Brikman McStudz

I'll throw my support toward a fourth LEGO Island game as long as it would be given the attention and love it deserves during development. Another LEGO racing game would be nice as well, with car building and track building, like jamesster suggested. Other than that, I'd like to see more games based on non-licensed themes with a more dramatic change-up to the tired TT games formula of "go throw levels and smash stuff." Stuff like Agents/Ultra Agents, Ninjago, the Adventurers, or even a massive crossover of themes could make some cool and interesting games

OOC: I'd like to apologize too. While I have been busy (and still am and will be), a lot has been me putting this off for other projects. I'm going to put some serious effort into posting this fall and make this a higher priority than it has been. Hopefully you guys will hang on long enough for this to be successful. And I agree with sandboxing it for now. The less you guys need to rely on Jacks and I (clearly the most reliable people around when it comes to this RPG /sarcasm), the easier it will be for you guys to play. I'll also add this takes place several days after the end of the Venture Explorer mission. IC: The dark orange rocket approached the launchpad slowly before touching the ground effortlessly. Alissa Kahn climbed out of the rocket slowly, tucking her battle worn helmet underneath her arm. A welcome change of scenery, I suppose. Alissa mused. After spending days at Nimbus Station and Nexus Tower recovering from her wound on the Venture Explorer. The launchpad that connected Nimbus Station to the dangerous and Maelstrom-infested Gnarled Forest matched the large trees that surrounded it in height, surrounding the pad in a sea of green leaves. In the far east, Alissa could see the massive cliff near the Ravine scraping the heavens. Alissa walked down the ramp leading to the earth. The world seemed to dim as she went under the shade of the trees. At base of the the launchpad was a Venture League grunt, scanning the area. He caught sight of Alissa descending from the launchpad and saluted. "Kahn?" the grunt asked. "That would be my name," Alissa responded. "Yes, well. I am Hugo First, Venture League Grunt. I think you're the last one I'm supposed to see off, so..." He glanced around. "Let's get going, shall we? "Sure." Alissa shrugged. The two Nexus Force operatives moved down the jungle path and made their way to the Ravine. "I was instructed to ask about your arm," First noted. "Er...how is it, I guess?" "It's still sore, but at least I can use it now." Alissa said. "The higher ups told me that whatever you guys are having me do here won't be too much of strain. Are they correct?" "Right, yes. Your purpose." They reached the edge of the Ravine. For all Alissa knew, falling down the massive crevice would be a never-ending experience. There was evidence that a bridge used to connect both sides of the Ravine at one point, but had been long destroyed. "Still haven't repaired this?" Alissa asked curtly. "It's been like this for three years." "Er, no," First said sheepishly, looking down at his feet. "We've been occupied and-" "It doesn't matter,," Alissa interrupted. The inefficiency of the Venture League members occupying Gnarled Forest was not her concern. She looked across the Ravine and saw stone spire with a bounce pads built on it near her side of the Ravine.12The spir Alissa shrugged, took a few steps back before launching into a run before jumping off the cliff. "Hey!" First called anxiously. Alissa ignored him as she landed on the spire. She walked toward the bounce pad calmly, which flung her on to a cliff on the southern wall of the Ravine. A few short jumps later, she had reached the other side. She waited impatiently for Hugo First as he joined her. Although his visor guarded his face, she could clearly see him frowning. "Not much of a people person are you? "No, I am not," she said plainly. "Can we get a move on. Why do they need me here?" "Right, hear the sounds of battle?" First asked. Alissa raised an eyebrow before the sounds of gunfire and clanking metal echoed down the cave that connected the Ravine to the Maelstrom Trench. Alissa shrugged. "Okay, the Nexus Force is fighting the Maelstrom at a trench. Infected with Maelstrom. And...?" First sighed. "Good point. There's been a spike in...'Maelstrom aggressiveness'. They're ganging up and trying to push into the passages and areas free of the Maelstrom. We reckon it's retaliation against the whole Venture Explorer thing. Come see." First led Alissa down the cave. As they reached the end of the cave, she was surprised to see a wall had been constructed that blocked off the Maelstrom Trench. On the Maelstrom's side, hordes of Stromlings were rushing the wall, attempting to destroy or climb over it, only to be shot down by Assembly turrets or Nexus Force units or Pirates guarding the wall. "They're pushing for the Ravine?" Alissa asked. "That's what it looks like. And then the launchpad, presumably. They reach the launchpad, they cut off Gnarled Forest and make it harder for us to help the Pirates." "What about the Pirate Camp? Isn't there a launchpad there?" "Yeah, but the same thing is happening down there. The little buggers swarm up Brig Rock and try to climb up the cliff and attack the pirates. These guys have never been this organized in their assaults, even with those smarter Stromlings leading them. Every time we destroy one wave, five minutes later the next wave has spawned and ready to rush us. The whole thing is a nightmare. We got Paradox guys here trying to sort out the cause of this spike. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this soon before we have a real problem." "So where do you want me?" Alissa asked, glancing into the Maelstrom Trench, where she watched the Nexus Force fight viciously against the Stromlings. She had a bad feeling in her gut. "Heh, er. I may have been wrong before," First smiled nervously. "In addition to the camp and here, the Stromlings are attempting to take Crocodile Corner and Elephant Escarpment. Crocodile Corner is so far out of reach for most Stromlings and with the high-ground advantage we have there, they have no chance of breaking through. The Elephant Escarpment. however has the least amount of defenses at the moment due to it being right between here and the Pirate Camp and has to face an onslaught from both Brig Rock and here at the Trench. They (not me) want you to fight your way in there and help defend it until we can put a stop to this." Alissa felt like the pain in her arm had amplified a thousand times. She gritted her teeth together. "Great," she remarked coldly. OOC: Feel free to join Alissa, I suppose. I'll try to keep up.

IC: Alissa Kahn walked out of the Venture Explorer groggily, her head spinning from the ships harsh landing into the highway. Beside her walked Captain Lane, beaming slightly from the relative success of the mission. "Good work, Kahn," Lane said with a grin, patting Alissa on the back. "Putting together the final piece that saved our behinds. 'Ship's busted though." "Can you repair it?" Alissa asked curiously. "It'll take a few months, but I think we can rebuild it provided the pieces that make it up haven't been damaged beyond use. I'd certainly like to be able to take the ol' Explorer back into space." "Hopefully," Alissa said, only half paying attention. Now that the Explorer was grounded, Alissa was far more concerned with making sure her arm wasn't completely paralyzed. In addition, thinking of her arm brought back the ambush in the ship. Something about it was more unnerving than a paralyzed arm and severely broken leg. "Hopefully," Lane repeated. "Well, I need to go inform the Faction Leaders of our success." Lightly tapping Alissa's left arm, Lane also added. "There's probably a medic or two down at the Sentinel Camp. I recommend heading there for your arm." Alissa chuckled lightly. "Sounds like a good idea." With a brief salute to the Captain, Sky Lane departed Alissa's at the base of the Explorer landing ramp. Alissa glanced up and down the highway. She wanted to find Ariel and make sure he was alright. I guess I'll also find that Troy fellow. she added internally with a mixture of mild amusement. That annoying Knight had grown on her a bit. Perhaps they are already at the camp. She found that numerous elevator-like lifts had been constructed at the edge of the highway to transparent Minifigs, especially injured, to the ground with ease. She was transported down to the Sentinel Camp, where she found a sizable crowd had built up, trying to either reach medically attention or get of the camp to get to a launch pad to get off Avant Gardens to recuperate. Alissa shuffled through the crowd, hoping to find her brother soon. "Alissa!" a familiar voice called out. She circled around around until her brother embraced her tightly. She grinned and pushed him away. Ariel's helmet was off, revealing short, black hair with a thick goatee on his chin. "I hear you helped set the ship on course not to blow up it and a bunch of people into a million pieces." "It wasn't anything, really," Alissa muttered. "Just needed to connect some wires." "Well those wires saved our lives!" the booming voice of Troy Hoffman barked, slapping Alissa hard on the back. Alissa grimaced in pain before turning to the beaming Knight. "Yes, it is all great. We're not dead," Alissa said with a edge of harshness. "Still the same ol' Alissa, clearly!" Troy said heartily. Alissa rolled her eyes. "Have you seen anyone about your arm yet?" "Exactly what I was about to do." "There a station near the tunnel that goes to the monument," Ariel said, gesturing in the direction. "There should be a couple of docs over there." "Thanks," Alissa said, nodding her head to her brother before heading off in that direction.

OOC: Alright. This should be THE END OF THE ARC. IC: Sky Lane nodded before turning away Alissa to look out the Explorer’s bridge window. “Glad to hear you and your squad are still alive. As to what’s going on here, the ship’s purified and about to crash.” Alissa grimaced. “How are we doing on stopping it? I noticed we got a buncha guys working on it.” “We have hover bricks in place and parachutes and rockets holding us back while the techy guys bring the systems back to life,” Ness Farleigh muttered as she glanced from console screen to console screen. “How much time left?” Alissa dared to ask. “Not much,” Sky said grimly, checking the consoles repeatedly. We could probably make a decent crash landing. However, we haven’t gotten the controls back online yet.” Captain Lane gestured to the front cockpit window. Alissa looked and saw the battlefield of Avant Gardens approaching. Just beyond that, the Sentinel Base camp in the region. Surrounding the camp was one of the many mountains of the region that housed a tunnel that led to the Monument. Destruction was imminent if they could not redirect their course. “How much longer do we have?” Alissa asked. “Maybe three minutes. Three and a half tops before we touch the ground.” Ness said urgently. “I could try and get things running, I suppose,” Alissa said to Captain Lane. “I have some understanding of electricity. If I knew where to go, I could maybe find a solution to whatever the problem is.” “Ness and I were trying to get control of the ship earlier before we were ambushed by Stromlings-” Sky murmured. “Join the club,” Alissa muttered quietly, remembered briefly that she had no feeling in her left arm. “-Together, we should be able to find the problem quickly and fix it. You probably aren’t necessarily the best we got for this situation, but I’m not wasting time finding an actual technician.” Alissa shrugged, deciding to take the remark as a compliment. Sky turned to Ness. “Keep me updated. Cyrista’s should be in the engine room hook us back up.” “Will do,” Ness muttered, tapping the radio with a finger. “Let’s go, Kahn,” Sky commanded. Alissa barely had time to nod before Sky took off into a full sprint.. Alissa followed close behind. ***** Two minutes before impact Alissa scanned the thousands of wires and cords of the Venture Explorer, trying to find a break in hope that repairing it would give the Nexus Force manual control of the ship. She felt sweat drip from the fringe of her hair. They had to find something. “Anything new?” Alissa barked to Sky Lane, pulling wires away with quick concentration. This would be much easier if my other arm wasn’t so...dead. “Cyrista has connected Formigan’s nuclear reactor to the engines so we can maybe fly out of this mess. Ness has sent him down here to help us,” Sky mumbled, holding her flashlight close to the wiring as she searched for a break. “Personally, I’m not sure if there is still time to just ‘fly out.’” “I’m not willing to put my chances on him getting here in time either. We need to just find it and pray to Builder I can just smack it with my wrench and everything will be okay.” “And you’re sure the wrench can fix the break?” “It should. The wrench should be able to snap everything into place. It’s designed to fix and build in a punch. Even if repairing wiring isn’t necessarily building, it should still be able to repair the wire. Also, it still might be supercharged from the Imagination weapon explosion thing you told me about.” “Alright. You better be right. We’re riding...hold on. I think I found a break! Come over here!” Alissa shuffled over to Sky, who was holding up a cable with several copper wires hanging out. Alissa quickly looked around her surroundings and soon spotted the other end. “Alright...uh, shoot.” Alissa said, a headache beginning to form from the stress. She twisted her arm and pulled her left arm toward Sky. “Take my glove. It should prevent the wires from frying.” Sky nodded and pulled the glove from Alissa’s hand. and placed it over her own. “What’s wrong with your arm?” Sky asked as she connected the wires. “Worry about it later,” Alissa grumbled, pulling one of her wrenches from her waist. “Hold it steady.” “One minute,” the voice of Ness said over Sky’s radio, an edge of panic in her voice. Alissa ignored Ness and activated the wrench over the wires. The wrench glowed a pale blue color for a second before the wires began to shower blue sparks. “Let go,” muttered Alissa, her arm shaking. Sky’s arm retreated carefully from the wires, which now had clear blue sheen surrounding them. The wires wrapped themselves around each other and the rubber insulation of the cables expanded to cover the wires. After a few seconds, the blue glow faded. “Ness?” Sky said quietly. “What? Is - wait a moment...” Ness said. ***** The Venture Explorer was bearing down upon Avant Gardens. Even with the controls back online, there was no chance to pull the massive cruiser of Avant Gardens in time. Right now, Veteran Daredevil Ness Farleigh’s only option was to try to land the ship without destroying it or the Sentinel Base Camp. Right now, she saw one option. “You guys on the rockets!” Ness commanded into the radio to the Nexus pilots slowing down the ship’s descent. “Help turn this ship southwest a few degrees!” “Like on to the old highway?” One of the pilots asked. “Exactly.” Ness turned to group of minifigs acting as pilots. “Turn it to the highway. Quickly!” The Venture Explorer shuddered and jolted, clearly still recovering from its Maelstrom wounds. However, the ship held true. With its controls now active, the ship began to redirect onto the massive bridge that once connected both ends of Avant Gardens before the Maelstrom attacked. “Do you think the bridge will be able to hold this thing when it lands?” Blake SkyBlade remarked as he approached the command console. “In any other circumstances, no. This highway has been busted for ages. When the ship touches the bridge, that things gonna start coming down. However, we got back up from the hover bricks to hopefully stop the thing from just falling down. The landing gear is damaged and we’re too low to just pull this flying mess out of Avant Gardens, to the highway will have to do.” “Where are we going to reach a stop, exactly?” Matthew Formigan asked. “Isn’t there a curve? Are we slowed down enough not to go off of it?” “It’s gonna be close,” Ness said, pulling up a holographic map of Avant Gardens and gestured to the space beyond the highway. “If we do overshoot it, at least its a flat little plain in a valley instead of a giant rock to crash into.” One of the console screens flashed a dark shade of red while a monotonous feminine voice echoed throughout the ship. “COLLISION IMMINENT. BRACE FOR IMPACT.” The Venture Explorer smashed into the highway with a loud, deafening rumble. Everyone on board was thrown off their feet as the ship slid through the wrecked highway. The bridge shuddered and moaned in agony as the Venture Explorer passed over it. Behind the Explorer, massive sections bridge collapsed. After a minute of destructive sliding, the ship finally slowed to a screaming halt. The ship gave a loud painful creak. "Is it over?" Rick Spears asked uncertainly. The creaking grew louder as gravity seemed to shift toward the Venture Explorer's nose. "Come on..." Ness muttered, hoping the hover bricks would hold the ship up from fall face first into the ground below the highway. Finally, the creaking seized and the ship seemed to tip back to a 180 degrees angle, or close to. She just sat and waited several minutes, praying the bridge wouldn't give out. After nearly five minutes of no change, Ness gave a long sigh of relief. The hover bricks had saved them. “Is anybody alive?” the voice of Commander Beck Strongheart asked with uncertainty over the radio.. “The Sentinel Air Fleet is on it’s way to put out the fires you started all over the ship due to your ‘landing’". Ness rose shakily to her feet and glanced down to the other Nexus Force members. They were definitely rattled, but most seemed to be alright. No doubt some had been injured by the crash, but they could be dealt with. “We’re alive,” Ness breathed. “Just a happy little landing.” OOC: Alright, the arc's over. Everyone can finally leave the ship.

OOC: Sorry and welcome, that guy and rahkshi guurahk. We are at the end of the story arc and I'm in the middle of composing something of a finale to it. Hopefully, I'll stop procrastinating and finish it tonight. In the meantime, you can simply start your stories out on any of the LEGO Universe worlds, or simply appear on the Venture Explorer as if you were there the entire time. Or wait for the land. I'm not sure if the next arc will begin immediately after this one or there will be a break in between.

IC: Troy pondered Beth's question for a moment. "The name is familar, to be sure. Hmm." Beth gave a look of impatience to Troy. "Ah, I remember who he is? I don't think I've seen him here though." Troy paused for another moment. "Go ask Alissa. She knows who he is. She may have spotted him." Beth nodded her thanks before quickly shuffling to the front, where Alissa was guiding the group back the bridge. "Hey," Beth whispered. "Mmhm?" Alissa asked, her mind focused elsewhere. Her eyes briefly turned to Beth before continuing ahead. "What do you want?" She demanded with an edge of impatience. "Do you know who Dr. Cyrista is?" "Yes. Important Nexus Force technology...guy...yes, I know who he is." "Good. Do you know if he's aboard the Venture Explorer?" Beth asked. "Hmm...yeah. He was knocked out, the last time I saw him. One of those "intelligent Stromlings" was there, I think." Another glance over informed Alissa of the concern etched on Beth's face. "I don't know what happened after that. I know my brother helped escort him to medical personel, so you-" "Speaking of medical personel," Fabello growled from behind them. Alissa turned briefly. Fabello and Virchaus squinted as her helmet light illuminated their faces. Fabello's face was contorted into a painful and angry expression. "How about we - gah! - hurry up to go see them, maybe? Before I decide chopping my leg off is a lot less painful solution?" Virchaus nodded in silent agreement. His face had become increasingly pale as he continued to look at Fabello's leg. Alissa turned around quickly. "Yeah, medical attention would be good. Sorry." Fabello's complaints reminded Alissa of her own arm's lack of feeling. The group navigated the halls as fast as they could with a crippled Daredevil with them. The increasing groans of pain from Fabello made the trip seem longer. Finally, Virchaus resolved to simple carrying Fabello while Ariel and Troy covered them. At long last, they reached the bridge, signified with a high amount of Nexus Force operatives. Virchaus quickly spotted out a makeshift hospital and rushed Fabello toward it. Alissa turned to Ariel, Troy, and Beth. "I'm going to go find Captain Lane or someone to report that our group is alive. You guys figure out what's going on and try to help, I suppose. "What about your arm?" Ariel pointed out. "I can deal with it later. It doesn't hurt." "That's because you said you can't actually feel anything," Troy added. Alissa glared at him. "I'm fine," Alissa snapped. "Fine enough to tell a commanding officer that we're alive but injured and figure what the heck is going on. And seeing as I rank higher than all three of you, I have the jurisdiction to tell you to buzz off." Beth, Ariel, and Troy glanced at each other skeptically. Finally, Ariel shrugged. "Whatever. See you later." Alissa nodded curtly before turning to find Sky Lane.

OOC: So, today was a good day. There was no homework, I'm (mostly) caught up in a class that I don't think I need to take time to work after school, and I had time between work and school. So I here I am once again. I may or may not go deeper into the incident that occured between my last post and this post, as there may be some character story development in it. Maybe. IC: "What a lovely sensation," noted Troy Hoffman, releasing an airy sigh. "Especially compared to the last...what, hour?" "A lot of things are better than what we experienced back there," Alissa snapped forcefully, though privately also felt the strange warm, cozy feeling wash over her. She dropped her wrench on the floor briefly to switch on her helmet's spot beams. As she crouched back down to pick up her weapon, she added, "Thanks to the lovely ​intuition of dear Mr. Virchaus back there." She turned around sharply to look at her companions. "Is everyone still here? No one taken by the shadows or anything?" Alissa flashed her light from Troy, to Virchaus, to Ariel, to Beth Wise, to Fabello. All of their armor was chipped, burned, broken, and discolored. When the bare skin of arms were visible, they were covered in cuts and bruises. Faces that had not been concealed by helmets were similar in appearance, along with sunken, tired eyes and pale faces. Notable injuries included Fabello's left leg that was wrapped up in a makeshift cast caked with dried blood. She leaned on makeshift crutch under one arm and held a pistol in another. Alissa hadn't seen how Fabello had gotten injured. She had only seen the aftermath and heard the screams. Alissa's own left arm was completely devoid of any feeling at this point. "We're all here," Virchaus grumbled, his eyes constantly glancing to Fabello. The skin visible from the visor of her helmet was deathly pale and her eyes seemed distant. "And I am more than fully aware that what happened was my fault." He spat the last words out bitterly. "I had assumed the Maelstrom presence that I had found would lead us to the source. I did not expect a simple ambush." "Simple," Alissa repeated, growing furious. "That was not simple. That-" "Alissa," Ariel interrupted. Alissa turned sharply toward him. "Enough." Alissa bit her lip in anger, but silenced her rant. Virchaus nodded his appreciation. "There is a bright side to this, I believe. Well, not this so to speak, but...that sensation Troy mentioned was almost without a doubt Imagination essence of some sort. You can feel it. The Maelstrom has become almost nonexistent in here. We may have won." There was a calm silence. Alissa heard Wise, Troy, and Ariel release breathy laughs of relief. Alissa let a small wave of optimism pass through her before skepticism took over. "Are you sure?" she asked. "There is reason to doubt you, you know." "Well, the only thing that I'm uncertain about is the power going out," Virchaus remarked, glancing around. "I would naturally assume that the power would stay on if purified the ship." Another moment of silence. A knot began to form in Alissa's stomach. They may have possibly won, but it seemed like the mission was not quite over yet. "I think," Fabello suddenly said in a shaky voice. "We should get back to the rest of the Nexus Force." "And quickly," Beth Wise added. Everyone nodded once. Alissa turned and used her helmet lights to lead the way, the rest of the group close behind. OOC: So you can guys can bring my guys back into the main group, and avmatoran can finally use Beth Wise again. Hopefully I start staying consistent with the RPG for a bit before I'll have to retreat behind three semester projects and studying for two semester tests.

OOC: Popping in quickly to apologize for my absence again. Much like Jacks, after my play I suddenly found myself swamped with other things that take precedence over the RPG (school and work) and when I'm not busy, I naturally tend to drift towards instant gratification (video games, music, etc.) I hope to finally get caught up sometime later this week and will certainly become more active in the summer with only work to deal with.

OOC: I have been both busy from many things, including but not limited to, school, job, spring play, and other interests. All of this has left me burnt out. I have been somewhat following the topic, but I hope to look over it more thoroughly again this week. After this week (the end of spring play, completion of my Information Center MOC), I should hopefully get back on track. Sorry I have been gone so long.

OOC: Well, I was imagining my Space Marauder's blaster as the regular Space Marauder one. So we can Hand Wave it with he "didn't get the memo to get a DEAR". IC: Alissa slammed her Serratorizer down on an Elite Dark Spiderling's head. It screeched an agony as its legs buckled. She kicked the beast away and turned to a group of Stromlings converging on her. Around her, her allies fierecly fought against the Stormlings. Ariel cut down two Stromlings with a spin attack, the Space Ranger appeared behind him and fired several blasts into the Stromlings attempting to take the fallens' place. The Space Marauder aggressively stabbed a knife threw the eye of a Spiderling while firing a wave of Maelstrom blaster bolt at the hordes of Stromling's approaching him. The Daredevil jumped up and slammed her foot down on the eyeless Spiderling and fired several flares into to the crowd, torching many Stromlings. Alissa slashed a Stromling away from her. They needed to kill these beasts and find the source of the Maelstrom's control on ship and defeat it before the Maelstrom can take over the ship. Alissa suddenly saw two dark legs shoot out at her and pinned her against the wall, causing her to drop her Serratorizers. A Spiderling smashed its face against her helmet's visor and hissed and snarled at her. Alissa tried to force the monster away with her left arm while reaching for her blaster. The Spiderling screamed and slashed her stomach. Alissa winced and blinked away tears before she finally found her gun. She pointed it at the Spiderling's belly and opened fire. The Spiderling howled in anger. Alissa pushed the beast off her and fired several more shots before Troy Hoffman gave a loud roar before stabbing his sword into the Spiderling, ending its life. "Try that again, beast!" Troy boasted. He then looked straight to Alissa. "Are you all right?" She nodded, though her stomach radiated pain throughout her body. "Then how about an Engy creation to save our behinds, eh?! I'll cover you!" Alissa nodded again. Troy roared again and bashed his shield into the skull of a Stromling. Alissa fell to one knee, picked up her Serratorizers and began to use the weapons special ability to spawn a set of bricks to build an Assembly Bot. Around her, the darkened hallways were being lightened up by the explosions of the Space Marauder's grenades and fire of the Daredevil's weapons. Alissa was forced to step away from her creation as a Hammerling swung its weapon at her. One of Alissa's Serratorizer collided with the hammer on the second swing with the other dug its blade into the Stromling's torso, ending his life. "I thought you were covering me!" Alissa snapped irritably to Troy, who was underneath his shield as a Spiderling pecked its legs at him. "I'm trying!" he snapped before managing to slice a leg of the Spiderling off. "Just build. And hurry up!" Alissa cut down a few more Stromlings before finally completed her Assembly Bot. It raised it's dual machine guns and opened fire on every Maelstrom entity in its sight. Between this, the grenades, the fire, the Stromlings were soon finished off. "Nice," the Daredevil remarked, punching the Space Marauder in the shoulder. "Almost blew me up with a grenade, but pretty good otherwise." The Space Marauder smirked and returned the punch. "Well, obviously you shouldn't have been standing where a grenade was, crazy." The Daredevil chuckled lightly. "Thanks for the help, whoever you are," Ariel remarked to the Space Ranger. "Where did your friend go? "Sorting out some issues," the Space Ranger, a female, said. "He had me stay here and help out." "Well, you are more than free to go after him," Troy said. "Though, I'm sure we wouldn't mind having your help." Ariel, the Space Marauder, and the Daredevil nodded. "So, should we press on?" the Space Marauder asked. "I'm about ninety percent positive continuing will give us a location for where the Maelstrom is controlling everything." "Sounds like a good idea to keep going, if not just purify one area at a time," Alissa said. She wanted to hurry and clear the ship. What the Space Marauder said about those two Stromling kept being played over in her mind, causing anxiety to grow. They sooner they won, the sooner she could leave the Stromlings behind." "Agreed," Ariel added in. "Alright," the Space Marauder said, pointing down the hall. "That way." As the group began to head out, Ariel suddenly looked back to the Space Marauder and Daredevil, who were conversing quietly. "I figure we've reached a point where we can give you two actual names other than 'the Space Marauder' and 'the Daredevil.'" The Space Marauder looked to the Daredevil, who shrugged. "You can call me Fabello," she said absently. "Virchaus will do," the Space Marauder muttered before continuing his conversation with Fabello. "Nice to meet you," Ariel said before continuing ahead, sensing he wasn't wanted. Troy looked to Alissa, "At least they're not as bad as you," he whispered. "They can actually talk to people without being a gigantic-" "You are definitely lacking in the subtly department, aren't you?" Alissa interrupted, rolling her eyes. Troy chuckled and shook his head. Alissa sighed quietly as the group continued deeper into the Venture Explorer.

OOC: I'll also apologize. I've been rather swamped with real life and dry for ideas. However, I'm still here. IC: Alissa's eyes glanced around one of the hallways of the Venture Explorer, waiting to be ambushed by Stromlings trying to stop the Nexus Force's mission. Ahead of her was Ariel, a Space Marauder, a Daredevil, and to her annoyance, Troy Hoffman, reuniting in the main chamber of the ghost ship. After fighting in the chamber, Ariel suggested heading deeper into the ship to squeeze the Maelstrom out. They enlisted a Paradox operative due to his presumed work with the chaos; a (supposedly) young man with long red hair tied into a pony tail, a bristly beard, and glasses that more resembled a tired middle-aged man. He demanded to have his companion, a female Daredevil, join them. The more the merrier, they reasoned. Ariel fell back and met Alissa's pace. Troy moved over to the Space Marauder and Daredevil. His somewhat upbeat attitude seemed to resonate well with the Space Marauder and the Daredevil, who decided to carry on a conversation with him. "He's not that bad," Ariel noted quietly. They all spoke in hushed tones, fearful of sparking hordes of Stromlings into attack. Alissa didn't respond to him, not really wishing to discuss Troy with him. "Well, unless you hate everyone alive except your brother." Still no response. Alissa glanced her brother for a second, eyebrow arched. Ariel chuckled and looked ahead. "So two Nexus Force Stromlings found you?" Ariel said. Alissa nodded. "An Adventurer and a Shinobi. I imagined they hijacked most of my defenses I had set up near the engines by now." "Are these Stromlings real Stromlings?" the Space Marauder suddenly inquired, pulling away from his conversation with the Daredevil and Troy. "The ones you encountered?" "Yeah, an Adventurer and Shinobi" Alissa remarked shortly, then going on to add, "Real Stromlings?" "Stromlings that aren't simply shades created by the Maelstrom," the Space Marauder continued, waving his hand. "Organic, intelligent, speak coherent sentences and so on. Rather proud of themselves. They see themselves as superior to the shades that the Maelstrom spawns. Which is true, of course. They are improbably difficult to kill." Alissa stared for a bit. 'Intelligent" would have been easier then a full scientific analysis. The Daredevil laughed lightly at Alissa's visible reaction as the Space Marauder continued. "Did you kill them?" Alissa shook her head, wondering when he was going with this. "Then I'd be careful in here. Those type of Stromlings tend to be prideful and arrogant sociopaths. The fact all three of you lived another day challenges their ego. In my experiences, those Stromlings target two groups of people in particular: old friends and family is one, people who spite them by surviving encounters with them is another." Alissa let this sink in for a bit. If this man's words were anything to go by, then those two Stromlings were going to be hunting for her. "I guess I'll take your warning to heart, then. You seem rather well-versed in Stromling psychology." The Space Marauder let out a bitter laugh. "More so than many of my Paradox colleagues. Much more than I'd care to know..." He drifted off, a pained look in his eyes. The Daredevil squeezed the Space Marauder's arm reassuringly and looked toward him. Her actually expression was hidden by her helmet. The Space Marauder cleared his throat, nodded to his companion. "Let's press on, shall we? Find a source of Maelstrom, squash it, and so on." The Space Marauder pressed on, the Daredevil following close behind. Troy, Ariel, and Alissa shrugged and continued. "Seems a bit shellshocked, doesn't he?" Troy said. "Poor man." Ariel and Alissa nodded in agreement before carrying on. They didn't get very far before the Space Marauder whispered something to the Daredevil, charging his blaster all the while. The Daredevil fell back with the Knight, Samurai, And Engineer. "We're surrounded by Stromlings," she muttered. "Did your friend tell you that?" Alissa asked with uncertainty, placing a grip on her Serratorizers. The Daredevil nodded. "He's rather tuned to the presence of Stromlings. I can definitely feel it. They're here. Get ready." Troy and Ariel nodded as they pulled their swords out to attack. Suddenly, the Space Marauder stopped in his place. He looked back at his comrades with a strained grinned. "And here we go." He turned forward fired one shot. The ear-grating screeches of many Spiderlings and distorted growls of Stromlings echoed the hallways as the Maelstrom's forces converged on them.

IC: Alissa stepped back from her work. Her turrets littered the engine area, constantly scanning the area for Stromlings. It would take an ape or a dragon to manage to destroy all the turrets before they were killed. The engines had been entirely drained of Imagination and thanks to the gaping hole created in Engine 2 by the Maelstrom, this area had one of the higher concentrations of Maelstrom. Hopefully her turrets would hold off most of the Maelstrom's forces coming from this location. Alissa turned and started walk in the direction the others went, her blaster at her side. She smiled as she heard her turrets work their magic behind her, followed by the screech of dying Stromlings. Yeah. This area is gonna be clear for awhile. Alissa picked up her pace to get back with the rest of the group, leaving the turrets' range. Alissa suddenly froze as something pushed against her back harshly. A cold, distorted voice, whispered to her. "Give me a reason why I shouldn't shoot," the Stromling snarled. Alissa didn't respond, trying to think her way out of this situation. "Nothing? How...disappointing." Alissa scowled and swung her foot into the Stromling's gut. He grunted in pain. Alissa turned sharply on her heel and swung her gun into the Stromling's head, knocking him to the floor. Alissa stepped back and pointed the weapon at the gasping Stromling. The Stromling resembled a Venture League Adventurer. His fedora was black and had many gaping holes in it. His right arm was fused into a glowing-purple crossbow. He gave Alissa a look of pain and hatred. Alissa rolled her eyes and prepared to finish the Stromling off when the sound of slow clapping echoed through the area. "How brilliant," a scratchy, feminine voice remarked, dripping with sarcasm. Out of the shadows behind the Adventurer stepped forward a corrupted Shinobi, clapping her hands once before using her hook swords to pull the Adventurer to her feet. The Shinobi's black hood concealed all of her face except her piercing red eyes. She carried herself with an unnatural grace. "Are you dense? You shoot her. You don't threaten or give her 'last words'. You kill her. No. Questions. Asked." The Shinobi punched the Adventurer hard in lip before stepping toward Alissa. Alissa began to step backward and open fire on the Shinobi. The Shinobi slid to the floor and kicked Alissa in the shins. Her legs buckled and she collapsed. The Shinobi wrapped her hook sword around Alissa's neck with a scoff. She could feel the sharp blade of the hook digging slightly into her neck. "The same could be said of you, Engineer," the corrupted Shinobi noted. "You should have shot the both of us instead of standing there like a fool. This is why you are going to die. What a shame." Alissa gasped as the Shinobi tugged on the sword. Alissa's eyes glanced toward her fallen gun. Knowing she might die either way, Alissa's hand lunged toward the weapon and swung her arm back. The Shinobi grunted in surprise as the blast struck her shoulder-pads. The grip around the sword slackened and Alissa maneuvered herself out of the way and started to run as the Adventure opened fire on her. Maelstrom-infected crossbow bolts flew and shurikens flew past her head. Alissa only looked back once to squeeze off a few shots at her attackers. Alissa waited with bitter and fearful anticipation for the Shinobi to suddenly appear in front of her and stab her with her swords. While the attack never came, Alissa was still on the edge. Suddenly, Alissa bursted into another open space where the forces of the Nexus Force were in holding back the Maelstrom while several Assembly members were constructing a checkpoint. Alissa turned around and pointed her gun into the shadows and fired five shots. She could distantly hear the shots colliding into walls. They disappeared. Alissa thought. They just left her. Something's not...right about them. Beside the whole Maelstrom bit. Alissa shook her head and ran to join the Nexus Force members in fighting the Maelstrom.

IC: Alissa shuddered from the Maelstrom blast as she rose from her feet. The familiar aura of the menace traveled through her; hate, chaos, destruction. Horribly memories from the past flashed through her head. Alissa grimaced and closed her eyes. So many Stromlings, explosions, yelling, pain... "Alissa," Ariel muttered quietly, gripping her arm. Alissa shuddered again before brushing her brother's arm away. "Sorry, I was..." she turned to the Space Marauder Alexander Black. "What did you say?" "I can lead you to the main consoles," Black said. "Perhaps find where the Maelstrom is festering the most." Meredith Black and Jack Storm seemed to be eyeing Black with uncertainty. Alissa nodded. "Right. But," she gestured to the fallen forms of Matthew Cyrista and Damon Vankorov, both who had been overwhelmed by the Maelstrom. "What about them? Until they wake up...if they wake up...it's gonna be hard to keep going." Alissa paused briefly to shoot a Maceling in the throat that had been slowly approaching the group. "And now would certainly be the ideal time to get moving. Whatever happened with that Stromling managed to push the Maelstrom back a bit and scare most of the Stromlings away." "I can't imagine the Darkitect will be impressed with showing," Ariel muttered, glancing around the burned and bruised ship. "We should be on our toes for anymore Stromlings like that. I've seen a few like that on a mission to Forbidden Valley. They are an absolute pain to kill, even with an advantage in numbers." Alissa looked down at her feet and saw a pile of bricks from both the ship and the Corrupted Sentries. And idea soon formed her head. "So let's move," Linus Wetherby said with determination, gripping his weapon tightly. "Someone can just-" he stopped as he saw the two makeshift stretchers Alissa had quickly thrown together. They hovered about a foot and a half off the ground. "Ah, good thinking, Kahn." He and Ariel quickly lifted Cyrista and Vankorov on to the stretchers. Ariel got behind the stretchers to push them. "Watch their backs and lets get moving." As they started, Alissa glanced around the ship. The abandoned ship was cold and held an omnious aura. The engine area of the Venture Explorer was not in good shape. Ominous cracks covered the architecture of the ship and the powerful engines that once allowed the ship to travel the universe. Most of the walls were missing numerous bricks and stained with the black and violet colors of the Maelstrom. Perhaps... She remembered what the Faction leaders and what Sky Lane's report had said about the Venture Explorer's corruption. This was her area of expertise. "Ariel," Alissa muttered, matching her brother pace behind the stretchers. "I'm going to hang around a bit back to here. Do some investigating." "Should you really be doing this alone?" he asked. Alissa gave him a crooked smile. "All the problems down here can be solved with a smack of a wrench or simply a lot of gun," Alissa assured him. "Things I can handle perfectly fine." Ariel sighed. "Fine, just hurry up and get back with us when you are done doing whatever. I'll pass the message along." "Thanks," Alissa nodded before turning to examine the engines further.

IC: "Move!" The Samurai roared as the cannon blast shot toward them. Alissa and the Samurai separated and rolled to the side as the blast struck where they were once standing. The Samurai quickly rose to his feet and shot off an arrow at the cannon being manned by the Stromling. Meanwhile, Alissa's Serratorizer blade collided with the mace of a Stromling that had tried to taken advantage of the distraction. Alissa gritted her teeth together as the Mace Stromling pushed down on her. With an annoyed grunt, she swung her other Serratorizer into the Stromling's chest. It fell back in surprise, allowing the Samurai to finish it off with a katana stab. Alissa grinned at the Samurai briefly as she began to construct a turret. The Samurai quickly moved behind her to cover from the remaining Mace Stromlings. "I haven't seen you in a while, Ariel," Alissa said as she threw her pieces together. "What have you been up to?" "Oh, you know," her younger brother said with a wave of a hand. "Going from one place to another. I imagine you've been on Crux Prime keeping to yourself, like usual." The turret finished construction and opened fire on the remaining Mace Stromlings, defeating them quickly. Alissa's eyes narrowed as she turned to face Ariel. She was definitely nicer and more tolerable to her brother than anyone else, but still hated when he tried to decide how she acts. "Yes, I was. Is there a problem?" Ariel sighed quietly."Alli, it's been a few years since-" "No," Alissa interrupted, moving away from her brother. She put her Serratorizers away and started shooting away at the Macelings with enough sense to stay away from her turret, but not enough to stay away from Alexander Black, Linus Wetherby, and company. "We have a mission we are supposed to be doing. There isn't time to talk." Ariel walked close to her and opened fire on the Macelings with his bow. He definitely took pride in his archery skills and smiled grimly as Stromling was engulfed in flames. The Stromling was then soon destroyed by Black's strange arm. "Hiding everything through your self-isolation and scaring everyone away who tries to even say 'hi' to you is not the way to handle anything." "Well I found someone who wouldn't leave me alone until it was time to get ready for this mission," Alissa grumbled as she began to construct another turret. "I don't know what he's doing now. Hopefully he won't find me again." "I think you should be counting your blessings someone other than me can actually stand to be around you," Ariel said with a chuckle. "You probably meet up again in here." Alissa struck the turret to life with her wrench. "I know. Listen, can we just clean this area a bit so we can figure out a better strategy to purifying this ship?" "Of course, my 'little' sister," Ariel said, ducking low enough so he met Alissa's height. Alissa smiled and punched his shoulder before they both edged closer to the fight, weapons raised.