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Riot Force Reports: Enemy Within
Riot Force Reports: Enemy Within
#1
Here I stand,

Helpless and left for dead.

Close your eyes,

So many days go by.

Easy to find what's wrong,

Harder to find what's right.

I believe in you,

I can show you that

I can see right through

All your empty lies.

I won't stay long,

In this world so wrong.

Say goodbye,

As we dance with the devil tonight.

Don't you dare look at him in the eye,

As we dance with the devil tonight.

****

You are a very brave girl/woman/person, Inyme/Member Clan W'tin, the scientist says as we approach the lab. Like
all of us here, he worries at the moral implications of what I'm about to undergo. But there is no other choice.

Remember, you are our last hope/bastion/resistance. Without you, the Race/People/Society will fall to the decay that the
Perverter/Corrupter/Blasphemer has caused among us. Our purity/purpose/direction is in jeopardy/peril/danger. Though some change/adjustment/evolution is
necessary to adapt/evolve/react, the abandonment/sacrilege/renunciation of the Perverter/Corrupter/Blasphemer is too much.

I understand/comprehend/recognize, I reply. How well I understand. The procedure would probably get the scientists
involved banned from any medical conference and harshly punished among either half of our race. It is considered a punishment akin to these natives' death
sentences, so awful is its effect on the recipient. Unless you're prepared for it. Accepted it as necessary.

I lie down on the table, feeling the utter oneness that I know will soon be gone. My form has already been altered to fit among them. My armor modified to fit
this new form. I wait for the surgeons coming to alter my powers so that I won't stand out. To those already fallen and those who would delay my mission.

It's an odd sensation. Not as unpleasant as you'd think. But for us, it's like night and day. I imagine the Earthers are used to being like this,
away from the constant comfort, contact, and acknowledgement of the rest of their race. But for me....for my mission....I am, for the first time, completely
alone....

My brain comprehends the guttural mangled words of those sending me to this world, but my mind is elsewhere. Still contemplating the utter silence. My briefing
is finished, even though I know it by rote already. My commanding officer looks at me.

"Comprehend: your objectives?"

"Objectives: acknowledged. Mission: accepted."

"Assessment: brave child. Imperative: go and find evidence: condemning. Await your return: we. Remember: not alone, duration: forever."

I turn away and step through the teleportation grid, stepping onto the pavement of Atlas Park. No, I will not be alone forever. I will infiltrate these
treacherous humans, use them to accomplish my mission, and return to my people....and then we will return and lay waste to those that threaten the Rikti.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
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#2
Innnnteresting...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#3
A little piece that came to mind regarding a particular moment in Inyme's stop-start development....

***

Inyme wasn't quite sure why she was helping these two. Kheldian hybrids they might be, but they were too weak to be of any threat to her mission. In fact, hanging about such aliens that might recognize her powers' similarity to that of the "invaders" would be dangerous....yet for some reason, she couldn't help following them about.

The mission was simple enough. Weapons sales to the Skulls that they'd been sent to intercept. A typical mission until she'd opened the crate, revealing advanced quantum radiation weapons designed to destabilize the energy structure of Kheldians. She looked up, mentioning the contents as they went on. Before long, more crates of the deadly weapons were revealed.

Lightbinder seemed vaguely ill at the concept, but Nightbinder seemed outright horrified. "What are all these doing here?"

"The Council must be flooding the market," Lightbinder said. "The more of these..."

"The better chance more of you are dead and not going to interfere with their Nictus masters," Inyme said. She tried to sound knowledgeable, but truth be told, she'd just pulled that info out of the Council leader at the last base they'd attacked.

"Why?" Nightbinder asked, and Inyme wondered if the petulant tone was unique to the youth of this species. "We never did anything to them! Why do they want us dead?!"

That stopped Inyme dead as a part of her mind raced back in years....

****

Inyme curled against her mother, basking in the gentle waves of comfort and acknowledgment that she could feel from her progenitor. She had so few cares now, and why should she? She was just a child.

She heard the noise. The dull thump and crackling of energy. She didn't see the portal outside, didn't see the small number of figures that'd entered their world unannounced. She felt the curiosity and surprise of other Rikti, but that was meaningless to her. She was with her mother, and all was right with the world.

Then came the explosion.

Later, she would learn it was at the hand of the hero called Positron. Later, she would see the recordings of the one named Statesman callously ordering the strike. Later, she would see the thought-engrams of survivors that saw the others hunting what Rikti had made it through the blast alive among the ruins. Now, all she saw was a brilliant green light as her perfect world was shattered by a hundred thousand minds crying out at once and suddenly being silenced.

She remembered waking up from where she'd fallen unconcious. Of thought-speaking for her mother, seeking her comforting presence to make the pain in her body and mind go away. Of finding her. Gone. Another casualty of the attack that ruined the lives of so many.

She remembered Hro'Dtohz, the brilliant young general and his second in command, U'kon Grai. She remembered the Rikti turning to him to find a solution to this horrible attack. She remembered his impassioned speech that the Lineage of War needed to be returned to what it was supposed to be to prevent another attack, and to bring justice to those that had silenced the unique voices of so many of their kin.

She remembered the first war, young, angry, and wanting to fight, but still too young. She remembered endless training to become a combat Mentalist, preparing for the final push. She remembered the counter invasion where the great portal to the invaders' homeworld was shut, and the deaths and defeats of those who'd snuck through and used blasphemous magic to do it.

She remembered...


****

"...Inyme? Inyme!" Lightbinder said, snapping her out of it. She realized she'd drifted off for a second. She noticed Nightbinder still looking at the weapons with fear, and Inyme felt herself need to speak.

"Sometimes...you've done nothing. All it takes is for them to see you as a threat. Then anything goes. Anything to prevent you from hurting them by hurting you first. It's not right. It makes no sense....but some just have to think that way. All you can do is become strong...strong enough to resist. To protect that which they want to take from you. Strong enough to fight," she said, getting a slightly more resolved look from the young Warshade in return and an admiring one from Lightbinder.

"Come....these are nothing. Let's show them how strong you are."
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
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#4
A very diferent perspective on the war than we are used to. But still cool
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
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#5
Quote:CEILING MONKEY IS WATCHING YOU SELF PLEASURE
Shouldn't that be something more like:

WATCHING: CEILING MONKEY SELF PLEASURE: YOU

Or maybe not. I still don't have the hang of Rikti-speak.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#6
[Image: eek.gif]

Umm.. I'll just leave it at saying that does -not- mean what you think it does... Would be more like CEILING MONKEY: WATCHING YOU: SELF PLEASURE

That said, well done Op. Grand Short there.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI
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#7
MONKEY: SEE

MONKEY: DO

...

Seriously though, that really is incredibly interesting. That last bit with the binder twins looking at Inyme with respect... that's both amazing and creepy all at the same time. But she really has conviction, she really believes in what she's saying. She's really experienced all that hardship. Because all that is true. It's just...an entirely different angle.
-- Acyl
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#8
I so love that kind of thing in a well-written scene, where someone thinks they know what's going on, but they're so wrong in a right way.
If that makes any sense.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#9
Outside of the Troll territories in Skyway, there is a particular stretch of land that even the poorest of Paragon avoid if possible. This stretch is known as
the Land of the Lost, home to the mysterious cult that had hit Paragon's homeless like wildfire. Seemingly simple homeless people with a purpose,
organization, and increasingly inhuman power to accomplish it, few outside the superhero community suspected what the Lost truly were.

Inyme knew better than anyone.

Which was why she was here, really. She'd encountered a few in the Hollows, but her contacts had led her to this entrenched bastion of the Lost. She needed
a test subject of sufficient power. She didn't have to look far.

"And behold, our patience has been rewarded!" the barely human looking Anathema standing before his assembled subjects boomed. "So long we have
preached! So long we have waited! So long we have kept faith that the new age would come and that we would be rewarded! Now that time has come! Now OUR time
has come! The great masters stretch forth their hand from beyond the sky! Their great chariots ride across the stars, bringing divine retribution upon those
who would oppose the change! The heroes, the others...they think they are safe! They do not know how many we are! How strong we are! We are the many! The voice
of metamorphosis! Our power will give this land to the great masters, and the Change will bring new life to a new age! The new age will come!"

Choruses of "the new age!" and "the change will come!" echoed around his followers as Inyme strode up. "Indeed. The new age will come.
But you won't be here to witness it," she said.

The Anathema's face contorted in anger. "Yet another hero who opposes the change and blasphemes the word of the great masters! Kill her!"

Inyme barely moved as the mob of homeless thugs headed at her. One barely got five steps forward before he was bowled over by an unseen force. A second gripped
at his head while a third suddenly slowed and stopped, drool dripping from his face as his eyes dropped. One got close enough to draw a fireman's axe
before flying away from Inyme like the first, and the charge began to show signs of faltering. A Scrounger dropped to the ground, clutching at his head in
agony as Inyme waded into the melee, mental powers clawing minds and sending Lost flying every which way. Breathing heavily, she turned to face the Anathema,
now devoid of subjects as his troops were either unconcious or fled.

"You think you show strength? That your powers can oppose the Change? I have power as well, as do many of my brothers. In the grand scheme of things, you,
hero, ARE INSIGNIFICANT!" he roared as Inyme felt power build within his mind. She responded in kind, mental strength seeking to overwhelm, subvert, or
slip by. Keeping his mind concentrated on mental defense, Inyme let her power slip for a moment, before ramping it up. He looked at her in astonishment as her
power overwhelmed his, before a telekinetic burst sent him flying. He looked up in awe.

"Y-you....you are not one of the heroes....oh great master, forgive me...I did not recognize you. How may I serve you? I will recall our acolytes. We have
many here. Whatever you may require, we will give to you!"

"Die," Inyme said, getting a confused look from the mutated Lost.

"Your pardon, I do not understand...what do you mean?"

"I mean I want you, and all your kind, to die."

"Wh-what? Great master, why? What have we done? How have we failed you? Please give us another chance!"

"Another chance?" she said softly. "I didn't want to give you a first chance. You and all your kind are abominations. Desperate expenditures
of resources that should never have been created. You think you'll be rewarded for your service? You are half-things, not entirely human nor entirely of
the Rikti. You could never be accepted among us! You are an aborted plan that should never have been continued, and when we win this war, I will take great
pleasure in wiping the stain of your existence off of the Rikti's hands. Insignificant? YOU are insignificant, and offensive! So I order you, servant, DIE.
Die that you might provide some value to me," she hissed.

The Anathema stared, awed and dismayed by her anger, but unable to deny that she truly was one of the great masters. "I...what has our faith been for
then?"

"A tool by those who had less clear vision. And if you can't even end your own life, allow me to do it for you," she said, as the air between
them wavered.

****

The PPD would later find the sight and not know what to make of it. While gang violence in Paragon was considerably brutal sometimes, they'd yet to see
anything that could make an Anathema's head explode from the inside out like that. Others like it in recent history made them write down possible hints at
a purge within the Lost ranks and to keep an eye out.

****

Inyme pulled off her helmet, looking at her mirror as she did. Dark skin and hair, framing almond eyes, greeted her. She thought of her words to the Anathema
and frowned. No. She was on a mission. She was different. She would return and become Rikti again....she was sure of it. She was sure....

Unconciously, she de-armed herself and reached over to the phone. Best to continue the operation. Talking to Alice would do that. Better to ingrain herself
into the girl's life some more. For the mission.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
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#10
creepy and dark and conflicted.

I like it!
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
Reply
 
#11
In re: the head-splody, I am reminded of the Free game mentioned on the boards a week or so ago of Psi-Ops. There you actually -can- make heads explode via 'Mind Drain'.

Concerning the story, you have hit, right on the nose, why undercover ops are always so hard to stay true to the mission, what ever it might be. The operative is often a martyr to the cause, albeit unknowingly, or may just find out they like it better where they are more so than their previous home. I will look forward onto how this plays out.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI
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#12
Inyme walked home alongside Alice, too tired at the moment to want to risk the fine point control her teleportation grid required right now. As she let the younger heroine talk, she admitted to herself that she was more exhausted than she'd planned on and really should have allowed Alice's backup to assist her in the final push rather than going herself. Between hiding herself first from Mentalists in the Council bunker and then the traitor Alice'd gotten to help with the Devouring Earth, she was already pressing the limits of her still not entirely repaired powers in a combat situation. What had made it worse was their choice in enemies. Most Rikti were aware of the massive lifeform known as the Hamidon, but Rikti Mentalists were trained to draw upon the collective willpower of the Rikti mental network to reinforce themselves when combating its creatures. Inyme had no such backup, and the strain of resisting the Hamidon's will as expressed through its minions' barely independent minds was telling on top of her attempts to shield her thoughts and the similar but less powerful hivemind she'd fought off while attacking the Shivans in Bloody Bay. Altogether, she felt ready to collapse as soon as she got into her room, and armor be damned.

"Anyway, I think I'll head home, look up some paperwork for getting the hero name on my liscense chan....Inyme? You okay?" she asked, something about the other woman's mental "picture" as Inyme'd been teaching her to look at seeming....off for the other woman. Inyme began to look up to say something, before she swayed violently, Alice's quick reflexes the only thing that'd kept her from swaying into traffic.

"Inyme!" Alice cried, holding her up. "Are you alright?"

"...f-fine....merely....tired....need...to rest..."

Inyme could feel Alice's amateurish attempts to discern more detail, but was too tired to resist them. The strain of fighting the Devouring Earth and the Shivans came to fore...along with something else.

Rest...need...rest....somewhere....safe....Alice....

Alice looked at the girl worriedly, which was about all Inyme was able to make out before unconciousness claimed her....

****

...soft...warm...where...where am I?

Inyme's eyes cracked open as she realized in a brief moment of understated panic that her helmet and armor had been removed. However, an ambient probe about the room revealed only Alice....and a warm lump on her chest that was probably Neko. Inyme let a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding out as she relaxed from the "fight or flight" tension that'd seized her. She was somewhere safe...she wouldn't be discovered....she could rest....

****

"Looks like she's dozed off again," Neko said quietly as she noticed Inyme's breathing grow deep and regular again. "Though I felt for a second she was going to spring out of here like a wildcat."

"She's a soldier," Alice said. "She probably was freaked out by not remembering how she got here in the first place. I know I'd be tense if I'd passed out and woke up some place strange."

"True...." Neko said, her tone just slightly worried as she curled up again on top of Inyme. Alice went back to browsing through Icon's costume designer, looking for a look that spoke to her. As she looked through a few tones of blue, she savored the slight feeling she'd gotten from Inyme when she'd immediately relaxed upon realizing where she was, classing Alice's place as "safe". She looked over at the dark skinned woman sleeping on her couch again, before turning back to the computer with a smile.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
Reply
 
#13
Hmmm. I'd love to see Inyme's reaction to being totally outclassed by a magic villain who has the villainous equivalent to "Omega Clearance..."

The leader of the kunoichi squad drew nearer, the perverse energies of magic warping the local space-time fabric and causing the spontaneous generation of "dark miasma" as well as the severed reproductive organs of various forms of plantlife. A gleam of predatory confidence filled her eyes as every calculated motion triggered atavistic reproductive responses, despite the both of them being reproductively incompatible.

"Ara?" Lady Nogitsune said. "Is this not interesting, minna?" She reached up and caressed her captive's face. "This one wonders if perhaps Loc'Danan-san or Hro'dotoz-san is aware of her presence? Kel'Uqua-chan would definitely interested." She stepped back and made a show of pondering cutely. "Ah but perhaps it would be better were this one to make an effort to speak her guest's language?"

The confidence in her gaze turned positively feral as her form flowed like tallow to reveal a humanoid fox with nine tails waving gently behind her. "This one: you: to parlor: Welcome. Query: Rikti-chan: This location: Remain?"
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll
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#14
Quote:"This one: you: to parlor: Welcome. Query: Rikti-chan: This location: Remain?"

If you need me, I'll be in the corner, shaking and terrified, thanks.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
Reply
 
#15
The amusing thing is that situation, regardless of Nogi's skills, would be more likely to render her catatonically terrified rather than susceptible to any
feminine wiles. [Image: laugh.gif]

Magic user? Check

Cover blown? Check

Unable to fight her way out? Check

Captor most definitely not going to just turn her over to the Vanguard? Check

It's why Inyme sticks to large groups of heroes and cloak and dagger methods when entering PvP zones. True, all my characters do, but Inyme has extra
reason. [Image: smile.gif]

Also, on a random not, Kel'Uqua? I recognize the other two(having done Sylia's Ouro arc), but that one confused me, as it's neither of the
Traditionalist female Rikti I know.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
Reply
 
#16
Kel'Uqua is part of a redside arc. If I say much more, it's massive spoilers.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll
Reply
 
#17
No, I know it's not exactly an update, but there IS another story coming here. Mostly, though, it's waiting for Sylia to finish a specific arc.

*snippage*
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
Reply
First Date: Her Story
#18
Since the date story elsewhere was conducted primarily from Alice's point of view, a lot of subtext was missed from Inyme's perspective. Enough, I
thought, to write up the events from her perspective. While the lines are the same, this should fill in a few gaps. For those of you seeking context, this
takes place simultaneously with part 4 in this story thread.

***

As the movie started, Inyme occasionally asked questions, not always understanding certain references for which she had no frame of reference. She felt
Alice's curiosity about her homeworld, but kept a tight rein on what she let through her upper level of mental shields.

But as, on screen, Wall-E looked up at the distant stars, playing a song on his internal tape deck, Inyme was ambushed by emotions she couldn't deny.
Loneliness of being the only one of her kind she could deal with at the moment. Sadness, for being away from home. Creeping hints of despair as she considered
the possibility that she might never go home. She started slightly as Alice squeezed her hand, warmth and compassion flowing across the mental conversation.

Maybe you'll get to take me there some day.

Inyme idly considered the concept, thinking of what it might have been like in happier times....and noting that Alice still had no idea her homeworld was
blocked off by the magical barrier erected by the Omega Team. She had an odd pang of sympathy for the Traditionalists, knowing that only the Restructurists she
owed allegiance to had any idea how to pierce the barrier to a limited degree. Did they also look up at the stars and dream of home?

Inyme let the lingering link remain as it was, which helped with context she would have missed otherwise. When Wall-E fumbled around, it was overlaid perfectly
with the mental of Nene in her morning daze, stumbling around in a robe as Ifrit steered her with the voice of experience. Inyme actually cracked a smile at
that for a moment, letting herself forget the wider universe for a moment as she enjoyed the movie. The movie continued on, Alice giggling at Wall-E's
exploration of humanity's mess. Inyme had to admit she was probably missing half the humor of the movie, though some of the more obvious jokes amused her
nonetheless. More though, she enjoyed the feelings of her....date? Was that what this really was? Inyme wasn't sure.

As the the film's second character came into view, Inyme was almost bewildered by the degree of body language. She sensed the wonder from her companion,
but her comment got a mental chuckle out of the young woman.

I guess you don't always need words, she said, and Inyme knew she wasn't referring to the complicated
structure of the Rikti natural language, wherein concepts and emotions were presented more clearly due to mind to mind contact, but the idle similarity amused
her nonetheless.

No...not always.

Inyme savored the cuteness of Alice's confused expression as the catgirl worked that through, as well as the dawning realization. We're not actually talking, are we?

We haven't been for some time, she noted, chuckling at the sense of simple wonder that realization caused in
Alice. I thought you knew, she noted.

I had no idea, she said, which only amused Inyme more.

That's why the ticket person reacted like he did, she pointed out, gaining an embarassed blush from Alice.

Oh...that must have looked weird.

Inyme smiled, shifting her main attention back to the movie, with the occasional conversation that showed their different perspectives. While Alice paid
attention to Wall-E finding his world turned upside down, Inyme's attention was on Eve and her directive. The spy found herself sympathizing a good deal
with the exasperated probe droid dealing with the conflicts between her feelings and her duty. She barely noticed Alice resting her head on her shoulder,
though the sense of increased intimacy filtered through her mental processes. Engrossed in the movie as she was, she entirely missed Alice's
more...romantic daydreaming beside her.

As the movie wound on, however, the increasing prominence of the ship's auto-pilot began to leave Inyme feeling uneasy. While she understood what the movie
was conveying, the machine's single-minded dedication to its duty from its superiors, even to the detriment of those it was supposed to serve, due to
superseding orders, worried her a good deal. In Eve, Inyme could see what she felt like right now, but in Auto, she felt frightened of what she might be forced
to become. A part of her(one that had been much larger months ago) could see the end result of her mission. Of the sense of betrayal that Alice would feel
because she simply couldn't understand why Inyme had to do what she was doing. In a way, she envied Auto's machine-like lack of choice. She wished her
priorities were as clear now as his were. The rest of her mind evaded the question, hiding in denial that the day would ever come, but knowing it would.

***

As the pair walked home from the movie, Inyme let her thoughts wander away from depressing concepts and more towards enjoying the feel of the warm air on her
skin. She should have let Alice talk her into removing her armor a lot sooner. Fingers intertwined with Alice's, she could almost feel freer than she had
in years.

Interesting movie, Alice said, still speaking through the telepathic channel they'd continued to use even after
the movie ended. In a way, the contact made Inyme less homesick, speaking in the way she remembered the best.

Yes, it really was, Inyme agreed. As Alice leaned against her, Inyme unconciously went with the motion and the mood,
putting an arm around the other woman's waist. Smiling slightly at Alice's rather overt enjoyment of the proximity, Inyme sharply suppressed a surge of
guilt. I might see it again some time, she added. Thanks for inviting me.

I wouldn't invite anyone else, Alice replied, and Inyme's own self control was all that kept her from
staggering at the sudden feeling of emotion from the girl. Affection...compassion...need.....love? Several months ago, such things would have made Inyme
extremely pleased with herself for managing to insinuate herself so perfectly into Alice's life. Now, they frightened her, because she knew how easy it
would be to shatter those feelings and wound Alice deep to the heart....and she didn't know that she wouldn't ever do that.

So, who was your favorite? Alice asked, startling Inyme out of her self-contemplation.

I...I'm not sure. Either Eve, or maybe the auto-pilot... Inyme could feel the curiosity about that decision
bubbling in her companion, and decided that just keeping quiet wouldn't discourage her from seeking an answer. I mean, I
used to be a soldier. I can understand his perspective...he was obeying orders.

Yeah, but... Alice said, confusion with Inyme's opinion clear in her mind, as well as the thought that maybe
Inyme's perspective as an outsider had had her miss part of the movie's intent. The situation had changed.
His...commander...was dead and gone. The situation was different.

Inyme sighed, glancing over at her worried expression fondly. Yes...but sometimes it's hard to change.

I guess, when it's all you know... Alice admitted, and Inyme's attempts to shield her own worries were
obviously not sufficient given the fact that she could clearly feel the worry from the other girl about what was bothering her.

And he didn't have the time Eve did....to learn...to adapt...to change....he was forced to make a choice before he was
ready... she said.

Except the minute she arrived, he ordered the plant destroyed. He had Gopher take it before he woke up the captain. He
wasn't willing to adapt, Alice countered.

Inyme stayed silent for a long moment, not sure how to respond. How did one explain her feelings when half the reason for those feelings couldn't be
admitted out loud?

What's wrong? Alice asked, clearly concerned by her friend's mood.

I....I guess I saw a little of myself in him, Inyme admitted, trying her best to explain. Alice looked at her,
confusion passing between them. Like I said...I used to be a soldier...I could understand that mindset....I could understand
it a little too well for comfort.

Alice looked at her, then nodded. Well, if you ever have a choice like that ... you don't have to make it alone.
Inyme's senses easily detected the intent behind that statement...the fact that helping her was at the top of Alice's priorities, no matter the cost.
Only the strongest sense of self-control kept her from shedding tears right then. Why did she have to say all the right things because she didn't
know? It wasn't fair....

Despite her depressed mood, Inyme couldn't help but be comforted as Alice purred and rubbed closer against her. The affectionate rumble brought images to
mind that would've caused her to blush under other circumstances. As it was, she didn't really let herself think too hard, struggling to keep her
expression and emotions under control as they walked. She barely noticed when they reached Alice's apartment, before blinking and looking up. Oh...we're here.

Already? Alice asked, and Inyme almost detected a hint of....disappointment?

Yeah...short walk, huh?

Too short, Alice replied, and this time the disappointment was much more obvious. As were the feelings as she slipped
around in front of her, sliding her fingers through Inyme's again. ...I had fun.

So did I, Inyme said, wanting at the same time to be out of there as soon as possible and to linger even longer. The
smile on Alice's face as she leaned forward warned Inyme, but she didn't move. Her body wanted this, and it'd help her mission extraordinarily in
the end, but it'd mean Alice would be hurt even more when she betrayed her, but it'd also hurt her now if she refused....so frozen by indecision was
Inyme that she didn't react at first when Alice planted the kiss on her lips.

The shock of feeling through them both, a bond between telepaths that couldn't be explained but which Inyme had always heard older, more experienced Rikti
speak of, pulled Inyme out of her stupor. She could feel Alice, practically was Alice for a split second, all the tears, happiness, and pain. Pragmatic to the
last, Inyme felt herself instinctively shut herself off from her deeper memories before Alice saw them. If Alice had any clue she'd been denied a deeper
look at Inyme's soul and psyche, she gave no indication as she broke the kiss with a gasp, leaving Inyme focusing on breathing, her mind still reeling from
the shock.

"I..." she said aloud, not able to muster the concentration to speak through their bond, but she was interrupted as Alice went for broke and kissed
her again. Better prepared, Inyme was already shielded from her deeper memories this time, and allowed herself a chance to enjoy it, despite her complete
inexperience with this sort of thing, physically and mentally. Despite that, she was able to feel Alice's enjoyment of the kiss, as well as her own
inexperience.

The sound of the wind blowing some pebbles down the street snapped Inyme back to reality,especially to the possibility of someone seeing them. By sympathetic
reaction, this caused Alice to break the kiss as she realized this as well, looking flushed. Uh...I'll see you
tomorrow? she asked.

Part of Inyme's mind suggested pressing the advantage, getting into Alice's bed as well while the moment was right, even as she was relieved Alice
hadn't invited her in. Yes..

Mum might get a litte too overprotective, Alice noted, and Inyme realized that she hadn't shielded that
thought's generalities as strongly as she'd thought.

Mum? she asked, changing the subject to pull it away from her own thoughts.

Alice blinked in return. Uh, Ifrit, she said, and Inyme could tell that the catgirl had no idea what was up with her
Freudian slip than Inyme did. Anyway, I should get going... she said, clearly wanting to stay.

"...yeah," Inyme said, bending in to give her a kiss on the cheek and breaking the embrace of their hands. "I'll see you tomorrow
then." Heading off, Inyme could feel Alice's attention on her, and she continued to hold her thoughts and emotions in tight check, even into the train
to Galaxy. So distracted by this was she, she didn't realize the feeling of Alice's thoughts still in her mind.

Climbing the steps to the discount flat that she'd been assigned in Galaxy as a new hero and DDP, Inyme continued to savagely keep herself presentable
until after she closed and locked the door, flipping on the sound dampeners she used to disguise her long nights working on her armor.

And then she fell on her bed and sobbed.

The emotions that she'd kept bottled up the entire walk home boiled out, stronger for being restrained, and Inyme didn't bother trying to restrain
them. She cried for having to deceive her friend, for being the poison that would inevitably kill their relationship. She cried at the unfairness of this
stupid war that kept them apart. She screamed in frustration at the monsters this world hailed as the heroic Freedom Phalanx, for their slaughter on her
homeworld that'd forced her people into this war. She snarled in disgust at Hro'Dtohz for failing to be the great leader and savior her people had
thought he was, and forcing her into this horrible situation. She cursed the damned movie makers that'd made the film that'd gotten under her skin so
easily where everything else failed. And she wailed for her mother, a scared and confused little girl again who desperately wanted to confide in someone so
that she could ask advice for what she could possibly do now.

Eventually, exhausted by her emotional outburst, Inyme stripped off and collapsed into bed, quickly falling into a fitful sleep. She barely noticed the renewed
presence of a close friend seemingly slipping into her bed with her in her mind's eye, and barely felt the astral sensation of Alice's arms around her.
But as her doubt-ridden conscious mind faded, the rest of her took comfort in it, finally dropping into blissful, comfortable unconsciousness....
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
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Hero, Villian
#19
It took a long time to see things outside shades of black and white. The world remembers the Rikti onslaught all too clearly.
But now, we face a grand change in how we have to think. The possibility of peace with the Rikti, one of the few enemies so dreadful as to cause us to forget
our petty squabbles is at hand. But it is not easy. Some still fight on. Are they all warmongers? Afraid of losing control? Or are there some that are much
like us, fighting in defense of their world and who find the prospect of peace with us to be as hard to accept as we do to them?

- Incandescent, head of Vanguard's Herald Division, in a speech to the United Nations Security Council regarding ongoing hostilities in the Rikti War
Zones.

***

"Ms. W'tin?" a pleasant voice asked behind the young woman, who turned slightly. Behind her, a man in a sharp business suit and a doctor's
manner walked up. Inyme's memory instantly searched and placed him as Dr. Stephen Fayte, a gifted surgeon with some minor magical skill (mostly his ability
to teleport himself and others, but not much more) that assisted the Legendary. He was rarely on the front lines, often serving primarily in a medical capacity
behind the fighters. Still, despite this, the very presence of a magic user made her hackles rise slightly.

"Yes?" she asked in a somewhat clipped tone.

"I'm Dr. Stephen Fayte. You mentioned you were looking for assistance with a certain situation?"

Inyme considered. She hadn't as....oh, that was right. She was supposed to talk to the city rep about some sort of mission or other. How'd she
forgotten that? "Yes. Thank you for helping. I don't think it will be that violent, but you never know."

Fayte smiled genially. "Indeed. Better to err on the side of caution."

***

As Inyme walked through Galaxy City, she was scowling darkly beneath her helmet. Of all the twisted irony in the universe, this job required her to learn about
the humans' vaunted Hero-1, the leader of the team that'd sealed her home dimension off using magical power of a scale that made Inyme cringe. Even as
much as she'd come to realize that the magic here wasn't....all....like the primordial magic that the Rikti had rightfully destroyed generations ago,
the concept of it made her instinctively recoil. Technology and science were better. They were safe, reliable. Predictable. Magic....magic led to people like
the one Legendary hero, Space Mage. While certain spells could be explained to Inyme to the point she comprehended what they were supposed to do, if not
exactly the powers behind them, the concept of Space Mage's talents which were utterly uncontrolled and seemed to just obey her for no apparent reason
occasionally had Inyme considering locking off the portion of her brain that accessed her talents, for the safety of all concerned. After all, who knew if
she'd make a mistake some day and summon an extradimensional horror of some kind.

The first man they spoke to, a rescue worker who'd worked with Hero-1, made Inyme wince slightly. She still did, whenever her people raided the city.
Before, she'd been young and naive, seen it as all one big race that had hurt her and the Rikti. Now she knew differently, and the collateral damage
described from that first invasion gave her entirely too chilling parallels to desperate attempts back home to save as many of the wounded and dying after the
attack as possible. In a way, it made her feel justified in the current invasion in a way that other factors hadn't. Current tactics, due to necessity,
required them to only target combatants via the dropships, drawn out by the bombing runs. They'd made the war much more bloodless. Only Hro'Dthoz's
insane projects continued to make the Rikti's inevitable victory stained with unnecessary death and pain. The sooner she could help dethrone him, the
better.

As they spoke to a policewoman who'd known Hero-1 during the war, Inyme's thoughts turned to those self-same projects, and the ultimate result
thereof. Hro'Dtohz and his scientist's twisted masterpice: the Honoree. While the Four Riders had been unintentional, but horrifying, accidents of the
dimensional transit, the Honoree was cold, calculated intent. A younger, more bitter Inyme would've considered using that creature as their vanguard a
fitting and ironic punishment, but her time here had changed that. Enemy though he was, the processes enacted upon him, like those on the abominable Lost, were
insulting. She remembered one of her older mentors in the Lineage of War, Kt'Mezzu, arguing for a simple execution. But he'd been overruled. Perhaps
back on the homeworld, his motion would have passed, but Inyme realized that more and more the Lineage of War and especially the Restructurists were being
flooded with young, untested soldiers...soldiers like she'd been. And then there were the rumors circulating the Rikti mental network about General
K'mira's defection being spurred by his last second substitute commander forcing the heroes of Earth into a deadly trap by focusing fire on civilians.
As traitorous as the defector's actions were, she could at least understand his reasoning if that were indeed the case. And to see an enemy....a fellow
warrior...that'd fought so hard, sacrificed so much to ensure his people's safety....making him into an abomination like the Honoree was disgusting,
and one more reason for Inyme had undertaken this mission. No one deserved that fate. When power changed hands, she was certain he'd be put down and laid
to rest like he deserved.

None of these thoughts, however, prepared Inyme for the revelations brought on by the young man that'd been Hero-1's teammate. For so long, the
Rikti had seen the invasion of their home dimension, and the sealing ritual, as a desperation move when the heroes had been discovered ahead of time. Truly,
the loss of so many of their heroes, given the losses to the Alpha Team back here on Earth, couldn't have been planned. To gamble on the possible success
of such a long shot plan, willingly expecting the deaths of so many....everything the Rikti had seen of Earth had suggested they'd never willingly enact
such a plan. It was too...Rikti-like. Sacrificing a small minority in order to protect the larger majority. The humans had focused so much on the value of the
individual...to unite so many willing to go on a suicide mission...

Fayte's concerned look as they slowly walked to the memorial location went unheeded as Inyme digested the information. The parallels were....striking.
As much as those among her small, dissenting faction within the Restructurists had tried to reassure her that she could return to them, she'd seen enough
of late to know that they had been reassuring lies. Everyone but her...perhaps everyone including her...had known such a mission would never allow her to
return to the Rikti mind-net. Her changes, forged of necessity to survive here. Her emotional turmoil caused by being severed from the network for security
reasons. Her increased individuality needed to keep her from giving into despair and killing herself from the sheer crushing loneliness of being the only mind
she could hear and share with without any hiding...all these factors could pollute the Rikti-thought of the mind-net. Could give rise to another Hro'Dtohz,
who put personal ambition before the needs of the Rikti. In time, perhaps she herself might have become one such. She was dead to the Rikti, her only purpose
to them being a...what was the term human history had mentioned....a kamikaze, aimed at Hro'Dtohz's throat and unexpected for the simple reason that
anyone willing to survive could never accept what she was doing. It was insane, a sacrifice play so severe that they'd all gambled that even Hro'Dtohz
wouldn't expect it of his political enemies in the Restructurists. To give everything...her biological identity, her connection to the rest of her race,
her sanity, eventually even her life(for Inyme could see no reason she'd have to continue existing after the mission was accomplished. She couldn't
return and she'd have betrayed everyone she cared for among the humans) for the cause of her people.....the Omega Team had done so as well. Giving their
lives, spending them like water, to protect Earth from the Rikti. The Traditionalists were beginning to advocate peace...had they known? As much as her heart
still told her that the Traditionalist view was stuck in the past, that the Rikti had to change somehow, she had to wonder if perhaps continuing the war was
destroying what they wanted to stay the same...

Turmoil clouded her thoughts as they entered the memorial...before a familiar tingling in her telepathy brought her vision up.

"We're not alone," Fayte said as Inyme felt her mind's confusion clear as she settled into the slick, simple blackness of a combat situation.
Combat against what she was certain, were the Lost abominations. Perhaps she pitied them like she did the Honoree, now. There was no cure that could save all
of them. Not those too far gone. To be caught forever between their humanity and a Rikti ideal they could never achieve due to their origins, her disgust had
long since transferred from the Lost themselves to those that created them. But now, facing others....trapped in this pointless cycle....she'd destroy them
all, as brutally as she could. Death would be black mercy for such twisted products of mibegotten and abused science.

And, a small part of her thought where the smoothly geared killing machine that her mind became in combat had no sway...they were attacking the memorial...the
closest thing to a grave that Omega Team, fellow warriors...fellows in sacrifice....had. Such offense was unpardonable to whatever decency she still had left.

Trusting the physician behind her to keep her healed if necessary, Inyme leapt into the fray, crimson vengeance for two worlds instead of just one, for this
one brief moment of sympathetic clarity.

****

Halfway across the city, Alice stirred in her sleep, getting up and looking out the window. Her sleep hadn't been easy, affected by the emotional turmoil
she'd subconciously felt through her link to Inyme, but after a startling moment that'd woken her, Alice could feel her girlfriend settle into
routine....an oiled killing machine that Inyme thought she hid from Alice. The catgirl frowned at the thought. She knew Inyme was a soldier. She'd avoided
other soldiers minds when they were in combat....the kill-or-be-killed mindset that settled into place to keep them alive was...disturbing, to say the least.
But as she felt Inyme slip back into her normal mindset, presumably at the end of whatever fight she was in at the moment, Alice felt her own body relax from
sympathetic tension. That was the Inyme that she knew....knew more intimately than anyone else, she admitted to herself with a slight hint of
self-satisfaction. No matter how her soldier's training muffled it, Alice knew that the Inyme she cared for...loved....was still under there...that that
blackened weapon of a mind would ever be pointed at anyone that'd hurt her. She trusted her to come back to her every time they went into combat, ever
since she'd expressed her concerns to Neko about Inyme's shift in thoughts in a fight. Because, like Neko had said, it was corny but true. Alice knew
Inyme loved her as deeply as Alice loved her...and that meant that no matter what, the young woman would never hurt her.

***

"How'd it go?" the cloaked figure asked from where he was perched atop a building, fingering a wickedly long curved blade of a sword, taken from
a fallen foe.

"Well enough, though I still worry about her. She's wound tighter than anyone should sanely be expected to be...she'll either unload a lot of it
when she finds a release valve for it all, or she'll snap," the red cloaked sorceror noted. "But given her reaction to the people we talked to,
and the Lost at the memorial....I'm almost certain our suspicions about her were correct."

"Mm. Now comes the hard part," his companion noted.

"Indeed," Stephen Fayte noted, watching Inyme step onto the light rail, unaware they were watching. "Now we have to wait. And not
interfere."
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
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#20
Very nice. I was wondering if her act had been that perfect -- evidently not. Here's hoping there's redemption and peace waiting for her at the end.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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