In Palintine

[Sargun II]

Palintine.

People in Palintine knew about what had happened in Jerusalem. They knew about what happened in Giza. That the moon was the site of a missile attack or something. That there was a sexy woman in tights flying around the world, and that there was a goddamn dragon. What they didn't know was that they were the next target.

Katrina had been jettisoned out of N-17 in a pod, heading underground for Master Kane. N-17 continued to drill, this time crossing the border into Palintine. Minor tremors filled several cities as he drilled under, heading for the capital city.

[hawk11]

"So that's the situation." The prime minister's minister of defense finished. The prime minister had convened his cabinet in an emergency meeting upon receiving the latest situation report. Something was going to happen.

"So you're telling me that something is drilling its way directly to Hong Kong, and that something might possibly be directly connected to all of the !@#$%^&* going on?"

"Yes." The prime minister slumped back in his chair. Something strange was going on in the world. Reports of giant robots, crystals, and explosions were coming in left and right, not to mention the Dragon Empire's monstrosity. Everything was happening too fast for the prime minister's administration to respond to.

"Defense."

"Our forces has been deployed in Shanghai and here in Hong Kong." The minister of defense said as a tactical map was unwrapped onto the table. Symbols representing Palintine's various armed service branches littered the terrain. "We have air force on standby; their estimated travel time is 3 minutes upon contact."

"Too far away, bring them in," the prime minister responded. "I don't care if they're circling the city."

"Sir, I recommend we evacuate the city."

"Not enough time," the prime minister responded. "Get citizens to whatever shelter they can. For everything else, I trust you. We need to move quicker." The minister of defense swiftly exited the room. The prime minister sighed deeply. Whatever was heading towards the city, Palintine was not ready to respond to it. The armed forces were still in shambles after the strike situation that nearly ended with his own death, and there simply was not enough manpower to protect the city. Seismologists dragged their feet on reporting the increased activity to the highest branch of government, leading to this crisis. The government was unsure of where the rumbling was originating, how strong the source actually was, or where it was heading specifically. The only thing known is that something big is heading towards Hong Kong.

The prime minister massaged his temples as he considered his courses or action. Evacuating the city at this point was, as he had already stated, too little too late. The only thing that could be done was get citizens into whatever shelter they could find. Until whatever it is presents itself, nothing more can be done. The prime minister thought about how much of a headache he had. He had strange headaches for the past few days and terrible dreams; however, he could not quite figure out what was wrong. Every dream was the same. It started with a loud explosion, and then there was chaos. From what he could tell, the prime minister was in rubble. People were in agony all around them, and it was continuing. There were explosions all around, and in the smoke he could see something large, almost demonic. And then he woke up.

Nightmares. Pointless nightmares. It was odd that they were all the same; however, the prime minister figured that after a few therapy sessions, he would be told that it was because his father had abused him or his mother had never hugged him enough, or something equally foolish. The prime minister dismissed the thought and stood from the table and was surprised by sudden head pain. He gasped as he brought his hands to his head.

"Mr. Minister?" The prime minister heard a voice, but it was distant.

Death. Destruction. Misery. Pain. The words flashed through the prime minister's mind, then it seared as if a bomb went off. He couldn't feel any of his limbs, but his head was hyper-sensitive. He felt as if his nerves could feel the very oxygen molecules in the air. Then he felt nothing. Confused, the prime minister slowly opened his eyes, and was shocked to discover he was no longer in the capitol building. He was standing among ruins; it was like the nightmares he was having, only clearer. People were screaming all around him. The dust was barely settling, suggesting that the ruins he was standing in collapsed recently. He looked around. He could see a man covered in rubble shifting his weight trying to get free. He ran to him, but stopped suddenly after getting a good look at him. It was himself.

What the hell? He looked at the man, then he looked at himself. What is going on here? He took another moment to look around. The dust finally settled enough to give him a good view, and he was shocked to discover it was the capitol building. The building seemed like it was split in half, and the conference room that the cabinet was in was directly in the center. Did a bomb go off? The prime minister looked around for signs of an explosion, but he couldn't find anything recognizable. It was like something just ripped through the building. Meanwhile, the prime minister, or himself rather, had managed to dig himself from the rubble and slowly stood. He coughed.

"Hey!" The prime minister yelled as he looked at himself. He didn't respond. "Hey! Who the hell are you?" Still nothing. The prime minister ran to his counter-part. "What is going on here?" He reached out to grab the "prime minister," but fell right through him.

"What!?" The prime minister's mind raced. "What the hell is going on!?" He was apparently a ghost. Is this what having an out-of-body experience is like? The prime minister could not logically explain this situation, and it only got stranger.

"What the hell was that?" The prime minister's counterpart seemed to stare off into the distance as he asked himself this question. Do I really talk out loud to myself like that? The prime minister couldn't help but ask himself this as he watched his counterpart. Suddenly, something materialized seemingly from no where. It was massive, and it fit the description of what his minister of defense had said was causing problems abroad.

Oh my God. The prime minister's mind seared with pain again. He groaned as he grabbed his head and collapsed.

"Mr. Minister?" The prime minister's eyes snapped open. He was in the conference room again. His staff was gathered around him. It was immediately apparent he had collapsed. "Mr. Minister, are you all right?" The prime minister didn't know how to respond. Did he just dream all of that? No, it was too vivid to be a dream. It was a vision.

"Out."

"I'm sorry?" The prime minister's chief-of-staff responded.

"We need to get out of here now!" The prime minister stood from the ground and his staff tried to control him.

"Mr. Minister, we need to get you to a doctor!" The prime minister broke free.

"No! We need to get out of here now!" The prime minister rushed to the wall and pulled the fire alarm. His staff merely stared at him as the alarm began to blare. "GO!" The prime minister barely had time to yell as the ground began to shake. His staff panicked, and the occupants of the conference room quickly began to move to the door. They didn't have enough time to exit before the building exploded.

[Sargun II]

N-17 realized his destination was above him and hurriedly changed course to vertical. Sensors put damage at minimal - only his boosters in his feet wouldn't work now, though that was more due to needing to recharge from having energy cycled through it over nine thousand times. As he was closer to the surface, small tremors would rock the majority of Hong Kong like a small earthquake with negligible effects. The real fireworks would come once he surfaced. As he neared the surface, he slowed exponentially. The tip of the neutrino blade erupted through the first floor of the capital building, into the second, third and fourth. floors before finally stopping.

Morale loss imminent, he thought gleefully to himself. N-17 extended his cannon arm below him and fired a rather small shot, hitting the wall and propelling him upwards. His entire body exploded out of the ground, decimating the building as it did so. The large robot quickly knelt down, placed the neutrino blade at the bottom of a building, and pulled up. Instead of uprooting the building, the entire side touching the neutrino blade vaporized into black dust.

The red eye of N-17 looked down at the assembled small army before him. One of those men was familiar - the Generalissimo. He had been at Jerusalem. What is it with people, following him? Crazy mother$%&@ers.

[Amyante]

Valdis looked at the muscles of her hand as they flexed, giving herself a silent nod. While there was nothing wrong with flexing the muscles of one's hand in itself, in her case she wasn't moving her digits in the slightest. Apparently satisfied, she let her arm fall to the side, looking at the warehouse holding the corpses of what were her latest 'training dummies'. More memories filled her head, new ones and old, sifting through them being one of the first things she had tried to master. Interestingly enough, one of the thugs had known how to make explosives, now she did as well. Taking a deep breath, she decided to get rid of the corpses before leaving.

- "Imber Mortis" (Death Storm)

After the first couple of seconds, all remained quiet. Then, the color of fabric tearing could be heard, and it would soon be clear that the corpses strewn about were inflating rapidly due to buildup of gases, making their clothes tear as bodies bulged. Around ten seconds after casting the spell, the corpses exploded, showering the area in diseased blood and bone fragments. Nodding to herself, Valdis left the storeroom, closing the door behind her with an almost inaudible click.

Feeling her training was done, she walked back to the city to start on her mission to find those with superhuman abilities when the ground started to tremble. Looking down, she tried to pinpoint the source, but was unable to pin it down on a specific spot. Whatever it was, it seemed to be... moving?

[Maelstrom Vortex]

It wasn't long before the Imperial Dragon was blocking out the sun over downtown Hong Kong as it searched for the arriving robot. He let out a long yawn and searched the city with satellites and his own remote scanners.

Seconds later his ai chirped: "Target Acquired. Calculating new encounter strategies. Recommendation.. dump pitch tar tanker over robot.. destroying optics and potentially circuitry..."

He carefully lifted up the nearby tanker and attempted to fly down and crack it open over the head of the robot, but only after shaking its crew out over the open harbor.

Edited July 29, 2009 by Maelstrom Vortex

[Comrade]

Somehwere in the Eastern Mediterranean

Katrina pops out of the pod she was contained in a few hours after her encounter with N17. She stumbles out, her body exposed to severe tiberium exposure. Her eyes could be seen from atleast a mile as they glow violently green. The Weaponized tiberium in hand, she looks around. She has no idea where she is, but for some reason she can sense Temple Prime....Feeling powerful, she attempts to see if she can turn the levitation inward....and does, lifting her off the ground. She flies tword Kotka, Home of Temple Prime and Kane.

[Generalissimo]

Jerusalem Flashback . . . Seismic activity wasn’t getting any better but neither was the battle.

getting slaughtered *static*. . . sir static requesting immediate withdrawa *static*

They are fighting a hopeless losing battle, but they’re not getting out, not until Sarah’s return “Your request is denied, keep fighting.”

What do you want us to do? We’ve fired everything we have at it, we’re out of ammunition and down to twelve men.

Generalissimo replied dispassionately into his radio, “I’ve taken your updated circumstances under consideration, fix bayonets and charge it.”

Generalissimo watched the destruction with moderate irritation, the dense dim-witted beast took Sarah and without the slightest courtesy or consideration leaving him alone in the epicenter of the turmoil. . . Maybe he should lobby ‘them’ to sanction the Dragon, unfortunately the Chairman’s participation is still moderately useful in advancing this phase of the scenario.

At least creature removed Kevin and his shadow before anyone could press for additional answers.

This force was spent, he was going to need more men for Hong Kong. . .

[Generalissimo]

In Hong Kong Generalissimo and several hundred Procinctian soldiers confront a Hong Hong Police CIB bureaucrat amidst the disaster.

“I am Generalissimo - yes that Generalissimo - and as authorized by World Congress Security Council emergency resolution zero I’m taking command of the situation; if you have any concerns, complaints, or questions feel free to present them to the World Congress Organization.

Don’t look so surprised, I convinced the World Congress Security Council to appoint me supreme commander of upcoming allied forces for the upcoming battles. . . When I need to commandeer your men and equiptment, I might try to let you know.”

Edited July 29, 2009 by Generalissimo

[Generalissimo]

The red eye of N-17 looked down at the assembled small army before him. One of those men was familiar - the Generalissimo. He had been at Jerusalem. What is it with people, following him? Crazy mother$%&@ers.

Generalissimo looked back into the gaze of this mechanical monstrosity’s red eye and playfully waved to the death machine.

“Forward units open fire on the giant robot, five rounds rapid.

All armored units are to immediately advance from the right, cover infantry rear flanking operations.

All police units are instructed to maintain support of civilian evacuations.

we can do this, bring that ambiguously human-shaped-machine-thing down,”

Generalissimo’s force of tanks, infantry, and artillery simultaneously open fire on N-17. . . the machine is engulfed in cloud of dust and fire.

Did we get it?

Edited July 29, 2009 by Generalissimo

[hawk11]

OOC: I know this is an alternate-reality sidestory, but how the hell did you get a brigade in my country?

[Generalissimo]

OOC: I know this is an alternate-reality sidestory, but how the hell did you get a brigade in my country?

An unstoppable giant killer robot attacking is Hong Kong, would anyone complain about a few extra hundred soldiers entering the city to fight it?

Generalissimo unilaterally declaring himself ground commander should probably be an issue of great contention, someone should call him out on it.

Edited July 29, 2009 by Generalissimo

[hawk11]

An unstoppable giant killer robot attacking is Hong Kong, would anyone complain about a few extra hundred soldiers entering the city to fight it?

Generalissimo unilaterally declaring himself ground commander should probably be an issue of great contention, someone should call him out on it.

OOC: Actually, I'm sure my ground forces there will probably just ignore him.

[Sargun II]

OOC: Or you could post like you bugged me to do for an entire day.

[Comrade]

Temple Prime

Kotka, Molakia

Katrina lands with a nice thud just outside the Temple. Kane is waiting for her, a look of worry on his face.

"My Child it is good to see you alive. After the plane was destroyed...we had no idea what happened to you." Kane says, opening his arms to Katrina. She smirks and throws the Weaponize Tiberium at him. His eyes go wide as he realizes what that is.

"This...This is Weaponized! Where did...."

"I got it from the Robot N17. I believe its time we forged an alliance....."

Kotka AFB

Several Brotherhood of Molakia Agents, with Kane and Katrina in tow, Board one of the Brotherhoods C130s, Modified with Jet Engines to increase its speed. The Brotherhoods target? Palintine, namely Hong Kong.

[Subtleknifewielder]

Having no clue of the events transpiring in the Asian nation, the Elementalist nevertheless needed to stop somewhere, if only to find something to eat and a place to rest before crossing the ocean. He was not in Palintine, but he was in the region.

OOC: Needed an excuse to go either way, whether I choose to participate in this thread or not.

[Maelstrom Vortex]

It was getting agitated, the humans were moving slow as sap down a tree in winter compared to the processing rates of its mind.

[Sargun II]

He carefully lifted up the nearby tanker and attempted to fly down and crack it open over the head of the robot, but only after shaking its crew out over the open harbor.

N-17 ducked and watched the tanker speed by. He raised his cannon, set it on the lowest possible setting and fired at the tanker almost instantaneously, shattering it into shards of green metal.

Generalissimo’s force of tanks, infantry, and artillery simultaneously open fire on N-17. . . the machine is engulfed in cloud of dust and fire.

Dust, fire, earth, steam, lead - it all shrouded N-17 for about fifteen seconds as nothing moved. The sheer amount of weaponry fired created such a large amount of dust that the Procintian troops were unable to see through it. N-17, however, could. He sent out the most direct EMP he could find, directed at the Procintian troops, then leaped over them and landed behind them. N-17 watched as the heavy weapons were unable to be fired, and a side cannon came out of his left arm. A metallic jarring shook the ground as N-17 let out what could only be described as laughter: heavy streams of flame spewed from his arm, engulfing the Procintian troops and settling ablaze an entire city block.

[Maelstrom Vortex]

He thundered, "Damnit robot. will you stop tearing things apart already?"

[Sargun II]

He thundered, "Damnit robot. will you stop tearing things apart already?"

N-17 stopped flaming Hong Kong when he heard this, then jumped to the top of the nearest building and watched as it started crumbling beneath his feet. N-17 gave a robotic, one-eyed blink and quickly leapt off onto the sky in the direction of Maelstrom, his blade exposed and slashing at the dragon.

[Maelstrom Vortex]

The chairman's senses were on N-17 the whole time and reacted with appropriate speed and precision as he danced to the right of the oncoming blade. He left a foot out in the path of the robot, hoping to trip the robot with its own momentum... if it still had not landed and were not running by the time it was going by.. he would simply let it fly by. He grabbed at one the giant wires on its sword arm as it passed, hoping to rip it free and hoping it would disable that arm. In that attack some of the nanobots on his arm would attempt to leap across onto the robot as it passed beneath his limb.

Edited July 31, 2009 by Maelstrom Vortex

[Sargun II]

The wire snapped immediately - but the force of the rip propelled a single nanobot up and off onto N-17's head. N-17 flew through the air and stopped in the middle of an intersection, his momentum dragging him through the ground and two entire blocks, leaving a scar in the middle of the city. "You are not attempting to fight?"

[Maelstrom Vortex]

He stared at N-17, "it is very possible.. I have already won." He soared skywards into the heavens and stayed at high altitude. He had the advantage he needed now. He took direct control of the nanobot and told it to access any part of the machine where it can find a crevice on its scale.. which should be just about anywhere there is a joint. If necessary, it would travel down the optic wires.. trying to find the entities neural cortex.

[Sargun II]

Unfortunately, the robot was not made with any sort of 21st century technology in mind. The nanobot fruitlessly scurried across the robot in vain. "Your technology is inferior." A single shock pulsed across the robot, and the nanobot fell off the robot onto the ground. "What is your purpose in attacking me? My m.. you are simply delaying the inevitable. Humanity is a lost species!"

[Maelstrom Vortex]

It chuckled, "Humanity is not lost. It is just immature. Your master? I am your master?" Logic failures ensued in the processing centers. "What the hell?"

[Sargun II]

"Logic failures are most likely ensuing in your processing centers," N-17 would have smiled if he could. As Maelstrom was momentarily distracted, the robot started spinning like a drill - he was heading beneath the surface again. Six seconds later, he demolished a subway line and was drilling underneath the city just as he did in Jerusalem.