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+--- Thread: The Devil's Puppet (/showthread.php?tid=38294)
The Devil's Puppet - Zapp - 04-13-2010
This is Liberty Navy patrol Epsilon 4-2! There are four Phantom ships, they came out of nowhere! Current position is ---
The message descended into garbled static. Anyone on secure Navy frequencies had heard it, which included Lieutenant Commander Eddy Looper. A grizzled pilot in his early fifties, Looper was accustomed to squaring off against the Phantoms and even went out of his way to take them on. They're somewhere in California, at least, he thought. His comm-uplink was set to system-wide Navy secure band, which meant that he wouldn't have to search all of Liberty. Knowing Phantoms, he'd likely find them along one of the lanes harassing traffic and generally provoking a military or police response.
First response by the Navy would be to shut down all jump gates in and out of the system, as well as ground all traffic. Civilian casualties had to be minimized. In more actuality, however, that task fell to the Police -- crowd control. Second, several veteran wings would be dispatched to sweep the lanes and find them. Engagement would not be made unless it was forced or the Phantoms tried to flee (not likely). Backup would be requested, and they would engage only when they had fully superior numbers.
Unless, of course, Looper was first on the scene. He had been chewed out by his superiors for engaging the Phantoms on odds of up to three-to-one.
There we are, as expected...
He found them along the lane to the New York jump gate. Typical pirate hot spot, as almost all traffic in the system had to pass that lane. There were four ships; a Sabre and three Shadows, those black wraiths of ships that inspired fear in so many. Not Looper, though.
"Best say your prayers to whatever God you might believe in, demons," Looper sneered, readying his weapons to engage. "Because I'm about to send you to them."
Weapons flashed as the demons called out their own taunts, and the angelic Guardian sped towards them in a halo of spastic fire and flames. They danced as if puppets pulled on the strings of the gods and devils, black harbingers of destruction battling the white savior.
Can it be no surprise, in this godless age, that the savior was vanquished?
The Devil's Puppet - Zapp - 04-14-2010
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, 'Come and see'. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Eddy Looper awoke in what appeared to be a sadistic torture chamber. Implements of varying size and questionable use lined the wall; he thought that some may have no use other than intimidation. Surely nothing so intricate and evil-looking could be of practical use? The shock of being shot down by what he had pursued so ruthlessly quickly wore off. He had shown no mercy, and his heart sunk to think that the favor would not be returned. He knew that in all likelihood he was going to die. Slowly; with great retribution.
The wait was not long before one of them came. It was a feminine form, devoid of the normal Phantom power-armor that was standard fare and allowed them to perform so high above average in ground combat.
"Well hello dearie," she said in a sing-song tone, regarding him with a tilted gaze. He recognized the voice: Black Rose, one of the more 'famous' Phantoms. "I think I'm gonna have some fun with you..."
She bent down over him, her face hovering close to his, as if to kiss him. Centimeters separated them, and a spell seemed to come over her. Perhaps it was knowing that the figure below her was a hunter of her kind, that she alone was over him now to have her way with him. Any normal man would have quaked in fear and given into the inevitable. Looper, however, was not a normal man. Knowing full well he was a hair's breadth from torture and death, he did the only sensible thing he could in his situation.
He moved his face closer to hers, as if to kiss her... then with a speed no one could have imagined, he redirected to her neck and took a chunk out of her jugular.
The Devil's Puppet - Zapp - 04-14-2010
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, 'Come and see'. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
No one came for some time. Black Rose must have given the order that she was not to be disturbed, and her minions followed it faithfully. Her body slid off his and fell to the ground, life-blood draining from the major artery thus severed. She was dead a minute later, her sordid career ended so unceremoniously. Unable to move due to the restraints, time passed, much time, until finally someone braved to see what was taking so long. A Phantom underling entered, and recoiled slightly. Blood was on Looper's mouth, dried now. Black Rose's body adorned the floor as a rug. The neophyte was unsure what to do, for the master was dead. He ran from the room to call another, more experienced Phantom in. More time passed, and Looper felt the pangs of thirst and hunger that bespoke a day gone past. There was no repast. It was as if they had to summon someone from another place to deal with the matter.
At length, Looper perceived an ominous sound. The heavy footfall of a beast who was dread above all... his name was but a whisper...
"Syn."
The Devil's Puppet - Zapp - 04-14-2010
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, 'Come and see'. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, 'A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.'
Most normal people would not have known what monstrosity approached; they merely would have assumed it to be another creature of the Phantoms. But Looper had versed himself as well as he could on the Phantoms, and had especially given heed to the Rheinland and Kusarian reports filed about this particularly nasty specimen. If you could not describe most Phantoms as entirely human on the inside, Syn was the embodiment of the Phantom soul in physical manifestation. His countenance was alien, and as he entered the room (purposely treading heavily upon the metal floor-plating), he favored Looper with a sneer; it looked entirely more malevolent and evil than any form a normal human could take.
"If it isn't the little morsel," he said in a voice that made a mockery of what he was by sounding all too human. He looked on Black Rose's rigid corpse with disdain and barked for an underling to remove it. A Phantom in full armor ran in and ran out faster than humanly possible. "Now that we're alone, maybe you and I can talk..."
He approached Looper with an ease that embodied a cat toying with a cornered mouse, if this fiend could ever be compared to a cat. More like a pack of ravenous wolves toying with a cornered squirrel. "It seems that fate has finally caught up with you, morsel..."
The Devil's Puppet - Zapp - 04-15-2010
And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, 'Come and see'. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Thus Looper knew his end to be at hand. Syn stood before him, in all his terrible... glory. No other word really fit. And as he stared at his death, Looper didn't flinch. He relaxed completely, head rolling back to stare at the ceiling. He submitted to what he saw as the end, and in submission... pain. Syn pulled something off the wall and began working on Looper's body. The screams haunted the corridors of the ship or station, and carried on as if he was incapable of going hoarse. Screams that would make the damned, who writhe in agony of eternal Hell, murmur in pity.After some time Syn stopped. His clawed hand grasped Looper's head from below, index and thumb encircling his throat. The restraints fell off and he lifted Looper forward to stare him in the face.
"It would be such a shame," he growled, "to let your life go to such waste."
He dropped the spent and pain-exhausted man back to the table, and activated the comm unit. "Plebeian! Set a course for the Revenant, and send a transmission when we are within range; tell them to prepare for Enlightenment."
Thus Looper knew his fate to be that worse than death.
The Devil's Puppet - Zapp - 04-15-2010
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?'
What followed was the most excruciating period of Eddy Looper's life. It consumes a lot to be broken apart, seemingly atom by atom, and reshaped into a tool of the Phantoms. A lot of time, and a lot of pain. The Enlightenment process was the main reason the Phantoms were small: so few people were strong enough to survive it, and of those who do, most are relegated to the role of mere pawns due to the long-term damage undertaken.And it hurts a lot more when you resist it. The apparent meekness that came with Syn's appearance was gone now that he knew what they were trying to do to him. Looper stubbornly resisted both the psychological and physical alterations that were forced upon him, delaying the process by some short time. However, one man against the entirety of the Phantoms? His chances were slim-to-none.
And eventually, the Phantoms snapped his enfeebled mind like so many dry twigs. Did he go insane? It's impossible to tell. Certainly he was no longer a defender of justice and liberty, no; he hung on the strings of the Phantoms, living for the will of the Revenant now.
Looper became a puppet to the Devil, and a betrayer to his people. He didn't become a betrayer, he became the Betrayer; Iscariot..