Royal Galactic Grand Championship Tournament!

[caios]

There was a flash of light in the alley as the woman stepped through into existence. She left the portal behind her open to allow one of her robotic minions to step through. The smaller robot was unique only in that it currently was holding onto a specialized crate filled with the loot from their latest heist. As soon as her robot companion was standing next to her the Villain known as Queen Armitage quickly closed the portal and ran down the alley, commanding her robot pet to follow close.

Unlike most Rogue Isles citizens Queen Armitage didn’t much enjoy resorting to thievery, but fate had cast her into the role of a villain in this distant world, and this particular job was far too good an opportunity to pass up. With the heist itself successful, all she needed was to escape back to the Rogue Isles. Even with her suit’s teleporter functionality, this was proving to be a much more difficult task then she anticipated. This was mainly due to the presence of the last person she expected to run into.

That person appeared in front of her on the other end of the alley.

“Got you!” Caios grinned as she ran towards her prey.

Though Queen Armitage could easily teleport away, doing so safely, and with her spoils intact, was a different matter, it was a whole new set of quantum calculations that needed to be made every time to prevent things like teleporting into solid rock. Her vampiric pursuer, on the other hand, could not teleport at all, and in fact seemed quite adverse to it. What she could do, however, was move very, very fast. Fast enough that it made her teleporting efforts rather moot. Fortunately Armitage had plenty more tools at her disposal.

Just as Caios was about to close in for the kill the wall of bricks next to her exploded as a massive war robot burst through. It smashed into Caios and both of them went bursting through the opposite wall into the next building over.

“Can’t you just leave me be, just this once?” Queen Armitage yelled at Caios in frustration, “I’m so close!”

The sound of fierce battle flowed out of the building as the vampire battled her most powerful robot minion. Queen Armitage knew from past experience that even this robot wouldn’t be enough to stop her, but all she needed was to slow her down enough to escape.

Once again Caios proved she moved faster than one could account for as the severed head of her large robot went flying out of the building and landed in front of her. With a sigh, Armitage picked up the abused head unit.

“You really have no respect for the craftsmanship I put into these soldiers, do you?” Armitage commented.

“Not when they’re trying to kill me, no.” Caios said sarcastically as she stepped back out into the alley.

“I'm not trying to kill you, per se. I'm just trying to reclaim my throne.” Queen Armitage explained.

“Yeah, yeah, I really don't care.” Caios interrupted her, “All I care about is that I preordered the new iPhone, and that means I'm damn well getting my new iPhone today!”

“As amusing as it is that this planet still uses hand sized telecommunication interfaces,” Armitage mused, “I have more use for the high end mobile CPUs inside these phones. Each one represents another robot I can build, another positive shift in my goals.”

“That's nice, but it pales in importance compared to the fact that you're stealing my new iPhone.” Caios said as she cracked her knuckles, “So, where do you want to get punched first?”

“Don’t be silly, I fully intend to escape today.” Queen Armitage smiled at her.

“Oh that’s rich.” Caios laughed, “Do tell, how’d you figure that?”

“Simple. I refuse to allow anything to get in the way of my Duty as Queen of the Kingdom.” Armitage proclaimed, “To give you a more practical reasoning; my internal systems have finally finished calculating the telemetry for my next portal jaunt. But more importantly as far as you’re concerned, my robot schematics allow me to send messages to their various components wirelessly if needed.”

She tapped on the robot head in her arms gently, which Caios now noticed still appeared to be active if its glowing eyes were any indication. Suddenly she felt something wrap around her ankle, looking back Caios saw the body of the large battle robot had fired a tether line at her to hold her in place.

Queen Armitage quickly teleported away immediately while Caios was still distracted. She realized the tether wouldn’t hold the vampire for very long, which is why she had also activated the self-destruct code. The distant explosion she heard soon after she reappeared miles away from her portal was surprisingly satisfying.

She continued running while the suit calculated the data on her next teleport. ( In fact her robot companion was doing all the running, her suit’s antigrav field allowed her to hover along instead. ) She wasn’t far from the submarine that would take her to the rogue isles now. Just as she was beginning to think everything was clear her suit’s sensors suddenly exploded in all manner of warnings.

Armitage stopped suddenly to examine the sensor readings. It was a massive wormhole that was forming, and right in front of her too. The energy graphs alone were way off the scale, there was only one time in her life she had ever seen anything close to this, it was the very wormhole that left her stranded in this dimension.

Before her a massive tear in reality came into being with a massive explosion of transdimensional energy. It was only because Armitage knew what to expect and was able to activate her suit’s shielding system in time that she was able to survive. Even then her shields were quickly overloaded as she stood before the great wormhole. Her robot friend was not so fortunate, it, along with the important loot it carried, was destroyed by the forces unleashed by the wormhole.

Moments later figures began to emerge from the wormhole. At first Armitage wondered who these people might be, if perhaps she had finally been found and rescued after so many years. When she was finally able to recognize the figures her heart turned cold with dread as she recognize the face, the same face, that these cyberneticly enhanced figures all wore. As it turns out she was only half right. The day she worked so tirelessly for all these years had finally arrived, and yet she was still completely unprepared when it happened.

Caios quickly chased down the source of the explosion. She had managed to escape the exploding robot by quickly ripping apart the tether and jumping away, but worried for a moment that she might have lost her prey when the second massive explosion shook the entire city. When she arrived moments later she wasn’t surprised to see Armitage there surrounded by what at first glance appeared to be even more advanced robot minions with a giant portal in front of them. She was surprised to see the remains of the smaller robot which had been carrying the iPhones, now it, along with the iPhones it carried, where nothing but ruined debris spread out over the street where.

Did she blow up the iPhones to get away? Caios thought to herself. The idea that her target would be so callous as to blow up the merchandise in order to escape through that massive portal filled Caios with rage. After all, trying to kill her she would expect, but this was just downright rude and petty. Well Caios wasn’t about to let her get away with it. As much as she hated portals, this bitch had to pay.

As the figures began to lead Armitage into the wormhole, Caios charged forth with a fury. In the blink of an eye she was upon them, slamming into Armitage just as they fell into the wormhole. In the back of her mind Caios quickly realized this wasn’t a normal wormhole, the trip, normally instantaneous, was taking far too long. But Caios focused on ignoring the sensation. She hated portals, and using them only made her sick with nausea. In an effort to diminish the inevitable, she simply refused to think about it.

Once finally on the other side she could feel her entire body complaining about the massive shift in time and space. Through sheer force of will she kept her lunch and balance long enough to forcibly grab onto Armitage and lift her into the air threateningly.

“You will pay for that, I’ll make sure of it!” Caios snarled.

“Oh, Caios… your timing … as always … is horrible.” Armitage managed to grunt out between Caios’s tight grip.

The sound of advanced weaponry powering up forced Caios to pay attention to her surroundings. The place looked like nothing she had ever seen before in her life. Tall long slender columns made of strange black and gold metals appeared everywhere around her. She could think of nowhere in Paragon City or the Rogue Isles that looked anything like this. Indeed she could think of nowhere on Earth that looked anything like this.

The two of them had been surrounded by several dozen soldiers all wearing incredibly advanced armor and wielding energy weapons of some sort. As she looked around at the soldiers she realized the figures she thought were advanced robots were in fact humans. These humans were incredibly enhanced with cybernetics however, and more disturbingly, they all appeared to be clones of the same person. Interestingly, Caios noticed, they appeared to have their rifled trained not just on her, but on Armitage as well.

“What’s going on?” Caios asked as she unconsciously set Armitage down.

“That is a rather complex story to explain.” Queen Armitage, “Whether I get the opportunity to explain is up to our captors.”

It was at this moment that Caios’s body refused to be silenced anymore and revolted at the offending travel through the wormhole, particularly now that Caios had stop to think of its implications. Subsequently Caios’s sole response to Armitage’s words was to bend down and involuntarily vomit the bloody contents of her stomach just before passing out completely.

As she looked down at her pursuer from what was – as she had come to find out – literally another time and another world, Armitage had only one thing to say, “Welcome to my home.”

[caios]

(( Don't worry this is the right thread for those of you looking for new ways to introduce your new Street Justice characters. Nothing quite like an intergalactic tournament!

I admit there's going to be a lot of exposition, but bare with me as I help introduce the universe where all the fighting will take place.

And don't worry about this taking place in an alternate dimension, there will be plenty of ways for people to get involved if they want to. If nothing else, there's sure to be more then one Time Manipulation toon that can assist you. ))

When Caios finally awoke she found herself in a prison cell of some sort. She half expected to wake up in some decrepit dungeon, but instead the entire cubic room she was in was clean. Too clean in fact. Every surface of the room, including the floor and ceiling, was white – or rather they seemed to be giving off white light. There was no source of light anywhere other than the ambient light given off by these walls. Beyond that there was only a cot in the room that she was laying on, made from the same strange black metal she had seen earlier. Though it looked metallic in every sense it felt like plastic to the touch.

She also noticed she had been stripped of all her possessions but her underwear before being locked up.

“Don’t worry, they were respectful, I made sure of it.” Armitage’s voice told her. Sitting up Caios noticed her right away sitting across the cell from her on her own cot. She too had been deprived of everything except her underwear, though interestingly they had placed an electronic collar of some sort around her neck.

“Do you like the necklace?” Armitage said with harsh sarcasm, “A gift from Emperor Zin, it keeps me from using my armor.”

“At this point I have way too many questions to care about your fashion sense.” Caios told her.

“Fair enough.” Armitage nodded, “I insisted they incarcerate us together, I was hoping it would give us time to talk. Hopefully I’ll be able to answer your questions. But first, you must be hungry, and right now I’m afraid I’m the only food source you’re going to get anytime soon.” Armitage stood up and walked over to Caios offering her wrist to her.

Caios looked at her for a moment before responding, “No thanks, I don’t want any handouts.”

“Please Caios.” Armitage said, “I’m sure you’d be hungry after everything you’ve been through even if you didn’t regurgitate all that blood when you arrived. I can’t have you going into some hunger frenzy right now.”

Caios was suddenly on top of her holding her firmly as she pierced Armitage’s neck with her extended fangs. It was the first time Queen Armitage had ever been bitten by a vampire. She was surprised to find it was not nearly as unpleasant as she imagined. As quickly as it began it was quickly over and Armitage found herself sitting on a cot once again.

“I said I didn’t want any handouts.” Caios said standing over her, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t feed off you.”

“You’re still annoyed about those iPhones, aren’t you?” Armitage said as she looked up at Caios frowning.

“Just a little bit, yeah.” Caios smirked her razor blade smile before she moved to sit down on the opposite side of the room.

“Well that was an interesting experience at least.” Armitage commented as she examined her neck, it wasn’t even bleeding anymore, “I half expected you to drain me dry.”

“I don’t need that much blood right now.” Caios said ominously, “I don’t particularly want you dying of blood loss without explaining what’s going on.” Armitage nodded in understanding to Caios’s words as she continued, “Why are you so worried about my well-being anyway?”

“Whatever you may think of me the fact remains we’re both in the same situation now,” Armitage explained, “Simply put we will have a better chance if we work together.”

“Why don’t you explain our ‘situation’ from the beginning then?” Caios demanded.

“Very well.” Armitage said begrudgingly, “To begin with, we’ve been brought back to the Kingdom of Armitage. It is a Kingdom that spans the galaxy. However this is not the galaxy of your home planet. The planet we are on now is in a separate reality from yours, and hundreds of years in the future. The planet Earth of this reality is nothing more than a rim colony world.”

“Oh, wonderful, no wonder the trip made me puke.” Caios said.

“I imagine that’s the first time you’ve gone through such a violent wormhole.” Armitage mentioned.

“Not really, went through something similar a few years back,” Caios said with a grimace, “The results were pretty much the same on a personal level.”

“Really? You’ve certainly lived an interesting life.” Armitage said intrigued.

“You could say that,” Caios smirked, “Honestly part of me wondered if that whole adventure was all in my heard. I guess this proves it wasn’t.” She looked up at Armitage and added, “Hold on, you said this is the Kindom of Armitage, you mean like your name?”

“Precisely.” Armitage nodded, “I am the once exiled Queen of this Kingdom. I’ve been working all these years to return home. It appears I was ‘beaten to the punch’ however.”

“No shit?” Caios interrupted her, “You mean you really are a Queen?”

“Of course, why else would my name be Queen Armitage?” she said frustrated as if stating the blatantly obvious.

“Hell, I just figured it was just the typical villain megalomania at work.” Caios shrugged, “Honestly I just assumed you were batshit crazy.” Armitage just glared at her silently so Caios continued, “Anyway, if you’re the queen and all, then why are you in this cell with me? And who’s this Emperor Zin guy?

“Zin the the despicable cancer that is destroying this Kingdom. Rest assured there is room for no hatred in heart that compared to the hate I’ve reserved for that man.” Armitage fumed.

“Oh come on now, tell me how you really feel.” Caios joked.

“If you must know, Lothander Zin was once a very wealth noble whose greed and lust for power only just slightly outstripped his capacity to obtain it. In an attempt to take the throne for himself he executed a grad plot to assassinate every member of the Royal Family. Only I managed to survive, but my parents, then King and Queen, died to his treachery.”

“Oh.” Caios said sympathetically.

“Indeed.” Armitage simply continued, “My first act as Queen was to strip him of his nobility and order his arrest. Eventually he was captured and sentenced to death for his crimes, but we had underestimated the extent of his hidden resources. He managed to escape and laid a full assault on the Palace, using millions of his manufactured perfect soldiers like the ones who ‘escorted’ us here.”

“Yeah, what’s the deal with those weird guys anyway?” Caios asked.

“Genetically engineered clones.” Armitage explained, “Built using Zin’s own DNA as a base; which shows his arrogance. They are cybernetically enhanced and implanted with mind control chips to make them the perfect obedient soldiers. They are quite formidable but not insurmountable. I only just barely managed to escape, however, ended up stranded on your world.”

“You make that sounds like a bad thing.” Caios remarked.

“I suppose the alternative would have been worse.” Armitage said, “As it was, my arrival did not go well. You saw the effects of such a powerful wormhole yourself. That one was controlled and intentional, the wormhole that deposited me there was not so kind. One of your heroes was seriously injured as a result, and an Arachnos assault team that he was perusing at the time managed to get away in the confusion. I was summarily blamed for the whole mess and labeled a villain ever since.”

“Wait, so you’re saying the whole reason you ended up a super villain is because of a misunderstanding?” Caios asked.

“Pretty much that is the truth of it.” Armitage said.

“Wow, that sucks.” Caios said, “Believe me, I’ve been there. Hell I wish we’d gotten to talk about this earlier, might have been able to help you turn legit.”

“You would have helped me?” Armitage asked somewhat surprised by the notion.

“Of course. Lord knows I’ve had my problems on both sides of the law.” Caios said. “Sometimes you’ve got to just ignore all the rules and figure out the right thing to do on your own.”

“Now I wish I had come forward sooner.” Armtiage said, “I suppose I just didn’t know who to trust.”

“Yeah, I understand,” Caios nodded, “Like I said, I’ve been there.”

It was at this time that one of the walls of the cell suddenly became translucent, becoming akin to very clear glass, only about a foot thick. On the other side of the high-tech wall / glass was a man standing there looking into the cell. On either side of the cell Caios could just make out the forms of soldiers that were apparently standing guard. The man observing them now was no soldier but he did appear to be dressed in some sort of Imperial uniform.

“Rebel Queen Armitage,” the herald said, “You’ve been summoned by the great Emperor Zin, I’ve been order to make sure you are presentable.”

“I’m a Rebel Queen now? How charming.” Armitage quipped.

“I think you’re forgetting about me.” Caios grinned as she stood to face her jailors, “Come on, just open this cell and I’ll show you something you’ll never forget.”

“I’m afraid it doesn’t quite work that way.” Armitage said as she put a hand on Caios’s shoulder. “This cell has no doors.”

“Huh? How the hell do they get us in here then?” Caios asked.

“Are you ready for transport, Queen Armitage?” the Herald said with an annoyed tone.

“I am. I should find it interesting to see what Zin is planning.” Armitage replied.

“Very well.” The Herald said as he pressed a button on a device attached to his wrist. A beat later and Armitage disappeared as she was teleported out of the cell.

“What the fuck!” Caios exclaimed in frustration, “I’m gonna just hate this place, I just know it.”

“The savage prisoner will remain in this cell until the Emperor deigns to deal with you.” The Herald said dismissively.

“Oh I’ll show you savage.” Caios said. With a loud snarl she move up to the glass like cell wall, delivering a devastatingly power punch to its surface. Unfortunately there appeared to be no effect on the wall whatsoever.

“I’m unsure of what backwards planet you might be from. As you’ll find, the walls to your cell are quite indestructible.” With a smug smirk the observer selected a button on his wrist, then he too disappeared from sight.

“We’ll see about that.” Caios glared as the wall before her returned to its original non-translucent state.

[caios]

Queen Armitage would not admit it, but she had found the long detailed preparations for this audience to be ironically relaxing. While the meeting itself she dreaded with a deep seeded hatred, preparing for it meant once again lavishing in the things she had been without for years. A long warm bath in the Royal washroom, and endless supply of dresses to choose from, and hundreds of servants on call to assist her every step of the way, from washing her back to manicuring her nails.

It was a bit of a shame, then, that once it was over with she found herself in the middle of the large sitting room, waiting for Zin to make an appearance. She knew full well that he was making her wait, as a childish way to impress his superiority. Armitage would not let him have the satisfaction, however. On the contrary she made sure to enjoy relaxing on the fine high quality chair that she was sitting on, secure with the knowledge that the longer Zin forced her to wait the longer she would not have to tolerate his pressence. Inevitably it was Zin who blinked first.

He stormed into the room, a small army of servants at his side. Despite his efforts Armitage could tell right away that most of those servants served no function beyond making Zin look important. Indeed, he even made sure to dress the part in a gaudy dress uniform custom made to enhance his “Emperor” qualities. Armitage was not impressed, and made sure to show it. But Zin would not be denied and he continued forward in his show.

“At last the long lost daughter returns home.” Zin said almost manically. “So tell me, oh Queen no longer, what do you think of my Empire?”

Armitage bristled internally at the comment. All too clearly did she notice the changes to the Palace she was in. The place she once called home was nothing like she remembered. Gone were the warm inviting colors of the Royal line. All of it had been replaced by the dark, cold colors of Zin’s choosing. Where there had once been works of art and wonder, it had all been replaced by horrific effigies to the ‘glory of Emperor Zin’.

“It is despicable,” Armitage said controlling her revulsion, “Just like everything else you’ve ever touched.”

“Your petty insults will not ruin this day, I’ve been waiting so long for this moment.” Zin grinned, “Almost 30 years now. Seeing you in my grasp has made everything worthwhile. Soon everything will be mine.”

“Thirty Years?” Armitage blurted out unintentionally, then her mind quickly processed the information and provided an answer before she had to suffer the indignity of letting Zin explain. “Of course, the time shift between the event end points. It seems you completely missed your mark.”

“On the contrary.” Zin retorted, “That it was not sooner was simply because it took that long to find you, scanning across so many realities across all of time. Capturing you so soon after your escape merely allowed me to make certain you would not have the time to plan for this moment. “

“So what now Zin?” Armitage said defiantly, “Now that you have me captured are you to kill me? If so I’d rather you get it over with quickly and save me from having to suffer your very existance a moment longer.”

“Oh don’t worry my Queen.” Zin told her, “I have no intention of ending your suffering. To kill you would simply make a martyr out of you to the whole rebellion.”

“Rebellion is it?” Armitage smiled upon seeing Zin realize that he had let such information slip when he didn’t intend it. “I am not the least bit surprised that the people refuse to accept your tyranny. Your ambition always far outstripped your intellect.”

“Do not mock me Queen.” Zin frowned with barely contained rage, “It is the rebels that are being fools. For 30 years I have proven my power, I have ruled the Empire, by word, by law, and by force. Yet those FOOLS continue to deny me. The outer colonies dare to ignore my sovereign claim. And these rebels continuously declare that I have no right to rule!”

“Of course you don’t!” Armitage shot back, “You forced your way to your position only through callous bloodshed. You’re not even a noble, you have no rightful claim to anything in your pathetic ‘Empire’ and can only barely hold on to what you have by the sheer force of your manufactured army.”

“Because of you!” Zin spat out, “You were the one who stripped me of my nobility, you are the reason these fools won’t take me seriously. Even other nobles who gladly bask in the wealth I’ve made for them in my Empire still enjoy proclaiming their superiority over their ‘ignoble Emperor’. Nobles who gladly make other nobles with that same wealth and even they are held above me in their eyes.”

“Indeed.” Armitage just smiled back, “No matter what claims you might wish to lay, nothing will change the fact that your nobility was removed by a Royal Order, therefore only another Royal Order will ever restore your nobility. Unfortunately thanks to your actions, I am the last of the Royal line who could give such an order. But you didn’t bring me back just for this, even with your foolishness you must have realized I would never agree to helping you in any way.”

“I do not require your cooperation, Queen.” Zin responded, “I merely required your presence, and now I have it. Do you recall out last conversation? If I cannot become nobility once again, I can still become royalty.”

“The only way you can become royalty is by marriage, and as I made it painfully clear to you last time, I will never marry you.” Armitage glare back defiantly.

“True, but unlike then, this time you won’t have much choice in the matter.” Zin began to grin in a way that unnerved Armitage. “Or did you forget that it has been over 30 years since you took the throne? 30 years and you never bothered to secure an heir. You should know your Royal traditions, when the Royal line fails to secure an heir a grand tournament may be held to secure the Royal line.”

“The Royal Grand Championship Tournament?” Armitage said with uncensored surprise, “You can’t be serious, you’re speaking of ancient traditions that haven’t been used for centuries.”

“And yet the tradition remains.” Zin said joyously, “When a Royal heir can’t be secured a Tournament will be held, with the winner claiming their right to the Royal line. I need only win the Tournament and I become King, while you will have no choice in the matter.”

“A desperate plan on your part, Zin.” Armitage said callously.

“Call it what you wish.” Zin said in kind, “But once I win the Tournament everyone will be forced to recognize my rule. The very people who deny my claims will be unable to ignore Tradition the Tournament demands without denying their own claims as well. The Rebels, the colonies, everyone will have to accept me as King. Even the nobles will have to bow down to me in earnest, lest they dismiss their own nobility. I may just strip a few of them of their precious titles, just to see how they like it.”

“Once again your ambition exceeds your capacity, Zin.” Armitage said after a moment, “You assume you would even be able to win such a tournament. You would be facing the best from all over the Kingdom.”

“It’s The Empire now, Queen.” Zin corrected her, “And you should learn better then to underestimate me. I have the resources of the entire Empire at my disposal. Rest assured I won’t be getting into any battle that I have not already won.”

“So you are planning to cheat then?” Armitage teased him.

“Call it what you will, I will guarantee my victory.” Zin proclaimed, “I will become King. You should concern yourself more with whether you will remain my Queen after.”

“I can still refuse” Armitage said, “After all the Championship won’t have any merit without some form of official sanction.”

“Make no mistake, Queen, this Tournament will happen.” Zin told her, “I have enough nobles under my control to get a majority sanction. Already notices have been sent throughout the Empire informing the people of the Tournament’s commencement. All I need from you is to simply be there when I win.” He sneered at her as he added, “Of course if you still refuse me even that much then I have other plans. I would rather not martyr you for the rebellion’s cause but I will if I have to. But I won’t just kill you, oh no, instead I will take your body and create a clone I can control. Just like my soldiers. The clone will pass as you for just long enough to restore my nobility and sanction the Tournament, afterwards word of your tragic and accidental death will be broadcast throughout the galaxy.”

“You expect to fool an entire galaxy with a clone?” Armitage shot back.

“There will be questions, no doubt.” Zin said, “Speculations and conspiracy theories, all of which are easily squelched. Nothing will change the fact that I will have a Royal order in my possession as proof of my nobility. And once I ensure my victory in the Tournament I will be crowned as King as well.”

Armitage paused in thought trying to keep the lines of concern from showing on her face. Zin was right about one thing; if a Royal Tournament was sanctioned, even by bribed off nobles, there was nothing she could do about it. She could not prevent the Tournament from deciding the future of her Kingdom without failing in her Duty as Queen. Of course that could be used to her advantage, the Queen realized, after all Zin would be forced to abide by the results of the Tournament as well. So long as Zin did not win the Tournament that is. This would no doubt prove difficult seeing as Zin was certain to stack the odds well in his favor.

“Very well Zin,” Armitage said carefully. She had to make sure she remained defiant but without hint of hope in her voice. She did not want to give Zin a chance to suspect anything, “It would seem I have no choice. However if you are to have a Royal Grand Championship then I insist we do so properly.”

“You truly wish to negotiate terms now?” Zin asked with a laugh.

“Of course,” Armitage replied, “Or is a veteran politician like yourself afraid of a little negotiation?”

“Oh not at all, Queen,” Zin said with an eager smile, “On the contrary, I am certain to find the exercise most entertaining. By all means state your demands.”

“It’s quite simple.” Armitage said with a controlled tone, “We will not limit such an important event to the Kingdom, rather Your Empire, alone. In the old traditions the Tournament was open to all kingdoms, anyone and everyone from a land affected by the Royal line could enter. As it was then, as it should be now.”

“That would open the Tournament to the entire galaxy,” Zin realized, “Anyone and anything would be eligible for entry. Even the inhuman nations could send their operatives.”

“I think you mean the non-human nations,” Armitage corrected him, “Seeing as I’ve visited a number of those nations, then yes, they too must be allowed to participate.”

“You think by allowing anyone to enter the Tournament you will be able to foil my plans?” Zin said accusingly, “Would you really see an inhuman alien take the throne just to stop me?”

“In a word, yes.” Armitage allowed a small smile upon seeing Zin bristle at her words, “If I am forced to participate in this Tournament I am certainly not about to make things easier for you.”

“Then you are a fool.” Zin frowned at her, “I already have plans and contingencies in place in order to guarantee I defeat anyone in the galaxy, and those I cannot defeat with a certainty will never get the chance to face me.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about.” Armitage said in turn.

“Tell me why I should accept your conditions?” Zin asked her after a moment’s pause, “I gain nothing by simply agreeing with this. What are you willing to provide me in exchange for this favor?”

“You get my cooperation.” Armitage said bluntly.

“I don’t need your cooperation!” Zin exclaimed.

“But you want it.” Armitage returned confidently, “You can have your little Tournament if you wish, but no one will take it seriously without my support. Even if it is binding it will be looked upon as yet another ploy on your part to grab power, which it is.” Armitage smirked as she continued, “But imagine if I did support it, imagine if the Queen herself sanctioned this Tournament. Imagine if I spoke to the entire galaxy welcoming them to join, inviting them to my home so they can get a chance to help decide my heir. Then everyone would know, no matter the result, it would be final, sealed by Royal Order. And if you should win then there could be no question as to your right to rule.”

“It’s so unlike you to be so cooperative, My Queen.” Zin said cautiously.

“Make no mistake, Zin, I want to see you lose!” Armitage assured him, “Anything I can put in your way to make you stubble is worth the risk.”

“It is a far bigger risk to you then it me, Queen.” Zin smiled, “Very well, I should like to see you submit to me for once. I accept your terms.”

“Not so fast Zin.” Armitage said, “Before I give you even an ounce of assistance you must first make the Tournament official. Send out the official Heralds, once I see their message and verify that you held up your end of the bargain I will hold up mine.”

“You hold back for the Official Announcements?” Zin laughed, “They are but a formality, nothing more.”

“And yet they were an essential part of the Ancient Tournaments.” Armitage told him, “Simply because I agree to cooperate does not mean I remotely trust you.”

At first Zin did not respond as he considered the implications, however the promises Armitage was making were simply too good to pass up. Of course, Armitage knew this. With just a wave of his hand Zin sent off one of his attendants to complete the task as Armitage requested.

“Consider it done, my Queen.” Zin said finally, “I will take great pleasure in watching you aid me as I ascend the Throne.”

[gothicshark]

Very early morning October 14th in the Irken's secret lab, the one under the purple house that has a sign in front that says "Not a Secret lair"

"Sir, anomaly detected!" The computer informed the Irken who was busy in a small room diligently building something.

"Uhh?" the Ireken sort of replied.

"Temporal dimensional wormhole detected, sir"

"Yauu?" the Irken semi spoke as a reply while not looking up.

"I detect that is in Talos Island, near the smugglers area." the computer pauses, " I also detect Caios's homing beacon in the area." The computer paused again. "Ohh, this is bad. Sir! Caios has entered the wormhole, should I inform the team?"

"yah, whatever." the Irken replied he clearly didn't hear anything being said.

------

Mean while at the Atlas Park Apple store

A line had already started to form up, several younger member of the hero community had a small camp set up near a sign that read "Line Starts here: Sales start 8am" in the middle of the group an afro holding a Japanese tea cup was sitting cross legged.

Near the front door of the store a group of security guards and police officers were standing around with worried looks on their faces, when a pink limousine pulled up and parked in front of them. A middle aged man in pajamas and a bathrobe got out of the front passenger seat and started to talk to the group.
The afro droped the tea cup in shock, and jumped in a single bound to wear the cops and people where talking.

"For Great Justice, did Sauce Kay hear that the entire shipment of new iPhones was stolen?" the afro spoke.

The pajama wearing man just looked at him in obvious shock, and in said with a British accent "Yes, Queen Armitage took them but Caios is on it already. So we should have them back shortly."

Just then the back door to the limousine opened, and a very attractive woman with fairly long ears in a very nice pink business suit got out talking on a cell phone.

"Arthur! A word, seems there might be a further delay." she said hanging up the phone.

"Ma'am?" the disheveled man asked.

"I just got off the phone with Irkens computer, he seems to think that the iPhones are now 232875.6789 dimensions away and about two hundred and thirty years in the future. Although the good news is that Caios is still on the trail, although who can guess how long they could be delayed getting back now. We may have to reorder."


((Quick edit to make it 230, and added some punctuation. Glad you guys are use to me missing a comma.))

[caios]

(( Thinking about it, it's technically closer to 230 years into the future of an alternate reality, but you know... details

At any rate, those of you who plan to participate now is the time to step up. There's going to be a finite window for this sort of thing, mainly because I want to actually plan out the tournament pairings.

send me a message if you've got questions, but keep this in mind; if you do participate, anything goes, and I do mean anything! ))

[fenix]

Forty five minutes ago, a rip appeared in the city. Most of the people living within tried their best to ignore it and carry on with their regular business. After all, worse things had appeared suddenly in Paragon, and if the city wasn’t destroyed by 10 AM tomorrow morning, they were going to catch hell for failing to turn in the latest expense reports and like hell they’d be late to their appointment at Founder's Falls newest spa.

The man currently smashing through the front window of one of King’s Row’s many fine pawn shops was one of these people. To him, the flash meant something that the police and the capes would be distracted by, and that means that when he gets to his fence,he’d be just that much closer to getting... Ah, who’s he kidding, he’s just gonna spend it on booze, and maybe an ampule of Dyne to “take the edge off”.

"You know, you are really bad at this."

"What?" "Who said that?" The thief was so certain that he hadn’t seen any capes around. Those guys generally like to make things big and booming, it’s almost impossible to miss one. Unless they could turn invisible?

"I mean, I don't even have any fancy training, and I managed to sneak up behind you guys."

"Oh yeah? Sneak up on this!"

The thief turned around and fired a single shot into the pawn shop. Fortunatly, anything remotely valuable was already tucked securely into an over-sized sack that dangled over the thief's shoulder, and the cashier’s booth was tucked over to the side, out of sight of the doorway.

"Not literally. You know, maybe it's my fault. I mean, ever since the whole Galaxy City thing-"

Oh shit, the cape’s a flyer, isn’t he? The thief wasn’t taking any chances. He fired his weapon wildly into the air.

"No. I'm not up there either. Where were you even aiming?"

“Come on out you costumed freak! I ain’t scared of any of yas! Don’t matter how many buildings you can jump ova!”

The voice from nowhere sounded rather annoyed by the outburst of our thief. “....Excuse me? Just because I have a license doesn’t mean I jump over stuff.”

“Oh, a ‘porter, eh?”

The thief then fired his weapon wildly into the area around him, hoping to catch the would-be hero unawares. In flagrant violation of weapon safety procedure, in fact. Fortunatly, as most Paragon citizens are wont to do, the streets had been mostly clear since the robbery began, the citizens fleeing in panic as a survival mechanism.

...Most Paragon citizens.

“Okay, now I’m going to have to punch you on principle.”

“What in the fuckin’...”

The thief had finally seen who was talking to him. He was someone who didn’t look like anything to write home about, and wasn’t that impressive. He didn’t even wear tights. But he couldn’t be a normal civvie, they usually pussied out at the first sign of danger. Right?

Unfortunatly, while the thief was trying to figure out on which side of the Hero/Civilian dichotomy this new factor lay, his verbal assailant had gotten close enough to land a few solid blows to the solar plexus, followed quickly by a rather weighty blow to the jaw that laid the thief flat on the ground.

“But... you ain’t no hero... yer just a civvie....”

“Listen. Jackass. Just because I don’t have tights on dosn’t mean that-”

Whatever tirade the man, who was, in fact, a registered Super Hero with the City of Paragon, was about to go off on was preempted by his cell phone ringing to the tune of Daft Punk’s “Superheroes”.

“Hang on, I gotta take this. Hello? ...Really? Was wondering what that flash was, was about to start looking for giant veiny goo monsters. Oh, she did? Well, that sucks, but I’m pretty sure that she can... Wait really? How far is that? ….Couldn’t narrow it down between thirty and two hundred thirty? Great. Well, I’m a little busy right now, how about I drop this joker off and then I’ll check the rip. Hey, bet you ten bucks that it leads to some blasted, war-torn hellscape where a genocidal madman is in total control, and the only thing opposing his rule is a small rag-tag group of rebels? ….Yeah, didn’t think you would. Right, lemme just finish up with this guy.”

“Th’ fuck was that shit about?”

“Look, you can either sit here listening to me blather on while you try to work up the strength to get up and shoot me in the face, or I can just slap this tag on you and you can recuperate in the Zig’s wonderful medical center. It won’t be so bad, I mean you don’t even have any bones broken on you. I gotta say, just straight-up punching something almost makes me forget about the baseball bat.”

The choice was a rather easy one.

“I’ll go, I’ll go. Jus’ do me a favor.”

“And that is?”

“Shut the fug up.”

The theif quickly faded from sight after the teleportation tag was applied to him. The hero, Man With Bat (well, now Man Without Bat. They’d all gotten destroyed after the meteors fell, after all) looked in the direction the flash had come from.

“Crap. Talos? Just hope I’ve got enough money left on my train card for this. Don’t wanna have to push back getting another bat cache. Again.”

[caios]

The strange woman who called had decided to just put "ChronoFreak"* in her Hero registration** was doing something she rarely did. Sleeping.***

* She purposefully did not put a space in her name, she says she doesn't trust them that far yet.
** Technically it's just some psychic paper that she shows to authorities.
*** She claims it's a waste of time. Ironic seeing as she has so much of it to waste.

This was the sole reason why a loud snoring could be heard throughout the secret base and bar of the Blood Angels, sometimes referred more simply as ‘Caios's Bar’. ChronoFreak, however, had made her way inside, climbed on top of the Arachnos Flyer that was setup inside as decoration, and managed to fall asleep, upside down, barely hanging on with her boots. One had to wonder if she planned it that way.

The point was made moot when an alarm went off in her vicinity, in fact it was coming from her goggles, which she still wore even while asleep. With a loud snort she woke up and immediately shot up to her feet. Still groggy and grumbling she fiddled with her goggles for a minute as if studying something fascinating on the opposing wall.

"Oh You're Kidding Me!" she suddenly yelled. Then just as suddenly she ran to the door and out of the bar. Given her natural talent to manipulate time she was able to bend the laws of physics so that her running was very fast indeed, which is good because she's had a lot of experience running. It's surprising how much running you need to do when saving a universe.

The end result was that only moments later she was on Talos Island at the site of what looked to be the result of a large explosion.

"Seriously, Who does this?!" ChronoFreak exclaimed as she examined the area around her. "Who the hell needs a wormhole THAT big? And not just physical traversal, oh no, but even temporal and dimensional shifts as well? I mean come on, that's just obscene use of the space time continuum don't you think?"

"Um, Hello there." the man who had been standing there the whole time had the look of utter confusion at the very strange woman standing before him.

"Oh hi there, I didn't see you, sorry about that." she smiled, "I'm the ChronoFreak, but you can just call me that crazy girl like everyone else does. Although ChronoFreak would probably be better. Anyway I'm babbling, what did you say your name was?"

"Actually I didn't." the Man with Bat ( not that he had said bat anymore ) said, "My name is..."

"Not important right now actually." ChronoFreak interrupted him, "Sorry to be short and all but someone just ripped open a huge gash in the whole of reality across multiple dimensions and timelines just to reach this place and time. And they didn't even have the good form to set up a temporal receiving node attenuator so they just let all that quantum energy fly around willy nilly and you know that's never good. You can melt people, literally melt too, you ever see a person go through a cold melt before. Trust me it isn't pretty, especially if they’re standing over a grate, or sitting on a tree branch. Dali had it wrong there. Not that he ever listens to me."

"I'm sorry, what are you ... ?" Man with Bat tried again.

"I already told you, I'm the ChronoFreak, and we really don't have time to keep repeating ourselves. Well actually we have all the time in the world, but that's kinda the problem because we don't want all of it to suddenly explode now do we? ... well do we?"

"Well, ... no." the man managed to say before ChronoFreak started up once more.

"Exactly and therefore we only have a finite temporal window to use to figure out what's going on so we don't risk any catastrophic paradoxes or worse." ChronoFreak said in what she thought was an explanation, "So if we want to find out what happened, find out where everyone went to, and find out what's going on over there - cause you know if they're planning on opening more nasty wormholes like that one anywhere near this time and space we should probably know about it sooner rather than later - and to do that we'll have to open another Wormhole back to where they came from and just go ahead and sort everything out!"

"Wait so you're saying in order to prevent them from opening up these nasty wormhole things, you want to open up another wormhole?" Man with Bat asked.

"Isn't that what I just said? Come on, keep up will you. Now ... we need a MASSIVE source of gravitronic energy, and some Skittles."

“Can't help ya with the Skittles.” A woman said as she descended to the ground next to them, she was glowing brilliantly with powerful energy emanating from her body, “ChronoFreak, right? The name’s Maggie, but you can call me Warp Factor.”

“Oooh, you’re are one brilliant powerhouse of bio-gravitronic energy are you?” ChronoFreak said clearly impressed. “Oh and the Skittles are for me, I just like the shiny colors, plus hey, candy!”

“Warp! Long time there, where you been all this time? How’s the cosmic power thing going?” Man with Bat said.

“If I told you, I'd have to kill you.” Warp answered, “What I can tell you is that this wormhole was a metric fuck ton more powerful than your typical Portal Corp jaunt. So Powerful in fact that I felt it open from the other side of the planet like a slap in the face. Probably could have felt it from the other side of the solar system.” She turned to look at ChronoFreak and added, “You got a plan then?”

“Oh I never have a plan.” ChronoFreak replied, “Too limiting, you end up so focused on completing said plan that you tend to overlook your other options. Also in this case having a very high capacity portal generator would come in handy. You know besides you.”

“I think I got that covered, or rather a friend does.” Warp said, then with a wave of her hand she teleported the whole group into one of the many high tech labs in Paragon.

“Whoa, lemme guess, we’re at Portal Corp now?” Man with Bat asked.

“No better,” Warp smiled, “Welcome to Wolfe-Tech.”

“IMPRESIVE!” the Afro wielding man exclaimed, “Sauce Kay find this amazing!”

The silence hung thick as everyone looked at the afro.

“Uh, right!” ChronoFreak began before anyone else could ask, “Tell you what, you guys can take care of things here. I need to look around the facilities, see what trouble - I mean help - see what help they can give me and I should probably have that whole wormhole thing set in no time. Unless you're measuring it's time, in which case it will be in 234 einstieniums. Give or take however many seconds we need to make sure we don't all blow up.” As she walked away she kept talking nonstop, “Also, one more thing, had a thought, might want to consider, s'all I'm saying. Probably going to end up somewhere crazy, definitely someplace dangerous if they have the technology to reach here. You should want to call in as many people as you can, you know friends, allies, enemies, the cute guy at coffe shop, anyone you think might be able to help. You never know, they may be allergic to lattes.”

[drjackwolfe]

(This is gonna cost Jack a lot of money, I can feel it. Oh, and no dash, Wolfetech, Starktech, Hammertech, Creytechsucks that kinda thing:). )

[caios]

Oct 29, 2011 19:37:44 GMT -5 drjackwolfe said:

(This is gonna cost Jack a lot of money, I can feel it. Oh, and no dash, Wolfetech, Starktech, Hammertech, Creytechsucks that kinda thing:). )

(( Don't worry, I'm sure Jack will be able to leverage the situation so he can make a ton more money on the back end, and maybe a Nobel prize or two.

Also for anyone else with a character they want to throw into the Tournament. Unless you plan to make them come from the alternate dimension you should make sure they end up over at Wolfetech soon, storywise, before the interdimensional train leaves the station. ))

[caios]

Meanwhile, in another space and time…

Caios was not content to remain in a cell just waiting for something to happen, unfortunately she had very little options available to her at the moment. Every once in a while she would punch the wall, in part to see what would happen, in part so that she might continue attempting to escape at least, but mostly it was because she was bored. So far she had managed to put a small crack in the wall, so small in fact that it was only due to her supernaturally acute eyesight that she was able to see it at all. She suspected in about a hundred years of this she might finally break free.

She did not get the opportunity to find out. Instead the whole world around her changed as she was teleported to another room. Immediately she spent a moment steadying herself against the nausea building in her stomach. She refused to vomit this time.

“For Fucks Sake People!” Caios exclaimed as she turned around, “Stop with all the motherfucking teleports. I swear next motherfucker who ports me without my express written fucking permission will get their shit ripped out through their eye-sockets!”

It was then that she noticed she was surrounded by royal maidservants, all of whom were shocked and disturbed by her outburst. One had even fainted at the thought of such vulgarity being tossed about in the presence of Queen Armitage who was standing in front of them. She had already changed into extremely fine royal dressings making her actually look like a real queen for the first time that Caios had known her. Interestingly, Caios noticed, she still wore the electronic collar that apparently prevented her from using her power suit.

“Apologies for the abrupt portation, Caios, but it was the only way to take you out of the holding cell.” Armitage said in a tone that can best be described as a Royal Sigh.

“Great.” Caios said as she looked around the room, it appeared that they were in some sort of high end clothing store, “So what the fuck is going on now?”

“We’re in one of the Royal changing rooms,” Armitage explained, “I thought it best to allow you to change here before we move on. I would offer you the option to be fitted for a Royal dress, but I imagine you’d prefer your normal wear.”

“You’re damn right.” Caios responded.

“Very well,” Armitage said as she nodded to one of the servants. Quickly the woman moved up with a bundle of Caios’s clothing and effects which she quickly set down in front of her. Caios opted to not waste any time with modesty and began changing into her normal clothes right away.

“So what did Lord High and Mighty Asshole want to talk to you about?” Caios asked as she went about getting dressed.

“The usual posturing for the most part.” Queen Armitage said, “Though he did manage to throw quite a devious trick my way, a very serious one in fact. It does also present us with an opportunity, however.”

“I could use a few more details.” Caios said sarcastically.

“Leave us.” Queen Armitage told the servants with a wave of her hand. For a moment the servants merely stood there, clearly conflicted by what they should do.

“Begging your pardon my Queen,” One of the maidservants finally spoke up, “But I don’t think we are to leave you alone.”

“I am still your Queen,” Armitage said with a gravely tone, “More so now. You will do as I’ve commanded.” The servants would not dare to push the issue, and they all quickly left as requested.

Looking back Caios was simply staring at her expectantly.

“Perhaps it would be best if I just show you.” Amitage finally told her. Turning to one side she waves her hand and said aloud, “Active Viewer.” In response a pair of metal rods appeared from the ceiling, once they descended a comfortable distance they created an energy screen between them upon which a crystal clear holographic image was displayed.

The scene showed a podium, with the colors and insignia of “Emperor Zin”. In the background several commentators were speaking about the event.

“Once again to all creatures now joining us we are awaiting the imminent announcement from the Emperor’s Herald. While we’ve been told nothing in regards to the nature and substance of this Announcement, the rumors and speculation surrounding this event  lead us to think we are about to witness what could be nothing short then galactic history in the making. Oh, hang on, I see the Herald is approaching, we’ll take you down there now to the official announcement.”

“Wow, nice TV you got there.” Caios joked, “I’ve got to get one of these for my apartment.”

“Just watch, and listen.” Armitage insisted.

Soon an Imperial Herald came into view walking up to the podium. After a moment to prepare his notes the Herald began speaking.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Zin Empire.
And to all the people across the galaxy, both human and inhuman, listening to this broadcast, I greet you all."

Caios could sense Armitage bristle at the mention of the ‘Zin Empire’ as well as give a deep frown at the ‘inhuman’ comment. Meanwhile all across the rest of the galaxy, nearly every sentient creature in existence was paying attention to the very same announcement.

"Let this date mark a historic occasion, for the great Lord Emperor Zin has, at great expense and tremendous effort, has found and returned the Rebel Queen herself!

Indeed it is true, Queen Armitage has returned to our Empire!

As grand a victory as this is for our great Empire, the ever benevolent Emperor Zin has decided to take matters further. For it has been over thirty Imperial Standard Years since our once lost Queen rose to the throne, and the lineage has yet to be secured."

Deep in a secret cave in a distant rim colony world a number of the Kingdom’s Honor Resistance fighters were watching the announcement on their digital pads. One of the freedom fighters immediately began running through the complex reaching one of the secured war rooms moments later.

“Marshal!” He cried out until he saw the person he reported to directly, “Marshal Pond, have you seen this? Is it true? Has the Queen returned?”

On the other side of the room a young woman with red flowing hair looked up at the man. Despite her youthful looks there was a deadly seriousness in her eyes.

“Inform the Admiral immediately!” She commanded.

"It has ever been the intention of our grand Leader to promote peace and stability among the Empire and her neighbors. And to that end he brings forth to his people and the people of the entire galaxy the means by which that shall be accomplished.

In the grand tradition of the Kingdom of old, in and full Sanction of the Empires best regarded nobles, including the support of the Queen herself! Lord Emperor Zin is pleased to announce…

The Royal Galactic Grand Championship Tournament!

This Tournament will pit warriors from across the Galaxy against each other in a grand melee to determine who across the stars themselves is most powerful, most honorable, and most worthy!

That is no platitude; the Empire is committed to the integrity of this momentous event. Therefore the Tournament is open to anyone from anywhere in the Galaxy that has graced our Queen’s presence!"

In a distant rim planet, in a place that was little more than a shack. A warrior sat in meditation. The shack had been a safehouse for a band of local criminals. The thugs inside had been watching the vid relay when he came in. As the warrior waited, the broken and battered corpses of the criminals now littering the room around him, he suddenly looked up at the announcement with keen interest.

A moment later the rest of the gang that those thugs belonged to burst into room. Most of them were clearly disturbed and terrified by the implications of what they saw. Their leader, however, appeared unphased.

“I don’t know who you are bitch!” The brutish, boar-like alien was a mountain of muscle combined with a wide array of cybernetic modifications, most of which were illegal, and advanced weaponry, all of which was illegal. “I’m gonna enjoy ripping you apart to little pieces and feeding you to the G’Korks!”

“I am called Blood Lotus.” The warrior said as he stood, he picked up a hilt next to him which was attached to a massive oversized slab of metal that one might call ‘sword-like’. “I have sought you out because your enemies claim you are a powerful fighter.” He turned around, showing his Tiger-like features in the light for the first time, “And as you can see, I am no bitch.”

"The final winner of the Tournament will win not just eternal fame and recognition of their deeds, but will also gain the greatest treasure in all the galaxy. You will forever be tied to the very destiny of the Throne of the Empire, and will be granted the right to determine the course of our Royal Line! As it has been in ancient times, as it shall be again, The Royal Tournament will push forward the future of our great Empire.

The Great Lord Emperor Zin welcomes all competitors to come prove their worth and right to control the Empire’s destiny. But to all participants consider yourselves warned. This tournament will test the very limits of your capacity, it will punish you to the very extremes of your stamina. And in the end only one true Champion will survive!

Indeed the Lord Emperor himself has taken the first step in this Tournament and does officially declare his entrance into the Tournament. Wherein our Great Lord Emperor Zin will have the opportunity to show to the entire galaxy that he is the one true ruler of the old Kingdom and Future Galactic Empire!

For Lord Emperor Zin, and For the Empire!"

In one of the Colony worlds closer to the Empire the announcement was being in a saloon. The planet itself was an industrial planet, though technically part of Imperial space, it never officially joined the Empire because it was deemed unimportant strategically, which made it a perfect place to land for people trying to avoid the normal galactic trading routes. As a result, over the years it became known as the major port of call for all manner of pirates, opportunists, bounty hunters, smugglers, and any other dredge of society which lived off trying to take advantage of the other dredges of society.

On this day, in this saloon, as the announcement was displayed over the massive vid screen, more then a few of the patrons inside were paying close attention.

“Damn, you seeing this? An actual honest to goodness full on Royal Championship Tournament. Never imagined I’d see the day that Emperor would do ANYTHING Royal.” A little alien man said sitting at the bar. He appeared vaguely toad-like save for the rows of horns that extruded from his head, and yet he was rather dull looking compared to the more colorful - literally and figuratively - patrons in the bar. After a moment without a response he looked around for the person he had directed the question to.

“Hey Azanii!” He tried again, this time speaking directly towards the tall blue skinned woman standing next to him. “Are you even listening?”

“I heard you Fred.” The woman next to him said finally, “And I don’t care one cred about the latest Imperial PR marketing campaign.”

“Oh come on, this is more than just another PR con.” Fred said as he rolled his reptilian eyes, “We’re talking about a modern day Royal Fraking Tournament. Those things are legendary.” His eyes shifted color as ideas began forming in his alien brain. “You know, you should totally enter that Tournament!”

“You’re joking right?” Azanii turned to look at him this time, “You must be joking. Gotta stop drinking those human liquors, that stuff will kill ya.”

“I’m serious!” Fred replied, “You’re a natural when it comes to fighting, I’ve never known anyone that can beat you and I’ve seen a lot running around the galaxy.”

“It’s not going to happen, Fred.” Azanii told him, “The last thing I need now is to go anywhere near the Imperial Capitol.”

“Your Piracy work doesn’t matter.” Fred explained, “They have to ignore criminal records so long as you’re participating in the Tournament. Honestly woman, I figured you’d be more excited about this. Aren’t you supposed to be at least half human?”

“Sometimes it’d be easier if I wasn’t.” Azanii said, “Besides, you can’t trust the Empire, especially if that’s nothing more than a publicity stunt.” She looked back around the bar, her blue tinted eyes scanning from behind short cropped black hair. She quickly caught sight of the person she had been looking for earlier. “Come on, it’s time get to work. Veigt has arrived.”

Fred quickly turned around at Veigt’s name. Sure enough, Fred noticed, the man himself was now being seated in his own private booth. He was the biggest fence and distributor on the planet, and therefore the most powerful man on this planet. If you wanted to buy or sell anything of questionable legality, at some point Veigt would get his hands on the deal. Naturally, Fred hated his guts, but fortunately he didn’t need to do any of the talking. Fred picked up a medium sized box and ran to keep up with Azanii who was already moving.

Azanii strode directly towards Veigt’s booth with all the intent and swagger of someone who knew she had something he wanted. Azanii had dealt with him often enough. Though she found him despicable, it was respectfully so for a man that provided a great deal of profitable opportunities to a pirate like herself.

“Ah Veigt,” Azanii smiled brilliantly as she walked up next to the booth, poignantly ignoring the massive Qo’Ggan bodyguard in between them, “You’re looking particularly slimy these evening.”

“Azanii, if it isn’t my favorite mutant half-breed pirate.” Veigt said, his tone was calm and quiet with a grave and raspy essence about it that made everything he said sound like death. With a wave of his hand the bodyguard stepped aside to let Azanii past. He leaned forward looking up at her with alien eyes that were slanted at an extreme angle across his otherwise human face. Though his head was bowed the way he gazed at people with those eyes made him far more intimidating. “So tell me to what do I owe this pleasure?”

Azanii had dealt with the man enough that she didn’t allow such appearances to bother her. In fact she had made sure to wear the custom corset underneath her jacket so when she sat down with her arms spread along the couch’s back rest she would appear that much more appealing. It was a cheap trick but when it came to Veigt it was best to have every advantage ready.

“I just happen to acquire a certain quantity of a very special product,” Azanii said coyly, “I know for a fact you’ll be very interested in what I have to offer.”

“Do tell, Azanii.” Veigt said simply.

Azanii motioned for Fred to join them. He quickly walked over to the drinking table between them setting the box he was carrying down next to Azanii. With a smile Azanii opened the box and pulled out a delicate bottle from within.

“Braydoian Whiskey.” Azanii said as she showed off the bottle and the purple liquid it contained, “The most exquisite liquor in the galaxy according to some, also the deadliest according to everyone else.”

“Not to mention quite illegal to hold within Imperial Space.” Veigt told her.

“We both know that just Imperial bureaucratic speak for ‘a huge profit opportunity’.” Azanii smirked back.

“One bottle is hardly a huge profit for me.” Veigt said as he leaned back.

“Please Veigt, I wouldn’t waste your time with just one bottle.” Azanii said without missing a beat, “This is just the sample. I have a large supply I can unload, but only if the credits sing to me.”

“You always were a woman who appreciates credits.” Veigt smiled in a completely unnerving way, “You were right to come to me with such an opportunity. However I know the going rate for Braydoian spirits. I’m afraid I have a far more profitable option that I would rather exercise.” He waved two fingers at the entourage of bodyguards surrounding him. Suddenly Azanii was surrounded by the sound of blasters powering up as all of the bodyguards aimed their weapons at her.

“Veigt, I don’t quite get whatever joke you’re playing, but your price just doubled.” Azanii said with a scowl.

“It is no joke, I’m afraid,” Veigt told her smugly, “As it turns out you have an Imperial Bounty set for your capture.”

“Everyone in this bar has an Imperial bounty out on them.” Azanii shot back.

“True but none of them are suspected of being in the Resistance.” Veigt said. “And as you know, the Empire likes to pay a very large premium on Resistance bounties. Even more so now that they’ve brought that Queen back.”

“This is ridiculous, Veigt,” Azanii laughed at him, “I’ve got nothing to do with the Resistance. I’m just a pirate trying to make a few creds.”

“Rather difficult to be a pirate without a ship, no?” Veigt teased her, “In all honesty I don’t particularly care whether you are part of the resistance or not, I only care that the Empire seems to think you are. The bounty for your capture is very high as a result, and no amount of exotic Whiskey is enough to thwart an opportunity to collect that bounty.”

“I don’t believe it. You would actually turn me in like this?” Azanii rolled her eyes, “Whatever happened to Honor among Thieves?”

“Please Azanii, I’m a businessman.” Veigt let the implications hang in the brief silence that followed.

“It’s a shame we won’t be doing any business then.” Azanii responded as she looked down at the liquor bottle still in her hand, “I’d hate for this stuff to go to waste. Then again, one of the well-known pitfalls of Braydoian Whiskey is just how damn flammable the stuff is.”

Before anyone around her could react, Azanii threw the bottle in her hand straight up. Instinctively everyone followed the flight of the bottle as it smashed against the light fixtures directly above them. Glass shattered against glass causing the electronic light to spark, which was enough to ignite the aerated alcohol. The entire whiskey contents burst into a bright fireball blinding everyone below; everyone except for Azanii who knew what was coming and looked away. Combined with the falling shard of broken glass it was enough of a distraction for her to take advantage of.

Leaning on one hand she swung her foot around to kick the guard immediately next to her in the abdomen. As he doubled over, Azanii quickly shifted her weight forward and punched the guard in the face, then used the momentum of the punch to roll across the guard’s back as he slumped down, quickly getting out of the crossfire she was in. As an afterthought she grabbed Fred by the collar, who was also blinded at the moment because he made the mistake of looking up at the light show as well, and pulled him across the saloon.

Their escape attempt was blocked by the appearance of half a dozen additional guards that were running up in response to the commotion she had created. Fortunately they hadn’t yet drawn their weapons. The first to reach her, another Qo’Ggan, was charging directly at her. Qo’Ggans were essentially all muscle with a hard carapace exoskeleton. Even their heads were little more the more muscle and some sensory organs. Their brains were actually in their chest, as part of the same muscle group that included their heart and lungs. It made them incredibly tough and strong, and nearly impossible to knock out in a fight by normal means.

Rather than fighting the Qo’Ggan toe to toe ( or toe to talon in this case ), Azanii simply sidestepped the charge, letting the massive alien run past her and smash into one of the tables behind them, and then smash into the wall behind that.

His partner opted to simply run up and throw a punch at Azanii, but she was easily able to deflect the punch with one hand, spin around, and land a back handed blow to his head with the other arm. The guard staggered for a moment, shook his head, then ran back up to her throwing punch after punch her way. Azanii dodged once, then twice, then ducked under the third blow allowing her to punch him hard in the lower ribs. A satisfying crack signified that this guard would be out of the fight.

Another guard rushed up to her with a powerful sweeping kick, causing Azanii to leap up into the air, spinning backwards to avoid the kick. As she spun she thrust out both feet, slamming into his face. As she fell she reached back, landing on her hands then vaulting back onto her feet.

By then the Qo’Ggan had recovered and was moving in on Azanii once again. It swung its massive arm in a devastating arc which would have sheared Azanii’s head off, but she managed to duck under the swing then deliver a powerful low kick to the back of the Qo’Ggan’s knee. In response the Qo’Ggan simply crumpled to the ground, grabbing at its leg while hollowing in pain; proof enough that when fighting aliens it always helps to know where their genitals are.

Two more guards rushed towards her. In response Azanii kicked one of the chairs next to her in their direction. The chair managed to catch one of them, causing him to stubble and fall across the floor. Rather than wait for the other guard to attack her, Azanii struck first, delivering two quick jabs to the guard’s face disorienting him, then followed up with a powerful elbow strike to the side of his head.

“What are you doing!?” Azanii heard Veigt yelling at his henchmen, “Shoot her already!”

She didn’t wait to see what would happen. Instead Azanii spun around the guard she was fighting, holding him between her and the henchmen still back at Veigt’s table. Though the shooters were still dazed by the earlier pyrotechnics, it still did not prevent them from covering the saloon with laser blasts. Bolts of high energy lasers struck against the flesh of the henchmen Azanii was using as a non-human shield. As soon as there was a break in the blaster assault, she dropped the now dead body from her grasp and ran towards the door.

There were still two guards at the door and they didn’t seem like they were going to let her through anytime soon. Meanwhile the other henchmen behind her sounded like they were getting ready for another volley. Before they could start peppering her with blaster fire, Azanii knocked one of the nearby tables over on its side and dove behind it. The table managed to block most of the blaster fire as they began to unload at her once again. Azanii knew the table wouldn’t last long, however. Looking around she realized she was close to one of the saloon’s large windows. Quickly she grabbed a chair and threw it at the window, with the help of the flying blaster bolts everywhere, it didn’t take much for the chair to break through the window. At the first moment’s respite, Azanii shot up and jumped through the window in an acrobatic leap. She landed outside the saloon with a roll and was immediately back up to her feet.

Fred by this point had recovered enough on his own and wasn’t about to wait around to see how things turned out. With his small size he managed to sneak past the panicking bodies more easily. Upon seeing the opening created by his partner, he too leapt through and ran after Azanii. The two of them ran quickly back to their ship while dodging the inaccurate blaster fire of Veigt’s henchmen still shooting from inside the saloon.

[caios]

“You seriously want me to enter this Tournament?” Caios asked with casual disbelief.

“I rather assumed you would jump at the chance.” Queen Armitage responded.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Caios began, “I enjoy beating the crap out of crazy aliens as much as the next gal.” After a beat she added, “Then again the next gal happens to be you so that might not be quite accurate.” Caios turned around and walked over to one of the large padded chairs which she draped herself over. “Honestly this whole mess sounds like one giant Royal shitstorm.”

“Think of it this way,” Armitage explained, “Zin is a despot and a Tyrant, he will abuse and oppress the people of this Kingdom and the galaxy if he is not stopped. Besides Zin is unlikely to do you any favors once he takes the Throne. Not that I would expect you to ever work with him. You’re not very good at taking orders from people you don’t like.”

“Oh I know exactly what kind of man Zin is.” Caios replied, “Which is why I wouldn’t bother trying to play his game with this whole Tournament thing in the first place.”

“Unfortunately he is holding all the cards at the moment.” Armitage continued, “If we don’t participate he will be able to assure his victory and I will have no choice but to oblige him.”

“There’s always a choice.” Caios shot back, “You can tell him to go to hell! You force your way out of his grip, then come back and kick his ass out of the palace.”

“It’s not that simple,” Armitage frowned, “I tried that once before, all that resulted in was the death of those who supported me.”

“On the contrary, it is that simple. It’s just not that easy to do.” Caios stated grimly, “People die in war. There’s no way you’ll be able to avoid that.”

“But that is no reason I cannot try to take a path that will minimize innocent deaths as much as possible.” Armitage remained determined, “There is more to this than a simple grab for power. The only way I can refuse to participate in the Tournament now is to forsake my crown and forever step down as Queen. I do not think anyone would follow me then, and even if they did, it wouldn’t matter. That would invalidate any order I have ever made, including stripping Zin of his Nobility. He will win the war before we even get a chance to fight it. My Royal title is the only leverage that I have against him right now. Not to mention it is all I have left of the Kingdom I’m fighting to regain. So you’ll forgive me if I do not wish to give it up so easily.”

“Alright, I get it.” Caios said raising her hand in a peaceful gesture. “But how are you going to leverage your Royalty if he’s the one holding all the cards?”

“I suppose you can call it entitlement.” Armitage said after taking a deep breath to calm herself, “This is a Royal Tournament after all and that requires that I be sitting on the Throne. Without a Royal in the Kingdom’s Throne, the Tournament has no merit. In essence, Zin has placed me back into power without realizing it. It’s possible perhaps he does realize but doesn’t care. There is no doubt he thinks he has full control of the situation. Zin is too smart to allow me to directly control matters, but he and everyone who works for him will have to recognize my authority as Queen for the sake of the Tournament. This allows me some measure of control over these events. Such as making sure you are allowed to enter the Tournament.”

“Fair enough.” Caios shrugged, “But that still doesn’t explain why you want my help. This isn’t even my galaxy.”

“Because I have no one else to turn to.” Armitage was serious, Caios could only barely make out the quivering in her lip as she spoke, “I have been gone from this Kingdom for nearly three decades. Zin has been in control the entire time. More than enough time to ensure everyone around him is remains completely loyal. Certainly there is no one left in the Palace that would oppose him. Even if I could reach any resistance, or even anyone else outside of the Kingdom who is willing to confront him, there is no guarantee that they would not have their own agenda. The simple fact is, right now you are the only one I can trust. Therefore I find myself in the unenviable position where the fate of the entire galaxy rests with you.”

“In other words,” Caios said before putting a hand over her heart in a dramatic fashion, “Help me Obi-Wan, You’re my Only Hope!”

Armitage glared back as she crossed her arms.

“Oh come on,” Caios tried to convince her, “That was at least a little funny.”

“If you say so.” Armitage told her.

“Alright, say I enter this Tournament,” Caios said, “And let’s say I win the whole damn thing, which let’s face it is no guarantee. Then what happens? Just so we’re clear, I’m not interested in becoming Queen, which is what this prize sounds like.”

“Not exactly.” Armitage said after a brief pause, “Not unless you want to. To be honest one of the reasons why I want you to enter is I’m hoping you decide not to take the crown for yourself.”

“Ok, why don’t you explain that one from the beginning so I know what I’m getting myself into here.” Caios insisted.

“Very well, allow me to share with you some of the history of this Tournament.” Armitag began, “Its origins date back to the ancient days of the Kingdom, when we had yet to venture beyond this continent, much less this planet, the Royal family was at the very core of the welfare of the Kingdom. Understand to us there is no difference between the Royalty and the Kingdom itself. Armitage is not my name, it is the name of the Kingdom, my title of Queen represents everything that I am. Our lives and wellbeing depend the lives and wellbeing of the Kingdom, and we are meant to serve the people of the Kingdom, not the other way around. However without a Royal line there simply is no Kingdom. There is no guidance, there is no final rule, there is nothing to keep the people together.”

“Naturally the people of the Kingdom came to have a vested interest in the continued existence and strength of the Royal line. A number of measures and practices came to be born directly out of that need. However in the most critical and delicate state of the Kingdom, when there is no clear heir even decades after the last of the Royal line has taken the throne, how can anyone know what is best for the Kingdom? How do you know whose advice to listen to? How can you ensure that those deciding the fate of the Royal Line are worthy of that responsibility? To answer those questions the Royal Championship Tournament was created.”

“It is meant only as a last resort, when the very existence of the Kingdom is in jeopardy. Its purpose was to determine who among the entire Kingdom and all her Neighbors was most worthy. To the winner went the honor of deciding the Kingdom’s future. How they accomplish this is really up to the winner themselves. Naturally there is no shortage of people who would offer them advice, but the final decision went to the Championship winner.”

“You could simply declare yourself Regent, as Zin intends to. By rights he would be crowned King at that point. Unfortunately, he would also be expected at that point to father an heir in order to maintain the Royal line.” The wave of revulsion passing over Armitage’s face made it clear what she thought of that possibility, “However there are plenty of other options. The winner can simply select a suitor for the Throne, or even determine a new heir entirely. But another option, and my hope in this case, would be to concede the decision to me, in essence this would mean that you believe me capable of securing the Royal line without any outside involvement. This would secure my place on the throne, while simultaneously nullifying Zin’s political power, preventing him from ever gaining control over the Royal line.”

“So essentially you’re telling me that the prize for winning the Tournament is you get to be the referee in the Royal pissing match?” Caios asked.

“That’s … one way to put it.” Armitage said eventually.

“Well that’s charming, maybe a little naïve, in a sword-in-the-stone kinda way.” Caios continued, “But what happens when someone cheats? It’s safe to say Zin intends to do just that, in spades.”

“Simple, cheating is removed by not having any regulations within the bounds of the Tournament.” Armitage replied. “Once a battle begins anything is allowed.”

“So the entire Tournament is no disqualification matches?” Caios said, “Wouldn’t that just make it so the guy who cheats most wins every time.”

“Well technically it is still possible to be disqualified.” Armitage explained, “Customarily the initial battles can have a time limit. Also leaving the boundaries of the Tournament can be considered akin to surrendering . However allowing participants to win battles anyway they can means there is never only one way to achieve victory. Keep in mind the goal of the Tournament is not to determine who is strongest but who is most worthy of deciding the future of the Kingdom. Such a person must be able to overcome any obstacle, and must be willing to risk their lives for the Kingdom. More than that, the Tournament allowed the people to truly see the character of a person. After all, it’s one thing to fight honorably when the cost of not doing so is high, it’s quite another to fight honorably when there is no need to.”

“Yeah, but what does it matter if the guy who fights dirtiest ends up winning anyway?” Caios asked.

“Originally in ancient times it was the people who watched the battles. The common man and woman spectating the events would ultimately decide the winner of a match.” Armitage continued, “If they felt a fighter was too dishonorable they could rule in favor of his opponent instead. It’s a detail that I doubt they will choose to exercise this time around. Even if they did, we cannot rely on a fair judgment should a decision be called for. We must assume that Zin will have a way to manipulate the results in his favor.”

“Oh lovely, so we’ll be at every single possible disadvantage for the Tournament.” Caios shrugged, “Hell, we wouldn’t want things to be too easy. Heaven forbid I might actually have to face a fair challenge.”

“Should I take that to mean that you’ve decided to join the tournament on my behalf?” Armitage smiled.


Warpspace. In the void between star systems, somewhere near the Imperial Border….

Azanii watched the stars fly by their colors shifting through the entire spectrum through a combination of Doppler effects and Warpfield scatter. It made traveling through Warpspace feel like riding a rainbow sometimes, but generally the vast darkness of space would overwhelm the colors that flew past.

Still it reminded Azanii of a happier time, living in space on a ship for most of her life. Seeing streaks of stars shifting colors was the first rainbows she ever knew long before seeing the traditional water vapor planet side rainbows.

“Are we past the boundary yet?” Azanii asked as turned to look at Fred.

“Yup, we should be moving past the DMZ as we speak.” Fred chirped cheerfully, “Told ya there’d be no Imp patrols around here.”

“Great.” Azanii said with a breathe of relief, “Keep her steady until we get to Tortgua. We can refuel there.”

“With what?” Fred asked, “You destroyed the only bottle of Braydoian Whiskey we had. There’s nothing here worth the effort it would take to sell.”

“You let me figure that out.” Azanii told him, “Just keep her flying. I got a call to make.”

The ship wasn’t really big enough to offer multiple cabins, it barely had enough space for the cargo hold. ( Plus a few small hidden smuggler compartments, of course. ) Fortunately the rear most compartment offered Azanii a small measure of privacy. Which was good because it was the only place in the entire ship she could make this call safely. As she squeezed herself into the cramped space she activated a small box she kept there. The non-descript box looked utterly worthless, and yet it was locked with both biometric scanning and code inputs.

Once opened the small device exposed a light emitter which began whirling as it established a secured encrypted holocom signal. Just above the box the holographic form of a human male began to form.

“Hey Azanii,” the tiny holograph leared at her, “Always a personal pleasure to see your lovely face, and lovlier body. I knew it was only a matter of time before you called me.”

“Shut up, Pahsser.” Azanii shut him down, “And stop using secured resistance lines to hit on everyone, especially women who see you for the disgusting little worm you are. Now are you going to get the Marshal like a good little pig or should I take my information with me.”

“Fine, fine I’ll go get her.” The man in the holo said, his offense clearly notable even through the holo recreation which disappeared as he stepped out of view. A moment later a woman with a young face and deadly serious eyes filled the holo space before Azanii.

“Agent Azanii, good to see you safe.” The Marshal greeted her.

“I’m not one of your Agents, Pond.” Azanii told her, “I’m only working with you for my own purposes.”

“Nevertheless, you’re a valuable asset of the Resistance.” Marshal Pond commented, “Frankly we can use all the help we can get.”

“Oh you mean like Pigshit Gigalo over there?” Azanii shot back.

“Pahsser is a weasel of a man, I agree.” The Marshal responded, “But he did serve in the Queen’s Military Forces before Zin’s rise. He has every right to be here. And as I said, we can use all the help we can get.”

“Fine, whatever, you have bigger problems.” Azanii aggressively changed the topic, “There’s a leak in the Resistance, someone on the inside.”

“What? That can’t be.” Marshal Pond said, “I’ve personally checked all our security measures. It should be impossible to get at any sensitive information.”

“Well someone there is a traitor, knowingly or otherwise.” Azanii said, “The Empire upped the bounty on me cause they think I’m working with the Resistance. No one outside your little group there should even know I have anything to do with you.”

“And no outside this base does.” Pond assured her, “I’ve made sure of it. Is it possible one of your … associates could have discovered you?”

“There’s only one other person on this entire ship I have to worry about.” Azanii explained, “You have an entire base filled with people. Tell me who do you think has more to worry about.”

“Very well I'll look into it.” The Mashal said begrudgingly, “But you should make sure your friend is no threat to you as well.”

“I’ll be careful, I always am.” Azanii replied.

“Fine.” Marshal Pond continued, “Right now our top priority is dealing with the return of the Queen.”

“You mean that Imperial announcement?” Azanii said skeptically, “This is the Emperor we’re talking about.”

“And it is entirely likely that he is lying about retrieving her, I know.” Pond finished the thought, “But if there’s a chance that he has recovered Queen Armitage then we cannot simply ignore it. If it is a trap then I’m afraid we’re already caught in it. Our best course of action is to verify what we can and plan accordingly. That means we need someone we can trust who can get close to the Queen. Fortunately the Royal Tournament provides us with the perfect opportunity to do just that.”

“Oh no.” Azanii interrupted her, “I know where this is going and the answer is no.”

“We need someone with your skills in one on one combat.” The Marshal pleaded, “Even if you’re suspected of working with us you have plausible deniability, which means you’re still less likely to be shot on sight then any of us.”

“And if this is a trap, which it probably is,” Azanii shot back, “Then you’re asking me to walk directly into the gnorlac pit.”

“She was your Queen as well you know.” Pond tried to reason. “And she remains the single greatest threat to the Emperor’s rule. If you truly wish to get the revenge you desire this is still the best way to go.”

“Sorry Marshal,” Azanii told her, “That Queen was well before my time. She doesn’t have the same meaning to me as she does to you. I’m only helping you out to get back at the Emperor, but any revenge I do seek I’ll get on my terms.”

“So be it then.” Marshal Pond said finally, “But should you change your mind then you should be aware that I will be sending one of most trusted soldiers to the Palace. If you do decide to enter the Tournament he will find you and provide whatever assistance is required.”

“Don’t hold your breath, Pond.” Azanii said just before shutting off the holocom.

[gothicshark]

((really a good read so far, sorry it took so long I have really been out of it with stress, the flu, and several major headaches like getting an IRS audit. So far so good is my best response, I like the character of Azanii. Hopefully, I can actually ad something to this however with 2 lawsuits, IRS audit, running out of money, and general chaos I might not be all that responsive for a bit.))

[caios]

A long time ago, in ANOTHER galaxy far, far away ( AKA Back in Paragon ) ...

“That’s impossible.” The Wolfe Tech scientist exclaimed.

“Not impossible, just highly improbable.” ChronoFreak corrected him.

“But there’s just no way we can generate a singularity curve of that magnitude with a temporal shift to a single point in space time and still be able to hold a localized event horizon without a massive quantum discharge.” A female scientist chimed in.

“Uh … huh?” Steve Porter, also known as Mat with Bat - until he lost his bat - had been listening in on the conversation, mostly out of boredom while waiting for the techs to figure out that whole wormhole thing. Now he was beginning to wish he hadn’t

“She means everything will go boom.” Jack Wolfe put simply as he stood off to the side observing.

“That’s … bad.” The Man now without Bat said.

“If you consider having every atom in your body exploding at the speed of light to be ‘bad’ then yes, that is correct.” Jack said analytically, “But if I’m understanding ChronoFreak’s hypothesis here, we can simply shunt the quantum discharge back into the singularity itself, using it as a feedback loop, which would allow us to power the temporal and special shifts efficiently even while parsing through the multiverse. All without the big explosions.”

“Yes, Exactly!” ChronoFreak exclaimed, “See? Simple, just like I said.”

“Only it’s not simple at all.” Jack continued, “In order to do that we would have to constantly convert the energies between strong and weak atomic forces, and potentially across the entire electromagnetic spectrum - that’s not even adding in the additional gravimetric power – and we need to do it all in real time if we have any hope of controlling the energy dispersion. That is simply not possible within the laws of physics. Unless you can pull out the grand unification theory of the whole freaking universe from your back pocket, we’re still back at square one.”

“Right... about that.” ChronoFreak said sheepishly.


A few decades ago, somewhere in London:

"So all these so called scientists all running around all trying to figure out all their special universal forces. And really what it comes down to is all the same. I mean at the end of the day all the forces in all of reality are really defined by the same formula. For all their arguing, turns out all of their grand theories can be unified into one simple formula." ChronoFreak babbled on speaking far faster than her alcohol soaked brain was capable of thinking critically. She blinked a few times looking at her martini and added, "Wow this is good stuff, reminds of another drink I had once, gargle ... or was it blaster ... something intergalactic. Um, what was I saying?"

The man sitting next to her at the party in this London flat was also drinking, though quite not as much, so was able to respond with, "Some grand unification theory I believe."

"Ah right," ChronoFreak continued, "It's really funny how scientists for so long kept fumbling around trying to figure this out when the formula ended up being so easy. It all revolved around this one variable, they call it alpha but it looks like a fish, which is silly. It's like a little fish that can translate how all the energies work together."

"A little fish that can translate anything, now there's an idea." the man next to her laughed.

"Yeah, but it works so well." ChronoFreak laughed along, "All the forces in the universe, all the energies you encounter during your life, and everything in between; at the end of the day they can all be expressed using the constant alpha whose value is just 42."

"So the answer to life, the universe, and everything ... is 42?" the man asked still also clearly drunk.

"Well technically it's 42.1126384796835 and so on and so forth, keeps going forever." ChronoFreak explained in a drunken slur, "It's the same with circles when you think about it. The number that answers everything about circles is basically just 3. Or 3.141592653589793 and so on and so forth, but they call that pie, which looks nothing like real pie, except they both involve circles I guess. I wonder what’s better, circle pie or alpha fish?" ChronoFreak blinked again, suddenly remembering what time it was, relatively speaking, "Hang on, wait that's not right. Probability wise I'm guessing people here don't travel around the galaxy casually in giant spaceships yet, right?"

"Not that I know of, but I have been hitchhiking across Europe for quite a while so I may have missed something." the man smiled as he took another sip of his drink.

"OH crap!" ChronoFreak cried out, "You're not really supposed to know that yet. I tell you what... What's your name?"

"Call me Doug." The man answered with a toast of his drink.

"And do you have a last name Doug?" ChronoFreak asked.

"It's Adams." He said as he turned to take another drink.

"Wonderful, tell you what Douglas Adams, I'm gonna be buying you all your drinks for the rest of the night!" ChronoFreak said as she reached for another bottle, "And hopefully I can get you so wasted that by the time you do wake up you'll remember as little about this conversation as possible.”

Present day...

“You know what, never mind it’s embarrassing – I mean complicated! Why don’t I just put in the numbers and go from there.” ChronoFreak blurted out as she turned to focus on the portal control systems in front of her.

Elsewhere in the Wolfetech lab, hidden among the crawlspaces between the walls, the vampire known as Angelslaine was trying to sneak his way past security.

“Oh great idea, let’s try to sneak into one of the most advance labs in all of paragon and see what we can steal!” Slaine barked quietly at absolutely no one, “Hey you don’t need to breathe, or have a heartbeat, or have any sort of body temperature, sneaking in should be EASY! If that damn Dr. Echo wasn’t paying so god damn fucking much money I’d probably be better off ripping his fucking throat out and drinking sci-fi dinner time! Fucking four-eyed meatbag.”

His personal tirade was cut short as a large atomically tempered blade cut straight into the ductwork he had been moving through at the time. The blade cut neatly and quickly around him, soon the metal plate in front of him was pulled open and a large woman in equally large and powerful looking tech armor was holding the tip of her sword directly as his neck.

“Whoa! The Fuck! Hang on a sec! Who the hell are you?” Slaine insisted.

“The Lady Astraea Steren, Knight of the Galactic Order of Saint Georg.” The woman answered calmly even as she held her sword perfectly steady.

“Ah, ok, that’s one hell of a name there.” He smiled carefully keeping an eye on her sword, “You can call me Angelslaine, or Slaine for short. Oh, and this is not what it looks like.”

“It looks like you’re trying to sneak into these private labs.” Astraea said.

“Ok then, it is what it looks like, but I have a very good reason.” Slaine admitted, though he hadn't yet come up with a good reason. By way of deflection he asked, “How’d you find me anyway?”

“You have mass.” Astraea told him.

“Come again?” Slaine asked confused.

“Everything has mass, which exerts a gravitational force.” Astraea explained, “And unfortunately for you Maggie is very sensitive to gravitational forces.”

“Oh, right, the bubble chick.” Slaine said.

“Enough, let’s go.” Astraea said as he prodded Slaine back towards the others.

She led the vampire into the main portal lab where everyone else had gathered thus far. A number of fellow heroes had arrived not long after Warp sent out a call for assistance. Now everyone was simply waiting until the scientists figured out the wormhole details. Because of Warp Factor’s warning, no one was surprised to see Angelslaine arriving with Astraea watching him close from behind, sword drawn. At least no one who was actually paying attention.

“Great news everyone!” ChronoFreak called out as she stepped out from the control room and stood in the middle of the entire group, “All the numbers have been duly crunched and we will be taking off to danger and adventure, or at least just danger, in a few moments. If any of you are prone to motion sickness you should take your Dramamine now. First we just gotta prime the actual portal emitters a bit… oh, hello.” ChronoFreak stopped herself as she saw Angelslaine for the very first time, “Don’t think we’ve met, which is always fun, meeting new people. Sorry can’t stay for pleasantries now, Are you here to help find Caios as well?”

“Caios?!” Slaine exclaimed. He of course had no idea the ‘fellow’ vampire was in trouble, but knowing Caios it was probably something really big or else the others wouldn’t even bother worrying about it. When he thought about, however, it did give him an out for his current predicament. And maybe even earn him a favor owed from an older vampire. With a toothy grin, Angelslaine continued, “Why of course! That’s why I snuck in here, to help find Caios just like you said.”

“Bullshit!” Warp Factor interrupted him, “You don’t expect us to really believe that crap do you?”

“Hey! We bloodsuckers gotta stick together you know.” Slaine defended himself. “And let’s face it, security here wasn’t about to let me just walk on in. Not to mention the small army of PPD outside that from some reason have this thing against us decent Rogue Isles citizens.”

“Um, sorry to interrupt, but the portal’s about really to charge up.” ChronoFreak mentioned. “Warp, Maggie, I’m gonna need your help here.” As she spoke the large scale portal generator behind her began to power up, ChronoFreak motioned for Warp to get closer as she continued, “Now all I need you to do is as soon as the portal’s wide open, imagine picking a point as far into the event horizon as you can imagine. Got it? Ok. Now using your gravimetric abilities, try to grab hold of that point and juuuust nudge it to left, by about 32.98 galaxies. That should get us where we need.”

[caios]

Space Port Bazzar, on the Rim Colony world of Tortgua, back in the other dimension...

One of the shops setup deep within the massive swap meet next to the space port was a nondescript human owned shack offering a simple veriety of weapons, mostly legal, set upon a basic table in front of the shack. The human who ran it was reading the latest news and gossip on his datapad, most of which involved the Tournament announcement. Only a shadow crossing his datapad told him a customer had arrived. With a huff he turned around and looked up at the potential customer.

“Oh, it’s you.” He said.

“He Darrus, I need a favor.” Azanii told him.

“You still owe me from the last favor I did you.” Darrus said calmly.

“Oh give me a break Darrus.” Azanii rolled her eyes, “I just need enough creds to recharge some fuel cells on my friend’s ship. You know I’m good for it, so what are you worried about?”

“Fine, just so long as you know what you’re getting into.” Darrus said as he stood up.

“I’m only asking you to float me enough creds to fill up my ship.” Azanii said, “We’re not exactly talking a major loan here.”

“I make it a rule not to care one bit what you do with the money I lend out.” Darrus said opening the door on the shack behind him, inside was a large array of mostly illegal weapons. He reached over to a shelf pulling out a small metal box. Opening it he retrieved a small digital drive which he plugged into his data pad.

“I’ll be sending it to the usual account.” Darrus told Azanii, “Given recent developments, however, I have to ask you one thing.”

“What is it Darrus?” Azanii asked.

“I’ve heard some dangerous rumors about you.” Darrus said as he worked on his data pad, “About you working with the Resistance.”

“Then you should be relieved to know they’re just that, rumors.” Azanii said, “Probably one of the space liners I hit had some Imperial prick on it who now just wants an excuse to make my life difficult.”

“I’ll say this much,” Darrus shrugged, “Personally I don’t much care what you do, Resistance or not. I just want to make sure you live long enough to pay me back.”

“As a rule you shouldn’t put much stock in rumors either.” Azanii crossed her arms.

“I’ll tell you something that isn’t a rumor.” Darrus said, “The Empire is cracking down on anything that smells Resistance. With that Queen and Tournament going on they’re not going to be taking any chances.” The data pad in his hand beeped cutting the conversation short. “The credit has been applied to your account. Consider yourself warned.”

“Duley noted an appreciated.” Azanii told him, “I’ll have your creds back soon, don’t worry about me.” She quickly turned around and walked away.


Once back at the ship, Azanii opened the main hatch and strolled in, “Hey Fred! I got the creds we needed.”

“Great, now I can get the ground crew to stop glaring at me.” Fred called out from the cockpit. As Azanii stepped inside she noticed Fred had turned one of the nav monitors into a vid screen where he was streaming extranet reports of the Tournament Announcement.

“Are you still watching that crap.” Azanii said.

“Hey don’t knock it.” Fred said, “Just cause you don’t care about the Tournament doesn’t change the fact that it’s a big deal across the galaxy. All of the big names in all of the Pro fighting circuits are saying they plan to enter the Tournament. Most of them aren’t even human. Can you imagine that? We could have the first non-human ruler of the ol’ Kingdom after this Tournament.”

“The Emperor would never allow that.” Azanii huffed.

“Don’t spoil my fantasy, it’s more fun to imagine that’ll happen.” Fred told her as he looked back at the continuing galactic broadcast, “OH! Check it out, they’ve got the Queen on the mic!”

On the screen it showed a frenzy of reporters all surrounding a petite human woman in the finest Royal wear. Despite the mass of people and questions the small woman remained confident, even going so far as to pull back the bodyguards surrounding her so she could speak to the reporters. Behind her a tall mysterious black haired woman stood looking over the Queen through dark glasses. She seemed far more frustrated by the press then the Queen but quickly faded into the background as the Queen began to speak.

“Please, gentlecreatures, I will answer whatever questions I can in a moment.” The Queen began, “Allow me to first assure everyone that, unlike some who might provide such vaporous claims, I truly care about the welfare of my beloved Kingdom.”

“Where have you been hiding for the past thirty years!” one of the reporters off camera insisted.

“A fair question, I understand the people demand answers.” The Queen said calmly, “I wish I could explain in detail but I’m afraid now is not the time. The fact of the matter is I was trapped someplace far away unable to return home. Every day of my Exile I sought to find a way back. Finally here I am, my only regret is that I was unable to return to my people sooner.”

“What do you think of the Tournament, and do you really support it?”

“The Royal Championship Tournament is an ancient tradition of this Kingdom. I would be failing my people as Queen if I did not support it.” Armitage smiled, “Despite the fact that events leading up to this situation were outside my control, the relevant concern is enough to validate the commencement of this Tournament.”

“Does your support of the Tournament mean you also support the Emperor?”

“Allow me to make one thing perfectly clear. I in no way support the illegal and immoral occupation of the former noble Zin.” The Queen put extra emphasis on the word ‘former’, “I have faith that the Tournament will bring justice to this so called Emperor.”

“Ha! Check her out bad mouthin the Emperor on intergalactic broadcasts.” Fred laughed as he watched on. “I tell you, I knew there was a reason why I liked her so much.”

After a moment Fred realized the ship was still surprisingly quiet. Looking back he saw Azanii still standing in the same spot staring a hole through the Vid monitor. She seemed entranced watching the broadcast with one hand almost unconsciously lying on her chest.

“Hey Azanii, you ok up there?” Fred asked, he turned to the screen then looked back at Azanii before continuing, “Oh that’s right, you’ve never seen the Queen before have you? You were born after she disappeared.”

Azanii blinked for a moment before quietly responding, “Yeah, this is the first time I’ve ever seen her.”

“Heh, pretty girl isn’t she.” Fred grinned. “Gotta love that Royal stock and all. Just think if it weren't for that dick of an Emperor, she'd be the one you'd be stealing from.”

“You know what Fred, I’ve changed my mind.” Azanii said after a moment, now free of her trance, “We need to head to the Imperial Capitol.”

“Wait, What?!” Fred exclaimed. “Why the hell would we want to do that?”

“You’re the one who wanted me to join the Tournament right?” Azanii told him, “So let’s go then.”

“I was kidding!” Fred cried out, “I didn’t think you’d actually go for it. Besides that was before they flagged us as potential Resistance.”

“You saying I couldn’t possibly win the whole thing?” Azanii asked him.

“In a fair fight I’d definitely bet everything on you.” Fred explained himself, “But this is going to be the best in the entire galaxy, not to mention the Emperor himself, and you know he’ll do everything and anything to win.”

“Oh please Fred, when was the last time we were ever in a fair fight?” Azanii said, “What are you really worried about?”

“Azanii, the Empire suspects you of being in the resistance.” Fred said, “That’s even worse then being a pirate to them. True or not they’re probably going to slam you in a cell the second you set foot on the Capital.”

“But if I’m there as a competitor they won’t be able to touch me, that’s Tournament Mandate right?” Azanii smiled.

“That’s assuming we actually get there!” Fred exclaimed, “You have any idea how many Imperial blockades we’ll probably have to run through just to get there? You think they’ll let us just fly on by? We’ll be cosmic dust long before we reach the Palace.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Azanii said casually.

“Oh great, ‘think of something’ she says, like it’s that simple,” Fred rolled his eyes in opposite directions, “I can’t just pull a miracle out of my crap hole you know. I mean maybe, maybe if we had some other legit reason to be traveling there we might be able to pass of as a simple transport. Transporting another Tournament contestant would be best, that way we can have him talk to the patrols and throw them off long enough to get past. But we’re talking best case scenario here, they might still blow us out of the sky on principle. Not to mention there’s no way any serious Championship fighter will need a crappy ship like this to take them to the Tournament.”

As if in response a loud knocking was heard coming from the outside of the main hatch. Azanii and Fred looked at each other for a moment before they both moved quickly and cautiously to the hatch. Azanii verified that Fred had his blaster ready before opening the door.

“Greetings.” A muscular tiger-like alien humanoid stood before them, head bowed, just in front of the ship’s hatch. He wore surprisingly simple clothing along with a ridiculously massive sword strapped to his back. “I am called Blood Lotus. I seek transport to the Kingdom’s Palace so that I may Test my skill in the Grand Tournament. Unfortunately I have very little currency of any kind to offer. I was told you might be able to assist me.”

“Fred, you’re a genius.” Azanii said wearing a devious grin.

[caios]

Meanwhile, Back at the Imperial Palace

“Ugh! God I hope I won’t have to deal with the intergalactic paparazzi.” Caios grunted as she walked determinedly through the Palace.

“Relax, it is not a requirement of the Tournament.” Armitage smirked at her as she walked closely behind her, the rest of the Queen’s entourage struggled to keep up behind them without overtaking the Queen. “However most would consider this press coverage one of the advantages of Tournament participation. Many people hope to launch entire celebrity careers from this.”

“Good for them.” Caios said, “Trust me when I say I’ve had plenty of experience dealing with the press back home. It never ends well.”

“If it makes you feel better, all you have to do is fight. Nothing can go wrong so long as you just keep winning your fights.” The Queen assured her.

“That makes me feel a little better at least.” Caios shrugged.

“What pathetic insult is this, Queen?” Zin’s voice rang out loudly through the Palatial hall.

“Well so much for feeling better.” Caios muttered as she and the Queen turned to face Zin storming their way with his own set of guards and servants fawning all over him.

“Truly you must be desperate to sink to such demeaning depths.” Zin taunted the Queen.

“If you are rambling about my words with the press then you waste your time.” The Queen shot back, “They asked me a question and I answered truthfully, I will never stop expressing my opinion of you.”

“Ha! You think I care about your little interviews?” Zin leered at her, “I own the press, and I am a master of their manipulation. Nothing you say to them concerns me. I speak of your sad, sad state. To think our one time Queen would find herself so helpless, that you would sponsor such a base pathetic savage.” He waved his hand dismissively at Caios’s direction to emphasize his point.

“You know I’m standing right here.” Caios said, though Zin completely ignored her.

“I assure you my friend here is more than capable enough to participate in this Tournament.” Queen Armitage said, “Beyond that what concern is it of yours who I sponsor?”

“Concern would be too strong a word now.” Zin laughed, “But the fact remains a deal was made, I’m allowing anyone in the galaxy to join the Tournament. So why do you lay your hopes on this vulgar creature from a world beyond the bounds of this Tournament? Did the years you spent in that horribly backward world addle your mind completely? This thing is ineligible to participate in the Tournament, it’s barely eligible as a sentient being.”

“Seriously, RIGHT here.” Caios reminded Zin even though he continued to ignore her.

“Think what you will, Zin, I assure you Caios’s planet is eligible to participate in the Tournament.” Queen Armitage continued, “I did spend years walking upon its soil, living amongst its people. My actions there had a real effect on the planet’s society, however slight. Therefore by the tradition of the Tournament any citizen of Earth is welcome to participate. Or do you fail to recognize my Royal presence? It would be a shame to have to cancel the Tournament now.”

Zin remained quiet for a long time then burst out in a forced laugh, “I will say this, you make things so interesting my Queen. I knew you would try to find someone to go up against me. I would have imagined you would hire some more reliable mercenaries, one of those thuggish inhuman breeds no doubt. Instead you manage to find something even more worthless. If you wish to lay all your hopes on this vulgar pale glorified monkey please do so. With any luck we won’t have to suffer seeing this thing tossing its feces about the arena – ”

Whatever insults Zin was about to spew forth was cut short as the blow that landed across his face sent him flying with surprising speed across the length of the massive hall. As he reached the opposite wall he bounced off the hard surface and was immediately slammed back into it by Caios who was already standing over him having easily kept up with his trajectory after punching him.

“I don’t give a fuck if you call yourself king, emperor, or even a motherfucking god.” Caios’s gaze bore through Zin as she spoke with an eerily menacing calm. “You’re being rude. Don’t make me tell you again.”

The silence was thick, almost suffocating, as Caios let go of Zin allowing him to slump to the ground. Caios then casually walked back to the rest of the group, showing Zin as much acknowledgement as he has shown her earlier.

“You… Dare!” It took a long time before Zin managed to regain his senses. Yet no matter how hard he bellowed, it did nothing to help his words now that he was having to speak with a broken jaw. “Guawds! Arress’ HER! KILL HER NOA!”

A wave of charging blasters spread through the Hall as the guards all readied their weapons. Caios simply stared them down, ready for anything. Ultimately it was Queen Armitage who first stepped forward, placing herself between Caios and the guards while saying, “Everyone, Stand down please. I would rather not see yet another firefight in the middle of the Palace.” Her tone was soft yet still held the command of those who heard her.

“These are MAH TWoops! You don’ have the Authoritah!” Zin yelled painfully towards the Queen.

“I fear in this case neither do you.” The Queen told him, “Or did you forget, you are both now Participants in the Royal Tournament. If you desire to lay capitol charges on her it will have to wait until after the Tournament, as per the Rules she is exempt from all prosecution until she can no longer participate.”

“Pawticipants canno’ attack eachother oud’side the aurina!” Zin managed to blurt out.

“Neither can Participants provoke each other into attacking.” Armitage continued, “Perhaps you should have considered that before speaking as you did. Besides I would barely call that an attack on her part. Trust me when I say if Caios had wanted to kill you with that assault you would already be dead.” With a smile she added, “Perhaps now you realize my friend, the so called savage, is far more capable then you had anticipated. Now you really should see a healer about that jaw of yours. There will be plenty of time for vengeance in the Tournament Arena.”

Zin stood up roughly and glared at Caios and then the Queen for a while before spitting out, “This isn’ over!” Immediately he turned around and stormed off, no doubt heading to see someone about his injuries.

“It won’t be over until you are defeated.” Armitage said to herself as she watched Zin walk away. Eventually she turned around to look back at Caios.

“I’m not apologizing.” Caios shrugged.

“On the contrary, that was most entertaining.” Armitage smiled at her, “True, I had hoped that he would continue to underestimate you until you faced him in the Tournament. Unfortunately he’ll be ready for you now that you’ve shown your hand with that display, but to be honest it was entirely worth it to see the look of complete and utter fear in Zin’s eyes.”

As the Queen’s entourage walked away, one lonely servant quietly moved away from the rest of the group. He seemed perfectly suited to the background moving about unnoticed, in fact he was putting a great deal of effort to remain very forgettable.

Soon he found a utility closet to quickly slip into, then slice into one of the network fibers. He took a moment to make sure he wasn’t being detected. Once he felt sufficiently safe he encoded a high security top level encrypted comm stream to a secret Resistance satellite.

“This is Corporal Rory reporting.” He spoke quietly; it was a one way connection only, for security reasons, so he could only hope someone would be listening. “You won’t believe what I just witnessed.”

Moments later a loud noise, like the combination of a lightning strike and an EM-Jet engine pulse, shook the palace.

“Actually hold that thought,” Rory said, “I think something exciting just happened.” He quickly disconnected the stream before he could be detected as security measures were raised to maximum in response to whatever that was. Besides, he decided as he walked in the direction of the disturbance along with the growing palace crowd, he was also rather curious at this point.

In the main Palace greeting hall, a very very strange petite woman with strange bunny ears and a stranger bushy tail stepped froth from the rest of her not so strange friends where they had all appeared suddenly. She looked around her sudden surroundings critically before blurting out, “No, no, no, this is all wrong! I said to nudge it 32.98 galaxies. That was more like 32.9528. This has got to be several hundred meters off the mark!”

Some of the Paragon City citizens behind ChronoFreak were still dazed from the sudden wormhole teleport, others were looking around curiously at the new dimension that they had just arrived at; the rest were just glaring at her.