Power Struggle
[A log sent to us from Bass, so, 'yous' and 'yours' are his. A bit of a testiment to how much raw damage we were doing when infused with the Mars pendant. We only hit him twice.]
Gyro Man gets back to the training room after a long day with some annoying kids in Egypt. The only fun part of the day was rather short... But it puts a smile on his face as he sees in his mind the way he threw the spy, whoever he was (he should have read his name too in the badge.. Oh well) right infront of the border guards. He starts hovering as soon as he enters the trianing room, feeling excited just be floating at almost ground level, he takes to the air, as high as possible in the spartan training room. Only when he is already in the air, and in a spot where anyone can see, then he spots Gemini Man, and remembering the part about those pendant wearers being dangerous, especially Gemini... Gyro Man tries to fly to the farthest part of the training room as possible from Gemini Man.
Gemini Man has become somewhat of a training room hog lately. It's hard to blame him...what with the Master ban on random acts of violence, and the faction's current need to seem like "good people," the raging temper of the Mars avatar is not a welcome addition in any current long-term schemes. Gemini has at least modified the very basic holoemitter to create a range of semi-intelligent, featureless training dummies. Like artist's manniquines with blaster arms, the simple programs currently charge the twins from both sides, and are knocked to atoms soon after each appearance. He's working out, but he's not challenged much, and it's anger and frustration that builds on Gemini's twin faces, now.
A frustration that does not go unnoticed.
Quiet days, silent ones, while the Dark Knight watches the amalgamation of human steel and Stardroid power clash with unabashed fury at the 'enemies' of smoke and mirrors. Every scenario watched or recorded, presented to glittering eyes cold with their own malice, above clenched fists, beneath golden blades...
Until the moment arrives on silent feet, a portion of the hologram chamber cleared of training smoke as reinforced doors swing wide as he enters...
Bass
Ice Man walks into the training room. After yesterday and the day before, he isn't in any shape (or mood) to fight. But he figures it would be relaxing to watch some of the others go at it for a bit. He walks over to the "rec" area a finds himself a nice comfy armchair.
Gemini Man demolishes another pair of dummies into component photons, and unappeased, both twins wait for another. Normally uncaring about any particular audience they might gather in this activity, one of the two Geminis happens to glance over at the swift succession of opening doors... And, almost frozen in time, he stops moving, even as the other twin leaps forward to dispatch his intended opponent. The first twin...merely stares at Bass, red eyes twitching. "End the program," he suddenly insists. And the program subsides, leaving the second Gemini in midleap, throwing a kick that now has nowhere to land, and, just falling down to a crouch.
Sword Man strides in, intent on going through his sword forms, the so-called battle yesterday being a bust (for him, anyways, since it was mainly just Guts vs. The Dragon). However, he notices two things that separately are cause for alarm, but jointly DEFINITELY something to steer clear from: An angry Pendant-enhanced Gemini and Wily's "masterpiece", the maniacal Bass. Knowing the old saying "Discretion being the better part of valor", he decides to watch from a safer distance....just to objectively study their styles. He walks over to the Rec area and finds Ice already relaxing there. He bows before taking a non-descript seat near him. "Good day, Sir Ice."
Gyro Man finds himself between the hammer and the anvil, and quickly flys away, "Not good..." He gets to the rec room, and quickly flys lower to 'sit' on the air close to Ice Man, "This... Isn't good." Is all he says.
Bass stares, hard chips of purple crystal boring like lasers on the twin Masters. Slowly, his arms cross before his chest, watching as the moment of activity comes to a frozen standstill.... Hovering on the next few words.
"Gemini," he says simply, voice a whispering echo of the Siberian ice.
Ice Man oohs quietly. He'd been hoping for a good scrap, looks like he's gonna see one! "Booyaka Sword, Gyro. Uhh, this might not be good." He gets up, goes to the cabinet and grabs a bag of Jiffy Pop and throws it in the dilapadated old microwave that sits in the rec room. He grabs a root beer from the fridge, grabs the bag of poped popcorn and returns to his chair. He leans close to Gyro and whispers something to his younger brother before leaning back in his chair.
Gemini Man's response is a far cry from the chill look, the chill words, that Bass offers him. Rather, his face creeps up into a small smile beneath those twitching eyes. The second twin rises to his feet behind the first, and glances at his other self, then, at Bass, before echoing the grin. "Bass," Gemini Man entones, by way of verbal response. "I hope you haven't come...just to say hello."
Gyro Man still seems to be sitting as he flys to get some chocolate chip cookies and some sproit(tm), but not before whispering something back to Ice Man. He returns to his 'seat' on the air besides Ice Man, and comments about the future fight, "I hope that we survive this fight, because I'm sure that someone here won't." He knows that the attacks aren't supposed to be able to leave the training grid, but who knows with ones as strong as those 3?
Sword Man grabs a random can from the fridge and reads the can. "Met-tool Co-la....." He shrugs as he opens the can ever-so-carefully and peers over to the training area. "This shall be interesting...to say the least." Idly, he wonders if the room will survive the two (or is it three?) of them.
"Not at all," the Dark Master replies, rigid, unyielding as steel. "I just came to enforce our dear Old Man's will..." he continues mockingly, fingers squeezing into a fist. "Something about obeying my orders...." The glitter of his eyes falls, dying embers in the night. Faded and dead, even as tiny pulses of light begin to burn in the air around him.
"I told you not to touch him," Bass says. "I told you he was mine. And you ignored me." The grin returns, a hunter's smile. A wolf's smile.
Ice Man munchs on his Jiffy Pop. Tasty. "Hope the hologrid can handle the power output."
Gemini Man actually chuckles at this. "You're still mad about that?" he asks, turning his head slightly to the side.
"GREAT," says the other Gemini Man. He raises his unarmed, left hand, and, with one finger, gestures Bass toward him. "I'm glad you waited. You were right. We couldn't have faced you that first night." His eyes glisten. "But we've grown since then. We've grown a lot." That single hand, gesturing, come here, come here...grows tenser with each motion.
Gyro Man munches on his munchies, and drinks from his sproit, "This is gonna be either really good... Or really bad... I hope they finish with their small soon, since I want to see some action. You wouldn't believe how boring it is taking a group of children to see the pyramids! I mean, the only fun part was when this spy decided to watch an ice cream place with a holo-fly. Talking about idiots." Gyro Man snorts, his metal plate not worn so he can actually eat and drink, so you can see it when he grins evilly when reminded of that not so cool thing he did to Gale Sorcer, even though he thinks that he did something really funny.
Teeth flash as dark eyes narrow, arms spreading away as Bass takes quiet stock of his dual opponent.
"Maybe you have grown," he says quietly, tilting his head slightly, voice taking on a faint whisper of wondering thought. Then his hand slips away, and dark colors run like blood down the armor, staining the lightning bolt scars in silver rain.
"Grown foolish to face me," he snarls, snapping the Neo Buster forward, power ripping up in a shriek of power. "SAFETY INTERLOCKS OFF!" he snarl, lashing out with a stream of jagged bolts, plasma and hellfire rippling in a shockwave of force.
You miss Gemini Man with your Neo Buster Rapidfire attack.
Ice Man blinks and looks at Sword and Gyro. "Safety Interlocks OFF?!? That's not good. No, not at all. He can e-ring Gemini now...or US for that matter!" Icey nervously munches his popcorn. "This can't end well, not at all, not at all." Ice, however, is smart enough to not say any of this to Bass. After all, he wants to live!
WOOSH! The blast of firewpower rushes through, and the twins split and scatter, the energy flying between them and smashing into the the wall. "No safties," says one twin, looking at the scar on the wall with a distinct admiration.
"No PROBLEM," says the other, and lifts his arm. A red aura builds around his weapon, for just a fraction of a second, then, white energy with a compounding red swirl comes pouring out of the end of his arm.
Gemini Man strikes you with his Gemini Cannon for 32 units of damage.
Gyro Man watches as one of the Gemini Men strikes Bass with a rather strong looking attack, "Hmm... This pendant grants some great powers... I wonder what I could do with one if I was rebuilt only a week or two before..." Gyro Man then starts imaginging the great moves he could accomplish with such new found powers. Ice Man and Sword Man could see his dreamy look if they ever turn their gaze from the fight.
Sword Man stares at the spectacle at hand, thinking it best he not say anything lest he bring down either psycho's wrath on the three of them with some mindless comment. Instead, he just sips on his cola and tries this....wierd, fluffy looking buttered foodstuff.
The murderous blast strikes with vicious power, sending the Dark Knight hurtling through the air, smashing the far wall with brutal force. Steel grinds as his fingers dig down, the howl of jets blasting Bass out of the crater with an explosion of flame.
"My turn..." Bass hisses, energy boiling like a mad comet, actinic light screaming like a runaway nova.... Blazing, shimmering, erupting in a hellish comet driving out towards the racing Avatar.
Warp and death, and the barreling doom of Magna Bass.
You strike Gemini Man with your Crush attack.
Bass's rush pushes Gemini Man back into the wall, smashing him between angered opponent and solid steel. The wall denting under the pressure, Gemini Man manages to simply look up as the strain of the blow racks into his chest, fracturing armor but leaving the pendant untouched. "Underestimated us, didn't you, Bass?" Gemini gives a weak laugh, and there is the report of a laser from Bass' side, as the still-unpinned clone fires a single shot from his weapon.
Gemini Man misses you with his Clone Laser attack.
"Augh, this won't end well. The loser will vent his rage on one of us... I'm not sure that 20 zenny are enough..." Gyro Man leans closer to Ice Man, flying a bit to the right to get closer. He then quietly says something to Ice Man.
Ice Man winces at the sound of steel grinding on steel, but says nothing and simply munches on popcorn like a good little eskimo. Say nothing and the fight won't come over here. Maybe. He hopes. To Gyro he simply nods his head.
Color bleeds across the ebony form, gold and silver melting to vermillian and green, a tiny sphere of emerald light blazing like a tiny sun from the tip of the Magna Buster.
"Not in the least," he hisses, pinning the first Gemini to the wall, his hand reemerging from the Buster as the green brilliance glows and seethes, sucking the power of the laser beam like iron to a magnet. "Not at all," he says, releasing the brilliant energy blaze like a corona, rippling out to strip the life from everything it touches...
You strike Gemini Man with your Power Drain attack.
Bass drains energy from Gemini Man with his Power Drain attack.
You use Emerald's Power Drain, leaving you with 1 shots left.
The second twin begins to rush to the aid of the first...when the screaming begins. As Bass begins his drain, all of that enhanced force pours out of Gemini's body in a rush, tearing cracks in his armor, pulling mechfluid OUT from behind his red eyes. Crying out in pain through his borrowed, gravelly voice, Gemini can barely see through the rage, and red light builds around his body, trying to push the opposing energies away. With one shaking arm, he manuevers...slowly...all he needs to do is shove Bass back, even a little. And when he feels that the grip may start to seperate, he pulls his own gun-arm around, and, pointblank, if at an awkward angle under the pin...he unleashes a red storm.
Gemini Man misses you with his Photon Missile attack.
Gyro Man groans as it seems like Bass is winnging, oO(Dammit, I thought those pendants are supposed to make you stronger, not make you insane! Bah, it's a good thing that Pharaoh Man didn't get one!) Gyro Man looks at the fight without avverting his gaze, and says not a thing.
Like a cobra, the color-shifting fist lashes down, smashing the barrel wide. Fingers squeeze into Gemini's chest plate, hoisting the red-edged Master aloft for one brief moment, snarling into his face.
"I am going to tear you apart, piece by wretched piece... And the I'm going to do it again, until you remember your PLACE!" Turning with a roar, Magna Bass turns, hurling Gemini bodily towards his twin.
You strike Gemini Man with your Smash attack.
Sword Man nearly chokes on his soda as Bass picks up one Gemini and chucks it at the other, both smashing together in a non-too-pleasant sight. "Brothers, perhaps now is not the time to be spectators...."
Dive Man arrives from the Corridor [Skull Citadel].
Dive Man has arrived.
Gemini Man is lifted and thrown, like a doll, in the direction of his twin, and the pair crash together, falling to the ground in an awkward heap.
Now by all rights, that should have been the end of it. But... no, Gyro was right. Gemini Man... is completely insane. A low laugh, perfectly synchronized, from the twins. Whether it's the real pain, the real challenge, or just the familiar feeling of anger, that's making them crazy, it's hard to say. "Even if you win..." says one, standing up... "Even if you win, a thousand times... fight us again..."
"Your anger... it's pointless...so pure." The twins stand shoulder-to-shoulder, and lifting both arms, fire syncronized blasts.
Gemini Man strikes you with his Double Shot for 20 units of damage.
Dive Man wanders in through the doorway, his blue armor shining strangely in the artificial light.
Ice Man looks at Sword. "Well, ah, maybe....but...I want to now who's gonna win! Though, I have faith in Bass!" Especially because Bass is within earshot!
Gyro Man finds the tides to be turning a bit, Gemini Man hit Bass again! oO(Hmm... I might get my money afterall... Who knows what are the powers that you get with insanity... Maybe that's why Pharaoh Man is so strong, so mad he doesn't know that he's supposed to be dead.) Looks like Gyro Man decided to make fun out of Pharaoh Man a bit, but eh, he makes fun of everyone in his mind where they can't hear. He continues to watch the fight.
Magna Bass's howl carries with inhuman power, twin lasers trained down, boring black scars across the metal plate. Tiny shards of ionised energy splash in errant beams, streaking to burn scorch marks in the yellow-gridded walls...
"Once," he hisses, taking a heavy step forward.
"TWICE," he growls, black and purple settling on silver and gold, the glowing aura of light focusing down into arm cradling the Magna Buster.
"A thousand times," he snarls, biting the words out through a bloody rage, hands whirling to grasp the gleaming staff, charging in a whirlwind of focused destruction, gleaming staff blitzing out in a fell torrent of strikes, smashing at steel, armor, legs, arms, a thousand shrieking blows of agony.
"It will ALWAYS! BE! THE! SAME!"
You strike Gemini Man with your Four Winds Strike attack.
Gemini Man falls to the ground, unconscious, due to massive systems damage.
You use Medieval Fox's Four Winds Strike, leaving you with 4 shots left.
Ice Man smirks in his chair and holds out his hand for Gyro's payment. "Told ya Bass would win. He's Bass! Now, I believe be had a bet. Payment please." Icey wants his zenny now, so he can leave before Bass desides to turn the rage of the victor onto the audience.
Gyro Man finds it amusing that even with that pendant that is supposed to be the war god's pendant, Gemini Man still couldn't defeat Bass... But then he is reminded of a certain bet... "Ahh... Ok Ice, here's your money..." Gyro Man takes some left over cash from what he kept in his pocket to buy ice cream for him and the kids, and gives some of it of it to Ice Man, "Here, 40 Zenny exactly! Blah... I hate bets... You never know who'll win unless we are talking about who makes better aerial stunts: Me or anyone else."
Sword Man stares at his two brothers talking over an apparent bet over the all-too-dangerous "training session". However, who is HE to judge them. He just shakes his head and walks off, also hoping to avoid Bass's hair trigger wrath.
And when the light clears, and the dust settles, there is only Gemini Man, on his own, on the floor, torn piece to piece and at every angle, draining mechfluid onto the floor. Holding on to conciousness, his eyes empty and crimson, he whispers... simply, singly: "Thank you."
Ice Man grabs the money and heads out. FAST! While Ice was backing Bass, he doubt's Bass will like to hear that he was the target for a bet. So Ice good byebye!
Sword Man decides to leave also, not flat out running like Ice did, but walking rather fast....
Dive Man blinks. "Brother Ice, where are you running to?"
Calm, chillingly, coldly, horribly calm...
In the aftermath of the black storm, Magna Bass stands still, staring at the battered form of Gemini Man. Silver darkens, blackens, falls to the true color of the Dark Knight, and he waits for a moment, thoughts hidden behind the amethyst eyes.
And then he turns, hand remolding, shimmering with a rising fire as he turns to the erstwhile audience.
"Leave."
Ice Man doesn't need to be told twice. He (more or less calmly) collects his zenny and heads straight for the door. He's running a simple equasion through his mind at the moment.
Bass+PMS+Ice Man=BAD
Gyro Man also leaves the area, hoping that he'll leave before Gemini Man hears of his bet with Ice... He would probably take it as an excuse to kill Gyro for thinking bad things about him... Which he actually does... He flies away, towards the rec room door, happy that he won't need to move close to the Mad Men...
... He sips from his sproit.
When the last Master has gone, when only the Two remain... Magna Bass turns, staring down at Gemini's form once again. The power of his namesake weapon continues to climb, and murder shines in his eyes as he trains the weapon down on the fallen Robot Master.
"Or it could all end with only one shot," he says quietly, the open gate of the plasma emitter seething with the force of a chained sun. "One shot, and then simply a matter of erasing you from ERWIN's database." The weapon holds steady, glowing, murmuring its deadly strength...
"So why should I let you live?"
Gemini Man looks into the abyss...
...and he is unafraid.
"Like you I was built for a purpose. Like you I was chosen for something special. Destroying me...would be nothing but a waste of my potential."
Balefire and death wait at the end of that narrow muzzle, shimering, boiling, requiring only the barest thought to unleash its wrath and end its short life in a blast of violence...
It hovers for long moments, contained in the magnetic bottle, before the glow streams away, the whine fades, the heat of death fades to cool darkness.
"Then you will remember this," Magna Bass says, dropping the Buster slowly. "You are *mine*. Your purpose is what I say it is. That you fight for one day more is because I allow it." He kneels down, hand sliding from its armored sheath to grasp Gemini with strength to crush steel. "Do you understand?"
Gemini Man looks into Bass's eyes without flinching or breaking. His own eyes...not his own, anymore, meeting that cold glare with a boiling heat. No threat in them...just, a sudden patience, and a kind of new understanding. "All right," says the avatar, simply. If you listen carefully, you can hear him, getting ready, to go up in level again.
Magna Bass nods, rising, dragging the damaged Master with him. "Good," he replies, turning towards the holograph command console. "Reactivate the interlocks. And get this place fixed..."
He pauses, turning towards Gemini with a silent gaze. "Do well, and we will fight again." Gemini Man, unable to move, says, simply.... "I want that."
"Then you will have it." And then he walks away, cold light blazing as the Dark Knight leaves, Bass emerging as footsteps crack the broken floor to the calm.
Of silence.
Gemini Man lies in the same place...for a very long time...under the now-dimmed lights in the room. Thinking. Then, after a moment, he feels SOMETHING recharge... appears in a new silhouette, and stepping up to himself, helps himself to leave, and be repaired.
