The Return of the King

[Lord Zephyr]

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Matthew stood in front of one of his new tables, this one displaying the combat drills of some of his troops in the combat simulator while Anya, his AI, floated nearby waiting for a command. He took a deep breathe in through his nose and let it out through his mouth. It was serene moments like this where everything was in harmony that made him happiest. His base under Kampala had grown to massive proportions, almost as massive as the city itself. He had a city full of people solely devoted to him. Since receiving the funding of Abraham's nation he was able to build four reactors able to power his massive complex and all the equipment inside. The base itself was impenetrable to anything less than an eighty megaton nuke, and it would have to get through the city and Lake Victoria to even touch the roof of the facility. His scientists worked round the clock to develop new weapons and items for him. His workers expanded the base further every day moving supplies around and building new equipment for his scientists and factories to build that equipment. His soldiers trained every day to enforce his and whomever he chooses rule.

Something was still missing, however. His smile slowly faded as he thought, thought back to when he was first approached by the now dead Emperor Zephyr. The only person to recognize his true potential, he had come with his curious guard captain Merlin and together they had sewn a picture of the world they wanted to see that was so beautiful he had signed on almost immediately. One condition, in between developing weapons for Novous he would be allowed funding for his own personal project. His quest for immortality. It had been many years since then and Matthew had managed to increase his lifespan significantly. He was now immune to all biological diseases and would recover quicker than any other human from wounds. Thats if anything could get to him through his personal shield. It was a long and painful process, but worth it. He now had much more time to complete his research.

But recently that research had stifled. With Abraham on his side he had managed to work out a similar deal. Currently, however, most of his research was being devoted to lower class technology that could be mass produced for use in GPnS. Unfortunately laser shooting helicopters were rather expensive to build unless you steal the resources. Which is how he came across much of his initial wealth admittedly, but it was a dangerous business as he could only steal from the top technology nations and they typically had better security systems for their high tech stuff than others. So here he stood, at a crossroads.

He could of course easily take out General Lincoln, he was in charge of the security force after all. But he did not want to rule himself, he had done enough of that while Grand Inquisitor of the Temple Lands. It took up too much of his time. He needed somebody else to take Abrahams place. Someone who would let him work on what he wanted to work on and not hound him for technology all the time. A thought occurred.

"Perhaps... Anya bring up the files on that nephew of Zephyrs, what was his last known location?"

A pause, then "Kergeulen Islands sir. The Emperor took him there to climb the mountains I do believe. After the fall we have had no reports of his location from anyone. With no home or nation to call his own as the heir of the Zephyr crown-"

"Thats fine Anya, I don't need assumptions. Can we contact him?"

"Yes sir, I'm sending a dispatch to investigate but it seems they took shelter with an old friend of Zephyrs who had previously owned the Kergeulens. If they find him there I will inform you and proper arrangements can be made to have him meet you I assume?"

"Yes, thats all Anya."

Anya's hologram disappeared, and with that Matthew felt that serene feeling again.

[Lord Zephyr]

[b]Kerguelen Islands, 12:00 AM[/b]

Two shadows crept along the ground on the mountainous main island of the Kerguelen archipelago just outside of the Port aux Français. As they crested the nearest peak they got their first glimpse of what they were looking for. One took out his binoculars and a voice recorder and transmitter.

"Target sighted, it appears to be a castle built into the mountain side, small and well camouflaged." The shadow keyed the zoom on the binocular and more details became clear. "Well guarded with what fits the description of the royal guard. I'd say this is what we're looking for. Marking location for future reference. Moving on to next possible target."

As the shadows moved down from the peak something caught one of their attentions, "What was that?" one motioned with his hand. "Go check it out." came the return hand signal. The first shadow unholstered his silenced pistol and moved up while the other found some cover. The one behind cover waited for the all clear. And waited... He moved his position several times, once he was satisfied his partner had been captured he started to leave. And thats when everything went dark...

[b]Inside Castle Zephyr, 3:00 AM, Kerguelen Islands[/b]

Three men in what looked like crystal armor walked up to a man in a chair sitting by a fire, two carrying unconscious men dressed in light altering suits that have been disabled, one carrying the equipment the two unconscious men once carried. The man in the chair looked young, around 28. His hair was brown and medium in length, his face handsome, and wearing similar armor to the guards. His armor having more flair and design with no rank on his shoulder, instead a golden crown. "Sire we caught these two snooping around the ranges with these." The lead royal guard said while displaying the equipment for the sire to see.

"Very good Lieutenant. Now lets see where these two came from, Merlin can you identify them or am I going to have to send them to Allyn?" The man sitting in the chair said to a very tall and armored man standing behind the chair to his right. His hair was black, eyes blue, and wearing the same armor as the guards with one exception, the rank on his shoulder was the mark of the captain.

"No theres no need Alexander, these are Matthews men and equipment no doubt. Question is what does he want with you now? That I would send to Allyn." Merlin replied.

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A floating monitor appeared out of a maintenance duct and started talking to Alexander and Merlin. "Theres no need for that either. I monitored these men when then came to the Kerguelens. When your para dropped in you tend to attract a lot of attention. Shall I contact Matthew and ask him why he's sending spies at you?"

"No need Allyn I figured we'd just show up on his front doorstep with our battalion of Royal Guards and ask him politely." Alexander said with a grin.

The monitor floated there for a few seconds, "This is another one of those times I can't discern if your being sarcastic or not."

"I'm serious, lets go."

"Well it will take a while to get the jets ready and loaded, also a few questions. Are we politely knocking on his front door or para dropping in? And do you want me to bring Syphyx and Jynnyfyr along as well?"

"Politely, and Syphyx would be a nice surprise, but leave Zhenyfyr here. I don't want to endanger her."

"Sure risk [i]my[/i] love and not yours," the monitor sighed, "very well. We'll have the jets ready for take off in a few hours, we'll be in Grassy Plains N' Such before lunch."

[Lord Zephyr]

[b]4:00 AM, Grassy Plains N Such, Kampala underground research facility[/b]

"Matthew, we've lost contact with the group we sent to investigate the Zephyr heir."

Matthew, who had been asleep previously, rose out of his bed and moved to a console next to his door. "Very well then, that means they found him. If he's anything like his father security would be crazy. Perhaps enough to kill or capture my troops. If this is true then he's probably going to come here, in which case I will need to make preparations." The door opened and he stepped through it. "Anya I would like you to ready my jet, I'm going to Nairobi in a few hours."

"Of course sir."

[b]Some time before lunch[/b]

Zak Brafle was a lieutenant in the GPNS Air Force, he'd found himself a nice desk job at the Nairobi Military Complex monitoring radar and air traffic around the military base. An important job, but none the less considered "safe" from actual combat scenarios as GPNS hadn't been in a war since its founding despite threatening it several times. Unfortunately GPNS wasn't a very large nation and it didn't have the luxury of a buffer zone between the capital and any invasion force. Its allies used to be its buffer, but Aether Empire collapsed and despite how much Abraham wanted to he couldn't move into the area and officially claim it, though ten thousand troops are still there along with the general Tanzania area.

It was from the south in those territories he heard the first reports, several groups jets flying at high speeds, too fast to intercept. Panicked he called his commander who then reported it to Abraham. Shortly after this message was received.

"This is Alexander Zephyr, I'm here to discuss with Matthew Kayne and any other leader here about some issues that need to be addressed.

No need to clear an LZ, we'll be para dropping in, though our planes would like some place to land eventually."

[b]On one of the jets.[/b]

"Alexander why must you change plans at the last second?" Merlin sighed as he put on a parachute backpack.

"Because, my legs we're getting stiff sitting on our jets here, and besides, wheres the fun in requesting a place to land and having to wait for hours for them to clear a runway." Alexander replied.

"Right, because para jumping into the capital city of a possibly hostile nation is 'fun'."

"Quit your bickering Merlin."

"Merlin is right you know, they could always decide you aren't worth talking to and shoot us down." The owner of that voice wore a white coat, slightly resembling a cross between a lab coat and a trench coat. He had dirty blond hair and a devilish grin. On his head there was some sort of metal instrumentation covering his right forehead and ear with a lens over his eye. First impressions rate anywhere from foolish child to mad genius.

"Allyn you need to stop worrying, Matthew wanted to see us obviously or he wouldn't have seeked us out."

"You don't know that, he could just have wanted to keep an eye on you for one of his schemes to figure out immortality."

A girl entered the hanger from the cabin, her hair was red with black roots and hung long on the sides of her face touching her shoulders on the front, bangs just above the eyes, and in the back going down to her neck. Her face slightly angular, eyes blue, and a blue heart tattoo on her left cheek. She was slender, but most definitely not skinny. "Are we there yet? I can't wait to say high to my daddy." She gave wide grin that showed all of her teeth, which changed to look something similar to sharks teeth and she put her right hand up, showing her fingers extend into long red katana shaped blades.

"You could always parachute down with us Syphyx." Alex remarked

"Oh please, if I wanted to go down with you I would just fly down, I have no need for your silly parachutes. That and I don't want to go down with you anyway, if they start shooting at you at least I'll have a chance up here with Allyn."

Merlin chuckled, "Says the girl who can absorb bullets."

"Shush Merlin it still hurts to take the hits y'know."

Alex rolled his eyes and activated his helmet radio, "To all troops this is your king, theres an open field next to the capitol building, aim for that when your landing. Jump On my mark." He paused for three seconds while he caught his breath. "MARK!" And he jumped out of the plane.

[b]On the ground[/b]

Abraham was furious. "Get John here NOW. I want him to explain how it is now raining soldiers on MY CAPITOL BUILDING." Several soldiers scrambled around to different COM stations, a few ran out the door, but all was unnecessary as Matthew, or John as Abraham was around troops who didn't know Matthews identity, appeared soon after the statement was made.

"Abraham, it seems we have guests, let us go out and greet them shall we?" Matthew said with an innocent smile on his face. This just made Abraham angrier.

[b]Outside of capitol building[/b]

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It was hard to land a battalion of soldiers in form, fortunately the capitol building at Nairobi had a very large plaza. Despite the difficulty Merlin and his ten lieutenants on the Royal guard managed to land within twenty meters of the king. Once they were in formation around him Alexander marched towards the capitol entrance. Abraham and his own entourage of soldiers and Matthew in their own body armor walked towards Alexander, they met somewhere in between the middle and the capitol building.

"Might I ask what your doing landing soldiers in my capitol city?"

"For one thats your own fault, you could have easily shot us down before we made it here. As for what I'm doing here you should ask Matthew there, he's the one who sent spy's to my home in the Kerguelens, I'm just responding in kind to that cause."

Abraham turned his furious gaze onto Matthew, "You know the meaning of this?"

"Why yes Abraham I do, though I wasn't expecting a response this quickly or, ah, vigorously." He smiled again, the same arrogant smile someone might give when scolding a child about a silly question. "Lets take this to a closed room shall we?"

Edited January 28, 2011 by Lord Zephyr

[Lord Zephyr]

[b]Inside the Capital Building[/b]

It was awkward for the troops defending Abraham and Matthew to mingle with the Royal Guards charged with defending Alexander and his entourage. Commander Jihara, one of the few Commanders of the Experimental squadron that wasn't one of Matthews troops, felt that awkwardness tenfold when he was called upon to be Abraham's escort and guard for the meeting. If he had it his way all the guards on either side would be waiting out side and separated, but Alexander had insisted on bringing at least his guard captain, that mysterious Merlin guy, and thus allowed Abraham to choose one of his own.

He stood behind Abraham and Matthew in full body armor, guns not at the ready, but that meant nothing. He was sure that Merlin could pull out his weapon as fast as he could. It was a matter of keeping the peace so that it wouldn't come to that standoff.

A thing that bothered him was Matthew. Yes he founded the program that made him into what he is today, but the way that his mentors taught him and how they talked of Matthew. It was almost as if they revered him as a god. He also had limited knowledge of the things that Matthew was doing down at the Kampala research base. There was some serious tech stored there, which made him wonder what tech Matthew had on him at that moment, and how it could affect a situation that might arise. It didn't help that he had been told personally by Abraham to watch Matthew and that it was rumored he was the cause of this turmoil. On that thought Jihara shifted his hand to have just the slightest easier access to his pistol and adjusted his angle so that he could aim at Matthew quicker than anyone else.

The meeting began with Abraham, "Alexander, I understand that you are the heir to the Zephyr title. Matthew has told me a lot about you and your uncle, and of course your father." For just a fraction of a second Alexander's neutral expression faltered, but it quickly reset itself. "While I am in admiration of your uncles accomplishments I am in wonder of what you could possibly be doing here, now?"

Alexander smiled a bit, as if the question was funny, "Ask Matthew, I came here to find out what he wanted."

The eyes in the room focused on Matthew, Matthew sat in his chair fingers intertwined and elbows resting on the armrests. A smirk plastered on his face. "I was hoping to convey this to you in a more sophisticated manner, but it seems that I underestimated the fortitude of your defenses and thus you caught my specially trained troops. To put it bluntly, I wanted to give Alexander the country. You see Abraham I have goals of my own, and the things you want me to do are just getting in the way. The deal was, and now is, that you Abraham will give the country to Alexander or face both his and my wrath, and that you Alexander, in exchange for a country, will give me free reign to do whatever I want with my research."

Jihara's eyes were wide and he immediately pulled out his pistol and pointed it at Matthews head and yelled, "Traitor!" Merlin drew his Revolver and pointed it at Jihara. Matthew just sat there, nearly laughing at the incident. "You think you can kill me boy? I created you. I've created much more than you. You couldn't hurt me even if you tried. None of you could. Put the gun down so we can resume this discussion."

Abraham stood and touched Jihara's shoulder. "It's fine son, theres no need to start a gun fight here." Jihara looked at Abraham through his visor, nodded and stowed his weapon. Merlin took a little longer, lingering the aim of his revolver on Matthew before he put it away. Jihara noted that Merlin didn't adjust his helmet from the direction of Matthew. [i]Does he know something that I don't?[/i] he thought.

Abraham turned to Matthew, "Unfortunately I saw something like this coming from you. Its a pity, I had thought that we had become friends over the years." He looked at Alexander and sighed. "I studied your uncle as much as I could, I admired him and his policies. He showed that man truly can resist the corruption of absolute power, I hope that you were taught with the same ideals. I will relinquish control of the country to you under the condition that I can stay as a Minister of Foreign Affairs. I never had the desire to actually lead people, I only wanted to make the lives of them better. I think I've accomplished that. You have a different drive, one that I do not have that allows you to act with decision that an absolute ruler requires."

Alexander nodded and Abraham sat down. Jihara re assumed his position behind Abraham, closely guarding him from anything Matthew may attempt. Alexander stood now and looked at Abraham.

"I thank you Abraham, you are truly honorable. What is a kind without his fief hmm? My uncle did teach me those ideals when I was young, thats how he stole me from my father. He actually paid attention to me. Haarahld ignored me, how stupid of him as I was the heir to the throne at the time." He shook his head and turned to Matthew. "You. You are a traitorous !@#$%^&. You just watched as Haarahlds plot unfolded and you let Malek just die. I will not agree to your terms as I do not wish to rule by your side. You have nothing to offer me that I don't already have."

Matthew's smug smirk faded and his face shifted from that of delight to frustration. "You have no Idea what I have provided for Malek or what I have provided for Abraham here. I can give you technology that you haven't even dreamed of. My work here is only halfway done. Face it you need me to keep this country going. I provide for all the security. Why do you think there was never any complaints here or in Raochin about the government? because I stopped all complaints before they could even [i]reach[/i] the top leadership. As a favor I've kept from outright killing the many people Abraham left behind from the aristocracy and trust me there are a lot of people that want you dead Abraham. If you don't want my services then I'll just have to look for another leader to take both of your places. There are plenty out there."

Jihara heard some chatter outside of the door, the guards were stopping a pair of people from entering, Alexander recognized the voices. "Tell your guards outside to let them in Abraham. Matthew theres someone I'd like you to see."

Abraham stood and opened the door to the room. He escorted a girl and a floating monitor. Matthews eyes grew wide and he stood but didn't know what to do after that, he could only get a word out. "Syphyx?"

"Hello daddy, nice to see you again, it's only been a few years since you abandoned me right?" The girl replied.

"You're supposed to be dead dear, the materials I created you with are unstable. I was expecting the entire complex to be sucked in by the temporary black hole that would be created."

"Well I had a little help from my friend here. Allyn introduce yourself."

"Of course, I am Allyn, at the moment I'm in my jet ready to take off at the first sign you guys want to kill each other. After you abandoned her I found her, she showed me where the lab was, and your workers were still there. Plowing away at the last task you gave them. Apparently they recognized her authority as we were able to come up with a solution to the unstable problem. It was cutting it close too. Needless to say the lab was destroyed and I almost got sucked into the singularity, but she is the result. Unfortunately not immortal as you wished, but I was able to gain a substantial amount of knowledge and tech from the remains of the facility. Including this monitor."

Matthew grimaced. If this Allyn character had access to his base up in North America then he might know about his shields and their weakness. There was also Syphyx to worry about. While he was studying her he noticed a profound amount of abilities in her, including shape shifting and one more dangerous ability that coincided with her anger. He had to play his cards right from now on. "Well, this is a rather sad turn of events. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, but I'm afraid you've forced me to. Right now I have control of thousands of experimental squad troops at my disposal who are loyal to me and only me. I can have them take over the city of Kampala at any time and the rest of the country in a matter of days. Backing them up are the nuclear missiles I will use to threaten anybody I please." He looked at Abraham, who had raised an eyebrow at the threat of the missiles. "Thats right Abraham, you didn't think I would just give you the power to destroy cities without having a back door option of my own?"

Merlin had been silent most of this time but this time he spoke. Jihara watched as he drew his sword, quicker than he thought possible, and he said what he had to say. "I know you knew about Haarahld, you therefore are an accomplice in his treachery for not informing Malek about it. I'm tired of listening to you. For your crimes against the nation of Raochin and against the world you will be executed." He then lept over the table, Matthew stood there and laughed.

"Even if you manag-" but Matthew never finished his sentence.

______________

Merlin's anger had been simmering ever since he first laid his eyes upon Matthew. He wanted to kill him. As he prepared to attack a little voice in his brain told him the analysis of his opponent. "Status: Unarmed, Defenses: None, Anomalies: There appears to be a shift of atoms around his body. A shield system, some atoms are passing through while others are not. Further analyzing concludes that the speed at which atoms approach him are what let them through the shield. Recommend slowing attack to pass through shields unhindered."

Merlin lunged at Matthew and brought his sword down across his shoulder. The shield around Matthews body lit up, but the sword passed through and hit Matthew himself. The body tore in half from the left shoulder to the right hip. No blood erupted at the wounds as the Matthews blood coagulates near instantly, courtesy of one of his many experiments. The shocked expression on Matthews face remained as the body hit the floor.

______________

Matthew saw Merlin coming. He knew what he was capable of but assumed that his shield would take care of the attack. It lit up as expected, but the sword did not stop there. He was stopped mid sentence and just barely realized he was going to die just before it happened. His brain adjusted his face to shock even after he had been shorn in half. Despite this he was still alive, but he felt no pain. The nanites in his body blocked the signal from reaching his brain as they worked frantically to repair this new damage. But his lungs had been punctured and he couldn't breathe correctly. He was dieing, at long last Matthew was finally dieing. With ragged breathes he conveyed his last thoughts, "You fools! My labs, my work, all will be destroyed. Guards! Loyal soldiers. Kill these men!" He pointed his wrist watch in the direction of the new hegemony. With that he passed out, and in another minute his brain shut down due to inefficient oxygen supply.

______________

Jihara was dumbfounded, he stood in awe of what Merlin did, and then in awe of Matthew still talking. But after those words he turned to Abraham and Alexander. "How many of Matthews Soldiers were in this building. We need to kill them immediately."

"There aren't many, I moved most of them out when I had enough of my own trained to defend me. You only have to worry about Commander Zhao and whatever soldiers he can gather up. Go, take a squad and take them out."

"Have some of my Guards as well. They are better than Matthews troops." Alexander added.

Jihara nodded and walked out of the room. He hated security detail, but now it was a man hunt. He gathered the nearest soldiers and Merlin allocated ten Royal Guards to what he was brining. The had the whole Capital on lock down and on the lookout for Zhao and his troops within the hour. By the end of the day they had killed 43 of Matthews soldiers. Missing from the head counter were three lieutenants, and Commander Zhao himself.

And thus the King of the Zephyr clan had returned.

[Lord Zephyr]

A short message would be sent to Nod.

[quote]The Zephyr clan has returned. You have had relations with them before, and I am still in tact here. I hope our pact can continue to hold. I wish you best of luck, all you need to do is call upon us and we will instantly be at your side on the battlefield.

Regards,
Abraham Lincoln
MoFA, GPnS[/quote]