[X]: Have breakfast as a group in the dorm kitchens.
Samus
"It'd be hard for us to have breakfast together if we go out...so...." You said, letting the set up build some anticipation even though what you were going to say next was obvious to even the most socially inept. You looked to the kitchen past some wall dividers and then back to the group who were now hanging on your reply, with many of them; especially Korlanil, giving you a look that just screamed "get on with it".
"Let's have breakfast together!" You proposed, a cheery smile forming on your face as the idea sprang out of your mouth.
"Hrm, can't say I'm looking forward to the experience of more human cooking." Idaliryn said with a frown across his ethereally perfect face. The Eldar were almost annoyingly good looking honestly, features almost seeming to have been purposely designed to be bewitching and appealing. Though you've been told that you had a similar sort of beauty, where everyone seemed to just sort of gravitate towards you and your countenance.
"It's not going to be human cooking, ya'll gonna be getting some proper angelfood." Raelamiel said, refreshed with crystal blue eyes that seemed to almost shine as she quickly dashed off to the kitchen to start her work, Tyrius rolling his shoulders and following suit with Dawnmaker and Duskkeeper in tow.
"...I fail to see how your angelic nature necessarily leads to a better understanding of my palette. But you have my interest for now, Raelamiel." Idaliryn said folding his arms while Alyrsero sprinkled some leaves into a cup of water and let fire dance around his finger tips as a result of his psychic energies.
"You haven't seen her cook." Joseph said, sipping on some hot cocoa while you looked on rather enviously at all these sweets, biting your lower lip.
...
It took about fifteen minutes for all the food to be ready, everyone gathered at a long table, Arne sitting next to you; Alyrsero sitting across from you, Alice on the side of him that Kaeliyae wasn't occupying, Chris on the other side of you, Vista besides Arne.
Raelamiel delivered piping hot plates of pancakes, poached eggs, salmon, crepes, toast, jars of nutella, honey, syrup, and chocolate sauce; all home made by herself, and cups of coffee or soda brewed or carbonated herself across the table; going about as fast as she could manage to make sure everyone had access to the offered meal and any second helpings they might want; flying or using her spells where she needed to reach.
You took a look at some of the chocolate rolled pancakes and felt your mouth watering slightly, Arne wiping a little fleck of drool that came out of your mouth before it could drip where others could see. You didn't really eat all that well yesterday; though technically you didn't really need to eat all that much with your supernatural metabolism, or at all really...you hadn't had anything properly tasty in a while. Not for two days at least.
"Bon appetite babes." Raelamiel said, offering two finger pistols and her best effort at a wink, though a minute frown crept its way onto her face for a brief moment before she settled back down with Tyrius. Tyrius cringed visibly at the sight of Clockblocker eating with too much gusto and enthusiasm, his breathing growing tense and shallow and his pupils dilating with the telltale signs of a PTSD attack. You weren't exactly privy to the visions that his mind was blasted with by the Gestalt Chorus of the Imperial Tyranids, but whatever they were, they held power over him long after he had been pushed away from the beasts.
Galen looked at his arm, a grown replacement for the severed one created by induced regeneration; wriggling his fingers as if he couldn't quite believe it was real. From what you heard, had his armour not immediately cauterised the point where the bonesword cut through and sealed the stump in tandem with autobot medical nanites rushing to save him; he'd have lost more than the arm. And even then he was violently ill until Perceptor managed to administer an biogen antidote.
Marcus rubbed at his side, having also had a close brush with death. While his incarnate nature helped to prevent him from getting assimilated as soon as his skin was exposed or the spike pierced into him, he faded in and out of consciousness under incredible agony until brought to a biopod for a full cleansing of his system. Afterwards, he made sure the incarnate power he forged from the gathered threads was one that could cleanse afflictions, and he still touched where the spike had been stuck into him.
Dawnmaker seemed to be...mostly fine. He'd probably seen far too much over his combined lifetimes to be bothered, but you noticed Joseph and Alice had issues looking at bubbles, memories of flesh sacs pulsating with rapidly growing new life still strong.
The Eldar though...all seemed to be almost despicable fine. Most of them laughing or joking amongst themselves about what just transpired.
You ate a bit, though the red serpent of anger began to coil around in your stomach as you felt a heat in your heart. It wasn't right for them to be so...okay with everything. Even Idaliryn who had a brush with death himself that only his psychic prowess and Ormothin's ministrations saved him from seemed to be...okay mostly. He was more quiet than most, but he wasn't letting it affect him.
Arne and yourself had seen plenty of awful things, but so far few things were ever so...viscerally disgusting as that. The constant screaming desire to eat, to feed, to absorb and make what was beyond part of what was within. Few foes had ever been so single-mindedly rapacious or utterly unconcerned of casualty or risk to themselves. And why would they be? They were alive at a subatomic level, to be arranged and rearranged over and over and over and...
Arne put a hand on your shoulder and looked down at you, smiling softly.
"We'll be fine." He said. He was shaken yes, but facing against endless hordes and constant psychic pressure was not exactly strange to him. He weathered the storm pretty alright. He seemed relaxed even, though how much of that was really just having the emotional fortitude and how much was just him being good at bottling it up was something he wasn't forthcoming with.
"Want some juice?" He asked, getting a nod out of you before he poured you a bottle, though you noticed he wasn't using his hand to hold it. Your jaw dropped slightly and your eyes widened, prompting Arne to look at the bottle and then almost fumble with his telekinetic grip before Alyrsero reached out to the spilling liquid and lifted it; telekinetically bringing the grape juice back inside of its container and averting a catastrophic spill all over the tablecloth.
"...Arne you." You said, as you reached for a fork and it just...flew into your hands.
"I..."
"You awakened something in yourself when you absorbed the dying tyranids' essence. Your soul already burnt blindingly bright, but now its radiance is something rather more...incomparable." Alyrsero said, playing with some lump of clay that moulded itself into a highly detailed figurine with a thought and a touch before he took a bite out of a crepe with nutella spread on it after folding it into a roll.
He paused a bit, then looked at the crepe again; and then ate more judiciously with his next few bites, actually chewing his food rather than swallowing as quickly as possible as he had with the PRT base's cooking and nodding with a pleased smile.
"...This is...actually very good." Alyrsero said while Kaeliyae turned herself around to eat without showing her face.
"I can teach you if you're up for it. Maybe while we're busy doing...whatever it is we're supposed to be doing for a week." Alyrsero huffed.
"Seven days to cool my heels...may as well ask me to retire." Elendria huffed though she nodded approvingly of the meal she was busily quaffing down.
"It's not so bad, I have time to do my work at least." Clarioli said quietly as she gradually worked her way through her food, one bite after the other. Methodically, patiently. Her eating was economical and efficient, never slowing down or accelerating except when she was talking. Almost robotic even.
"Well, I think I would like that! But you do have a point...a week is an awfully long time to do...nothing." You sighed and sipped on your drink a little, letting out a small huff before you worked your way through some salmon, which you had seen raelamiel conjure from thin air. Though the eggs smelled nice...the idea of eating eggs still seemed sacrilegious to you, like eating a baby. Even if it was a conjured egg, you couldn't force yourself to go through with it and instead just focused on other protein sources.
"Well, with the autobots adding to their patrols...I think we'll be fine with a week off." Arne said, laying back slightly before cutting off a slice of rolled up crepe and then putting it into his mouth via fork. Chewing thoroughly before swallowing with his next bite. "I've got ideas for projects to work on in the mean time, if you're up for it." He said to you, getting a nod from you while Vista scorched slightly closer to him and offered him some soda, getting a thanks out of him and a smile that made her beam.
She had it bad for him, you thought as you accepted an offer of coffee from Chris and sipped at the...okay this wasn't as bad as you were expecting coffee to be. The caffeine did absolutely nothing for you, but the mocha went down smoothly and gently, going down your throat and leaving a bit of a pleasant aftertaste in your mouth before you started on your third pancake.
You thanked him, and saw him give you a thumbs up and a courteous you're welcome that you gave a simple nod of acknowledgement to while Alyrsero whispered to Kaeliyae, careful to not look into her hood while he spoke to her. The idea of him and Lelithax...and others probably...the love relations in that pack of eight seemed complex and confusing to follow for outsiders...loving her while not even knowing what she looked like baffled you, but it seemed to work.
She tittered a bit in response, your ears picking up a whispered conversations bout how interesting he found your dalliances or the interest you seemed to pull towards yourself like a magnet.
She set the plate she was finished with behind herself while Vista wiped at the edges of her plate with some toast to make sure the whole thing was clean; eating the cheese and egg soaked bread in a few bites afterwards and letting the aroma melt in her mouth before you finished your third pancake for the morning; Arne working his way through a generous salmon steak and some vegetables like a starving man; though he made sure to restrain himself every time he caught Tyrius' eyes looking over his direction.
"Since we can't go on patrol...what should we do?" Olla asked, rubbing at her brother's arm after whispering that everything was going to be fine, helping him get used to the sensation of having a limb there again as he breathed out and nodded; Raelamiel still occasionally sniffing everytime she looked at red jam that reminded her of the blood she saw everywhere.
"Well, if you guys want to hang with us...Alice, Darla, Ivan, Aronim, Elerya, Aiko and I have class." Joseph said with a small nod.
"Dawnmaker and Duskkeeper don't go to school, Tyrius and Raelamiel are going to need R&R, Marcus is also on mandatory rest." He said with a shrug.
"Aw damn, didn't pack any autumn appropriate civvies. Gonna have to play hookie." Clockblocker declared, Dennis folding his arms behind his back and smiling broadly, then looking to you with a bit of a smile; you promised to him that as soon as they could get his father to your ship; you'd treat his cancer, and he was grateful for that.
"What? It's a hero school, of course you go in costume." Joseph said like Dennis had just gone crazy or something.
"...Huh, weird." Dennis said, squinting.
"I mean...that sounds cool actually. Much nicer than Arcadia." Chris said.
"What could I possibly learn from human teachers?" Lelithax said, folding her arms.
"How to be less of a bitch for one." Aiko said, the normally quiet Mistral Slash making her voice loud and clear as Lelithax bared sharpened teeth and snarled like a dinosaur while Korlanil sniggered next to her.
"Oh go on Leli, kill 'em." He said in a tone that left you unsure if he was joking before Kaeliyae pulled at Lelithax's ear lobes gently but firmly, getting a squeak out of the ravenette as she sat herself back down and looked sheepishly towards the ground.
"...Sorry..." She muttered.
Actions: What to do after breakfast?
[]: Head to statesman school as an exchange student for a bit to learn more about how superpowered kids live here. (Has crafting facilities)
[]: Head back to Brockton and check on the PRT base.
[]: Tour Hero One university (has advanced research and crafting facilities, more grown up heroes hang out there)
[]: Tour the Startsetter base (has crafting facilities, mostly younger and nonhuman heroes)
[]: Go shopping for a bit...normal kids do that in this decade right?
[]: Visit a park or a Zoo for some relaxing outdoors.
[]: Try out these video games they have
[]: Just chill with the heroes who have to stay back and learn from the Elf how to do Dreamhell Magic.
[]: Write in
hmm, i am torn, on one hand the kids really need to continue to decompress after the Genestealer hive, that shit is not something that should linger too long with out some de-stressing.
But on the other hand, upgrades, crafting and research. Hmm maybe we can do both at one of these locations
hmm, i am torn, on one hand the kids really need to continue to decompress after the Genestealer hive, that shit is not something that should linger too long with out some de-stressing.
But on the other hand, upgrades, crafting and research. Hmm maybe we can do both at one of these locations
As a general rule, CoX magic is less powerful than warpcraft but has less chance or possibility of things going awry. While Samus and Arne are essentially immune to perils of the warp themselves, warpcasted spells have a higher likelihood of having unintended effects if you lose control of the manifested power before its casted. On the other hand, the narrative juuju in warpcraft will be something you'll need to learn to do at some point.
Metroid sagaverse magic is somewhere between the two; but isn't connected to a realm of emotions.
On the other hand, Statesman academy can also help with Psionics and Source power, not just magic.
Lord Grand Shield-Marshal Trajann Valoris had returned not a moment too soon; the Custodes warship ferrying him anchoring itself over one of the dockyards that hung over the teeming masses of Terra. Home to sextillions in a sprawling thicket of humanity's teeming masses that dived for countless kilometres below the top spires of a world that the finest minds of the Imperium worked day and night to ensure was fed and supplied. Archaeotech was used to prevent the sheer masses of people from burning the planet to a crisp with their waste heat.
Every ounce of hydroponics was squeezed out of the planet, every local manufacturing system for medicine was used. Orbitals dedicated solely to growing food and preparing water ringed the world. But the flow of ships that usually went into and out of Terra were slowing, stymying. Even with the civil war ongoing, the reinforcements the involved factions were bringing in had slowed.
He was coming.
"+This is Admiral Restarius of the Oort guard. We've lost Tyche! The Orks are...Throne and Keep there's got to be hundreds of thousands of them! War Worlds! We can't...Emperor and Empress help us...Set the warp drive to overload! Take s-+" The communications ended abruptly, the alcubierre channeled vox transmission used for intra-solar system FTL communications to keep the astropaths focused on more important duties fading in a tremendous burst of static.
"+There's so many of them...the stars they're...trinity save us they're turning green...the void of space is turning green! We can't hold them. Rotary nova-cannon batteries can't hold them back!...Enough firepower t-....destroy planets....insufficient effect...astropat-....cranial detonation...boarding u-....+" Another chimed in before a roar of gunfire silenced them forever.
"+Remain firm brothers and sisters, the xenos daemons are no different from the spawn of the ruinous powers or the abominations of Shyish. Keep the faith for we are the Hammer! We cannot fail here!+" They would. Trajann didn't even need to see the reports on the size of the Greenskin fleet to know it.
Valoris turned his attention briefly towards Venus as his shuttle descended through the atmosphere, the home of the Astra Telepathica and its related organisations such as the colleges of the winds of magic. The displays of warp-born psychic might and mysticism were weakening and convulsing as the overbearing pressure of the green cataclysm on the horizon weighed ever more heavily on the minds of all. The warp was twisting in ways even more dire than when Horus' armada of traitors had come to Terra, even more so than when the Khornates launched their own siege of the Palace or the life-drinking Cruorans and their living metal hordes brought their null beacons.
A voice spoke up within the gilded transport's confines as it passed through the void fields of Terra and into its toxic, smog covered atmosphere where the once warring forces loyal to the Primarchs or to the rebellious High Lords who had fled to Gaea had gathered in uneasy peace. Some months ago they were bloodletting on the streets, now they just...waited. Manning defences, repairing the damage they could. They were finished with that already, and now turned to trying to improve the defences where they could. But Trajann could feel a great listlessness when he looked over them, uncertainty, fear. Xenos were coming to Terra.
"The people of Terra are losing hope, Lord Grand Shield-Marshal. But we cannot provide it to them." Shield-General Astraea Elegard said; a woman that Trajann happily called a battle companion in the custodes. She did not despair or fear, the Custodes were incapable of allowing emotions to cloud their judgement in such ways. Her words were not born of unwarranted pessimism, they were simply an acknowledgement of the dire reality of the situation.
"And what of the Noctis Labyrinth?" He asked.
"Broken. We could not stop the shards from arriving. Mars and Jupiter will be lost to us in hours." She said frankly.
"How fares the Primarch Dorn and his siblings?"
"Poorly, we cannot extract him from his war room and the other gathered Primarchs are clinging to the hopes of the prior sieges. These hopes will not come to pass. The reinforcements coming will not be enough." She said, Trajann giving a solemn nod as the craft landed on its designated pad; the other forces of the Talons of the Imperium having sent out honour guards to receive the Lord Grand Shield-Marshal once he emerged from his shuttle with his retinue. The gilded pathways of the palace were a sight so mundane and familiar to Valoris that even if he were capable of it; he would never be awed by it.
"Lord Grand Shield-Marshal; the preparations to evacuate the Throne and the Keep are well under way. We should be able to leave before the Greenskins breach the walls." Grand Shield-General Akios reported, giving a small nod to his superior.
"They will not breach the walls. We will not allow mankind's home to fall to Ghazghkull's horde." Darnath Lysander growled. He was huge even before being made into a Primaris Astartes, even before having gravis refits to his enlarged tactical dreadnought armour, but Valoris still had to look down at him to meet his eyes, shielded as they were beneath his helmet.
"Brave words." Was all Valoris had to say to that.
The Adepta Peregrina's conclave of battle sisters and brothers in their sanctified power armour milled around, shorter than the Astartes or Custodes who were now manning the enormous palace alongside them. Conventional soldiers and loyal elements of the Adeptus Mechanicus who accepted Belisarius Cawl's hasty ascension to fabricator-general in the wake of the great schism dashed around elements of the palace that most mortals had not seen in thousands of years. Valoris was not a gambling man, but the defences that were now facing the invaders would have made that which faced Horus' chaos tainted putschists or Atraya's undeath cavorting coup plotters seem paltry in comparison.
The elite guard of the traitor legions or the necro-angels who followed Horus or Atraya to damnation would have been smashed by the defences arrayed now. Horus likely would have met his end before reaching Pluto, while the other fortress worlds that he would have had to seize to have any hope of properly besieging Sol spread across the Via Lactea would have broken his or his successor in damnation's armies a hundred times over. Perturabo himself would have wept at the impossibility of repeating his successes.
They would not be enough.
Valoris knew they would not be enough as soon as the word of that wretched Orkoid trinity; Ghazghkull, the Gloom Grot Overking Skarsnik, and the Rock Trog Overking Mollog;'s victories in "Da Sacred WAAAGHs!" reached him. Defeating the Imperium, the forces of Khorne, the loyally pledged of the Nightbringer, and the cult of Khaine in the war for Armageddon and its outlying galactic system. Vanquishing the forces of the Tyranids, the Brain-Eater Lords of the Ythalnzids, the Lizardmen, and the assimilating mechanical legions of the Tsarkantic Collective in the war for the Octarian Empire. Defeating the Dawi, the Skaven, the Nagash worshipping Slaugth, and the hyper-aggressive Barghesi in the long war for Karak Eight Gems.
Ghazghkull, Skarsnik (not to be confused with the Krork Warmaster's favoured Commando, he reminded himself), and Mollog formed a trinity of Gorkamorka, Mork, and Gork: the three pinnacles of all it meant to be a greenskin. And the horde they had formed was one to surpass even the Prime-Orks of the Beast so many millennia ago. And it virtually shattered the Imperium to put a stop to them last time.
He looked upon the holomarkers of the war table with a keen eye.
The Imperium's forces were a vast sea of yellow, loyal servants of the Emperor, Empress, and Omnissiah. Not the abomination of the Empyreal Tyrant born of the Temple of the Saviour Diad's horrific overproduction of fanatical kriegers or the roaring dragon whose chains were snapping. The true Emperor and Empress; and if there was such a thing; the true Machine God. Valoris did not concern himself with Mag'ladroth's thrashings, he knew well that the C'tan would seek to flee with its prizes rather than immediately deal with the green tide. It was why Valoris commanded what forces were still able to listen to withdraw despite Dorn's protests that they be held to the last.
And there the Praetorian was once again, staring at the table as his eyes shifted to a universe of green with a brow furrowing, his rather plain helm keeping him fed with tactical information at all times, hiding the thick Walrus mustache he had grown in the intervening years since his absence. He looked like nothing more than a very tall tactical marine with somewhat more ornate artificer armour and a helm with a white laurel wreath; red cloak marking him as the Praetorian to his sister Irene Magna's Varangian.
Magna's help would have been appreciated, but she was lost with her Exodus crusade to beyond the reaches of the Garden of the Old Ones; and the forces of the second legion's successors were busy with their own battle for Hekaratioi in what was once called Tau Ceti in a distant age; battling swarms of Greenskins and diverting at least some of the horde from Sol.
It would of course, not be enough. But time was what they needed, not victory. Valoris was never one to ask for the impossible.
"Valoris, how many forces did you bring to our position?" Dorn asked, not even looking to the master of the Custodes.
"A hundred grand hosts." He replied.
"Hrm, more than I asked for. But more is hardly a bad thing in this situation." Dorn said, looking at the advancing wave of Green.
"Barbara and the Avenging Crusaders will come with what forces they can bring. Lord Grand Marshal Araguntu also reports that her forces are ready for the assault." An ensign reported.
"And how fare the descendants of Armageddon?" Dorn asked.
"Starved for vengeance." She said back.
"Then let them hold onto their fury and cleanse the foe in their wrath." Celestine said, the Saint's angelic countenance and aura washing over Valoris without any lasting impression upon him. She was mighty, but they needed more than might to triumph in the face of what was to come.
"And for all of our sakes, I will pray for deliverance." She said, offering h er hand out as the faithful turned towards the solace of prayer. Dorn hardened his expression beneath his helm, while Valoris said nothing. Both still believed in the core of the Imperial Truth, that there was nothing inherently worthy of worship. But there was practical value. The Angeloi they could summon, the miracles of faith they could wield, and the sanctic warp power they could wield was formidable indeed. An X-Factor.
Perhaps they might hold.
...
"Are preparations ready?" Grandmistress Eteyna Selgrath said to her battle sibling in the Grey Knights.
"Titan is ready for transit, Sister." Crowe said, holding his hands tight around the blade of Antwyr as it screamed for release, demanding that he unleash its power, promising salvation for Terra if he would but finally give in only to receive an insulting slap to its pommel to remind it to shut up. Not because Crowe was any closer to falling to Antwyr's promises, but simply because he was talking and did not appreciate the interruptions.
"We will need to bid haste. By command of the Custodes and the Primarchs, our work is to continue elsewhere." She said, her fingers clasping around the artefact hammer in her hands as she felt the ever growing bestial roar in the warp. A thunderous cry to war and bloodshed that even for someone who had spent centuries fighting the spawn of the warp and chaos in particular was ruinously loud.
"Surely we could stand to defend Terra? Is it not unseemly to turn our back to the Greenskins and run when the world we evolved on is under threat? These greenskins fight with vast hordes of daemons; their Kerubael; are we not sworn to banish these monstrosities of Gork and Mork?" Brother Azanti was young, only recently having his power armour fitted onto his body, the Primaris Knight standing more than a head taller than those Grey Knights made of the more streamlined Neo-Astartes process or under the refinements sanctified by the word of the Throne and Keep.
"Titan and its vassals are our most important citadels, where we keep things that must not ever be released under lock and key. Though the Inquisition howls at us to release these things to trouble the Greenskins, I do not believe even these things will be able to turn the tide. But there are more precious things than monsters in our keeps, brother." She said, getting a nod from Crowe.
"The knowledge in the Inquisition's libraries in Saturn's lunar system and gas clouds is a resource too precious to be squandered. With the Dragon to our sunward side and the Green trinity to our outward flank; we cannot hold Saturn." He said, frank in his tone.
"So we are to run to Macragge like whipped dogs then?" Sister-Consul Oytomo Keika said, her tone tinged with shame and sadness as she looked at the holopict of Terra once more.
"The Terminus Decree must be carried out. Some of us will need to stay behind; beyond those whose duties as Talons of the Imperium require them to assist in protecting the palace." Crowe responded frankly.
"The Tyrant is born; the Astronomicon and Astral Realm maintain themselves separately of Throne and Keep. But there is one thread of prophecy that is still waiting to come to fruition." Eteyna said.
"You don't mean..." Keika said.
"I do. We will need to locate the one the First Legion calls Cypher. He has his part to play." She said, tapping at a rune on the holodisplay.
...
"Ere we go! 'Ere we go! 'Ere we go inta infinutee!" Grukk Faceripper chanted gleefully as the Greenskin Waaagh! World belched out a Zoggin' 'Uge Zzappa beam that made an Imperial Fortress-Sphere flicker before starting to glow and then finally detonate in a cataclysmic eruption, shards of metal spinning into the void at high speeds; a three hundred kilometre sphere in the void now nothing more than scrap; the shoals of ships near its mass vaporised in the detonation when they weren't consigned to oblivion by the chaining arcs of the orange beam of death or the wall of dakka that the Greenskin fleet belched out.
Ark Mechanicus ships unleashed spiralling blasts of spacetime twisting fury only to be met with Thunder Waaagh! energy that pushed into the reality distortions and then rolled back into the Mechanicus formations, ripping them to pieces while their Techpriests screamed their last.
Forbidden archaeotech Nanyte rounds meant to try and turn the Ork's numbers against them ate into the hulls of many scrap ships, globs of silver writhing with malignant intent until giga-bubblez were shot into them to eradicate their mass and da boyz started to blaze with the flaming fury of gork and more until the fearless nanytes recoiled in terror as they were scourged from existence.
Caelus; the Ice Giant once known as Uranus, blazed with WAAAGHfire from the aftermath of the Orks passing it by while Grukk continued to sing, swarms of Angeloi descending to try to fight swarms of Kerubael until "da stoopid bird 'umiez" and "burnie beakiez" were banished back by the thunderous fury of the Waaagh or in some cases; once captured; were properly looted into something more suited for Gork and Mork.
"Oi, put a sock innit! I'z makin' me planz!" Ghazghkull shouted, a smack coming from his power law onto Grukk's head, getting a grunt out of the enforcer as he rubbed at his horned helmet clad noggin'.
"So we'ze goin' with brutal kunnin' eh? Set da kommandoz on 'em wif da flash tellyportaz 'n set up some gate fingz ta get da WAAAGH! right in their runty faces?" Skarsnik snickered, a hand of his rubbing at the red hide of his favoured Squig Gobbla whose slobbering maw threw out a thick tongue to give his owner a hearty lick, a few words of affection given to the behemothic mouth with legs before the Gloom Grot's cunning eyes looked at Orkimedes' flash "imagey fing" war table to see the progress of the conflict. While some Greenskins bemoaned it as inferior because it was obsoleted the need to have painted snotlings, squigz, and mek fingz with their brains hooked into gitfindaz and weirdboy seers to roam around and get krumped whenever their icon was taken out; others appreciated the greater array of colours it showed as well as the "finkin' macheenz" orky way of depicting enemies and da ladz.
The humiez were all depicted in stereotypical and insulting ways, boring cogboyz blurting nonsense, beakies rambling on about "da emprah and empress", the weedy normal humiez hiding in their trenches, and the burnie god-bothering humiez setting themselves on fire. All "artfully" depicted as per Ghazghkull's preferred art style with exaggerated proportions and human traits emphasised further; like "da humie boyz 'oo sez deyz not boyz" with their strange chest fat made more prominent and weedy waists sucked in further.
As Ghazghkull had explained many times, they were "girlz" and humiez usually needed both boyz and girlz to make more humiez unless they use their painboyz' weird gubbinz. Both were about equally good at fighting as far as Ghazghkull understood, though he also understood that some humiez considered themselves neither. He didn't really care though; they were all equally fit for stomping in his eyes. Still, if a humie wants to be called one thing or the other, Ghazghkull would oblige them with their name, if only so he could inscribe the proper name for their remains for his trophies.
He checked the strategic situation again. humiez had tried mass warp drive overload to drag Ork ships into the warp, but the sheer amount of Waaagh! that the Greenskins were throwing around compressed these attempted warp rifts and turned them green, vomiting out more of what the humiez called "Kerubael" into the materium until the humans learned to stop trying.
Adeptus Mechanicus Singularity cannon barrages were met with Traktor beams that could move them through gravity manipulations and then thrown right back into the human mekboy fleet.
An effort to turn Neptune into a tiny supernova was met with dumping the leftover singularities stuck together into sucking the entirety of the explosion into the yawning vortex.
"Wot about kunnin' brootality? We'ze kan smash dis lot wiff der moon and crack deir fieldz' wide open see. Make a proppa big boom it will." Mollog said, the Trog jabbing a gauntlet clad finger into the image of Luna.
"Good ideaz, but we'ze also got sekret weaponz. We'ze gonna get morky and gorky. We'ze gonna hit 'em 'ard when dey'z not lookin' and even 'arder when they are! We'ze gonna klobber 'em so bad dey'll wish dey never evolved. Den we'ze gonna loot dis planet an' tell da spikey boyz and da dead 'unz dat we took dat planet dey wanted and if dey want a go they kan come over an' see if they'z 'ard 'nuff. And cuz they're not, we'll stomp 'em too! We'll stomp da 'ohle zoggin' ooniverse flat. We'll stomp every ooniverse!" Ghazghkull laughed.
"So listen up real nice ladz, cuz we'ze almost there. And dey won't see dis comin even if dey 'ad a million yearz ta fink about it!" Ghazghkull gave a cruel grin beneath his helm, laughing to himself as his klaw flexed.
"Boss, 'umiez don't live dat long." One Ork said, raising a finger to make his point.
"...Well dey ain't gunna now even if dey could..." Ghazghkull said before Mollog palmed his face.
"Oi, git, wotz yer name?" The Trog asked.
"Loudmouff!" He said before Mollog put a paternal hand on the much smaller Ork, pulled him in close.
"Iz I gonna get a flash medal boss?" He asked with an excited look to his face.
"Nah, sumfing betta, a new name cuz yooz such a smart git." Mollog said as Ghazghkull already started to laugh while Skarsnik wheezed with anticipation, barely containing his laughter.
"Oooh, ooh, kan I be Kllalotz?" He said before Mollog drew back his hand, raised his other arm and swung down with boom 'ammer with enough force to smash a knight titan to smithereens in a single blow that reduced the Ork to something rather less coherent than atoms.
"Well, yooz deadalotz now." The Trog grumbled while Skarsnik and Ghazghkull laughed.
...
Mars and Jupiter winked out of existence, dragged through the cosmos by the Void Dragon's awakening power as the Techpriests who had not shielded themselves properly found their cybernetics coming alive and liquefying their flesh; contracting and compacting into wholly mechanical bodies. The loyal of the Dragon shouted their exultations in their last moments before their souls were consigned to oblivion and their life energy was leeched to the last drop while the less loyal who were not shielded by the blessings of the Cawlian Machine cult or the Corpse-Gods died screaming. Some who were protected still fell anyway, and had the Void Dragon possessed unlimited time to do so, all would have fallen, even those who had not wired machinery into their frames but simply worn or used the technology based on patterns it had whispered to humanity. But with greater plans on the horizon, Mag'ladroth's core shard overwrote the laws of inertia and relativity and tore open vortices to consume the worlds most touched by its genius, leaving Sol two planets short.
But such was not the end of the Orkoid assault to breach into the inner solar system; the space lanes were crowded with layer after layer of star forts and interdictors to try and force enemies to run a gauntlet of defences and enormous fleets whose ships were beyond counting and whose soldiers fought battles on the surface of the largest defence stations or within the halls and corridors; never selling their lives cheaply. Trillions died by the second and the void was choking in ever greater quantities of junk and debris.
The fight was getting closer and closer to the homeworld, Scionwoman Quan Ling could feel it as she felt the weight of the volkite weapon in her hands. The door the Scions were guarding was howling with the screech of a high temperature chain-klaw chewing its way through the endurium bulkhead. She held her breath, the Peregrinas and combat servitors by her side waiting for the Astartes holding up combat shields to part and let them fire as soon as they had gained breathing room.
Sweat dropped, and a ramshackle giga-dread smashed its way through the bulkhead; her powered carapace armour moving with her as she flinched backwards and took aim.
CHOOM
Raving Grots with a gleeful kill-frenzy in their eyes, as tall as humans and clad in 'eavy armour charged through, one staggering from the refracting heat her weapon made. She fired again, a bolt round bringing down one of the grots, a thunder hammer's swing braining an Ork boy as tall as an astartes whose roaring chain choppa fell out of his hands from the thunderclap impact.
Another swing was made, the Assault Terminator's arm encased in tactical flamestorm gauntlets sweeping with a tremendous force to bring low a dozen more greenskins, honour guard with relic blades hewing through more and Praetorians stabbing power saws into the maelstrom.
CHOOM, some grots burst into flames, the rosarius fields on the Astartes flickering from countless impacts while she felt a sickness rumbling in her belly, a sense of something wrong about to happen.
Meltaguns stabbed into the powerfield of the Giga-dreadnought who simply laughed as a Leviathan Dreadnought roared its challenge and slammed into its counterpart, a thunderclap sending lesser combatants out of the way while a Primaris Redemptor's gatling gun reaped its harvest.
They were still coming. Throne and Keep they were still coming.
Even as Peregrinas Seraphs bathed them in their hand flamers, melta pistols, and heavy bolt pistols, even as plasma flickered and stabbed into them; often absorbed harmlessly into the Ork fields they were still coming.
"Oi, getta load of dis ladz. DREAD STORM!" A thundering voice laughed as a mob of Deff Dreadz with enormous rokkitz strapped to their backs leaped into the air in the cavernous hallways the greenskins had melted into the craft. Black smoke and orange flame filled her field of vision as she lost track of how many volkite blasts she had unleashed, the world-shaking around her as the deff dreadz landed in the backline.
A Devastator was the first to go down, the Firstborn Astartes holding the Multimelta too slow to avoid the sizzling power saw of the Deff Dread as it crushed through his shields and snipped him into steaming halves, his head crushed beneath the four armed contraption's foot shortly after.
The Scion Major leaped into action as she threw grenades; her officer's power fist sparking to life and throwing a meaty hook at one of the dreads as they lifted a Mechanicus combat robot into the air and pulled them apart like the limbs of an insect. The Dread flinched, its backhand missed him while he shot his inferno pistol point blank, The Devastators rotating to meet the new threat only for reality to start to turn an evil shade of viridian.
"It's....no...I can't...too much...I...Waaaa-" The Primaris psyker with them managed before their body immolated in green fire; letting out hollering green-furred gorillas with guns fitted to their chests, though their features remained hazy, impossible to make out any identifying traits while the roar of twin gods drummed into her ear, squelching thoughts besides fighting and winning, her soul contracting and quivering before such power.
"Kerubael!" She shouted, her Volkite weapon firing again and again.
They were a portent of what was to come. An apocalypse still waiting to be born in full, but a manifestation of power that was already real; wanting more and more and more. She couldn't help but enjoy herself, even as the Major was ripped to pieces, even as the Astartes devastators were forced back, ragged and casualty worn by Kerubael attack; their Librarians and Wizards choking out their words while lesser psykers and windcasters simply died.
She couldn't help but laugh, laugh as a Trog in mega-armour stampeded through the lines; laugh as the odious beast healed whatever injuries could even be dealt to its near invincible hide. Laugh as it swatted at her once and reduced her to so much paste.
...
"+We'ze got control of Luna boss.+" Snikrot reported with a heavy chuckle while his power knife was extracted from a dead Custodes who got spat on for his troubles by da sneaksuit clad and purple painted Kommando Lord.
"+Iz Orkimedes dere yet?+" Skarsnik asked.
"+Yeah we'ze got the Mekking workin'.+" Snikrot snorted as he looked at a Crimson Fist crawling towards an alarm before flicking his knife in a good, strong throw; impaling the marine through her neck and decapitating the sister-sergeant.
"An' wiff deze improvements to da 'umie gubbinz doze flash fieldz of their's ain't gonna be nuffin' soon. " Orkimedes said with a laugh as he hooked some wires together, mechanical arms grabbing pieces he needed to work with and welders adjusting them into their positions while his lower ranking Meks of all valid Orkoid varieties flooded in; slapping their scrap parts into dizzyingly complex machines.
"+Datz a good lad. You'ze ready fer da sneaky surprise yeh?+" The Grot King asked.
"+Born ready fer it. Oo do I knife first?+"
"+Dey'z bringin' in some inquisitive types wiff some real flash bitz dey didn't zog off wiff when dey knicked da ringy planet. Dere's dis 'ere Weirdbeakie wiff sum ghostie boyz. Can't miss 'em. Moans a lot 'bout "'ooh me poor bruvas and sistahs why do ya 'aunt me fer my failures, please let me make amendz fer bein' a posh tin git". Zoggin' 'orrible it is." Skarsnik snarled, letting out a spit of disgust afterwards.
"+Weirdbeakiez eh? I'll krump 'im right proppa.+" Snikrot grinned.
"Ladz, time ta leg it, gotz new sorry gitz ta stomp." Snikrot snarled while the Mekboyz continued their work.
...
Had some billions of years passed, Terra's moon; Luna would have eventually separated from its partner planet to spin off into the void. Had that future come to pass, one day Luna would be its own world.
Orkimedes had other ideas. After Luna had fallen, the Orks had quickly turned it into a massive Rok, finishing their work in hours what most would have expected to take days; the surface of Luna rapidly being reconfigured to bear Orky symbols and scrap metal constructs as they worked at a pace defying what should have been possible.
But most important of course, were the massive thrusters and the reinforcement fields and the big surprise waiting for the humiez inside.
And finally, da piece ov resisty.
"Rokkaz, time ta make yer noise!" Orkimedes howled with delight as he hooked up his machinery and adjusted some dials without any real care as long as it made a lot of noise and flashy lights.
The Rokkaz started to strum their guitars and beat their drums, singaz belting out lyrics as Luna started to move with the enormous thrusters attached to it, the plates made to resemble an Orkoid glyph opening its mouth wide as the music was sent through weirdboy channelers, broadcasting them across the stars in a wave throughout the warp that a billion times a billion daemons screamed their last upon being blasted with.
Chaos cultists on Terra offering futile and false hope of salvation gurgled out blood as their heads exploded and the Gods of Entropy recoiled from the cacophony. Priests and Astropaths writhed and shook while many detonated into rifts to let through Gork and Mork's daemons while Terra's void fields began to dim.
Warp drives vibrated in tune to the heavy metal, shaking, shuddering then exploding before Luna rocketed at speeds that increased with frantic shouts of "ÉRE WE GO!" as some Orks decided to get on the surface, unwilling to wait for landfall to get fighting.
The Void Fields that could have shrugged off volley after volley from armageddon guns and survived blackstone fortress bombardment splintered, howled, then finally gave way with a mournful howl as Luna decelerated just enough to simply make a thudding rather than apocalyptic impact; crushing the continent of North America but not resulting in the expected planet scouring detonation, the lesser void fields protecting the hive spires splintering as the moon began to splinter.
Sub-roks fractioned off as Luna began to dissolve into a rain of ejecta, each carrying millions, billions, or even trillions of Greenskins; follow up attacks from greenskin ships eager to exploit the gap in the defenses raining thunder upon humanity's homeworld.
...
Dis was a good waaagh, thought Brikkfist as the Stormlord landed in the midst of a Grenadier formation, his elite formation of Stormbosses following suit. The humiez not reduced to paste and ash by his landing were hewn into pieces by his crackling two-handed power chainaxe; the roar of the axe heads overpowering the screams of the dying. Some of the grenadiers, determined to do their duty, rushed him, most simply met their ends at the end of his Supa Armor clad boots when he quite literally stomped on them.
As far as Brikkfist was concerned, the humie homeworld was a bit of a dump, even given that they had just smashed Luna into its void fields. The air smelled like squig dropz and the swarming masses of humanity threw themselves into the fray. Grown-up humiez, those weird humie grotz that came out of the girls, beakiez, cogboyz, robotz, servitors, Angeloi, mutants, abhumans, everything. All of them so small and smelly as Brikkfist hacked through a swarming mass of Armageddon Legionaries who rushed at him with tears in their eyes beneath their goggles, quivering with hatred for the Orks who stole their homes.
Stormnobz and Stormboyz and even Stormdreadz and Kanz kept on piling onto the spire, laughing, hacking, blasting, stomping. Many were ripped out of the sky by Sabre platforms, Quad-cannons, Laser weapons, missiles, or aerial mines or the defenders simply firing at them. But there were too many to be stopped, even with Volkite beams and grav-weapons trying to stem the green horde.
As rotor-lascannons spooled to life to try and reduce the numbers of the foe, Stormbosses with mirror armour leapt onto the lascannons. It shouldn't have worked, mirror or not the heat transfer should have meant the stormbosses would have taken lethal injury once their power fields failed. What instead happened was that the rotor-lascannons' beams bounced off the bosses and back into the imperial defenders, ripping apart Hydra tanks and scything down Peregrinas and even some of the Astartes before melty-bommz were thrown onto the structures or Kommandoz killed their crews and turned them around.
Sometimes both happened and some extra orkz died, but as far as Brikkfist was concerned, as he grabbed a Power-lifter sentinel by its cockpit and crushed it in his fingers, that was fine.
"Hah, dumb gitz." He chortled before throwing the ripped off cockpit of the sentinel through a row of militia, imagining the sound of bowling pins falling over as men and women were sent flying.
"Get back!" One of them shouted, firing a melta into Brikkfist's chest, an actinic flash forming as his powerfield absorbed the blow as Brikkfist made a gesture of mock surprise before laughing and smacking the human with the flat of his axe to bat them out of sight.
"Oi lokkit! Datz twenny pointz." He laughed.
"No, itz fifty!" A Stormboss shouted.
"I sez itz twenny!"
"Fifty!"
"Oi, if ya gitz don't get movin' yer boff next!" Bluddflagg shouted at both of them as Ghazghkull's favoured admiral raked a position with twin supa-shootas.
...
Monsters that the Imperium had barely even thought of names for were crashing into the outermost fortifications of the Imperial Palace's layered citadel defences. Pakfronts of heavy weapons thundered in a three-dimensional assault on the rumbling waves of Battlewagons, ensuring that no angle of avenue kept the Greenskin armour's more vulnerable sides from harm.
Fortifications so huge that Titans could stand in them like infantry in a standard fortress catacombed for kilometres down and upwards, soldiers letting rip with every weapon they could, seesawing attack and counterattack exchanging over and over. But the Orks could replace their losses far faster, spores maturing into more of the green tide in what seemed like moments while humanity's ranks grew ever thinner even with Vitae Womb auxiliaries.
"Brother; I need a reload." Sister-Captain Arieth said, her Gravis-Centurion suit's gatlingstorm gauntlets spooling to a halt as the last of her ammo emptied, stepping back while her grenade storm launchers released a volley of thermal bombs to coat a swarm of squigs in burning fluid.
"The omnissiah provides." The Techmarine responded as a Sevitor carted the fresh drums of bullets towards her, hammering them into the feeds on her suit while radiator emitters on her chest erupted with the built up heat energy her Gatling guns made, ripping through a mob of Slugga boyz who were trying to get through the breach in the wall made by a Drilla.
Peregrinas flamers erupted to life as Cadian Guardsmen were pulled into the air screaming by Squighawks, sheets of flame burning at temperatures to reduce Tungsten to molten puddles holding some of the greenskins back; Supa-Armored Black Orks snarling as they threw loudbommz into the flames to blast the burning fuel away and rushing through; flash shootaz firing cascades of heavy projectiles with more accuracy than the average Ork, taking down Intercessors trying to hold the line with kraken round equipped bolt-rifles; mega-blaster projectiles coring through primaris marines and the Orks not letting up until they knew the beakiez were dead; well aware of the belisarian furnace's tendency to bring a seemingly dead space marine back to full health.
Aggressors with Plasmastorm gauntlets stepped forwards, the Black Orks going down and pausing only when a Rock Weirdtrog stomped forward, the trog's fearless approach of the flames briefly making the imperial defenders pause. Fire was usually a source of immense fear among trogs, something that could neutralise their impossible regenerative powers and force them to conform to merely what was physically possible. But the greenskin shaman merely huffed, and puffed, and inhaled the fire while a massive Cykork Biggun; a mockery of the giant Jotuns with a single eye dueled with a reaver more than a hundred meters tall above it.
"Take out that psyker!" She shouted in alarm as she realised all too late what the Greenskin was doing before he exhaled the fire as a sheet of green flame, Astartes reduced to irrecoverable ash, the shield of faith of Peregrinas splintering, flickering and then crumbling and a line of Leman Russ punisher tanks rolling to plug the gap boiling into oblivion.
Kerubael took shape in the flames, dancing and cackling while the debris and rubble began to pull together into rogue idols of gork and more, malignant dancing spirits of flame jumping from place to place, shrieking with glee as they set the lines on fire while a stampede of rubble giants thundered forward into being, roiling with the power of the WAAAGH! as the Greenskins turned into supermen, pushing through the line of Domitar Robots sent to try and slow them down with raw force and numbers and sinister power.
"Sister, you must retreat to the back lines." Honor Guard Captain Exterius shouted as he hewed a nob in twain with his sizzling relic blade.
"I am not abandoning you brother." She said, her gauntlets smashing into a killa kan that crumpled from the impact; her eyes scanning Black Orks sneaking from the flanks and tossing bombs to destroy the munitions dumps, reducing the grenadier formation there to scattered and tattered ruins that the cunning power armoured orks could hack to pieces while Hobgrotz on bikes raced down the ramps melted into flat shape by Weirdboyz, at the head of the hosts of the kult of speed.
Special issue melta-grenades leaped from her shoulders, a mob of kanz collapsing into ruin while her gatling guns swept from side to side. Her brother and his guard swept again, more bodyparts falling down, only to notice some of them were starting to grow into more Greenskins, flesh congealing and regenerating against all laws of conservation of mass until he stabbed into them and let his blade wreathe itself in fire.
"Sister, your life is more valuable than mine. You are a commander. My duty is to defend you with my life. I am offering it to you." He grimaced as his Iron halo absorbed a meltygun blast, his hand tossing a bundle of frag grenades to buy himself some time and his sword sweeping to deflect a megablaster bolt back into some of the Orks.
"Brother, we can retreat together if we maintain good order." She said, that word having more meaning than it did for most in the Astartes.
"Our parents would be proud to know that I died for you, sister. Please, don't stay for my sake, someone must hold the line so those behind us can be readied. I am ready to die." He said, one of the Honor guard falling from a Meganobz' klaw finally piercing into her artificer armour and carving out her chest. The captain shouting out his vengeance and stabbing the greenskin through the face.
"You will be remembered, Brother." She said as the Techmarine behind her swept fusion projector fury onto some of the hobgrot bikers, reaching for her while she stomped on the front end of a bike to send the hobgrot on top flying through the air to splat against the next wall behind them.
"Engaging teleport. Die well." The techmarine said as those who could afford to be pulled back were drawn to the next line, Exterius looking forward with bitter determination common to the Knights Paragon Chapter.
The many heads of a Squig Hydra poured their way through one of the cracks in the wall, snarling and hissing as they engulfed the field with killing cold, a creature so large its heads could pick up Warhounds bite them in half like toys; too quick for the mountain sized Benediction titans in the background to aid against while Extertius released a sigh, looking upon the creature who turned a head towards him. A swarm that looked like nothing more than green lichen at its feet charged through the breach it had made, Rogue Idols, Stompaz, and tanks rolling forward like a tsunami.
"'Ere we come humiez! 'Ope yer as mad fer a fight as we are cuz it'z time ta die." Ghazghkull chuckled as he tore his own way through the wall, a goliath whose steps shook the ground, his bully boyz chuckling at his side while humanity's finest died all around the Captain.
"SHOW ME WHAT PASSES FOR FURY AMONG YOUR MISBEGOTTEN KIND!" He shouted, sword crackling as he made his last charge.
"Mmmh, wordy. Try dis." Ghazghkull said with mock rumination before sucking in air, moments throwing his head forward and opening his maw wide to let loose the sound of the apocalypse.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHH!!!!!!!" The bellow tinted reality green, made Greenskins grow from nothing, reduced humans to dust and memories, and smote the captain in the energies of a green sun from which nothing of him, not even his soul, would have ever had any hope of survival.
[X] Head to statesman school as an exchange student for a bit to learn more about how superpowered kids live here.
Arne
"Well, if we're going to stay a while I guess maybe we could go see what your classes are all about?" You said, scratching a bit at your neck as the others looked among themselves and then whispered quickly. You could hear them loud and clear, but as Samus often said "earwigging" was rude if they were clearly expecting some privacy so you turned your attentions elsewhere.
"Hrm, I have heard much of this schooling system of this era of humanity. Much of it far from flattering." Elendria said with a tap of her fingers upon the table, a rapping gesture that you felt a strong urge to reach out and arrest by grabbing at her hand, but you didn't need to be able to see into the causeways of destiny to know that she would likely respond poorly to being grabbed without permission.
"Well okay then miss spock, how do things work where you're from if you're so much better than we are?" Sophia said with almost visible disdain as the Eldar redhead turned her attention towards her and stared intently at her for a few moments like she was trying to unravel some manner of mystery in her eyes.
"I am apprentice and squire to a warrior of an aspect of Asurmen. The teacher takes all those students they are able, and I take their instructions as I am able." Elendria responded with a dismissive wave.
"That...doesn't explain much really." Dawnmaker said with a shrug.
"No, no. I get it. It's a more personalised thing, right?" Elerya asked.
"Quite. No two teachers offer quite the same lessons." Alyrsero said with a small smile.
"So will you be coming with us?" Samus asked, leaning slightly forward onto the table with her elbows, swinging her legs a bit more as she adjusted her positioning on the seat.
"I don't see why not. It is hardly as though we have much else to visit." Alyrsero said as he stood up and floated his finished plates over to their proper disposal areas, stretching for a moment before holding out a hand for Kaeliyae to take as soon as she placed her mask over her face once more. You could sense a budding excitement among many of the others, eager to introduce you all to one of the most important institutions for youngsters in this world.
...
Statesman Academy for Metahumans was an institution that was admittedly quite young. Founded only about seven years ago and named for the recently deceased hero. You were sure that this would have way more significance if you were actually a primal American but from the look at the statue that the facility had in front of its multi-building campus divided into a sub-campus for each "origin" type to try and concentrate talent based on those who were most likely to have the experience and skills to pass onto a student of their listed abilities.
The buildings were built to a highly Hellenistic style that you thought was a bit tacky, especially when you were well aware that the stately and austere white marble was absolutely not how such classical ruins actually looked. There was some effort at colour, banners, signs, screens, everything in an effort to break up the monotonous sea of white in an effort to try to grasp as hard onto the "Aspect of Zeus" thing that Statesman had going on. But much of the colour elsewhere was a mix of red, white, and blue that struck you as trying perhaps a bit too hard to be patriotic.
"Well, at least they let everyone know they're in America." You said, Samus turning towards you and giving you a small nod of agreement.
"Why do they put so much effort into showing off the country of origin anyway?" Samus asked, getting a quick shrug out of you in response.
The central building was even designed like the Acropolis, which you thought to be kind of excessive, tilting your head in confusion at the decision to put a structure like this in a mostly modern architecture city. But based on the student body size here, whatever they were doing had to be working to host more than thirty thousand pupils, one of the largest such Metahuman schools in the entire world. Tiny compared to Magnus academy to be sure but you reminded yourself that you were dealing with a much smaller number of people to begin with.
"Hrm, some human architectural trends are immortal it would seem." Korlanil mused, tapping at the chin of his skull like helm before shaking his head. "Awful harder to kill than most humans are themselves too!" He wheezed mostly at his own bad joke, your attentions turning towards him as he noticed that you were probably frowning at him underneath your helmet.
"That wasn't funny." Samus said quite plainly and bluntly.
"A thousand critics out in force today aren't there?" The Ynnari snorted. "You should appreciate humanity's relative cultural resilience when they're such a short lived culture compared to mine or yours." He said, his tone a bit less nauseatingly jokey as he decided to speak a bit more sagely and wisely than he usually did.
"Wait, why are you talking about them as if they aren't human?" Aronim asked, his stark white armour almost impossible to miss even if one ignored this glowing purple psionic energy wings.
Samus seemed to be perplexed though displeased, but you scowled beneath your helm at the Eldar, already anticipating some rather unpleasant remark from Korlanil.
"Your genome might be compatible with a human's, but after all the alterations done to it well...on the outside you've got human skin, sure. You could even have children with normal humans yeah. But come on...before I even talk about your souls you've got some funny bones alright." Korlanil said with a wheezing laugh.
"Our skeletal systems were altered to suit our physiologies. What's funny about that?" You said, the reference going way over your head and probably landing somewhere over in the Andromeda galaxy, a metaphorical whooshing sound accompanying his now hyena like laughter that triggered a surge of punching desire from Samus as her internal fire started to smoulder once again.
"I have seen Astartes with physiologies that were more rooted in human carbon-based biology than yours from the biomantic reads Ormothin has done on you. You were once human, now you are something a bit...mmm....more." Samus almost slugged him at that before Korlanil ducked back and out of the way and Kaeliyae interposed herself between the Jester and the Huntress. You were almost ready to snap at him yourself, but more likely with your tongue than your fists.
"Friendship! Friendship! We are here to begin the next phase of a glorious relationship! Let us not be so hasty to go about boarding our warships!" She said with her hands extended and her gentle voice melodic as ever in your ears, leaving you with a hint of wanting to know what lay beneath her all concealing garments.
"That's not a rhyme." Alice said with a frown beneath her mask before Kaeliyae gave an especially overdramatic facepalm in response and let loose a sigh.
"And I hadn't even gotten to the part where you've absorbed some really rather odd stuff into your genome lately...what would we c-" He said before Clarioli cast some sort of device forward that silenced the area that Korlanil was standing in, his movements and speech no longer assaulting your ear with his gadfly antics.
"My apologies for my friend. He is slow to learn that he is insufferable and even slower to correct it." Clarioli sighed before looking down and pinching at the brow of her helmet. "Though often I wonder with all my heart, why do I bother?" She said as she straightened herself and looked at Korlanil busy miming his continued attempts at banter and then shrugged and decided to keep him in his silence field a while longer, much to your relief as the idea of listening to his stand up routine made you want to test how fast your teeth could regrow in the hopes of distracting yourself with literally any other sensation.
"You guys are weird. Interesting weird, but weird. But interesting. Weirtresting!" Alice said with a smile beneath her mask, putting her hands on her hips while Winterpyre crackled and hissed from her tiara, Alyrsero still looking at the demon in its gem with a hard and less than friendly glare.
"Ah, bon jour. Bienvenue à l'académie Statesman pour les métahumains. Vous pouvez m'appeler la justice bleue. Êtes-vous par hasard des îles Etoille ou de Striga? Ou d'une autre réalité? Vous ne vous présentez pas sur le registre métahumain." Ah hold on, French, you could speak French now. Hers was Metropolitan French, from the northern suburb of Saint-Denis just above Paris. With all the refugees from the francophonic Island countries of Striga and the Etoille Islands as well as North American French speakers from Praetorian Earth and a number of other realities; Paragon was America's most francophonic city. Likely why a French exchange student was here.
"Mon nom métahumain est gardien du crépuscule, je viens d'un univers où l'année en cours est cinquante mille quatorze selon votre calendrier. Mais puis-je demander si les noms ici sont généralement publics?" You responded in pleasant if somewhat accented French that left Alice blinking in sheer surprise.
"Oh vraiment, est-ce vrai? Très intéressant. J'aurai beaucoup de questions sur l'avenir lointain pour vous. Et oui, nous utilisons souvent des noms publics ici; nous avons beaucoup de moyens de sécurité pour garder secrètes les identités secrètes."
"Ah alors je m'appelle Arne Eriksen Skjoldr, voici mon amie Samus Eabha Aran, ces huit camarades sont des Eldars, des Elfes de l'espace. Alyrsero, Kaeliyae, Korlanil, Lelithax, Idaliryn, Clarioli, Ormothin et Elendria. Korlanil est un peu un connard."
"Ooh, cela ressemble au nom d'un beau garçon. Permettez-moi un instant de regarder sur votre visage, vous pouvez porter un masque domino en dessous si vous le souhaitez." She said with a smirk as you nodded and let your helmet dissolve, a mask that you felt was a bit ridiculous that left your mouth, eyes, hair, ears, and nose exposed beneath; red in colour.
She looked on approvingly, her stare rather long and keen with interest before she smirked beneath her mask and blew a kiss. "Un très beau garçon à ça." She winked at you, your cheeks going red quickly while Samus giggled next to you and Alyrsero quirked a brow, not really understanding much of what was being said.
"Nous sommes ici pour visiter l'école pour des activités d'échange interdimensionnelles. Où devons-nous aller pour faire remplir les formulaires?" Samus asked, trying to slowly circle the conversation back to its intended direction.
"Ah le bâtiment derrière moi. Viens avec moi." She gave you nod before gesturing to follow her to the building, getting the obligation of the lot of you as you stepped inside, your helmet reforming on your next step as the lobby room bustled a bit with activity, most of it very much costumed.
"You never told me you could speak French." Alice said, folding her arms.
"We downloaded all the languages in use on Earth bet into our memories. Better safe than sorry." Samus said with a shrug, it really wasn't a big deal.
"Lucky..." Joseph grumbled while you approached a desk with a registrar.
"Well, I'm sure you know the usual process Nightcaster. Just need to sign them in as guests." Blue Justice said, gesturing to some electronic sign in sheets.
Your armour was comfortable to the point where you didn't even notice wearing it most of the time, but it made sorting where you were according to the origin system rather...complicated.
Natural was for those who achieved superhuman abilities by simply honing their bodies and skills through mundane but intense methods.
Mutation was a rather specific grouping for those whose powers came from being part of some manner of subspecies.
Technology was...tempting but it seemed an oversimplification, your abilities weren't just from your armour.
Science encompassed any who gained their abilities through some form of scientific phenomenon or most forms of mutagenic incidents, which was close but...still felt incomplete.
Extraterrestrial was a grab bag for any whose abilities were simply the result of nonhuman biology which was a partial but incomplete fit.
Magic enclosed most of those whose powers were the result of some form of magical exposure or talent, but not all. And while you were heavily suffused with magic it still seemed inappropriate.
Artefact grouped those whose abilities came from some sort of magical equipment or device rather than more inherent forms of magic, but again didn't fully apply to you.
Supernatural fit all those who were simply inherently magical beings, which was...did you fit into that?
Extradimensional was a bit odd, in that it was separated from the other origins, but it referred to beings whose abilities came from differing laws of reality or channeling such powers. Which fair enough, fit you decently well?
Divine of course just meant gods or those tied to them such as Demideities, Godly Avatars, or Divine Heralds. Why this was separate from Supernatural was beyond you.
Cosmic seemed to refer to any being whose power was tied to some fundamental principle of reality and energies derived from these fundamental powers of space. A Power Cosmic if you would.
And finally Incarnate referred to those whose powers and energies came directly from the Source.
You paused for some time before also taking a look at the spaces for archetype and name.
Striker was what Joseph called you and Samus so you figured that would work. But you weren't sure what to put down.
Choices: List which of the twelve origins Samus and Arne should list themselves as, and pick one of the following.
[]: Use only your aliases (Dawnchild and Duskguard), do not reveal your actual names or faces more than necessary
[]: Write down your actual names, this is a relatively safe place and you're among superheroes so no need for secrets
[]: Use a fake name and see if you can't use the ymgarl factor to alter your face a bit to go unnoticed. You'll probably change your suit's appearance again in the not too distant future anyway.
[]: Write in.
[x]: Use only your aliases (Dawnchild and Duskguard), do not reveal your actual names or faces more than necessary
You don't need to be particularly special, just what seems to be pretty standard superhero practice if needed. Being too secretive can attract extra attention, so just be normal.
[X]: Use only your aliases (Dawnchild and Duskguard), do not reveal your actual names or faces more than necessary
We don't know if one of the major threats has eyes in this place, so we should try to keep a low enough profile to not draw attention, but we should also try to start building up our Aliases in this universe, just so we can help out.
as for Origins:
[X] Samus: Magic
She does want to learn more magic, so picking this might be good way to learn some more
[X] Arne: Extraterrestrial
He has no point in lying about his origin, and besides he gets along better with extraterrestrial life a lot better then human, maybe he can find a new friend
[X]: Use only your aliases (Dawnchild and Duskguard), do not reveal your actual names or faces more than necessary
Origins:
[X]Samus: Extradimensional
[X]Arne: Extradimensional
Samus
Both of you pencilled in just your aliases and the simplest possible explanation for just what sort of superhero you were into the registry. Your armour downloaded the tag system to be able to feed that data into any scanners and you were off to the proverbial races. You'd be going with the four Yurye who offered themselves as your guides in short order as you were lead to the first lesson of the day with all eight of the Eldar in tow; most of the parahumans who came with being encouraged to also pencil in "extradimensional" at your insistence.
Squeezing in some extra students wasn't that difficult; the facility was well used to the fluctuations of the metahuman population as aliens crash landed, extradimensionals portaled in, mutants cropped up, people were mutated by exposure to something or the other, someone made or found some gadget, ancient relics were found and other sundry occasions that gifted many people with some sort of abilities or the other.
"Can I have like, a spare backpack or something? Didn't exactly plan to bring school supplies." Dennis said with a shrug of his shoulders while Sophia simply glared at him through her mask and chewed on her lower lip while she thought of something to say before she held her tongue and simply swallowed the bile in her throat.
"Freedom Corps will cover all that for you." Iybraa said with a small shrug.
"Hrm, I imagine that these "super-groups" must have a great deal of influence in your society then if you can just cover all of this with so little concern for expenditure." You said as your scan visor looked around the rather neat but not sterile looking halls. Freework robots derived from Praetorian clockwork designs were busy cleaning up the halls to a noticeable sheen, making sure that the posters placed up on the walls were fresh looking and relevant and quickly applying nanoscrubbers to any sign of rust or dirt they spotted. It was enough to make the softer material of the heels of your boots squeak on the floor.
This floor is made of relatively conventional but heavily supranaturally reinforced materials intended to withstand heavy duty power usage or accidental discharges. It has been cleaned of potential irritants or dirt down to the nanoscopic level and is free of any significant contaminants, with the nanoscrubbers periodically released onto the floor cleaning out any microscopic contaminants they detect, though they will ignore shrunken attendees of the facility.
Samus' Notes: Hrm, this seems decently advanced for this decade actually. I wonder how much help they had from reverse engineering Rikti, Nictus, or Praetorian technology?
Arne's Notes: I could make some adjustments to patch their recognition systems so that they learn to recognise beneficial microbiota rather than just clearing out anything read as harmful. Maybe later though.
You stopped for a moment and then ground your boots a bit into the floor to hear more of the squeaking sounds while the warm lighting gave your armour a rather eye catching gleam, a smile forming on your face as you squeaked out the tune of a catchy song that roamed around in your head. Arne took a moment to pause and look at you, before his eyes drifted down to your legs as you continued to play a squeaky tune and giggled mostly to yourself.
"Having fun?" He asked gently.
"Mhrm! You should try it." You said with a grin beneath your helmet.
"Well...maybe later, when we're not expected elsewhere." He said, getting a nod from you as the two of you quickly caught back up to the rest of the group.
You paused at one of the FreeWorks, designed to resemble a human but still be readily identifiable as mechanical, with a rounded, screen like face that displayed an emoji to represent mood and expression, currently set to represent that the Freework was whistling a jaunty tune.
The Freework Janitor is an all purpose cleaning robot designed to work with a fleet of smaller cleaning machines to ensure that the facilities they are assigned to remain at acceptable levels of hygiene as per Paragon City's municipal regulations. Reverse engineered from Praetorian Earth designs following the Primal-Praetorian war, the Freeworks show numerous improvements to A.I design and reliability. If threatened, Freework Janitors will typically respond with de-escalation tactics and then disabling force if extricating itself from the present confrontation is not possible. Freeworks have heavy psionic components to their systems just as the Praetorian Clockwork do, rendering their systems more resistant to electromagnetic discharge but more vulnerable to psychic overload.
Samus' Notes: I should take some notes on how this rapid advancement of technology and rise in ultrasophontic abilities is affecting the progress of society and economics, these are a lot of technologies with a high potential to disrupt early twenty first century methods of organisation...at least assuming that this America functions largely the same as the America of 2021 I know.
Arne's Notes: If they already have automation of this quality then some sort of confrontation with early twenty-first century societal organisation is probably inevitable. I'm not sure if they'll go the route of a post-labour society or massive subsidization and welfare. But hopefully if we're here; maybe we could steer them towards the first way?
Fascinating, this society was just on the cusp of a massive, radical transformation of every aspect it approached life with. Perhaps even surpassing that of the emergence of metahumans in the first place. But were they aware of it? How much thought had they put into introducing these technologies and systems into their society?
Alyrsero looked back at you and then towards the machine and made an audible "hrm" sound as he ruminated.
"Not purely mechanical." He said with a quiet voice while his mind cast itself forward to examine the threads of the Machine's psyche, getting a quick glance from the machine whose gender neutral white, blue, and red frame tilted its head towards him and displayed a Question mark on its screen-face.
"How may I be of assistance to you Cobra Warlock?" The machine asked, using the supername that Alyrsero wrote down onto his ID tag to satisfy the local bureaucracy's need to have something to refer to him by. Something that he found surprisingly interesting, yourself having figured him for someone who would eyeroll at "farcical human traditions" or other moderately belittling statements the Eldar spouted out like fountains.
"Oh, I was merely having a moment to examine your inner workings. You are quite the intriguing machine." He said before making the predictable addendum to that statement. "For something of human artifice in this era anyway." He said, arms folded behind him as the robot offered him a small shrug of their shoulders.
"I am not equipped to self-reflect in such manners. I am simply here to keep the facility clean and free of toxicity. But I thank you for your compliment Extradimensional hero to be! I hope that you reconsider your status as simply visiting and enroll on a permanent basis. Paragon City prides itself on the assistance it offers to immigrants to become American citizens." The machine said with chipper enthusiasm that could probably be used to power itself if its emotions could be harvested.
"...Right. I will, keep such things in consideration." Alyrsero said with an attempt to be polite before turning away as yourself and Iybraa sniggered to each other while the Eldar briskly caught back up with the group.
"Didn't even ask for a brochure, brother?" Lelithax said teasingly.
"Lelithax, must you tease him so? I would think you above stooping so low." Kaeliyae chided.
"I'm now wondering what brochures would even be like for you. Psychoengrammic runes?" Arne said, taking a look at Clarioli who gave a simple nod in response.
"Easier to make, more portable than paper or dataslates. Quicker to read too but well...it is not my specialty." She said with a sigh, an exhalation of disappointment in herself before you approached, offering a hand that she accepted to her shoulder.
"Well, you have my absolute confidence that you'll be able to learn!" You said before Iybraa made a gesture with her hand asking you to follow her through a door.
"Aliens..." Sophia muttered beneath her breath before Lola harrumphed at her.
You cast the girl a glance that was icy at best and scornful at worst, stepping out of her line of sight when you noticed her flinching to break eye contact with you as you walked into the offered classroom. It was roomy, spacious even. Quite inviting when you got down to it. Comfortable looking seats were occupied with a bit of a ruffle as memory foam adjusted to your plate clad posterior.
The desk folded over your legs, giving you enough room to swing and kick them as needed, and could easily be pushed aside to stand up whenever you pleased. The fact that it was made of wood saddened you though, your finger tracing over the texture of the lacquered material and leftover psychic imprints of what had once been the flesh of a tree tingling in your mind.
The sensation of the life of something that had endured for so long only to be broken down into building material; the warmth of the sunlight, the sensation of the soil, the feathery touch of animals sheltering on its branches and creatures threading through its network of roots. It had lived a whole life and had many more years ahead of it until the teeth of a chainsaw dug into its bark and ended its humble story.
"There has to be better ways." You muttered to yourself as the sensation passed into memory until you made another, perhaps more important realisation.
"...Psionic empathy..." You muttered. Your abilities were awakening quite rapidly since absorbing the Brood Drake's monstrous mentalmorphic prowess yesterday. You needed to do something to assist with the process of mastering it, lest you find yourself wandering that field alone...or well...alone with Arne, who seemed to be doing his best to try to ignore the presence of the wood and shut off the rush of sensation.
Other students piled in, flowing through the doors like water through cracks in a dam. They were numerous and myriad in their appearances, the population of the room swelling to about sixty not including the teachers who were still a bit away from arriving.
"Whoa, new kids..." One of them said, a tan skinned and raven haired girl who dressed in a more classically superheroic outfit, cape, armoured spandex, eye, nose, mouth, and hair exposing mask, finned gloves and boots; colouration a combination of standard, sky, and dark blue.
"Check the armour on that one." Another said, someone who didn't quite fit into the norms of masculinity or femnity, their purple outfit a form of power suit that they were currently wearing without the helm; laid upon their desk out of the way enough for the human with their pixy cut hair to place a laptop down, popping open the lid as they took a look at you.
"Protectorate? Wards? Kind of generic name isn't it?" Another said, the young dark skinned boy said as he looked at Clockblocker's costume through the visor around his eyes and ran a hand through his dreadlocked hair while he got a closer look, Dennis offering a slightly nervous laugh.
"We're from uh...Earth Bet and well, second time here in Primal Earth, decided to see if it's as cool as people say." He said trying his best to maintain his composure and his visage as someone who was always at least a little in control of the situation.
"You sure that one's a hero. Edgiest costume I've ever seen. Like, literally edgy, you could poke somebody's eye out on that." A Blonde girl said, adjusting her cloak around herself and getting a venomous stare from Lelithax as she raised her gloved hands up and hissed, braided hair flowing slightly with her movements as her black and white costume seemed to shimmer with her movements.
"Whoa, okay; ease off on the doom glare there Medusa." She said while another approached Arne to tap onto his pauldron, the olive skinned boy's curly brown hair currently exposed by him having his mask down save for the domino mask worn around his eyes, his thin face and slightly buck teeth making him look rather fetching, especially in his rather form fitting yellow, red, and white costume.
"You a robot or wearing a power suit there?" He said, his voice unaccented.
"...It's a power suit..." Arne said with swift bluntness, getting a nod out of the boy as he pulled himself back to his desk.
The person you sensed to be perhaps the most important to you directly though; stepped in through the door, the woman almost tripping as she carried a stack of materials until another woman helped to catch it. She was a fresh faced woman that you figured was likely from southern India, and in the company of a black woman, a native American man, and an African descended immigrant from the Etoille Islands and a pair of entities that possessed medieval-looking suits of armour to serve as bodies; her presence felt like it was the one most immediately relevant to you in the causeways of destiny as she let out a bit of a harrumph.
She wore a costume consisting of a trench coat, mail and plate, armoured padding, a body glove, and a specially reinforced helm like some blend between ancient indian armour and a motorcyclist helm she set aside, her hair allowed to flow to full length and her face hidden by a mask that let her hair free but hid the rest, a hand moving a breather over her mouth to cover it up after a second or so for you to see the skin around her nose and mouth.
"Sorry, we were just informed we had a large group of new...oh there they are!" She said, her voice almost breathless as she tried to straighten herself and regain her composure, standing in front of the smart boards that the teachers used to instruct a rather large classroom all at once; the large class room size being meant to help students feel like they were part of a large community and reduce any sense of isolation that may affect those of the extradimensional origin type.
"I am Madam Karna. Though...truth be told my powers don't really have anything to do with the Devas I'm just...well...long story short power sources from other realities do funny things to your equipment hahah.." She said, exhaling, looking around, seeing nobody was laughing and gulping a bit before you gave her a bit of a laugh yourself to ease the sensation of awkwardness radiating off of her like heat from a sunlamp, making her mood brighten slightly.
"These are my co-teachers Psystrike, Spacemaker, Wardsetter, Shadoo, and Luma." She said, indicating to her companions in the order you saw them in. One in a purple, black, and blue outfit with strategically placed armour plating and psychoactive crystals, another in a star patterned outfit meant to look like the night sky, another in a broad and friendly looking power suit coloured blue and grey, and the last two in similar looking suits of armour with T-visors and winged fins on the sides of their helms, their bodies both about twice the height of any of their human companions and brimming with eldritch might.
"I uh...well...took the liberty of helping to shuffle the new students around so uh...Dawnchild, Duskguard, Cobra Warlock, Kid Win, Vista, and Gold Singer. You will be joining Iybraa, Xaeon, Dinomax, Lightwar, Aquaform, and Voidwave; with me." She said, clearing her throat.
The others were assigned quickly afterwards as she gestured for the designated students to move into their appointed groups. Dinomax was an asian girl in a dinosaur themed costume with clear armouring to help ensure her safety, with feathers and scales combined to create a more distinct look and a cloak styled like a pterosaurs' wings. Lightwar was an extradimensional but near human-alien in a sleek high-tech suit staring through the world through a narrow visor; antennae collecting on information from the air and their form seeming to be a mirror opposite of Voidwave; white to their black, blue to their red. Possibly some sort of quantum pairing? You'd need to scan to know for sure. Aquaform was a black boy whose costume was of course, blue, green, and sandy tan; styled like an armoured diver's suit to help him control his powers from a dimension tied to the concept of fluids and water.
As far as you could tell, Dinomax's power fit into both magic and extradimensional prowess; which immediately shot her up in terms of interest to you; a mixture of her teachings passed down by dragons and something called the "Dinoforce" which apparently was the extradimensional power of...Dinosaurs? Dinosaur like things? Weird. Really, really weird. Still, that didn't make the others uninteresting at all though.
Actions:
Pick three and specify whether Arne or Samus does them (name the overall set of actions Plan: Whatever)
[]: Try to introduce yourselves to the new four.
[]: Try to introduce your prior friends to the new kids (Iybraa and Xaeon already know Dinomax, Lightwar, Voidwave, and Aquaform).
[]: Ask what you might expect from the rest of the class day.
[]: Ask what the teacher is like
[]: Ask the teacher how they deal with people from realities in the future relative to theirs
[]: Ask if they've seen anything resembling progenitor relics nearby
[]: Ask if they've seen anything weird or suspicious lately
[]: Try to see if they have any stories to share.
[X] Plan: I hope the day does not end with disaster
-[X] Try to introduce yourselves to the new four. (Samus)
-[X] Try to introduce your prior friends to the new kids (Samus)
- [X]: Ask if they've seen anything resembling progenitor relics nearby (Samus)
-[X] Ask what the teacher is like (Arne)
- [X]: Ask what you might expect from the rest of the class day. (Arne)
- [X]: Try to see if they have any stories to share (Arne)
[X] Plan: I hope the day does not end with disaster
-[X] Try to introduce yourselves to the new four. (Samus)
-[X] Try to introduce your prior friends to the new kids (Samus)
-[X] Ask what the teacher is like (Arne)
[X] Plan: I hope the day does not end with disaster
-[X] Try to introduce yourselves to the new four. (Samus)
-[X] Try to introduce your prior friends to the new kids (Samus)
- [X]: Ask if they've seen anything resembling progenitor relics nearby (Samus)
-[X] Ask what the teacher is like (Arne)
- [X]: Ask what you might expect from the rest of the class day. (Arne)
- [X]: Try to see if they have any stories to share (Arne)
