Lost In Fiction: Spellbinder IC thread

Sharvik retreated from his suppose-to-be-pray cursing. Things didn't go as they should. The newcomers put much more resistance that he think they could. They need to regroup and attack once more.

Few minutes later he stare in disbelieve on the few remaining warriors. How this happen? Most of his group was killed and they didn't take down even a single enemies. "How, how could they did this?" He whisper but non of survivors could answer this. Rashi will kill him for that, and he will do it slowly. With so many warriors lost the tribe itself is in danger.

Than he notice something over the shoulder of the man in front of him. The blood dry out from his face as the fear he felt just moment ago drown in pure terror.

The Nightmare. It noticed them.
_________________________________________
Few levels lover the manipulator rise from the open brain it was working at. The creature to which the organ belong cry in pain but it ignore it. Various sensors rise toward the ceiling as the data from scout-drone came

'Inquisitiveness. New subject detected. Unusual patterns detected, unusual energy reading detected'

It begin to planning new experiments as it activate the hunter-drones. The new subjects need to be catch.

Sabrina cocked her head as she hear the sound of gunfire. "Pew pew? Energy discharge. HYDRA plasma rifles make a sound kinda like that but more Pew doof maybe it's a pistol of something."

She started to move forward but saw Alex wasn't following. "The people attacking us are not likely to have Boom stick so it's probably another one of us sorry saps who got sucked into this. I'm also getting bored again so it's something to do."

A figure in a rumpled blue suit came out of the wall. A bent cigarette in his mouth and his tie loose around his neck. "I do love a woman that can kick my ass."

Aleksandr shot the man a withering glare. "Come on Libido. I know you got more class than that." He paused, considering who he was talking to.

"Then again, you're the side of me that would probably hit on anything that moved. Regardless, shoo. You're all figments of my imagination, as leading persona I gotta have some cont-"

A frankly disturbing idea hit him.

"Wait, I am the leading persona? I mean, how the fuck would I tell?" he said, panic hitting him. Instinctively, he fought it down, focussing on his purpose. "Right, gotta help out some poor schmuck over there first, existential crisis later."

Slowly moving down the corridor, he spotted a young man in black using some form of laser pistol to fend off the nightmare creatures. Really, the beings were a joke all things considered, although considering their medieval weapons it was no surprise they were no match for modern firearms. Casually shooting a sneakier than usual one that tried to stab the guy in black in the back, Aleksandr decided to introduce himself.

"Yo! Duck!" he shouted, shouldering his blaster and preparing to open fire as soon as his line of sight was clear.

It was basically a slaughter. Sardiin was pretty sure that they were capable fighters in close quarters, but against a long range opponent with a weapon that can burn through armor and flesh their skill was useless. For now it seemed like the last enemy was dead until someone shouted at him.

"Yo! Duck!"

Was all he heard. He instinctively dropped to the ground. A few blaster shots later and there was a burning carcass on the ground. Sardiin quickly got up with his blaster shouldered. The one who saved his life didn't look like the primitives he was fighting nor did the others he was traveling with.

"Thanks for the help. I was a little sloppy it seems." Sardiin was more relaxed, but was still ready to fight if he needed to.

"Who are you people?"

"Well if you listen to the crazy one we're all figments of his imagination." The voice said from behind Sardin as the green-skinned figure popped back into existence again, partially transparent as by this point she wasn't bothering to put that much energy into her manifestation. The Spectral put a translucent hand on her hips and shrugged.

"Mostly though we're a bunch of people who are really, really lost and trying to figure out where the hell we are.. and after that hopefully how the hell to get home."

"Oy! How is that 'crazy'? It's the most logical way of explaining what's going on so far. I mean, what, some bored random omnipotent being decided to fuck with us and drop us all in a fantasy castle? That sound logical to you? For fucks sake you're the one who keep manifesting shit out of nowhere." Aleksandr retorted. He still had not figured out how she did that. He figured it had something to do with her being imaginary, but still. He really wanted to manifest a coke, damn it! He turned to the new guys.

"Anyway, what's up? I'm Sergeant Aleksandr Altukhof of Russian Democratic Front. With me are, in so far I've been able to figure out, Pragmatism, Feminine Side and Imagination. They've got better names, but I'll let them introduce themselves."

The voice behind him was a little startling, but Sardiin figured that there was little to worry about. At least for now. He looked at the transparent figure, curious at what it actually was. At this point he was pretty sure it had something to do with the force. This one of the few times he though a Sith would come in handy.

"So I'm not the only one then. Well from the way you put it. Souds like a fun and dangerous adventure. Not exactly my specialty, but I can adept." To him it did seem like an interesting little detour from his objective. Plus whoever could have done this likely had something very valuable. It may be worth ignoring his primary mission.

He couldn't help but chuckle a little at them. This man may be crazy but he did save his life. It earned him some points at least.

"A pleasure to meet you Sergeant." The military the soldier belonged didn't seem familiar at all to him. He definitely didn't look Republic. Maybe one of the many independent groups in this war. If so he wouldn't have to necessarily worry about a firefight starting now.

"I'm Operative Sardiin with Imperial intelligence. I actually never heard of the Russian Democratic Front. Is that a faction from the Outer Rim worlds?"

"Worlds? I'm sorry comrade, but at the moment it seems we're not even from the same universe here. Lessee, I'm from a universe where at the moment humanity is barely out of the solar system, Pragmatism comes from some form of 'Systems Alliance' and is fighting 'Reapers' whatever the fuck those are, and I still have no idea where the lovely ladies figure in in all this. Suffice to say we're all stuck in the same boat for now." Aleksandr said, taking in the man before him a little better.

"Now if you're an intelligence operative, that must make you my inner James Bond no?"

Countess Angelina Contessa Louisia Franchesca banana fanna fo fesca the Third, But you can call me Phantasm.

"The others weren't big on actual names before this so I call the one without power armor shooty, and the other one Nutsy and the ghost is well Morrgan, a ghost."

Shw shrugged, "Actually sounds like an Atypical weekend for people like my brother. For as big as the Multiverse is, Earth seems to fascinate these vast and alien minds. We must be entertaining as hell or something."

An chromium and duransteel orb floated up from behind her. "Repetition: Master is a Alpha level mutant specializing in illusion and telekinetic constructs. She thinks it and it appears. Her primary function is make you doubt reality before something large and over sized hits you in the face or non-vital areas."

It faded away. "I'm one of estimated millions in my world to have their X gene active at birth giving us strange and semi unique powers, usually as we enter adolescence. We're referred to as mutants or Homo Superior. If you less polite genetic freaks and dangers to humankind."

She spun around on one foot. "Personally I fail to see how I'm physically different then your standard human that my continued existence is a threat but I'm not a raving idiot or close minded bigot so maybe that has something to do with it."

"Now that is something. In the Galaxy I'm from humanity has spread out into the Galaxy. Whatever brought us here must be very powerful." Sardiin began to wonder if he would be able to recover who or what did this. So far the natives that were encountered did not measure to being able to snatch people away from their respective universes.

"Inner James Bond? I have no idea who that is, but if he is as intelligent and savvy as me then we might have something in common."

"Well its a pleasure to meet the rest of you." He said with a genuine smile on his face. At least these people seemed relatively friendly. The crazy heavily armed and armored soldier may need to be watched carefully.

"This little assortment of people seems a little odd. I suspect most of us knows how to handle ourselves in a fight. If we were taken, then why grab a bunch of fighters anyway?"

Aleksandr shrugged. "I've had worse callsigns."

"The only raving idiots are the ones who would say something like that about a beautiful woman. Probably they need to get laid or something."

"It's a movie character, but I'm sure you've got something like it. You know, 'dashing secret agent who seduces all the ladies and blows up the bad guy's volcano lair' sort of thing. I kind of imagine you wouldn't remain 'secret' for too long though after pulling shit like that, but it makes for a good movie."

Aleksandr shrugged.

"Like I said, fucked if I know what happened. I'm just rolling with it, not much I can do to change it now." he said. He peeked down the hallway, cursing the gloom. He thought he saw a figure there, but he couldn't tell what species it was. Well, only one way to find out.

"Hey you! Come on out, we don't bite."

----

OoC: Hello Orsai.

Xing and Michelle walked steadily. They had heard commotions, and even explosions, but they were noit stupid, and neither would they be hurried. Neither had bothered drawing a weapon, bringing a knife to a gunfight was pretty darn stupid - it was best to wait things out and then to assess the situation in a sensible strategic manner.

He looked at her, and then glanced back forward, cross-stepping like you saw many SpecOps soldier doing. Neither were breathing too deeply, that was a sure fire was of giving anyway your position. Instead both took long shallow breaths, ready, alert, eyes darting side-to-side.

She nodded.

He stuck his head around the corner, checking for danger, noticing a collection of others, some were human, most wearing some kind of armour. It seemed like they were under-dressed again. With a smile he looked back, and gestured.

Michelle darted left, taking a look herself. It was then she crossed the distance to be nearer her lover, and they whispered briefly, deciding on a crouse of action. It was then they walked around the corner, taking a chance.

"Hi, we're friendlies"

"I know that a rhethorically but for the own sick amusement in some sort of Interstellar Gladiatorial arena isn't beyond reason for these kind of people. We'll find a stair case and next thing you know, 100,000 creatures from across the stars howling as they watch us fight to the death."

A Roman Gladiator appeared from the floor, armed with a cestus and clad in a leather cuirass before yelling. "Are you not Entertained?"

"Odd how they tend to be raving idiots when they say things like that to me." she said running her fingers through her hair. "Nice flirting by the way. A for effort."

Her Gladiator morphed into a suave spy in a Tuxedo strapped to the wall. "Do you expect me to talk."

" No Mister Bond I expect you to die." She waved her hand and the image vanished. "Visual examples are so fun."

"Hi we're semi friendly until Shooty has a psychotic break when he realizes this is real. Will be one hell of a ride when it happens though. You might not want to miss that."

"No."

Aleksandr shrugged.

"Eh, if I'm going nuts might as well enjoy the bright sides no?"

Aleksandr cocked his head sideways.

"It could be me but we were trying to come across as non-threatening?" he told her, vaguely offended by the idea of harming friendlies. Who did she take him for, one of those idiots of artillery command? Then he turned to the new ones.

"Don't worry guys, I won't shoot. Call me Aleksandr if 'Shooty' doesn't work for you by the way."

She tilted hr head slightly. "I have a unique and interesting way of looking at things. That sounds like a good way to introduce yourself to me. Your mileage may vary."

A Robot made seemly out of the wrecks of a dozen of more came out of the floor. "No fresh flavor bold taste of coffee in the morning for you. Hurry, hurry, hurry, Offer expires while you wait, Operators are standing by. Now for the news."

"I prefer Shooty but Alex works too I guess."

" Alex is the new John, sign up now, no waiting, approval while you wait. Warning may cause high blood pressure and seizures, do not use if already Alex or may become Alex. If you're Alex for more then 4 hours consult a Mortician. For the best in life that you deserve." The Robot screeched and then fell apart. "Warranty, not included."

She waved it away. "So where to?"

Sheer surprise kept Alexandra from responding for a moment; she'd not seen more than the barest hint of movement in the gloom, and to hear a voice in English - strange, oddly accented English, to be sure, but still - was reassuring beyond words.

She shifting to holding her musket by the barrel, well away from her body - it wouldn't do to be shot by people who, she guessed, were at least somewhat friendly.

"I'm coming forward," she called, walking forwards to join the group.

Her first impression was that they were ... strange. Even stranger than the creatures veterans of the expeditions to the south-eastern islands talked of, or that inhabited the distant Americas. Still, they all seemed to be human, and most were or at least looked to be female. That might mean ...

Focus. "Private Alexander Barnet, Imperial Marines," she announced, trying to remember to keep the practised male-ness in her voice. "Any of you got any idea where the bloody hell we are?"

"No clue comrade, current consensus is I believe 'a wizard decided to fuck with us'. Other than that, welcome to the crazy train. I'm Sergeant Aleksandr Altukhov, nice to meet you. The hot chick here is Sabrina, the green skinned space babe is Morgana, the grouchy silent guy is Bertrand, the slick looking man in black is Sardine and these two... No idea really." Aleksandr said as the figure drew nearer.

"Holy crap, is that a musket?"

"I try to leave the big explosions to the troopers or Bountyhunters, but when I need to get my hands messy a blade to the heart or a blast to face always work out." He had a siniste smile creep up on his face showing that he definitely enjoyed his work.

"Although seducing lovely women no matter what species is always fun."

The two he found earlier finally came out of hiding. He was sure they didn't see him since he was in cloak and there was a group of hostiles coming their way. His attack simply gave them something new to focus on.

"Well you aren't throwing spears or shooting at us so join the party."

"Ha! I hope not but its possible. There are plenty of tournaments in the Galaxy I'm from. This seems a bit different, or at least the person who brought us here has technology I've never heard of." He was curious how calm she seemed. Maybe she was insane, but it wasn't too likely. At least she was definitely entertaining and attractive. That was always a plus.

When the Roman Gladiator popped up he couldn't help, but wonder if their are any force users with this ability. "Unless I'm in crowd watching this spectacle then yeah I may be entertained, but I get the feeling actually participating may not be to fun."

"No idea Private." Sardiin looked over at the dead bodies and gestured over there. "But they might have known. Unfortunately for them they were rather rude. They neeeded to work on their greetings more."

The marine's attire was far different than those in the Imperial military. It was nothing like what he would usually see. This one must be from another time or reality.

ooc: I have yet to give her real name to anyone. Even Morgana just knows me as Phantasm.

A hazy form of Obi wan appeared. "Well a wizard did it is a true statement of how we got there, from a certain point of view."

" It's as valid as alien space bats at least." she added.

"Never been big on spectator sports myself other then soccer and I prefer to play as opposed to watch others run back and forth for an hour with scoring a point."

As the Musket, wait musket? As the Musket wielding soldier appeared the familiar green form appeared. "Put away your weapon I mean you no harm."

"Well that is understandable, but getting caught up in a tournament that basically forces me to fight for my life makes me think that something has gone horrbly wrong. Right now I'm not yet sure. The Best way to find out is to explore after getting aquainted first with everyone."

"Near as I can figure me being here is an accident. I've been with API long enough to have some ideas with regards to portal based shennanigans like this. The fact that so many of us were grabbed at once from so many disparate planes seems a clear indication that whatever portal spread we experienced was artificial.. and usually that means something repeatable."

Morgana crossed her arms, stroking her chin.

"That could make this a case of finding the parties responsible and slapping them about until they say uncle." She looked at the dead attackers. "Next time we run into this bunch remind me to mug one of their ghosts and see if we can get any information out of them." She said. "They probably know as little as we do but it's worth a shot."

The spectral looked at the others. "Of course if that whole gladiator thing is true.. why pick me? I mean I'm dead, I can't imagine I'd give a very entertaining show given that there's not much in the way of drama.. hell I'm not even visible unless I concentrate."

"Well everyone fucks up at some point maybe they nabbed the wrong portal jumper explorer." Sabrina hazarded a guess.

A white orb like thing sailed in on rails. "The Aperture science enrichment center's bring your daughter to work day is the perfect time to have her tested."

"Eeeep!" she said in reply before it faded away. "Now let's explore this castle thing...for science.

The hunters advance using data feedback from the scout to locate the targets. They detected some organic units of previous classified models. They was move on maximal possible for they construction speed in direction that will take them out of Hunters designated operation area. Hunters ignored them. This rudimentary creatures had low priorities as they models was examined and experiment about multiply times. Repetition of the experiment on them would bring little of useful data. So the Hunters remain focused on they primary target.

Scout report the targets position in real-life, what allow the tactical net to plan the course of action. Caution was decided as the unusual energy readings was detected from the some units among the targets. So the Hunters split. Main battle units remain in reserve while the most of the lesser units move to surrounded the target groups.

In few minutes all possible escape routes will be cut out and simultaneous attack from all direction will commence. Targets will be obtained. Experiments will continue.

"Maybe someone is having a little fun at our expense. Still we need to move before more of these people come and catch us off guard." They've been standing around and talking for a few minutes. They were all as acquainted as they were going to get for now. It was time to move.

"So who's taking point? I having cloaking technology and can scout the area ahead of us."

"I'll go." The ghost blinked out of existence, though her voice continued to come out of thin air. "I'm invisible naturally and don't have to worry about little things like walls, or bumping into someone. Though I can't do much about traps that are pressure sensitive or the like."

The disembodied voice continued, moving towards the front of the group as it continued speaking.

"How long's your cloak last? Maybe you could keep it on then be ready to pop out and do something unpleasant to anyone who shows up?"