Emperor Gram Visto the Third walked across his cold and empty palace, his golden boots echoing with each footfall, as he basked in the silence of his control. The Mannequins shadowed his movements, careful to move without sound so as to avoid his ire, their very bodies bent to his will to unquestioning puppets. As he entered his ready room, free of all begging viziers who foolishly believed they could bend his whims to their favor, and looked over his consoles. There, a message lingered. It was an update on the planet that Zora and her rabble had gone. An update he had very little interest in. She was just one of the countless revolutionaries and he had played this tired game far too often.
The only aspect that he found irksome was his Phoenix Emperor. The man was no great fool, so why he was herding the lambs to such a remote and empty planet could only be to avoid casualties. Traditional response was to glass the planet and send a commander down to clean up the survivors and make a point of the leader. That was thrown aside for this case when the Phoenix’s former peer came to him demanding she be given a fleet and other lesser commanders to take on the man directly. Visto had not spent long pondering her offer. It wasn’t often you had volunteers for a suicide mission. Still, between him and Zora he imagined that it would help him paint them as dangerous and monstrous. Such a presentation would allow him to justify to the larger cosmos his use of the most recent scientific discovery sent his way.
Looking over the update vaguely, he noticed a measure of panic to the tone, but a skim of the notes seemed entirely unamusing. Apparently the leader of the Cosmic Patrol had arrived to help them. He was unsure why, given that she had always shown herself to be an astute and precise woman. Not the sort that would risk him declaring her forces an invading army in the various systems they had taken root. Surely an exploratory message would get him his answer. Seeing in the report that they had deployed the fourth stage of his stratagem, he smiled confidently.
Many a year ago, he had assigned the Phoenix Emperor to go collect a being considered a force of nature. A natural disaster given personification. It is referred to as Batta the Beast by the common folk of the galaxy. Humanoid in shape but impossibly strong. Able to level cities in minutes, not able to be destroyed by any known means, and no captivity has ever reliably held him for more than a decade. Even throwing him into a black hole had supposedly lead to him escaping after it collapsed. He had been saving this force of nature for such an occasion.
He was aware of his former commander’s methods. Practical, efficient, brutal, but also calculated to keep body counts low. A wise man doesn’t argue with results, nor does he ever fully trust a non-believer. Since the Phoenix could not be threatened or bought, it was clear he had some ulterior motives. So why not send a natural disaster against him, this revolutionary, and the various commanders foolish enough to willingly throw themselves into the maw of his power. The Phoenix may not kill them, but Visto would still make them martyrs for the cause.
Deciding he wanted to watch the brilliance of his own machinations, he turned to a monitor and activated it, accessing the feed of one of the Mannequins still active on the planet. It didn’t take long for his drone to find his foes. The scraps of green metal drew his eye first, the remnants of that combat robot that Zora seemed so attached to. As he observed this revolutionary, he was surprised. Batta had successfully landed and had been causing havoc, but the golden woman who had bested Tak’Nasi had formed some odd cage around him. Within said cage was the Special Detective that had been reported to him from the resonance cascade. One of the remaining Tak’Nasi was kneeling over the remains of the green combat droid and Zora was kneeling next to her and patting her back. He was about to continue his investigation when a purple blur blocked the camera right before the feed went out.
Visto sighed wistfully, wishing that he had been able to maintain his feed… only to have a video begin to play… one that boiled his blood. The confident and arrogant smirk of the Phoenix on his screen and the words that followed were even worse.
Dear people of the Falos Empire. You all know me and I know you. We all know how hard Emperor Visto the Third works to keep you all divided and isolated. How much fear he sows and the consequences of defiance. And more than anything how he has built this once formidable empire into a series of broken communities paid to war within themselves for his amusement. If you haven’t heard from him already, I’ve left his forces. You may believe me to be the revolution coming to your aid, but I would never be so daring. I am a dishonorable traitor after all… No. I have helped prepare the proper heir for any decision he wishes to make. I, for my part, hold faith that he will take his proper place and free you from the Emperor’s terror. Maintain your faith in his nobility and stay true to the pride of the Falos. As for the current Emperor, you are not prepared for those who will ally with your son. And they know your machinations better than anyone. Even better than me. So, when the Warrior of the Dawn helps to bring a new day to your empire… I hope you have the decency to accept your defeat, or at least die with dignity if you can’t.
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Anisa watched the faceless black figure with strikingly bright hair fight Dean in an oddly brutal boxing match. Every punch sent the armored hero sailing into the bars of the cage, and each time it would crack with Katsi having to dedicate some more of her nanites to the repairs. She knelt down next to Narine, tears pouring from the woman’s eyes. She didn’t know what to say. Does she comfort her friend? For what? He isn’t dead, just missing. But in the same way, she knew how shocking it must be to the woman. How close they had gotten…
Looking at her crewmate, red hair messy and loose from the fighting, Anisa couldn’t help but remember when she had found her best friend grieving over Shawn’s grave. She wrapped an arm around Narine’s shoulders and said softly, “I am sorry that you had to see this. When we find him, I’ll help you kick his ass.” Narine paused for a moment, an almost betrayed glower on her face when she turned to look at Anisa. One that softened when she saw the certainty on Anisa’s face. The shift made her smile and her heart warm. The captain of the crew stood up, wiping away the faintest tears in her eyes. As one of the blue glowing birds landed on her shoulder, she turned towards it only to see an even more dramatically dressed Gavin. She laughed softly, “Alabaster the Audacious? More like Alabaster the Auspicious! What is with this getup?”
Gavin managed a weak smile before the light faded and he fell to knee, his transformation fading. He spoke with a humorous tone despite his struggle, “I did… what you asked, captain. Everyone… is still alive.” He looked at the remains of the robotic body with confusion, but Anisa motioned for him not to worry about it. As he watched Pine going around in his transformed state dismantling any of the Falos Mannequins using one of their blade arms, he began to get nervous, especially when he saw the young man approaching some of the fallen villains. Gavin asked weakly, “Is he good? Does he need a babysitter? And what are we going to do with Batta? Whatever you are doing right now is basically just feeding a wild animal.”
Anisa nodded slowly, “Douglas evacuated the planet and left me in charge of dealing with Batta. Dean volunteered. Said that sometimes Batta just needs to tucker himself out. I don’t know if Katsi can keep up with it and… whatever she and Dean built doesn’t seem like something I want us to over use.” She was being selective in her thoughts. It wasn’t just that Douglas had told her to handle it. Shawn was here. Shawn likely knew that a guy like Visto would have sent this. And Douglas was his student so he was likely counting on the man to leave her in charge of this.
That’s just like you. Setting the stage and letting the players decide their lines. I’m sure you worried about every single detail. So, if that’s true, what was your plan for this scene?
Opening her eyes she sighed, “Narine, I need you to use your shield to take a few hits while Dean extracts himself. Gavin, gather any unusual or useful tech from the dead alongside Pine. I know corpse robbing isn’t glorious, but there is no telling what might have been left behind. After that, get to the ship.” She shouted up to her sister, “Kat, drop the cage and get everyone to the ship. I’ll take care of this guy myself.”
Dean cried out in frustration as Batta cornered him and began to land blow after blow on the man, “Are you kidding? You want to one v one a living calamity?” It was clear that as heavy as each blow was, Dean continued to live up to his title of The Man Unbroken.
She could tell from the holding pattern Katsi was flying in that even her sister had reservations, but after a moment Anisa would hear her sister over comms, “I know what you are thinking and every bit of information I have says that it can work. Just don’t be afraid to run away. If you focus on evasion first and response second you will be fine.” Anisa found strength in her sister’s words as the golden cage began to melt like it was made of butter on a summer day. She gripped the crystal the woman with the silver smile had given her so long ago and took a deep breath in as she prepared herself for the plunge.
