Death of kin...

[Sl'askia]

(ooc: is it me or has the RPG gone stagnet again? *Sigh* I doubt this post will help anything...as it is mainly FYI...)

You may have defeated me...but I'll will always be there...both in and out of reality!"

Spider woke up with a start, sweating and breathing heavily.
Damn...that dream again... Spider thought, grumbling slightly as he stood up and stretched, Why does it keep hauntin' me? Every few days he would have it and he never understood what his 'dark self' in that dream meant by 'in and out of reality'.
He put on his pants and looked up at the Wyvern...who was already awake, perched on a tree limb above. Training this dense crossbreed was difficult...but he was getting there.
"Come on. Let's go huntin'!" Spider called to it.
Strangely it ignored him, kept staring in one direction intently.
"Hey!" Spider shouted, not in the mood, "I'm talkin' ter yer!"
"Kin!" It screeched, still staring.
"Yes...and I'm down here...lets go find something ter eat!" Spider growled, loosing his patience.
"KIN!" it screeched again and took to the air, flying in the direction it was staring in.
"HEY WHERE THE FRACK ARE YER GOIN'!?" Spider screamed, then his heart sank when he realized...
Oh f*ck he is headin' back toward Pyke! he thought as he started after the rapidly disappearing Wyvern, I better stop him before he kills someone!

****

Malice had just gotten through slaughtering a group of sligs that were on patrol and was cleaning himself off.
Amateurs... Malice thought with a chuckle, They didn't even touch me.
He felt a gust of wind and thought nothing off it at first...until he felt someone's hot breath on the back of his neck. With a start he whirled around, ready to attack. He was a bit shocked by what he saw...
In front of him was a rather strange creature: Was dark green with blue stripes, jade colored spines, yellow eyes, nine ft tall and about 20 ft long. The only limbs it had were a pair of wings and its head was draconic with a hint of face tentacles at the tip of its snout.
Malice cocked his head curiously at the creature...then remembered something...
"Ah...I remember you..." Malice said with a smirk, "You were an attempt to create a flying warrior for the Cartel." Malice circled the creature, who just continued to stare at him.
"Kin?" it squawked.
"Kin?" Malice repeated a bit confused, "Oh...that's right...Myron used Spider's DNA as a guide to create you." Malice chuckled, "Too bad that...like Spider...you ended up being of no use to anyone. In fact I'm surprised they didn't destroy you..."
A cruel grin appeared on his face.
"And I think I'll 'correct' that mistake now..."

****

Spider was running as fast as he could...trying to catch up to the Wyvern. Suddenly he heard a shriek in the distance.
Oh no... Spider thought, fearing the worse. He pushed himself harder, thinking the Wyvern had attacked someone. However, when he arrived at the clearing where the shriek came from...he realized it was the other way around and he was too late.
The Wyvern was quite dead...throat ripped out, intestines spilt onto the ground andIt's wings were shredded as if they were put through a shredder.
"Who..." Spider started to ask but realized he would have been talking tonow deaf ears. A mixture a emotions were shooting through him; disbelief, grief, and most of all...rage. This was his kin and someone had murderedhim in cold blood.
Raising his head to the sky he cut loose a high pitched, wail-like, raged filled howl. When the howl was done, lowered his head to the ground and cast about for a scent. He soon found one...and like a blood thirsty hound on a fox hunt, set off after it.
The one who had done this...he was going to find...and make him or her pay....

[Danny]

From above Spider, a pair of faintly glowing eyes looked down. Ludd had seen the battle between Malice and that strange creature, but hadn't wanted to get between them. But this new arrival was curious. It looked pretty much like a green version of Malice, but the eyes were totally different, in emotion as much as colour. Whereas Malice's eyes simple exuded a cold, calm contempt for everything, the newcomer's eyes were filled with rage, with uncontrollable anger. He was running desperately in an ever-widening spiral around the corpse of the creature, with his nose close to the ground, getting more apparrently frustrated by the second.

Despite the obvious threat that such an individual posed, Ludd felt he had to speak to him, so he leaned from the branch he was perching on and spoke up. "Lost something?"

The newcomer looked up, and snarled. "It was you!" He charged at the trunk of the tree that Ludd was perched on, and leapt halfway up it in one easy bound, before pausing. "No... I'd have known Glukkon-scent anywhere, so it couldn't have been yer..." He seemed to reflect on this for a moment, then continued up the tree, and onto Ludd's branch.

Cautiously, Ludd dropped to the ground, where he stood, poised for flight. "If you're talking about that creature back there, I didn't kill it."

"Then yer must have ordered him killed!" The green Drakkic leapt from the tree and advanced on Ludd, menacingly.

Ludd shook his head. "No, I had nothing to do with -"

His words were lost as the other leapt onto him, toppling him over, his hands around Ludd's neck. "Tell me what yer did to him! Now!"

Spider never saw the glukkon move, and didn't see where the gun came from, but he suddenly felt a cold ring of steel on his temple. Looking down at his captive, he saw nothing but determination in the glukkon's eyes. "Just listen to me, will you?"

Spider paused, then reluctantly released the glukkon and stepped back. The glukkon stood and shook the dirt from himself, not letting his gun waver for a second. "Introductions first. My name's Ludd. Yours?"

Spider looked at the glukkon with distaste. "Why would I want to tell yer my name?"

"You mean apart from this gun? Because..." Ludd hesitated. He could see this newcomer didn't take kindly to glukkons. ****, I hate Racists, he thought. "Because I think we can help each other, if you are looking for whoever killed your pet back there."

Ludd knew he'd gone wrong when he saw the slig's face screw up at the mention of the word 'pet', but he hid it well, and seemed to make an effort to tolerate the glukkon. "I'm Spider. How can youhelp me?"

[OOC: i can't be arsed to write any more now, everyone else in the house is asleep, so i have to type slowly and quietly so i don't wake them up, so this is taking aaaaaaaages... i'll type them up romorrow...]

[Teal]

[ooc:

Aura: *leans head on Dan's shoulder and does puppy eyes* I think I'm going to seed, here...

Oh boy - Dan, you want this? *offers halibut*]

[Danny]

Ludd bit his lip. Have to choose my words carefully... "I've been tracking this killer for more than two months now. I know him. I know his strengths and weaknesses, and how he reacts to things."

Spider narrowed his eyes. "Who is this?"

Inwardly, Ludd smiled. Good, I know something he doesn't, that gives me a sort of advantage... "He was created in the Carthag Labs, about four years ago. He's called Malice, and he has practically no conscience..." He looked at Spider, thoughtfully. "You know, if it weren't for the skin colour, the two of you could be twins..."

Spider's eyes flared. "What?"

"He's about your size, similar shape, just with red skin, not green."

"Another Drakkic? I though I were the only one..."

Drakkic... Ludd thought, Must remember that... "He escaped just under three months ago, killing several of his creators. Me and a few others have been sent after him."

Ludd knew instantly he'd made a mistake, although he didn't know why. Spider's eyes flared with hatred, and he began to advance on Ludd, baring his teeth. "Bounties, eh?"

"No... No..." Ludd backed away, hopping on one handfoot, while the other fumbled in his ankle-holster. "Just Mercenaries..."

"Same thing..." Spider growled, "Yer all out for my blood, yer moolah-hungry mother****ers..." He made a swipe at Ludd, missing by a matter of millimeters.

"No, we don't have a contract on you!" Ludd palmed his pistol, but didn't raise it. "Me and Smick only take out contracts against people whom we think deserve it... Anyway, the Labs withdrew all contracts against you when Malice escaped." He looked sidelong at the wary Drakkic, whose anger seemed to be subsiding. "They seemed to think he'd take care of you..."

Spider's face curled into a sneer. "I'd like to see him try!"

Ludd smiled slightly. "No, you really wouldn't..."

Spider looked at him, anger flaring once more. "Are yer saying yer think he's better than me?"

"Well, I never saw him lose a battle..."

Spider took a step forward, angrily. "I've never lost one, either! Not since I escaped!"

And Modest, too... thought Ludd. "Spider, calm down, in the state you're in, he'll wipe the floor with you..."

Spider looked for a moment as if he were about to kill Ludd, but then he drooped his head, and took a few deep breaths. Ludd stepped forward and tentatively rested one handfoot on the crossbreed's shoulder. Spider flinched, but didn't brush it away. "Yer right... Actin' out of rage leads to a quick death..."

Ludd waited until Spider seemed to have calmed down, then spoke softly. "Were you and that creature he killed close?"

The anger flared up briefly, before Spider quelled it. "We were Kin."

Ludd raised an eyebrow, but didn't press the issue. "Don't worry. If we work together, we can catch him."

Spider said nothing for a while, then looked up at Ludd, puzzled. "What der yer need me for?"

Ludd was momentarily taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Well, yer've told me why you think I need you, so why der you need me?"

"Ah," Ludd hesitated. "Well, I don't know for certain, but this Malice seems to have an inbuilt hatred for you. Whether he knows it or not, he's been heading for Pyke ever since he escaped, almost like he was unconsciously following your trail... I think he's going to fight you, whether we like it or not, so I don't have much choice in getting your help..."

Spider hardly heard the second half of the explanation. "He's been to Pyke?"

"He's been terrorising the village for the last couple of weeks. Killed nearly 10 people..." Tact was never Ludd's strong point.

Spider paled and suddenly seemed smaller. "I knew I should never have left them..."

Ludd straightened. "Don't feel guilty. We can't have guilt any more than we can have anger. We need you at the best of your abilities. I was with about 10 others. If we can find them, we can work at this together." Spider's head continued to sink. "We'll avenge the deaths of your friends..."

Spider paused, head hung, then straightened. "You're right, I need ter stay strong." He looked at the glukkon. "I'll work with yer on one condition: After we've sorted him out, I never want ter see yer again."

Ludd smiled thinly. "You have a deal. Now let's move..."

And they moved off through the trees...