FYW: Y1 T-Minus 9 (CH 2)

T-Minus 9

“What's this?” The serpentine alien looked curiously to the new Black Box that Rotoscope was passing to him.

“It's the Series Two,” Rotoscope answered flatly.

“Series...Two?”

“Of your armor, I've increased it power from my you and all your predecessors hard work and spiritual power, offensively and defensively it is leagues above your current model.”

The creature looked back to the core where half a dozen faces watched on, “I thought the user had to die for a new version to be possible...isn't that how Lady Isis supplanted Lord Fzzt?”

Rotoscope waved his hand dismissively, “That was just bad timing. If Fzzt hadn't been off ship fighting Aberrant's forces on the ground when I finished the new model I would have just handed it off just like I have done for you now.”

“Oh...” the creature flusters, “er...well...”

“Just say thank you and active it,” Isis' projection growled annoyed.

“Oh r-right...It's just...well...never mind.”

With a shake of his head to clear the storm of thoughts the figure turned back to Rotoscope, “So do I need to do anything special to upgrade?”

Rotoscope gave a sight chuckle as he took the old Black Box from his champions confused hand and ejected the crystal disc in the center pressing it into his Champion's hand, and he headed off to a console at the far end of the room, “Just insert that into the center. I already formatted it for your frequency.”

The Warrior nodded as he inserted the disc, and waited, bracing himself for a surge of energy, or something, that never came.

“He he, guess it would have been silly to expect it to shock me or something.”

Several of the Core Ghosts chuckled.

“What is going to happen to the original,” he finally asked as he tested the weight of his new tool, “Even without it's core isn't it too dangerous to fall into enemy hands?”

“That is why I am blanking out it's control board and then reducing it to scraps. It's parts will make useful upgrades to the bridge controls here if nothing else.”

“Well?” Fzzt says eagerly, “Power it up, I want to see what the Series 2 can do!”

“R-Right!” the champion chuckled nervously as he held the Black Box high, “Zor-Ra!”

In a crack of thunder and a flash of crimson the former serpent now stood on two legs and he patted down his body, aside from the personalized helmet with the fearsome Zor-Ra beast and the armor looking a bit lighter and better shaped to the default body of the suit there wasn't to much different. His weapon was still collapsed into it's disc form at his hip. In fact the only truly new and unique item he could find was on his other hip was a new side arm.

“You added a gun?!” Red said with surprise as he unholstered the weapon started down the sighs, getting a feel for the weapon that bore the face of his totem on it's side.

“That's not all it is,” Rotoscope slipped back over as he took the weapon from Red's hands and quickly straightened out the grip, a blade swinging out from the top, “It also doubles as a short blade.”

“Impressive sir!”

Rotoscope waved his hand dismissively, “I was also able to build in a baseline power level. It's not very relevant to you with your thousand plus predecessors to lend you direct power but at least your partner won't be starting from ground zero.”

“I have a partner?!”

Even the spirits took a sharp breath and Rotoscope's casual deceleration.

“Well...no...” he laughed nervously, “N-Not yet. The Series Two armor can support two concurrent users with the second one having a baseline power of ten civilians as opposed to the one to one ratio that the Series One had in relation to the Spirits in the Core.”

Rotoscope turned then to the core with confidence, “I know some of you never wanted to keep fighting after death and only choose to do so because the next generation would need your power but that is no longer the issue. Even with only a handful of you left my efficiency engine insures both marines can function at a bare minimum of ten times baseline strength. If ever there was a time for any of you to take a well deserved retirement, Zardoz, now would be the time.”

“You and I formed this project,” Zardoz spoke up, “While I may have had second thoughts in the beginning I am lost past that stage in my after life. I am not going anywhere old friend.”

The Red Marine turned to the Core as they began to talk among themselves, part of him was curious who would leave, another part could not bear the thought of loosing anyone.

“We have talked it over,” Isis speaks firsts.

“And we all agreed that, at least for the present, we are not ready to leave and wish to lend our strength for a little longer.”

“As you wish,” Rotoscope shrugged as his champion powered down, “The offer stands, when the time come that any of you want to retire you have but to ask and I will release you from the Core to your just reward.”

“And we are quite thankful for your consideration of us with this newest upgrade as well as our Champion's needs.”

The Champion smiled as he turned away from the Core to Rotoscope, “You said I have a partner, any idea when I will meet him or her?”

Rotoscope sighs, “Alas I do not. While the new system can support concurrent users and I am analyzing emotional data for a strong enough resonance that can fill that role.”

“Emotional Data?”

Rotoscope nods, “Sorry I was not clear. Your armor is powered by the blood of those willing to sacrifice of themselves for a greater good, however the Series Two can not support duplicate users, it can support multiple users but not on the same emotional frequency.”

He sighs, “Alas while the potential is there scanning the entire emotional spectrum to find one of proper synergy to work with the Series Two is taking longer then I expected.”

The champion smiled as he rested a hand on Rotoscope's shoulder, “You brought us from darkness into light, creating armor from your own spare parts to create the first of us and continue to strife for the future to make sure less of us die with each generation. I am positive you will solve this problem and only make us stronger.”

“T-Thank you Torin.”

“No sir, it is we,” Torin steps back as he reaches a hand out to showcase the Core behind him.

“We thank you,” They all said together.

“T-Thank me?” they think Grey creature turned to another of his kind as he stood atop the wall around the facility in a full body containment suit, “I haven't done anything yet.”

“You have risked your life time and again to get news of the front, of the enemy's movements, letting us avoid the conflict completely.”

“We need that cure if we ever hope for our people recover. I'm no scientist, I can't understand word one of antigens and peptides, keeping ahead of this storm of war is the least I can do if it means you and the others can work in peace.”

“Still without you we would not be so close to a cure, we...”

“Hold that thought,” the figure put a hand to the side of his helmet, before turning back to his companion and making his way off the wall, “Sorry just lost contact with the front, I need to make sure the troop movements haven't changed course. I'll be back soon.”

As the figure reached the ground and stepped onto some kind of hovering board the other waved and made his way down to open the massive gates of the complex, “Be cautious!”

“Wouldn't have it any other way,” The figure smiles as he speeds off on his hoverboard.

'This is not good. Even if CanTul isn't heading right for the lab, his men need the cure as much as anyone else on the planet. I don't think he's thinking out the ramifications of his actions even if his forces do win. Taking out power plants alongside military outposts might hamper the resistance but it would also take out civilian, medical, and lab power in the surrounding area, and the men need that power to work on the cure if he hits North Reactor and we loose power the work on the cure could be sent back months, we don't have that kind of time!'

As the reactor came into view in the distance his heart sank, CanTul's forces were already on the horizon and rebel forces were already hunkered down at the gate getting ready for a fire fight.

“We aren't going to let you take the reactor CanTul!” a warrior in crimson armor stood defiantly at the head of the gate his voice booming across the expanse to CanTul's forces at the horizon.

'A Space Marine what is...' his awe cut short and his minds saw saw how the battle would escalate, saw the reactor fail, and then back at the law saw months of research spirit into the void. 'No! NO! We can't afford a war at the reactor's door steps.'

“STOP! STOP!” he howled as he charged toward Torin, tackling him to the ground, “You can't start a battle here!”

Easily Torin was able to push the local off him as he stood up confused, drawing his sidearm on the man, “I'm fighting for your people's freedom from a Tyrant, are you one of CanTul's stooges? Why are you attacking me?!”

He swallowed hard, just as he heard the hiss pierced air as as hail of artillery shells raced toward them.

“Quig!” he swore as he shut his eyes tight, 'It's all over now!'

“ZOLTAN!”

In a flash of blue the sky exploded, Torin slack jawed as a pair of bladed tonfa cut the artillery in half as the new Blue Marine hopped on his board and charged CanTul's forces.

“W-what just happened? Spy guy? Is that you?” Torin said in confusion as he raced after Blue, his significantly higher soul energy allowing him to match on foot what Blue needed his hoverboard to reach, “Why would Sir Rotoscope choose you to be my new partner.”

“Talk later,” Blue said quickly as he cut another artillery round out of the air, “We need to prevent the reactor from behind damaged at all costs.”

“Why the raz should I listen to you?”

Blue growled annoyed as the reached the front diving into combat with the first flank of CanTul's forces, his tonfa slicing their weapons in two as gun fire fell against his armor fruitlessly, giving off sparks and the flash of an energy field with every shot, “I'm trying to focus on the battle here!”

“But!” Torin protests as releases his throwing star and draws his Bladgun, switching it to blade mode and he dives into the fray, “You attacked me!”

“Later!”

Torin sighs, “Fine! But it better be good!”

“Satisfied?” the new blue motioned to the facility as he and Torin ride up to the gates on his hoverboard.

“Satisfied? What is this place?”

“Zora! You're back!” The other scientists stops short as he opens the gates, staring long at Torin, “is that?”

“Torin!” he smiles as he leaps from the board and extend a hand, “Rotoscope's current Crimson Marine.”

“Oh...Oh my, I hear you were on world b-but I never...”

Torin shakes his head, “Think nothing of it, if you could just explain to me why my new partner would attack me and what it had to do with this place that would be more then enough.”

“Z-Zora?! You attacked a Space Marine?! W-Why?!”

“They were about to declare all out war at the reactor!”

“Y-You were?!” a look of shock and horror on the greeters face, “What were you thinking!”

“What is wrong with you people!” Torin howls, “This is war, there is going to be collateral damage, we can rebuild the structures once the war is over!”

“Oh so you already have a cure for the plague savaging our people? Or maybe you think you can fit all the refugee camps and provides food and water to all the people hurt or displaced by this war. It was not just some building it's one of the main power plants for this region of the terrestrial plate.”

“Well...I...” Torin hangs his head, “N...no...”

“Follow us,” Zora says calmly as the two scientists lead Torin into the complex, “Do you even know what this base is use for?”

“Rebel staging ground?” Torin offers confused as he looks around for non-existent soldiers.

“Not even close,” Zora lead Torin then past a wide window looking in on a group of hazard suited scientists in a well lite lab poring over chemicals and notes, the third of their group silently moving to join them. “They are trying to find a cure of the plague, and to do that they need peace, stability, and more importantly...”

Torin's eyes grew wide with realization, “Power.”

“Exactly. Had you brought the battle to the reactor and we lost power here there was the potential to loose months of research. We don't have that kind of time, in a few months half the population could be dead.”

“I-O knew there was a virus going around, but I didn't know it was that bad. Why would CanTul start a war in a time like this?”

Zora shrugs, “Fear? Opportunity? He's used both to draw many to his cause, as well as strait up greed and savagery. Regardless of why we need to rise above it. Buildings can be rebuilt but lives can not. We must know when to fight, and where to fight. And if the current area is not ideal for a battle we must be willing to do whatever it takes to move the battle to better grounds. Even at the costs of new friend and allies. We must keep our minds clear when others charge into the thrill of battle.”

Torin nods softly, “I see now why Rotoscope choose you.”

“Oh?”

“Not every battle can be solved with blood and sacrifice, clarity of purpose, a calm mind are just as important.”

Zora looked down the Black Box in his hand, “You really think so?”

“Well there is only one way to find out,” Torin smiles as he takes out his own, “Rotoscope Red and Blue ready for transport.”

“Understood, transport commencing.”

And in a flash of light the two marines were gone.

“Sacrifice and Clarity,” Rotoscope began to explain, “they are the keys to the future of this group. What started with Sacrifice soon grew too large for just that single minded emotion. We are, after all, first and foremost, a peace keeping group not just mercenaries to die for a cause. While your powers may come from the souls before you it would be short sighted of me to rely upon that completely for the future. We should not have to rely on the deaths of those who came before just so the next generation can continue on. That is where you come in Zora.”

“I'm honored...but really I'm not that important in the grand scheme of things.”

“On the contrary, you were able to see part the here and now, past a sacrifice for a greater good and understand that in order for there to be victory we need to look beyond the trees and see the forest as well. We needed a clear head that could see the big picture. Someone who understands that simply charging into battle may not always be the wisest choice. That is why the Synergy Equation found you, and that is why a new emotion has joined the Core Frequencies.”

“If I may ask Sir Rotoscope,” Torin cuts in, “I thought you didn't know what emotion was needed.”

“I did not. I designed the Synergy Equation to help me find it, to find an emotion to compliment your Sacrifice and that would work with the core aver several attempts to find it on my own failed.”

“Such as?”

“A couple example that I felt had promise were hope and friendship, however they proved to be a dead end. Hope is to volatile fluctuating with the times and emotions while Friendship grows stronger when with a tight nit group but take the Exemplar from that group to join our team and his power plummets.”

“Is there no way to get them to work?” Zora wonders.

“The only way for Friendship to be stable enough would be if we had a much larger team and they were all friends at the start.”

Torin nods, “And it's highly unlikely we will ever be in a situation where our entire team was recruited at one time from a single place.”

Rotoscope nods, “that is Friendship's greatest flaw and greatest stregth.”

“And hope?”

“Think about what hope is at it's core.”

“Courage?”
“Bravery?”

Rotoscope shakes his head, “At it's core hope is hanging onto a ideal, a very personal objective. While a hope can touch many lives it's scope remains to narrow. Remove the hoper from their home and ask them to carry the hopes of the universe and it soon becomes an abject ideal, a thought too nebulous for one person to represent.”

Rotoscope turned his focus to Torin, “To Sacrifice of yourself to see to a brighter future is one thing, it something you can envision, you can see the end of the line, you can grab hold of it and follow it to it's end weather that is victory at your hands or the giving of your life to help another.”

Then he looked to Zora, “By the same token your Clarity may have been born of the necessity to protect your people, you may even hold a personal hope for peace and a cure to the virus but that same clarity can be turned toward other goals, it does not end with just the peace and liberation of your world.”

Then he turned to address them both, “But what if I were to tell you that we need to leave this world, if only for a short time, to aid another world in as great or even greater need. Would you be able to carry the hopes and dreams of that new world that you knew nothing off. Would your own hopes for your own people start to waver the longer you were away? Remember we are not bound to any one world but the peace of the universe and there will come times when we have to put personal goals on hold for the greater peace.”

Both marines were silent, heads down.

Rotoscope gave a mechanical sigh as he held their hands, “We are the hope of the universe, but there are few, if any, being who can shoulder that burden without something breaking.”

“I'd like to think there is someone out there who could.”

Rotoscope nods, “As would I Zora, but would they be frequent enough to support the Marines from now until the end of time.”

“Excuse me?”
“The end of time Sir Rotoscope?”

Rotoscope's eye dimmed a moment as he sighed again, “We may not like to think about it but there will always be darkness, always be tyrants and maniacs. And as long as I remain on this ship it's systems will see that I will never age meaning I, and the Core, will always be here to guide and support future generation of Marines who will inherit your armors. And until the day when all light dies and the universe fades into oblivion you marines must stand ready, and alas there is just not enough hope in the universe that I could risk my second only Black Box to attune it to that virtue. You may be willing to Sacrifice for the cause Torin, but I am not going to sacrifice your one chance for backup in th field.”

Both nod slowly.

“I...”
“We,” Zora says softly as he rests a hand on Torin's shoulder.

“Understand.”

“Now today was an exhausting day for you both,” Rotoscope says warmly, “Torin why don't you show your partner around, maybe get something to eat and then get some rest, you have a tyrant to fight and a medical facity to defend after all.”

“Right!” the duo say together as they nod, Torin leading Zora out of the main chamber.

“This way Zora!”
“I'm right behind you!”