Resonance of the Stars: Bleak Horizon

Colonel Gris pressed his button the moment the smoke screen went up. Explosives pummeled the field on both sides. It was ridiculous, but those were his orders. General Noir picked this man because he had no fear. He was of small stature just as his resonark reflected, and the position coupled with the rank Noir bestowed upon him made him feel miles taller than he actually was.

The tricky little button also opened up the underground reserves. None of the Alpha Squad's forces were swept under due to Lucas's brilliant foresight, but the enemy units swarmed from the earth as if it were a hornet's nest. "KILL THEM ALL! AT ANY COST!" Gris yelled the command, but he was acting only as a vessel for Noir's insanity. His eyes grew dangerously large as the power of his false authority coursed through him. He'd known it would go this way from the very beginning, oh how he hated empty courtesies, they distracted from his supremacy.

Thrusting his weapon into the air caused the the spiked spherical top to come off, revealing a long chain that connected it back to the staff. He began swinging it blindly before the smoke cleared. Once the battlefield was visible again he discovered he'd taken out a few of the Alpha Squad's Units as well as a few of his own.

Michiko rushed around to try and help the most severely injured soldiers. Things seemed to be in their favor but many were wounded. She concentrated diligently.

Just then Gris spied Xander, he didn't seem to be heavily engaged...So he decided to fix that. The thought of facing a much larger resonark didn't phase him, quite the opposite in fact. It invigorated him. "You! The Officer who leads his men to death, allow me to return the favor!" he reveled ever so briefly in how important he sounded before swinging full force at Lucas.

Lucas saw this much smaller unit barging towards him, and he almost sighed with disappointment.

Slowly Xander's arms reached out from behind its back and braced themselves for the coming impact.

"You are making a grave mistake, sir!"

Slowly Xander's shoulder panels began to move aside, revealing two towering lightning rods that jutted up out of its shoulders, arcs of lightning blasting between them and coursing down his arms.

"You WILL get hurt!"

As the chain made contact with Xander's arm, Lucas shifted its weight so it would wrap around his arm like a whip, giving him a grip on Gris from afar, and with a turn of his wrist, a blast of electricity shot down Xander's arm, through the chain, and into Gris' resonark, causing a set of minor explosions across the mighty machine.

"Surrender now, Officer, and you may yet survive this battle!"

Making another tug on the chain, another blast of electricity shot through the chain and into Gris' resonark, setting off another several small explosions.

"You have NO idea who you are dealing with here, and I cannot promise your survival if you do not cooperate!"

"Survival is a luxury!!!" Gris shouted in the gritted wavery tones of electrocution. It was clear he was in no way prepared to surrender. His stubbornness almost rivaled his delusions of grandeur. Almost, but not quite. Either way it was working against him.

He staggered closer to Xander, Lucas still firmly grasping the chain. "You think you can beat me just because you're bigger!?" It was pathetic how juvenile the question was. The man was beaten, it was obvious to everyone but himself.

Despite his unwillingness to give in, Gris's body and resonark deemed it time to call it a day. The electricity had wreaked havoc on the reso's circuits, not to mention the man's bladder and bowels. He fell to the ground lamely. His weapon snapped back into itself with a resounding clang. The noise was angry, like the staff was ashamed to have been paired with such an ineffective partner.

Lucas shook his head in disappointment and mild disgust.

"A luxury...."

Xander stomped its foot with a mighty rumble, as electricity once more began to bounce through the arc above its head.

"SURVIVAL IS EVERYTHING!" He roared angrily.

Looking down at the mess of a man beneath his feet, Lucas shook his head.

"Michiko, get this...thing...out of here. Bring it back to camp, and tell our reinforcements to set up a cell for it. We will be questioning him when this is over. When this is over, get back here ASAP, we will need your help."

Taking off into the fray around him, which had no longer become an organized meeting and spilled into an all out battle, Xander's mighty fists needed only to make contact with units and they would slump down in defeat.

This was not what he would do.

Furious at the leader's display and logic of survival, a mindset he knew all of these men shared, Lucas violently began to tear through any solider foolish enough to come near him. A punch from Xanderfall would be enough to knock a Titan on its back.

A punch powered by extra electricity could punch through Titanium.

Lucas punched another unit beside him, Xander's fist pushing straight through the chest cavity and out the other side before Xander tossed it aside like a heap of trash.

"Kyuba! Our target has been pacified! I want this mess cleaned out in ten minutes! Am I clear?" He asked aloud as he tore the head off another enemy mech, tossing it into another like a pitched ball.

"Roger" Michiko responded, not looking forward to the task. Just another one of the brainwashed masses. Sure he had a resonark, but that didn't make him any better. This couldn't be what the majority of her people had devolved to. She had to hope this wasn't the norm.

Towing the shamed and soiled man ended up being more embarressing for Michiko than Gris. Some of the cultists that she'd yet to attend to were still where they fell, the ones that were conscious hissed as she passed by, cursing her for stealing from their deity. It got worse when she entered the camp. The reinforcements almost refused to speak to her. "You WILL find a place for this man, I'm under direct orders!" They had no choice but to listen, though they looked at the captive with hungry eyes. She'd have to talk to Kyuba about that later.

Michiko was afraid to leave Gris there, but Lucas had asked her to return immediately. This time the trip was uneventful and she was soon back at the epicenter of things.

I can finish it now if need be...we just need everyone to fall back. Kyuba gave the orders and watched his men reluctantly but obediently obey. He did not like the amount of lag he saw from his soldiers. They had been away from him for far to long...damn the council and their idiotic ways. No matter... he would show them the error of their ways...the reason why he was in charge.

As the last man got to safety Kyuba summoned a power had hadn't used in quite some time. A black charge enveloped Kiri'Tas's massive scythe as the blade extended making a full crescent. Kyuba wound up bring the scythe over his shoulder as the energy crackled across Kiri'Tas's body causing pain to course through Kyuba's entire body. He grunted through the pain as his body threatened to break down in spasms. Just when he couldn't take it anymore he brought the scythe forward in a devastating swing that bit only air.

The crackling energy flew from the wicked blade in an arcing fashion passing through most of the enemy mechs. As the blade of energy passed through the last enemy it condensed into a small heavy crackling black ball just beyond the frozen Mechs. Time seemed to stop as the ball exploded in hundreds of black spikes that pierced each of the mechs it passed through right through the cockpit. Time seemed to start up again as each mech was pulled into the center of the singularity crushed by the massive gravity of the simulated black hole. As the last mech collapsed into itself inside the field the ball turned white and exploded in fire leaving nothing behind but a single mech who's pilot had likely soiled himself.

Forcing himself to move, Kyuba pulled a combat knife from Kiri'Tas's boot and chucked it at the last remaining enemy cutting the pilot in half. He walked over and pulled the knife out and replaced it in its container. Kyuba barked out orders hiding the immense stress and pain he was under, "BACK TO CAMP WE NEED TO REINFORCE OUR DEFENSES.....MOVE IT!" This time, Kyuba noticed, his troops moved immediately.

Sighing, Kyuba pushed his way back to camp, he was hurt bad and he needed rest. The things he did to assert dominance...he loved every minute of it.

Lucas was vastly surprised by Kyuba. His XO had always managed to impress him on the battlefield, but this was a first. This was an entire battalion of enemy troops blocking their path, and Kyuba alone annihilated them. This kind of destruction was either considered worthy of medals or psychiatric treatment.

"Alpha Squad, fall back! There's a lot we have yet to do...." He hissed out as Xander turned towards the camp and began to walk. On their way back, Lucas checked in with each member of his team, making notes of information he would need to know, including the potential dissention in the ranks of Kyuba's troops, something they would need to fix.

When the team returned to camp, Xander vanished in a blinding blue light as Lucas dropped to the ground.

"Zach, I want you on Security detail, go over all plans they're using and report back to me. Michiko, your debriefing is complete, a comm link has been set for you and the children."

He turned back, patiently waiting for Kyuba to make his full appearance, but not before barking out a name....

"MIRIK!" He shouted, patiently waiting for Mirik to make his presence known.

As the man crept out of the darkness, Lucas looked over at him with tense eyes.

"I want EVERY satellite above this base or within 500 miles either under our control or dropped out of the sky. When Noir looks at maps and surveillance footage, I want us to be in the middle of a dead zone, once this is started I want EVERY troop on site gathered, it's about time these soldiers realized just who is in charge here...."

Kyuba unsummoned Kiri'Tas and tried his best to hide the pain as he walked over to Lucas. "You heard the man Mirik...MOVE...also I don't remember giving you permission to leave the command ship....after this is over I want you back in your position. If I catch you down here again without express orders I will lash you until you will be capable of no more than mopping the floors with your face." Mirik blanched and moved to make everything happen.

The blackout was well underway when all the troops had gathered in the center of the large encampment. "Lucas...They are yours..." They are used to severe punishment...even death so do not go easy on them....

Lucas' face was as cold and unresponsive as a rock as he looked across the gathering. The men here were as cold and unresponsive as he was, but he could easily see the questioning gazes that some had for him. Challenging him. His will to fight.

His authority.

Lucas held tight to the pistol in his coat pocket and began to pace in front of the men as he spoke.

"You all were chosen for this mission for one reason, and one alone! You are soldiers! Your skill in combat is unparalleled, your response times as quick as a blink!"

As he continued to pace, Lucas looked at the eyes watching him, and frowned. They were not to watch him. They were to stand and listen. Face forward, do not watch their leader like a wolf watches prey.

"ATTENTION!" He shouted, and quickly the mass straightened out and formed single file lines.

Lucas stopped pacing, he turned, and looked at them, eyes narrowing as he focused in on single key members of the unit.

"But you seem to have forgotten how to obey." Stepping through the formations, Lucas almost seemed to glide as he passed from one line to another, looking each soldier up and down several times before he continued.

"You were not chosen to bring your 'ideas' to this mission! You were not ordered to have an opinion. You are here to follow Father Genrei's instructions, and through him, you are here to follow mine."

A single tic. A bead of sweat. These were the things Lucas was looking for. Signs of nerves. Signs of anger.

"When I send an order, you will obey it! If I want a prisoner detained, they will be detained!"

A man's arm twitched.

Lucas quickly pulled the pistol from his coat and blasted the twitching arm, a grunt of pain coming from the man who had released it.

Lucas angrily took a step in front of him, staring him dead in the eye, pistol once more pointed at the man, this time at his knee.

"I don't believe I gave you permission to speak, did I soldier?"

The man was silent, not looking AT Lucas, but through him, as if he were a mere annoyance.

Lucas frowned and blasted another shot, blood pooling from the man's leg as he began to crumple.

"I don't believe I told you that you could move, soldier!"

The man froze, and forced himself to stand at attention once more, wincing as the pain flooded through his leg.

"Now answer my question!" Lucas began to circle the man hungrily, like a shark preparing to strike its prey.

"Did. I. Give. You. Permission. To. SPEAK?!" He shouted, the pistol now pointed at his foot of the same leg.

The man resisted the urge to tremble, clearly holding back unbridled rage at the humiliation he was facing.

".....No, sir."

Lucas continued to circle the man.

"Louder."

"No, sir."

Lucas shot another blast, this time into the man's foot. He was now beginning to understand, and this time did not so much as flinch when the shot made contact.

"LOUDER."

"NO, SIR!" He shouted before returning to silence.

Lucas grinned.

"I didn't think so."

Making his way back to the front of the group, the grin faded and a stern frown made its way across his face.

"The next person to even consider killing our prisoner is meeting with a bullet in their brain. The next person to disobey an order from Father Genrei is going to be meeting with him personally in the field of combat. The next person to disobey ME is going to spend 12 hours in an electric chair. The next person to consider harming a non-hostile is going to be attempting to work this station without their arms. AM. I. CLEAR?!" He shouted, now more focused in his anger than ever before.

"YES, SIR!" Came a resounding cry across the formed army.

Lucas grinned.

"Good.....Now time for some words from your commander...."

Lucas grinned as he turned back to Kyuba.

"Think you've got one more display left in you before you need to take a nap?"

I have just the thing... Kyuba impressed by Lucas's grasp of how to control his men walked in front of his men and stared at them all, he could read the anger in their eyes. He fished a strange looking doll out of his pocket and threw it on the ground in front of him. "Look at this..." Seeing the men not respond he screamed louder, "LOOK AT IT!" The men looked and he saw a mix of fear anger and confusion wash over the men. Most recognized the doll as a symbol of the God of life Lekrios, sworn enemy of every Shiiraite living and dead.

"EXPLAIN TO ME....WHY I FOUND THIS! HIDDEN AMONG SOME OF OUR SUPPLIES!" The mens eyes snapped forward in unison, most knew nothing and others stayed silent not ratting our their comrades. Kyuba began to pace back and forth with his hands behind his back. "I am going to offer the perpetrators of this heinous crime a chance...confess your sins now..."

The silence was pierced by a weak looking spindly man. The troops immediately separated leaving him standing alone in a semi Circle of bloodthirsty cultists. "Anyone who touches that man will beg for death a thousand times before you even begin to taste its sweet release." Kyuba then put on a voice of sincerity and understanding which sent chills up the spine of any who knew him. "Come forward young man...please state your name and rank."

The young man stumbled forward and knelt before Kyuba, "Likiro Kulkar, my lord....Medic 3rd division...." Kyuba looked at the man and used his hand to gently raise his chin so he was looking at Kyuba with tear stricken eyes. "Do not fret my son...thank you for coming forward." Kyuba stepped
behind the man to face his troops and he smiled as he heard the man fall to the ground and mutter thank yous between gasps of air and tears.

Kyuba's tone changed to one that was blood thirsty and serious, "I know that there are still some among you that have no confessed...and those of you shall now be punished. As one the soldiers lined back up in front of him waiting for judgement, their faces a collective blank. Kyuba bowed his head and began to hum. He stretched his right hand out in front of him fingers played out in stretching arcs, his arm steadied by his left hand. The humming became an echoing shout as black energy began to crackle in Kyuba's palm. As his voice reached its apex black tendrils began to spread from his hand snaking their way through the crowd. The faithful would be left unharmed but those who honored another would soon find thier worst fears realized.

Screams began to ring out amongst the troops as black tendrils rose in the air, men and woman impaled upon them. Some began to run but the tendrils soon caught up with them. Their screams were cut off as their skin began to harden and they turned to a obsidian like stone, faces trapped in agony. The tendrils began to converge in front of Kyuba and the new statues fused together to create a motif of death and pain. Kyuba heard a scream behind him. A tendril had pierced his chest and was dragging him towards the doll. "B-BUT I CONFESSED....MERCY I BEG YOU MERCY!" another tendril placed the doll in the mans hand which also turned black and spikes jutted from it marring the doll and piercing through the man's hands causing him to scream even louder. His transformation completed as he was placed on top of the other statues holding the doll high above his head, tears streaming down his face as he screamed at it.

The energy faded and Kyuba stopped humming. He began to pace around his work approvingly. "This is what happens to those who dare turn from the light of our beautiful goddess..." He turned to face the remaining men. "Any questions?" The men began to shout in unison. "FOR ALPHA! FOR SHIIRA!" Kyuba turned to Lucas as the cries continued behind him. Send that to our friend Noir...let him know that this is what we do to our own...and let him imagine what we will do to him...

Kyuba then retired to his tent and collapsed upon the bed. He needed to sleep off his injuries.

Lucas' blood ran cold at the event unveiling itself before him. Not at Kyuba's bloodthirsty behavior, not at the rage that had come over his XO. He expected these things.

The behavior that shocked him was his own.

He had known he would need a steeled resolve and the determination of a leader to bring this resistance movement back on its feet, but he was not prepared for the steps he himself would take to ensure all orders were followed.

He watched Kyuba leave, not doing so much as trying to say a word to him, merely looking back at the remaining soldiers who were preparing to return to their tasks.

"....Get this lot packed away and send drop them in the capital. Find the biggest building you can see, one looking prestigious, like a fool galavanting about to show his power, and drop them on the stoop. I want our enemy to know we are coming..."

Turning away, Lucas began to make his way back into the shadows, entering the newly constructed base.

"...And I want him afraid."

Stumbling into the darkness around him, Lucas began to tremble, his face white as a sheet.

He had just shot a man. This was not surprising to him, he'd killed before on multiple occasions, that was the nature of war.

He had just shot one of his own men.

The fact that such a cold, callous action had been taken by him scared him senseless. Maybe Michiko was correct, maybe this HAD been a mistake....But there was no turning back now. Lucas had sentenced his team to service alongside Kyuba's forces...

And he would serve along with them.

He began to make his way to the center of the base, looking for any familiar faces. Once he reached the main control center, he realized that all of his orders were in the midst of being carried out. An entire team had been set to work taking control of satellites, while the forces still aboard the flagship were destroying those which were not controlled, records pouring in every second.

He was impressed. He'd managed, with Kyuba's aid, to take control of the situation and once more had a unit under his control. But this was not the time for celebration. They were at war.

And there was a prisoner in their grasp.

Shaking his head and wiping sweat from his face, Lucas leaned against a wall, and shut his eyes. The paleness not leaving his face, but after the last demonstration, nobody dared approach the commanding officer.

"Michiko, do you copy? Come find me in the control hub...I'm getting ready to go deal with our 'guest'."

He needed to get information out of this man, but beyond that he felt that it might be a good idea to let Michiko have a go at him as well, perhaps answering some questions she might have about what had occurred over her time away.

Zach had watched everything with a keen eye. As always Kyuba was brutally efficient. Lucas though Zach found himself both proud and worried for his friend. He knew though that Lucas was doing what he must. Now he would do as he was ordered. He went to the tent where the security roll was being given out. He walked in and cleared his throat. The men inside looked up at him.

"Soldiers i'm on orders from our commanding officer to get a sitrep on our security detail. Routes, personnel, units being used, supplies, the works." Zach looked at the man with the maps at the head of the table.

"I assume you're in charge Father...?" He asked calmly. The Knight bowed his head a little in respect.

"Father Gideon. I was actually one of the two who took your wing during the battle. You are quite impressive for a non-believer." He said. He felt no sorrow for the fools who had died by Kyuba's power before. He was still very loyal to Kyuba and of course to the goddess. He put down several maps and a list of personnel. He also gave Zach a list of the various ground and air mechs being used for the sorties.

"As you can see we have spread ourselves just so we have enough space for multiple sorties in the same areas while creating a net that will send any who try to pass to the goddess. Each sortie would normally be four man squads in platoons of three but for the sorties we are setting up dummy pilots for our heavy missile mechs. Our air mechs are supporting the bombardiers so we are running carefully without them. Supply usage will be minimal because we are all well trained." Father Gideon said with a smile. Thinking of all the fools he and Kyuba's other men were going to send to the goddess. Zach nodded as he looked over the maps and Soldiers in each sortie along with what they would be piloting. He looked up and smirked at the Knights.

"Well done gentlemen with these plans i'm sure you'll be sending many incompitant enemies to the goddess. Father keep up the good work i must go report to the Lieutenant. I might be back for i don't know if he will put me in command of this unit or what. Good work men." He said with a nod and left the tent. He found Lucas still leaning against the wall. His face had not regained any color. He walked over and cleared his throat. He felt bad when Lucas jumped but he had his friend's attention. He saluted.

"Sir i have come from getting a sitrep from our security forces. The plans for security details are as follows. They plan on having twelve overlapping routes in a large radius around our camp. Each mech sortie will consist of three squads of four. The first squad sets will be R.E.X heavy mechs, like the ones the cops had back home. With support from a group of unmanned Spider mechs, both long range SAMs and close range Piranha missile Spiders. The last squad of four in each sortie are the swift DANCER hit and run mechs. The air sorties consist of flight groups of four with TENGU fighters with wing men of the versatile DRAGON air battle mechs. However at the moment they are supporting the bombardment fleet." Zach knew the last mech would be familiar to Lucas cause it was standard for military personnel on Eden 13 to learn to pilot DRAGON mechs. He went into parade rest and waited for Lucas' response. Maybe after the official stuff he'd be able to ask how his friend was really feeling.

Lucas nodded as he listened to Zach's report and patiently waited for him to finish.

"DRAGONs....Nicely done, Zach. I'm going to need you on patrols and liason to the security team. You'll be checking in on the system setups, mech maintenance, the works. Get a feel for how the team does their work, and blend with it. For now, as long as they're following orders, let them use their regular style and systems while they are setting up defenses, let's not change everything up at once, understood?" He asked calmly.

Zack saluted Lucas. " As you order." He said in a soldier voice. He then looked worriedly at his friend.
"Hey Lucas are you ok?" Zack asked tentatively hoping he wasn't over stepping his position.
If lucas didn't wish to tell him anything he would just go and do as he was asked.

"All right, we'll talk again soon." Michiko reluctantly cut the comm link. The children were doing very well, much better than she expected. She gratefully accepted the comfort that came with that thought.

On her way back to the others she noticed a change in the cultists. It wasn't a drastic change, their disdain for her was poorly masked. The difference was that it WAS masked. There was no hissing, spitting, or rude gesture of any kind. Only a rebellious glint in their eyes remained.

Lucas and Zach were engaged in conversation when she found them. Normally Michiko wouldn't interrupt, but she wanted to get the interrogation over with. "Have preparations been made for the interrogation?"

Lucas turned away from Zach's question, putting it aside for the time being.

"Everything is prepared, let's make this quick, shall we?" As Lucas stepped away from the nearby wall, he looked at Zach with a nod.

"We'll talk later." And walked off with Michiko beside him.

Making their way through some of the newly built hallways, Lucas kept his focus on their current issue.

"We can handle this however you'd like, just remember what we need: any information regarding Noir's tactics and whatever he's done or planned since you left. We need to know everything we can about this opponent in order to succeed."

As they reached the door, guarded by two cult soldiers, one on either side, Lucas stepped up and placed his hand on the door.

"You ready?"

Michiko took a deep bracing breath. This was the door to her past, a door she could never escape once open. So many things to consider with so little time to do so. That's why when Lucas asked, she responded with the voice of her heart and her resonark "Absolutely."

The door to her past wasn't as heavy as she thought it would be. It flew open just as easily as any other door. Gris smiled defiantly as they stepped into the room. "Welcome my friends, I hope you don't mind that I'm not in a very talkative mood..."

Lucas slowly walked into the room, adjusting his glasses and standing in front of the small man who was chained to the wall.

"Greetings...Colonel, was it? I hope that you're enjoying our hospitality, we aim to please after all."

Lucas began to pace in front of the broken man, anger and frustration clear on his face.

"Now, I'm sure you're a very smart man, so you must clearly know why you're here....Let's not make this any more difficult than it has to be."

He was not in the mood to deal with an idiot who had no respect for the value of life, he was going to make this as quick as possible, and he was not going to give his prisoner any satisfaction in dealing with this event. He had made a terrible mistake in standing against an up and coming force of freedom fighters, and Lucas was going to make him regret it.

"Ahhh difficult you say?" Gris's chuckle turned into a cough. "What could be difficult about an interrogation?" He spit a mixture of blood and mucus at Lucas's shoes "You tell me what you want to know, then I tell you what I want you to know, simple no?" The little man's bravado was sickening. "You'll want the truth no doubt, but your white truth doesn't exist. Only shades of grey..." He leaned as close to Lucas as the chains would allow "and black..." It was obvious the man loved the sound of his own voice.

"If you would be so kind as to stop trying to be poetic and actually say something of substance, something that might actually save your life...We would greatly appreciate it." Michiko stated dryly. "Tsk tsk tsk, it's a good thing women's rights were the first thing to go in Vesdasteri. Look at her speaking out of turn like that. It must really bother you." Gris winked at Lucas like they were best friends.

Lucas slowly blinked several times before he took off his glasses, a cold, angry glare locked on his face.

"You know, I was hoping this could be very simple and civil, sir. But clearly, that will not be the case."

Brushing his hair out of his face, Lucas once more began to pace the room, staring angrilly at his prisoner.

"Allow me to make this perfectly clear to you. You WILL tell me what I want to know, or you WILL suffer the consequences."

Patiently waiting for the no doubt furious response, he simply stopped pacing and leaned against a nearby wall, shutting his eyes to plan out his next course of action. This was no longer an interrogation in Lucas' mind, this was a match of wits, a chess game in his own head to see how fast he could make this petty little man snap like a twig.

"Consequences!? You think that I, the great Colonel Gris am afraid of consequences!?" Gris let out a loud maniacal laugh. Then he made sure to catch Lucas's gaze "Maybe on whatever bastard planet you're from they are afraid of consequences, but those of us here on the planet of the Mother Star aren't so easily intimidated." Michiko tried to remain calm. The man was a puppet, but his arrogant remarks were almost convincing enough to make her forget that fact.

Everyone in the room who wasn't Gris was losing patience. Michiko could see that Lucas was deep in thought, she wondered if he was thinking of giving Gris a good kick in the genitals, like she was.

Lucas slowly began to piece together everything he needed. This man was confident, arrogant...proud. He needed to be the center of attention, the most important man in the room.

And for a fraction of a second, if one closely examined his face, a smile could be seen creeping across Lucas' mouth.

Lucas yawned impatiently and slumped down against the floor.

"Wow, how long did it take you to come up with that one? I'm almost impressed." He said with another yawn.

"Or did your precious Emperor feed that to you like everything else?"

Gris let his face slip into a frown for just a moment before it went back to a grin. "My Emperor serves the truth, it was my choice to eat the meal...I am my own man, but this is some interesting logic. How about you? Are your glasses telling you to say all this?" he chuckled at his own wit.

Michiko prevented the distaste from showing on her face. Lucas almost had him, it was a brilliant move. So close and yet so far. "Well enough with the chitchat, are you going to torture me or what? Because to be honest, this is going very well. You've come very close to boring me into submission."

Lucas stifled a snort and still had not opened his eyes.

"Clever, little man. Again, almost impressive, but still you aren't providing any real sport."

Lucas turned his head towards Michiko ever so slightly, opening his eyes into a squint.

"You hungry?"

Where some people would not have noticed what he was doing, he knew Michiko would clearly see what was going on, and he knew that the subtle details of paying more attention to the woman beside him, showing more respect to her, than to him, the "mighty warrior", would hopefully provide just the right level of push they needed to send him over the edge.

"I WAS TALKING TO YOU PEON!" Gris erupted. "You 13's think you're better than us, you and ALL the rest of the resistance!!!" The sudden break in the man's sanity was astonishing. He'd been just a hair away from slipping into madness this whole time. It was Lucas's cunning that tipped the scales. "...You will pay attention to me when I speak, and you will torture me now." Michiko felt a slight twinge of pity as the man desperately grasped for any sort of control he could try to get over the situation.