Chapter 12   A Machine Reborn   author: Overlord - red , Blackguard - violet  
Stomping feet... clattering arms..... silent panting.....

Dozens of heavily armed men were running down dark hallways toward the thopter-bay. The new improved E-EAC-thopters were waiting. Their sleek dark shapes seemed crouched, ready to leap at anybody coming near. Their forms simply gave one message, breathing death and destruction. The soldiers lined up besides the bulks of the thopters, waiting... Complete silence. Then heavy footsteps came nearer. A tall dark shape appeared in the opened bay-doors. The overlord wore his old black leather coat, with the broad shoulders and wide lapels. There was no insignia attached to it, but the whole outfit breathed authority. The face of the man came into the lights. The entire left side of his face was covered in metal instruments, all kinds of communications and observation devices. he only had one human eye, which was blazing with anger. The other eye was a lens which flared with a dull red light. Just before the overlord finished putting on his right glove, it was apparent that his hands were replaced with metal ones. The rumor proved right then: he was a cyborg. But the soldiers didn't mind. They still trusted the overlord without hesitation. In fact, they were convinced the new overlord would prove to be more deadly than ever before.

"Mount"

He said it casual, but it resulted in the swift and orderly boarding of all the soldiers in three of the slender machines. The overlord got in the first machine and while the large out-doors opened in the face of the rocks, the machines were already lifting from the platform. There was only a whispering sound while they left the hangar bay. Then, when their jets fired, a thundering roar cleaved the night covered landscape.

The overlord looked in front, his gaze penetrating the night sky, ignoring the electronic data which streamed into his mind. it was one thing that she'd hidden the fact of him being a father, but now she also expected him to jump up and rescue whoever it was that he was supposed to protect. Okay, so he did care to know his off-spring and he sure as hell would prevent them falling into the hands of the children of Christopher. He would only have liked to solve the problems with his dream-state before he would go into action again.

Well, never mind that now. He had taken the necessary precautions, if only temporary. If only he knew a bit more about the players in this game. He didn't like to go in blind and as far as he was concerned, that was exactly what was demanded of him now.

He knew there was a son and a daughter, who were trapped in a labyrinth somewhere (he got the coordinates though), chased by both some demon-lady (who he didn't know) and some members from the Cruciator-sects that still operated underground. He also knew that the Temptress and the Sorceress were busy trying to rescue the kids.

That was all.

And that was too goddamn little to fly upon.

After his "meeting" with the Overlord, Blackguard had retreated to his fortress within the EAC. Fortress, the word conjured up visions of grand keep, with high battlements and fortifications all around. His fortress wasn't quite that grand, in fact it wasn't all that much. But it was fortified, and nobody but himself and those he allowed to enter could pass through it's walls. He sat down in his favourite chair and listened to the music that played softly throughout the room.

He was torn between two ideals and had no idea on which side he should fight, or even if he should get invovled for that matter.

The Overlord was technically his superior, and for that reason and that reason alone he had told him of Kendra's involvement with Henos and Thenna. But Kenda was another loyalty, not through blood, not even through friendship, but through the Dark Power that they both had. Even though they had come to it through different means, they still had a bond.

There was no way around it, he couldn't get involved directly, but he might try something a little indirect. He breathed deeply and let the shadows take him away.