There Must Be Wires Crossed (c)

Participants: Curtis Metcalf , Komand'r
Open/Closed: Closed.
Location(s): New Rann
Time of Day: Evening
Weather: Warm
Summary: There's nothing like a Zeta Beam to interrupt a nationwide ceremony..




Komand'r had spent weeks putting together this celebration of epic proportions. She'd put together a team of up and coming Tamaranean socialites to oversee the production, handle the decorations, the preparations and everything in between, although the final say would always be hers. Which is why everything looked so incredible. She was seated on a temporary throne, crated from the same marble as the rest of the palaces courtyard so that everything went together seamlessly. Her personal guard stood place around her, except for two who were stationed at the entrance. The courtyard was huge, to fit the palace behind it. It contained three different gardens, two well decorated ponds and several statues of note worthy nobleman and women of the Tamaran people.

Today marked an incredibly special occasion, the birthday of her late parents.

The whole of her society had come together, performances had been done in their honor, art made and statues constructed. It was a touching moment for them all, though Komand'r knew that her people experienced days like today differently than her. She watched them celebrate with happiness in her heart and eyes.

Food had just been served, large dishes that were custom to their people set out as a buffet. Music played in the background on traditional instruments and people danced and sang along. Laughter filled the air and Komand'r was happy to see that today had been a success. Hard work for her people, she was learning, was very self rewarding.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the air around her got thin. She knew the feeling of energy moving around her and stood as light and sound erupted into a tunnel in which he was transported into the middle of her dancing people. Blackfire's eyes narrowed, her guards jumped to attention, quickly closing in on the newcomer. Her people screamed out, shocked but the sudden turn of events, looking to her as they backed away from the source of the commotion. By now, the rest of her forces should be aware of the Zeta Beam entering their atmosphere. Her backup would be upon them soon.

Komand'r took to the sky, hovering above the courtyards. "You've chosen the wrong day to visit." She stared down at the.. man? A human? His armor looked more advanced than what most of his species sported, but Blackfire was familiar with the potential danger of earthlings. "Who are you?"

Hardware flew into a brick wall and it crumbled under his massive weight. Curtis let loose a ragged grunt as his body collided with the concrete ground and bounced a considerable distance before his armor was skidding to a halt. His head was ringing and his muscles were aching, he was surprised he could feel the throbbing pain through his suit. But, he supposed he shouldn't have been, the SYSTEMatic he was up against was some hyper-evolved edition created by Gizmo, an imp of an evil super-genius. Hardware had been following what was supposedly a lead on some of SYSTEM's databanks that could help him in finally uncovering those who sat at the head of the secretive group, only for those breadcrumbs to actually be a trap. He scolded himself, he should have known better. Now, he was prone with the taste of blood in his mouth.

Though the bumps he took hurt like hell, Hardware knew it could have and would have been a lot worse without his armor. With a huff he denied the SYSTEMatic the joys of seeing him stay down. Hardware dragged himself to his feet and suddenly he was aware of an incessant pinging. With his senses swarming back to him like a rubber band snapping back from tension, Hardware was able to take in the new location he'd found himself. There was high scaffolding overhead, the walls were sleek metallic blue lined with shelves and shelves of beakers. Curtis quirked a brow beneath the shell he wore under his armor. He turned to find the source of the strange pinging noises, his eyes widened at the vaguely cannon-like object pointed at him. A beam fired out of the cannon and Hardware was gone in an instant.

That rubber band that was Hardware's senses snapped back to its rightful place once more after a short time and things were...different. The sounds were different, the smells were different, the lighting was different. Curtis could feel bile racing up his esophagus and he doubled over. Vomit would not be able to exit the plasticized metal that coated his entire body otherwise he'd probably drown in his own suit, so Curtis forced himself to choke the liquid right back down. One crisis averted. That just left a whole different mess to clean up. His eyes quickly turned to take in this entirely new setting and desperately he tried to make sense of it.

Elegantly carved marble, high decorative walls that draped with wisteria (or something distantly related), pedestals adorned with antiques that matched no cultures or ages Curtis could immediately thing of. Lush greenery was all around him in the form of gardens that encircled clear ponds that smelled fresh and cold. The area was host to a mass of golden skinned persons, each with wildly bright hair colors; clearly aliens but so close to humanoid that the place could be mistaken for some tanned super model hang out. This was a completely different space and scenario than the one he had just left.

"Am I dead?" The question was posed aloud but to no one in particular. Or maybe it was? If this was Heaven then would God himself show up to answer the question? Hard to tell with the people around him suddenly screaming and their overall jolly time crashing abruptly.

Maybe not God, but someone answered. Hardware looked up, one of the super model angels floated high above Curtis and turned the tables on him, asking her own question. "Who are you?" Curtis smelled trouble, and not just from the atmosphere the flying woman was giving off. His nostrils lit up with a familiar scent that had assaulted him when that cannon fired and transported him to their Heaven. Sadly for them, paradise was about to meet ruin, and Hardware was to blame.

"I'm the Devil."

Hardware readied his omnicannon and rolled a few feet from the spot where he had suddenly appeared. Space quivered as sound and light alike popped. Another zeta beam was activated, and suddenly appeared the 10 foot mech that had followed Hardware to Rann.

Komand'r

Komand'r and her people were trained for this. Their entire life had been one battle after the next, peace interrupted time and again by things far outside of their control. She took in the armor-clad human and anger swelled in her chest and made her clench her fists. At one time in her life, Blackfire would have wasted no time in simply smiting the unwelcome guest, but she had learned from her time as ruler. Her people believed in justice, right and wrong, something that Komand'r had been forced to familiarize herself with. Still, her training for war lead her to silently assess the situation, the stranger before her. Friend or foe, the first question that came to her mind. She had made her enemies across the universe, that much was sure, but who would so brazenly address her.

He got out his bit about being some all-evil human creation just as the air began to thin again. Blackfire motioned to her guard and they began to usher her people towards the sidelines just as the newcomer tucked into a tight roll, dodging the next wash of energy that brought with it something even scarier than a human in a techno-suit.

The beast that appeared was clearly a machine designed for war. Whether or not she was familiar with this model, Komand'r was overly familiar with the concept. She had faced her own share of alien technology that could match her own strength, so she didn't take lightly to this strange contraption ruining her celebration. Her anger turned to power, clenched fists beginning to sizzle and smoke before bursting into purple flames. The strange fire shifted briefly before rounding out into Frisbee sized Starbolts. "Royal Guard, to me!"

The crowd reacted to her command, civilians escorting themselves swiftly out of the courtyard, a stampede of golden amazons. Her royal guard came from the ground, circling the monster and the man who'd brought it. Raising her first high, Komand'r brought them down with a mighty roar and released her first round of bolts. The creature twisted out of the way, reflexes far more advanced than she might have expected. Darting close to one of her guardsmen, the machine swiped out his monstrous arm and sent the Tamaranean flying. His next move was directed at her, lifting up a statue near by and hurling it towards the flying queen.

Blackfire side swiped the marble art piece, rock to rubble under her fist.

"How dare you bring this beast to my land! I promise you it will not be leaving!"

Six guards altogether, unsheathing energy weapons as they neared, four began to interact with the mechanical warrior while the other two drew close to the human, obviously the mastermind behind this attack. Komand'r descended quickly as another guardsman was thrown across the courtyard, smashing into one of the ponds. The machine was whirling around, closed fists darting between each of her men until finally one came to her. Blackfire caught it in her hand, the force of the punch meeting with her own iron grip. "Die." She pulled her opposite fist back, already lit with solar energy, and sent her foe rocketing into the sky with a single uppercut.



Curtis Metcalf

The good news was he wasn't dead, and Hardware would have to take whatever good news he could with the odds he was currently faced against. A woman who glowed like she was powered by the rays of the sun itself (that, DOBIE would be able to confirm if given the proper chance to analyze) and a squadron of guards at her call much the same solar powered persons but with weaponry, and that goddamn SYSTEMatic. So it had followed him, no doubt come to finish the job and make sure there was no way Hardware returned to Dakota. That wasn't happening! This new version of SYSTEM's mech suits may have been unlike any Hardware had ever faced in the past but this wasn't the first time that statement was true, and each time he faced a bigger, badder SYSTEMatic he still managed to put it down. 

With a shout, the woman in the obsidian armor called her citizens to movement. Her guard swarmed the two unwelcome casts while those who were apparent civilians made hastily for exits. Curtis didn't no anything about these aliens but he was thankful for their evacuation, the less possible casualties in the ensuing collateral damage the better - and there was going to be a lot of collateral damage. He was encircled, along with the SYSTEMatic, by the armed guards people in a sort of fight pit, and that suited Hardware just fine. His immediate target was the armored enemy that had landed him in the foreign land, but Hardware was not going to forget that he was just as much an enemy of the locals as the SYSTEMatic was to him.

*HEAP: DEPLOYED* Curtis leveled his arm at the towering robot suit just as it appeared out of its teleportation and fired the explosive armor piercing round. At the same time the woman who had question who he was fired bolts of energy from her barehands. The SYSTEMatic proved quite athletic as it rotated out of the path of both assaults. Curtis clenched his jaws and darted for a different position, which was difficult in the tight circle the aliens held them to. Whoever was operating the other suit of armor locked attention onto one of the guards and sent the man flying. Curtis used the moment to switch his own attention to the SYSTEMatic's back. *Expandable whip: SELECTED* His jetpack sent him up a good twelve feet as the machine used a marble statue like a bat, the alien queen being the ball. Whether she dodged or not was her own business. *Plasma whip: DEPLOYED* The plasma charged whip coiled all around overhead as Hardware's jetpack shut off and let gravity take its course. He came down whipping at the SYSTEMatic's back. The back of the machine was struck as the whip also cracked over its shoulder and slammed into the front of the target. The arm inside of the machine's chest area snagged a hold of Hardware's whip just as he tried to yank it backward. 

Curtis dug his heels into the courtyard stone floor but the SYSTEMatic proved stronger. With a mighty tug of its one Hardware was sent flying over the machine's head only to come crashing back down to the ground where he struck one of the antiques resting upon a pedestal. Marble and clay exploded into debris upon contact, coating Hardware's gray and orange armor in a film of ivory. Curtis didn't stay down long, he flipped off of his back and quickly got to his feet, preparing his omnicannon to fire another one of his HEAP(high explosive armor piercing) shells. Unfortunately, he could not get a good bead on his prime target as the local lifeforms of the party decided to confront him. It was only two of them, while triple that surrounded the SYSTEMatic, telling Hardware just how much they underestimated him. He couldn't just tear through them like he wanted though, these people were simply protecting their own and in their eyes he was no different than the SYSTEMatic decimating their numbers. Also, he had introduced himself as the Devil. Curtis kinda regretted that now.

*Nueral Net: DEPLOYED* The net was cast wide out of Hardware's omnicannon. It effected anything with a nervous system, and those these were not humans Hardware figured they still had some sort of nervous system to work with. Also, given the fact that they weren't humans, Curtis had no clue if they would be affected for the standard time of four minutes or not. Didn't matter, just meant he needed to end this as quickly as possible.

//I didn't bring anything anywhere!// Hardware shouted back at the golden flying woman now that her two guards facing him had been dispatched. 

The SYSTEMatic was working through her ranks at astonishing speed, not even their energized weapons seemed to cause an ill effect against any area of the suit they struck. For a moment Hardware laid back and analyzed, searching and seeking some weakness to be exposed that he would ultimately be able to exploit to defeat the SYSTEMatic. But alas, there were none found. Except when the thing came to attack the Queen. She was powerful as all hell! The oversized mech fist was caught in her own hand, a death grip locking the SYSTEMatic in place, just before she unfurled a thunderous uppercut and sent the thing skyward. 

Hardware capitalized. *HEAP: SELECTED* He lifted his arm high, following the trajectory of the SYSTEMatic, with the aid of DOBIE. *HEAP: DEPLOYED* Compressed air sounded off with a POOM and the sky rocketed after the SYSTEMatic, catching the armor square in the chest just as it began its decent. The HEAP would send it a few feet higher before the SYSTEMatic would resume plummeting once again. Hardware flew up to the Queen and grabbed her arm, probably a terrible idea - but he risked it. //Look, I didn't come here 'cause I wanted to and I'm not with that thing.// Probably a hard sell considering they arrived within seconds of one another and both wore advanced suits of armor. //But it ain't gonna stop coming, so the longer you stay here and try to fight it, the more of your people that thing's gonna try to kill! We gotta go!//

Yeah, he was trying to form an alliance, which wasn't a normal thing for Hardware, but the woman was the only thing that had caused significant enough damage to this new age SYSTEMatic. If there was any weakness for the other armor to be found, it was Komand'r .

Her plans were always ruined. Komand'r took the brief moment that she had to look around at her courtyard, pillars and benches destroyed, statues upheaved, antiques shattered. She could still hear the bustle of her people as they cleared the area, but how far would they need to run? Her gaze shifted to the newcomer as he fired another round of his own missiles at their seemingly mutual opponent. The impact sent him higher still. Then she noticed two of her men, the two who had taken on him as their responsibility, confined, ridged, in a net on the ground behind him. Komand'r's rage flared, eyes gleaming with purple energy, mind flipping through battle scenarios, muscles tensing for a fight- and then he grabbed her arm.

Blackfire, who was still trying to take in the the human man, now next to her, and figure out whether or not she should be weary, was taken aback. Her free arm cocked back on instinct, fist clenched, ready to strike him for his insolence alone. His voice caught her ear and she froze.

If there was anything that would get through to Komand'r at this point, it was the mention of her people. And he was right. She looked at her guardsmen, skin almost as thick as hers and still they rubbed on bruises, sat paralyzed by human contraptions, or were still recovering off the stone floors. Remembering the work that they'd put into building this new city, this new home and it's state of peace, she lowered her fist and turned her attention back to the rocketing war suit.

"You will be questioned and tried, but for now.." Blackfire's eyes set on the horizon, an area just outside of the city that was still overgrown with the luscious forests of Rann. "Keep up."

She took off, soaring towards her target as he began to adjust, his own sort of jet-pack kicking in. Just as he started to right himself, she was on him. Twisting as she neared him, Komand'r let out a powerful war cry as she roundhoused him, heel meeting the charred part of his chest piece that had been struck just moments before by the missile. The force of her strike released a loud crack, sending the beast hurling towards the spot she'd picked earlier. She was after him, speeding through the skies and only taking the briefest glance to make sure that her temporary ally was following her. She watched the metal monster touch down, crashing through trees and boulders until he skidded to a halt in a large oasis, pond bubbling naturally and trees forming a sort of arena around him, the perfect stage for their next act.

Blackfire wasted no time, coming to float above that opening and instantly unleashing a storm of Starbolts. Her hands darted back and forth, conjuring up energy and releasing it just as quickly. Hit them hard, hit them first, it had always been her style. The barrage of bolts had lifted up a sturdy dust cloud that concealed the area below, and although Komand'r was confident in her power, she kept her guard up when she was met with silence. It couldn't possibly be that easy. As if on cue, a tree came rushing towards her out of the dust.


Curtis Metcalf

Curtis felt like he was tucking tail and running away, and it was a feeling that he hated with every fiber of his being. He had never been the type to back down, in fact in was decidedly within his character to chastise anyone who would see running as an objection in the face of adversity. However, the inventor knew deep down that it was just his nagging machismo talking that inspired this sick feeling in his gut. What they were doing wasn't running, they were being smart. It was much wiser to get some distance between them to make it easier to  regroup for a fight that Hardware knew would be coming later. That was all he had to remind himself. He couldn't let his own pride get him killed because he felt the need to prove how tough he was against one of SYSTEM's agents. It was better to regroup and live to fight another day than get himself (and these innocent people) killed for nothing more than ego. Hardware had to remind himself that he wasn't the same old hero that he used to be; the kind that prioritized fighting, vengeance, and violence before anything else. 

To Curtis's surprise though, that wasn't quite what the armored woman had in mind. Distance and regrouping may have come into play but she was clearly every bit of against running away from a fight as Hardware was, because they weren't leaving the fight at all just removing the battle from the current area. Hardware knew that they couldn't escape the SYSTEMatic and while he planned to flee the area he assumed they would be followed and from there they would make their last stand, but it seemed that the woman who led these people had a slightly different idea in mind. She sought to maintain control over their bout and kept a firm grip of the advantage. If they were going to be moving the fight away from where the majority of innocents resided then why leave it up to the villain to chase after them. Curtis supposed he should have thought of that, he would have left things too open to chance and if things had played out as he had visioned it within his own mind then that would have only left the SYSTEMatic with the opportunity to seize hostages and execute lives to draw Hardware out. 

As the ruler's heel struck the metal chest plate of Hardware's enemy he immediately understood that they needed to keep the upper hand if they were going to succeed in stopping the armored assassin. Curtis was thankful twofold; she took his words as truth and resigned to work with him for the time being and also quickly devised a plan that would work well to secure their goals of keeping everyone safe while the two of them took on the SYSTEMatic.

Even floating untethered from the ground below, via jetpack, Curtis could still feel the shockwaves and after affects of the downed SYSTEMatic crashing and skidding across the dirt. He took off through the air after the queen angel, his jetpack roaring as the distance was closed in a relatively short time. Hardware's arrival synced with the ceasing of the Queen's energy blast barrage. The HUD on the Hardware made penetrating the dense cloud of smoke and dirt a breeze for Curtis and gave him a slight edge that the alien did not have, so he was a little less surprised by the tree flying directly at her. //Incoming!// At the speed of thought Hardware's plasma sword was deployed, singing the air as he carved through the length of the tree with the energized blade. The tree split cleanly in half, each side peeling from the other and missing the golden skinned warrior completely.

//You okay?// He was sure she was, but they were aligned now and he needed to make sure she wasn't too rattled at that point. //It moved, I lost track of it when it threw the tree. Keep your eyes peeled...something that big can't just vanish.//

Just then, the SYSTEMatic came erupting out of the dirt. Its large arm swatted at Hardware while its other arm had been reconfigured into some type of large caliber firearm with its barrel pointed square at Blackfire. Curtis snaked his arms around the large mechanical arm that had swung at him and used the momentum of his propulsion to yank the larger suit of armor backward, causing the SYSTEMatic's gun to move off target and thus hopefully create an opening that the Queen could capitalize on.

Komand'r

Komand'r tensed as the tree, ripped by the roots from its home in their land, came hurling towards her. She waited, ready to strike the trunk away from her, or obliterate it into a million splintery pieces, but was surprised when action was no longer necessary. So, the stranger from Earth, who may or may not be responsible for this destruction, was able to keep up with her after all. His plasma sword sliced clean through the tree and his jetpacks kept him elevated near Blackfire. The man in the suit was quick to adapt and ready to fight, two things that Komand'r could appreciate. Eyeing the area below them and beyond, the queen calculated carefully what their next move might be. They weren't far from the end of her peoples territory at this point, which meant that Blackfire couldn't send her opponent on another flight.

Her planning was interrupted by a question that was so... typical. "You okay?"

Blackfire scoffed, taken aback by the caring tone from the stranger. "It takes a lot more than this to shake my reslove." Before their conversation could continue, the enemy erupted from the ground below with speed and strength that impressed even her. She saw the arm coming at her and realized that this creature or contraption also had the ability to transform, a glowing end of a cosmic cannon coming right for her. She readied herself, eyes glistening with solar energy that quickly lit in her palms as well.

Her partner worked quickly, gripping their foe and twisting him off course. This was it. Komand'r took hold of the cannon, directing the blast further away from them while also exposing the already worn chest piece. Burnt and torn from her helpers own blast, dented from the force of her kick and now the perfect spot to come in hot. The heat in her palm came to life, a concentrated beam that struck at the chest piece, hotter and hotter, stronger and stronger. She heard a strange sound that might have been their enemies exclamations as her power slowly tore through it's defenses.

With a last ditch effort, the arm in her hands jerked away, or tried to. Latching on and giving up efforts on her blast, Komand'r twisted the mega suit into an uncomfortable position, arm pinned behind it's back as it let off another harmless blast of it's own.

"Now, the chest! Finish him!"




Curtis Metcalf