Octavo

(( Takes place 26.1.2007 ))

Octavo

Coile stood outside the meeting room hand on the door knob and drew breath. It was the time for Sword of Truth to meet the rest of the operatives in the Omega task force. She had chosen to join a few days ago when taking part in a reconnaissance mission with Coile and this was the proverbial handshake to make it real. He pulled the door open.

In the room there was a round table with nine chairs around it. The table would have just and just fit into Sword's living room in her Talos Island apartment. All the six other people turned to look at them. Coile just waved his hand and stepped closer. "Everyone, meet our new member, Sword of Truth." Sword nodded her head slightly waiting to hear what the others were called.

The man to her left was sitting with feet on the table. He had the kind of thin spiral-like moustache that traditional bad guys in black and white films sported. He smiled stretching the corners of his mouth almost to his ears. "Charming. I am Incision." Sword noticed that he was playing with three awfully sharp looking scalpels seemingly without paying conscious mind to what he was doing.

The blue haired woman next to him snorted. "You mean Indecision?" Everyone burst out laughing except Incision. Or Sword. She looked at Coile who was laughing as well apparently forgetting troubles for the time being. It was rare to see him laugh. Still being the cover boy from 'Mirth Monthly' Coile leaned closer to Sword and explained. "He tends to change his name quite often. And Frigid Bitch ribs him about it constantly. Last Friday he was Bane Bringer and she kept calling him Name Swinger."

Now the blue haired woman with sparkling blue eyes looked at Coile. "Yo, Cueballs. You better smile every single time you say my name aloud. Otherwise I deep freeze your nads so thoroughly they'll grow icicles until they let your wife out of the slammer." Then she smiled sweetly at Sword. "You can call me by my first name it you like, sister. It's Pelire." Even when the reference to Nightsparrow slapped her smack straight to her face Sword managed to keep her expression under control and nodded again. The hurt remained strictly inside.

The next man was a curious one. Not the man himself but his relative proportions compared to the chair he was sitting on. He was leaning against the backrest with feet pulled into a lotus position and a coffee cup on the chair to his right. Two of him could have easily sat there, maybe even three if knees touching was no problem. The chair was enormous. Military cut on his dark hair, skintight jeans, a faded 'Boomtown Rats' t-shirt. He sipped the coffee and smiled over the brim and through the steam rising from the cup. "You can call me Lord of Asgård."

The woman shrouded in dark on his left side spoke with a chilling voice. "Don't give that nonsense Viking. You are not from Asgård, you just wish you were. You're a scrawny-neck accountant from Stockholm by name Pelle Lund and the first name that you took when you came here was Sexy Blond. Be grateful that they allowed you to take Viking Blond as a new name and don't lie to new members." Again Coile leaned to Sword and muttered. "He told me his name was King of the Icetrolls."

The dark around the woman who had just spoken kept swirling slowly, hiding her features. Her head was now turned to the pair standing. "I am Lady Early Morning Sunshine but most here call me Gloom anyway. Everyone except him." She nodded towards the next person. It was a white containment suit with a red circle on the chest. Coile explained, "Hiroshima doesn't speak." The big battlesuit sat immobile.

The circle around the table was almost complete now. On their right was still one man hanging his arms behind him over the backrest. He laughed briefly. "Hiroshima, Becquerel, Manhattan, Oppenheimer, Curie. Choose any reference to radiation or nuclear and he will respond. Any, except Nagasaki." Sword looked at the white and red suit again. "Why not Nagasaki?", she asked. The man chuckled. "Because he doesn't respond to it. We don't know why." Then he got up and approached Sword with his hand ready for a shake. "Kip Hope, but officially Kid Hope." He smiled boyishly playfully.

Sword shook his hand and looked around the table again. These were the people that Coile had chosen to work with. She presented a small polite smile. She was not going to be friends with them. She was not going to trust them. She was not going to work with them either, just along them. "Nice to meet you all.", she said and followed her former lover towards the two vacant chairs next to each other between Pelire and Viking. She was here for Coile only. Nothing else.

While she was taking her seat Coile went to a vending machine and got two cups of coffee. Not that the caffeine was much needed but cups with drinks are generally nice plausible distractions. When meeting new people it is handy to have something else to concentrate on. It gives security. After setting the cups on the table and sat down. Nadia took hers staring straight ahead. The reference to Coile's newly-wed wife still circled in her head and made her moody. Coile seemingly did not notice any of this."So, what's going on? For the past week I have been scouting and taking out Nemesis forces."

The blue-haired woman made something small out of ice and sent it sliding across the table. It stopped in front of Sword. She looked at the ice chunk closer. It was an inch high perfect replica of a Jaeger. "We all have, Cueballs. By my estimate we have now cleared an area about the size of Paragon City from all hostile forces. Enough for a forward outpost to be constructed."

The door opened again and in stormed a man in his sixties. White hair, military sharp uniform. He walked briskly to the last remaining chair between Kid Hope and Incision and sat down. Immediately a pane slid open revealing a notable amount of controls. He touched none of them. "On the agenda: a new member, a mission briefing. Anything else?" No one said a thing, even no heads were shaken.

"The new member is Sword of Truth and she comes recommended by our last new recruit Coile. Her background checks out and she accepts our agenda, is that not so Sword of Truth?" The man looked at Sword across the table.

She looked back without flinching. She in fact did not agree with the entire agenda, nor with some means that the group was likely to use. Combating the Rikti menace was important, and securing the world against a new attack equally so, but still some methods were not to be accepted. She was in this for Coile. She trusted him, trusted him to make the right choices when the time came. Until then she would follow him and support him. She would accept the agenda just as far as Coile did, adapting to the situation as it changed. She nodded as a reply. Everyone was looking at her.

She looked briefly at Andre before replying with a voice as calm as possible. "Coile informed me about the lingering threat, the goals of your group. There is no doubt in my mind the Rikti are such a mortal foe for mankind. I… felt it in my flesh. I guess you all know I am dedicated to fight and preserve humanity."

The commander acknowledged her reply by an introduction. "I am Colonel Morgan Bree, commanding officer of the Omega task force or as some call it the Octavo. In government files we are known as Operation Antibody. Our task is to defeat the Rikti threat permanently by whatever means necessary. Questions?"

Next to her Coile was quietly drinking his coffee. The words echoed in her mind. By any means necessary. This was for him. He would make the right choices. She had faith. She looked directly in the eyes of the commander, trying to evaluate the resolve, the motives that were driving him. Was it hatred? Obedience? Trust? She had faith in Andre. "No commander, I have none. Things are clear to me and I know what I am doing here"

"Splendid. Next on the list, the next operation." The commander pressed a key and generated a holographic map.

Sword stifled a shiver. She would be with Andre until the end. In whatever manner it finally comes.

_________________
- Coile * The Silent Tempest
"There is nothing really supernatural at it but it is extraordinary that a schoolgirl can do it so good." -description of Love Angel

Last edited by Coile on Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:20 am; edited 1 time in total

Back in the fold

The indistinct humming of air conditioning was the only sound in the room when Pelire opened the door. She peeked her blue haired head inside and spotted the aging man who was staring at several tactical displays. With cheer and a smile she pushed the door wise open and stepped in. "Good morning, commander. You wanted to see me?"

Morgan Bree was a man of smallish stature but he was a living embodiment of an adage that a height did not make a man. Keeping his eyes fixed on the incoming data he said with a calm and relatively quiet voice, "Close the door." The smile still lingering on her blue lips Pelire did as asked and approach the Omega task force commander up to one meter. Then she halted and just waited. Eventually commander Bree turned around.

"The prodigal returned. I'll be damned." The woman with sharp blue eyes quirked an eyebrow. "Sir?" Morgan Bree nodded his white haired head towards a nearby table where a usual military file was spread open with all the documents, reports and pictures. Taking a picture into her hand as if to make sure there was no mix-up the blue-clad Octavo operative let out a surprised laugh. "Coile, sir? What's he doing back? I thought he lost the usage of his powers."

"Take a seat, Pel. This gets interesting." They both did so, around the table. "He found out." Commander Bree ran his weather-beaten hand over his face that was showing more and more wrinkles every passing month. His companion frowned and felt uncomfortable. It was rarely good if someone found out something that had been hidden. "Found out what, exactly?"

He pointed at a loose stack of papers that dealt with the dimension that Coile had vanished into a month before. "Pretty much everything. I think he knows fully well what we did with the dimensional mishap." Unconsciously Pelire clenched her fists. "And he wasn't pissed about it? I would have ripped your head off for it." His laughter was dry. "No you wouldn't, and he is made of the same stock. He's a truly dedicated one. Someone who believes in the cause enough to let himself be used and abused just as long as the job gets done. There is nothing that he will stop at to see the goal reached. We have found another believer."

There was doubt in the air still. "How's he going to benefit us? With his blasts he was very useful in taking out Rikti generators but no matter how dedicated he is, as just a guy he's going to be a red smear in some unwelcoming world if he lacks in the action department. And let's be honest, aside from his offensives what use was he ever?" Although the commander was in his sixties and looked like a man who had been through a few wars in his time his eyes were very lively. He smiled with them rather than his mouth. "He was very persuasive and convincing. He said that he would be back in the game when we needed him. I think he knows what he's doing."

It was evident that Pelire was not entirely approving but she was not going to argue with her superior. "What about Sword of Truth? Octavo is still short one operative." A shrug was the physical representation of his answer. "She didn't come up in the conversation. Seeing how much trouble he went through to get her in in the first place I thought it a little peculiar that he didn't try to get her into the deal as well. Perhaps their trip damaged their relationship? I don't know. For now she is out of the picture."

"Oh hell, do you suppose she knows as well?" Just as the woman dressed in blue spoke the door opened and an Octavo agent entered. "Who knows what?" The agent closed the door again and removed her dark classes. "Good morning, Pelire, commander." She made a salute and stood at ease. Morgan pointed at a vacant chair. "We're being pretty informal right now Tina. Take a chair." The 'woman in black' sat down. "Thank you, father. So, what's up? I heard something was."

There was a meaningful glance exchanged. Should the question be answered? The more people sharing any given secret the greater the risk of things leaking. However the beans were already spilled since Coile had found out about it and bringing Tina in could be a wise move if there was a need for damage control. Morgan spoke. "I don't think Sword of Truth knows although I can't be sure. Still it is my belief that Andre did not share it with her."

"Shared what, father?" Tina poured herself a glass of water by leaning backwards close enough to the water dispenser.

For a moment the commander hesitated tapping the table with a finger and then began talking. "It was a fluke that Coile went into a status gold world unauthorized. However the risk assessment was not as high as we let it be believed. When Sword of Truth asked to go after him I thought we could get some good intel if she brought a team with her. Put them to work for solid eight hours and then let them back. However, she decided to go in on her own." Morgan picked the glass from in front of his daughter and sipped a little before continuing.

"Then I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a field test with out two newest operatives. Let them scan around, gather intel, show us what they really got. What we do out there is not for the weak, in body, soul or conviction. At that time we could have recalled them at any time with some risk factored in but analysis division said it was within parameters. Then things went wrong. They stopped moving and analysis declared it possible that one of them had died."

Now Tina interrupted with a mild shock. "Possible?! I was told that the death was confirmed!" Morgan smiled apologetically. "You were sent to meet the Silent Tempest. If they had telepaths it was important that you knew only what they needed to know. What you didn't know they couldn't pry from your mind." Tina looked indignant but also saw the logic behind all the smoke and mirrors. Still she disliked being used.

"When the operative went down and there was confirmed hostiles capable of taking out our expedition the protocol called for lockdown gold. I don't make the procedures, I follow them. I had to close down all travel to and from that dimension. Officially my hands were tied and I had to abandon two of my people. Which is something that I do not do." Now Pelire turned to look at Tina and inhaled. It was her turn to continue the story.

"I suggested we could get Silent Tempest to perform the rescue operation on our behalf. That's when you were asked to make contact with them and offer them the codes if they could locate a portal that they could use. Unfortunately they let us down. My idea was to use them to locate a portal that we did not know about before. One aspect of our own little private war here is to limit unauthorized portal travel by groups who have stolen the technology. However they didn't go that route and then the data indicated that the expedition team had fallen immobile. So, we gave them directions to a portal that we knew about, in Rogue Isles. The plan was at least to seize that portal back to us, if nothing else." All Tina could do was just stare in disbelief.

When no one else said anything after a silence Tina asked with a slightly shaky voice. "You stranded first him, then his former lover, together, in a hostile world, kept them there until both were injured badly enough to lose their combat capabilities, lead their friends on a chase for a portal just to gain more rather than let them use the one that you knew about from the beginning and generally put them all through living hell, and now he is back, voluntarily? Because that's what I heard. Coile signed back into Octavo. Is it true?"

Now both Pelire and Morgan smiled. The commander answered. "Yes, it is. As I said, we have a true believer who lets bygones be bygones if it helps the agenda. Although now he prefers to be called Andre. He said that Coile is something whose time is done. Whatever that meant."

Pelire curled a lock of her blue hair around her finger and grinned. "What say we show the boy our Gemma base on Iksian IV?" Commander Bree gathered all the documents back inside the file. "I don't see why not." Slowly Pelire stood up. "I'll arrange it then. Always nice to show the Rikti testing ground to people who are not overly squeamish." She giggled in a way that sent disturbing shivers down Tina's spine and exited the room. Tina was left there with her father suddenly a little less sure if she was on the right side in this, or where the right side even was if it existed.

"Dad, is it a good idea take him back? When I took the assignment I read his file to familiarize myself with the subject. You know, the picture I got was not of an entirely stably guy. It doesn't say why he hates the Rikti, for example, not in any detail. That's psychosis. Then he lost his powers which is bound to be a major trauma, like having an arm amputated. You're not getting a good soldier, you'll get a wreck that will fall to pieces in the worst possible moment." Tina looked pleadingly at the stern man and hoped that her degree in psychology would be noted. None in Octavo were all there in her opinion but there was a difference in using flakey people and clearly damaged goods.

Her father smiled encouragingly. "You worry too much. What the boy needs is some work to do to forget his troubles." Tina kept quiet. her father was right, except that forgetting troubles did not make them go away. Pile enough weight on a man and when at some point the pressure ceases the stress just caves the man in. "Yes dad. Whatever you say." Then she got up well. It was not her problem. What did she care if one more supersoldier got scraped off the list in some faraway place?

Still, she remembered the young girl dressed in pink, issuing bluffs left and right ready to start a world war of her own to see a friend safe. Something like that was to be respected. Tina had her phone number in her own mobile still, stored under Love Angel. Making the phone call would be insubordination or possibly treason. Not calling would eventually cost a life. Even so it was not an easy decision to make.

Clutching to her phone Tina headed out. When did the life become so complicated?

_________________
- Coile * The Silent Tempest
"There is nothing really supernatural at it but it is extraordinary that a schoolgirl can do it so good." -description of Love Angel

Last edited by Coile on Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:20 am; edited 1 time in total

Investigation report, Octavo operation Gemma, file #27834
Chief: agent Nihil
Assisting: agent Creda, agent Tabulus, agent Exura

Site: Gemma base, world designation Iksian IV

Structural damage: complete. No surviving structures.

Personnel losses:
* Technical staff: 100% decimation (16/16 KIA)
* Security staff: 100% decimation (14/14 KIA)
* Scientific staff: 100% decimation (11/11 KIA)
* Octavo operatives: 62,5% decimation (5/8) / 87,5% decimation (7/8)
- Pelire: MIA
- Gloom: recovered, critical
- Hiroshima: KIA
- Kid Hope: KIA
- Coile: MIA
- Sharpstar: KIA
- Anarkos: KIA
- Lez Boi: KIA
* Command staff: 100% decimation (6/6)
- note: includes Omega commander Morgan Bree

Recommendation: assign world designation Iksian IV lockdown gold. High risk Rikti activity detected. Abandon search for missing personnel. Survival chances minimal.

Assessment: Recent loss of three operatives should have been a clear warning of growing risk. Disregarding the warning resulted in destruction of Omega task force. All Octavo operations should be discontinued until further notice.

- agent Nihil

Frosthome

In the darkness there was a familiar feeling. Pain. It was swirling on the edge of consciousness like an irritating buzzing fly that just would not go away. There was also a sense of relief. There was a consciousness to return to instead of a bleak and black death. Coile opened cautiously his eyes. There was mist floating before his eyes. Slowly the comprehension came. It was his own breath. It was cold.

His head was resting on bare concrete. The room he was in was lit by one fluorescent light and there was no parging on the walls. Whatever this place was it was unfinished. It was silent. The memories came at him in a flood. Rikti everywhere. Explosions. Blood. People dying. Smoke, a lot of it. And fires. Energy weapons crackling, ripping flesh and bone asunder. He tried to rise to sit but it was difficult. His armour was responding only sluggishly. A voice sounded by a doorway without a door. "Morning sunshine. Glad you decided to join the exiles. I need help sweeping the snow."

It felt like someone was pounding his brain with a hefty mallet. Holding his head between hands did not help much. "What happened?", Coile asked. Considering the memories flashing in the mind's eye the answer would not be anything good. The bald man sitting on the floor looked at his companion leaning against the doorframe. Blue hair, blue eyes, blue skimpy dress. Pelire controlled ice with remarkable finesse and it looked as if one aspect of her nature was disregard of low temperatures.

"Readers' Digest version is that we got utterly fucked. The Rikti forces that we'd been observing for a while were planning something and that's why your ass was dragged into this as well. Too bad none of the shitheads at analysis figured out that it wasn't just an exploration force. When they were ready they came right at us, full invasion. How much of it do you remember?"

Shifting his position allowed Coile to lean against the cold wall. "Rikti, everywhere in the base. People dying. Sharpstar, I think his head burst to bits." He drew wavering breath. "Oh my sky goddess, I think I saw at least five die." Pelire observed him for a while silently. Then she shook her head. "They killed us all. By my count Lez, Hiro, Gloom and Kid bought the farm. And commander. It was a clean cut. His head must've rolled at least ten meters in that corridor. And if you think how easily Octavo went down how do you reckon general staff fared? The attack started with the bombing of our portal room. No way to escape."

The reality was gnawing at him. All of them dead? There must have been at least fifty people in the base. "Where are we then?" The coldness was uncharacteristic for Iksian IV. Besides the base had been finished, and now it should be in ruins. There was something ominous in the air. Coile had a bad feeling that when all was said the situation would be somehow worse that it already was.

"We're in our next beachhead, a world that's not in Portal Corp catalogues yet. It had another name but just today I renamed it. Frosthome. And that's why we're fucked. We have a portal here but no power. Not enough in the generators anyway. We have solar panels to charge the generators with but some pencilneck doing weather pattern analysis did a piss poor job and failed to precict the snow. All the panels are buried and gather jack shit. I dug them out already but the bottom line is that there's not enough juice in them."

With slow motions Coile stood up with his armour. Now he spotted the helmet in a corner. "How did we end up in here? Is anyone else here?" A sinking feeling in his stomach told the asnwer already. It was left for Pelire only to confirm it. "Just us, cueball. When it all went tits up I ran to our thoroughly secret but perfectly functional secondary portal room and sounded the retreat. You must have been right nearby. All the datalines were down by then so all I had was the last used location, which was this world. I would've preferred Portal Court but in the face of a certain death beggars can't be choosers or they're choosers with a Rikti energy cannon up their ass. Just as the portal opened something blew up and you slammed against me and flung us both through the portal. I guess thanks for saving my hide are in order because your suit must have absorbed most of the blast. You went out like a light and I went outside to kick the fucking snow off our solar panels."

"Won't the Rikti chase us?"

"Every strategic panel has a self destruct hardwired into them. I activated it while dialing the location. There's no way anyone can tell where we are, or even that there was a portal."

Coile turned to look at the woman in blue with a dawning horror. "But how can Tempest or anyone else find us?"

"Now you're getting it. They can't. We're on an unlisted world. There's no way anyone can find out that we used a portal, and seeing the death rate at the base I'd say it's total decimation. Our investigators will mark us as missing in action and slap a lockdown on Iksian IV. For them we're casualties. But for the rest of the world it's going to be a show of cloak and dagger."

"What do you mean?"

"In an operation like this casualties are to be expected. They're part of the game. But for the entire operation to be annihilated like this, that's going to be bad press and heads would roll. Well, commander's did already." Pelire laughed drily. "They'll start pretending that we're all on some covert, long term mission. For months. That'll be the official stance. As far as anyone else knows we're just out there doing our jobs. Then only when the top brass has had enough time to prepared for the incoming shitstorm they'll announce the regrettable news of how we all perished in the service of our homeworld. There'll be speeches, some post humous medals and decorations, and we'll be swept under the carpet. No one will know to miss us or look for us."

"No! I have to get back or they'll all get worried again! They will! Diana especially, I know her."

"Hold your horses cowboy and less waving with the hands. We're both in this together and believe me I'm not stalling for time here. As soon as we can get the fuck out of here we wiil. It's just that we need the portal operational and there's no telling when that'll be. With the next supply run we were going to fit this place with an independent power source among other useful things but right now we're down to solar panels, basic rations and an endless supply of water."

"How long is it going to take until we have enough power stored?"

"Fuck if I know. Could be any minute now. Could be months. It's just the basic shit that we hauled over with a clear intent to bring more the next time. All I can tell for sure is that if the snow keeps covering the solar panels we're getting jack shit and will sit here until our asses freeze over. So grab a shovel and a broom and do a sweep run on the roof. The more rays we get the faster we're out of this frozen hellhole. And just because I don't get cold doesn't mean I love frost. I fucking hate frost.", snapped Pelire.

Gloomily Coile brushed past her in the doorway after picking up his helmet. "You could ask nicely too, you know.", he mumbled as he headed out.

_________________
- Coile * The Silent Tempest
"There is nothing really supernatural at it but it is extraordinary that a schoolgirl can do it so good." -description of Love Angel

Frostbite

Coile was sitting leaning at a wall knees bent and scooped the lukewarm nutrient porridge into his mouth. The rations tasted much like sawdust. The wind that blew the snow around had died and for now the panels were doing what they were made to do. Pelire walked in carrying her own plate. "Tastes like shit but keeps you going until we can shake the leg." She sat down adjacently to Coile smiling sweetly.

"So tell me, how's things with that Sword woman? You signed back on, she did not."

Coile kept his gaze on his plate. "We're fine."

"Why isn't she with you then? She didn't give bollocks about our agenda, she was there as your goddamn lapdog only."

This brought a reaction. An angry glare. "Don't talk of her like that! She saved my life when all of you left me stranded in that robot world!"

"Yes, she did, and how did you treat her? I made a point of getting to know every bloody operative that we took on. I know probably more about you than you'd feel comfortable with. You shot her down like a damn pigeon and dropped a truckload of crap on her. Still she sacrificed herself for you and how did you repay her?" Pelire cocked her head. "Don't you live with the blond teen wonder now? Sleep in the same bed and some shit like that."

The glare lost its intensity and turned away again. "It's over between me and Nadia. Nothing to go back to."

"That a fact now? Last I saw she was willing to give her world for you."

A small shrug. "Besides, she has a thing going with a team mate. She looks happy."

"Or puts on a pretty face."

"What do you care anyway?"

"Oh please, I couldn't give rat's ass worth about you and your fucks. I'm just making conversation here because as god's my witness we may be stuck here for a time that makes eternity look like a quick dip to grocery store to get a sixpack. And a second point is that I fucking hate delusional people who make up excuses and elaborate schemes that they can buy just so that they don't have to face the fucking reality. So wake up and smell the proverbial coffee because we're out of the real deal."

"What the blazes are you trying to say, eh?"

"Do you want that woman to be happy?"

"Of course!"

"But not with you?"

"There's nothing there any more and she deserves better anyway."

"That's your reason? She deserves better?"

"What?"

"Oh for fuck's sake. Are you pushing her to someone else just because you feel shitty about what you did?"

"I-"

"Because what you did was shitty, you know? It's way easier to get buried by guilt and wallow in your own self-loathing than to actually face the music. Now you redeem your ass by being content that she's happy while you're not."

"But I am-"

"Then when she settles down with someone else you can pretend that all is well and gain some shallow resemblance of peace of mind."

"But it's not like that!"

"Fuck yeah? Lay it out then. How is it? I've seen you moping enough on the few missions that we did together and I don't fancy a fucking daily repeat of your doom and gloom. Hell, get some backbone and 'fess up what's on your mind! Or I'll throw your ass out like yesterday's piss potty."

"What the blazes do you want from me?"

"Some fucking honesty. Feel like shit if you got to but at least for a good reason, not just because it makes you feel better. I don't care what hole you crawl into usually or what crap you tell yourself just to keep you from waking up screaming each morning. Just don't you dare go on pitying your sorry ass because you've brought all this shit on yourself on your very own and bumbed a fuckload of people into gutters along the road."

"What gives you the right to come and judge me, eh? As if you're any better, leaving me and Sword rot in that place for two weeks!"

"I'm not any better than you, I never claimed that. Matter of fact I'm worse then you. But by fuck at least I have the balls to stand tall and say aloud what I am, instead is a sniveling coward who can't even make up his mind who he'd like to bed. And by the by I read that crap from Paragon Times and laughed my fucking ass off. That's just the kind of self-delusional shit that I'm talking about. What I'm amazed by is that you actually found someone to share your fantasy with."

"Don't speak of Diana like that!"

"Alright, next time you try to defend some imaginary honour of one of your floozies I'll come over there and slap the god forsaken daylight out of your butt. You're going to go ape shit over some skirt anyway so better make it count at least. Who's it going to be, cueballs?"

There was a silence.

"You take your time figuring that one out, cardboard Romeo. My turn to sweep the snow. But next time you as much as frown sadly you better have a straight answer for me or I'll deep freeze your nads, capeesh?"

Laughing merrily Pelire got up and left the room. Coile remained sitting, in deep thoughts, half a plate of nutrient porridge that tasted like sawdust resting on his knee.

_________________
- Coile * The Silent Tempest
"There is nothing really supernatural at it but it is extraordinary that a schoolgirl can do it so good." -description of Love Angel

Frostheart

The best insulation around was the battle suit that Coile was wearing. Despite damages it kept functioning albeit as if it was dunked into a swimming pool full of tar. Even without the helmet he could sleep just as well. With two people inside the structure the average room temperature was well above the freezing point of water. As a pillow served a bag of dryfood the size of six fists.

Pelire kicked him to the side of the head. Not hard enough to leave much of a mark but still sturdily enough to snap Coile out of his troubled dreams. "Wake up cueballs. Twenty minutes to sweeping shift change and the winds seem to be picking up. I've showeled the white shit away from the house and the roof is reasonably clear but you know how it is with even half an inch of flakes. There's some stew on the heater, get it before it pulls up the charcoal number."

Groggily Coile sat up and scampered to his feet. There was a now familiat throb in his head that was not caused by the kick. His private theory was the oxygen level differing from that on Earth. The rations stew made him brain work a little faster. Pelire was again leaning on the doorway, watching him eat. Between mouthfuls Coile asked a question that had been circling inside for a while now. "Why are you in this, Pelire? Octavo I mean. What does it give to you?"

"What it gives to all of us. Satisfaction. A chance to rid the whole damn universe of those vermin."

"But why? What's your reason?"

"I just hate the fuckers, alright? I'm going to see the every last one of them burn before I go out."

"You're not doing it for someone else?"

"Nah, just for numero uno. There's no one else that I give two shits about."

"Well, I do."

"I've noticed. That was the reason it was a mistake to draft your sorry as. I should never have come to talk to you in the first place much less offer you a job. You got too much baggage. Sad fuckers who cry after you when you're gone. At first it was a tempting idea to let it play for us but getting Sword of Truth on was maybe even a bigger cock-up than signing you for Octavo. She was a fucking traitor and never committed to our cause. She was here just for you and would've sold the rest of us out for you. Fucker." Pelire smiled. "It just turned out differently."

He was too tired to take any of the baits that were dangling just in front of him. "It's not wrong to care. I'm here to protect people, not to mindlessly go and exterminate."

"Then you're with the wrong tribe, buddy. Or did you blink your ear when the genocide aspect came up? We're here to fuck the whole bunch with rusty pitchforks and incinirate them. That's what you signed under. Never forget that."

"Well, that's not me any more. I'm done with bloodshed. There are important things in life, worth protecting, worth dying for, but not worth killing for."

"Well then you're lucky, soldier boy. When we get home your tour is over. You're too chickenshit for my uses anyway."

"Huh? What uses? It's over, Pelire. The rest are dead! Gone! There's no one to carry on with the work anymore! Every major figure involved in this was in that base and with all the explosions the whole base must be rubble by now."

The blue eyes woman inspected her tovarich in exile with a cold gaze. There was no reason to get the man agitated for nothing right now. She needed him to share the sweeping duties and if provoked he could become bothersome enough to warrant snapping his scrawny neck. "Yes. Over."

Coile finished his meal. Pelire was keeping her eyes on him as if to reassure herself that the man was indeed more useful alive than he would be trouble. She tried to lighten the mood. "So, any great thoughts about the skirt scene?"

Coile gave her a wary glance remembering the threat about freezing something that he preferred unfrozen. He made a flimsy and thoroughly useless gesture at defending himself with a hand. "Well, there's a lot of people and I wouldn't want to hurt anyone."

Sighing drmatically Pelire rolled her eyes and turned around. "Jesus H. tittyfucking Christ. Try again when you have something else but inane drivel to share." So much for lightening the mood but there was only so much sap that she could take at one time and cueballs had an overdose written all over him.

Grumpily Coile put the helmet on and headed out. It was going to be a long, long winter.

_________________
- Coile * The Silent Tempest
"There is nothing really supernatural at it but it is extraordinary that a schoolgirl can do it so good." -description of Love Angel

Frosteyes

The wind was merely a breeze but nonetheless it was capable of moving the small units of snow in whirls around and around. Coile stood on the roof in his sluggishly responding suit and kept the broom moving. No batteries, no proper food, no spare set of clothes and yet someone had brought a broom across. Sometimes people did amazing things.

The clock in the helmet would have told him exactly how long he had been up on the roof this time but he preferred not to know. A long time anyway and it would not get any shorter if he knew what time it was. There was movement on the periphery of his vision. "Your shift won't be in a while yet, Pelire."

"Move your ass cueballs. We've got power! Portal controls just flared up and that means we're in business!"

Portal. Going back home. Coile stood a broom in his hands and realized how much he had come to miss the people back home in just two days. He had prepared himself to be stranded for weeks at the very least. He let go of the broom and it clattered upon impact to the roof. "I've been stuck in forsaken worlds twice while in Octavo."

Pelire tugged his arm. "First time for me so it must be you then. Now shake it. The panel is whittling the power as we waste our time yapping." His movements were slow and Pelire trying to speed things up by pulling did not actually make him go any faster.

In a way Coile was relieved. Octavo had turned from a worthwhile cause into a worrisome threat. Originally it had given him a direction in his life after Tempest had been hit with deaths of Kitia and Steel Guard. After his break up with Sword of Truth it had offered a way of keeping them together as people if not lovers. The degration had been slow until Coile had to face some fouler kind of his past deeds and see just how red his hands were with blood. Suddenly the agenda of massacring the whole of Rikti race lost its appeal. It was in fact a goal that he needed to oppose.

Now it was all over. The chain of command, the metahuman operatives, everyone who was deeply enough involved was now dead and buried. Except for them. They got finally inside the structure. Pelire had succumbed to steadily pulling the arm which was now helping a little. "Fucking hell, your suit is like glue in the joints and weights a ton. We gotta bail now, just through that door. Work to be done, Rikti to kill. No time to bask in the sun."

Coile grunted inside the suit. "I'm done with that. Octavo's wiped out, Omega task force is at an end. I'm out."

"You always were too soft for this shit anyway, as was your black bitch. Just stay the fuck out of my way and we'll get along nicely."

The portal was not open yet but the familiar hum was there. While Coile dragged his mass to stand next to the portal Pelire went to the panel and set coordinates. Still eternally slowly he turned around to look at the blue haired woman. "I can't let you run free if you start again. If I find you at it I'll stop you."

Pelire laughed with mirth. "That a fact now, cueballs? Getting big ideas in that bald head of yours. You cross me I bump you aside like a roadkill." Powering everything up she moved to stand before Coile. "But that's for later. Now, before we go back, there's something I've wanted to do for a long time now." She smiled sweetly. Even warmly.

An unspoken dread started to fester inside Coile's gut. "What's that?", he inquired cautiously.

"Take off your helmet and find out, cueballs." The tilting of the head was a minute but precise movement, practiced to invoke certain images. The smile stayed.

"I don't-", Coile started but put his hands on his helmet and released the clamps. Whatever Pelire was up to was not good but caving in would have been a defeat and he was determined not to be defeated by this woman. Come hell or high water he would make a stand. He held the helmet in his left hand and looked levelly into those deeply blue eyes.

Pelire licked her lips and closed her eyes halfway. "For a long time.", she more breathed out than even whispered. Then she swung her ice cold fist smack middle of Coile's forehead with enough force to keel him over backwards. She was laughing with glee as Coile stumbled into the portal and vanished. "Oh my god what a pussyfooting, gullible fucker."

Then she jumped into the portal, and was gone.

** Time of arrival to Portal Court: 11.6.2007 / 2000 hours **

_________________
- Coile * The Silent Tempest
"There is nothing really supernatural at it but it is extraordinary that a schoolgirl can do it so good." -description of Love Angel