Heroes Abroad!

Kenji grunted unceremoniously as he swung the stainless steel pickaxe. The thin peice of metal collided with the large rock wall in front of him with a loud clanging noise. Nearly the exact same thing happened to the 600,000 other workers in the mine. He had been here for what seemed like decades. It was impossible to track time with Weavon's erratic days and nights. They were horribly uneven. The day seemed to last at least 30 hours, and the nights seemed no more than five. Maybe it was just the hard work. Day after day of the Weavonian hell was wearing him down. But it was also making him stronger. Things he had trouble carrying or pushing when he had arrived were now easy. But Kenji knew that would soon disappear. Soon his starvation would start overpowering everything else, and he would grow weak and frail-looking like the other prisoners. At Sigma, he had eaten more in one meal than he was now given in a whole day.

He wasn't sure how much longer he could last. His ugly bright blue prisoner clothes didn't last long. Bright blue didn't fit Kenji's appearance at all; but it very clearly stood out in the Weavonian environment. That's what the guards wanted. His shoes, which were actually his own, were ruined. There were random hard to see hotspots on the surface, and stepping on them quickly melted the soles of the shoes, fusing the sticky goop to flesh, and sometimes making the material burst into flame. Kenji had lost both shoe soles within one and a half days; they were completely gone by day three. His pants had become long shorts, and his shirt was slowly disintegrating. But it wasn't all bad. So far he had absorbed more thermal energy than he knew was possible. And he was absorbing more and more each and every day. All the energy was being stored, ready to be released in any form, whether it be thermal, cryonic, or kinetic. One day...

Kenji swung his pickaxe again. The blow sent several rock fragments to the floor. A large crack began to form, and the familiar blue glow of Rithsinium crystals shone through. Kenji quickly examined it. It was a very large shard compared to most of the ones he found. Maybe getting it would reward him with an extra ration of food. The thought almost made Kenji grin. He took a step back and held the pickaxe like a baseball bat. He aimed it carefully at the crack. That's right, he was about to shove something into a crack. A strike at just the right spot would knock a bunch of rock down, and from there he could easily get the crystal.

Kenji didn't hear the guard approach from behind. The light grey Wormholemancer examined the large blue crystal and then the specimen mining it. It looked very humanlike; must be a Teroare. That's what the guard assumed. After all, what was the chance of a human cooperating with the Hunter's Trade Union, nevermind being on Weavon in the first place? The guard folded his arms behind his back and waited. The "Teroare" drew his arms back, holding the pickaxe just above his neck. The guard frowned. That wasn't how you used a pickaxe at all. Before he could say anything, the prisoner swung as hard as he could. At the last second, one of Weavon's very frequent and fortunately minor earthquakes struck. It lasted no more than two seconds. But that was two seconds too long. The prisoner stumbled backwards, unable to stop his swing, and momentum hurled the pickaxe's blade through the Wormholemancer's face. There was a gruesome squishing sound as the blade peirced the guard's left eye, ripped into the right eye, and continued to tear the rest of the Wormholemancer's face in half.

Kenji let out a small gasp as he stared at the guard. It was knocked violently to the ground and was surely dead. Thick blue blood oozed out of the gaping gash in the guard's head. Normally he wouldn't be all that bothered by murdering a guard that enslaved thousands of people. But this wasn't normal conditions. A single safe place didn't exist on the whole planet. That, and about seven other guards had just seen what had happened. To them, there was no such thing as an accident. And of course they just had to radio to everyone what had just happened. Within moments, guards were swarming around the place. They surrounded Kenji, pointing guns at him and acting like he just committed genocide. Kenji was terrified. The consequence of slacking was death; that could only mean one thing about his near future. Fuck. It was all Kenji could think. Fucking guards with their fucking guns on this fucking useless planet. And fuck the fucking restaurant that had fucked up his food and made him end up here in the first place. He would be publicly executed this evening fo sho, just like all the other executions. And before that, torture. Might as well die now, with a bang.

All Kenji could do was crack a knuckle when a guard tranquillized him in the back. "Fucker!" he screeched, as his vision blurred and muscles stopped responding. He tried to use his power, to do anything, but everything phased into darkness. The guards dragged his unconscious body to the Holding Station, more commonly known to prisoners as "The Pit".

---

After nearly four hours of torture, a loud humming echoed through a solid steel building built like a bomb shelter. A large door nearly the length of the whole structure opened up. Kenji squinted through his right eye as a brilliant array of orange and red flooded his vision. His left eye was blind.

After "viciously murdering" the guard, he had woken up in a perfectly square and completely charcoal grey steel room. Inside was one chair, one desk with assorted torture devices, and various other things used to mentally and physically destroy someone. Kenji was tied to the chair; and with him were four guards. Three were normal aliens of various races; but one was a colossus covered from head to toe in armor. One of the smaller aliens kept his distance and commanded the other two, ordering them to use certain torture methods. The colossus just stood in a corner and watched. Four hours had crawled by. Four hours of being scathed by saws and four hours of nearly beaten to death. In the process he had nearly lost and eye and lost all feeling in his left leg. He was also covered in scratches and bruises. A constant throbbing pain in his head made Kenji feel like Galaxior was trying to punch through his skull. For a moment the pain made everything flicker black. When his one-eyed vision returned, everything was stained bloodred. The two guards that had done most of the torturing disconnected electric wires connected to Kenji's skin, then unbuckled restraints on his wrists and ankles. Then they grabbed him by the arms and hauled him to his feet. One of the guards said something, but to Kenji everything sounded underwater. Out of his right eye, Kenji noticed one of them was a Posvya. It opened its...face...and snarled at him, then pulled Kenji unceremoniously across the room. His headache multiplied tenfold as he was shoved out into sunlight. The guards let go of his arms and Kenji toppled over and slammed into bloodstained concrete ground. Kenji didn't look up. He knew what was in front of him. He had seen it enough, in the many mandatory public executions. The smell of the bloodstained concrete wafted into Kenji's lungs and he was forced into a short but pathetic coughing fit.

The guards watched Kenji lie on the ground, expecting him to do what so many others before him had done...to give up and walk the several more steps to the execution zone. But no, apparently they had to do everything. The Posvya grunted irratibly and grabbed Kenji by his arms again. The alien dragged him along the bloodstained concrete. It slanted above the ground, rising above the audience like a one-sided pyramid. Just so that everyone could see his death. He didn't try to resist. There wasn't any point. To Kenji, all was lost. He was simply defeated. At the top, the Posvya handed him over to an armored colossus, the same one that had been with him in the torture chamber. He must be the executioner.

Around Kenji were two iron posts. They were either rusty, or covered in dried blood; it was hard to tell. The large alien put each of Kenji's wrists in restraints connected to the posts. So this is how it ends. He looked around, mainly at the audience below. They were all prisoners, forced to watch the execution to symbolize the guards' power. He saw a crowd of people, with the occasional guard inbetween. If he escaped the restraints and the colossus guard, he'd still have to drop off the concrete platform. It was a short drop on the sides; maybe eight feet. In front there was a large pit to catch the victim's blood...and head. And if he did escape the large guard and restraints, Kenji knew there were snipers on the cliffs and on some buildings. And when he died from a sniper, which he certainly would, more prisoners would be executed to make sure it didn't happen again. It would be better to just let go of life.

Kenji breathed heavily as he awaited his death. The huge guard was preparing the short work, rubbing some sort of chemical along a cleaver almost as long as Kenji was tall. He couldn't bring himself to look at the blade. He refused to think about Lobo or his other friends. Emotionally breaking down now would just make him look weak. He may be about to die, but he still had some pride left. Instead he looked beyond the crowd, toward the work caves. A hot wind blew across the the landscape, bringing with it tons of particles of black dust and soot. They floated lazily through the air and briefly obscured his vision. They made his eyes burn like he hell. Once Kenji could see again, he looked at the audience once more. But then something suddenly caught his eye, past the prisoners and guards. He scanned the area around the caves once more. Yes, there it was. A figure on the very top of the caves, probably a few hundred feet above him. Kenji stared at him. The figure was just a sihlouette; but he could see it spinning around. Then he seemed to be hurled off the whole fricken mountain. ...the hell? Kenji's focus snapped back to the large guard. It was standing at full height now, seemingly satisfied with his blade now. The guard stepped in front of Kenji and raised the massive cleaver. He closed his eyes and waited for everything to end.

On the top of the mountain stood a person. Chin held up and back straightened—the posture of pride. It was a teenage human girl with a brimming smile. Her golden eyes sparkled as they stared out at the flat and barren landscape. She had light brown hair that might be called a darker shade of blonde which hung at her shoulders. She had on a gray tank top coupled with khaki shorts. Her brown combat boots crunched the rocky ground with each firm step forward. On the left breast of the tank top was an embodied emblem, a single black arrow with a sleek, tribal appearance. Alice was on a mission, straight from the captain. She was to search the nearby mining caves for any new recruits and some of the blue crystals that were being mined. And though it was unsaid, to stir up as much trouble as she wanted. She had two weapons with her, an Arasaka A-4 “Antorak”—or what you could call a modified version—and a knife clipped onto her shorts. She took a knee and looked through the sniper rifle’s sights, which she had swapped out with the scope. Her enhanced eyesight made a scope obsolete. And to make up for it, she increased the bullet range and power. But personally, she liked beating her opposition up but they had their own snipers, whom could cause problems for her. She found her first victim and took no wait to give them a good shot in the face. The lazar bullet pierced straight between the eyes, making for an instant kill. The other snipers all fell in the same way, exact same wound. No one seemed to notice the multiple shots but that was their own fault. And their death wish.

She set the rifle down and patted it. She’d swing back to get it before heading back to her ship. It would just get in the way in the fight to come. She stood up and twirled dramatically, she just couldn’t help it. Then she jumped off and fell towards the ground. The ground was coming up fast but it didn’t faze Alice. She just bended her knees and slammed into an unsuspecting guard which broke her fall. She, in return, planted both feet on his shoulders and crushed him together. She stepped off the purple bloody mess, the guard’s spinal cord sticking a few feet out of his head. “Oops,” she muttered to herself in a slight sarcastic tone. Her eyes settled on the public execution about to take place. The perfect place to really stir up some trouble. She sprinted for the concrete platform where a prisoner was seconds away from death. She leapt onto the platform and went right in.

Her first target was the executioner. Not a problem. She leaned sideways and slid towards the armored goliath. Though the armor did nothing to protect his legs. The sound of the impact, her feet colliding with his feet and shin, was a sickening sound. The force caused his feet to explode and flip him over onto the ground. The impact caused his body to break open in a multitude of places and sent blood squirting around. She jumped up to her feet and looked at the mess she had made. But now was not the time to stare at the masterpiece. Guards took aim and fired at her, but she had already jumped. She somersaulted midair several times, building up momentum. The unlucky guard that was her next target never had a chance at surviving. She straightened out and brought the heel of her foot down on his head. His skull busted open, exploding really, and his spinal cord shattered. Her foot kept going though and didn’t stop until it hit the ground. The two severed halves fell over and apart from each other, spewing blood and guts. She didn’t stop there, though. She cart wheeled toward a new opponent, who was frozen in place staring at her latest victim. She sprung over his head and latched onto his shoulders. She flipped him as she touched on the ground and set him free. With the speed and strength of more than a train. Making him a destructive force. He collided with another of the guards and both of them added to the death toll. She turned around as her ears picked up the sound of skin on metal. Her eyes picked it up and she had just enough time to do a Matrix dodge as five plasma shots fired. She came back up and charged at him, a guard off to the side of the platform. One strike and he was down for good. She pulled her arm out of the puncture wound and let the body fall.

Springing again, Alice grabbed a guard’s arms and planted a foot on his chest. She pushed off, severing the two appendages from his body and crushing his chest. She did a back flip and hooked her foot to the back of another’s armor. Another back flip was executed and the poor alien met face first with the ground and his body slammed into itself. She landed on her toes and she whipped out her knife and snapped it open, revealing the sharp blade made of a metal alloy. She chunked it right into the next guard’s forehead, but it didn’t stop there. The force she put behind it made it go all the way through and impale into another’s shoulder. She leapt past the first one, ripped the knife out of the alien’s shoulder, and sliced his head clean off. Finally satisfied, she jumped back up to the prisoner—though she grabbed the last dead guard’s gun. She clipped her knife back onto her shorts and picked up the executioner’s sword in the other hand. She stood in front of the crowd, her golden eyes watching them carefully. All the other guards who were still alive didn’t attack at all. They must be mentally scarred with all the bodies strewn about, beaten beyond recognition. Her eyes flickered down to the prisoner. He was a bloody mess, but nothing compared to her. What could be compared was their species. Both were human. She wiped the blood away from her mouth with the back of her left hand—it still had some skin showing—and spit some of the metallic tasting substance from her mouth. She was a five foot, three inch terror that only weighed one-hundred and twenty pounds—the extra weight from muscle, though. Though anything looks more dangerous when covered in other’s blood.

“Well?” Alice called out to the ground, “Anyone else want to step up to the plate?” Everyone was holding their breath and not moving at all. Pussies. She gripped the restraints holding the boy’s wrists. Carefully, so she wouldn’t completely break his hands, she broke the latches and let his hands fall. She handed him the gun and stated, “I hope you can shoot, because I still need to get some Rithsinium crystals.” She flashed him a warm smile, but it turned to a frown. She flicked the sword over her shoulder and it spun right into a guard who thought he could sneak up on her. Her smile returned as she heard his two severed parts of the Posvya's body fell onto the ground.

Kenji waited with his eyes closed for the blade to fall. But instead, a whole bunch of people started to scream. Some in anger, others in terror. He opened his eyes just in time to see some chick come out of nowhere and beat the hell out of almost every guard. The others...well, they were just being pathetic. But for good reason. He watched the girl as she clearly showed multiple powers. Superstrength, certainly. And superspeed? Supermurderer. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the girl landed right next to him. Was she going to kill him too? He stared at the girl through his one good eye, and watched as she undid the restraints. She was liberating them? Kenji couldn't think of a better time, and at that moment, a better person in the whole universe.

He took the gun from the girl, without having much of a choice. He thought about telling her that he did know how to use it, but was a terrible shot. And the gun she had given him, an R11, was known to have bad accuracy at the hands of a crackshot. Kenji examined the gun and frowned. The small iron sights were even crooked. How was he supposed to do anything with this? He looked up to see the girl throw the sword over her shoulder and impale the Posvya that had tortured him for so long. Just to order out some redemption, Kenji raised his weapon and shot a short burst at the alien. At this range, he didn't need to aim. The lasers cut the guard in several pieces, purplish blood oozing everywhere.

He turned back to the girl. "Thanks..." he muttered. It was the least he could say. "Can you take me off this damn planet when you're finished up here? I'll lead you to a bunch of crystals if it helps..." He broke off when he saw the remaining guards getting their act together. One of the guard dropped on one knee and aimed a rifle at Kenji. He swerved his gun to the guard and fired off a blast of shots. All of them missed. The gun was just too suckish. The guard fired, but he had the same weapon and thus the same problem. Kenji threw the gun down and conjured a fireball within his hand. He had absorbed so much thermal energy from Weavon in the past, the fireball quickly turned a hot bluish-white. He hurled the fireball through the air and it hit the guard square in the face, melting flesh and bone. "Steerike." Kenji said, grinning. It felt good to kill the guards. Really, really good. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and he regained his strength. "Girl, I don't need some stupid toy to kill things." He said, nodding toward the gun. "There should a few hundred tons of Rith-whatever crystals at the spaceport near here. That's where all the crystals we mine go. Now if you don't mind...I'd like to get back to Sigma." And find Lobo. He wanted nothing more right now than to just go home.

It was hard to dismiss the reek of death. In fact, you'd have to be a complete idiot not to notice it. Caleb stared into the cave abyss, he could almost see the stink lines wafting out of it. Yes, this place was where he had to go. It was the obvious choice, he had beaten the information out of someone. Well, not really beaten the information out. Or even requested it. He had more likely just eavesdropped while he was begging for a meal. But nevertheless, he had a store to cover this moment of weakness. He knew that inside there was Kenji. The exact words of one of the aliens were unrepeatable, but Caleb got the message of what they thought of the boy. He looked inside, and knew he would have to move fast, even though what he saw would poison his mind. He took a big gulp of the crisp air, and walked forward, covering his nose, even though it didn't keep the rotting smell out.

He kept his eyes forward, he had made the mistake of looking at a corpse and almost threw up. Tears springing to his eyes, at knowing that he had to wander through this dark hall, with dead surrounding him. What in the world had happened here? It didn't seem possible that anyone person could do this, whoever had was a villain. He knew that for sure. Villain, villain, villain. Only someone truly evil could do this grevious of harm to an innocent person, to any person really, he highly doubted that the dead bodies surrounding him were going to heaven, but that didn't give this person the right to kill someone with no regard at all for their life. That was a dirty scum bag that did something like this. And they must be stopped. He gulped. Why didn't he always have to fight the evil people... Especially ones that could do this?

He heard voices, startled for a moment, he looked around. They weren't whispers, but they weren't shouts, and he could only vaguely hear them. "I hope you can shoot..." called one, it had no tone to it, so he couldn't really decide if it belong to an adult or child, woman or man, but it was definitely human. Kenji? It was possible, but then a second voice called: "Can you take me off this damn planet". Definitely Kenji, the manner of voice was just too obvious to be anyone else. But then who was that other person. He continued on towards the voices, putting a hand on a wall to make sure he knew where he was going, which meant he would have to breathe in the wretched smells that surrounded him. He looked at his stump of an arm, and frowned. If he still had both of his arms... If he still had Dostaria... There were a thousand ifs he had, but they weren't possibilities anymore. His arm was gone, and Dostaria was dead. Long dead.

He almost felt like crying, like giving up, like no matter what he did he wouldn't be able to change anything. But he knew that he had a choice. To leave now and spend the rest of his life in a volcanic wasteland, or force on, complete his mission and return home to where he was needed. The voices were louder now, he could make out Kenji's easily. He looked at his good arm, he curled his hand into a fist. It was time to make a stand, kill or be killed. That was the only way. He looked at the Hyperspace gun holster on his belt and frowned, he had a secret weapon. At least hopefully he could shut with his left hand. God! He felt like he could smack himself right now. Why did he give up his right arm and not his left? It seemed like a stupid afterthought when he was about to die, but it was the only thought that wasn't about this horrible situation.

He paused, standing a few feet in the straight hall, looking at the two people, he could clearly see their bodies now that the lights were on. The others seemed to be off for some reason. One was obviously Kenji. The other, a girl for sure, her piercing golden eyes seemed to glow in the twilight, with almost blond hair, that was dimmed substantially, and she was covered in blood. Without the blood and if the setting was a bit different, Caleb would have actually thought she looked cute, or 'hot' as the more 'dishonorable' teens would call her. But he was actually sickened by the sight. Wanting to throw up, after seeing her. She was the murderer? She was a human, a little girl in fact. She didn't look like she could harm anyone at all... But she had. He shook his head, steeling himself for this moment. He stood up straight, no longer slouching, no longer being the coward.

"Kenji!?" he said, his voice much weaker than he ever thought it would be. He gripped his gun with his only arm for a moment, it seemed his only chance now. "W-who is that?" he was obviously worried, and trigger happy at this point. Wouldn't anybody? When about to face someone that had killed a whole platoon of aliens, and left a pool of blood in her wake. "Who is that monster!?" he yelled now, whipping the gun from it's holster and aiming at her.

“You’re welcome,” Alice replied as she looked at the rest of the guards getting their wits together. One took aim at the other human. He shot at him but the gun had horrible aim and his position guaranteed missing the guard. As well as the guard. The gun clanking on the ground echoed in her ears as he decided to reveal a power of his own. She let out a whistle and complimented, “Nice ball-o-fire.” She grinned at him, liking his attitude. “Neither do I,” she chuckled as she took a step forward, causing a few guards to take a few steps back. “Wow,” she muttered, “they are pussies.” Her smile almost fell off when he said Sigma. Great, he didn’t know Sigma got invaded and all that jazz. Well now wasn’t the time to tell him. Might melt the whole place with her inside. Not to mention he’ll make getting the crystals easier. She was about to leap off the platform to finish the rest of the guards but footsteps stopped her. Someone was tentatively making their way towards them. Afraid of coming down here. Her eyes peered out and looked at the newcomer. Another human boy, an albino at that. His right arm was missing, only a stump. There were tears in his red eyes. He seemed very afraid as he looked at the mutilated bodies.

The fear grew when he looked upon her. They accused her of murdering all those guards. He looked nauseous, as if he was about to throw up. The dead aliens were making him sick. She was making him sick. “Kenji!?” his weak voice called out. Her golden eyes flickered over to the boy beside her. That must be his name, and Kenji and the albino boy must be friends. Should be if he came here for him. She called back to him, “The name’s Alice Ryder.” But right after that he yelled. His fear was dominated by his anger. His words stabbed at her. Monster? His gun was trained on her with anger blazing in his eyes. She slowly raised her hands, her palms facing him. “That’s a unique greeting. I love the gun by the way. Makes for a very comfortable time. Glad you’re enjoying that.” She gave a small smile, hopefully trying to show him she’s calm. You know, not about to rip into pieces like he obviously thinks she will. She dropped her hands and took a step back, still not at ease. He might just try to kill her and Kenji might help him if it came to fight. They already knew each other. “I’m guessing getting acquainted over coffee is out the question,” she laughed uneasily.

OOC: Iron didn't give me nothin'

Kenji twisted around as a semi-familiar voice yelled his name. He looked around, and his eyes came to rest at a one-armed human boy. How did he know his name? Slowly, Kenji realized who it was. Calen...no, Caleb, the crazy immature kid who called himself a 'superhero'. Yet strangely, he was glad to see him. If he was here, maybe Lobo was too... "Wassup?" Kenji called, grinning. But he was drowned out by Caleb's scream. The kid was pointing some sort of gun at his liberator... his new friend. The kid looked insane...more insane than normal. Not that Alice looked any better, being covered in blood and all.

"Caleb, put the gun down before you hurt yourself," Kenji said in a commanding tone. "...More." He added, looking at the stump of an arm. "Alice is a friend, not an enemy. These aliens enslaved me and thousands of others...they all deserved to die." He looked briefly at the dead Posvya. That thing certainly deserved to die. At least from his point of view. Kenji took a step between Caleb and Alice. He ignored the pain that shot up his left leg. "Put the gun down..." He repeated. Hopefully Caleb wouldn't shoot him. "Or at least help us..." He saw a guard run out a doorway of an adjacent building, see all the blood, and then run back inside. Pathetic. The merciless guards were total cowards when it came to actual combat.

"Help you!?" he said, his voice rising. "I've done nothing BUT HELP YOU!" he screeched, his voice, "People died for you Kenji. I lost my arm just to bring you back! You don't even know the half of it. Do you think they deserved to die!? NO ONE DESERVES TO DIE, KENJI!" Caleb dropped the gun in his hand, stepping toward Kenji. He could recall a time when the boy 'frightened' him. Now, he only felt contempt for the would-be prisoner. The boy was nothing, just a punk who Caleb had outsmarted. Caleb had trapped him here, it was a wonder why he didn't leave him here, but Lobo...Oh yes, Lobo. But he didn't want to think of her, he could only imagine what she was doing now, in the hands of Kargagna. Whatever it was, she was safer there, then here a few feet away from... That girl. He didn't even know if he could call her that she was so evil. He almost felt it coming off of her in bright red streams, just like the stench of death.

"And you," he said, pointing at Alice. "Who the hell do you think you are?" He pushed past Kenji to get a better look at the demon in front of him. Bathed in blood, though she handled herself with a systematic calmness. "This is all a joke to you, eh? Death... Let's see how you like it." he said, and in the instant he was gone. Disappearing all at once as if he was never there in the first place. He closed the distance in milliseconds, no... Not even that. Time had hardly even passed before he was standing before the girl, his foot sailing forward with all the momentum he had gathered in his blinding speed. Though, there wasn't much distance between them, Caleb moving at such a speed, no matter the distance would be disastrous for anyone on the receiving end. A collision at this speed could incapacitate a normal human, but a superhuman like Alice? There wasn't a possible answer to whether she would live or die. It all depended on if she was fast enough to dodge his strike. Otherwise, his foot would smash into the girl and carry her across the dark tunnel with all the momentum Caleb could muster.

OOC: Is that enough to work with for you, or should I have him grow an octopus from his head?

OOC: CALMARMALADEOCTOPUSHEADB

It was all a joke to her? How would she like death? He'd gone insane with anger! And then he disappeared. Closing in on her with blinding speed. But she was ready. Her eyes were in overdrive, picking up his movements in a slow motion type deal. But he was still pretty fast in her vision. Alice hardly had any time to react. She ducked under his foot and reached for him. She didn't want to hurt him. Not at all. But she had to get him to calm down! She went to restrain him, wrap her arms around him in a grip he shouldn't be able to break. But it wasn't going to hurt him. It was almost going to be like a hug.

Kenji's eyes widened. "People...died for me?" He asked, terrified that Caleb was talking about Lobo. After all, who else would die for him? Lobo can't be dead... He clenched his hands into fists and started shaking a little. If Lobo died...he would never forgive himself for losing against that robot kidnapper thing. He was going to ask about her, but Caleb pushed him out of the way and started screaming at Alice. What the hell had gotten into him? Kenji stepped forward when Caleb started making threats, but he was gone before he could do anything. Damn it... But within a second he was back, swinging a kick that could kill someone. But Alice somehow managed to duck under Caleb's blitzing speed and restrain the insane boy. Damn, this chick was good.

Kenji walked up to him, staring him straight in the eyes and showing nothing but sheer anger. "Tell me...if Lobo's alright..." The sentence accidentally came out threateningly. But he couldn't even stop his fists from shaking, so he didn't care. "Where is she!?" If Lobo was dead, Kenji swore he would kill every guard on this whole damn planet. "And quit being an idiot, you just said yourself no one deserves to die." A few remaining guards began to take steps toward the humans once more. If the humans started fighting each other, it would be so much easier for the guards to take them down.

Caleb didn't fight it as Alice latched onto him, clinging like a leech to his skin. He felt dirty by just being near her, as if he would contract some kind of disease from her. He looked at her, his face almost touching. His eyes narrowed, though he remained motionless. It was then that he actually began to hear Kenji. He turned his head to look at him, and smiled. Laughing at him. Now he felt as he did, knowing the pain it felt too lose someone precious. "Doesn't feel good not knowing does it!? Let go of me!" he screeched, and without even waiting for an answer, he shook. It seemed such a strange gesture for him to stand perfectly still, and yet his body and his molecules were vibrating. Almost as if he was in his own personal earthquake. In doing this, he would slip past Alice in that instant. She couldn't trap what she could feel. And if she even tried to, most likely she'd come out with several burns around her arms.

He slid across the ground, solidifying instantly. He felt... hollow, like fighting this girl was draining him of every single humane thought he had ever had, reducing him to a hollow shell of his former self. Hollow was the perfect word for how he felt. Soulless eyes stared at nothing, ignoring both Kenji in the girl. He stopped, waiting quietly attempting to gather his thoughts to process this story. "Lobo's as good as dead Kenji. So is everyone else. Sigma... Was attacked by the aliens that killed m-..." he paused now, swallowing a lump in his throat as he turned slowly to look at Kenji and Alice. "Our... families. They came with lasers, and destroyed everything," his voice was barely a hoarse whisper now, his eyes red as tears slid down his cheeks. "Everyone's dead now. Ash... All of them."

"Dostaria burned alive when we came to find you. She was... my friend. Was my only friend. She gave her life so that you would survive... And now, you're siding with her." he rounded on the girl now, pointing an accusing finger at her, but didn't say anything more.

OOC: SORRY SHNIGGER.

"No...she...she can't be dead..." Kenji stuttered. He was dismayed. Lobo? Dead? He swore viciously under his breath. It was just a meaningless string of vocal hatred. His fists were clenched so hard his palms started bleeding. Someone was going to pay for this. No one deserves to die, Kenji! Caleb's voice echoed in his head. Screw that. Someone, no, every damn Evoknight was going to pay, and they would pay with their life. His fists were still shaking, but now they were shaking from rage. "Caleb, you're wrong. Some people do deserve to die. And Alice isn't the only one who's killed here. I have too. You think this is bad? Every five days, twenty innocent people are executed right here. Every five fucking days. Just cause. This right here is NOTHING compared to what they did!" Kenji screamed, infuriated. "And I will kill every single guard I see." Not just for revenge, for Dostaria too. Whoever that was. The name didn't sound familiar.

Kenji grew even angrier as Caleb pointed at the girl. Why was he treating her like some insane murderer? Even still, he lowered his voice so that the wasn't screaming with fury. But the lust to kill was still on his mind. "I'm siding with Alice 'cause I would be dead if she hadn't come. If she hadn't saved my life, your friend would have died for nothing." He stopped clenching his fists, something Kenji didn't even notice he was doing. A little blood trickled down his hand and dripped onto the floor.

Aw, poor Kenji. He looked so sad asking about this Lobo. He must love her. That’s so sweet! Just made you think you were watching one of those cheesy romance movies. Those kinds that you need to grab a tissue to wipe your eyes with. Thinking about cheesy romances let her guard get caught off. She blinked as she saw Caleb out of her grip a few feet away. Drat. AW! And he said Lobo was most likely dead! This was just playing out like a romance! And he was starting to cry! Talking about the attack on Sigma and. . .his own friend died, too! Well. . .he paused before saying what she was. Did he love her? But going off on Alice again just crushed the sad tragedy mood. But Kenji brought it back! Aw! And he wanted revenge, too! Plus he was thanking her for saving him, more or less. She wiped a tear from her eye. “You’re making me sad guys!” Heh, if only her guy friends from Earth could see her now. They’d be laughing at her. And then she’d be laughing with them as she gave them all a good ol’ punch to the gut. Good times, gooood times. Her nose twitched a bit, picking up a smell coming from Kenji’s hand. “Kenji, you’re bleeding,” she announced in a worried tone.

But worrying about the little bit of blood dripping from his hand would have to wait. Footsteps were coming towards them. Lots of footsteps. An angry march of them. And then they came around the corner of the tunnel way back. A whole bunch of new guards with some shiny new toys. Alice could easily take them down but she didn’t want to make Caleb hate her even more. “Guys!” she shouted as the S-12 “Sunburst” got ready to fire, “We got company!” She grabbed Kenji by the waist and ran off to the side. She’d have grabbed Caleb but he was even faster than her. Hopefully he’d move out of the way of the lazar shot off.

OOC: Needed to make this thread interesting again v-v

Caleb glared at Alice. Was she joking? Plucking at a tear like that? Did she think the deaths of these people were just jokes? He frowned, shaking the hatred of her away from him. And then she seemed sympathetic to his problem with the blood on his hands, that almost made him feel better about the horrible condition he was in, having to rely on this... monster for help. He didn't say anything to Kenji, knowing that his reasoning was sound and not having the energy to fight back, almost immediately as he made this decision, Alice screeched, moving quickly and plucking up Kenji. Caleb twisted around catching sight of the aliens not to far away. A bright light overtook his vision and the world slowed down. For once, he felt his world spinning before his eyes as he watched the laser burn down the tunnel towards him. Move. he thought, forcing his limbs into action, as he turned away from the burning stream of fire and ran.

Caleb raced faster than the speed of sound, skidding over the tunnel walls that were slick with blood. He caught up and passed Alice almost immediately, with him coming a rush of wind and a miniature dust cloud. He looked back, realizing that the only weapon he had had just been scorched by those aliens. He growled under his breath, skidding to a halt way too far away from Alice and Kenji, knowing he had overshot his intended goal. He looked back, hearing faint footsteps and knowing the aliens were going to come after him, he had to find an exit, somewhere. He realized now, no matter how much he fought it, he would need Alice's help, she had gotten here somehow, and saved Kenji, that alone was a miraculous feat, and he knew she must have a ship somewhere around here. He definitely couldn't wander this foresake land until he found someone to give him a ride, and even then where would he go? He needed Alice. A sickening thought...

Kenji frowned as Alice wiped a tear from her eye. Was she mocking him? But before he could make a smart remark, the girl practically tackled him and slung him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "The hell are you...AW SHI-!" Kenji had to shift left to avoid a huge laser from disintegrating his right arm. The laser missed, but it came with a blast of heat that scroched his skin. Jesus, he was getting way too many close calls for one day. He realized that he was probably still alive because of sheer luck. Kenji knew he had to kill those guards, or they would kill him and Alice. And maybe Caleb. The kid had already vanished.

He felt stupidly ridiculous being carried like this, especially by a girl, but at least he could see the guards chasing them. There were three, no four aliens with the big lasers, and plenty of others with rifles. They had to die. But what could he use? They were too far away for thermal energy, and using electrical energy would electrocute Alice. Nuclear energy...well, that wouldn't be very good for Alice either. Kenji watched as one of the aliens crouched down and aim its "Sunburst". And this time it wouldn't miss. Alice was running down one long corridor, and the next turn behind a wall was just too far away. But he knew what to do. He raised a single hand toward the guard. Within the hand he converted thermal energy into solar, then released it in one direction. Blinding light exploded from his hand, just after Kenji raised his other arm to cover his eyes. Somebody screamed, and Kenji heard the laser fire. He moved his arm to see that the laser had been fired almost straight upward. Most of the guards were stumbling around like idiots, unable to see. They probably had massive headaches too. Poifect. It was too bad the cave hadn't collapsed on them...

The feeling of success was short lived. Another guard stepped forward, unaffected by the light. It aimed a rocket launcher at the humans and fired. Good god, these people liked heavy weapons. "Crap," Kenji muttered, and placed the palms of his hands on Alice's back. The rocket hurdled toward them like an enraged bull. "Run faster!" Kenji shouted, then released chemical energy from his hands and into Alice. Hopefully the boost of energy would make her faster, and not make her spazz out. That would downright suck.

Caleb was out, that was good. Now just to get herself and the boy over her shoulder out now. Alice didn’t look back, that would just slow her down. Good thing she didn’t, too. Kenji’s light burst would have torn her eyes up if she had. She squeezed them shut but didn’t stop running. In two point thirteen seconds she opened them back up, though her vision was still a bit spotty. A noise came from the group of guards. Sounded like the firing of a weapon, a type of rocket launcher if her memory served. And speaking of noises, Kenji decided to yell right in her ear. Her sensitive ear. But she got a surge of energy. Well if that’s how it goes, then she’ll show him faster. She pushed off the ground, leaving cracks behind, and back flipped right over the rocket. She landed on her toes and set Kenji down beside her. The guards were to her back, but not for long. “Kenji, you don’t mind if these guys die, do you? Nah, of course not. . .”

**TIMESKIP**

“This is my beauty, the Legacy,” Alice said as she walked up the ramp into the storage area and set the crate she had been carrying down. On their way she had picked up a good amount of Rithsinium crystals, so her main objective was complete. She busied herself in securing the crate so it wouldn’t crash around during flight. When it was done she went over to the wall that was closest to the cockpit and pulled down on a platform. It was seats, three on each side of the hatch. “Just take a seat and strap in,” she instructed. She opened the hatch next and climbed through. She started the engines up and closed the ramp, making sure that it was airtight sealed. She sat down in her chair and strapped in, fingers dancing across series of buttons and levers. Seemed like everything was ready. She plopped her helmet down on her head and spoke clearly into the microphone, “So where’s our first destination?” She still had enough fuel to travel pretty far, but they would have to stop sometime.

Beauty? Could that thing even fly? It didn't look very aerodynamic, and the thing had a cannon almost as long as the whole ship. It only made it look less flyable. But then again, he wasn't a rocket scientist. Rocketist? Spaceshipist? Spaceist? ...Racist? Kenji cleared his mind. He was just thinking a bunch of stupid things. He was no longer on an adrenaline rush like he was an hour ago. Now he was just sore and tired. Everything he touched sent pain coursing through body. Every step felt like a jump into a spiked coffin. Kenji stepped up the ramp and plopped down into a seat...and immediately regretted it. It felt like his back had been broken thirty times. He couldn't sit up straight at all, and his mouth felt drier than a desert.

Then Alice said something over the radio. Kenji was so delirious it took him a while to figure out what she had said. Kenji put his head in his hands. He was starting to get a bad headache. Since he had stopped mining, the toll of the hard work and accepting Lobo's death had start to set in. Caleb was gone again, too. "I don't care where we go, Alice. Just...anywhere but here. Exford...or Varsia...One of the Fandors..." For a second Kenji's vision blurred. He mentally screamed at himself to concentrate. He grabbed straps attached to the seat and buckled himself in. Hopefully Alice didn't fly as wildly as she fought.

"We're going to Varsia." announced Caleb materializing inside of the spaceship, he wiped the soot from around his eyes, dying for a meal but not saying anything about it. What a useless power his was, it had so many drawbacks, he didn't remember the Flash ever dying for a cheeseburger in the comics. Caleb is dazed eyes settled on the floor, aware of how certain details on the raptor-like spaceship just seemed to lose focus and then disappear all together. He felt lightheaded, he had felt like that a hundred times before. He was hungry. So hungry. "Varsia..." he repeated, this command was ill-advised, he had no power against Alice right now, maybe if perhaps he had a day or twos rest and had both his arms again, he would have a fighting chance, but right now he had nothing. Was he in the position to be giving commands? Of course not, but it wasn't like Alice or Kenji had a clue of what to do.

He raised his head settling his gaze on Kenji, his head wobbling as he kept the boy in focus. "Lobo would have been there. Kargagna, the leader of the Galaxiors, took the really powerful humans away while you were gone. Uh... Lobo was one and..." he groaned as he racked his memory trying to recall images of those who had been taken. "Nessa, there was more but I can't remember... Anyway, that's where all of them would be, on Sigma the rest of us were left, we couldn't fight back with our powers all we could do was hide or die." He looked at Alice, for a second, she was definitely someone he wanted on his side. But at the same time he knew they were destined to be enemies, while this truce would be short-lived, he wished it would last a little bit longer, he wasn't looking forward to the day where killing her became top priority. Resentment grew inside of him as he turned his head away slowly.

Working his twig like fingers around the straps, he managed to buckle himself in, reclining in the seat and breathing in a heavy sigh, his foot thumping on the ground. Awake. You need to stay awake. he repeated to himself, he didn't trust Alice, or even Kenji right now, if he let himself fall asleep even for a second they might use that time to kill him. He shook his head, You're being paranoid... Though by now, he was willing to believe that anything was possible.