(OOC: Continuation of flashback. For the record, if you aren't listening to
Sure Promise right now, you should be.
)
Kaisera couldn't stop grinning. He had come. He had
finally come. Their decades of dilligence were about to pay off. She leapt from the top of the gantry and landed with expert grace on the main catwalk below. Running to the control panel, she began to retract all the service equipment, clearing the way for the Megadeus to deploy. It was a procedure they hadn't done in years--and the last time was only to ensure that nothing had broken in the launch mechanism. This time was
for real.Inside Big Avenger, Jim went through the start-up procedure on automatic...long-dormant memories surfacing from the depths of his mind and guiding his hands to the proper controls. A metal ring lowered from behind him and twin control sticks slid out into the perfect position for him to take hold of them. He felt a shudder as the maintenance gantry began to move forward, ancient gears rolling it along the dust-covered path.
A ray of sunlight stabbed down into the hangar as the blast door high above began to iris open. Jim regained control of his senses long enough to wonder how the Big was going to get up there, but his hand moved of its own accord and flipped two switches on a panel which his memories labeled
[Ignition]. Outside, he saw Big Avenger's arms raise to point his hands upward... except his hands were retracting, fingers telescoping inward to be covered by a protective cone.
Then he heard--no,
felt--a rumble that had nothing to do with the service gantry. On a smaller monitor he noticed Kaisera jumping up and down and, presumably, cheering... because the two massive jet engines inside Big Avenger's arms had been the most difficult system to service, and they were thundering to life before her eyes for the first time in forty years. Twin collumns of flame erupted from the Megadeus' elbows, and the roar increased steadily in fervor. Just as he was starting to get worried that something was going to explode, Jim noticed that it was getting lighter--he could see the wall of the launch shaft moving
downward in front of him.
The silver-and-blue Megadeus rose, like a fallen phoenix reborn from its ashes, out of the opening of the launch shaft. His armor gleamed in the mid-day sunlight, shining like it never had in the dim lights of the hangar. Though he could not explain it, Jim felt a profound sense of freedom--and then pure euphoria boiled up out of the depths of Big Avenger, at the simple fact that he was
airborne again.
Nothing that can fly ever enjoys being underground for forty years.
The Megadeus gently prodded the mind of his Dominus, silently directing his attention to the engine controls. They were barely at one-half power. Jim, not for the first time in his life, felt the need for open sky. He grabbed the throttle control, took a deep breath, and pulled it all the way back. The Megadeus went from rising with stately grace to hurtling up into the sky like a rocket. As he cleared the canyon, slots on his arms opened, and two great silver wings telescoped out, extending and inter-locking, spanning a width more than twice Big Avenger's height. Four stubby maneuvering wings similarly deployed from his lower legs, and Big Avenger guided his Dominus into a barrel roll for the sheer joy of it.
Kaisera stood outside now, telescopic eyes tracking the silver Megadeus up into the sky. As he passed out of sight over the lip of the canyon, she frowned. The ground was still rumbling.
------
The memories surging through the silver Megadeus had awoken it. It remembered its ancient adversaries, who would rain death on its ken from the skies. It would face this one again, and it
would bring it down or be destroyed in the attempt. It did not,
could not know any other fate.
But first, it would need a servant to unlock its greater capabilities. It extended its senses, and found two within a reasonable distance.
They would suffice.
------
Flying, it would seem, came naturally to Jim. He had finally regained full control of his mind and body, but still knew how every control in the Megadeus' cockpit worked.
That switch deployed the beam cannons,
those buttons over there controlled the shields...and the control sticks and the pedals beneath his feet guided the Megadeus through the sky.
He banked around, covering more distance in a few seconds than he had in an entire day of his cross-desert trek. He was so high up he could even see the domes glinting in the distance. Jim glanced up at the clouds, tempted to find out what was above them--but Big Avenger had other ideas.
The controls locked, and for a moment Jim panicked...until the central monitor brought up a radar display. He could reckognize the canyon and hangar, and the spot where the cabin was...and something heading towards them, in the glaring scarlet of a hostile contact.
"Well...I needed to test out the weapons anyway. Looks like it's
SHOWTIME!" He tilted the now-unlocked controls down, diving back towards the hangar.
------
Kaisera realized something was truly wrong when rocks began to fall from the canyon walls around her. She turned away from the hangar and ran--and boy, can androids run when they want to--back towards the cabin. She did not get far when something
huge burst from the canyon wall.
It was immense, bigger than even Big Avenger. She glimpsed a giant
23 on its side. It screamed, a strange warbling cry that triggered something deep within her mind: fear...and something else. Her mouth opened and began spewing code until she slapped her hands over it, and the mechanical monster turned its massive, draconic head toward her. It began to crawl, gleaming yellow claws turning the floor of the canyon into sand at its touch. She turned and began to run, but the sand caught up and she fell into the deepening crater with a scream.
Terrified, she turned to see its face looming above her...and then it reared back as bright bolts of energy slammed into its body from above. A volley of missiles streaked down and impacted around its arms, sending it toppling onto its back. Big Avenger roared past overhead, banking around for another pass.
------
A new icon appeared on the monitor. It was only a default reading for Android, but Jim knew that only one android could be that close to the hangar right now. "You LEAVE HER ALONE!" he yelled as four beam cannon turrets extended from Big Avenger's chest and back, and fired as one. The focused energy blew off the Leviathan's (he wondered how he knew what it was called) front left leg, and it screamed again.
Finding its footing, the purple centerpiece in its right front leg glowed and shot out a blinding beam of light. It missed Big Avenger by a good distance, but it reminded Jim that he wasn't the only one with weapons. As he began evasive maneuvers, he tried to figure out if he could display any information about his enemy on the monitors. Schematics of several bizzare machines blinked past before it settled on the Leviathan-class Megadeus.
"Lesse here... automated... burrows... turns stuff to sand--mental note, keep your distance--lasers in hands and feet...ah! This is where it gets interesting."
Big Avenger knew his Dominus was busy researching their enemy, and while he agreed that it was a good idea in principle, he had some concerns about doing it
while that enemy was shooting at them. So he took the liberty of subtly exaggerating Jim's evasive maneuvers enough to keep them alive, and considered prodding his Dominus' mind in the general direction of the shield generators and how to turn them
on."Equipped with substantial armament, which can only be unlocked by interface with specific types of androids for security purposes... units are largely feral, but when all capabilities are unlocked become
extremely dangerous..." Jim swallowed loudly. "Not normally a phrase you want to see. So, I need to keep it from getting Kais--uh-oh."
The Leviathan had finally figured out that it wasn't having very good luck with the claw laser, and had deployed a number of large missile racks from its back. The monitor strobed and an alarm dragged Jim's attention away from the datafile.
"Time to get low and fast... damnit, I wish I knew what that
meant!"
Jim's memories did, though, and guided his hands to send Big Avenger into a steep dive and pull up just above the desert sands.
"Oh."
The maneuver threw the missiles off for a moment, but they arced down after the silver Megadeus and the alarm began getting more insistent as they closed. Jim was frantically wondering what to do next when Big Avenger discretely poked his mind towards the beam cannons. This Dominus was proving suprisingly easy to influence...possibly too young. Perhaps he needed another few years to ripen... no, wait, wait, that was for plants... mature! That was the word!
Big Avenger was not built with the capability for deep thought in mind.
At any rate, Jim got the hint and fired on the missiles with the beam cannons. He managed to blast several out of the sky, and the detonations threw a few others off-course. Some of them lost their lock and slammed into the desert, but a handful homed in on him no matter what.
They detonated around Big Avenger's feet, and a schematic displayed a "Damage Level 2" to the lower legs. Jim figured it wasn't too serious, and began coming around to face his enemy again.
------
Kaisera had began running again as soon as Big Avenger attacked--remaining in the vicinity of a Megadeus battle was not conducive to one's health--but with the missiles keeping him busy, the dragon was free to search for its prey.
She had found a small cave, though what good it would do against a monster that turned stone into sand she wasn't sure... but she could feet its footsteps heading away. She sighed in relief--then gasped as she realized where it was headed.
"The cabin! Greystar!
Father!"
------
(OOC: cue
Stoning)
Jim realized what had happened when the monitor thrummed a new warning: the Leviathan had found an android.
Greystar was paralyzed by the sheer force of memory flowing from the monstrous machine into him and then back again. He did it unknowingly and unwillingly, but he still did it. The draconic Megadeus screamed again with triumph, and dropped the hapless android back into the ruins of the cabin as it turned to face its foe.
Another beam of energy lanced from the claw-crystal, joined now by fire from a dozen cannons deploying from hidden compartments around its shoulders. Big Avenger dodged and weaved a corkscrew path across the sky, keeping ahead of it easily, but he could not attack and evade at the same time.
Wondering if he could get out of this, Jim scanned the controls and his new-found memories for something that could help them. His gaze rested on one panel that his mind called
[Shield Controls]. He pressed a few buttons on it, experimentally.
A pair of shimmering, disc-shaped barriers appeared above and below Megadeus, flickering before fading almost to invisibility. The bottom one flared again when one of the claw-beam blasts struck it, but the weapon did not penetrate--it was stopped cold.
Jim grinned and swung around, guns blazing. The Leviathan practically ignored the light weapons fire--something heavier was needed. Big Avenger tried to plant the word "Chromestriker" in Jim's subconscious while the Dominus was busy evading fire from the extra beam cannons that had just deployed.
"Man, how many weapons does this thing HAVE?!"
Two additional sets of missile racks extended and fired a massive salvo.
"...forget I asked!"
The Beam Cannons cut through the salvo, weakening it to the point that the shields could deflect it, but they were running out of time. The Leviathan was rapidly discovering what it was
really capable of; it was only a matter of time until it got to the rather disturbingly large energy cannon mounted in the head. Big Avenger remembered those, and he'd prefer to end the fight before it could be deployed.
Jim finally noticed the button that was labeled
[CHROMESTRIKER] in very large bold letters in his memories. He swung around in a sharp turn and pressed it.
Big Avenger's helmet began to gleam and a faint beam stabbed out to strike the Leviathan squarely on the chest. It didn't seem to do anything and Jim started to feel cheated, but a moment later it surged with immense power and blew a hole clean through the other Megadeus. He tilted the controls downward slightly and the powerful beam sliced the Leviathan in two, carving right down the middle. The thing staggered, stood there bewildered for a moment, and then its head exploded. It fell backwards, slamming into the canyon wall and sliding down to slump and lie smoking, internal compenents occasionally exploding with muffled
*thooms.*------
Kaisera ripped aside part of the rubble, fighting artificial tears as she dug.
The silver Big settled to the ground not far away, and Jim could clearly see that the cabin had been smashed by the creature in its search for an android. He leapt over the controls to Big Avenger's waiting hand, which lowered him gently to the ground.
By the time he ran up to the ruins, Kaisera had unearthed Greystar--battered, damaged, and in shock, but otherwise functional--and her father.
He was bleeding from a massive cut on his head, one arm and both legs were clearly broken, and there was a large red stain spreading across his stomach. Kaisera wept as she held him in her arms.
"Don't... cry..." the old man murmured, barely conscious over the pain. "It was... my time anyway..." She lowered him gently to the ground, tears shining brightly on her cheeks. He turned his head to Jim, and beckonied him close with his good arm.
"You have to promise me, son... promise..." he coughed, blood spattering on his chest. "Promise me... that some day... you will
remember."
Jim knelt, and took the old man's hand in his own. "You have my word," he answered in a tone more serious than ever before in his life.
The old man nodded, and smiled weakly... before his eyes shuddered closed and his head fell back. Jim felt the arm in his hands go limp, and Kaisera screamed with grief.
------
They buried him on the top of the canyon, on a bluff where he always liked to watch the sunset before coming down to cook dinner. Greystar had an arm around his sister, comforting her as best he could with his silent presence. Jim stood beside them, swearing a vow to himself that no matter what happened, he would fulfill the man's dying request.
Behind them, Big Avenger silently bowed his head...
...in respect for the passing of his former Dominus.
------
Much time had passed since then. Jim, Kaisera and Greystar had moved into living quarters they'd found attached to Big Avenger's underground hangar, and had busied themselves preparing the facility for regular use. Jim had taken the Megadeus out for another few test-flights over the wastelands, making a point to stay clear of Paradigm City for the time being.
Jim knew, despite the fact that he'd never considered such a situation before, that he didn't want to be like the Red Megadeus, or like any of the other monstrosities that had attacked the city before. He also didn't think Big Avenger would stand for it, and as close as the two had become in the weeks since they had met--despite the Megadeus never speaking a word--he didn't harbor any illusions about how the giant machine would respond if he attempted to mis-use its power.
The one thing that kept worrying him was the Black Megadeus. He didn't know how it would react to him and Big Avenger muscling in on its "turf," and given that it and whoever piloted it had won every battle he'd heard of and defeated many foes--including the Red Megadeus--he didn't want to get on their bad side. So for now, he stayed low.
That didn't stop him from keeping up with what was going on in Paradigm City. During their refurbishment of the Hangar, Kaisera and Greystar had come across a transport system: an underground railcar which, when activated, ferried its passengers to an abandoned station just outside of West Dome #5. Jim had utilized it to make discreet trips into the city and get in touch with some of the people he'd known off the streets. He had heard from them the tales of what had happened since he'd left--the Black Megadeus winning more fights, even smashing an angel falling from the heavens. Much of it was rumors and gossip, the facts clearly distorted after being passed around by word-of-mouth. He needed a reliable source.
A few inquiries had pointed him to a bar called the Speakeasy and a man named Big Ear, but one meeting alone made it clear that he was far above Jim's league--both in status and in price. Some other whispered suggestions had pointed him to a group spoken of in hurried, hushed tones: an organization called the Union. A discreet closer investigation hinted that they weren't the nicest people to deal with so he decided to stay clear of them, which left him very few options. There was one person, however...
Which is how he came to find himself in the main lobby of the Paradigm Building, feeling extremely out-of-place. He had returned to his apartment (the landlord was forunately very relaxed about his month-overdue rent) and retrieved his best clothes, but it still didn't compare to the fine buisness suits around him. He could feel people's eyes on him, automatically classifying him as being from Outside the Domes, but he steeled his nerves and headed for the main reception desk.
The woman seated there in the smart grey uniform noticed him approaching, and the friendly smile she had worn while dealing with the well-dressed executives faded from her face. By the time Jim reached the counter, she was eyeing him with a mixture of suspicion, curiousity and distaste. He hesitated, but then swallowed the lump in his throat.
"Can you deliver a message for me?" he asked, pulling an envelope out of his jacket. "To a Miss Laura Atherin? I don't have a number or address for her, but I do know she works in the Records Department on Floor 247." He handed her the envelope, which she eyed with about the same mix of expressions she had applied to him. Then realization flashed across her face.
"Oh, so
you're Jim?" she said, now looking at him with a sardonic, sinister and distinctly female smirk. "Okay, yeah, I can send it up." She turned and leaned towards the woman at the next desk over. "Hey Nancy, guess who this is?"
Jim slowly backed away from the desk as the receptionists began to twitter and shoot amused looks at him, and he began to comprehend the awful power of the Paradigm HQ rumor mill.
