Re: The Open Door (megacrossover)
Posted: 2008-11-15 03:12am
by Academia Nut
Don't worry, the plot is advancing, the Stiletto is going to spend maybe a chapter or two in the Praxis before making pit stops at two other places, I'm thinking the Worldwar universe and maybe a very brief stopper over in Firefly-verse just so they can say "Reavers? Yeah, we got a couple on board. What? Yeah, they are a bunch of bloodthirsty lunatics fond of taking human body parts as trophies, how'd you know?" That or maybe instead of the Reaver fleet following the Serenity out of the ion cloud it would be the Stiletto. Maybe not, but it would be hilarious to picture the Alliance crews if that happened.
Meanwhile life will get worse for Lars. I think I'm also going to touch on what's happened to Vita before redeploying her back to Stargate. I might open up a new universe as an important plot thread, but only as the Stiletto odyssey comes to a close. Buffyverse will probably also get touched on just long enough for Leman Russ to arrive. I'll also reveal another Hub-verse.
Also, I'm still trying to figure out if I can make Harry Potter, Chaos Sorcerer, fly in this story.
Re: The Open Door (megacrossover)
Posted: 2008-11-15 06:56am
by Robo Jesus
Darth Yoshi wrote:Academia Nut wrote:Also, I'm still trying to figure out if I can make Harry Potter, Chaos Sorcerer, fly in this story.
Oh,
hell yeah. The Order would get shat on for leaving Harry with the Dursleys, methinks.
Bah, you need more than that to make it work though. There are only three places in the Harry Potter series where New-Chaos could get Harry to listen to them, and even then, they'd have to change their approach for each one. Before Harry goes to Hogwarts (in which case the Dursleys would be very dead, as Chaos would take
offense at their
treatment of him, which drastically alters how things play out), Harry's second year at Hogwarts, and Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts. What's more, after a lot of discussion on the subject of the "prophecy", most everyone agrees that it was fullfilled, as in over and done with, the night that Harry got his scar, and that Dumbledore was just being a manipulative dick trying to hedge his bets incase Voldemort
did come back (which Dumbledore suspected he might, but couldn't prove anything definitive). As for why we believe that the Prophecy was fullfilled when Harry got his Scar, the sequence of events goes like this.
Voldemort learns of the "prophecy", and looks to see who it might fit. Voldemort believes he's found the one prophesized to destroy him. Lily gives Harry some sort of protection the night of Halloween (Power he knows not). Voldemort marked him his equal (killing curse to the forehead), the curse bounced back and killed Voldemort (for neither can live while the other survives). Harry lived, Voldemort did not.
The only part of the prophecy which can be used to argue that it wasn't fullfilled that night in Godrics Hollow is the "either must die at the hand of the other" part (Lily casting some wacked out magic on her son does not count as Harry's hand, it counts as Lily's, unless this part is being used in either first or third person view and first hand account, using the word "other" as reference to Voldemort, which would make the reference of hand to that of Voldemorts, though it is a bit funky if it's worded this way), as everything else that happened that night fits perfectly, while nothing else in canon that came afterwards does. Not even the events in Deathly Hallows fit. =/
As for any possible arguments about Voldemort not having died that night, Death, and the legal, medical, and the core definitions used for it, all have to do with the
body. Not the mind, not the soul. Voldemort was killed that night. Dead. That Voldemort did not
remain dead is a slightly seperate issue from this one that's being discussed in passing. While magic was involved in tying the soul to the mortal plane, death, and the very definition of death, deals with the state of the body. Also, for anyone trying to argue that the "Legal, medical, and grammatical conditions don't apply to prophecies, a largely spiritual area", I would like to preemptively retort this claim by pointing out with using that the fact that *"it" can be used to communicate at all says that it knows what the words mean, so trying to apply that line of thought for a counter argument does not work.
So, yeah, Dumbledore's and Voldemorts plans are going to be shot to hell here. Dumbledore's view of the
Greater Good is sickeningly close to that used as justification by the Tau, and Voldemort was a charismatic, though power hungry megalomaniac, who slowly went fucking batshit insane the more he kept on splitting his soul in the series (he didn't know that Harry held a piece of his soul, otherwise he would have laid off on splitting his soul any further (seven pieces being more stable and powerful than eight)).
*I think the prophecies are subconscious retellings of events that are the most likely to happen, with the prophecy in Harry Potter being entirely self-fullfilled. In other words, there are no forces pushing the prophecies to people, it's just that they get glimpses of things like Eldar farseers' and their subconscious minds directly speak what they're seeing.
Re: The Open Door (megacrossover)
Posted: 2008-11-17 02:08am
by Academia Nut
Chapter Forty-six: Training
Maria Godwin stood at rigid attention in the rows of fresh, raw recruits to the 73rd Armed Forces Training Schedule, Athens. Three times a year since fully consolidating their rule, the gods had declared they would hold training for all of those who volunteered in one of four locations scattered around the globe: Tokyo, Athens, Moscow, and West Point. These locations were only for regulars, the militias were all trained locally, as was the initial screening physical exams for recruits.
Maria had been hoping for placement in Tokyo so as to be closer to the gods and because officers usually received training in Tokyo, but apparently she had done something wrong during her examinations and interviews as she had been shipped to Athens, which had so far had very little reputation. West Point was the secondary officer training point along with the primary facility for the more technically minded non-commissioned troops, and Moscow was the biggest training facility and secondary feeder for the Space Marines training in Siberia, but Athens was the least respected base thus far.
Still, Maria would serve faithful and true no matter what the gods decided was best for her. So here she stood in the blazing Aegean sun, wearing only a set of military issue panties and nothing else, including hair as she had been shaved completely bald all over before been marched out here. She thought she smelled the soles of her bare feet cooking on the tarmac. She did not however comment and neither did the hundred or so others gathered in nice neat rows around her. Everyone assembled looked as deadly serious as her.
Well, except for two notable points. The first was that a girl a row ahead of her and to the right was fidgeting ever so slightly, obviously not used to the heat and trying not to show it. Maria wasn’t used to heat like this either though and she refused to show it, and neither did anyone else here.
The other slight aberration from stillness had to relate to the girl immediately to Maria’s left. While the girl herself was not the problem, it was the reaction in others. In the assembled lines men and women were in about equal number, and all wearing just boxers or panties, and despite the fact that everyone assembled here were about eighteen or nineteen, the men had shown considerable restraint… right up until the little girl -petite woman really- had walked in. So far no one was acknowledging anything, but even Maria had to admit that she was turned on a little.
It was the scars. It looked like she had gone toe-to-toe with a tiger that had ripped out her entire abdomen and she had somehow come out alive at the end. In current Earth culture, body scars were highly desirable and sexy. They said that a person was a survivor. And from the stern look on the woman’s face, she was clearly a survivor. In fact, looking at her the question of whether or not whatever had given her that scar had survived the encounter was a tough call to make.
Although now that Maria thought of it, she noticed that there were very few identifying marks on those around her. She saw the occasional scar from an accident or fighting, but there was nothing intentional like patterned burns or cuts or tattoos or piercings. The only brands visible were the simple star and eye pattern used to designate trained psykers. Otherwise everyone was whole of body.
Strange.
Maria then felt a curious electric tingle pass over her for a second before she noticed a slight distortion begin to emerge at the viewing stand where stern faced officers waited, although none of them appeared ready to give any sort of speech. For a few seconds a sort of ethereal mist leaked out of the distortion before it began to coalesce into a humanoid figure. As the distortion faded the mist condensed and darkened until the image of a lady draped in thin gauze began to emerge.
They had sent out a daemon to speak to them? Maria had never heard of such a thing. Were they in trouble? Or was this some sort of special honour?
And then the face finished forming and Maria had to restrain the urge to gasp in shock, a sentiment clearly expressed by everyone else. The fidgety girl clearly had the most overt reaction and had to bite her tongue to avoid saying something.
It was Daemon Princess Hikari, Beloved of the Gods, Wife of Primarch Toji, Queen of Justice. It was under her stern, unwavering, caring eye that she ensured that none of the laws of the gods were broken, and she brought down swift and terrible retribution upon everyone who dared defy their orders, sometimes personally but usually through the Ministry of Justice she oversaw.
Many an embezzler who thought they could skim a little off a government project and get away with it discovered that Hikari did not forgive and did not forget that sort of thing.
Why was the greatest of all the daemons here?
Gazing out over the assembled crowd, Hikari put on a beaming, ten thousand watt smile that framed her mature, thirty-something face perfectly. Hikari was the reason pig tails remained fashionable into middle age for women. Of course implicit in that smile was that the spotlight could also be focused into fine point capable of causing spontaneous combustion.
“Greetings recruits,” she said in warm, motherly voice. “I suppose you are wondering why you are here, or more likely, why I am here. Well, I am here today to tell you all that you have been selected for a special training program we have instituted at the behest of the gods themselves that shall be a joint venture between the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice. Normally our non-marine Special Forces operatives are taken from the cream of the crop of the various departments of the armed forces after a few years of duty. However, we have decided to start up a more specialized program, one that can cover a wide variety of roles while having no specific attachment to any originating branch. The training will also be highly specialized from day one, so we can sculpt you perfectly to the task at hand.”
Hikari smiled enigmatically for a moment before she said, “I would like to congratulate you all on making it to the first day of class for the 1st Session of Assassin Corp training. Not all of you will pass, and in fact most of you won’t. We expect one in ten of you to make it through the process, but those of you that fail will not fail out completely but be sent back to regular training where you will surely have careers in the Special Forces. Those of you that pass the four year course will become death incarnate, modified in mind and body to be able to kill or capture anything we set you against. On Earth, you will serve the Ministry of Justice in hunting down our most elusive targets, while beyond you shall be our scouts, for while you shall know and embrace death, your skills will be useful elsewhere too.”
Maria felt her heart leap at this proposal, but she, like no one else in the assembly said anything, even if there was a definite air of anticipation in the crowd.
Seeing the anticipation and silence, Hikari continued, “You have been selected for top physical and mental score results along with a high degree of loyalty and no significant body alterations. With time you will be given cybernetic enhancements. With time you will be given nannite colonies. With time you will be trained in the use of potent combat drugs. With time you will be given mutations and other gifts by the gods. With time. For now though you are clay and you will push yourselves to the peaks of what mortals can achieve without assistance. Incidentally, for those of you with psychic powers, outside of specialized training for you, getting caught will result in an automatic failure.”
One of the men branded with the seal of a psyker gave a slight cough which caused Hikari to direct an eyebrow in his direction. Returning the look until she nodded her head, he asked, “Ma’am, judging by the fact that this is Greece, what value of ‘caught’ are you applying, ma’am?”
Smirking dangerously, Hikari said, “I see you know your history. Yes, if you can get away with cheating, you can prosper, for a time. Then again, there will be daemons watching… including me. And despite my continued friendship with Tzintchi, I firmly believe that cheaters never prosper.”
There was a general nervous gulp from all of the psykers present.
“Smart batch we have here,” Hikari noted.
Gliding back slightly, Hikari gestured for one of the officers to come forward. Nodding, one of the men stepped up to the pulpit and said, “Greetings recruits I am Captain Lawrence, and we are going to begin today by dropping the bottom ten percent of you by a simple endurance test. There are currently a hundred and twenty of you, so the first twelve to drop today are out of the training. Today will be the most gruelling part of your training as the failure rate should drop precipitously, but don’t think just because you get by today we will go easy on you.
“The endurance test is as follows: there is a bay five kilometres from here, and two kilometres out in that bay is a small island with some abandoned pre-Second Impact buildings, which will be used as an obstacle course. The first part of the test is thus to reach the island, by any means necessary. Of course, to make things interesting, twenty minutes after the start of the exam a Whip of Mislaato will be asked to… is this word right?” Captain Lawrence asked, turning to Hikari while holding up a set of papers.
“Befriend is the correct term,” Hikari confirmed. This surprisingly caused the petite woman next to Maria to snort derisively.
“Yes… well, if any of you are not in the water by the time the Whip catches up you will be ‘befriended’. Thirty minutes after the beginning of the exam the gunboats will come out to encourage anyone still in the water to get to the island. After that, the test will consist of laps around the island until a sufficient number of you drop from exhaustion that the test will end. Bearers of Reigle will be used to ensure that you keep moving and that your endurance ends before theirs does. Any questions?” The captain asked.
There was a long silence before he nodded and pulled out starting gun that he pointed into the air. “Then you had all better get going!” He then pulled the trigger and everyone assembled rushed off.
Bare feet painfully blistered from standing on hot asphalt, Maria managed to ignore the pain that shot up her legs every time the sole of her foot made contact with the ground as she joined the middle of the pack as they followed the road conveniently marked off for them that led away from the heart of the training base on the outskirts of Athens.
Running five kilometres in less than twenty minutes had been physically possible for humans for decades, but having to conserve energy for a two kilometre swim and then an obstacle course in an urban environment put some constraints on things. For a time though all Maria could think about was her own breathing and the slap of flesh on hot asphalt all around her.
Then, just as their first object came in to sight, a large purple flare went up into the sky, its light not particularly noticed amongst the noonday glare, but the signal was pretty clear. Twenty minutes was up. A Space Marine could run at sixty kilometres an hour. Whips of Mislaato were faster than that. That gave them five minutes to get into the water. Some of the frontrunners, the ones who had pushed themselves during the initial leg of the course, had already made it down the long path into the water, while others were starting to climb down the closer cliffs.
Maria watched as the petite girl peeled off from the main group and went to one of the cliffs and paused for a moment, looking out over it. It wasn’t a good climbing spot, the stone having been eroded such that it was a negative incline. Seeing this, the fidgety girl also broke off from the pack, and realizing what this meant, Maria too followed.
Maria did not slow down, not after she saw how the petite woman started running as well once she had enough of a head start. Others were following now, but Maria would not fail. The fidgety girl, then the petite one, then Maria all leapt off the edge of the cliff, their legs still kicking as they flew out over the rock and were suspended in air for a moment above the azure blue waters of the relatively shallow bay.
It was a long fall, but all of them were experienced athletes and pulled into smooth dives that reduced the impact from bone shattering to just like getting hit by an economy car at low speeds. Emerging from the water, Maria looked over at the petite girl and said, “You’re nuts,” before she started swimming for the island as other bodies began to rain down around them.
The girl shrugged and said, “You followed.”
The pain in her feet did not go away, for while she was now in cool waters, Maria was also in salt water which stung what had to be open wounds on her feet. She ignored the pain however and continued to swim.
Time slipped away again as Maria focused on just swimming, but somewhere along the line she started to notice the stream of swears the fidgety girl was kicking up as she swam. Pausing for a moment, Maria asked, “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine!” The girl announced angrily. “I tore up my feet pretty bad on the run and they hurt like motherfuckers right now.”
“I did too but we need to keep swimming, and you’re just wasting your breath, now come on and just swim,” Maria stated before returning to swimming.
“Why do you care?” The girl asked as she too started to swim again.
“The glory of the gods demands nothing less than we give our all, and I would not see you squander this opportunity by jabbering,” Maria stated grimly.
The girl quit her swearing but her breathing seemed to take on an air of grumbling after that, but focused on her own swimming, Maria barely noticed.
The ‘encouragement’ phase of the swimming leg was heralded by a six inch naval shell landing in the bay just far enough to the streams of swimmers to not hurt them but close enough to scare the crap out of them.
“I do believe the gunboats they were talking about were pre-Ascension destroyers,” someone commented wryly in the cluster around Maria.
Pausing for a moment to consider the situation, Maria noted that the little daredevil was doing the same and she commented, “Gunships, lovely.”
Maria peered at the trio of destroyers on the horizon and noted that yes, there were shapes raising off of them that were probably vectored thrust Sea King-IIs, which would probably be armed with mini-guns in their role of infantry harassment.
“Don’t worry, they’ll have to work to not hit us, they’re just a reminder to keep going,” the fidgety girl said as she swam past.
“That’s not encouraging,” the daredevil noted as she started to swim.
“The gods will provide,” Maria replied.
“Gods will provide my ass,” the fidgety girl retorted.
A minute or so later, with more naval shells raining down in a precise pattern that harmed absolutely no one, the gunships arrived, their submarine hunting gear replaced with enormous loudspeakers so that the pilots could taunt them while tracking lines of bullets up and down and across their paths.
Still, despite the fact that few of swimmers stopped and indicated that they had had enough, Maria kept going, resolutely putting one arm in front of the other and continuing to kick her feet despite the fire of exhaustion and salt on bleeding wounds that tried to stop her.
Eventually though the waves started to carry her in to the island, which was an industrial wasteland of decaying buildings over forty years old. Also, all of the beaches and climbable cliffs were blockaded by army regulars and daemons circled about preventing other modes of access. Already those who reached the island were being rounded up.
Reaching a tiny beach of the island, Maria managed to get her feet on something solid and almost immediately wished she hadn’t. The rocks beneath her feet were fairly recent and were thus not smooth sand but rather sharp, which combined with the damage already done, caused her to nearly collapse. It was obvious that pretty much everyone who had made it this far was suffering from severely damaged feet as all of those rounded up so far had thick bandages around on them.
Refusing to give up this close, Maria surged onward until she noticed the daredevil looking back. Turning, Maria saw that the fidgety girl was floundering. The daredevil looked at Maria and said, “We don’t leave people behind on missions.”
Nodding, Maria turned around and half-waded, half-swam back to where the girl was obviously finding it impossible to set her feet down. Looking at the two coming out to help her, she said half-mournfully, half-angrily, “They’re never going to let me live this one down.”
Taking the right side while the other girl took the left, Maria hauled the girl on to the beach, dragging her along while she practically crawled until Hikari settled in front of them.
“Too hard this year?” Hikari asked, confusing both Maria and the daredevil, but making the girl between them laugh.
“They all did it,” she noted, gesturing to all of those on the island before she winced and said, “I forgot how much a limiting factor pain could be though. Never been this sadistic before.”
Nodding, Hikari said, “Hey, you’re the one who agreed to this all those years ago.”
“Only because we got to see him squirm first,” the girl replied as she looked at her bloody and ragged feet before noting quietly, “Do you think this counts as ‘blood for the blood god’?”
“Can you sacrifice to yourself?” Hikari asked.
“Not really,” Asukhon noted as she shed the mortal form she wore this year, sighing in relief as all of the mortal pains she had been bearing slipped away. This of course left everyone not in on the deal staring at one of the four gods in absolute shock.
Getting up on cloven feet of iron, Asukhon stretched out her limbs and shook out her newly re-grown hair before looking about at everyone and saying, “Hey guys, it’s me, your Blood Goddess, Patron Deity of Kicking Ass and Taking Names. Sorry about the bit of deception, it’s just that Tzintchi pointed out that we need to stay grounded, so every couple of years we spend a day or two mortal to remind ourselves what it’s like. And let me say, what a pain in my ass. Get Mislaato down here with the painkillers, stat! These people all deserve something for being awesome, especially these two,” Asukhon then pointed at Maria and the daredevil girl.
Maria at that point fainted from religious ecstasy. She had talked to, no touched, no she had helped one of the gods and was being singled out for praise. It was too much.
Hikari sighed and said, “I told you that you should have waited another half an hour before taking divine form again, it makes my job so much easier.”
Shrugging, Asukhon noted, “Hey, I spent twenty-four hours in a mortal body devised by the others without using any powers and did you see what that run did to my feet? Not on your life was I staying one moment longer girlfriend.”
“That attitude kind of ruins the point of these exercises you know?” Hikari said while medical staff looked over the fainted Maria.
“Hey, I’ve got a fuck load more respect for these hard asses now. It’s Reigle’s thing to keep going, I’m all about getting the job down quick and messy,” Asukhon said with a smirk.
