Lightning Crashes

Oh, now feel it comin' back again Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again I can feel it ~ Live

Three, the number could mean something if he let it. He saw them there always, but he hated it and the number would be transformed by him. It had to be because he couldn't linger in this state any longer. Three, the steps above him that he couldn't find the strength to ascend. Three ideas inside his mind all at the same time. Chaos flowed, it had to because there was no order in him, and it seemed forever since balance had been a part of his life. They were still there though, taunting the smith with their very presence as they wrestled one another for an outlet into his soul.

Three and he was stuck looking at them cowering in his corner like a frightened child who's strength had been pulled from him in a vision of horror and violence. The pains that lanced through his injuries were nothing to what he would endure if anything but the chaos took him. Kruger couldn't move and the other two knew it. They watched him through eyes unreadable, at least unreadable to him. One moved, did it matter which One it was" Perhaps not, it could have been either of them, yet it wasn't and in the instant that Red had started Black moved faster cutting off Red from the stairs that wound up the pedestal which housed his forge some ninety meters high.

Red paused, as Black's razor claws slid from her hands. Even now Kruger could hear them clicking noisily on the railing that he clung to. The vibrations moving through the tube steel and telling him how much closer she was coming to him. He still couldn't manage those last steps, no matter how ominous the approach of Black. She took her time. He couldn't help but think of them both as she, which was the form they were given, even if the spark that would make them truly women was never given to them. Slow or not those steps carried her closer to him and Kruger stood vulnerable, leaving his back open to Black.

Would it be now, the moment when everything would come to an end" Would he pass never being able to will himself back up onto that platform and into the forge it housed on its surface" Would the breath whoosh from him at last in the sweetest of burning from blades so personal to the owner and the victim' He knew she was there and still flinched at her touch, cold metal on the exposed flesh of his back. Five lines of ice sent waves through nerve endings in a flood of thought and sensation. The other claw slipped around the hand that gripped the rail like a vice.

Black didn't let go of him, she did nothing to move away from that almost intimate position. "I'm afraid." His words were barely a whisper, but the nod of Black's head was felt against his.

You are favored of the original, what is there to fear? Kruger made a noise in the back of his throat at the question. It may have been a sob that he stifled with a final unwillingness to give in.

"Failure....again, when all I want is to succeed." It was an admission he wouldn't have made even to his self. It was there though, in his avoidance of the forge. He could only claim it was the injury for so long.

The only failure is to quit working. Her words were monotone, flat like she had no idea how to express comfort no matter how much she wanted to.

"And yet you haven't told her of what happened, of how I can't bring myself to make it to the forge." Black's fingers curled into a fist, trapping his hair and pulling. The sensation wasn't unwelcome to him. His breath exploded from him with the suddenness of it, the physical manifestation of pleasure at being treated so.

You must work, it is who you are. Her words were true enough, he knew them in his core and hated that he couldn't bring himself to begin. Kruger pulled himself up to his feet and looked at the stairs. Three simple steps and he would have stood there forever except that he felt Black's hand on his back supporting him. The first step was agony, it washed away every thought from his mind and left him focused. There was an order like he had never known a singular pathway that could only be pushed through with determination.

His second step eased tension he had knotted up into his muscles and not allowed to be free until that moment. With the third step he could see into the forge and in seeing it before him every possible creation he could imagine swam before him. Then came the maelstrom of chaos and Kruger knew he was home. The hand on his back disappeared.

Black's voice carried itself to him on sound waves that set the air quivering with power. That's what he'd made here, a place of power that could be tapped if only one knew how. You've waited too long again to have your bandages changed. The cold metal returned to his spine, blunt this time, the razor sharp implement slipping beneath the wrappings that coiled about his torso. There was no effort to sever the gauzy and blood soaked bandages. They fell away with the tickle not unlike a spider's web in the darkness.

One

I'm stumbling off drunk, getting myself lost I am so gone, so tell me the way home I listen to sad songs, singing about love And where it goes wrong ~ Ed Sheeran

Brimstone hung in the air fed by the coals that flickered so hotly their heat pushed through his thick leather apron and burned the skin beneath. It wasn't unusual, except that he'd refused to begin lately. It was surprising how quickly the feeling could be forgotten, or perhaps it wasn't in that mind that never seemed to stop spinning out of control. Pain had chiseled him, made him this way. Too many questions and no one to talk to.

The forge was dark, and darker still as his eyes closed. He could feel it though, the presence of every part of it. That hadn't gone away. Kruger stood breathing hand raised to the chain of the bellows. His fingers curled about the new metal, callused pads found every imperfection with the practiced touch of a man who had made many metal things. The hands always knew so much more about his work than his eyes ever could. The first whuff of the bellows sounded deep in the bed of coals and the heat rose instantly. The sound of the place was empty, a vicious mirror of himself. She came and went at will, leaving Kruger with no rhyme or reason to the visits. He felt it when she was gone, despite the fact her imitation walked his underground corridors. In some ways it would be easy to confuse them. He'd gone past that long ago, as much as Black looked like her, he could tell the difference at a glance now.

He fell into a rhythm with the bellows, slowly stoking the fires hotter. The burning of his flesh increased, but it was nothing compared to the loneliness and hoping that it would be relieved for even a little while. It wasn't the void, he'd rid himself of that the only real memory he had of it was written in the pages of his journal. The ingot was buried in adamantine and wrapped in paper. It was time to begin again, to put every bit of his knowledge to the test. Within the walls he could hear the crystalline conduits begin to keen, an echo of what he was feeling inside. Their resonance cut through him like one of his swords.

Power hung in the air for any that could actually feel it. His fingertips tingled with it, and still he hadn't opened his eyes. He didn't need to, in order to see every piece of the forge. The ingot was covered in a liquid clay, then he took the tongs and shoved the wrapped ingot deep into the flames. The wet paper didn't flame up right away, he needed it to remain long enough to allow the adamantine to bond with the mithril, it was far from ready to be removed and beaten. Now he listened to the elements of the forge. Echoes in the distance could be heard, the sound of a great pendulum swinging. This one ran no clock though, neither was it restricted to a single side to side swaying. The hinge at the top would swivel, the room was circular and the weight of that pendulum had the entire room to use for its motion. The shaft of the pendulum was broken into seven sections, more hinges connected the pieces, these could be made immobile though with a simple sleeve.

Now that was the case, Kruger's tie to this forge was so close that he could alter that with a simple thought. Much of that was her as well. Neural links or something like that she called them. The bellows continued to move and breathe, the crystalline piping serving another of its uses as it directed air flow throughout the forge and the dome within which the platform stood some ninety meters above the floor. Kruger could feel black within the place, moving but not really a part of the place.

Want Your kind is just the type that should use me But your mind won't seem to let you have The opportunity to abuse me, abuse me Your mind won't even let you feel ~ Disturbed

Drunk, she'd never seen him that way, vulnerable yes, obsessed definitely, but never drunk. He was as far from a logical creature as any chaos god. That was his appeal, it was what made the original want him. Black had thought hard about what the smith, her smith, offered One. Any smith could have done for the repairs that her physical body sometimes required. Any smith would have had the knowledge necessary, and there were so many more stable in the memories that One had allowed Black to keep.

She knew that One had made an appearance that evening. That she had spent but a fraction of time with the smith. "Your encounter didn't go well?" The words fell from her like a metronome ticking one by one out of her and just as emotional. That was just one of the things she had been denied by the original. Somehow her words still seemed to incense him. He turned glassy eyes on her that blazed with an intensity he'd only showed her when he was working on something that she knew was meant for dark purposes. He moved towards her in the darkness of the underground forge.

Her red orbs could see him clearly though, she could see the new bruising about his face. There were new abrasions on his cheek above that branded wolf. "Don't stand there and tell me you don't know exactly how things went." He stalked towards her and she could see the anger in his expression. His hands were swollen and cut. This was a condition he was in often, he'd come home from the duels this way.

Win or lose, he was never angry though. Usually he was exhausted physically and gave her instructions for what they would work on when he woke the next day. He'd find the bed that he hadn't given up since the attack of the wolves had left him seriously injured. That had been weeks ago, before that he'd spent his nights other places and left her to herself. Except that it hadn't been just her, Red had been there. She didn't move as he came towards her in the gallery of the immense underground cathedral they'd constructed. "You've been fighting again." It was a statement derived from her observations of his physical condition. "Was that before or after you tried to drown yourself in alcohol?" The words didn't get the response she'd expected though. He truly seemed to pick the least logical paths sometimes.

"After, if you really must know" I needed to feel something that matched my mood. I needed to hurt something as much as?" Black waited for him to continue, after the space of several heartbeats she could tell he had no intention of finishing. He was acting in a way she couldn't comprehend. She remembered many fights that had occurred between the original and a host of others. Remembered what it was to feel blood flow at the push of claws through flesh.

She remembered the acts but not the feelings involved. "You needed to hurt someone?" Black had no idea why she was continuing to ask questions of the smith. She could have simply walked away and left him to his mood. Something made her stay though, an odd need to observe this side of him. The question drew a huff from Kruger, his battered fingers pushed through his hair, and his arms flexed like he was squeezing his own skull between his hands.

"Don't' You don't get to judge me." Those glassy eyes closed, and his fingers curled back into fists grabbing locks of his own hair. Black was caught between decisions. Had his words been a dismissal or did he want her to do more" The hesitation was an echo to the silence of the forge, and it was enough that would break the silence once more. He looked at her, his eyes the color of ripened wheat saw her, but his words said that he wasn't really seeing her anymore. "You left me" again, dismissed me like I don't matter!" There was heat in his words, he'd never shouted at her, at least not in anger.

Black took a breath, and swallowed. He was acting erratic and every part of her was screaming that she should walk away or bad things would happen. His tone triggered an automatic response from her, the claws slid from her fingers. "Your recollection is flawed. I've not left the forge. I've not seen you since you left earlier tonight." He moved faster than she'd ever witnessed before, the distance between them closed in the blink of an eye.

She knew he was strong, had seen him hoist things and understood the physical exertion needed to move them. It was one thing to see it done on an object and another to have it done to you, especially with the swift brutality that came so unexpectedly from him. He had her against the base of the pedestal that housed the forge before she could react. His hand tangled in the front of the tunic she wore. The smith was looking directly into her eyes, a place that she new many feared to gaze. He was too close, she could feel the heat of his body radiating against her. The stink of the liquor that he'd overindulged in pouring across the skin of her face.

Stop and Stare

Steady hands just take the wheel Every glance is killing me Time to make one last appeal For the life I lead

Stop and stare I think I'm moving but I go no where Yeah, I know that everyone gets scared But I've become what I can't be,

Oh, do you see what I see" ~ One Republic

Standing atop the platform, some ninety meters above the floor of the cathedral he'd carved into the depths of Rhydin's marketplace, the smith breathed deeply. Above him the bellows opened wide and pumped air into the burning embers of the forge. His heart beat, slow and steady and somewhere in the darkness of that cathedral a pendulum swung in time to pulsing organ. Sweat ran across his face sending rivulets to his jaw, droplets splashed to the anvil before him. The sound echoed through the dome, and behind him he could hear the briny bath begin to stir.

Despite the heat, he smiled. He was alone and still he smiled, blindly. The smith's hands were atop the anvil, the only altar he knew. His fingers traced every carved inch of the iron man with the anvil atop his back. Beneath him the wooden base was carved into the female form, lovers reaching for one another. His mind was one with the forge, but his awareness delved far deeper. The notebook was open to the final pages calculations so intricate that he almost couldn't follow them lay splayed across its lily face. Almost he couldn't, but clarity came to him, clarity and a sense of the planet itself. There was a reason he'd dug so deeply. Kruger closed his amber eyes but he could hear the stirrings of the clone in the darkness. Hear them, and ignore them, he could see with the eyes of everything the burning stars in the night sky, in every night sky on every continent.

Above him in the dome, frescoes of the constellations were painted with the greatest care. They were wrong though, subtly wrong, he could see it now. The elements within the paint began to shift, coming as alive as the forge was proving to be. The frescoes moved like liquid, like the blood through his veins striving to match the images in his head, stirring slowly into place. The pendulum ticked away, the heart of the forge, the heart of the forge master. None would notice what was occurring with every swing of that pendulum.

The movement above was so minute that it would take time lapsed photography to map it. It would need to lapse over centuries....millennia! He'd said he needed to tune the forge, that had been accurate, the acoustics needed to be set in those oscillating crystal conduits, but that had only been the beginning. The smith needed to regulate the airflow through those conduits, the temperature of the air that flowed. He needed to attune it to both time and space, only then would he find a way to complete his desire. Once it may not have been possible to think on such a scale, things changed. Kruger changed daily and with the same slow subtleness as the painted skies above him. Breathe, and the bellows breathed with him. He'd keep telling them that the forge lived, not that it thrived because its master did also. Not that he kept pulling pieces of the first forge to him. Not what his plan was once that forge was complete.

Maker....Unmaker....he'd been named not creator. The difference was subtle perhaps, but he knew it. A creator calls into being from nothing. The Maker made from that which already existed, he unmade what was brought from the skill of the creator and remade it into something else. That was his skill, it had always been there for him to learn and choose if he wanted it. Learning was all he'd wanted since he began his apprenticeship. Knowing was the one thing that kept him going. Perhaps that was sad, a statement to the fact that he couldn't do the things other men could. He'd failed at everything he'd begun except this. The smith could feel every step of the clone as she ascended the stairs to the platform. It was as though she walked along his very skin. "She will come for me."

Just Breathe

Did I say that I need you? Oh, did I say that I want you? Oh, if I didn't I'm a fool you see,.. No one knows this more than me. As I come clean, ah-ah...

Nothing you would take,.. Everything you gave. Hold me till I die,.. Meet you on the other side. ~ Pearl Jam

The place was never quite silent now, always in the background the incessant ticking of the pendulum. Black had wandered the corridors since she'd first come here. She knew the place as well as the smith, odd how she'd never wanted to leave. He'd never forbidden it to her, affording her a trust that some may call foolish. Of course she hadn't had this strange sensation before, she'd always known that her time was limited, and accepted it. Something had changed, an odd malfunction that centered on the smith. She was questioning things now, like what had he done to her" Why did she suddenly want to survive"

Her bare feet slapped the stone floor, her path going ever closer to the exit that spiraled up from the first chamber to the world above. Now was the time to go, she could sense that, Black's steps through the doorway were hesitant at first. This wasn't her function, it went against everything she'd been created to do....she took the next few steps anyway wondering what he would think when he returned to find her gone. Would it even matter" She hoped it would, and that thought, that feeling she knew to be yet another malfunction.

Was she flowing her memories through the Sister Network" No. No, that damnable clone was not. Was it a malfunction or was it on purpose" No matter. The end would be the same for that imperfect little construct she allowed to exist close to her smith. "My, smith..." One whispered as she crossed the Marketplace towards the forge's locale her eyes affixed upon the door with a murderous intent in mind that trembled throughout the network that connected all to One. Every living entity locked within its interdimensional web of communication would know that this day one of their own was about to meet their end.

The flow of information slowed and all attention within the collective was squarely upon one soulless creature. The one they had come to know as 'Black.' One could not sense Kruger within the forge and that was precisely what she wanted. If he was there, he would witness a side to One she did not want him to see, a side that controlled Renna's actions and eventually destroyed her. One stopped before the front entrance, her crimson orbs flecked in azure glowing hotly at the closed door as if it had offended what she cherished most.

Sunlight struck her as the door to the place cracked open before her. The light was blinding, though Black remembered it, her own eyes had never really seen it before. The smith kept things dark and moved like a shadow through it. Black's pale skin was touched by the warmth of the daystar and only served to make her stand out even more. There was something else here though, a shadow that she couldn't quite see yet.

Her arm went up to block the light so she could see that which was obscured. Red glowing eyes widened as she spotted This One and knew that her promise was about to be fulfilled. She drew upon the tactical awareness that had been part of her makeup, assessing her surroundings. There was a large building nearby in a state of extreme deterioration. Could she make it there and set a trap? "It can't be time....there is still more to do, you sent me here to complete a mission." Black tried to distract One moving slowly in the direction of the empty building. When she had a straight shot, she took off at a sprint knowing that she had no room to make errors.

The effectiveness of her opening strike surprised her. Surely One already knew every move she would make at the same moment Black would make them. She spun away putting distance between herself and her now injured progenitor. The sight of her smiling face in spite of her wounds inducing a sense of panic in Black. Why was she questioning her now instead of destroying her" It made no sense....a trick, it must all be a trick. Still Black had been programmed to answer.

The effectiveness of her opening strike surprised her. Surely One already knew every move she would make at the same moment Black would make them. She spun away putting distance between herself and her now injured progenitor. The sight of her smiling face in spite of her wounds inducing a sense of panic in Black. Why was she questioning her now instead of destroying her" It made no sense....a trick, it must all be a trick. Still Black had been programmed to answer. She'd managed to avoid the network but standing before One she was unable to resist that programming. "I do not want to be lost, to be relegated once more to a memory to serve another. I want to stay with K....Him." She still couldn't manage to say the smith's name. What was the reason behind that' "I can survive, and he will fix me as he has done before!" She clearly remembered every time he had, the fall of Batten Tower, her wounds so severe. She even remembered the first moment he'd put a file to her claws....or was that Rosa? She was Black! All of them were....could be....Black's burning eyes narrowed at One and she knew it wasn't that they could be it was that they should.

"I cannot deny that such memories belong to you." One reached her palms into the gaping gash that had disemboweled and with a merciless tug of the guts, she tore them out and allowed them to flop before her high heeled feet. "After all, I put them there. But they are also mine. And your sisters. But Kruger does not love you and he never will. You are one of my tools. A tool I leant to him to use and abuse as he saw fit. Your sexual relations with him included. Because I felt every single moment. It was great. I am jealous I did not get to experience it firsthand." By the time she had stopped speaking, the wound normally lethal wound had healed. "But you have become damaged. A damaged tool is a useless one and of no use to Kruger. You will be replaced. It is your purpose." Stepping over her own guts, One lifted out a hand to reach out and touch Black. "I will make this as painless as possible if you are willing to surrender. Touch my hand, and it will all be over. However, if you do not' Then you will know the meaning of living. You will know pain before you slip into a peaceful death."

Black flinched at One's touch, she'd expected to feel the cruelty of claws in her flesh. The desire to reach for that offered hand was strong, to simply let go of every conflicting thought and feeling in her body and relinquish herself to a memory. Then she went cold, at having heard the name she couldn't utter, her face filled with a jealousy that mirrored One's for her relations with Kruger. "No!" Her palm went up and pushed at One's chest with all her strength. "You put me there to serve, to protect. You put me there because it was where you wanted to be, and wouldn't let yourself." She leapt at the other woman, in a rage, her face contorting with it. Flecks of white frothy spittle shot from her mouth as she attacked. "I've watched, been there all so you could feel somehow attached to him. The smith fixes broken things, makes them useful to him." Her mind was screaming that he would change her, make her whole again. "You wish you were me." She had no idea where the thought came from, it was attached to the same desire to do anything, say anything to live on.

One turned, advancing towards her. "You are a broken tool that is out of control. You care only for yourself. That is why you are here. You want what it is you want and no matter the cost, no matter who you rebel against' You want it. Unlike you, I know I will never have Kruger for I have responsibilities beyond him." She narrowed her eyes as she stopped before the woman, staring down at her. "I did not replace the original. She created me from her own stupidity. And now I am seeing the same stupidity before me. Either way. You die."

Black pressed the skin back into place on the ravaged side of her face. It didn't heal the same way One's injury had, the skin stitched itself together slowly, painfully knitting itself whole, or almost whole. A long scar formed that would not diminish no matter how much Black tried to make it happen. She knew it was part of the degradation, there must be a way to fix it. "You are the one who doesn't care about your actions. How do you know he isn't down there now?" He wasn't, Black knew and by default they all knew. When had lying become okay for her" Holding back on the smith's progress wasn't a lie, merely an omission. She looked at One pleadingly, dropping to her knees and lowering her forehead to the floor. "I don't understand what I've done wrong."

"You have done nothing wrong. You existed for your purpose and you had done it quite splendidly. However..." She narrowed her eyes. "You had ceased communication and hindered our observations. How are we to help him if you are not sharing us the data" I entrusted you and Red to look over his progress and advance it by any means. You did that. But then Red disappeared from the network. I know you killed her. It does not matter. Red was defected and I noticed this. But now you fail to see your own defects, even though you yourself ended Red before she came to the position you are in now." One dropped to a knee before Black and held out a hand towards her. "But I do not hate you. I forgive you."

They were back it seemed, it never ceased to amaze the smith how carless they were about covering their entries into the old building. He wanted to ignore it, to find his way into the forge and lose himself in his work. He couldn't find a way to do that, what if they were children" He knew the building was unstable, it was on his list of things to take care of. He let out a low growl and started for the window to make whatever vandals had come leave again. His progress held a determined gait the broken window reached for and climbed into. Green spots covered his vision as he stepped into the darkness, he could see a pair of people, but his recognition came from their voices. Kruger paused silently waiting for things to un-blur. One was speaking, and he was about to call out to her when he heard Black's voice. "Everything is a chaos that I can't contain. Will you make it clear again?" Was she crying again? He made his way deeper into the building the as his eyes became more accustomed to his surroundings.

"I cannot promise that. For I see nothing but chaos every day. But I contain it. I resist. I limit my emotions to the subject." One kept her handed extended. "It will never be easy and I will always find myself in this position, trying to reason with myself. But sense wins out, always. You will only begin to hinder his research and I will not allow such a thing to continue. You know this to be true. After all....you two had sex, am I correct?" There was no need for the clone to admit. One simply smiled, "I am jealous. I admit that much. I feel betrayed. But I am no longer angry because of one, simple fact, that I know you will share a happiness with." She held out hand upturned, as is asking Black to feed her bladed hand into her fleshed own. "Do you want to know what it is?"

(Special thanks go out to the players behind Dahlia, Rosa, Crysinda, Lucy, May and This Dark One. Taken from live play.)

Fix You

Lights will guide you home And ignite your bones And I will try to fix you ~ Coldplay

Kruger understood, feedback was at the heart of the problem with the alignment and tuning of the crystalline conduit. Quasi-Periodic Oscillation from the event horizon was feeding back into the conduits causing them to vibrate beyond their limitations. He'd managed to catch up to the clone, but not before he heard the crack in one of those lines. "Dammit! Tell me we can bypass the line." One had only given him a single clone this time. Perhaps that was for the best considering what had happened to the pair. He wasn't happy about the setbacks, they would need to find a way to account for the increased vibrations. More anchors with better bushings was the first thing to come to mind.

The clone looked over to him and spoke with the flatness he was used to hearing. Strange how One was more emotional now. Not that he minded in the least, when she was with him she was a mirror of his desire. "If we bypass you'll lose the frequency ranges, the rest of the system may be able to compensate if subject Kruger instructs One inferior to reduce output on assigned frequencies to eighty percent." The clone was already working to remove the damaged crystal, it was easily replaced the only problem with that was they lacked the supply.

"See to it and?" Kruger stopped as the clone convulsed. This wasn't anything he'd seen from them before. It tried to push itself upwards, the moment its feet were under it, the clone's knees gave way and she was on the floor. "What's wrong?" Kruger wasn't entirely certain the clone had heard his query but then she turned to look at him again.

"Uplink severed" restored" uplink severed. Network crash imminent' Catastrophic failure, Negzacurgis unreachable. Status of sister network, rapidly diminishing remaining drones in uplink, four milli" terminations registering, recalculating" Current status of sister network, one." The clone seemed to stutter the information out as though the information coming in couldn't keep up with her processors.

Kruger hadn't waited for the clone to finish, he picked the clone up and for a brief moment was going to take her to the forge, but this wasn't a simple damaged piece of hardware. He wouldn't be able to fix this with flux and judicious welding. Adding insult to his impotence, the clone began to change composition. Her outer extremities began to harden and lose pigmentation. She was becoming as clear a crystal as the conduits within his walls. No time! Kruger ran towards the door to the forge, maybe he could get her to someone who could reverse the effect. Where was One"

Kruger turned back to Rosa, his head tilting slightly "What happened?" It was the only question on his mind. He should have been asking about T'Barack Opalith, about how to get past the sisters. He should have been worried about his own life. "I have to know."

Even if the man was imposing or not, the young girl held an intensity. Her eyes screamed the fearless trait of an Egorwrath, even if they were icy blue not burning red in their hue. "I am the youngest daughter. My name is Rosa Egorwrath and yet despite me being completely human and the weakest of the progeny of Renna, I have some influence to help you with this." The real question renewed her tears. "....Negzarcurgis was invaded. We don't know how to it happened, but they had managed to breach the SCHISM-barrier....which should be impossible. I don't know the full details but Father led the counterattack and....Vishnuka led his troops against her. He struck her down. That's all I know....but my other sisters and brothers will know of the details. I am not exactly the favored daughter. I'm just a political tool."

One had told him some when she visited, though he suspected as often that those visits were so she had a place to leave the war aside if only for a few hours. She didn't speak in detail but he recognized the name Vishnuka. What could it take to bring down One" As a weapon she was nearly perfect, nearly perhaps one fatal flaw was the smith himself. His breathing was shallow, the skin of his arms felt clammy and cold. He gave Rosa a small nod, and stepped aside. "Show me the way, if there is anything..." His voice failed him, inside his head a strange kind of pressure pulsed outwards at his skull from the center of his brain. It left him seeing tiny white spots swimming through the air where ever he cast his gaze. The belt was slid around his waist and fastened. It'd been a long time since he'd actually raised any weapon that wasn't his bare fist.

Rosa nodded and took her small steps towards him. "I have asked my brother, Dhyvarad, to activate the SCHISM-shift to take you to T'Barack. He is in the same mind you are trustworthy. But it will not take you directly to Father, because we both fear you will be killed long before you have a chance to explain yourself. We are sending you to the second youngest daughter, who is practically a prisoner within T'Barack. But she has full capability to use T'Barack to take her where ever she wants to go within its confines....it is hard to explain. But T'Barack is somewhat of a pocket dimension, within a dimension. It is the manifestation of Father's powers. It is essentially....well, Father."

Coming Undone

Choke choke again I thought my demons were my friends Getting me in the end They're out to get me...

Wait I'm starting to suffocate And soon I anticipate I'm coming undone One looks so strong So delicate ~ Korn

The smith turned. He wasn't just any smith now, that might have been visible in his posture as he stepped towards that entryway into T'Barack. He'd become 'Her Smith' and everything that came with it. No anticipation, or hesitation halted his movements, the back of his mind was telling him constantly....there's no time for that.

Sprawled atop her bed, she gazed solemnly at the ceiling. Was this seriously it' Being stuck in her bloody room like the poor, helpless damsel in distress who needed some Prince Charming to save the day, was not the sort of thing she had planned for life. Dahlia drummed her feet repeatedly against the foot of the bed, the room rather stark of anything but the necessities like desks, beds and some chairs. Short, silver hair spun down her neck and pooled on the pillow as the eyes of magma red and ice blue continued its gaze even as she puffed at the stray strands of hair that dared to occupy her pale visage. On the bed, she looked small, tiny compared to most men with her black vest and long, baggy pants of grey on, definitely not the usual princess-material, whilst she possessed lean, strong muscle that was definitely on the athletic edge. She needed excitement. She needed some release. Then there was a ....strange tingle in her nose. She then lifted her head to gaze to where the scent originated, and...well. There was some dude in her room. Just. There.

Blinking, Dahlia's eyelids began to open up as both eyes stared hard at the man in amazement, her jaw slowly falling once she inspected him closely. Was this one of This One's tricks" Or was one of her 'family' toying with her" She must have thought it, when the silver brows creased between her eyes, and she was quick to bolt out from her bed to point her slender finger towards the Smith with a foul twist of her plush lips into a fierce scowl, "WHO THE **** ARE YOU"!"

Disorientation, it lasted a moment and left him feeling queasy. He should have listened closer. "You are not Dhyvarad." Rosa had clearly said brother, though she also called One father. Could so many things be eschew for him' "Unless you are and I am mistaken. I've been mistaken before." He wasn't answering her, was it on purpose" Probably, it was the question that had him certain that he wasn't looking at Dhyvarad. Rosa had told him he was coming. He took a couple steps to regain his sense of balance before turning to face the girl speaking to him. "I am Kruger." Would that be enough' It would have to be for now, Rosa said she may not wish to help him. Some lies were certainly easier to tell than others. What would he be forced into here" What wouldn't he do to save One?

"Obviously I don't belong here. Still, at least you decided to ask questions before killing. I get you out, you help me get to One, even if that means taking the heat off me." Kruger looked from her to the rest of the cell trying to find a weak point he might be able to exploit. "There's no time....What will it be?" The obvious thing was that he needed to get out anyway. Would she realize that and call his bluff"

"Huh..." She craned her head as though to listen better, and she carried a wide smile on her face, "Assassin around" Oh my...dreadful, and you said you wanted to meet This One" Well...." Dahlia tapped her jaw with her fingers, smiling slyly, "What a coincidence...I think we've just become great friends," removing the hand from his chest, applying a light slap to his chest too, "Deal big guy..."

"Lucy and Ivae are still out of action. We need more security around laboratory #6."

Kruger's grin was broad as Dahlia agreed. Onyx walls" I wonder what the doors are made of....what the hinges are. "Is there a reason that you can't simply smash through' You seem to hold more punch than it looks like?" Maybe she had some kind of weakness to the black stone?" The smith was concentrating though, trying to get a sense of the place or to get it to talk to him.

"Dahlia, we detect the SCHISM-shift in your vicinity. With Father injured I am unable to maintain complete visual control on all of us."

"One, it's my room, two...They'd be all kinds of pissed with me, and three...I- May! Nothing so far...Why don't you let me out and I can be a bit more of a help hmm?" Called loudly, glaring up at ceiling with a frown cast back onto her pale visage.

"I agree. Dahlia can be more help from out of her room."

"I would never let that filthy **** out of her pen."

"See! Cry agrees!" Jabbing her finger around the room, "A little room just for me right now isn't going to help anyone right' And what if letting me out helps saves us all huh?" Boomed, snarling near wildly as she listened to May before she muttered, "Dirty, foul *****!"

"I can't save Father if we have some nutcase running around! All the clones are dead! I am by myself with but a few Ssr'Kesir nurses and doctors and they are too **** afraid to touch Father!"

"Fine. You are released. Find this intruder. And rip him to shreds. No one sets foot within T'Barack that is not of the Egorwrathian bloodline and lives to tell what they witness."

Nothing Else Matters

Never opened myself this way Life is ours, we live it our way All these words I don't just say And nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you Every day for us something new Open mind for a different view And nothing else matters ~ Metallica

Kruger reacted, slipping back into the room and using the door as a choke point if he should need it. Strange how quickly the hammers slid from their loops. He'd almost forgotten that feeling. Their weight so similar to the tools he used every day. Out of balance to most they would be awkward, for him they were an extension of his body. He understood the metal too, it was like all armor in a way wasn't it' The hardened tips of the light war hammers would still punch their way home. There seemed to be no need though as Dahlia was making short work of the trooper.

Down the trooper went, his suit sending an array of sparks of damage long before he hit the ground, and long before his rifle too, hit the floor. "....This is Unit #8....I'm down. The assassin is—"

Lucy molded out of the wall hissing as she cut the neck of the trooper from the rest of its body. No sooner had she swirled the blade and blood splattered the corridor did she fall to her knees. Her face was cruised and bloodied, and her left arm was covered in bandages. Despite her naked situation, she raised her eyes to Dahlia then to Kruger. "....Go."

"Unit #8 is down. All guards head to Dahlia. She has gone rogue....kill her."

Dahlia was ready to pounce, to deliver the final blow and have the Trooper silenced but then came Lucy...And for once, she breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of one of Sisters, and when she heard that command, she gave a firm nod and a small smile in return to Lucy, before dashing down the other end of the hall, "This way Kruger! Gotta hurry up! They see me as a threat now.....I did ask to have more attention, and an exciting life though..." She was pondering this as she was sprinting frantically, glancing back to see if he was picking up the pace.

Kruger was after Dahlia, running quickly, super human he wasn't. Smarter than he allowed most to see he was. He didn't need to be told twice to move, or the directions to go in. What he needed was an edge of some sort. Not easy but he did have a few things up his sleeve. The association with the forge had changed him since he'd been working with One. That ability innate to him now needed to be coaxed....a tradeoff he knew but one that he wouldn't change. A sharpened edge was all he needed, taking that he scratched the skin from his hand, and let the blood begin to flow, dripping to the floor a drop at a time. It was enough to tell let him know much about this place, to feel where they would find resistance.

"How...how dare you human..." Crysinda snarled as she snapped her gaze to Dahlia disapprovingly, her hands firmly upon One's chest, and still, she thrust them onto the immobile woman's chest even as Kruger approached. "Do not touch her! You have no right to be here and if you do not leave, I will have you destroyed!" She hissed.

"Cry!" Snapping sharply as she took a step-forward to the woman with her eyes widening...she wanted to see This One. Beaten, bloodied...defeated, for now. In her mind, it brought a warm, tingling feeling, but in reality, she dreaded it. Chaos, death...That's what would happen if This One died. Dahlia's eyes narrowed onto Cry with brows sternly set between her eyes, "He can save her, what other option do you have?"

The condition of One was....not good. Her face looked somewhat like a crumpled bit of paper upon one side, revealing the skinless jaw, cheek bone and eye socket of the skull, while a missing left leg and missing left arm was gently pumping wave after wave of blood despite the obvious signs of cauterizing of the flesh. But most of all, was the gaping hole piercing her abdomen.

"How dare you bring him here! He could be the cause of all of this!"

"The...Cause"" Her lips peeled back to reveal the white rows of teeth, grinding together as she glowered at the words, "I doubt this single dude could have caused all this...I mean, does he look like yourenemy?" Dahlia Jabbed a finger towards Kruger. She may not be involved, but she has ears, and eyes.

There was a low growl that came from Kruger at Crysinda's words, the same defiance forming inside him that always pushed him to do the exact opposite of what people said. He stepped forward, amber eyes flicking from One, to Crysinda. "I dare, as I have always done, I will touch her even if it destroys me. You know that already though I think." He moved closer to One taking in the damage, the missing parts. "I need to be here." His hand went to the remains of her face....and He was no longer there. Not mentally anyway, his body stood at the side of One but his conscious mind was gone, ages gone....Billions of ages had gone. He grinned as he recognized the facade. "It always begins the same One....in the beginning there was nothing....then everything was fire."

"I would like to know how he got here! His research into bending space and time could not possibly allow him to jump here regardless of his progress! How did he get here and how-" Crysinda snapped her gaze as she dismounted One, raising sharp, metallic claws that were a mere shadow of the Original's towards him. "Do not touch my Father!"

One's form tensed. Her back arched despite her injuries.