Lightyear stubbornly drew back to what the Evil Emperor had mentioned briefly moments ago.
"It's none of your bunzel beeswax." He suddenly retorted with a snap, his face dark and aggravated. "If you're so curious, why don't you ask that no good Commander of yours. I'm sure he's absolutely dying to tell you."
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Post by Skyfire on Jan 1, 2010 7:48:09 GMT -5
He was angry. He was tired. He was just plain confused.
Buzz shook his head warily and took a step back.
The dragon reared once more. “What does the Commander have to do with this?” Buzz demanded hotly. "And I hate to break it to you, but whatever has to do with you IS kinda my beeswax!" ...Craters, somebody just might get hurt yet. Please let it be Zurg, please let it be Zurg, please let it be Zurg...
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Post by eez on Jan 1, 2010 7:52:55 GMT -5
"No, no, no; you're just nosy, that's all." Zurg clarified with an airy, nonchalant wave as he went back to polishing his other set of cruel, plated talons. "Space Rangers, always sticking their noses where they don't belong--or is that because they're attracted to the scent of my garbage~?"
Ah yes, when he was a stinker he was a stinker! Not literally, of course, as he was talking about garbage of all things at this late hour.
"Anyway, can you hurry this up. I have a schedule with the Valkyran Raiders soon and I'd rather not miss it; you know, since Valkyrans tend to rant on and on about tardiness...." He rambled.
The Evil Emperor was perfectly ignoring Lightyear's request to the 'Z' and made no mention to address the man's previous inquiry.
It wasn't his right, after all!
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Post by Skyfire on Jan 1, 2010 8:29:19 GMT -5
He didn’t give a ****, did he. Buzz clenched his jaw and said tightly, “Sorry, Your Evilness, but you’re going to have to cancel that meeting.” He executed two flawless handsprings up the steps to the throne – not an easy feat considering that the Shiv Katall armor was heavier and slightly bulkier than his uniform – and drew his pistol. “Time to face the music, Zurg – you’re under arrest.”
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Post by eez on Jan 1, 2010 8:32:31 GMT -5
About darn, crater-pickin' time!
The Evil Emperor watched with bored eyes as the Space Ranger leaped from place to place like a devolved Binipinardian and Zurg could barely stifle a yawn as Lightyear brought out his tiny, runt piece of a gun.
Pathetic!
"Not likely, Buzzy Boy! I've still got the upper-hand! And by hand, I mean my right!" The Evil Emperor motioned with a wave while still facing the Space Ranger, his eyes twinkling mischievously.
It was time for action!
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