[Smokehammer]

My question though is Sarv was officially "killed" by Kalinin, but here she has presumably matching(based on Ar's assumption) uniformed troops at her command. Was he just screwing with her or what? I suppose it will be explained later but its food for thought.

[Pariel]

My question though is Sarv was officially "killed" by Kalinin, but here she has presumably matching(based on Ar's assumption) uniformed troops at her command. Was he just screwing with her or what? I suppose it will be explained later but its food for thought.

They were lent by Nova, the PMC who's in cahoots with Nadin. In other word, hired guns.

[Gunbird]

I know it's off topic, but what gear dose Nova have?

And will we get a human side of the story that under Nids control? Or is this going to more focused on Comics cheaters?

[Smokehammer]

Well if I had to guess Gunny I'd say based off Sarv's ballistic knife trick, and the fact that they speak Russian they probably have standard Russian arms like Graches, AKMs, RPK/PKMs etc. Though as mercs its pretty much whatever they prefer and can afford (and given theyre Nadin/Nova backed) that's probably pretty much anything small arms wise -doesnt sound like they brought too much in the way of artillery with them, which when you think about it, makes perfect sense given this is an unofficial attack.

[Pariel]

Chapter 11.5 Chatbox Log (I)

Welcome to NK-23 Chat. Hosted at http://www.internetjunk.com

"Something about World Domination or Intercontinental Balistic Penguins."

SLMN has joined.
AwesomeK has joined.
FFashion has joined.
S1r3n has joined.
AxGirl has joined.
RussianTroll has joined.
HMan has joined.
LiN has joined.

SLMN:Greetings.
AwesomeK: Sup, old man.
FFashion: Hi SLMN.
RussianTroll:wave.gif
s1r3n: Long time no see. How are you doing?
SLMN: I'm fine, just left my grandchildren back with their parents. What about you?
LiN: Bored. Really. Also Hi.
HMan: Buried in paperwork.
AxGirl: I'm still alive. Sort of.
RussianTroll: Surrounded by vodka crates. I'm in heaven.
AwesomeK: ...when you kiss me?
RussianTroll:LOL
RussianTroll:kissing_you_re_doing_it_wrong.gif
S1r3n: I am going to deal with some troublesome guests shortly.
FFashion:...cant type ewll, onyl one good arm.
SLMN:Damn. Get better soon, Fashionista.
FFashion:ill try and I suck long wienerk5rgh
AxGirl: Stop doing that, AwesomeK.
AwesomeK: But it's so fun, she's powerless as a kitten!
RussianTroll: Iapprove.gif
HMan:Please don't tease the boss.
S1r3n: Are you all together?
LiN: Seems so.
HMan: No. I'm not with them.
RussianTroll: AK, FF, and AG are with me now. On the plane. WITH THE VODKA.
RussianTroll:hellyeah.gif
AwesomeK: And he's fondling my boobs.
RussianTroll:yuck.gif.
LiN:Could you please stop spamming images, RT?
RussianTroll:NEVER.
RussianTroll:dancingdalek.gif
RussianTroll:thisisnotmyfinalform.gif
RussianTroll:drunkbearontricicle.gif
RussianTroll:bigbuttface.gif
AwesomeK: ALL ABOARD THE GIF TRAIN!
AwesomeK:racistmrpotato.gif
AwesomeK:manboobs.gif
AwesomeK:stevejobssupersaiyan.gif
AwesomeK:falconpunchtoddler.gif

LiN has left(Reason: fuck you AK)
S1r3n has left.

SLMN: Children. Behave.
FFashion: 36b.gif
AwesomeK: WHAT THE FUCK RENE
RussianTroll: MY EYES, MY GODDAMN EYES
AxGirl: That was excessive.
HMan: Boss, you never change.
SLMN: Let's move onto business,shall we? Someone get LiN and S1r3n back.
HMan:On it.

S1r3n has joined.
LiN has joined.

SLMN:Welcome back. Now, AxGirl, report if you would.
AxGirl: Well, we picked up Fashionista. There were some issues. An entire gang went to sleep because of the fairies. And Fashionista's arm, well.. it's busted.
SLMN: And the main objective?
AxGirl: We retrieved the candy. We also made new friends.

WubDragon has joined.

WubDragon:...interesting contraption friends!
WubDragon: I am pleased to inform you, that I, lady Zala'ess have jizzed my pants to meet you.
AwesomeK: ROFL
SLMN: Uh...
LiN: Are you aware what "jizzed" means?
RussianTroll: 42956t34trnewf
S1r3n: What's going on there?
SLMN: I'm also intrigued.
AwesomeK:LOLOLOLOL SO FUNNY OMG
FFashion: RT tricked WD into using that expression, and now WD's boyfriend is wringing russian by the neck, AG is separating them both.
AwesomeK: And I'm taking pics!

WubDragon has left.

SLMN: Right.
S1r3n: Idiots.
LiN: Yeah.
SLMN: Well, I suppose that is the cue for calling off the meeting. I'll see you all in person, FF, AG, RT and AK. I'm intrigued about our new friend.
AwesomeK: WHAT
SLMN: You had better be ready. If Fashionista doesn't chew you down, I WILL.
SLMN: Well then. Have a nice day. Or night.

S1r3n: Bye
LiN: Bye
FFashion:bye
HMan: Goodbye

SLMN has left.
HMan has left.
LiN has left.
S1r3n has left.
FFashion has left.
AwesomeK has left.
AxGirl has left.
RussianTroll has left.

---END LOG---

[MercenaryX21]

Please keep going. This is my only hope of ever seeing earth age ever continue in any meaningful way. More so when the it pissed me off how much sabotage was rampant in the stories and nothing I tried actually could bring things to an epic tale like with space age, I really hope we see the clan with the martial arts that 2 here trying to escape from the black suns. That was them right? I keep forgetting how that group was doing.

[MercenaryX21]

Please don't tell me this fic is dead! Say it ain't so!!!

[Pariel]

Chapter 12: Back in business.

Vaduz, Liechtenstein

Numbness. Comfortable numbness. Her brain registered the why, but not the how or when. All that she knew is that the rythmical beeping of a machine next to her was the only pointer. In her stupor, her neck stirred, as if weighted down by lead chains. The frontier between reality and dreams was blurred, as ghostly voices whispered in her ringing ears.

"Niko...is this the creature you told me about?"

"Indeed it is. I thought I needed someone else to verify it. I believe she is intelligent, but I cannot speak her language."

The ghostly images flickered and ebbed, their muffled words uninteligible, until they coalesced in a swirl of shadows and light. Shapes, contours became more defined, until a pair of strained eyes peeked into the room.

Four figures were staring at her. Two of them were human... two of them were not. Her sight then travelled upwards her right arm. It was not a stump, the arm was still there, covered in bandages. Medical care. Her gaze then turned to the other side, the monitoring machine keeping an steady beat. An IV drip kept pumping fluids in her remaining arm, the color of ash in her skin. A hospital room. She apparently had also reverted to her original appearance. Purple eyes peeked into the room, examining her visitors.

A sudden, elderly but firm and somber voice anunciated that her newfound consciousness had not gone unnoticed. On a chair, opposite her bed, there was a man. Ravaged and emaciated by age, his face and hands a knot of wrinkles and patched skin, with loose pure white hair combed in a simple hairstyle. However, the man was sharply dressed from head to toe in a business suit, and there was a regal nature in the piercing amber eyes that stared back.

"Awake at last, Snadhya'runes." The man added. "One has to admire the sturdiness of ...your folk." The man added as his hand brought forward a bundle. A bouquet of flowers, of all shapes, colors and sizes, which he somberly deposited in her lap.

"Aw, look at it, the old man cares about the old woman." A childish sneer came from a woman situated on the left of the man, sitting aswell. However, her sitting stance was less than adequate, for she was sitting on a haggard, nondescript man, with graying beard and stubble. The man was aswell holding the waist of the woman, preventing her eventuall fall from his lap. Unlike the man, the woman had the same ashen color as Snadhya'runes, as well as the telltale elongated ears of the drow. She recognized her face immediately. Kalki.

"Eh, they say love knows of no age." Kalinin conceded, his eerie and goofy grin managing to give a faint tinge of annoyance to Snadhya, despite her heavily sedated condition.

"Shush, the both of you." A gruff voice, on the leftmost side of the room exerted her authority. The all-familiar and cyclopean height of Snadhya's younger sister was patent, as her hair flowed wildly over her shoulders, having regained the lilac color it had once been known for, as well as the striking antennae-like cowlicks. Her appearance was a far shot from the slavic blonde that she had looked like before. Her eyes peeked at the elder man, who was showing a frown aswell.

"Solomon." Snadhya croaked, as she eyed the man.

"You've been hallucinating for a couple of days. I trust you are able to talk...about business now?" The man added, before producing a small folder. "The world does not wait...even for the supposedly immortal drow."

"Please make it brief." Snadhya'runes added, her left arm raising her hand to her forehead. "I have a big headache right now." The woman enounced.

"That should be the least of your worries, given how you nearly died out there. It was good luck...we had some of those blood...users? Are they called that? who promptly stabilized you. We could even reattach the arm with a good chance of success aswell."

"It was no luck." Sarv'swati broke her silence. "We had to bring an unknown with us." The woman added, her eyes looking at Solomon.

"Hm, yes, I am fully aware." Solomon added, without missing a beat. "Still, it was a good aid. Losing one of the heads of our joint business venture, alongside the plans for MARS and the Ouranos project would have been an irrecoverable blow." The old man added. "Höffmann has already located whoever made the mistake and has seen to his...dismissal."

"What kind of dismissal, old man?" Kalki brazenly butt in.

"The kind of dismissal that is not... discussed. And let me tell you, young lady, your impertinent behaviour ought to be corrected. I did not come all the way from Antwerp to be subject of this...charades of a raunchy ash-skinned meretrix who does not know when to listen." The eyes of Solomon cast his gaze into Kalki, as the drow woman clenched her fist.

"Oh, and what are you going to do...?" Kalki added, before a needle was presented millimeters away from her right eye, courtesy of her partner in crime.

"Hush. Or else. Nothing personal." Kalinin's curt response had an icy, detached quality, before resuming his grin. "Besides, you're way prettier when silent." He added, retracting the impromptu weapon.

"Really?"

"No."

After an awkward silence, Solomon took air, and continued his tirade. "I have had to carry you all over to this corner of Europe which appreciates privacy. Deploying your Soma devices and hiding all the traces of the shootout to disguise it as a security operation in a bank gone wrong was the trickiest part.I must convey my thanks to Höffmann for that. Suffice to say it was costly."

"I shall be more careful in the future." Snadhya'runes somberly replied.

"Good." Solomon sagely nodded. "May I suggest that you move only to your strongholds and places where you can be reasonably safe for the time being." THe old man added. "I shall do the same, for the time being. The world is erupting into chaos, and situations can change drastically. I shall keep the blueprints for the time being." Solomon added, his hand gesturing to Kalki.

"Give him the blueprints." Sarv'swati announced, her gaze piercing Kalki, who them fumbled in her clothes, and after some brazen digging in the chest area, produced a couple of data sticks, which Solomon aprehensively picked, before storing them into his pocket.

"Sarv'swati... I believe you do not have a current cover story." The old man added. "And I could use some ...extra help." The man added, before producing several files alongside photographs and a small, carved jewel of foraneous origin. "Here it is a dossier with your new identity...alongside one of your folk's facechanging foci."

"You have really thought this one through, huh..." Snadhya chuckled softly.

"Well, my dear Snadhya, this is actually a very remarkable trait of humans. Improvisation." Solomon added, his tone and inflections not changing at all.

"That much is true." Snadhya smirked, her mood finally lifting up. "Still, we are behind schedule."

"Pulling strings is no small task." He added. "The walls have ears. We have to be extra meticulous in every aspect." The man finished, as he raised out of his chair with difficulty. Sarv'swati, as if on cue, headed towards the toilet of the room. While the man laborously put his folder aside, grabbing his coat and cane, gagging and muffled sounds could be heard from the adjacent room. Sweaty, a now ginger-haired Sarv'swati emerged, green eyes peeking into the old man.

"Are you ready, general?" The man added, before heading for the door, his cane rythmically tapping, only to stop a final time, his eyes resting in Snadhya's face one last time.

"Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships... And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?" He mused as he waved a faint smile. "Farewell, Snadhya'runes.I shall keep in touch."

"Jude...You never change. Farewell" The drow woman smirked before eyeing the blank space of the room. At least it was better than Kalinin and Kalki, the eldest drow thought.

[ThatGuyThisGuy]

Great update Pariel!

[MercenaryX21]

I hope we get to see the Jaal'darya, I can see them take the population of whole towns to not only Experiment on them, but not just turn all males into females and just for fun, but drow females and boost their numbers, I bet there would be humans who would be willing to join. That would be a sight to see.

[MercenaryX]

Hello? Is anyone alive?

[MercenaryX]

Oh man i was going to do one of these types of Stories...

Well atleast i don't have to write this time

I cant believe people voted this out, it had all the hallmarks of being quite good, but i guess people got all bitchy about the "Drow are Superior... meets modern gun to face" type sentiment

Yeah, I was there at the start when we also had a fallout where drow encountered the the wasteland, a Japanese like school with dress and drow, and one other that escapes me, I think there was 5 total options and what happened was a lot of trolls sabotaged the whole thing. I wanted to see the marshal arts drow meet the monks.

It saddens me to know we never got a good conclusion or anything else good out of it.

[ThatGuyThisGuy]

Oh man i was going to do one of these types of Stories...

Well atleast i don't have to write this time

I cant believe people voted this out, it had all the hallmarks of being quite good, but i guess people got all bitchy about the "Drow are Superior... meets modern gun to face" type sentiment

Yeah, I was there at the start when we also had a fallout where drow encountered the the wasteland, a Japanese like school with dress and drow, and one other that escapes me, I think there was 5 total options and what happened was a lot of trolls sabotaged the whole thing. I wanted to see the marshal arts drow meet the monks.

It saddens me to know we never got a good conclusion or anything else good out of it.

Interesting, I think I know about the Fallout thread(Is it the Darkest Knight by Jackinati?) but I've never heard about the others.

[MercenaryX]

Oh man i was going to do one of these types of Stories...

Well atleast i don't have to write this time

I cant believe people voted this out, it had all the hallmarks of being quite good, but i guess people got all bitchy about the "Drow are Superior... meets modern gun to face" type sentiment

Yeah, I was there at the start when we also had a fallout where drow encountered the the wasteland, a Japanese like school with dress and drow, and one other that escapes me, I think there was 5 total options and what happened was a lot of trolls sabotaged the whole thing. I wanted to see the marshal arts drow meet the monks.

It saddens me to know we never got a good conclusion or anything else good out of it.

Interesting, I think I know about the Fallout thread(Is it the Darkest Knight by Jackinati?) but I've never heard about the others.

I yeah, I'll have to have a look at the archives but I think so.

Seriously I wish we could have had more.

[ThatGuyThisGuy]

I yeah, I'll have to have a look at the archives but I think so.

Seriously I wish we could have had more.

Well if you find anything could you please post a link to it?