Time Crisis

[Rhiannon]

(OPEN TO ALL WHO WISH TO JOIN.)

Nothing seemed right. The world drifted and spun from side to side like a distorted dream as her head wondered like a young infant, her neck unstable as she looked around her wide eyed and confused.

What... Happened?

...Was she drunk?

“Drinking any alcohol beverage is against our regulations, Agent Orris. There are no exceptions.”

No, that wasn't it. That wasn't it at all.

The world continued to spin a blurry mess as waving branches waved in and out, swaying from side to side as wind brushed over her body in a slow cool gust. Outdoors? This wasn't right, she was in a Russian facility, not outside.. Next came the crackling sounds of fire and hissing electronics. Slowly and laggy, her head turned to face the sound, watching the destruction fade in and out of focus until finally she could see the fire clearly. Something had happened, but couldn't collect her thoughts. It all happened so fast.

After many minutes of recovering, her mind finally came together again and realized that she was taken through the time portal. Whether it was present day or not was still to be discovered. Sitting up, Rhiannon let out a cry as she quickly gripped her side. Her ribs were broken. Biting her bottom lip, a tear lingered in her eye as she looked over at the broken brance beside her. This must have been what caught her fall when she fell into this time period. Her soft cheek was also tattered with bumps and scrapes as well. Sighing, the woman leaned back firmly against the tree before her, closing her eyes.

“Your cellphone, is unlike others. You can contact us at anytime and any place. You'll be able to use it in any location and time.”

Rhiannon's fingers desperately crawled down the side of her leg, sliding her cellphone out of its holster . Shattered, there was basically nothing but broken wires and batteries. “Shit!” Rhiannon hissed, slamming her fist down beside her. Looks like it was up to her until the Union could trace her. With a few moments of struggling, Rhiannon came to her feet and investigated the destruction around her, finding whatever she could find still useful. Much of her technological supplies were ruined beyond repair, though her gun was fixable to her fortunate luck. Depending on the time period, finding the parts may be quite a hassle.

Something was missing though. The cyborg. Gasping, Rhiannon turned around to meet a metallic hand tightly around her throat. “Fool!” The cyborg growled in anger, gripping her tighter as he lifted her off of the woman's feet, “Did you really think you would destroy me?! Now, I will kill you like the pathetic worm you are!”

Rhiannon gasped and fought against the cyborgs strength, but it was useless. He was far too powerful. Her air grew thinner by the seconds, her face growing many shades of red while kicking her legs like a scared animal trying to break free. Think, she had to think!

“You will not die, Agent Orris. Dying is the equivalent to failure, and we do not accept failure.”

Clenching her teeth, her hands suddenly wrapped around the handle of her Electro Rod. The weapon immediately made a high pitch humming noise before it started to light up with electricity. Swinging as hard as she could, using what last strength she had, bashed the Cyborg's head. A loud scream came from the half human machine as it let go of her throat, falling back as his systems started to short circuit and fail. Finally, it was dead...

The woman immediately cradled herself on the ground, coughing violently as she fought to catch her breath in the fetal position. Her vision became blurry and the world around her inclosed into darkness.

[Move Along Move Along]

Well that was certainly different. Are you still drunk?

"Nah, Brah. I've been sober for the past two hours."

Law stoof among the trees of Concordia, a mile or so away from Underwood. The man had passed out the previous night on a soft pile of grass in the forest, only to be woken up by this. A machine man of some sort had appeared seemingly out of thin air,. This was not anything new to the party man, he saw men who were part machine wander around like it was commonplace in this world. However, the arrival of a woman took the youth off guard.

The lady fidgeted with her thigh for a moment, causing the groggy Law to finally stand from his makeshift bed. Before he had gathered his bearings, the woman was attacked by the man who had arrived seconds before her. The girl quickly dispatched her strangler before Law could find some way to intervene. He was relieved by the observation that the female could handle herself; Law was not good in a fight.

Egr'msatchek, the evil wizard who took residence in Law's mind, was pleading with the youth to kill the girl while she was vulnerable. The evil entity practically screamed his demands even more so when the warrior woman passed out on the ground. Law walked over to the body, looking around at his surroundings. The smellof oil and burning metal wafted through the air. Smoke spewed forth from whatever pores the robo-man had left on him. Eventually, Law's eyes fell upon a single stick, a simple branch with merely one more branch protruding out from the middle of it. The youth took hold of the stick, and quickly poked the still body of Rhiannon.

"Hey, you alright Guhl?" Law asked, not expecting an answer. He simply had to make sure that she was unconscious enough to not put up a fight, should he need to haul her off for some medical attention.

[Rhiannon]

Rhiannon was trapped, tied down in the darkness by her wrist. By the feel of its rough texture, it was some kind of rope material. If only she could reach her combat knife.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.” Said a firm, proper voice as he approached her in even steps. The wooden soils of his polished leather shoes tapped against the flat concrete surface. With the snap of his fingers a dome light came down on them both. The light was only enough to see one another.

“Mr. Turner?” Rhiannon asked, confused. “I Haven't seen the whereabouts of you for about three months.

The harsh stinging sensation came across her face as his hand immediately smacked her across the face. His silver ring was rather large and easily busted open her lip. She could taste the salty dullness of her own blood as she let out a cry, her beautiful eyes looking up at the man “Why are you doing this?”

“Because you are to survive, no matter how bad you're beaten, no matter how long they keep you without food and water. You will learn to keep all of these necessities..well, into much lesser necessities. Whether you believe it or not, Agent Orris, your body and mind are far more capable of what you believe.”

“I don't understand, Mr. Turner. What makes me so special compared to the other agents?”

“Perhaps one day you'll understand why we indeed chose you. We only wish to better you. The more you sweat in training, the less you will bleed in battle. Ok, miss Orris, there is a slip of paper. I want you to memorize this code. This is a top secret code... you can not let me know it..”

“Ok...”

The dark room was clouded by yelps and moans as she was beaten, shocked, and cut. All she had to do was give him the code and all this torture could just be over..

She couldn't give up. Death was only failure, and failure was the not acceptable!

A slight groan came from Rhiannon as she remained unconscious on the forest floor, her face curling in pain as the man with the stick jabbed at her broken ribs. Luckily for her, this would likely heel within a two week period.

[Lazzo]

Sand slowly poured from a copper cone. It fell to the floor, forming a small mound. The silence was broken by the sounds of ratcheting, hammering and other mechanical noises. The occasional hiss of escaping steam and rattling metal accompanied this bizarre symphony of the master artificer.

The sand poured forth from a machine that took up an entire room. Large gears turned with deep groans, powering the augur that brought the sand into the cone. This particular invention was Lazzo's latest. It was much like a compass but it pointed towards sources of Magic. The cone was attached to a sort of pendulum. It would slowly swing towards the source of magic until you had a distinguishable line of sand pointing towards the source.

It worked fine, but it took up the entire workshop. Lazzo was displeased, and was now seeking to make it smaller.

“I can't sell a damn room, Gear Box.”
Lazzo rambled to nobody in particular. His following sentences fragmented between the cranks of his ratchet and the interjections at his machinery.
“If this is going to sell, it needs to be small! I've just got to.... pull damn you.”
Lazzo pulled himself out of the repair panel and began to wipe the grease and grime from his stubby fingers.
”Pocket sized!”
He bent down to pick up a small piece of cut copper. He flipped it over, inspected it, flipped it back and tossed it to Gear Box with a shrug. The small steam-powered mannequin put out its arms and caught it. The impact forced a large hiss out of it's chest and it struggled to chase after its master.
”An adventurer isn't going to want to cart around a damned chariot to search for whatever magical things adventurers are always going on and on and on about. No. He's going to want it. He's going to want this in his pocket.”

With that last sentence, he gestured with an amount of grandeur to his device. Gear Box dropped the scrap into a pile with a loud clang and wiped his brow. Then suddenly, the cone began to move. At first it was subtle, but then it became noticeable. The cone began to swing toward the wall. Lazzo peered over. It was an empty wall.

“Probably some sort of interference,” He stated. The Gnome waddled over to that wall and began to push junk around. Certainly there was something magical left over, a remnant of a failed experiment. After several moments of digging, his curiosity had become peaked. A small excitement built inside of him. He motioned to Gear Box.
"Outside! Outside!"

He no sooner opened the door out of his workshop and the aforementioned scene sprawled out before him. He stood in awe. This was no small event.

What was that thing!? Any excitement Lazzo had was now quadrupled at the sight of the cyborg. His small Gnomish feet had never moved faster as he rushed toward it.

[Move Along Move Along]

Law tossed the branch to the side once he had realized that the girl was still alive. After all, he did not want to haul a corpse all the way around just to find out later that it was for naught. The youth bent down, shifting his arms underneath the body of Rhiannon, and stood up. Law never had the power of the normal Althanian warrior (the reason being he -was not- an Althanian warrior), so lifting the body that weighed almost as much as him caused the man to strain.

You should go exercise more, then something like this would not be difficult for you at all. Of course, if you let me take control, I could just carry her with a simple wind spell.

"Brah, by 'carry her', I know you mean 'tear her skin from her body', and by 'wind spell', you mean 'massive tornado'. My mom didn't raise an orc." Law rolled his eyes at the attempt of the evil entity in his mind. The party man took a few steps forward, each foot being accompanied by a strange sound of exertion from the youth.

"Ya know, Brah, when I carry a guhl to the bed, it's usually just a few steps. Not a mile."

God I hate your innuendos.

Before Law could continue to annoy Egr'msatchek, he heard the pitter-patter of little feet from behind him. Turning his head, the man caught a vision of a gnome like being investigating the corpse of the cyborg. Law blinked for a minute, unsure if the little thing had seen him or not.

"Umm," Law spoke, unsure of how to speak to the creature, "Yo Brah, you feel like helping me out here?"

[Lazzo]

”No, no. That won't be necessary. You look like you have things under control,” Lazzo said, hardly noticing the drunken man at the scene. He continued to root and rut through the remains of this machine man. Many of the parts were familiar to him. Pneumatics, a few gears. But many of the pieces were unfamiliar to him. He had seen copper wiring before, but it was very expensive, and not nearly this high quality. He wrapped his fingers around all the wiring he could see and tore it off.

There was also this strange green wood. It had metal bark, with large cylindrical chunks. He had no idea what it was. He broke off or ripped out as much of it as he could find. The amplifex whirred and clunked. Small pieces of iron protruded from the end and came together to form a screw driver. He unscrewed all of the screws he could find. ”These fetch a good price at the bazaar.”

He continued to haphazardly rip the thing apart as quickly as possible. He didn't want that girl with the electro-baton to wake up while he...

”The Electro-Baton...” he immediately stopped his disassembling and perked his head up. He slowly surveyed the scene. There it was!

[Rhiannon]

The woman's eyebrows lowered with frustration and her face cringed as the sound of voices started to make her squirm. Letting out an exhausted sigh, her eyelashes flapped a few times before blue orbs were looking up at the young man holding her, her eyes taking a few moments to adjust to his features. Millions of questions were rushing through her mind right now, but perhaps it wasn't the best time to ask. Though she wondered why the Union hasn't arrived yet? They should have been here minutes after the portal closed.

There was another sound a short distance away from her. The sound of miscellaneous tinkering Looking over at Lazzo, her eyes shot open the horror of what was happening. “No!” she shouted as she immediately fought to break free from her rescuer's hold to run at the knome. Clutching for his armor/mechanics on his shoulders, would toss him to the side. Falling to her knees, her mouth fell open to the site of the cyborg completely torn apart. “No no no NO!”

Like lightning, her hands sorted through the disassembled mess and growled, smashing the control panel down in front of her. Everything was ruined. “You, this is your fault!” she hissed, pointing a finger at Lazzo. “The power converter, the mother system, and the administrative power access are in PIECESS!”

The cyborg was her only chance of getting back home if the Technocrats couldn't find a way to receive her. If they could, they most defiantly would of by now. She was their most valuable agent. All hope quickly drained out of her. Whatever time period she was in, was stuck for good.

Slipping her knife from her boot, her eyes narrowed as her voice lowered with a blood thirsty touch to her tone. “I'm going to kill you.”

[Move Along Move Along]

"Well, this elevated a lot faster than I imagined."

Law was in a state of utter confusion. One second he was being told that he could handle the girl, and the next he had lost complete control over her. The man raised his eyebrows at the seemingly miraculous recovery of the woman, as she quickly began to accuse the gnome of causing her plight. Things got even more heated when the girl pulled out a knife from the inside of her boot.

"Well, that brings a new meaning to 'is that a knife in your boot, or are you just happy to see me?"

I can't even begin to describe the multitude of things wrong with that phrase.

"It's cool, Brah," Law smirked as he stepped between the short man and the girl. He had his hands raised in the air to show that he had meant no harm to either of them. "Listen Guhl, I've been here since you passed out, and it wasn't the midget's fault. You're injuries are clouding your mind, making you delusional. Why don't we get you someplace where you can rest, and then you can go on your murderous rampage when you're in tip-top shape, savy?"

Law then turned to the gnome, who seemed intent on his business with the machine, and, from what Lawrence could deduce, had his eyes on the object used to kill the cyborg.

"Lil Brah, hear me out. Just so we make sure that Guhl don't kill you, why don't you stop touching everything? I'm sure the Guhl will be happy to share her secrets with you if you leave her shit alone." The last bit came out a bit more hostile than the man would have liked. He hoped it would stress the point that everybody is getting angry over nothing, but he doubted it.

God, Brah, I need a drink.

[Lazzo]

"Power converter?" Lazzo inquired to the now awake, now furious woman. "You call this a power converter?" A squeaky and hoarse repetitive laugh shook his ribs. He patted himself lightly, as if to banish the chuckle from his chest. ”Oh that's rich. That's rich. I've got a better power converter in ole' Gear Box here.” He motioned towards the walking scrap heap, who was in process of winding himself back up. A reaffirming hiss of steam followed by a pop emanated from Gear Box in response.

He turned towards Law. ”Her” shit? I'm pretty sure there is a common law of “one man's..” he turned back towards Rhiannon. 'womans...' trash is another man's treasure. Had she wanted any of this 'everything,' she wouldn't have destroyed its head with that stick of her's.” His hands sort of rolled forward. It was as if he was delivering a speech, or speaking with a pompous air of arrogance. His voice was surprisingly structured and still.

He turned back to Rhiannon. “And furthermore, if you want this thing back up and running, I'm the Gnome to do it." He pointed a thumb to his chest and there was another reaffirming hiss from Gear Box. He began to survey the pieces he had claimed.

“Some of this technology is pretty dated,” he mumbled, sorting through the gears, pistons and wiring. “But some of this I've never seen." His voice slowed and became drawn out as he held up the metal barked green-wood.
So. Why don't you put the knife down, let me finish salvaging this guy and we can sort it all out in my workshop.”

He wiped the juices off of his fingers. It was some kind of green liquid. He observed the corpse again. The same stuff was leaking out of its wounds. ”Must be its blood.” He was intrigued. He had heard speculation, read a few books but never actually seen a man attached to a machine in the flesh. This one was dead, so anyone he tried to tell would blow it off as a tall tale. But he had seen it. Living. Fighting. He snapped back to reality.

”My workshop is right there.” He pointed to a low shack about a hundred and fifty yards from them.


OOC:
Just to be perfectly clear, the green wood is circuit-board.

[Rhiannon]

Luckily for Law, the woman's anger came somewhat at ease. This was only temporary before Rhiannon anger started to rise again. Her cheeks started to turn pink with frustration as the little man would not quit talking. He seemed to ramble on and on, waving his hands like a fast lipped Italian. While he went on, her eyes became dull. “Outdated? You're saying this Cyborg of technology is Outdated!?” The future? This place, this forest, looking nothing modern at all, was the future? This little fellow though, hes smoldering with Technocratic sin by the looks of him. She hasn't seen what he was capable of, but she will most defiantly going to be keeping records on him.

“And for your information, sir. I killed that cyborg to save my life!” she hissed, curling her fingers into a solid ball, but they quickly came at ease. “Wait, did you say... Knome?” What the hell was a Knome. Where was she? Why did the portal bring her of all places? That portal was designed to bring you to important dates in world history. This place didn't seem important at all...

Placing her knife back into her boot, she limped her way to her electro baton and placed it back on her belt. Finally, her eyes fell on the man who was carrying her when she woke up. By the looks of him, she wasn't overall impressed, but he did help her. “Uhm, Thanks.” Give it to him bluntly. Be to the point, you're still on a mission. Truth was, she wasn't sure what to say to him... By the stressed look in his eyes he needed a drink.

Her interest much more on the 'knome' she eyed him over some more. He was lucky to be tall enough to even reach her thigh, if that. “A.. Knome.. as in the Fantasy creature my roommates used to play in as warriors and wizards in dungeons and dragons?”

[Move Along Move Along]

By the time Rhiannon was saying her thanks to Ace, the young man was already taking a flask of Underwood schnopps and downing it. The man felt a lot better once the smooth and sweet combination of the alcoholic beverage was in his stomach. He simply nodded his acknowledgement to gthe blonde to show that he had heard her. He was half way through the flask by the time she asked the question about the gnome. Law took the top of the flask and screwed it back onto the container, swishing around the remainder of the liquid in his mouth before swallowing.

It's not even five o clock yet!

It's five o clock somewhere, Brah.

"Dungeons and Dragons?" Law asked, repeating Rhiannons question, "You must mean Cellars and Spellcasters. Yeah, it's kind of like that, only, you know, real life." Law didn't mean to sound sarcastic with the last bit of his explanation. The youth just found it odd that the girl thought the existance of a 'real' gnome was so absurd. In truth, Law had played Cellars and Spellcasters a few times with some of his friends, only to find it more fun to live it rather than pretend he was somebody else. How pathetic did one's life have to be in order to escape the ever exciting world of Althanas for another, less exciting, imaginary world? It just did not make any sense to the drinker.

"I think a couple of intros may be in order. My name is Lawrence, but my closies call me Law." 'Closies' was Law's way of describing his close friends, which he had none of unless they were names given to brands of liquor. Perhaps this was as good a time as any to change that. "What's your name, Guhl?"

[Lazzo]

Lazzo's face crinkled. The deep ruts in his aged face creased heavily. His nose rose slightly in disgust and his nostrils flared. A kuh-nome? He waved his stubby hand at Law dismissively much like you would to a disobedient child, hardly even paying his drunken ramblings any attention.

”Pardon me there, miss. A Kuh-Nome? That isn't what I said. If you are looking for Kuh-Nomes, you'll have to look elsewhere. And as for this Cellars and Wizards and things, I can assure you that Wizards, Gnomes and Cellars do in fact exist.” Lazzo turned and began towards his poor run down excuse of a workshop. The roof was wooden, oak to be specific. They were even treated with oil, but after years and years of rain, snow, minor explosions, fires and failed experiments, the roof began to bow heavily. The walls were made of wood and various metals. Over the course of the aformentioned events, the wood rotted and was patched with metal, the metal rusted and was patched with wood.

He waddled with his typically limped gate and put his hand up. He motioned with his hand for them to follow. ”I'm hungry and there's a stew on the Thermo-Cauldron.,” he said, more to himself than anyone else in particular. All this excitement had made him a bit peckish. Which reminded him, the others would probably be hungry as well. ”And there won't be enough for either of you, so don't get your hopes up."

“If you want to know my name, its Lazzo Bottomnook Cornercutter Arco-Argonaut Gyrosprocket the Fourth. Lazzo is fine. And that's Gear Box.

[Rhiannon]

Cellars and Spellcasters? It must have been some kind of off brand from what she heard of back in the day. Either way, Rhiannon wasn't going to press the issue. “Uh, right. Yeah. Cellars and Spellcasters.”

The confusion was very obvious on the woman's face no matter how straight she tried to keep her structure. There was no explanation of why a Knome would exist other than in fictional stories and adventures. From what her mother always told her. If you could see it, touch it, and smell it. It was real. The smell factor was definite for this one. The reek of oil, gasoline, dirt, metal ore, and body oder ravaged over him.

So if these Knomes did exist, then why didn't the Technocracy ever admit their existence? They told her that unicorns, dragons, and magical knights were all just a creative creation of the human mind. Magic did NOT exist, nor would it ever. Science was magic. Everything believed to be magic..Science.

Lazzo immediately corrected her of an obvious pronunciation of his race and laid it to her boldly. Kuh-Knome. The woman's beautiful eyes were once again falling narrow as her fingers became solid. “Well, excuse me Mr. Gnome for my simple mistake...”

Before much more anger could flare within a short period of time, Lazzo started to waddle off, waving his arms around about as he spoke of his stew. Well, that didn't last long. Rhiannon could feel her face growing hot about his comment of not sharing. How could such a little man be so damn rude?!

“Bastard.” she growled lightly before Law's voice snatched her attention. An introduction to be exact. Hopefully this change of topic would most defiantly change things because Rhiannon didn't seem like herself. Smart comments normally wouldn't bother her this much, she'd simply counter with a smart comment as well. Perhaps everything was happening too fast... She was letting it all get to her. Turning to law, her hand firmly grasped his, yet was fragile due to her lack of strength at the given time. The firmness was solid, but quivered ever so slightly. “Rhiannon, Rhiannon Orris. I'm guessing you haven't much left of what lingers from your tongue, would you?” she asked, indicating to his alcoholic beverage.

Turning a glance over to Lazzo...with the abnormally long name... Wow, his parents must have been quite the creative couple. Maybe they just had plenty of time on their hands. The creative part seemed to run in the family...

“Maybe we should follow him.. For the time being, that little hole of his is all I have for shelter. Maybe you should do the same, Lawrence. It looks like it's going to rain soon.”

With that said and done, Rhiannon limped her way to Lazzo's small house, trying her best to keep a good figure. Showing weakness was not something she enjoyed giving in to.

[Move Along Move Along]

Law witnessed the two of them continue to spit venomous slurs at one another despite his pleas not to. The boy reached for his flask once again, taking another swig of courage before looking to Rhiannon. Without hesitation, the youth tossed the flask towards the girl, a smile on his face as she invited him inside the gnomes house. It was kind of rude to be so presumptuous, but he shrugged it off as trying to return the act of kindness he had displayed.

"I think it'd be lil man's call over yours whether or not I get to stay in his part of the bassinet." Law stopped for a moment at his saying, realizing that Rhiannaon was not aware of Althanian colloquialisms. Because he was not quite sure what saying would have been better to relate to her, however, he simply gave a goofy smile to the girl.

Are you truly denying the hospitality of a woman? Well, let me jot this down as a first. I've seen girls that look like Draves that you've had your way with.

I'm not one to just kick a guhl out of my bed, Brah. It is the first time I've been invited by a girl into a strange gnome's home....well, a guy gnome anyways.

Oh yeah, that time in Kachuck...

Law shook his head of that memory. He currently did not need to remember the things a female gnome could down with a can of silly string and a block of Raiaera cheese. His eyes shifted over to the shortest member of the trio, extending a hand towards him.

"She's right though, Brah. I can feel a storm coming. Humidity's going to Haide. Mind if I tag along into your nape of the forest?" Of course, Law had no problem using Althanas slang to somebody he had assumed been a resident all of his life.