Mars Mission

[Lol ^ dafuq. Just gotta say, when I first read the end of that, I laughed. It's good. I just....laughed. I don't know, it tickled mah funny bone. ]

Verax roared in agony. "YOU" He bellowed at Caz, the very ground cracking at his voice. "ARE COMMING" And in one fluid motion he plucked Caz off the ground "With me....." He hissed. "We'll be seeing you. Zyria.... really....... I" He seemed on the edge of either an tear explosive appology, or an anger and fury explosive rage, "...... work out a little before we come back. TAH TAH!" And he and Caz... simply vanished.

But then he popped back in, with Caz still in hand. "Oh, and Destron! We really should catch up some time! I'm sure its just killing you, there must be some things you're dying to tell me! MWUHAHAHAHA! Okay, now I'm out for real, PEACE!" And he vanished again.

-He's taken. Just...taken. Ripped from Zyria's arms, so that monster can.....dissect.....him. Zyria feels as though she's falling apart.

I should have tried harder to stop him. I shouldn't have let him give himself up. I should have done SOMETHING.

Zyria continues mentally beating herself, as everyone tries to recuperate.
.
.
.
Zyria stands there, her sword dropping to the ground, then shrinking to a

small,

dented,

insignificant,

knife.-

Dreston was nowhere near ready... and Verax was gone. He'd failed again, and one of the organics' friends had paid the price. He turned towards them, guiltily, his face showing his sorrow.

>I... I... I'm sorry. It's my fault your friend was... taken... It's my fault.

Dreston turned around, bowing his head, and disappeared into the maze of clockwork and technology.

-Zyria hears the small beep of a message, and she wouldn't have looked, but her head was already angled, and her eyes couldn't help but land on the message. She whirls around to Dreston, and watches him escape in his mess of machinery.

He-he blames himself? But he doesn't know Caz, he couldn't have convinced him....

Zyria bends down to pick up her knife, and runs into the machinery, almost sure she can find him.

Unless he's molded himself into the technology, in which case, there's no chance.

But she eventually hears the small footfalls of the robotic boy, and at the next turn, Zyria sees him.-

"Dreston! Wait up!"

[I have no idea how you were trying to take that, if you wanted ANYONE to even follow you, or if you wanted someone ELSE to. I was just thinking how Zyria was taking the blame, and couldn't believe he thought it was his fault. So if it's wrong, and I just messed up a huge moment for another char, it's cool, I can change it.]

((No, you're cool. It could've been done either way. It's alright.))

Dreston stopped reluctantly. He waited for Zyria to catch up, and then she was at his side.

>I'm... I don't know what to say. I should have been ready for Verax, I should've been able to face him. If only I'd had more time...

He drifts towards the object that he had been headed to before Zyria had stopped him, the creature that Dreston had been working on for... for several hundred years. He hadn't even bothered to keep track. If he only could have finished it sooner, maybe... maybe their friend wouldn't be gone. Maybe his master's death would not have been in vain. He traced a finger along its silver-inlaid ivory plating, the smooth grace of the half-finished creature.

>I should have saved your friend. Its my fault he's gone...

"Dreston, don't you dare blame yourself! No one was prepared for Verax. Everyone else thought that we'd been done with him, at least for today. There was no chance of you stopping him. And, you couldn't've convinced Caz, either. You don't know him that much, you wouldn't know what to say to him. But....I should have been able to fight for him. He shouldn't have to give himself up, for me. He shouldn't be the one taking all the pain...." -Zyria buries her face in her hands, too distraught to even be interested in what Dreston grabs from the pile of machinery.-

"I-I could have taken him, at least long enough for the others to come and help. I....I'm not the strongest, obviously, but I've got a few things going for me." -Zyria pulls out her knife, once again growing into a sword. The blade is still slightly dented, but the liquid is a bright blue, the color of the hottest, most angry fire. Zyria gently runs a finger along the container in the middle of the large blade, the substance in her Life Support glowing, as well. Then, as if she is comforting the weapon with the motion, the liquid changes into a calm ocean-blue.-

"I just....don't think Caz trusts me. I don't think he trusts me to survive. Yes, I'm overly curious, clumsy, and most definitely not the strongest; but, I've got wit on my side. Resourcefulness. Do I really seem that weak?" -Zyria turns to Dreston, realizing she's gotten completely off topic.- "I'm sorry. When I get like this, it's hard for me to stop. You just need to know that this was far from your fault. You're a victim that got too close to the bad luck that is our group, is all, and I'm sorry for that."

Dreston shook his head.

>No, I should have been ready for him. I understand that you think you could have saved your friend, but I must tell you that you could not. I know Verax. He is the very reason that I am alone.

Dreston paused, his eyes flashing as memories replayed in his head, silent, painful. He looked at Zyria.

>Every Kot'chey, that's what we are, is supposed to have a master. The one who created us, or the person we are given to by our creator. But I have none. My master was never able to pass me on, not before...

Another pause, Dreston's mind filling with the images that his words brought back,

>Not before he was killed. By Verax. I know Verax, I know his ways. The only thing he ever regretted in regards to me was that he had not had the foresight to force my master to reliquish me to him. I need... to avenge my father.

"Ah, so that explains the exchange between you two. My condolences. But, even in such a depressing time, there was the good luck that you did not fall under his control. And, I suppose, if you want vengeance, you could always come with us. He seems to be taking a liking to insulting me, and stealing those that we all care about. He'll meet up with us sooner or later, I'm guessing..."

-Zyria looks away from Dreston, thinking grim thoughts. He slaughtered Dreston's creator, with the only regret being that he didn't take EVERYTHING from him. What's to say he won't destroy Caz once he's gotten all he wants? Zyria wipes a few fresh tears away.-

((Now would be the optimal time for Caz's message... but we haven't gotten there on the other thread. ._. ))

(So am I waiting to post then? Or...?)

Cassus couldn't find a single scrap of the metal anywhere in the scraps. Sighing, he sheathed the blade next to his own Khvir blade, unnoticeable to even himself. Then he heard the echo of heavily-armored footsteps that seemed to tremble the whole floor. A scream, desperate begging, and a simply cruel voice crackled in when he tried enhancing the audio. It's Verax, damn it... He tensed up at the thought of the name, then took off at a near inhuman running speed towards the sound.

As soon as the noise started, it stopped with a flash of light and sound that his sensors barely picked up. Cassus slowed his running and started to move quickly and steathily along the wall, watching his step and making sure he made no noise as the movement of the gears hid his own movements. He hoped nothing had gone wrong, but the screaming and begging still got to him. When was the last time he had heard that on such a personal level? He pushed the thought out of his head and proceeded forward, crouching up against a half-constructed metal vehicle.

Cassus looked up. Verax was gone, only metal scrapes on the ground and signs of struggling remained. Everything seemed fine, but everyone seemed a little shocked and a little depressed. Zyria looked to have taken it the hardest. The others did their best to console her and themselves. The Dreadlord did not simply leave without causing trouble, however. Cassus looked over and checked on everybody, and checked over and over again, not realizing it until he made the connection. Zyria and Caz...wait. Drel-Caz. He's missing.

He stood back up and walked to the others. Robless stood up and was about to speak, but Cassus waved him off. "Yeah, I already figured it out." They both sat back down, Cassus breaking the silence once more. "He'll get out. The last thing we need is--" The ground trembled again, this time with the sound of meteors and...crashing debris? "As I was saying...we need to move on with the mission. Caz will be able to find us, being a pure energy being, and I'm sure he's got some tricks up his sleeve to escape, even if it's from Verax. I doubt we have much time to rest here. I'm sorry, but I think we need to get moving to Olympus Mons ASAP. Verax might very well destroy the planet if we do not hurry..."

((BTW, that took forever to write. Three posts in the whole time I wrote that. ))

[Good job, Robless. XD So, now we're all there? Or, should Dreston and Zyria wrap up and go back?]

(Yeah, you guys can wrap up, just assume the last part of my post happened after you guys came back. )

"Zyria. I'm here. Are you getting this?" The voice crackled, and then a holograph of Caz flickered into existence in front of Zyria. He was not smiling. In fact, he looked weary and distraught, but uninjured. "I'm okay. He hasn't hurt me yet. He... he killed nearly three hundred thousand people, but he... hasn't really physically hurt me... yet. Are you okay? Please tell me you're alright..." his voice was filled with worry.

-Before Dreston can reply, a holograph appears in front of Zyria, and it's Caz.-

"Zyria. I'm here. Are you getting this? I'm okay. He hasn't hurt me yet. He... he killed nearly three hundred thousand people, but he... hasn't really physically hurt me... yet. Are you okay? Please tell me you're alright..."

"C-Caz! Oh my god, Caz! I-I've been so worried! I thought he'd just.....dissected you!"

-Zyria feels as though she's about to burst with relief. But, eventually, her relief is overshadowed, as she brushes off what Caz is saying. She realizes deep down that he may not have a lot of time, but....with all she's been through lately, she can't help it.-

"How...how IDIOTIC could you be, Caz? Giving yourself up?! And, just so I wouldn't HURT myself?! Did you honestly think that I would let myself be killed by the likes of HIM?? And, I KNOW you worry, I know you do, but....that doesn't mean you worry enough for the BOTH of us. Don't you realize what it felt like, me just STANDING there, watching you give yourself up to that monster?! Do you......

do you just not trust me?"

-Zyria covers her face with her hands, not able to handle it all.-

Caz closed his eyes, wishing he could reach down to the planet, be there, and hold her. But he couldn't. "Zyria... you know I trust you. You know I do. But... Verax is too strong. There's no point in... you getting hurt for me. You know that I came here willingly, for you. It's not that I think you're weak, it's that I love you too much... to let anything happen to you. But for me, it's another story. I would give myself up for you in a heartbeat, and that's what I've done." Caz pauses, looking down, the guilt only piling higher and heavier on his weakening shoulders. "Please, Zyria. Don't give up. I don't think he's going to hurt me. I think... it was safer this way, for me to go with him. Not just for you, for everyone. But I don't know what to do. Do I tell him what he wants to know? Or do I withhold it, and risk... and risk him killing thousands more people because of me? I need your help, I... I don't know what to do. I don't..." Caz's voice faded and failed, as his strength slowly left him. He really didn't... have any idea what the solution was. And Zyria was blaming him of not trusting her, of thinking she was weak... but all he had ever wanted to do was protect her.

-Zyria looks back up, her hands wet with tears. Caz needs her, and here she is piling even more on him to deal with. Why am I so selfish? Why can't I just be the weak one, the one that appreciates it when someone hurts themselves to protect me? But nooo, I have to be strong, too, I can't just sit back and let everyone else do everything, like a good girl. Zyria shakes her head, coming to a conclusion. I won't talk like this, not to Caz, not right now. All I'm doing, by being open like this, is hurting him. Her voice, ringing in the back of Zyria's head, replies. Yeah, he's too busy hurting HIMSELF for you, so you're just dealing a double whammy by hurting him, too. And that gets to Zyria.-

"It-it's fine, Caz, forget I even mentioned anything....I'm just glad you're safe, for now."

"Now, as for what to do, well, all I can think of is....survive. With Verax, I don't think there's any chance of getting out without SOMEONE dying, and, if I had the choice, I would choose you to keep alive. You have to keep yourself interesting, useful. Don't anger him, no matter what he does. Just stay strong, survive, and get out of there as soon as you can." -Zyria glances at Dreston.-

"Besides, I think we've got more than enough reasons to get back to him later about this little ordeal."

Caz looked stubborn. "I'm not going to forget this, Zyria. I'm hurting you; I'm not blind, I can see that. But I had to choose. Hurt you in this way, or risk... or risk your life by denying Verax what he wants. I made my choice, and I stand by it. Please... Zyria, let me be strong for us, here. I can do it, and then there's no chance he'll hurt us. I don't think he's planning on hurting me, even when this is over. This way, we're both safe. I did this for us, both of us. Just... please let me do this."

"As for what to do... I don't plan to get myself killed, Zyria. He wants to study me, yes, but not in the way you're thinking. It will hurt many people in the future, and possibly both of us, but... not yet. Not now. I WIlLL come back, I promise. As soon as I can. Verax... he's crazy. I want to come back, but... just giving him what he wants... It's hard for me to condemn so many people to death. I'm going to hold out a little longer, and see what he does."

Through his whole speech, Caz's voice sounds... just tired. Emotionally, and physically exhausted. Then, through the hologram, Zyria can tell that he's moving. On the other end, in the spaceship high above the planet's surface, Caz sadly drifts up, out of the huge dent in the floor, and to one of the huge windows looking down on Mars. He puts one hand against the glass, halfway testing it for energetic defenses and halfway for the sentiment of the action. Zyria was down there... and even more guilt piled up. Not only was he hurting her, but he had also left her behind.

An image of Verax appeared behind Caz through the hologram. He looked steely calm, but his eyes looked like fire. "I believe that is quite enough. You've had your talk. Now we get to have our talk about the thing Lurinia brought up earlier. And should you deny me.... well.... how would you like it if instead of blowing up the other moon, I point my ship planetside? I'd even keep this on so you can hear you're girlfriend's agonizing screams as you watch her body be destroyed..... pah."

He stopped, briefly, then took on a face of pure rage, but still spoke in the same calm, if disgusted tone, "Such pathetic creatures. Willingly throwing yourself in front of the firing squad just because you love someone. What is in that feeling, love? Is it so much more powerful than any other feeling from the heart? Does anger not burn with the same intensity as love? Does hate and rage and jealousy and greed and fear not make your heart pound with the same intensity as love? Do all you mishaps of life truly let yourselves be lorded over by one emotion, yet can shackle the others with no after thought? Its all the same. Let your sweet.... dear.... precious.... Zyria know that because you decided to hide something from me, Mars now lacks one moon. Let her know that because I studied you, and replicated your implant, I was able to charge my ship up enough to send millions of worthless lives to oblivion. THAT" Verax paused. His voice pushed with even more passion.

"THAT was power! THAT was power fueled by rage and discord! Somewhere I heard love is a shield.... well its about as good as PAPER. You PATHETIC MORTAL SCUM! You let yourselves be controlled by the most disgusting of feelings! THAT is why I will purge the world of its false semblance of safety! Also.... hehe... Zyria... Robless..... Destron.... hehehe..... beware incoming fluffy objects. Now Caz, lets have a chat... and if it proves unsatisfactory.... shall we take a trip to Crenel?" He let all of this hang, waiting for both sides to respond.

((Ignoring the last part of my last post.))

Cassus emerged from his cover after waiting for Dreston and Zyria to come back. They had gone for quite some time now; they should've returned to the group in that amount of time. "Where are they?" Nobody was surprised to see him, and Robless simply gestured in the general direction that they were.

So, I guess I'll just have to find them... Cassus paused for a moment, and then took off at a brisk walking pace to where they had wandered off to. He searched for them but did not want to call Zyria or Dreston's name if they were doing something important.

It did not take him long to find them after Zyria's sobs broke through the silence. Cassus moved faster, but did not suspect danger.

A hologram flickered into view as he drew closer. Caz was in his true form, shoved into the side of the view by Verax's armor. Cassus tapped into the signal and the audio receiver clicked in his headset.

Hundreds of thousands of deaths? A destroyed moon? The pieces slowly fell into their places. Verax had destroyed all of this, hoping to guilt both Zyria and Caz into letting him extract the information from them.

"Don't listen to him, don't break, he'll just use it to kill more--" Cassus tried to intercept the hologram transmission but his helmet's HUD flashed with a warning. -Proxy active, disconnected- "Damn it..." Verax simply shut him out and forced him to come out or not be able to speak.

Caz's confidence failed as Verax spoke, practically from the first word, almost visibly. And it didn't stop. No... Nonononono. What do I do? I don't have a choice... I... I have to tell him. But... I shouldn't. Crenel? He would...? He would... Tam. Tam must stay safe... he can't get to her, or to Zyria... Wait. Caz had an idea. Possibly a brilliant one. He hoped Zyria trusted him enough and knew him well enough to know what he was up to. Hopefully, even Lurinia wouldn't be able to catch on. And the best part was... it was all genuine.

Just before the transmission cut off, Caz turned to Verax, a mixture of shock, fear, and desperation in his eyes. "No. No, please. Not Tam. You can't.... No! She's the last... the last of our kind with a Neiede! She's... she's the only one who can keep our race alive! The only one who can... no, please..." now Caz was on his knees, begging. "Tam is our only hope. You can't k... k... Please. We need her. Please don't... you can't destroy her... The Kazesqui... we must survive. Don't do this. It's genocide. Please..." Caz's voice was filled to the brim with fear, and pleading, and desperation, and despair. And every single emotion that came through... was perfect. It was so real, so true... Caz was even starting to fool himself. Because they were real feelings, real emotions. It was true, just amplified. Zyria would surely see it...

His strategy was simple. Lead Verax away from Mars and Zyria. Make him believe that Caz would rather Tam be safe than anyone else. Then deny him the information until they were right there, just before he sent the place skywards. Then, Caz would tell. A safe distance from Mars, then Caz could give up the information. Maybe. Only if... only if he had no other choice.