Volume Twenty - Detour

== Chapter 229 - The Vastness ==
Entering through the Warplane had become much more bearable over time, and as they flew off towards Alpha Centauri, the group looked out the windows at the many stars. They saw thousands, but they knew there were billions, and so many of those stars had civilizations living around them. So many different colors, even if all of them were the same color, white, without an atmosphere to change the light. The longer they stared, the more the realization hit them that they truly were only one of billions, that so many other species existed out there, each one likely controlling millions of stars.
That made it ever sadder, and scarier, that they were at war with another species, one as seemingly powerful as the Netraxians. Why were they fighting this war? What did either side have to gain from winning? Who started it? It seemed the Netraxians were the aggressors, but they didn't know yet. At least, Jack didn't, as he continued to look out at space, knowing that somewhere out there was Barnard's Star, and New Earth, their home. He wanted to do everything he could to protect it, but he wasn't yet fully sure what the threat truly was. That, they would have figure out soon, he hoped.
"Somewhere out there is my homeworld..." Andromeda remarks, looking out the window with a solemn expression. "...I was there once. Nothing but corpses and ruins." "I'm sorry for your loss, Anne." Jack replied, as Andromeda looked at him, tearing up, and hugged him. Jack hugged her back, closing his eyes. He wished he knew who had destroyed the Socqreath homeworld, so that individual could face justice for their crimes. It was only then that he remembered something he learned during history class, that New Earth, despite its status as the Capital World of the Human Star Realm, was actually a colony.
He wanted to see the original Earth someday, the homeworld of humankind. He hoped they would live long enough to see it. He hoped this war would end soon, and that humanity, the whole galaxy, could live in peace one day. He wanted to keep this hope, no matter how hopeless the situation became, and he decided he would. He would keep that hope, and give others hope as well.
That's when they got an alert that something was approaching, and looked out a window to see what it was, and what they saw shocked them to their cores.
It was a massive vessel, shaped like an ocean ship, with a skull and crossbones painted on the side!
== Chapter 230 - Captain Kazuyuki ==
The man who entered the ship seemed very recognizable, scarily so, since the one they recognized him as was a tormentor. A psychopath.
A teacher.
His skin was the same pale color, his eyes the same pitch black, his hair the same neck-length black. The man they saw was Kazuyuki, but wearing much more flamboyant clothing, red and black, with feathers and fur everywhere. "Kazuyuki?!" Candice demands. "That's me." Kazuyuki says.
"Atsumichi Kazuyuki, Captain of the Dreadnox."
"Wh...what...?" Candice breathes. "Oh, you must have mistaken me for my brother Asaka." Atsumichi says. "That freak had a brother...?" Andromeda demands. "Well, that's rude." Atsumichi retorts. "Anyways, since I'm obviously a pirate, let's get you lot on my ship." "We're not going anywhere!" Jack shouts, pointing his gun at Atsumichi, who pulls a squarish gun out of his coat and points it at Jack. "Uh, uh, uh. This is a laser gun." Atsumichi explains. "If you value not having a hole burnt through your skull, you'll come with me quietly. Are we clear?"
After a painfully silent moment, Jack reluctantly nods. "Good. Follow me, then!" Atsumichi says, walking through the holographic tunnel into his ship as the group follows him. The inside of the ship was the same as the outside, black and silver metal plates on all the walls, floors and ceilings. Everything seemed a little dreary, and not much else seemed to happen. As they walked, they saw weapons and other objects that looked a bit familiar throughout the ship.
"That's...Karim's gun." Jack remarks. "And over there is the Wicked Prodigy's cane." "It sounds like you've met my crew." Atsumichi remarks. "What...?" Jack demands, as Atsumichi gives an evil smirk. "Meet the Dreadnox crew." At that, he presses a button, the door sliding open to reveal...
Karim, the Prodigy, Proto, Saparbek, Bellatrix and Sechsgrad.
== Chapter 231 - Old Foes ==
"Karim?!" Jack shouts, as Karim chuckles. "Hello again, Jack." Karim says. "How have things been since the warehouse?" "And you..." Andromeda remarks, glaring at Bellatrix. "It's been a long time, Your Highness." Bellatrix sneers with an evil smile. "How did you hire these guys?" Shunsuke demands. "The one in the white robe proposed the alliance, the others just went with it." Atsumichi answers. "We have a common interest of seeing this war ending in a Netraxian victory, that and just creating general chaos." "So you're the one who did this." Jack says to Sechsgrad. "Why?"
"You would never understand my motivations, human." Sechsgrad says. "I kindly suggest you to not pester me, since I could crush your bones to powder with a single thought." Jack looks on at Sechsgrad and the rest, glaring, as Saparbek simply looked bored to be there. "I do hope you stick with Andromeda though, no matter what she does. She needs you." Sechsgrad says, almost tauntingly, as Jack kept glaring. Sechsgrad chuckles and looks at Andromeda, who just glared back at the robed Shazarak. The Prodigy stood in a corner, not saying a word, per usual.
"I'll tell you guys what." Atsumichi says. "If you can beat the guys I assign you to fight on the planets we are going to, I'll let you go to Alpha Centauri. If not, I'll take you all to Emperor Arcturus, the Emperor of the Netraxian Empire. How does that sound?" They don't respond for a bit, before Jack decides to ask Atsumichi the question. "Which planets are you taking us to?" He asks, Atsumichi smiling darkly. "Why, I'm taking you lot to Earth and Mars, of course."
Jack's heart briefly stops. It was as if Atsumichi had read his mind! "Oh, I did." Atsumichi suddenly says. "I have a neural implant that gives me a limited form of telepathy." "G-ghhhh..." Jack responds. "Is that the best you can reply to me with?" Atsumichi wonders. "Ah, whatever. What do you all say? Earth, or Netraxia?" The group stayed quiet for a bit after that, before they spoke up. "We'll go...to Earth and Mars." Jack says. "Wonderful!" Atsumichi replies. "I'll get everything all set up."
== Chapter 232 - The Homeworld of Humanity ==
There it was.
There it really was.
The Blue Planet, the world humanity had first begun on, it was nothing more than an orb of blue, white, light beige and green, but just staring at it took Jack's breath away. He had never known what it was like to look at such a huge part of history until he had gazed upon the world that the whole species he was a part of had first started its journey. The world that had started it all...immediately, he wondered just how THIS couldn't be the capital of the Human Star Realm, after all...
This was Earth.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Atsumichi remarks. "Most people didn't want anything to do with Earth after World War Three, too much cataclysmic stuff at the time. So that along with the invention of Warp Drives jumpstarted humanity's space colonization effort." "What...?" Jack breathes, as the ship then rushes towards Earth at rapid speeds! Jack and the rest are sent flying backwards into the metal wall, almost feeling like enough to break one's spine! "Guh!" Jack grunts. "Gah!" Candice shouts. "Grah!" Andromeda growls. "Argh!" Shunsuke yelps.
"So, let's make this clear." Atsumichi says, walking out of the ship after a relatively safe crash. "We're all going to go around this continent, hunt each other down, and fight." "...What?" Andromede demands. "You heard me right." Atsumichi answers. "I'd say for everyone to run a thousand miles, and then run in random directions while counting to one hundred." "...Okay..." Shunsuke remarks, as they all look on at each other. "I simply cannot wait to hunt you down." Bellatrix says with a hiss, Andromeda glaring at her.
And like that, they were off.
== Chapter 233 - Web ==
It was an old town, in the dead of night, buildings and industrial structures were littered throughout, seemingly having not been used for some time. Andromeda walked through this town, her eyes darting around for signs of her opponent. She could hear herself breathing more heavily than usual, but couldn't pin down why. As she walked, she kept wondering which it would be...which enemy Atsumichi would send after her. She thought only two options were possible...
Suddenly, a sound of light metal footsteps, rapidly clattering across the floor behind Andromeda. She whirls around, but sees no one there, taking a step back, before whirling around again to slash with her Psychic Weapons, yet they impacted nothing. "Where are you? Show your face, you coward!" Andromeda shouts, hearing a chuckle as a response, a chuckle from a voice she recognized. "Well, well, look who's calling who a coward." Bellatrix said from somewhere to the left, which Andromeda turned toward, and walked cautiously in the direction of.
"I bet you haven't even told them what you did." Bellatrix says...from behind Andromeda. She turns around, seeing Bellatrix standing on a silo, the moon shining behind her, casting her figure into darkness, leaving her lime green eyes, and the silhouettes of her spider leg like appendages, the only true discernable features. Before Andromeda can rush towards Bellatrix, the Shazarak leaps into the air, evidently landing light on her feet, as Andromeda couldn't make out where she landed. "You should know that the only reason the government lets you stay free is Kiyomasu's request." Bellatrix states.
"Just fight me!" Andromeda roars, her heart beating faster, as she heard more footsteps and turned to see Bellatrix walking on the walls of buildings with her spider legs, destroying the lights on said walls as she went. "You want to know why I requested the Shazarak to give me spider-like features?" Bellatrix asks. "It's because I liked the methods of the spider, trapping its prey in its web and injecting a venom in the prey that paralyzes it and melts its insides, letting the spider drink those insides like a vampire would drink blood. Mother nature really is more cruel than anything any movie can think up."
== Chapter 234 - Hunted ==
Andromeda decides to pick up a car and throw it at Bellatrix, who uses two of her legs to catch the car and tear it in half, her other legs now supporting her between two towers. "It's not so different from the Socqreath." The Shazarak continued. "We lure other species in, and ensure they can only ever reproduce more of us by inserting our own genetic code into them. In a way, we're viruses, parasites. We supplanted species for millennia, generation by generation, planet by planet. And I left that because I wanted to be more than just a cog in the Royals' machine. I wanted to be more...predatory."
At that, Bellatrix moves over a light that pointed upwards, showing her grinning, fang-filled face, as she hissed in a sadistic tone. Andromeda screams in rage and...some other emotion she couldn't pin down, as she throws a truck at Bellatrix, who uses the car halves as a shield, grabbing some of the parts of the truck, and throwing everything at Andromeda, who slashed the parts to pieces with her Psychic Weapons before narrowly dodging a spit from Bellatrix that seemed to dissolve the part of the lamp post it hit. Andromeda was briefly shocked, not noticing Bellatrix nearing her.
Andromeda is grabbed by the head by one of the legs, and slammed into the ground, before being lifted up and forced to turn towards Bellatrix, who uses more of her spider legs to restrain Andromeda's arms and legs. Andromeda, thinking quickly, slashes at the legs with her Psychic Weapons...but this time, they didn't fly off! "Wh-what?!" Andromeda shouts, Bellatrix laughing. "Sechsgrad helped me upgrade myself. I now have Huscil armor coated on all my mechanical body parts." The Shazarak explains, before licking one of her claw-like fingers, leaving a bit of acid on it.
"You know, humankind has no physical traits to offer Socqreath, so it seems you got some mental traits. How sad...you feel emotions like 'love'...humans are pathetic, though they make for excellent prey when hunting down." Bellatrix remarks, cutting into Andromeda's cheek with her acid-covered finger, leaving a white hot pain in Andromeda's cheek as she he could smell her own flesh melting. "GAH!" Andromeda shrieks in agony. "It would be so easy to kill you, to rip you limb from limb." Bellatrix says with a soft hiss. "...But, I can't." And at that, a blow to Andromeda's head, everything fading to black.
== Chapter 235 - Home ==
As Jack walked through the streets of what seemed like an industrial area, he noticed someone standing in front of the remains of a house. As he walked closer, he could tell from the silhouette, that it was Karim. He cautiously approached, before Karim spoke. "I'm not sure how much geography you know of our homeworld." Karim remarks. "But right now we're in Cairo, Egypt." "I heard of Egypt at least...it sounded so mystical and, well...I'm not sure how to describe the feeling." Jack replies. "For me, it was my home." Karim responds. "This was the house I grew up in, centuries ago."
It finally hit Jack...the man he was talking to was over two hundred years old...and exactly two hundred years older than him. "...Your family..." He trailed off. "I don't much remember them." Karim replies. "While I don't think I ever particularly cared for them, it still hurts on some level for me to not remember what they fully looked like." "...Are you...trying to make me feel sympathy for you?" Jack asks. "No, I told you because you asked." Karim answers. "I don't expect sympathy from you, nor do I want it. I like my reputation, it makes me feel respected, it makes me feel important."
Jack didn't respond for a while, as he remembered his own hometown, Weepmire...and how everything had gone horribly wrong there when Darkstar attacked. He realized just then that he never went back to check on it...on his family. "I understand that you recently lost one of your closest friends." Karim says, shocking Jack out of his train of thought. "The little blonde one, right? With all the money?" "...He was killed by Allen, his freak scientist turned him into a lab experiment." Jack answers bitterly, Karim responding with a dry laugh. "I know how it feels to be a lab rat." He replies.
"How do you currently feel?" Karim asks. "...I...don't really know how to describe it..." Jack answers. "...I feel a little...empty...drained...angry..." "And sad." Karim then says. "I know you probably don't have much time to properly grieve, now that you're fighting against the Netraxians. I can only imagine how Candice feels, considering how close she and Kasper were." Once more, Jack didn't respond for a while, his eyes closed, before he cocked his gun.
== Chapter 236 - Desecration ==
"Finally." Karim replies, turning around to fire at Jack, who dodges the bullets and fires back at Karim. The terrorist stands there and lets the bullets hit him, any bullets that hit his coat bouncing off, as he advances towards Jack. Soon, Karim needed to reload, which let Jack run in to try and fire at him point-blank, Karim once again taking the shot as he grabs Jack's gun and hand, Jack grunting from the pain. "Hmm, you've improved a lot, I see..." Karim remarks, before twirling around to slam Jack through a lamp post, bending it. "Guh!" Jack grunts, as Karim then kicks him into the air.
Jack was barely able to reorient himself after the fall when Karim was already standing over him, firing. Jack quickly rolls out of the way and fires at Karim's knee, causing Karim to fall on one knee, though exhibiting no pain response. "Looks like you're not actually supernatural...just because you can't feel your knee being shattered doesn't mean you don't need it." Jack says. "You done with your little verbal observation? Because you don't have long to follow up." Karim responds with a smile, Jack rushing in to swing a kick at Karim's head, Karim grabbing Jack's leg and slams him into the ground.
"Gah!" Jack shouts, as Karim begins to stand back up and prepares to stomp on Jack's stomach, Jack quickly responding by once again rolling out of the way, getting up, and uppercutting Karim, sending him stumbling back a few steps. "Ah...progress." Karim says, taking out a knife and flicking it at Jack, who sidesteps said knife and rushes to swing another kick at Karim's head. Karim blocks with his forearm and grabs Jack's leg again with his other arm, before pulling Jack towards himself to punch him in the ribcage, Jack hearing and feeling it crack! "GAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!" He screams!
Jack fell backwards, as Karim threw knives into his wrists and ankles to keep him present, making him shout in pain. "You're definitely improving." Karim says to Jack, grabbing him by the neck and staring into his eyes. "I look forwards to seeing what comes of you in the future, if you don't die before then." Karim then delivers a single-knuckle strike to Jack's forehead, knocking him out, before removing the knives to grab him by the head and begin walking somewhere.
== Chapter 237 - Scaffolding ==
Shunsuke had been walking for a while, taking in the scenery of Earth, this city in particular seeming to have ruined skyscrapers and scaffolding everywhere, as well as broken down cars and even on one occasion an old, dusty doll. The only sounds he heard were wind, the skittering of small animals, and his own footsteps. He wasn't entirely sure what happened here, but thought it had something to do with World War III, a major historical event he had somewhat heard a bit about in school. He kept walking for some time, as he then began to hear a second pair of walking...
...along with the tap of a cane.
"...Guess it's my turn to deal with you." Shunsuke remarks, turning around to face the Prodigy, who for now stood there, silently. "I hear you like guns, and stopping 'em. Wanna try stopping mine?" Shunsuke asks jokingly, yet there was no response from the clown-like figure. "...Well, then I guess we'll just get this over with." Shunsuke remarks, rushing at the Prodigy to throw a punch at him. The Prodigy sidesteps the punch to wrap his cane around Shunsuke's neck, and use that as leverage to pull Shunsuke to the ground...but it doesn't work! Shunsuke was able to stand his ground!
Shunsuke quickly grabs the Prodigy's arm and punches him in the gut a few times, before kicking him backwards, briefly disorienting the killer. Before the Prodigy can fully reorient, Shunsuke rushes in to punch him again, the Prodigy, just right then noticing, takes out a knife to thrust at Shunsuke's side, Shunsuke grabbing the knife with his other hand as his fist collides with the Prodigy's face, sending him flying through a wall with an actual audible yelp! Then, he felt a bullet hit the side of his shoulder. "Grr!" Shunsuke grunts, turning to see the Prodigy standing there.
A bit of his face around his eye was now visible, and Shunsuke could see that he had a relatively light and pale complexion, looking a bit stonelike. "...Mourir de douleur." The Prodigy says, suddenly sounding angry, as he takes out two submachine guns and fires at Shunsuke with them! Shunsuke does his best to dodge the onslaught of bullets, and runs into a building with scaffolding for walls. As he ran, a missile hit where he was about to be, creating a massive explosion that sent him back, the building topping. "Argh!" Shunsuke yells, shielding himself from debris with his arms.
== Chapter 238 - Il y aura du sang ==
Shunsuke was barely able to get up when a chain-like weapon wrapped around his neck and pulled him towards the Prodigy, who had the chain let go of Shunsuke, and held a falchion in his other hand, aiming to decapitate Shunsuke with it! Shunsuke quickly grabs the chains and uses it to block the falchion, before grabbing the blade in a clasp to snap it off the hilt. The Prodigy then draws a cane sword to slash at Shunsuke's throat with, Shunsuke stepping back to throw the blade at the Prodigy, the blade bouncing off the forcefield, Shunsuke ducking to dodge, as he is kicked in the face!
"Guh!" Shunsuke shouts, holding his bloodied nose, as he notices the Prodigy creating two rocket launchers to fire at him with. Shunsuke quickly starts running behind cars and debris to evade the missiles, which destroyed anything they hit, soon illuminating the area with flames. "They're napalm..." Shunsuke remarks, as he sees that the Prodigy was now aiming fully-fledged machine gun at him, these machine guns firing as Sunsuke tried his absolute best to dodge the bullets, which from the sound of it completely pulverized the building he had just been in front of.
"Continue à courir, petit garçon." The Prodigy sneers spitefully, before swapping weapons again. Shunsuke wasn't sure what had been swapped out before it hit him, a laser! He screamed in agony as his side was burned badly, and he collapsed to the ground, the Prodigy slowly walking towards him, tapping his cane on the floor with each right step. Shunsuke tried to stand up, but the pain was too much, he was then met with the sight of the gun barrel on the bottom of the cane. It was then...that he started trembling. He had done all he could, but...he knew it was hopeless from the start. No one had ever beaten the Prodigy to his knowledge.
Right then, was when it happened. Blood spattered on his face, as he looked up to see a metal rod piercing through the Prodigy's heart. "Wh-what...?" Shunsuke breathed, as the Prodigy collapsed to the ground, soon laying in a puddle of his own blood. And the one who had saved him...was Candice, looking horrified. "Candice..." Shunsuke trails off, Candice sobbing and hugging him. "I COULDN'T!" She screamed. "I COULDN'T LOSE ANOTHER FRIEND!" Shunsuke hugged her back with one arm. "I understand." Shunsuke replies. "We need to get back to our friends, wherever they are."
== Chapter 239 - Cavalry ==
When Jack and Andromeda came to, they were tied up in metal ropes, with cuffs on Andromeda's horns, Atsumichi crossing his arms and standing in front of them. They were right back in his ship, which was probably back in space by now. "You two get to stay my prisoners, I guess." Atsumichi says. "The others go free because they didn't come back. They beat their hunters." "Fuck you." Andromeda snarls at Atsumichi, who gave a small smirk. "I like the attitude on this one, are all Socqreath like this?" He asks casually. "No." Bellatrix answers. "Well, that's unfortunate." Atsumichi remarks.
"What do you gain from any of this?" Jack demands. "You're a human, the Netraxians probably consider you an enemy too!" "Well, they evidently don't since I'm currently hired by them." Atsumichi answers. "Also, isn't it obvious what I gain? Fun! The money's nice, but I am doing this because I like chaos! It's exciting!" "You're just like your brother..." Jack retorts. "My brother was a stuck up prick most of the time." Atsumichi retorts back. "Anyways, I think you're gonna go right back into your cells." Sechsgrad walked towards Andromeda, and got on one knee to be at eye level with her.
"You are nowhere near ready." He says coldly, Andromeda just glaring back, as the ship then suddenly shakes! "Who could that be?" Karim asks. "I think that's our cue to skedaddle." Atsumichi says. "Sechsgrad, take us away!" Sechsgrad nods, and waves his hand...as the four of them and presumably the other villains and crew members disappeared...teleported away. "Wh...what...?" Jack trails off. Then, a number of people in black and white Sciarhiel uniforms entered the room, led by a man with dark, orangish brown skin and white hair, along with Huscil goggles covering his eyes.
"Who are you?" Andromeda demands. "I'm Vice Admiral Lev Lehrer." The man answers. "It's time we liberate you from these pirates...wherever they went." "They teleported away..." Jack remarks. "I...didn't know that was possible." "It isn't...not yet. Not for any civilizations I know of." Lev replies. "Regardless, we need to get you to Proxima Centauri II, per protocol." "Alright, then..." Andromeda responds. "...But who are you?" Lev then smiled a bit. "We...are the Nightmare Division." He answers.
"...You extended that 'we' on purpose didn't you?" Jack asks. "...Yes." Lev answers.
== Chapter 240 - Hellscape ==
As they sat in the military vessel, Jack, Candice and Shunsuke were talking about their recent experiences. "You two took down the Prodigy? That's amazing!" Jack says. "It was a bit of a lucky shot, but it worked." Shunsuke replies. "After the fight, I realized even more that we should stick together." "I hope so..." Candice replies, looking sad. "We'll stop Darkstar for good this time, Kasper deserves at least that much." Jack says. Andromeda stayed silent throughout the trip, looking out at the nearest window. "Hey, Anne." Jack says. "Is there something on your mind?" "Oh, no...I'm fine." Andromeda replies.
And then...they arrived.
Half the planet was extremely dark, and seemed to be encased in ice, the other half looked like a desert, with rivers, lakes and oceans of lava running through it. He felt like he could feel the heat from inside the spacecraft, even though he knew that was impossible, and he couldn't imagine anyone living on that planet, it looked completely uninhabitable! And yet, that seemed to be their destination, as the spacecraft flew right towards it. Jack heard one of the other trainees gulp. And he fully understood.
The shortest description Jack could think of for this world was actual, literal Hell.