To Be Born Anew (Closed CVnU RP)

Closed RP between Lady Liberty, Saukerl , and Nordok

Setting: from the outside, the building appears to be just another high-rise that is part of the Manhattan skyline. On the inside, however, once one has gotten past the first few floors of unremarkable offices, the layout changes drastically. The entire interior of the building has been converted into a clandestine psychic research and development facility by the forces of an alien being that has recently turned his malevolent attention upon the Earth. Cloaked, hovering beings conduct arcane experiments upon hapless victims plucked from the streets of the bustling metropolis, as mentally dominated humans scurry about on the lower levels, maintaining appearances and diverting any outside attention.

Kallak, better known as the Eviscitor, assassin and executioner in the employ of Nordok, supreme ruler of the Abyssal Imperium, leaned against the wall of the main lab, undisguised annoyance on his face as he casually flipped a wicked-looking knife about in his hand. To all outward appearances he appeared to be of human-like stock, although his exact species and place of origin was no longer remembered, even by him. His movements uncannily smooth and nearly too quick for the eye to follow, a result of the numerous cybernetic procedures he had undergone, procedures that, combined with his preternatural level of skill, made him the deadliest bladesman in the universe, at least in his own mind.

“Where is she?!” he snarled, to no one in particular. “All that emphasis on setting this operation up as quickly as possible, and now I get to sit here and wait until our subject feels inclined to join us.” He slammed the knife back into its scabbard, and began pacing, his light armor and arsenal of bladed weaponry not appearing to encumber his seamless movements in the slightest.

Some twenty-four hours ago, aboard the flagship vessel of her master, hidden somewhat inconspicuously away from the Earth, the girl known as Malicia had fought and defeated the master’s personal enforcer and interrogator; a volatile creature which had drained her of most of her energy and caused her to use every bit of the rest in defeating him. Afterwards, she passed out for an entire day. Almost immediately upon waking, she found she was being briefed on her next task. Simple enough, she was to go to the planet Earth to receive her psychic defenses; those she had longed for ever since the first time the master assaulted her mind with his own. By now, her thoughts of rebellion had subsided with the revelation of her past on this miserable rock, which she knew she was destined to rule as the cosmos itself willed.

She was given nary a moment to prepare herself, but she didn’t really feel like she needed it anyway. No one and nothing on this pathetic world could threaten her. The worst was simply bearing the procedure itself. These things had a habit of being painful, in her experience.

A portal was opened inside the ship that transported her, along with a security escort (which she also felt was unnecessary directly to the facility where it was to take place. The pained screams of many others, humans, travelled through the walls and into her ears, and she couldn’t help but wonder what was happening there. After all, what’s the use of all these others when she was here? A waste of time and resources, she saw it. Entering the room, Malicia paid no mind to the man at the wall, save for a brief sneer before her attention turned to the machine and people who were supposed to aid her. She saw an apparatus, not unlike the operating tables she’d been on before; always fitted with cuffs to hold her arms and legs in place, and a brace for her neck. With a deep sigh, she lay on the and stared up at something of a lid, resembling that of a casket, and waited to be fitted, biting her lip in anticipation of the hurt she should experience.

Kallak grumbled to himself as Malicia brusquely strode into the lab. Not that he was looking for a friendly greeting or any display of gratitude, but her sneer was just one more annoyance loaded onto this mission that was, in his opinion, a complete waste of his abilities. Obviously his master thought whoever this was had some value, but still, he was better suited to missions that involved more...death. He wasn't a guard.

Two Reapers, massive, reptilian-looking machines that served as Nordok's elite guard, took up positions on either side of the procedural apparatus as Malicia was enclosed within. A full regiment of Brutalizers, robotic heavy infantry which, while smaller than the Reapers, were still bulky in their tank-like armor, stood at silent attention. The hooded members of the Shadow Brethren, experts on matters pertaining to the arcane and esoteric, bustled about the machine, beginning the procedure that would vastly enhance the subject's psychic defenses, making Malicia's mind all but impregnable.

As the painful procedure began however, an alarm began blaring. Frowning, Kallak strode over to a computer monitor and pulled up a security report. There was evidently a perimeter breach, three floors up. Perimeter breach...fancy talk for something breaking through a solid masonry wall. "You two, remain here," he snapped at the Reapers, before turning to the Brutalizers. "You, with me." As he headed for the stairs, he paused long enough to fix the Shadow Brethren with a meaningful glare. "Remember the master's orders," he said, harshly."This procedure gets completed, at whatever the cost." With that, he turned and rushed to confront whatever had breached the building's security.

Just as soon as Malicia lied down on the table, the cuffs shut around her hands and the brace around her neck. The bright lights above her grew dim as the apparatus closed fully over her, leaving her in darkness. She didn’t mind the darkness itself so much, except that she wished to know what they were doing outside.

As soon as the process started, she knew. The start was characterized by a pressurized feeling, like something was slowly closing in around on all sides. It wasn’t much of a problem at first, but the feeling intensified gradually, until she actually felt like she was being crushed herself. What she didn’t realize was it was all in her mind and that in turn actually caused a drastic rise in heart rate and breathing became difficult, the brain and internal organs feeling as if they might burst. But she bit her lip and bore it. And then, all of a sudden, it stopped, replaced by nothingness.

This nothingness was soon replaced by a pain felt all over, as her brain began firing impulses rapidly, most notably the stimulating of her pain receptors, evoking a sensation as if someone had just peeled off all of her skin, covered her in salt, then washed it off with scalding hot water. She bit down until her lip bled, and still more, until she could take no more and had to let out a scream, at the top of her lungs. Her voice managed even to penetrate a bit outside the walls of her isolated chamber, the insides rocking with the force of her voice. Before long, her ears, being highly sensitive and inside a tight, insulated place, started to bleed as well.

Upstairs:

Kallak came to a halt as he entered the scene of destruction, surveying the damage with an almost appreciative expression. His eyes came to rest on Lady Liberty, as the Brutalizers fell into formation behind him. "Well, well...an intruder who can do this kind of damage and is also easy on the eye? Looks like this might not have been such a bad assignment, after all." Drawing one of the wicked, curved swords from its sheath on his back, he pointed it at her as he addressed the assembled robotic soldiers. "Put her down, but keep her alive, if possible." Returning his gaze to Liberty, he flashed her a sinister, crooked grin. "Let's see how well you smash up things that can fight back, shall we?"

Kallak stepped back to observe, and the dozen Brutalizes advanced, the six foremost raising weapons that in some ways resembled lightning rods, a similarity that was reinforced as they fired off bolts of electricity with a voltage close to that of a direct lightning strike.

In the lab:

Malicia's screams were audible to the Shadow Brethren attending to the controls of the device in which she was encased, though that was not so disturbing to them as the fact that the device itself was beginning to show the strain of its failing efforts to contain her superhuman voice. One glanced up from its monitoring station and hissed in a low, rasping voice: "The seals are failing. The integrity will be compromised if this continues."

Another, whose more ornate robes it as the probably head of this experiment, hissed back: "That cannot be; we must complete the process! Double the intensity of the bombardment; that should allow the process to complete before she shatters the capsule!" The subordinate obeyed, noting with some malevolent satisfaction that this would also magnify the pain of the device's occupant tremendously.

Inside the machine, Malicia exerted herself against her restraints, though trying to restrain her own self from struggling too hard against them. She gritted her teeth and pulled and squirmed, but the tight formation allowed for minimal movement or leeway, holding her in the pain and uncomfortable position. Her anger rose steadily and she struggled ever more furiously in her place, and at one point, she felt a bit of shaking at the wrists. The combination of her voice and her own strength seemed to be taking its toll on the machine. Soon, she thought, I’m free.

She perceived the slightest alterations in the procedures, magnified a thousandfold by her own senses and intensified even more greatly by those outside. Just when she thought she could pull no harder, there was some newfound source of strength from seemingly out of nowhere, and she did. But just as quickly as it rose, it seemed to fall under the increased stress of the process. Feelings fluctuated, from stronger than ever to incredibly weak. One moment, she felt as if she could endure no more; the next, she was again screaming and tugging furiously at the machine, but with decreasing results each time. The only constant, as much as her strength rose and fell, her voice was as powerful and penetrating as ever.

Upstairs:

Kallak smirked as the blasts from the robots' batons knocked the intruder from the air. That smirk faded quickly, however, when she rose again, smoking, but not having evidently taking any significant damage from the barrage.

"My turn."

It was only his cybernetic enhancements that saved him. Moving with preternatural speed, he threw himself towards one of the few undamaged pieces of equipment in the room, a small, lead-lined chamber designed for psychic isolation. Slamming the door shut behind him, he waited until his enhanced hearing (the technicians that facilitated his upgrades had reasoned that superhuman reflexes wouldn't be terribly useful if an enemy could simply sneak up behind him) told him that the attack was completed, and then emerged.

"Well..." he began, at a momentary loss at how easily she had reduced the heavy infantry of the Imperium to piles of metallic dust, "normally, I'd feel a bit guilty about drawing my weapons against an empty-handed foe, but I think in this case I can do so without compromising my sense of fair play." With that, he charged her, his movements so swift that they appeared as a blur, his two adamantium blades launching simultaneous strikes at both her heart and her throat.

In the lab:

"Absorption 98.5% completed," hissed the hooded mage at the monitoring station.

The project leader nodded. "Good. Complete it, now!" Obediently, another dark one increased the feed to full capacity, emptying what remained of the charged energy into the now visibly straining capsule. The lights flickered, and sparks shot from several consoles throughout the lab, but machines held out just long enough.

"It is done," hissed the leader in triumph, even as the capsule suddenly fractured, and then completely disintegrated under the intense pressure Malicia's intense vocalizations had subjected it to.

The end of the procedure came as a sudden relief, made certain by the crumbling of the devices that held and ailed her. At that point, however, Malicia was still hurting too much to fully appreciate it, as she was far from fine. She hit the floor with a groan and slowly rolled over to her hands and knees, but found she was unable to support herself, her body still working hard to stabilize itself for what she had gone through. Her head hit the floor hard, adding to the pain that was already there.

Through partially blurred vision, she could see the men in charge approaching, speaking, but her ears had yet to recover and she could not make out a single sound over the ringing. Her scowl never faded from her tear-stained face  even as she looked up and addressed them in her broken voice. “Thank you. I am ready.”

Upstairs:

He was more than a little impressed. Enemies unfamiliar with his speed were usually dropped by that attack; apparently this one possessed quickness as well as offensive power and durability. This theory was confirmed rather quickly, as she retreated just enough to launch a blast of freezing air at him. Having no time to dodge, and really nowhere to dodge to, Kallak made a snap decision, and in a desperate gamble, threw the sword in his right hand at the center of Liberty's body with every ounce of his enhanced strength. The weapon was not even remotely balanced for throwing, but he hoped the disruption of concentration it might cause would spare him the full force of the icy blast.

Not waiting to see if his gamble paid off, he tensed and leapt directly at her in the same path as his thrown blade, right into the center of her attack. He aimed his remaining weapon at the same target he had launched his other one at nanoseconds before. Even if his gambit failed and he wound up frozen, he wasn't about to go down any way but fighting.

In the lab:

The Shadow Brethren floated over to Malicia as she tumbled from the wreckage of the machine and onto the floor. None made any move to assist her, or even check on her condition. They simply hovered, watching and waiting, hissing to one another in their unpleasant voices.

“Thank you. I am ready.”

At her response, broken as her voice may have been, the gathered Brethren bowed formally to her. The leader then spoke. "Destructor, the Ancient's assassin is responding to some manner of intrusion several floors above. We must take you to a more secure location, where you may recover."

Her ears still bleeding from the self-inflicted assault, Malicia was hardly able to comprehend the words that were being spoken to her. Some, she could manage, but it was a largely incomplete translation to her dampened cognition.

“Destructor. . .Ancient. . .sin. . .spondi. . .intrusion. . .ove. . .take you. . .ation. . .over.”

Just the word intrusion was enough for her. She was in no condition to argue, or to fight, but she had yet to fully learn “can’t.” Lying there with her face to the floor was definitely demeaning, and Malicia just knew she could handle anything this pathetic miserable rock could throw at her, no matter what her condition, so she shakily pushed herself off of the floor, leaning instead up against what remained of the operating table. Straining her ears, she could just barely make out the sound of something. A voice. Not much to it though. She stood on the legs of a newborn deer and gazed up and around for the exit. “Take me there. I will deal with this.”

Upstairs:

One word. After managing to evade a gamma beam attack and a cone of subzero breath, what managed to catch him was a single spoken word. Kallak would have laughed at the irony of it, had the vocal boom not driven the breath from his lungs even as it blasted his body through the wall. His armor and his mechanical enhancements enabled him to withstand a considerable amount of punishment, but this one hurt. A lot.

As he attempted to regain his bearings from the pile of rubble he found himself laying in, he made another unpleasant discovery. Evidently there were drawbacks to having cybernetically-enhanced hearing, because the sonic attack had also completely overridden his auditory circuits, leaving him with a painful ringing sound in his ears and a complete lack of balance.

However, surrender was never an option; his professional pride would not allow it. Groping clumsily for the wall, he painfully pulled himself upright, and stumbled through the him-shaped opening and back into the room with Liberty, his halting movements now a notable difference from his usual grace and agility. Raising the sword that he had somehow managed to hold onto through that ordeal, he brandished it in what his best guess was her general direction, and raspily slurred, "Now that was a dirty trick."

In the lab:

The Shadow Brethren glanced uncertainly at one another, their hissing speech having faded away into silence. She should not be conscious after enduring something such as that, much less standing and demanding to be led to a battle. The leader stared at her in silence for several long moments, the narrowed, glowing orbs of his eyes the only features visible beneath the voluminous hood. He nodded then, and wordlessly turned and led her from the room, his acolytes moving aside and observing their passing.

The Reapers, which had reacted to no part of the procedure, now fell into step behind Malicia, their escort programming still dictating their actions. Each carried a massive, scythe-like weapon with a mechanical vibroblade, a weapon that was designed to tear merciless through even the strongest battle armor.

The Shadow Brethren led Malicia to the nearest flight of stairs, and opening the door, waved his clawed hand in the direction of the flight leading upwards. It was obvious that he had no intention of involving himself in whatever was transpiring above.

“Hmph! Coward.” Malicia scoffed at the man backing out as she herself headed up the stairs, rather slowly, in her condition. At least, slowly for her. Normally she would have just used her x-ray vision to peer through the ceiling and crashed through the floors until she reached it, but though she’d started to recover already, she was far from full strength.

Her senses provided enough contexts for her to know where she was with respect to the location of the intruder. The crashing and noises growing louder and more powerful with each level ascended, until finally she stopped.

“This is the place,” she said to the reapers, pausing in the hallway, where she simply stared at them for a while. She hadn’t really considered needing them, but the master had said she should get herself accustomed to commanding hapless peons (at least, that’s how she heard it). She gave a listen to the voices around her. “Take me to the intruder. . .Then kill her.”

Kallak opened his mouth, whether to attempt to respond or merely in surprise at the sudden departure of his weapon from his hand was uncertain, and likely to remain that way, as the impact of the pommel with his temple dropped him like the proverbial bag of potatoes. Enhanced speed and reflexes notwithstanding, he was simply too battered and disoriented to even attempt any form of defense. He lay on the debris-strewn floor, his overworked reflex circuits still causing his body to twitch and spasm unnaturally.

Even as he fell, however, the door through which he and the ill-fated group of Brutalizers had entered now exploded off their hinges, as two massive new foes burst onto the filed of battle. At nearly fifteen feet tall, the resembled nothing so much as bipedal, mechanized dinosaurs, each holding a scythe with a five-foot blade that gave off a faint, mechanical hum. Unlike the lumbering Brutalizers, these robots moved with a fluid grace only slightly less than that of the bionic swordsman that had just been defeated. There was no hesitation; they immediately went on the offense, circling around on opposite sides of the room in an attempt to force Liberty to divide her attention.

Just as she had ordered, the reapers led her right to the intruder, taking a big lead once they were on her trail. Commanding was something she could get used to, if only for having a few hounds to sniff out the prey. For her part, Malicia simply allowed them to continue unhampered. She followed close behind until they stopped, and stood just behind them, musing quietly to herself. Admittedly, this intruder looked impressive enough.

She had a certain dignity about her and greater stature than Malicia. But grizzlons were huge and bred for nothing but battle, and still proved no match for the Destructor. Almost as soon as they spread out in the room, the woman crashed into the floor and sent it crumbling down, along with the reapers. Malicia could fly herself and would have no problems with this. Instead, she lifted into a hover, tucked her head and dashed swiftly at the intruder, leading straight in with a headbutt, which would be followed by a right hook to the body.

Perhaps leading with a headbutt so soon after the procedure wasn’t the best idea, as it left Malicia with a bit of her own pain. Nevertheless, she followed through and sent the other crashing through to the outside. She followed soon after, making her own hole in the side.

Outside, the city was bustling with people. Busy people, who had actually begun to stare. But as much as she would have wanted to unleash her fury upon them, Malicia understood that this woman needed to be dealt with first, since that last attack didn’t kill her. She glared at the woman and almost went up to meet her head on once again, but a sudden pain came over her, something in her eyes and so she couldn’t see. With a mighty yell, she dropped to the streets, rubbing on them furiously. This, she assumed to be some sort of telepathic attack like the ones her master used, for she saw no movement; this would mean the procedure she’d just gone through had failed and all that pain and preparation was for nothing.

She barely had time to register the pain in her eyes before another wave shot up through her arm. She felt the blade enter her arm and this sent her into even more panic. Her eyes, her arm, both were hurting and she had no idea what was going on, exactly. Of course, it meant she had underestimated humans, and it was no wonder they could pose a threat, if they could do this even as she had evolved from childhood. Still blind, her head snapped back and she removed her hands from her eyes and in her excited state, her eyes released their own pent up energy, in the form of a red, super-heated laser, though as she   was unsure of where exactly to aim it, she jerked left and right, most likely causing more collateral damage to the city, and probably a few civilians, than anything else.

Malicia continued in her way, unaware of what exactly she was doing, but far too concerned with her own state to care about even the task at hand. It wasn’t like she cared for anyone or anything here anyway. She had very little patience for the people of this world, and this one woman was already on the verge of ruining it for the whole planet. And just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did.

This woman put her hand over her eyes. She touched her. Unforgiveable. Even the master himself had been told many times not to touch Malicia when she did not wish to be touched, which she rarely did anyway. This annoyance escalated even further when the woman actually showed the audacity to issue an order to the Destructor. It was issued with such force, and to her ears, it actually hurt, prompting a return scream right back. As if she hadn’t had enough shouting and headaches for the day.

This offense could not be tolerated, not at all. Once she’d regained some semblance of rational thought, Malicia brought her knee up to meet the woman right in the stomach, and using all of her quickness, removed the blade from her arm and swung it wildly directly in front of her, hoping to hit something.

In her haste, Malicia had actually hit with more force than she intended, enough to set the enemy back a bit and out of the reach of her blade, for the most part. A mistake she knew she couldn’t make again. It’s hard, when you’re going into a situation blind, but the master would likely not tolerate failure of any sort, no matter the excuse.

After a bit of wild swinging, she halted completely, to try and get a feel for the situation. She just barely sensed the change in wind with the woman’s hands coming together. Reacting as fast as she could, Malicia pressed both her legs down and kicked herself off the ground and backwards, directly in the path of the woman, driving back to the inside of the lab.

She caught herself in the air, but dropped to a knee shortly afterwards, sinking through the hole of the previously smashed floor and to the floor below. In her current state, fighting back proved to be difficult. She still blamed the procedure for failing to protect her from what she perceived still to be a psychic assault that left her blind, and for causing unnecessary harm. She really hated playing defensively; it was no way to win a fight, she had always thought. But for now, it might be the only thing keeping her in it. Seeing no other option, Malicia opted to wait, to play defense.

With a twisting distortion of reality, a nauseatingly swirling portal opened behind Malicia, and she felt a powerful hand on her shoulder, as a familiar voice spoke in her ear. "That is quite enough for now, my Destructor," said a deep, inhuman voice devoid of any pleasant emotion.

The speaker the burning, malevolent eyes of his alien visage upon Liberty before speaking further. "A most impressive display. I am not accustomed to observing one of my operations be taken apart by a singular entity."

The twisting of the air heralding her master's arrival, Malicia knew exactly what this meant even without her vision. It was over. He had grown impatient and the mission was a failure. The initial response was more anger, mixed with fear, a cringe as his hand touched her shoulder. She knew she could beat this woman if she were to face her again. But disobedience would be wrong, and likely result in more punishment. So she simply stood down, half hoping he would simply annihilate the woman right there. But that would eliminate the second chance she desired.
 
Malicia stood with an outwardly dignified posture, sharp contrast with the shame felt on the inside at this disgraceful situation, turning her attention from the attacking woman completely. "There is nothing more for us here. We should leave."

The malevolent gaze remained riveted upon Liberty as she spoke. When she had finished, he merely nodded, his feral visage not betraying any sign of emotion. "Yes," he said almost softly, "this one has pleased me very greatly this day." The clawed hand squeezed Malicia's shoulder almost caressingly.

Turning his attention to Malicia as she spoke, he answered. "Soon enough, my Destructor. I would learn more of this being with whom you have shared such a magnificent battle."

Returning his gaze to Liberty, his glowing eyes narrowed as he spoke. "To answer your inquiry, I am the 'boss' everywhere, though not all of you foolish sentients have yet accepted this fact. I am Nordok, last and most powerful of the Ancients, and thus the embodiment of the will of the cosmos itself. Who are you that speaks to me thus, Earth-dweller?"

The corner's of the Ancient's mouth seemed to briefly tug upwards in the faintest semblance of a smile. "Good...I had not dared hope that this world's potentate would be so simple to locate. As it is, YOUR planet has enjoyed its relative isolation quite long enough. It is time for it to embrace its destiny in the greater cosmos, as part of my Abyssal Imperium. Malicia here," he indicated the young woman upon whose shoulder his hand rested, "has been tasked with bringing this world into this glorious new era in its history."

His malevolent grin widened slightly, as though he could sense the fury his words had triggered in her, and deeply enjoyed it. While he considered most planetary beings beneath his notice, this one was obviously powerful, and worth further consideration.

"I do not disagree. I have no interest in directly governing this backwater little rock of a world. As Malicia's origins can be traced to this planet, you will not be under alien domination." Reaching down, he helped Malicia to her feet. "Such tragic origins this one's were, too. Your planet can be admirably cruel to one of its own." His glowing eyes narrowed as he refocused on Liberty, although it was clear that he was speaking more to Malicia. "I suppose then, if this is truly your world, goddess, then you are ultimately responsible for the death of her parents."

Malicia stood to her feet slowly, tugging away slightly, a bit insulted at the action indicating she needed any help. At the same time, she had slowly worked up the courage to make an attempt at healing herself, biological manipulation restoring her eyes to normal. Fear forced her to go slow, exercising caution so as to avoid further damage.
 
Even after she had recovered her sight, she remained still at the master's side, just waiting for him to take them away, and making no effort to hide her impatience, evidenced by a heavy sigh, folding her arms, and tapping her foot lightly, though a few light cracks still opened in the floor. Her lips jumped into a scowl as the Ancient recounted the events of her past as she had been told, annoyed at the fact that he would bring it up to the enemy as well as angered by the simple recounting of it. But even this was as a minor annoyance to that of what came next.
 
"I suppose then, if this is truly your world, goddess, then you are ultimately responsible for the death of her parents."
 
As what would seem to be his intention, his words stirred her anger once more. Her eyes burned with anger, just as the woman's visage was burned into her mind's eye. Nearly stupefying, and yet, at the same time, it all made sense. That was the only way anybody on this pathetic rock could ever threaten her. She stared not only in the face of an old goddess, but the prospect of vengeance. Faced with this, now knowing it, her anger, her vision and her master, all the cards now seemed held in her hand. She did what impulse dictated. She charged once more, just breaking the sound barrier with her speed, launching herself headfirst at this "Lady Liberty, Goddess of the Modern Age."

His carefully measured words had been effective. The meddlesome goddess had been distracted, if only for the merest of moments. That moment had been all that his perfect creation had needed. Even as his words were intended to sow hesitation and doubt in Liberty's mind, he had intended for them to stir Malicia to a new depth of fury. Both objectives had been accomplished to his utmost satisfaction.

It also pleased him to note that Malicia had not wasted the precious time he had bought her, as her eyes were evidently healed enough that she could once again see and target her enemy. Magnificent. She was developing beyond even his highest expectations, and was quickly becoming his most powerful weapon. At this rate, the planet should fall ahead of schedule, allowing him to focus his attention on other targets.

The Ancient One laughed then, a deep booming sound, bereft of anything resembling mirth or humor. It was a laugh that embodied pure, undisguised contempt and malevolence. "When you are finished, Malicia," he called to her, even as she and Liberty smashed through the outer walls of the ruined facility, "return to the ship. If the goddess still lives, bring her with you." With that, another nauseating portal shimmered into being, and Nordok stepped through, leaving it open behind him.

An amusing attack, if she ever did know one, she knew that last one would please her master. Pain upon humiliation. Malicia rarely, if ever, doubted herself, but she'd almost expected more from the goddess. It felt good being so much better than her.

In a surprising move, instead of defending properly or retaliating, Lady Liberty halted and...called for a talk? Confused at this, Malicia stopped to mull over the situation. It could be a trap, and she was wary as always. Or perhaps the goddess had realized she was outmatched and was surrendering. She really didn't want that. She wanted it even less than for her to keep fighting, because then she'd have to take her back. "Fine," Malicia huffed, folding her arms. "Talk fast. My master has already given you the opportunity to speak, and I do not have his patience."

Arms folded across her chest like they were, even wearing but a torn and tattered patient gown, Malicia never looked so proud. Like a true ruler, in her own mind, listening to the pleas of a goddess. A goddess, begging her to leave. The thought of it was almost too much to bear; never in her life could she have dreamed of such pride. And at that thought, there came another, perhaps inconsequential, but just as unexpected happenstance, which was just as special in her own mind. For once in her short, miserable life, Malicia’s lips curled into a sinister smirk. Her first smile ever. This was the "pleasure" of which her master spoke. True pleasure. The pleasure of conquering.

No threat…No reason…Not that special…Live at peace. So many reasons that could not be. The “will of the cosmos,” her own “childhood experiences,” as she was told, dictated that she conquer this world, no matter how pathetic it may be.

"So if you agree to leave now, and never return I'll just drop this here. We can both go on with our lives like this never happened."

Truly, she was a goddess indeed. She could be nothing less to have educed even a smile. But she didn’t stop there. Hearing these words, Malicia couldn’t help but start to crack up, and eventually, she lost her composure and erupted into laughter, slapping her hand to her face and bending backwards a little. Not really sinister at all, it was more childlike, and her face even lightened up as well, for once.

"But if you don't I will kill you. I'll kill your master. And I'll kill everyone that sides with you. You've come to my planet and threatened my people. You leave now, or I won't stop until I have your unconditional surrender or your corpse."

The words cut through her schoolgirl giggles like one of Kallak’s adamantium blades through butter, shut her right up, and just like that she was angry again, astonished that someone would speak to her like so, and just after practically groveling at her feet. That’s a good way to end up dead. Her face twisted in disgust and she could barely hold herself from hyperventilating. She warned the goddess not to try what little patience she had, but she did anyway. Her fists clenched tightly and she addressed Lady Liberty, shaking her head. She promised but one warning.

“No more.”

Malicia’s eyes glowed red briefly and not a second later discharged the familiar red hot energy in the direction of the infidel, more concentrated this time, dead center at her chest. Malicia began circling her at just over 2,000 miles per hour, slowly closing the circumference with each revolution, until the point where she could get within arm’s reach, then raising her arms high above her head, clasping her hands together, brought them down full force over the goddess’ head.

What a satisfying sizzle the goddess made. Malicia could hear the flesh and blood boil under the rays of her eyes, and for a brief moment a somewhat disturbing thought crossed her mind. I wonder what she tastes like. Then she smashed her over the head, sending her back to the streets with the rest of the rabble. There was no limit to the satisfaction she gained from this, though seemingly indistinguishable from the typical smashing she did for her master.

She didn’t get to enjoy it for very long, however, because soon afterward, her ears were bombarded with the sounds of all the malfunctioning electronics within a mile. She slapped her hands over her ears and watched the enemy lie there, at first wondering if she had died. An X-ray scan revealed otherwise. Just as well. She would be soon, anyway. Vengeance was at hand, and to tell the truth, once Lady Liberty was dead, she only intended to destroy the place. She cared little for conquering, as her master described it. She lived only for revenge. Conquest through destruction.

A moment later and Lady Liberty had gone. Seemingly revitalized, somehow, to move that fast even after everything she’d endured. Nordok had always said pain meant strength, and in her short life, Malicia had seen no one who endured as much pain as she herself had. Yet she remained uneasy. Her next move, she determined, would have to be dialed up a bit. She’d been fighting to incapacitate, and not to kill. This, she would rectify soon.

Tearing a street light out of the ground, Malicia began to twist and refine it, so the end would make a fine, sharp tip. Taking aim, she chucked it like a javelin at the woman in space, following quickly behind it to see the result.

Following the makeshift projectile, Malicia accelerated to top speed right from the get-go, tearing up a chunk of the street as she lifted off. Like a tiny upward heading meteor she went, as fast as she could without subjecting herself to harm from the environment, and yet still so much so that the garment she wore shredded, or rather, disintegrated, right off of her. She anticipated some kind of trap or another plea bargain, considering how the goddess still hadn't retaliated and was calling her into space like this, though she couldn't figure what it might be. Peculiar. But as previously stated, Malicia didn't have the patience to deal with her words, and the trap, which she considered more likely given who she was, she thought best dealt with by attacking first and not having to worry about it. The thrown street lamp seemed to have no effect, and she was doing that "stop" motion again with her hand. Malicia moved in, spun to her left, altering her body to angle slightly to the right and, clasping her hands together, brought the ax handle upward, in toward Liberty's face not unlike a major league baseball player taking a swing at a ball, minus the bat.

Her fists landed with a delightful impact, even if she couldn't hear it, sending the foe sailing through space like some kind of out of control spaceship. That had to be just about it, she thought, arms folded satisfied over her breast. It certainly looked like it. No one could take that kind of punishment from her. Now all that was left was to take her back to the surface so she could hail the teleportal back to the ship and then...finish her off.

Only, in order for that to actually work, she has to actually be done. It all happened so fast. Not a grandiose display, for there was nothing there to see. Too fast for her to even begin to comprehend. Too fast to note how the goddess would have disappeared from all visible spectra of light, too fast for her mind to even register fear or pain. That would come later, when she awoke. At the moment, the only thing she saw was an unconscious Lady Liberty floating out into space, and then—

Nothing. Blackout.