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Post by Corwin Havens on Jan 18, 2014 5:38:18 GMT -6
[Begin Part 1]
Corwin dived behind the burning wreckage of an overturned M-29 Grizzly. The mammoth vehicle was in its death throws, its scorched wheels turning with abandon... trying to futility gain traction. Gunfire rained down like a violent torrent, tearing apart the once pristine white hull like a predator. He glanced around at hell itself, brilliant red liquid covered in hellish flame consumed the remains of this once peaceful farming settlement. The only mercy the inhabitants received was a quick death. Corwin was thankful for that, though his bright blue eyes lingered sorrowfully on one building in particular. Damn it, he thought, painfully remembering what was lost. He could still hear the children's laughter as they played on the front lawn, still smell the fresh dutch apple pie cooking in the oven, still seeing families smiling without a care in the world. All gone in a heartbeat because of her. The Devil Herself.
Aphroial.
Corwin flicked his tongue against a switch in his helmet, activating his comm channel. "Ben!" Corwin cried out, desperate to get his friend's attention. His comm channel flared to life almost immediately.
"What's your location?" Benewan's deep, gravely voice echoed through the helmet's speakers.
"Behind the tank at ground zero," Corwin spurted out, hitting the ground as quickly as he could. The metal gave way to the hellish fury of Aphroial's weapon. "Fuuuuck!!!" Corwin shouted.
"Calm yourself Corwin," Benewan upbraid him. Corwin's eyes were wide, nearly shaking with fear. He never saw anything tear hundred of holes through a tank. "Fear is the last killer. Do not surrender yourself."
A crackling of energy ripped through the air, blue shimmering light forming around Corwin. His suit's personal shield barely holding up from dozens of hits from shrapnel. "Ben...." Corwin growled, doing everything he could not to panic. "Hurry!"
[End Part 1]
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Post by Corwin Havens on Mar 27, 2014 23:47:47 GMT -6
Corwin sipped his hot Elcor-style tea, enjoying the bitter flavor. Dekuuna tea leafs were some of the most rare in the galaxy, but well worth the exorbitant cost. His bright blue eyes reflected the rippling liquid, staring at it while he sipped. He knew he was lucky to be alive right now, and that disturbed him.
Aphroial had him dead to rights. Her trap was flawless, like a work of art. His mind went back to it, mapping it all out again in his battle-frayed mind. The Drell set out a series of explosions, driving him to the center of the road. There, she used turrets to pin him behind an overturned burning ATV. After that, she lobbed grenade after grenade, wearing his shields down.... taking apart his armor piece by piece. By the time he was able to mount anything like a counterattack...
She was gone.
Corwin took a deep, shaky breath, setting the teacup down on his kitchen table. You don't fight a demon like Aphroial without scars. Not all the scarring was physical. She knew how to hurt people's souls. Every explosion killed an innocent civilian. He shut his eyes tightly so there was nothing but darkness and their screams. I didn't know, he thought to himself. I swear. If I did, I wouldn't have turned that corner... please..I'm sorry.. No matter how many times he apologized to their spirits or prayed for their souls, it wasn't enough. They died because Corwin was there. He couldn't escape that fact.
He felt a firm hand on his shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze.
"What's on your mind, old friend?" asked the gravelly voice of Benewan. The Drell have a voice that reminded Corwin of the desert. It made him smile.
"Aphie," he muttered, running his hand through his short blond hair. "I don't get why she didn't kill me."
"That was not her intention," he replied matter-of-factly, sitting down next to the mercenary. Benewan was dressed in traditional Drell armor, looking closer to a vest than an actual suit. "Her goal was to hurt you."
"Well it worked," he replied dejectedly, not lifting his eyes to look over at his oldest friend. "She hurt me Ben."
A silence fell onto the kitchen for a moment. The only sound heard was the electronic humming from the appliances.
"She is still after River," Ben continued, leaning on the table. His black eyes searched Corwin's body language for a hint at what was going on inside. "Once you are out of the way, she will have her. Don't you think you should tell your daughter?"
"Tell her?" Corwin echoed his friend's words, incredulously. That got him to look up and stare at his friend with a 'what the hell' expression. "Tell my daughter that the galaxy's most dangerous assassin picked her as her student? You know River. She'd try to hunt down Aphroial on her own!"
"River is ready for the challenge."
"That's not your decision to make."
"You are right, Corey. It is hers."
"Like fucking hell it is," his ire began to rise. "I'm her father and I will not see my little girl get kidnapped by that monster."
"Sooner or later, River will find out what is going on. She's not a child any longer."
Corwin snapped to his feet. His chair went flying back. Benewan didn't react. He didn't need to. They both knew Ben was faster than Corwin. If he tried do to anything, Ben could take him down in an eyeblink. Corwin couldn't bring himself to care at that moment. "River will not go after Aphroial," he said through gritted teeth. "I'll kill that Drell bitch first."
And with that, Corwin stormed off.
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Post by Corwin Havens on Aug 7, 2014 13:30:52 GMT -6
"She wasn't ready."
The blond mercenary lifted his weary head, trying furiously to blink the sleep away. Dark circles rested under his bloodshot eyes, red leaked across his sparkling blue eyes like spiderwebs over sapphires. He went eight days without rest. He needed to stay awake. He needed to protect his broken daughter.
Corwin gripped the arm rest with the rest of the strength in his trembling body, pushing up as hard as he could. His teeth grit together, grunts of effort escaped his throat, as he struggled up to his feet. His legs nearly gave out the moment he was standing. He barely caught himself on the adjacent steel bed frame.
"Corey, you can...."
That was all Corwin let the gravelly voice utter before he spat back with venom on his lips. "I told you she wasn't ready before you took her. Now look at her, you bastard....."
Corwin looked over at his daughter, or what was left of her after Aphroial finished with her. River was alive, barely. The machines hooked up doing the breathing for her, as her lungs were deemed unusable after being shredded by her own ribcage. Her eyes melted into jelly. Her once delicate skin was nothing more than a roadmap of blade slices and discolorations. She looked nothing like his daughter. His River.
"You bastard.." Corwin choked out, his tired, drying eyes starting to sting. Somehow, he found the strength to speak, though his limbs were quickly failing him. "You know as well.. as I do th-.. -that biotics are worthless against Aphroial. And River... r--relies on th-th-th-them too much."
Corwin's right arm collapsed, sending Corwin crashing downwards. A pair of arms shot out of the all concealing shadows of the darkened room, catching him... carefully setting him down onto the chair like a limp ragdoll.
"Too much..." Corwin sleepily muttered, his consciousness evaporating. "have... to.... protect...."
And sleep came for Corwin Havens.
The arms disappeared back into the shadows.
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Post by Corwin Havens on Dec 13, 2014 14:17:47 GMT -6
Corwin reared back and slammed his spiked gauntlet into the damaged helmet of one of the most feared Drell assassins in existence. Her head snapped back violently, nearly causing her to topple over.
"She."
Corwin drove his foot into the armor platinig covering her stomach. It gave, collapsing inward from the force of the blow. Aphroial clutched the area, gasping and trying not to vomit.
"Is."
Her fractured helmet exploded in shards of metal and glass as Corwin unleashed another devistating kick, driving his foot straight up into her heavily scarred face. This time, she flew backwards, unable to stop herself.
"My."
Corwin moved with near preternatural quickness, slamming his knee across her exposed throat. He pressed his pistol between her eyes. All Aphroial could do was stare up, too dazed... too wounded to do anything.
"Daughter. You never go after family, you two-faced bitch."
Corwin's words dripped with ice and bile. His every instinct told him to pull the trigger and make the galaxy a better place.
"Corwin," the Drell gasped, her voice as dry and rough as sandpaper. "Please...."
Corwin nearly laughed in her face. How many of her victims probably said the same thing before she tortured them to a slow and painful death. He knew she deserved death.
"Please don't," she pleaded, her voice starting to quiver. "I......"
Corwin leaned hard, cutting off whatever words that she could have had.
"No. You don't get to say that." Corwin nearly squeezed the trigger right then and there. His plan worked to perfection. He lined the entire area with explosives, just as she did to him earlier. He was almost surprised she survived it. Almost.
And unlike Corwin, Aphroial didn't have anyone to come in to rescue her. He smirked down at her behind his clear visor. He wasn't about to make the mistake others probably made and lecture her. She was trying to buy time. He wasn't about to give her that time, but he couldn't bring himself to kill her.
"You will pay for what you did," he spat out at her, hitting her upside the head with the barrel of his pistol. It made a sickeningly sweet crack, knocking the Drell out.
"I swear it."
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