Across the threshold: Tickling the Dragon's tail 02

Across the threshold: Tickling the Dragon's tail 02

In the Sub headquarters later in the afternoon, Chipp and Bartch sat across Dr Karka and Mordecai in the interrogation room giving each other odd glances  "So, Dr Karka," Chipp started, "Let's start off with this Wonder wall effect, It prevents aging?" "Yes," Karka answered, "to be more accurate, it slows cellular aging, I do not know for how long, but as long as that adapter is in his skull, he could theoretically live forever if he wanted to." "Umm," Mordecai said "That's not correct." "Huh?" Karka asked. "The cores do prevent aging, but they don't make people immortal. It just has the ability to improve the life cycle of any being it binds to." "Mordecai," Bartch asked, "can you tell us all about this Requiem Energy." After explaining the situation of the energy's discovery Mordecai said, "After the accident our department was forced to develop for the military branch for our government because this discovery had brought us into conflict with two massive superpowers that rose after some civil war. During development, Verdian, you may know him as Verdtrus, oversaw the project when he worked for the Jewels at the time." "He worked for the Jewels? I thought they were just a defense force like ours." "Oh some of them are just government mooks like Beowulf but others like Xibalba, another member of the Jewels, are the overseers and higher ups within Lightbringers Inc." "And Verdian worked with these people?" Chipp asked. "Yes." Mordecai answered, "He only left because he found out that Lightbringers Inc. wanted to wipe out half of the universe." "Oh my." Dr Karka commented, "You didn't mentioned this before." "Well Doctor, being in that stasis pod can mess with the mind. Why was I there in the first place?" "You suffered immense damage in your crash so we had to find a way to repair you while you slept. Honestly I didn't expect your cells to repair themselves on their own so we kept you there in case of a tumor." "That does not make a lick of sense. Mordecai, if you can possibly live for a really long time, why does you want to remove this core?" "Because the Jewels will kill me if they find me. I don't know how it ended up in my skull, but after what I went through, I just want to leave it all." Chipp and Batch looked at each other and the former said, "I wouldn't worry about the Jewels, Beo assured us he won't attack you. In the mean time, we'll set you up with a place to live until this whole event blows over." "He can stay with me tonight." Karka explained, "I'll rent a hotel room tonight." "I'll stay anywhere as long as Beo is far away." Mordecai said "By the way, where is he?"

Meanwhile in a restaurant called the Desert Condor, two certain occupants sat starring at each other. "So, what's your plan, keep me away from Mordecai until this debacle is over?" Beo said as he sat across Chase. "Not really." Chase answered, "Chipp's just wants me to keep an eye on you in case you try something funny." "Funny? You tried to to use me as a bargaining chip." Beo pointed out. "What do you want, an apology?" "Yes," Beo answerd picking up the menu,  "but also I want to know why you brought me to this place." Chase sighed and said, "This place has strong ties to the CPDF ever since it's inception, plus the discounts we get during lunch hour, but I have questions of my own." "So," Beo said leaning back, "any recommendations?" "The Tamales are good." Chase answered "But I usually get the brisket." "Oh, just for curiosity's sake where do the meat comes from?" "That's not meat," Chase explained, "Scientists create plants that have the qualities and proteins of meats, but tastes plain though." "So you're a planet of just plant eaters?" "No we have lifestock, exported from Earth and others planets from out system, but it is higher price, hence the plant meat." "So about the dragon in the base," Beo started before Chase said, "Mordecai is a important part in this investigation and he is due for a surgery." "I know, but he did finish the F.U.Z.O.R. for Verdtrus, meaning he's culpable for Verstus' future actions. After this whole thing ends, what will happen to him?" "We'll cross that bridge when we cross it." "If," Beo said, "asside from the nine screwballs to catch and potentially an entire milita to worry about." "Maybe, anyway the waitress is coming you should choose quick."

After ordering and the waitress left, the two resumed their conversation. Chase said, "Back in the Caleum, Wisey reported that when he and James found Mordecai, there was a garuda there." "Mordecai's girlfriend?" "No." Chase answered "Another, apparently the same one from the laughing gungan." "Oh, the place where you met Lugh and Rox." Beo said taking a swig of beer. "Yeah, well if Wisey is correct, he may have found himself a F.U.Z.O.R." After almost spewing his drink, Beo demanded "WHAT!? There was only one prototype!" "Apparently the knights had backups for some reason," Chase said drinking his beer, "all I know is that guy could be their ace in the hole. Any ideas of what we are dealing with here?" Beo just sat there before suddenly distant flash occurred in his head. Seeing Beo put a hand to his head, Chase asked, "What is it?" "Something's here." Beo said, "I think we better mobilize."

30 minutes later in the Sub HQ, Batch explained pointing to a tact board with everthing they had on the Knights including photos and detailed diagrams of the 14 Jewels, the theoretical relationship between the Requiem Knights and the Red Dragon army and the places attacked by the two groups. In front of him sat the other agents with Beo in ithe back. "So these 14 Jewels," Bartch explained, "are a group of 14 individuals that are high in Earth Gaia's military. From what Beo had told us, the knights were supposed to be prototypes for this G Zero fella before Verdtrus turned them to his side. So far we can confirm that besides Verdtrus, there are eight other knights and several of them we already faced." Hoot pointed to the confirmed members of the group and then to the photos of the Requiem Chips saying, "Apparently these chips are key to the knight's power and so far we collected about 9 out of 24 of these chips. Judging from their reliance of these chips, they-" "What about the new guy, Voidmond?" Wisey asked, "He has the device that Morcedai has made for the knights." "Oh that." Bartch said, "I was moving to him later on. Anyway these knights relied on the Chips as their main power source for their devices these metamorphers, so if we focus on targeting their devices we should be able to cancel their transformation." "Okay, so what about the constructs?" Scott asked, "And those three guys from earlier, they seemed to be similar to combat commanders from the five years war and the cyborgs we fought recently in the last few months." "(Yeah that theatre guy was weird!)" Q commented before noticing Katie giving him a look causing him to shut up. After this Bartch sighed and continued, "The ones we fought in Gash and Caleum seemed to be part of this resurgence of the Red Dragon army. The last three resurgences we dealt with before were remnants from the Genesis Incident were admittedly small in scale, with small militas led by beings similar to these combat commanders." "Who are the combat commanders?" James asked Wisey who said, "You know those guys Scott and Q faced in the court yard?" "The hulk hogan guy from before?" James answered. "No, the other guys. They're like them but from the war time." Wisey answered.  "Ohhhh," James said as Batch continued, "Fortunately, we may have managed to stop them in almost every occasion but this is new." Getting up, Hoot pulled out "Well we tracked their ship over to the continents of North and South Atlantia." "(So,)" Q said,"(all we need to do is march over to another continent, stop the bad guys and their ship, and return home, right?)" "Well...," Hoot said putting a hand behind his neck.

"It's not that simple," Batch explained, "You see, if you're following the news recently, there is a conflict between the two cites that sit near the border, Calama and Boreelus. The only reason why we were able to head to Dirsh in the first place is that Shiro asked for us to come. In order to head to a place like North or South Atlantia, we need to get specific permission to go there by the Head Chief." "Wait!" Beo said, "You're a government funded organization, don't you have free reign to go wherever you want?" "No." Katie said getting up, "It is true that the organization we work for, The Cross Planetary Defense Force, is funded by the government, but we don't exactly have the authority to go anywhere we like. Each country in Formera, our continent, is two to three squads that go around and serve as investigators and the first line of defense when we need to in times of trouble." "(Which is all the time.)" Q Commented before Matt elbows him.  "We have chiefs that we answer to that monitors the CPDF squads and make sure that we do our jobs right." "And all the Chiefs answer to the head chief."  Chase explained, "He choses if we deploy out of continent or not. Otherwise, we would have to get the approval of at least half of the chiefs to deploy.  Fortunately,  I know the head chief personally. I'll see if I can get us an appointment." Chase then pulled out his phone and left the room as the others watched. "Well depending on Chase's track record, I'm sure we can get the approval from the Head Chief in no time." "Why?" Beo asked, "Is he the Head Chief's personal lapdog." Suddenly Q laughed, causing Beo to be confused. "What?" Beo asked as Chipp walked up to him, explaining, "No, Chase is not his lapdog he's the head Chief's son."

Meanwhile.....

Meanwhile in the Medical room, Tarrot stood as Chromdraco finished cleaning the wound on Verdtrus's back. "Don't worry it's just a bur- OW!" Verdtus said as Chromdraco bandaged his back. "Horseapples! You were shot in the back!" "Verdtrus," Tarrot said, "about Voidmond, where did Tameron and Twin Drake find him again?" "In Ga'Hoot street. OW! Why?" "He used the bracelet." "What?" Verdtrus asked getting up only to groan. "Don't move!" Chromdraco said "What's this about a bracelet?"  "Voidmond used it to mass produce 4 copy F.U.Z.O.R.s. " Verdtrus said to himself,  "I see...." Turning up to Flip, Verdtrus asked, "Flip, where's Voidmond?" 

Earlier, exiting the med room, Voidmond walked down the hall only for Kaiser to appear from behind a door and throw the false garuda into the room's floor . "What-!?" Voidmond stated gettting up but Kaiser placed a foot on his chest forcing him down. "Easy!" Kaiser stated, "I heard you talk trash of my friends earlier." "Did that overgrown terrier, Tarrot taddle on me?" Voidmond asked grinning, "Or did you eavesdrop on us?" "Answer B." Kaiser answered, grabbing Voidmond by the collar of his shirt, "Look pal, I saved your buddies back in Gash! We've done nothing to you guys!" "Sorry." Voidmond said, "But I must fulfill my mission." "I know," Kaiser said setting him down, "to kill this G Zero guy right?" "Not my mission exactly." Voidmond said "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." "Try me." Kaiser said, "Let's take this outside!"

"Chromdraco sent him to get bandages from storage ." Flip answered, "I'm sure he's coming back." "He claims to be from the future as an herald to a group of concerned people, the eight immortal generals he called them." "Eight immortal generals? *sigh* I should have spoken with him sooner, Tarrot get him over here, I want to have a word with him!" "Yes sir!" Tarrot said, and turning to Flip, he said, "Stay here. Just to be safe." Flip nodded and Tarrot left as Bakore rose up. "Your awake." Chromdraco said, "How are you feeling?" "Like (censored)." Bakore said and seeing Verdtrus' bandages he asked, "What did I miss?" "A milita attacked us earlier." "Wait, I thought we already got out of danger." "Well no rest for the wicked." Chromdraco said, after finishing dealing with Verdtrus's wounds, allowing the said leader to sit up. "He was talking with Tarrot about Voidmond." Hearing the fake garuda's name, Bakore tensed. Catching this, Verdtrus asked, "What is it?" "It's nothing," Bakore said. "No, I can tell if someone is bothered, what happened?" Reluctantly Bakore said, "The (censored) knows my first name." "What?" Verdtrus asked, "Did you tell him?" "No, he some how knew." Bakore answered, "Something's going on with this jerk!" After thinking about it, Verdtrus stated "Tarrot told me that he's a time traveler working with some unknown group. I already sent Tarrot to fetch him so he can explain himself. " "Yeah," Bakore shrugged unconvinced, "what could possibly go wrong?"

Outside, the Grendel had parked over a rock quarry. Below stood both Kaiser and Voidmond stood across each other in said rock quarry as a fog passed through. "This is a waste of time you know." Voidmond stated, putting on his  copy F.U.Z.O.R. "Is your boss okay with this?" "She will." Kaiser said, putting out his silver belt before revealing the Replication Bracelet, "Besides if you win, I'll let you use this." Voidmond seeing this, shrugged said, "Fine. If you insists. METAFUZE!" Kaiser smirked and called out "CHANGE FORM." As Voidmond extended his hands droning sound from the F.U.Z.O.R. echo through the quarry, Kaiser's belt, the X-injector, began it's own droning loop, higher pitched while Kaiser placed  a hand on the nob and pushed it causing the belt to scream out "X -INJECT! TROOPER!" The two then flashed as their respective armors enveloped their bodies. Seeing Kaiser's armor, Voidmond stated, "Primitive, must be a prototype. Your move ."  After a few quiet seconds, Kaiser then charged at Voidmond in incredible speed. Surprised by this Voidmond dodged Kaiser's punch by quickly swaying to the left side. Stumbling, Kaiser quickly turned but Voidmond punched him in the helmet, sending him falling on his rear. Placing a foot on his chest, Voidmond leaned and asked matter of fact manner "Did I win?" As a blue aura covered his body, Kaiser sent a surge of energy at Voidmond,  causing the humonculi to fall off the ceasarian. The quickly getting on his feet, Kaiser stated raising his arms, "No we're just getting started!" Also getting up Voidmond commented to himself, "This is my first real battle in since getting this body I'll have to play defensive for now." Seeing Voidmond switching a defensive stance, Kaiser produces two blue blades and slashed at the humonculi. Catching the blades, Voidmond crushed them and kicked the young attacker in the chest. The young ceasarian then got up and tried to reach for the F.U.Z.O.R. but the humonculi grabbed the ceasarian's arms and threw him off. "What the heck!?" Kaiser demanded, but he then thought 'Wait! He's going on defensive! I just need to smash through that shield with more power!'

As Tarrot walked down the quarry beneath the Grendel he noticed the aura emitted by Kaiser and pulled out his metamorpher saying "What the heck is going on?" As Kaiser's aura grew stronger as he readied his next move. "What is this?" Voidmond said to himself "Where did this aura come from!?" Suddenly a white speck caught his eye, distracting him long enough for Kaiser to bash into him. Flying through the air, Voidmond slammed into the cliff side and landing hard onto a pile of rocks, canceling his transformation and causing his F.U.Z.O.R. to dissipate into rusty dust. Running up to Voidmond who was getting up, Kaiser asked with a hand out "I win! Hey? Are you okay?" "Yeah, I'll live." Voidmond said, "Why did you make me fight you?" "To test our mettle." Kaiser stated pulling up , "That's all." He then tossed the bracelet to Voidmond saying, "I am willing to forgive what you guys said, as long as you tell me everything. Is that cool?" "VOIDMOND!" Tarrot called out, catching their attention "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!?" Turning to each other Voidmond whispered, "Fine! But let me speak with Verdtrus first!" "Got it!" Kaiser said as Tarrot reached them.

Meanwhile Flip entered into one of the bathrooms of the Grendel and in front of the mirror pulled off his hood, revealing a mechanical face with organic bits. "Huh," Flip said scanning his face, "still the same." Grabbing a tube from his pocket, Flip squirted the contents and started to rub the fleshy bits on his face when he heard the door open. Turning to the door he saw Tavo in his black feathered garuda form the doorway eyes wide open. "I'll leave you to whatever your doing. Sorry." Tavo said before closing the door. "See ya." Flip said waving as the garuda left.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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