Redemption (Rated T) - A Pirate/Fleet RP

[Zylaa]

"Yeah. Honestly, you'd think that people would be happy to not be unwanted witnesses."

"People these days don't appreciate a good bit of piracy," Zylaa agreed. "And... was it just me, or did the universe just skip?" She had been looking at the map when the outlined path suddenly disappeared. Other than that, nothing seemed that different in the enclosed hallway. "I mean, as long as the library didn't shift, no problem, but I'd just like to know that I'm not crazy."

As they set out down the hallway-- in the right direction this time-- they passed a clock on the wall. Zylaa did a double take.

"So... either the Spacefleet clock is messed up something crazy, or it's six twenty-three... six-twenty-four," she corrected herself as the minute changed. "Anyone have any idea what the heck is going on?"

[Huntress]

"Anyone have any idea what the heck is going on?"

"We haven't seen any more than you have," Hunty said, her voice dry. The day hadn't been good and wasn't about to get any better. The execution had been annoying, Tabloid Town had been annoying, the issues with getting to the HQ had been annoying, actually getting there had been exceptionally annoying, and she didn't even want to remind herself of the reason why they were up there in the first place.

And if that day had actually been rolled back to start all over, then someone's head was gonna roll for this.

...time skips?

Something surfaced. The lag that'd happened in, as it'd felt, the actual fabric of the air around him - which was the best way she could put it - actually did ring a bell. It was a somewhat vague, yet very uncomfortable connection.

Memories came back.

We could chuck it in the sea, but there's no telling what might happen after that. We could give it to the mages, but I've no clue how it might react with magic. It's probably best if you guys get it. Take it up to your moon and lock it up; research it if you want, but I'd rather have it kept away from all innocent life on this pretty little planet.

She'd said that, hadn't she? And for a good reason, no less.

I've dealt with some very, very strange things in the past, but this is definitely one of the strangest.

She wasn't about to doubt that.

Hunty swore, making use of a few words Bloody Mary hadn't heard from her in a while. The meepit turned to stare at her.

"You were there," said the captain. "Remember a certain mass destruction weapon we handed these guys not so long ago?"

The meepit blinked. "Mass dest-oh." There hadn't been many enounters with the fleet up until that day and there'd only ever been one thing he could remember giving them.

There was a pause.

"You think it can do that?"

"Out of all things I know that these guys have, this is one thing I can expect it from, yes." Hunty gave a quiet under-the-breath hiss. She hadn't thought of that. She was uncomfortable coming up to a tightly sealed station in the middle of very literal nowhere, being dependent on artificial life support and computers, something pirates never really held with. But she'd completely forgotten about the bike. The Fleeters probably didn't even have a grasp of what the bike was about, they were the technical sort of people, they researched and looked at the cold hard facts. But she was a pirate. She didn't need factual proof to believe that the bike that'd come with a Horseman of the Apocalypse was more trouble than anyone would ever want in one galaxy.

And here they were now. In the same station with it.

Suddenly, she felt very claustrophobic.

"Kay," Bloody Mary said, apparently in a rather similar mood. "So we seem to be stuck in a space-station with a haywire time-nuke. Or something along those lines. But we can't get away just yet, can we?"

Hunty gave a 'fweh' and trotted down the hallway again. "Sure we could, but we're here for other reasons as well than just Merpo's book, if you still remember."

"How could I ever forget," the meepit mumbled, sinking lower on her shoulder.

They turned the corner and jerked to a sudden halt. This hallway was no longer empty.

In fact, at least two of the three figures in this hallway were very familiar.

"Lo and behold," said Bloody Mary, getting more upright again. Hunty, her eyes now flashing with something rather curious yet rather unpleasant, looked at Keng, then even longer at Cyborg, shot a curious glance at the bear next to them, and then gave a short, sharp 'look over here' kind of whistle.

[Kengplant]

"Huntress! Say.. you haven't seen a mysteriously clad character go by your way have you? One who smelled kinda-"

*SQUEAK!*

"... ehm..."

*SQUEAK*

"... Oh and he got your i-" *SQUEAK* "but I'm gonna have to-" *SQUEAK!* "-on to it. You can-" *SQUEAK* "over it but..." *SQUEAK*

"....

...."

*SQUEAK!*

"... I am never buying a squeaky toy again..."

*SQUEAK!*

Funnily enough it was her own doggy tendencies that had caused her to buy the toy in the first place.

[Rider]

[glow=red,2,300]Rider ran towards the garage, her heart pounding in her ears. It wasn't too late. She could still -

The Garage was the single most bizarre place in the Spacefleet. it had gone from a train-wreck to completely normal. In the middle, a lot of confused marines were catching their breath or else looking for thier dead companions. The bodies had not been brought through the time blip.

In the middle of it all was Fraze, looking like he had just been through hell. There was no blood on the floor, only on people's clothing.

"Fraze, we seem to have been brought back in time, maybe 9 hours back. I'm not sure what caused it but I'd bet my right arm it was that cursed bike. That means that all of this, the life support failure, the demon attack, it's gonna happen all over again. We need to find out what made them retreat."

She felt strange telling Fraze what he probably already knew, but it was necessary.

Meanwhile, a Leraye who did not look like he had just been through a demon attack was carrying a second black gem in his pocket and wandering about the halls aimlessly. He had felt the time blip, but he didn't consider it of much concern to him.

How very wrong he was.

He could hear some strange squeaking noises coming from nearby. Figuring that it would probably be entertaining to watch, he wandered closer to the source of the sound.

And came face-to-face with the last person he'd expect to see up here.

"Captain...?"

And he bolted like a rabbit.[/glow]

[zarikrahia]

((For one totally idiotic post, and one totally idiotic post only (whether I make more, less idiotic ones remains to be seen) Zari hath returned in all her clone-ey glory, to celebrate two years at the NTWF!

And because Fraze reminded her she hadn't posted in yonks. Happy Christmas.))

"...What the Nythonae is going on!"

"I'll say."

"No, seriously! One minute I'm sitting here eating, the next another me appears covered in blood an muck and claiming there's been a demon invasion and you've been sent back in time for some reason!"

Standing in the centre of the room belonging to ZariKrahia Ailden were two Zari's. Having two hanging around in the same universe wasn't exactly unusual, in fact, it was downright mandatory, but two copies of exactly the same Zari was not normal.

The two girls stared at one another. Having a staring contest with yourself is highly unproductive.

It was at that moment, when both ZariKrahia Ailden's realised that staring was unproductive, that Thirty-two other people all teleported in Zari's room at once. Well, it was technically sixteen if you counted all the doubles.

Both ZariKrahia's swallowed.

There was Zari Vaiderayle, obviously.
And Ailura Felidae.
Aiyuka, as well.
Ailura Aylurive, Zarru, Shary, Ghost of Zari Past, Ghost of Zari Present, Ghost of Zari Future, Arianna, Rhymaki, Ralleiya, and Ailee. Plus Ella Thymain, Raelah, and...was that Real-life Zari?

"I did say that bike would be troublesome when you reported it." said one of the Aiyuka's sternly. "Now there are twice as many Others, and you'd better find a way to fix this."

"I've dealt with time paradoxes and things like this before..." Ailee put in. "All we've got to do is wait for the time we were sent back to come by and we'll be fine."

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but in Real-Life we don't have time paradoxes except in science fiction novels. The me who came back from the future will have to hide under the bed or something. Because two Me's will make my mother go ballistic." Real-Life Zari sighed. "We'd better all go back to our respective dimensions."

"Good idea."
"I'm not the one hiding under the bed, got it?"

--

As soon as all the Others had left, Present-Zari grabbed Future-Zari by the wrist, flung the door open, and began to run.

"Where are we going?"
"The Garage."

--

"What...the..."

Zari went past some odd guy running so fast he was a blur, homing in on the place where she knew the bike to be.

"Um, hello, Ms. Rider, is there anyone you know that couldtell me why there is another me insisting demons are going to attack at some point in the next six hours? It's all very confusing, you see, and-- Fraze! What happened to you?"

Both Zari's had automatically drawn their dart-pistols, but were unsure of where to point them at, so stuck them simultaneously back in their holsters. "No, seriously..." Past-Zari began, "What in the name of flyng cactuses is going on?"

"I told you, demons-mmmmph!"

Having covered the Future-Zari's mouth, Present-Zari continued speaking. "She makes even less sense than I do--can someone explain what just happened, without crazy hand gestures and sound effects?"

[Kengplant]

"How the hell did he... he was just going..." Keng made some vague pointing gestures at where the mysteriously clad figure may or may not have been headed then towards where the mysteriously clad figure who was now confirmed to be Leraye had just run. Before she was half way through those words she was already taking off after the alchemist of 6:30am. Then before she could conceive saying 'nevermind, let's get him' she was already making a sharp turn around the corner on all fours, literally running on the wall to make the turn.

As she head off down the next hallway she let out a howl. It echoed back down to where she'd left the pirates at which point Muskoka snapped to sharp attention. *SQUEAK* Attentiveness of course does not require the dropping of squeaky toys. So with another squeak, the bear somehow managed to grab the cuff of Cyborg's sleeve without dropping the stuffed fish and began towing the kougra with him after his master, letting go only when they reached the corner to let Cyborg run of his own accord.

Muskoka was somewhat less sharp and nimble on the turn when running. He tried to make an immediate 90 degree change in direction but instead kept sliding and rammed into the wall with a dull thud and a loud squeak as it's claws scrambled for grip, and eventually got him going in the right direction.

[Cyborg]

" Leraye, he's back!?!" Cyborg said as Keng rushed by him, and he was then dragged by a bear for a distance. " Come on Muskoka!" he called as he chased after Keng, and Leraye. Cyborg kept his cutlasses out, and held them behind him, in a Naruto-esque run.

[Amneiger]

Amneiger looked up as...something...passed over him. What was that? Why has the clock on this computer suddenly reset? And why is there suddenly an extra vacsuit in the emergency locker?



Amneiger had been asleep in bed, but had suddenly bolted upright. Something...some disturbance. He turned the light on. Neither his datacube or his dazzler were missing. Nothing seemed to be broken. He had no missed calls on his communicator. There wasn't a new mail icon on his computer.

Whatever had happened, it didn't seem to be any kind of threat; he'd find out what it was later. He switched the light off and went back to sleep.


((On another note: ZARI You're back! I was wondering where you'd been.))

[Fraze]

((Hunty, you can stop attacking me with that badger now.))

Still panting, Fraze bent over to catch his breath.

He then felt the physical analog of going back several tracks on a DVD.

The AI in his suit wasn't technically sentient, but it was smart enough to know when something strange was going on. And the station's clocks setting themselves back approximately 9 hours definitely qualified as strange. An alert flashed in Fraze's vision telling him this, but he ignored it. Fraze, on the other hand, was sentient, and the garage instantaneously fixing all the damage done to it even more definitely qualified as strange.
All right, what the heck was that? He sent this question to security, but no one could give an answer.
Rider skidded to the door and saw him. "Fraze, we seem to have been brought back in time, maybe 9 hours back. I'm not sure what caused it but I'd bet my right arm it was that cursed bike. That means that all of this, the life support failure, the demon attack, it's gonna happen all over again. We need to find out what made them retreat."
Though he might normally have been skeptical of a gut instinct like this, Fraze had to admit it was the most likely possibility right now. Though the demon attack could have been completely unrelated, it was too much of a coincidence.
"I think a messenger of some sort may have gone right before the battle here ended. I tried to fight her...she was invisible, but she ran away rather than attacking. I can only think she may have been bringing a message to someone."

Zari...no, two Zaris--Zariii? a part of Fraze's brain wondered--added their presence at the garage. "Um, hello, Ms. Rider, is there anyone you know that couldtell me why there is another me insisting demons are going to attack at some point in the next six hours? It's all very confusing, you see, and-- Fraze! What happened to you?"
"Oh, just a random battle with demons attacking the 'Fleet, that's all," he answered back. "Eh, I'm fine. I'm more worried about what just happened. Rider thinks it was TMC's bike that happened, and I'm inclined to agree."

Something that had been flitting about on the very edges of the various carunculations of Fraze's consciousness finally showed itself. If everyone was transported back in time, then...
"Wait, are there two of everyone now?"
He was used to seeing multiple Zaris, but not two completely identical ones. Wait, 9 hours ago...no, wait, now, but the other now...AGH! at 6:25 AM, he was flying back to the station and worrying about the diplomatic meeting with Ikkin. About 3 AU from Spacefleet, if he remembered right.

He sent a high-intensity coded message out to the region where he thought he was. It used up quite a bit of energy for his suit to send a message with that amplitude that far, but he had to try. "Fraze, are you there?"
There was silence. Well, maybe it's better that it didn't work. Then there was an answer, and Fraze jumped.
"Yes...who is this?"
"This is...well, as far as I can tell, this is Fraze from 9 hours in your future."
"What? Wait, Amnei, did you build a voice emulator?"
"Nope, it's really me." With that, he sent off several files from his previous station.
There was a pause before the next response. "...All right. What happened?"
"The pirates came to visit. Demons attacked. TMC's bike went haywire, we think. That's all I know now. Hey, at least the diplomatic meeting went well."
The other Fraze laughed. He understood his own humor perfectly, even if other people often didn't.
"Anyway, show up when you will. There may be two demon fleets as well, so any help will be welcome.
"Wouldn't miss it, as I'm sure you know. Keep me updated."
"Well, I won't have any trouble keeping me in the know, but I'm not so sure about me." After that butchering of proper syntax, Fraze disconnected the comm link.
Since he was communicating with himself at the speed of thought, the entire conversation took about ten seconds. "I just talked to myself," he said. "Er, you know what I mean. I'll be here in an hour or two, I think."

[Goosh]

The air twitched.

Goosh noticed the faintest blur out of the corner of his vision, but when he turned tolook he just saw the wall. The crew was still there, all the same. But something felt different. He looked at his hand.

The cut from the creepy spider had chnaged drastically. The wound had swollen and darkened, leaving him with a patch of puffy purple skin. It hurt like hades, and black ooze leaked rom the puncture zone. It throbbed. He could feel the pain--cold and sharp--spreading slowly through his hand.

The Yurble clenched his teeth and exhaled. The crew started moving down the hallway. Turning the corner, they saw Keng and Cyborg, with an unlikely companion. A bear.

Goosh opened his mouth to speak. Then he bolted down the hall to a waste chute, opened it, and vomited quite noisily. After blasting his puke into the void of space, he turned and leaned against the chute. "I am...not okay."

Leraye showed up, and left just as quickly. Keng, Cy and the bear sprinted after him, tearing down the hallway in an attempt to catch the alchemist. Goosh groaned at the thought of running. "Captain, I volunteer to go and get that stupid book myself if it means no running."

[Rider]

[glow=red,2,300]Zari and her clones by themselves were a little trippy, but this whole situation was like a trip to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Around now, other!Rider would be... somewhere in Tabloid Town. She'd be dealing with Schzain in a little while. Rider wished she had Spacefleet techology so she could warn herself about her purse. She had liked that purse, darnit.

Unable to find anything else to do that didn't involve pushing shiny buttons or playing with whatever Fleet weaponry was still on the battlefield, Rider decided to slip out and look for Hunty. Chances are, they were by the library, doing something slightly illegal.

---

Meanwhile, Leraye hadn't done anything illegal yet. Unless you count. y'know, almost bringing on the apocolypse, but unfortunately that's not written down in any law books.

The only thing he knew is that now, there was a werewolf, a cyborg and a bear chasing him. A bear. ... and just for emphasis, he was beling chased by a blasted bear.

A left, a right... oh, he wished he knew his way around Spacefleet. Usually he only experienced it through survaillance cameras. Through this door and down this hall, andthrough this door... oh blast, the door was locked.

There was a warning sign on the door in several different laguages. Whatever was stored in there, it was probably nuclear and/or more dangerous than a bear.

... Probably not more dangerous than the Captain, but more dangerous than a bear. Anyway, it would be a bad idea to melt through that door with the Gem. Leraye hit the Gem repeatedly, hoping to squeeze enough power out of it to teleport.

Just as Keng and Cyborg turned the corner, he gave them a polite smile and a wave and vanished to somewhere else in Spacefleet. [/glow]

[zarikrahia]

((Trippy? Yes, nothing like eight genetically engineered cats to make a day trippy.))

"Um, er, a demon attack? Drat it, I've run out of soapy water- I'll have to use one of my other random goops..." Present Zari facepalmed, sighing.

Future Zari took she opportunity to shift Present Zari's hand off her mouth and say, slightly smugly. "I told you so."

<Latiere> Shut up, you're trying to think.>

"I just talked to myself. Er, you know what I mean. I'll be here in an hour or two, I think." Fraze said, after barely ten seconds. Both Zari's blinked. "Um, Okay. Well, the more the merrier! If everyone on the station at the time of the skip was sent back, we'll have a third again of our normal forces..." Present-Zari mused, tugging on a strand of hair. "The green stuff might be a good idea, too."

[Huntress]

"Huntress! Say.. you haven't seen a mysteriously clad character go by your way have you? One who smelled kinda-"

Hunty was about to point out that her sense of smell wasn't too good even by human standards when things happened in a rapid succession. Leraye showed up and disappeared just as unexpectedly. Keng ran after him, followed by the bear and Cyborg. And Goosh went and threw up. And only then did she realize that she was holding a loaded crossbow. There was no telling when exactly she'd grabbed it, it'd been too instinctive. For a second she pondered rushing after Leraye et al, but then decided against it. Having no magical abilities or high-end weaponry whatsoever - not to mention being a pirate - she'd never developed the habit of chasing powerful enemies with strong magic without giving it a good thought first.

Instead she shuffled her list of priorities and turned to look at Goosh who was now leaning against the trash chute, looking... not exactly like a million shinies.

"Captain, I volunteer to go and get that stupid book myself if it means no running," he said.

Hunty looked at her with a mixture of concern and slight disapproval. "How come such things always happen to you? We should find you a medic first. The book won't be going anywhere."

"In this place, you can't be sure of anything," Bloody Mary grumbled. "Hunty?"

"Mrm?"

"With Leraye being in the Fleet HQ," the meepit sat up, "how does that figure into Cyborg's mission and us being present for said mission?"

Hunty was silent for a moment. "Well, that depends on whether or not we manage to catch him, right? If we do, we no longer need the info they have on him. If we don't, we still need to find out how to track him down again. In any case this is first and foremost still Cyborg's concern. I'd rather focus on Goosh now, and then the book."

She gave a glare at the nearby you-are-hear map on the wall. "Meaning that we shall now have to construct a path to the nearest medical whatsit. Why do these guys insist on making their lives here so complicated?"

Bloody Mary gave her an equal glare. "You don't understand the seriousness of this, do you?"

"Seriousness? No," Hunty said earnestly.

"Leraye's here," snarled the meepit. "With that uber-powerful gem of his. This is even more trouble than the bike."

Hunty shrugged, stepping up to the map on the wall. "Wouldn't say that. He was quite the wimp when it came to fighting. He's more likely to stay on defensive and run. I swear, do they have a subway here? Judging by this map, they could use one."

[Kat]

There was Leraye.

But before Kat could react, he had disappeared as quickly as he had come. The mage swore under her breath.

"I could track him," she offered. "But I have to do it quick; since he went by so fast, the traces of his aura I can detect won't be around for too long. They'll dissipate into thin air..."

[Jina]

Jina was standing up.

She looked around. ...Right, she thought. So what happened to this alert, again?

People were acting normally, she noticed. It was as if the day had just been... reversed.

Jina decided to go looking for the rest of the crew.

[glow=green,2,300]-----------[/glow]
Anester noticed some movement behind her, and turned around. Someone was standing there, with his back to her, and waving to... nothing. Anester looked at his hand. He was holding a gem. It looked rather valuable. She grinned and worked out how she was going to get it from him.