“mmMMMmmm… she’s legal, I swear. It was consensual and she loved it. Oh crap, no, no, nO, NO, NO!"
Band rockets up into a sitting position, eyes wide open and muscles tensed to fight it out with the police planning on locking him up for statutory rape charges. He looks around his surroundings and sinks in fairly quickly that he’s always been in the Bar & Grill, never in any real trouble. He notices a smell that’s faded quite a bit and notices the establishment as being a bit more quiet & empty than he had last remembered seeing it.
Standing up, he noticed the exit of Mad & Luci, which was followed by a sinking feeling in his heart since he didn’t take the chance of re-igniting the spark between them. However, there was something else in the air tinged with Mad & Luci’s smell…the smell of gunpowder & death. It seemed familiar, but he just couldn’t place a finger on it. He turned to the bar-mech at his post behind the bar.
“Hey, when did Madadric leave?”
The Bar-mech replied, “Oh, that would’ve been over a week ago. You seemed to pass out for some reason and he got to talking to some gentleman that came in. They then all left and haven’t been back since.”
“So you saw whom it was Mad left with?”
“Of course sir, he would be hard to forget. He looked like an old Gunfighter from the Old West, reeking of death. In fact, the guy’s face looked quite a bit like Clint Eastwood when he was doing those Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns. You know, ”The Man With No Name. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly”… that type of stuff.”
Band then went to thinking. Pulling out a Cancer-stick & Zippo, the striking of the flint wheel started the gears in his mind. Just holding the smoke between his lips and the flame three inches from the end, his mind ground on until finally the tumblers locked in the correct sequence and his eyes lit up.
“HOLY SHIT! Clay? Clay Allison was here?”
“I’m not sure if that was his name Master, but he did seem to be referred to as The Traveler. He told an interesting story, and then proceeded to extend an invitation to Mr. Adric to defeat some Demon & remake some world. Frankly, it sounded like so much poppycock.”
“Trust me, when it comes to Clay, there’s no such thing as poppycock. So…you’re saying they left a few days ago?”
”Yes sir. Just about 10 days previous. Can I assume that you’re planning on joining them?”
”Well it’s been a while since I’ve done anything interesting. Hell, the last time was helping Rand deal with William the Dumbfuck. It might be good to get out of here…but I can’t just leave things here. Unless…”
Band runs into the hallway leading towards the Unisex Lavatory. He comes across another door and opens it. Inside he finds what he was looking for – The DuploMat 5000 Duplication & Integration Machine to allow for multiple independent avatars as well as allowing for re-integration of said avatars following the conclusion of RPG’s. The scary thing is that while most people figure the number 5000 is merely to make the machine sound cool, in reality it took 4,999 failed attempts to get the damn thing to work…. and it hasn’t really been done since. Swallowing up his pride and fear, he begins the power-up phase for the device. Selecting for duplication, Band makes his way into the alcove, prays for the best and prepares for the worst. Lights, sounds, flashes and other assundry effects build into a cacophony of bedlam until finally a blinding white light fills the alcove. In the adjacent alcove, a new identical version of Band is formed but for a permanent tattoo of the number 2 on the back of his wrists. Band Prime leaves the contraption and powers it down. Prime & Ni leave for the main hall.
Turning to Ni, Prime says, “You take care of things here, and I’ll be back later. Understood?”
Ni gives a look of puzzlement. “Who the fuck do you think I am? A Dee-Dee-Dee? Just relax Prime. Have fun & enjoy. Just make sure you’ll let me have some fun when you get back so I can do something before we re-integrate.”
”Consider it done.”
Band Prime proceeds to go up towards the Weapons Check counter and call for his articles. The lovely lady behind the counter has to hold her breath while trying to get Band’s stuff out of storage. She brings them up and he beholds a sight he hadn’t seen in a few years: His Trenchcoat. After helping Rand defeat William & the storming of the Castle in his Mech, Band realized that he needed to make sure he had some decent weapons on him in case it would be problematic or just plain overkill to call upon Pervy. So he had the R&D Department take a look at his weapons and see if they could update them. He used to bear an energy sword that was tied physically by a power cord to a hip-mounted generator. It could change the beam blade’s shape & power but it was a bit unwieldy so they came up with a newer version, along with an update for the Trenchcoat. The coat has built in armor plate to allow for more protection, but the best thing is his new beam blades. Housed inside his sleeves, they can pop out with the flick of a wrist. They also are now wireless, their hiding spots are also recharging ports. The power systems are hidden within the coat and feed on Band’s body heat. He checks out the blades. Turning them on, they radiate like a pair of jade-hued broadswords. He then works the thumb dial and sees it extend from 45 inches to an astounding 504 inches (42 feet) in length. Returning them to their default settings, he powers them down and reconnects them to their ports. He then reaches into the basket & retrieves an old World War II bayonet that was normally attached to the end of a M-1 Garand Rifle. Sharpened, fortified & nicely fit in its metal scabbard, Band slipped it around his right thigh.
Fully attired with his weapons, leather trenchcoat & fedora hat, Band makes his way for the door and hopefully a new adventure with Mad & Clay…that is if he could find them.
_________________ Member of The Bishounen God's Cult of Lovers
Sifu of Corpse Child
Caecus fides est hostilis veritatis
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