Dreams Collapse

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The spectacle happened so fast that Arn hadn't even found the time to stand up, let alone help out. He'd almost completely forgotten about her comment right before the fiasco began, but there wasn't time to answer to it now, nor would Arn have been prepared to answer it regardless. He looked between the door, the dead man, and Lili for a second before he found the words.


"Y-yeah. Yes. It's outside. We should go." He stepped awkwardly toward the door, and then out into the hallway before moving towards the elevator, watching the path ahead carefully.

 

[Venom Adhamm]

Lili hurries out of the the room along with you. The people that were previously up here are all dead. Many of the wounds seem to have been inflicted by gunshots, but some of them seem to have been caused by... something else entirely. Lili calls the elevator and hurries in, waiting for you before sending the elevator down to the first floor. The party music from before is mute now.


The elevator lets out a quiet ding as its doors open to reveal a rather gruesome bloodbath. The strobe lights are still on, highlighting the bodies spread out across the bar. Lili looks around, before smiling and collapsing her spiked club into its initial rod form. She deposits it into her pocket, then walks out of the bar with you.


"Where'd you park?" she asks.

 

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"What the fuck...?" Nausea came in waves as Arn passed all the dead bodies. It was not directed at the gore of the scene, however- Arn was disgusted with himself. He was desensitized. The bodies, the blood, the open wounds... He hadn't been in space for long, but he was already nearly unaffected. He tried to hide his self-hatred from Lili as the elevator took them down, and by the time they reached the bottom floor, Arn's nausea was gone and he was back in the usual state of nervosa and alertness.


"Over here," he answered bluntly, looking to the spot where he'd left the Enterprise.


God, I hope she doesn't find out what I named it, he thought, cringing at his own fanboyishness.

 

[Venom Adhamm]

"Well, let's get going. I don't have the clearance to open your ship," Lili says, walking over to your ship and looking up and down at it.


"Nice weapons..." she says with a smile.


"Do you have a house out here where we could stay for awhile? If not, I have some spare credits, so you could just drop me off at a hotel after a little while."

 

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I don't know what I expected. He didn't, such was true, he reflected as he opened the door with a touch of his finger. "We don't need to separate just yet, if that's what you mean."


He realized how desperate that sounded, and what it probably seemed like he was getting at to her. "I mean, just... Those blindfolded guys. I've come across one before, but he was different. I doubt he needed a rifle to kill people. Besides, you're probably the only person in the universe who doesn't think I'm crazy or worth killing, and we aren't done talking about the Primeval Universe besides."


He moved into the cockpit after letting her in and shutting the door, entering coordinates for Station 4242. "But I do know a place we might be able to find housing."

 

[Venom Adhamm]

"Ooooh..." Lili remarks, upon entering your ship and finding where you keep the guns.


"You're violent, aren't you Arn? No other way to survive out here," she says, walking over to you as you sit in the cockpit and resting her chin on your shoulder.


"You don't care too much about talking about that Primeval Universe. You just missed me a lot, didn't you? Didn't you?" Lili asks with a knowing smile and a giggle. Soon, those both fade away as she speaks again, "It's okay. I was... I was in a war. And... there were times I was huddled in the trenches we dug from bone and mud. When the shells ringed out above our heads, I thought about you... and, maybe for awhile, wished you were down there with me."


She stares out into the distance through your windshield as the ship's warp engages and brings The Enterprise through space at FTL speeds.


"There were a lot of people dead in the trenches. After awhile, everyone I saw looked like a corpse instead of a person. But-"


She's cut off by a beeping noise from your ship. Text pops up on your holographic computer reading "Warp disrupted, warp disrupted."


Soon, your ship is forced out of its warp bubble and slows down. Lili leans closer to the windshield. Through it, you both see another ship that has some kind of device attached to the bottom with a laser extending from it to your ship.


"Hmph. Probably a Jaota deserter. They've got a tethering beam on us, they're pulling us close to try to board. What do you want to do?"


It seems to you that there are three options. You could either let them board and try to fight them, or you could open fire on them with your ship's guns. Or, you could try to escape.

 

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Arn suppressed another shiver. She'd always been touchy, and now... Being without that for so long made it nearly unbearable not to be physical back. His face reddened a bit as she talked about suddenly having feelings again. The moment was interrupted, though, by a pervasive sense of indignation. She had abandoned him for Arthur, told people he had abused her physically and sexually, and then cut him off permanently. Then, in the middle of a war, she'd suddenly fallen back in love? He was about to say something when they were interrupted.


"How...?" He looked out at the interloper with confusion and grudging dismay, as part of him had been enjoying her affection once again. Lili... No. He had to focus.


"I'll try to communicate with them. I have three guns here. I'll hold on to the revolver, but you take your pick out of the other two and hand the third to me, unless you want both." His voice was calm, suddenly, and he felt a new sensation of readiness. He could make it out of this.


Arn hailed the ship, attempting to open communication.

 

[Venom Adhamm]

Lili nods and walks off.


"Hey, there's four guns here!" she calls out to you, "I'm gonna take the shotgun and SMG for now though!"


She returns fairly quickly and hands you the revolver and the semi-automatic handgun. She then waits beside you, tucking the SMG into her the space between her panties and skin.


Upon starting communication with the ship, a holographic screen pops up showing a soundwave. Other ship must not have a webcam. The soundwave begins moving as a pair of voices speak up.


"It's trying to talk to us!"


"Why's it doing something like that?"


"I dunno!"


"Well, bring it up on the screen!"


"Okay, okay! Oh, it's two Humans! I didn't know we were robbing Humans."


"Better keep the UV lights on them, huh?"


The two chuckle. They probably made some kind of racist joke.


"Why are you talking to us right now?" one of them asks.

 

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Arn blinked. Theft. They were robbing him. Fuck this. "Hey," he said, his voice firm and loud, "I would very much appreciate it if you didn't rob us. We're tired and wounded and our guns are out of ammo." He was lying, and he hoped to God that Lili could tell despite the tone of desperation he added to his voice for effect. "We can make it worth your while!"


That's it, stall and try to get closer. "Shit, take us prisoner for a while if you have to, take our ship and whatever you find useful on board, we just want to get back home." Arn used the best imitation he could make of what he thought a refugee might sound like- perhaps they'd believe him. Not that he expected mercy if they did.

 

[Venom Adhamm]

"What did it ask?"


"I think it said it wants us to take it prisoner. You heard that too, yes?"


"Yes. Do we take prisoners?"


"We most certainly do not."


"Do you hear that Humans? We do not take prisoners. The illegal Human slave trade isn't doing so well financially right now. Prices are going down. We'll just shoot you and take your things."


"Bye now."


The soundwave goes flat, then disappears. Your ship continues to be pulled towards the pirates.

 

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Arn cursed. "Well, I guess we're doing this the hard way," he told Lili as he stood from his chair. He holstered the pistol at his waist and lifted the semi, observing it carefully and taking the safety off. "Are you ready?"


His breathing slowed as he looked his old lover in the eye, mentally preparing himself for the carnage.

 

[Venom Adhamm]

There is no safety.


"Of course I'm ready," Lili says. She's holding the shotgun in her right hand, and her spiked club in her left. You hear a short beep come from from your Credit Card. Seems like you've gotten payment for the job now.


+100 credits


Current credits: 110


Your ship stops. You can hear some metallic noises as it's latched onto the pirates' ship. Lili stands ready at the door of your ship. You hear the sound of something slamming into your door, then the sound of sparks and electricity, then an alarmed beeping from the ship's computer. Glancing over, you see red holographic text reading "ERROR ERROR: SHIP DOORS OVERRIDDEN."


Soon enough, the door to your ship flies open and three ragtag-looking men rush in. They have a definite humanoid shape, but you can't really tell whether they're Human or not. They wear dark, ragged long shirts and pants. Each of them is wearing a different hat that they probably stole, and each of them is wearing a gas mask. Two of them are wielding sharp and cruel knives and are both rushing towards Lili. The third is standing behind the two and is currently leveling a pistol at you.

 

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Focus. He needed to. His hand was shaking, despite the uncanny calm of battle he was feeling. Breathe. Breathe. For you.


For Lili.


Suddenly, his hand calmed, and the pistol was suddenly steady, so that as soon as the aliens were in, he found the one armed with a pistol in his sights. His trigger was pulled before the hostile had Arn under the gun.

 

[Venom Adhamm]

(I should mention: weapons will reload automatically after fights. You also don't need to worry about maximum ammo. You have infinite ammo, you just need to make sure to reload when you need to mid-combat. The infinite ammo is strictly because having to manage ammo wouldn't be very fun for either of us.


You fire a shot (7/8) at the man. It finds its mark in his chest and he stumbles back as he clumsily fires three shots in your direction, two of them hitting a wall of your ship and one of them going through your left shoulder.


90/100 HP


You notice one of the men manage to slash Lili's stomach with a knife. She's quick to retaliate, however, by slamming her club into the pirate's side and using the shotgun in her hand to fire at the other knife-wielding pirate. The pirate hit by the pellets of the shotgun flies backward from the force and slams into a wall, before slumping over and looking down at his chest wound in horror.


"O-oh god! Oh god!" he shouts as he moves to lie down on his side and puts his hands of his chest.


"Oh, o-oh... p-please let me live..." he mumbles to himself, "I-I just wanted the money to settle down and have a family..."


Lili turns away from the crying pirate and begins to focus on beating the other one into submission with her club.

 

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(( Sounds great to me. Do the guns use bullets or an energy projectile (i.e. plasma)? ))


Arn grunted with the pain, moving to the right to stay out of the alien's sights for at least another split second so that he could put his own on him. When the notch on the semi found its target, Arn let off a couple more rounds to ensure that the fucker died.

 

[Venom Adhamm]

(All of your current weapons use modern-day projectiles (bullets, pellets, missiles.) The pirate's pistol uses bullets.)


Two more shots (5/8) leave your gun, one landing in the man's stomach, and the other going through his gas mask and into his head. He falls, and your murder is complete before he hits the ground.


Lili is currently on top of one pirate, slamming her club repeatedly into his head. The pirate she shot with her shotgun is currently crawling and dragging himself towards the ship doors he came through.


"G-g-gotta get home... Wanna see the evergreens again..." he mumbles, continuing to crawl.

 

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Despite his pain and the realization that he'd just shot someone to death, despite himself, Arn went forward and put a knee into the pirate's back and the end of his gun against his head. "Don't you fucking move," the human growled, the words coming out before he had time to think of them. He had an inexplicable urge to pull the trigger, but though it took all his strength to let the pirate live for now, he managed some restraint.

 

[Venom Adhamm]

(So sorry for the length of time between posts)


The pirate seems to try to scream when you hold the gun to his head, though it becomes quickly clear he lacks the strength and ability at the moment to do so. He begins slowly and helplessly flailing his arms while his body is trapped beneath your knee, apparently failing to heed your warning of not moving.


"W-wanna... wanna go home..." he says, now seeming to have forgotten where he is.


Your eyes soon shift away from the pirate to the gun in your hands. To your shock and surprise, your finger is moving on its own, trying to pull the trigger of your gun. You can feel the Dark tugging on it.

 

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(( I'm just as guilty as you are, don't worry. ))


Arn inhaled sharply as horror overtook him. Even such a tiny, subconscious urge could overtake him, could override the moral inhibitors that separated temptation from action? For a moment, he watched the pirate, whose pleas had almost gone unheard. Almost. He could feel the... "man's" time growing short, his life slipping away as Arn's finger squeezed.


No.


Arn was- no, had to be in control. In the span of a thought, he pulled his semi back ever-so slightly, engaged the safety, grabbed it by the nozzle and slammed the butt against the intruder's head- and prayed that it wasn't lethal.

 

[Venom Adhamm]

(Alright, I hope we'll be able to get into a more regular frequency of replies)


Your gun slams into the man's head, which slams into the floor of your ship. Blood oozes from his head, and the man lies completely still on the ground. He seems very much dead, though you find he still has a faint pulse. Judging by his wounds, however, the pirate is likely to die in less than thirty minutes. It's possible for his physical wounds to be treated by a professional, but you're not sure if he'll be able to endure the mental trauma and post-traumatic stress.

 

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He staggered backward, shaken by the brutality and, subsequently, futility of his actions. He'd meant to save the man- hadn't he? Was he trying to save the alien for its well-being, or his own peace of mind? Was he trying to save it at all, or give the pitiful creature a slower death? Why did he think of it... like an it?


"I... Fuck..."


He looked at the results of the battle around him, making sure his colleague was alright.

 

[Venom Adhamm]

Lili is currently sitting on top of a pirate's corpse, watching you, then smiling when you look in her direction, her bright expression covered by dark blood. Her spiked club has reverted back to its rod form, and she's twirling it between her fingers while still looking and smiling at you.


"So, what do you want to do about him?" she asks, stopping her twirling and pointing the rod at the pirate.