[IC] - All the World's a Game

[S121]

Ancient City

"I'll remember that.", Isaac said to Lujuria as he stored the card inside his suit.

"Where exactly will you be when you're not around?", Isaac asked Lujuria as he finished putting the card away.





John looked to Yukari and Komachi and spoke.

"I'll be gone for a moment, but I'll be back.", John said to Komachi and Yukari as he stood up out of the chair.

John then quickly drank the last of the sake in the dish, paid for his drink, and left.

Six was patient with John and Huey, but when he saw them leave, he couldn't help but feel slightly frustrated.

Watching John leave, Six followed far behind.

[wonderweiss]

"... I dunno, anywhere. Working, spying, assaulting, 'assaulting,' intel transmissions, it's really a random deal."



Huey sat on the wheelchair.

"Okay, time to track down the suit."

He worked for a while, but then...

"Wait a minute... what the..."

"What is it?"

"Well... I can't seem to track it down at all... it was destroyed... but I think I can use the neural links to see where they were."

Huey hacked into the last of the suit's footage. What came before them was a surprise...



*shortly after the abduction...*

Lucifer: Sorry for that, milord, but your feelings were getting in the way. I had to stop you."

HM: ... don't dare... do that... again...

Lucifer: I cannot promise that, but believe me when I say that the only other time I will do it is when you start to lose your vision of cleansing the world... you don't seem to be holding up in that suit. Here. Let me get yours.

Lucifer then grabs a robot that looked almost exactly like HM, only with no iris nor pupil.

HM:... Bring it...

Lucifer puts the suit near the War Ender. HM travels. The suit comes alive. The iris' light up to its grey, lifeless eyes.

HM: Thank you. I was hoping to be switched out.

The suit falls... to real that behind them were hundreds and thousands of robotic androids in the form of the terracotta soldiers.

Lucifer: And must I say, what a fancy place you've got here.

HM: I built it while I was still in the off-shore Neo-Yakuza base. Luckily, I had enough time to finish it before my 'final mission.'

Lucifer: And now you have a bigger mission; a better mission.

HM: Yes, but there will be obstacles.

Lucifer: Yes, but they won't be too much trouble, hopefully...

Lucifer walks up to the War Ender and picks up the suit.

Lucifer: ... and speaking of which, we don't want our party guests to arrive before the decorations are set up. See you around, John.

Lucifer crushes the War Ender. End of transmission.



"... sorry, but that's the best I can do."

[S121]

Ancient City

Isaac thought for a moment about Lucifer and how he might try to kill Lujuria. If there was a chance of him appearing to finish the job, then Isaac need a way to quickly get her out of the situation. The card she gave him would help, but now he just needed a way for her to contact him.

"Seeing how Lucifer might try to come after you, we need a way for you to contact me so that I can quickly summon you to my location and away from him. Does the telepathic link work both ways?", Isaac asked Lujuria.





John looked at the computer screen without any emotion on his face. John was slightly angry at Sebastian, but he also knew that there would be another time when he would get to fight him. Next time, John was going to take Sebastian's life and remove his influence over HM.

"I'm going to need a way to incapacitate HM's new suit. Once we find a way to contain HM, I'm going to kill Sebastian.", John calmly said as he continued to look at the computer screen.

[wonderweiss]

"Yea. Why?"



Huey nodded in agreement. Gerard was still a bit sad, but relieved to know that HM's alright. Suddenly, someone came in.

"Hey there." It was Otori. "Hey, where's HM?"

The expression on Gerard's face told Otori that whatever happened wasn't good.

[S121]

Ancient City

"So that I can use the card to summon you away from Lucifer in case he tries to come after you. I'm also going to need to upgrade my suit to fight him. I was able to put up a little bit of a fight, but if I'm alone, I probably won't last too long. If I upgrade some of my stuff, I should be able to hold my own against him next time.", Isaac said to Lujuria.




John looked over to Otori and spoke.

"HM is under Sebastian, or Lucifer's control. HM is in an unknown location, but what we do know is that they are in a room full of what appears to be robots. I don't have all the details, but based on the video, they are somewhere near an off-shore Neo-Yakuza base.", John calmly said to Otori.

[wonderweiss]

"... you're actually lucky you haven't fought him in a real fight... Ready for story time, big guy?"



Otori looked. "Sh*t... I know exactly which one he's talking about. It called Base 72. Now, that doesn't mean there are necessarily 72 or more bases. Just an assigned number. That's where we all met, HM and Gerard and I."

Gerard nodded. "Yes, that's true. I remember you two would always fight like brothers, always getting into competitions. Who could hit harder, who could shoot better, even which game is better."

"I'm still going on Metal Gear series."

Huey looked up. "Is that so? Then you're going to love what I have to tell you. Right now, members of MSF are coming in an hour to pick up those who want to go over to mother base: Outer Heaven. Of the Peace Walker game, of course."

Otori looked exited. "Dude, seriously?! Aw, don't sh*t me, man, because this is... this is awesome!!! Aw, dude... you're the best, Huey!"

"Oh, stop it, it was the least I could do. Well, the party isn't here, so let's go."

The group headed out.

[S121]

Ancient City

"Okay.", Isaac said to Lujuria as he waited for her story.





John followed the group back to the party, where Six suddenly appeared. Six was a little surprised to see John's face. Usually, it was hidden behind orange glass and 2 inches of Titanium Alloy. Just how Six was surprised to see John's face, John was surprised to see Six was alive, despite the fact that he didn't show it on his face.

"Master Chief? May I have a word with you?", Six asked John.

"Sure. What about?", John calmly asked Six.

"As you know, we came to Gensokyo and helped the locals fight off the alien invasion force. Of course, that's not the only reason we came here. The other reason we came here is so that we can bring you to Prometheus Labs. There is someone that would be happy to see you again.", Six said to John.

As soon as Six said those words, Johns eyes widened and his mouth slightly opened in surprise as he began to piece together what Six was saying.

"W-what?", John asked, this time showing the look of surprise.

"I think Dr. Halsey would like to see you. After all, I think she would love to see her favorite Spartan again.", Six said.

John was stunned. He looked stunned. This entire time, John thought he was the only person from his universe, but there was Six. If that wasn't enough, he now knew that his creator, Dr. Halsey was here too. She was like a mother to him. After a pause, John spoke again.

"Where is she?", John asked.

"London.", Six answered.

"When would be the best time to meet her?", John asked.

"Now wouldn't be the best time, due to a recent attack on the Labs. She is safe, so you don't need to worry. I just wanted to tell you so that we wouldn't lose you again.", Six said to John.

John was lost for words by this sudden revelation. He couldn't help but to show a slight smile, which Six saw and decided to address.

"I never thought I'd see the day when The Master Chief smiles.", Six remarked.

"Two years can have a large impact on someone. I thought I'd never see the day when I would meet the legendary Noble Six.", John remarked back to Six.

"You're not the only lucky one.", Six said.

To that, John simply chuckled.

"Follow me. We have a lot to talk about.", John said.

"Yes Sir.", Six said as he followed John to the rest of the group.

[NeoFox]

Ancient City
______________

X was in one of the bars along with Alia. They were not doing much celebrating like the others. X and Alia had a simple cup of wine which was surprising for them. As machines they can still eat and drink like normal humans, but he cannot taste anything. The reason why X and Alia were drinking alcohol was because one of the Oni had offered them a drink. Not the kind to be rude they accepted the offer.
"So... X... are you planning on going back to the Maverick Hunters after all this?" Asked Alia as X looked up.

"Yea... I decided that I'll leave the military and go work with the Maverick Hunters after all this... besides they probably don't even want me back in the military. After all I was already assigned to retire early after my one last mission in Japan. Since that one mission is technically over I have nowhere else to go. So I guess I'll go back to work for the Maverick Hunters again. Why you ask? Replied X as Alia flips her hair back.

"No reason... just... curious..."

__________________________________________________ ________

Axl was enjoying himself in the Ancient City. He was too busy entertaining others with his transformation ability. Axl was the current center of attention at the bar he was at.

__________________________________________________ ________

Meanwhile during the Hide-and-Seek contest there was a large nearby bush. Inside the bush one could hear talking.

"THIS IS THE PERFECT HIDING SPOT!" Yelled one rather high pitched, hyper active voice. "I shall never be found in this hiding spot..." Whispered similar, yet more serious and mature voice...

[S121]

Ancient City

Jack easily heard the voices and quietly climbed up onto one of the buildings. Thanks to the superior durability of Youkai designed buildings, they easily withstood Jack's weight. Jack silently crawled along the top of the building, paying extra attention to his surroundings. The last thing he wanted was for his prey to get away. As soon as Jack was on the roof above the bush, he quickly jumped down and landed into the bush, ready to tag anyone within arm's reach.

[wonderweiss]

"Alright. As you may have known, there are several forms of Lucifer that work in a chain according to power. Here, refer to this."

Lujuria drew a picture on the table.

Lax
|
One skeletal wing
|
Two skeletal wing
|
|
Angel
|
Demonic Hell flame
|
|
|
|
Fallen angel
|
Devil
|
|----------|---------|-----------|
Speed---Power---Acrobatic---defense
|_________|_______|_________|
|
...???

"There is his lax form, which is the most basic of the forms. He uses it when resting. Then comes his one skeletal winged angel form. He gets a little more powerful, and may use his wing as a scythe. Then, of course, the two skeletal winged form. After that, though, comes his angel form. It's one of his more powerful forms. Then there is the demonic hell fire form. Being near him is like... well, looking at the flames of hell. After that, you'll notice a high jump between the gap and the fallen angel form. Thing is, that form is very powerful, it could move that big ol' ship there... if he wanted to. After that, well... all I can say is, the title gives it away. I've never seen it in battle. And then... the final form... no one knows what it is... that is, no one but the almighty one himself."

[S121]

Ancient City

Isaac looked at the forms and slightly frowned at the picture.

"Looks like I'll have to really go the whole nine yards with upgrading. I actually came up with a way to completely stop his attacks before he can even touch me. You remember when I accidentally killed you on the Consumer? Well, what I did was modify my Stasis and Kenesis Modules. The thing is, I modified them to protect me, like an energy shield. When Lucifer was going to stab me, I was going to activate them and create a field that would have slowed him down, then repelled his blow. What if I take it a step further by adding an anti-gravity field to the mix. It's not a conventional energy shield that can be damaged, it's more like an energy field. What it will do is when Lucifer tries to hit me, it will slow him down, stop him, then push him away. If I wanted to, I would be able to create gravity wells with this new Module and freeze him in place for extended periods of time. The only problem is my power supply. I'll need to work on a more powerful reactor when I get home, one that's more combat-oriented. Once that's done, I'll need to create a new alloy that can bend and flex like fabric, but harden on impact. If I build it properly, it should also be resistant to piercing and slashing attacks. I could always add nano-muscle to the suit, or boost by suit's anti-gravity module's output, incresing my strength and speed. Lucifer may be powerful, but brain beats brawn every time. It's just a matter of being clever.", Isaac said to Lujuria.

[wonderweiss]

Lujuria chuckled.

"I guess. Just make sure you last long enough in the battle to be able to do that."

[S121]

Ancient City

"Hey, I've been through Hell and back 3 times and killed a moon-sized alien space zombie. I deserve some credit.", Isaac jokingly said to Lujuria.

[wonderweiss]

"I guess so. Nothing I can say to degrade you."

Lujuria took a swig of sake.

"... and I'm pretty sure that he'll throw my siblings at you. Want me to tell you about them as well?"



Meanwhile, Yuyuko was enjoying the show. She was ecstatic after the recent events.

"Hey, Axl, what else can you do?!"

[WriggleRid3r]

Ancient City

---

"I'll go talk to the Ten Kings." Yukari nodded. "Hey Pop, save me a Jewel of the Wise."

"A'ight." The bartender said as Yukari gap'd away.