Corrupt Gears

**Corrupt Gears**is a Story Arc of the the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Interra and follows the perspective of cook and fighter Stormkick.

## Main Arc

### Survival Games

In a devastated world, in a ruined Great Britain in the year 2050, the young cook Stormkick barely earns enough to survive. One day, she is visited by a mysterious cloaked man, Renekton. He asks her to participate to a great fighting tournament, the **Ludi Imperii**, organized by the **Imperator**. This event, massively mediatized, allows the government to offer a distraction to the population and make them forget their misery. Not interested by the tournament despite the prize money, Stormkick defeats Renekton's bodyguards and proves her physical prowess. However, in the blink of an eye, a satisfied Renekton knocks her unconscious with a single hit.

Stormkick wakes up to the registered voice of businessman August Norland, an influential figure and the responsible of Great Britain's unique media business. August explains she is one of the eight fighters chosen for the game, and they were all poisoned with an unknown substance. They need to take an antidote regularly, and it will only be given to each fight's winner. They will fight until seven of them die, or until the organizer of the game, the Imperator, is defeated. Then, a bitter and furious Stormkick is freed.

### First Encounters

Stormkick encounters a man clad in white and with wings on his back, going by the name **Striker**, who helps her and briefly talks with her, intending to sabotage the Ludi, however soldiers arrive and try to gun him down, forcing him to flee. She is then directed to her first arena where she finds Souleater, another fighter, a woman corrupted by the phenomenon that wiped out most continents.

The two fight, and Stormkick wins despite grave wounds. However, when given the antidote by the tournament organizer Nas Dekaar, she gives half of it to Souleater. Nas Dekaar is surprised but laughs as Stormkick's generosity, telling her she is only hastening her own death. However, Stormkick remains determined, and takes Souleater with her, saving her life.

The pair then finds another pair in the next stadium. Toptier, a young girl, and Jubilea, a jaded veteran, have been asked to defeat Stormkick and Souleater. While Toptier and Souleater fight, Jubilea explains to Stormkick that the poison flowing in their veins will transform them into something horrible, and Stormkick answers that she is ready to pay the price in order to gain enough strength to kill Norland and the rest of the organizers. Jubilea is enraged by those words and fights her, but both girls refuse to deal the final blow.

Annoyed by the four's lack of cooperation and respect of the rules, a third organizer, Octerillon, appears and berates them, telling them they will be sanctioned. Octerillon threatens to send his own agent, Winnower, to kill innocens until they stop and kill her, then runs away, satisfied.

### The Corrupted Truth

The four decide to unite and chase Winnower. Still helped by Striker's occasionnal appearance, they are guided towards a town where the young rebel girl and fighter Megiddo hunts Winnower in the ruins of a supermarket. The four help Megiddo and, despite the numberous traps that gravely wound Stormkick and slow down Jubilea and Souleater, manage to find Winnower and incapacitate her. However, while seeing the torture and experiments she endured from the organizers, Stormkick is unable to finish her off and lets her run away.

Now with Megiddo by their side, the five plan in Megiddo's devastated house, preparing for the worst. Striker's appearance warns them that Godslayer, a seventh participant, has infiltrated one of August's factories. The five rush to the factory and discover reserves of a glistening black oil, similar to both the poison and antidote they were given. However, the oil reserves are trapped with bombs. Godslayer - an agent from what was once the SCP Foundation - plans to bomb the factory, destroying all oil reserves.

Stormkick opposes the idea, telling her that this oil is vital to their survival. Godslayer is unfazed, however, and has no qualms sacrificing their lives for the greater good. However, the fight is interrupted by Octerillon's appearance. The organizer seeks to eliminate Godslayer and brutally attacks her. Unable to defeat the monstrous organizer, Stormkick dives into the oil and absorbs as much as she can.

### All Will Be One

What emerges from the oil can barely be recognized as Stormkick. The creature, dripping with oil, kills Octerillon with a single strike before dismantling the organizer's body, tearing her own skin apart and replacing it with machinery. The five other fighters unite and attempt to stop her, and only an intervention from Striker himself allow the thing to be briefly knocked down.

Prisoner of her own mind, submerged by oil, Stormkick fights desperately, before glimpsing the entity influencing her - a corrupted angel, Atraxa. Stormkick receives a power increase from Striker and, combined with her own iron will within her mind, manages to drive Atraxa out before falling into the dark and lapsing into a coma.

### New Resolutions

Stormkick, still weak, wakes up in an underground refuge directed by the last fighter, Eternia. She reveals herself as a Planeswalker from another world, sent to fight the threat of Phyrexia, a corrupting force that seeks to remove individuality and flesh. Stormkick, still partially flayed, her mind weak and her flesh wounded, has been healed by Eternia, but still rests, with all the other fighters watching over her.

Jubilea tells Stormkick that her former best friend once did what Stormkick did and became Nas Dekaar as a result : the oil **compleats** individuals, turning even the most heroic rebels into subserviant monsters. Jubilea apologizes for being unable to convince and stop Stormkick.

Striker also has revelations for the rest of the group - he is actually the Imperator, Rufus Or. Once a friend of August Norland, he refused to associate himself with Phyrexia, and August Norland betrayed him and labeled him the Imperator, hoping that the fighters would kill him. However, the seven girls refuse to attack him and instead plan a way to attack the Norland Headquarters and finally defeat Phyrexia's presence.

### Assault on the Corrupt Geartown

Once Stormkick has healed, Rufus organizes an attack, using a combat helicopter to bring the girls next to August's skyscraper, then crashes the helicopter in the tower with him still inside, hoping to distract the security. Thanks to this risky maneuver, the girls quickly invade the skyscraper, defeating Renekton before being confronted by Winnower once again. Stormkick understands she is being progressively Compleated and, sympathizing deeply with her, confronts her and manages to awaken the humanity inside her. Although lost and wounded, Winnower joins the rest of the fighters.

The now eight fighters are intercepted by Nas Dekaar, but overpower him, and despite Nas actually surviving, Jubilea begs him to observe the rest of the fight without intervening, and a weakened Nas accepts. Only one obstacle remains : August himself. In the top floor of the skyscraper, the girls confront him, and he reveals he is no longer human, removing the flesh from his face and showing a porcelain mask behind. The monster once known as August Norland brutally attacks the eight, but he is defeated, in a pyrrhic victory since only Stormkick and Winnower can still fight afterwards.

### The Flesh-Barren Angel

Atraxa then makes a final appearance, holding Rufus's torn wing as a proof of his death, and taunts the remaining two fighters before defeating Winnower in a single strike. Broken, wounded and exhausted, Stormkick keeps fighting despite her body almost giving in. She is however saved by the arrival of a heavily wounded, now one-winged Rufus, who survived his injuries and helps Stormkick with his remaining strength. Together, the two of them manage to defeat Atraxa and purify her, allowing her to regain part of her consciousness.

Stormkick then collapses in Rufus's arms, her mission done. Although Great Britain's future is still bleak, the threat of Phyrexia's corruption is now over, and Rufus, alongside his most trusted allies, can begin working on ways to once again improve the society and redeem himself for not stopping August before. The storm has ended.

## Characters

* Stormkick
* Toptier
* Megiddo
* Winnower
* Godslayer
* Eternia
* Souleater
* Jubilea
* Rufus Or
* August Norland
* Nas Dekaar
* Renekton
* Octerillon
* Atraxa

## Trivia

* Corrupt Gears has ties to both **Gaea's Legacy** and the M-Chronicles saga.