A Darker Purpose

-Some of the dark ones, stop moving they seem to act like they could sense the presence of another living being, some shift from the attack on the village and hurl towards Dione, coming in various shapes and sizes she would get her first glance at the horrific creatures the soldier spoke of, they came in charging, hurling spheres of powerful energy at the bolder she was behind, there burn eyes had but one destined out come from her...her death. Back at the village Shrike was feeling the effects of the Dark ones, he had sustained a few direct hits from their attacks at both long and close range, yet he refused to simply just throw in the towel, drawing out a powerful shoulder mounted weapon, Shrike takes aim at one of the lumbering beasts and fires a fire and forget warhead. Streaking directly towards the creature it hits it square in the chest taking it's entire torso clear off it's legs.- 

" YEA! HOW YOU LIKE THAT YOU SON OF A BITCH! Hey! watch the right flank they closing in from all sides...I am running out of ammo we need to end this soon...some of the creatures seem to be diverting off some where else, not sure why but it can't be good! Let's end this now." 


- Shrike had no idea that even with the Dark ones nearly eliminated a new threat was approaching. One he was not expecting at all.- 

"On it!" Caen shouted towards Shrike, launching himself at the aggravated creature and slicing through it's back, causing it to topple to the ground. He then used his momentum to continue on towards three in a straight line, where he started spinning, his arms held outwards, making himself resemble a spinning top, as he appeared to mince through the adversaries in front of him "four down, four to go..." He muttered, glancing at the large creature lumbering towards him. As he was watching the large one, a smaller creature attacked Caen, hitting him in the shoulder, knocking him backwards and to the ground. He yelled in pain.

Picking himself up, Caen spoke, very clearly with anger in his voice "I'd just got this coat back from the tailors... You... You..." He stuttered, watching a small bloodstain form on his coat, as well as looking at the hole the creature had produced. Caen summoned flames on his arm, running at the creature, and sheathing one sword, before grabbing it and raising it upwards, consuming it with the flames "You bastard! Burn! Burn in hell!" He shouted, letting it suffer for a few more moments before putting it out of its misery with his other arm. He stepped back, shaking his head "that was... Unexpected..." He spoke, before unsheathing his left sword again, and carrying on, finishing off the last two small fry. He looked up at the larger one "just you and me, big guy."

Liela had been running until she accidentally fazed through someone and bumped into another. When she got up she clearly was mad. " GET OUT OF MY WAY! I HAVE A VILLAGE TO DESTROY!" When her eyes meet with what she bumped to she froze. It was a dark one. Liela powered up her beam but didn't shoot. The dark one didn't look surprised at all and just looked at the other dark one. Then it spoke" a ghost that wishes to destroy. Hmm" It pointed at the direction of the noises and looked at her."There is a village very close from here but there is resistance. Get rid of that." . She let out an unsure Nod. "Don't get any ideas. If you decide to turn on us. We won't hesitate in making you cease to exist, specter" 

 Liela was scared and started to run to the noises. (I didn't know those things could talk) Moments later she arrived at the village. She saw Shrike and a stranger fighting dark ones left and right. She didn't want to but she threw one lonesome beam at Shrike behind his back and then proceeded to throw beams at buildings with the dark ones. The dark ones didn't seem to mind her there.

All of a sudden the boulder Dione was leaning against started to shake and several small pieces of rock flew away from it. The impact of the beams from the Dark Ones blew the boulder to pieces. She quickly ran back to the treeline and hid there until one of the monsters came charging at her. Dione jumped to the side and grabbed a branch, broke it off so a sharp point was formed and jumped on the back of the monster.

As soon as she sat on its back, it started to slam its body against the trees surrounding them. It was just a matter off time before Dione would get swung off of its back. She strengthened her grip on the stick and janked it into the monster's neck. Once the stick had pierced their skin, the creature sunk down to the ground and remained still. 

The green wolf jumped off of the creature and ran downhill, towards Shrike and the stranger, trying to avoid the beams the remaining monsters were shooting at her. She dived to the side to avoid a beam buzzing past her head. She landed on her back, quickly jumped up and started running again. Then, about thirty feet away, she saw Liela talking to a Dark One. *Oh, now they talk?* Because of this distraction, Dione didn't fully pay attention to the creatures behind her. One of them had gripped her leg and lifted her up in the sky. She screamed in fear before she got tossed away like a ragdoll and landed hard on the ground. She didn't move in hope that they would think she was dead and would leave her alone.

- Shrike was so caught up in taking down the dark ones he had no idea of what was coming his way, a small sound of something moving quickly made him turn around. At that very point the beam fired from Liela hit Shrike square in the center chest armor, throwing him like if some one tossed a ball, colliding into one of the buildings going right through it. Dazed and confused the soldier lay on the floor. The suit he was wearing began to emit a computer like voice obviously it was the suit internal system.- 

" Warning, critical hit detected... emitting stimulant to combat user now."


- The suit began to emit a type of drug into Shrike obviously the blow to him hit him pretty hard and the suit was working on trying to get him back onto his feet, a few seconds pass and Shrike eventually climbs back onto his feet, Shaking his head from the hit he gazed down seeing a massive scorch mark across the left side of his armor-


" What in the hell was that!...Felt like I got hit by a god dam train....Hey quickly...finish off that bastard...I think we got a bigger problem coming towards us...hold on a second...picking up something....is that...shit! Dione is over there being attacked by the Dark ones! Ok change of plans...I need you to get to that green wolf over there and get her out of there...before they rip her to shreds! I will deal with the last guy, once you completed that get your ass back here! Picking up a being with a incredible energy spike heading this way!" 

Caen was about to engage the larger monster, when he heard a loud thud, and a scream. He turned, sprinting back in that direction, and saw Shrike on the ground. "Oh, shit. That cant be good." He muttered to himself, picking up speed.

Caen breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the figure get back up, halted next to him and looked to see if he was okay. A large scorch mark was on the centre of his breastplate. That attack was not from those creatures, they didn't leave scorch marks.

The figure began to give orders, telling Caen to retrieve a green wolf from combat between him and these creatures. He gathered that from what the man was referring to them as, that they were called the 'dark ones'.

"Green guy, green guy..." He mumbled, scanning his surroundings, before spotting the wolf not too far away, grabbed by the leg by a dark one.. "Aha! Got it, chief!" He gave a slight wave, before continuing on towards Dione. "Hey, you little bastard, pick on someone your own size! Preferably, me!" Caen shouted, picking up and throwing a rock at the creature

Liela had seen how strong her beam had hit Shrike. She gave a nervous laugh knowing there was no turning back now. She saw Dione on the floor motionless. She was about to run to her but a dark one went in front of her and hissed. Liela walked backwards"Ok ok, I get it. Destroy the village" She turned and threw beams at buildings once again. 

 Each building didn't take much time to destroy. And in no time at all, Liela had a trail of destruction behind her. She tried not thinking about it but the screams of the innocent were starting to get her. She started to destroy buildings that were closer to Shrike. Several dark ones were following her, seeing the amount of destruction she was doing.

A blur... That was everything that had happened after she hit the ground. Dione heard silent screaming in the distance, screaming of people in terror. The cries of the Dark Ones, the shouting of Shrike and the collapsing of the buildings that exploded by the force of Liela's energybeams. All were mashed up in a symphony of horrors. 

Dione couldn't focus. She had hit her head after she had landed on the ground. A small wound on her head started colouring her purple hair and green fur a gross kind of parody of those bright colours. 

Then a somewhat closer yelling. "Get down!" *Wait... I- I'm already...* she thought. Her vision started to get less blurry and the noises were starting to get easier to separate and recognise. Slowly she turned her head towards the place she was tossed away and didn't see any monsters. Then she looked back at the village and what was happening in front of it and saw an unknown mobian running towards her. Behind them was Shrike, fighting against the last standing Dark Ones. 

She pushed herself up with her hands until she sat up straight. Immediatly she felt a stinging pain in her head but she tried to ignore it. Dione reached for her head and felt a tiny cut and some warm blood. It wasn't much. She slowly stood up and started to walk towards the mobian who was running towards her. "I... I already killed it... I think." she said and stared in front of her where Shrike was

- Shrike beaten , battered , wounded and his armor damaged refused to stop his relentless defense of the town, his pure fuel for fighting stem for the innocents trapped in the cross fire and now they to were being ripped to shreds by the Dark ones, they knew no mercy and simply murdered innocents where they stood. This is where Shrike began to show a much darker violent side to him.

 When in combat Shrike had the tendency to go overkill, this is when his aggression escalated beyond normal levels, With weapon in hand and his anger spiking the lone soldier began to brutally murder Dark ones, making each ones death as painful as possible, feats such as blowing ones legs off as he ripped its throat out, or using the strength from the suit to punch one in the face as he crushed its skull in with one stomp from his boot, Shrike now turned his attention to the being who had shot him, from the flames stepped forth the battle worn figure, standing in the way of Liela.

 The Dark ones that were with her attempted to take him down but where met with the shells of his weapon as they crumbled to the ground. Now all that stood between her and the village...was the lone soldier. He was so consumed by his aggression he didn't even know it was her.-

"i-it's dead? You sure?" Caen spoke, giving the crumpled creature a kick in the head, confirming Dione's suspicions. "Okay. That makes it a hell of a lot easier. The name's Caen, and I was sent by your buddy over there to rescue you. Talking of which, who's that other guy that he's standing in front of?"

Shrike looked angry. Very angry, and was looking at the other mobian, his weapon pointed at her "is this a bad time to make a 'one of these is not like the others' joke?"

(sorry about the all over the place antics with my last post. That teaches me not to skim read.)

Liela was beyond scared. The way Shrike had killed the dark ones. She knew a similar and more painful death awaited her. She started to look around. Dione had seemed to only be hurt a little and a stranger was with her. (It's three against one. I can't outrun or fight all of them at the same time.) Tears started to fall from her face. She looked back at Shrike. He looked livid. "sh-shrike... p-please mercy. I had too. I-". She couldn't anymore. Nothing she could say could possibly convince him. Her only hope was that his attacks will go right through her but even that she was doubting.

"Yeah, it- it's dead I think..." Dione said with her gaze still focussed on Shrike who was now standing in front of Liela. Then she snapped out of it and turned to Caen. 
"I uh.. That's Liela. She said she had to destroy a village and left me alone in the forest." she said. Then she turned around to see the corpse of the Dark One she had just killed. The sharp stick was still stuck in its neck. *Why are they doing this?..* she thought. 

"M- maybe we should help Shrike.. I don't know but he looks like he could use some help after that fight." Dione started walking in their direction. She saw the destroyed village and heard the screaming of terrified people. *This can't be happening.*

-Shrike stood before her, He looked like he had just come out of hell, his armor showed signs of claw marks , paint missing , dents , impact points , blood and more. He stood silently breathing in and out, from the sheer aggression his arms were actually shaking. He raises his weapon, pumping the front part to ejected the empty casing as it touches down on the floor, the smoke stream pouring off the barrel of his weapon, indeed she was right he was almost boarding on totally madness. Yet for some reason he did not pull the trigger, Perhaps it was her voice or something else that triggered something in his head. His suit on the other hand emitted a robotic voice.- 

" Warning combat user status at 60% user has sustained multiple wounds...life signs fluctuating."

- That warning was about the operational well being of Shrike from what was said, he was wounded and bleeding yet he again refused to move out the way. After some silence he spoke, the distinct distorted radio tone came out.-

" You.....You...YOU ARE ONE OF THEM!...This was your goal all along....you tried to trick me and the others....all you said was a lie! You just like them you want to destroy you want to burn every thing to the ground....I may be seen as a traitor to the rest of the world...but I would never...never do such a thing as this....I may be weakened and loosing a lot of blood but FOR GOD DAM SAKE I AM NOT STANDING ASIDE TO LET YOU DESTROY THIS PLACE AND THIS INNOCENTS....if you want to...your going to have to go through me first. I thought you were different.....I guess....I was wrong." 

-Shrike clenched his shotgun in his left had while his right hand was placed on his chest piece which had streaks of blood coming out of it truth be told in his mind, he didn't want to harm her...but he knew he may not have a choice.- 

Caen nodded at the green wolf "yeah, he doesn't look so good." Caen spoke, a sense of worry in his voice. This Shrike person. He intrigued Caen. Why was he wearing G.U.N uniform, albeit battered, yet was alone. Did he steal it? Or was it... Something else. Caen shuddered at the thought of Shrike stealing the uniform from a dead officer 'no, he cant have... He seems... More righteous than that,' he thought to himself, taking a deep breath to calm himself down.


He travelled towards Shrike and this Liela, and the altercation was still taking place. "Shrike, dude. You are not looking good..." Caen spoke towards the man. As he got closer, Caen could hear the cries of the innocent. He stopped, closing his eyes and shaking his head "I was too late... I failed..." Caen fell to his knees, lamenting the loss of innocent lives "I-I'm sorry... I-I'm too weak... I... I..." Caen cut himself off, tears now running down his face.

Liela had been looking at the ground when Shrike was talking. When he finished? She was visibly shaking. "I not a dark one. I am different! I'm... I'm" She lifted her head up looking directly at Shrike. She had to tell him who she was. "I'm Liela Devionus. When I was f-five, I fell off a three story building and half died. But my spirit didn't want to leave so I po-possessed myself giving me these ghost-like powers. My parents were not accepting. They thought a monster had taken a hold of me and abandoned me. S-saying that I'm a monster and monsters shouldn't exist. I was alone for years. No one wanted to go near me. Everyone was scared and would always treat me like a monster. B-but recently, I met V-Voltraire. He was the only one that didn't treat me horrible. He was the first to actually care. I knew that he wasn't a good person. Wh-when he told me to go around this area and destroy the villages, I didn't want to do it but I didn't want to lose someone so close to me. I see now that I've been so selfish that I've made a terrible mistake. And now" She looked at the destruction she caused. "I see what my parents were saying and they're right. I'm a monster and monsters... " She took her gun blade out of her pocket and aimed it at her head" Shouldn't exist" Her hand was on the trigger.

Dione glanced at the hedgehog who was now crying. Then she quickly turned her head back to Liela and Shrike. She listened to everything they said, surprised of the emotion Liela was showing. 

"Shouldn't exist." What. NO! Dione sprinted forward and jumped behind Liela. She reached out and pulled Liela's arm down and then hit the gun out of her hand. "Have you gone mad?! First you destroy a village and after confessing why you try to kill yourself?" she shouted. "You can't die. Even after all you've done you don't deserve to die." Dione made sure the gun wouldn't fire and then threw it on the ground. Then she walked in front of Liela and looked her in the eyes, not knowing what to say anymore.

- Shrike listen to her story, these were the details he wanted to hear, who she really was, Shrike realized she was now not a Dark one as he originally believed. But rather she had been corrupted by this other being simply known as Voltraire. And going further back, her own parents disowned her for who she had become. These words seemed to shatter his aggression state. But that was hard enough to tell with the helmet over his head. While her story was different the similar outcome mimicked his own outcome of who he turned into. Shrike had been branded as a traitor after the events of the Arkgate crisis, he to had become a enemy in the eyes of others, they did not accept the fact he was trying to un do the evil that was now on the lands, instead they saw him as a deranged renegade. Shrike knew for her there was still a chance to change, leave behind what had happened. He was not about to let her kill herself, he planned to shoot her weapon out of her hands, but upon watching Dione acomplish that feat already, the damaged armor figure firstly helped the new comer back onto his feet, patting his shoulder, giving him a sign that Shrike knew he had done all he could and that was all that was asked. 

Shrike turned his attention back to Liela, the armored figure approached her, picked up her weapon in his right hand.-

" She is right. Despite what has happened here today...you told us the real truth behind what happened...who you are...and the reason for all of this...It was not your fault that drove you to do this...you had been corrupted by a being who used you to do his work....Your anger..your hurt..fueled by what happened in the past, years ago....You deserve to exist as much as any one else did...you still have a chance to change all of this...there is still a chance for a better tomorrow....I know....because I was the same."


- Shrike reached out with his right hand which held her weapon, he was returning it to her. Shrike in a round about way in his speech hinted that he actually did care about her well being to the point where he like Dione was not gonna let her kill herself and be done with it. Shrike also had another mind set as well.....He was wanting to find this Voltraire....and eliminate him to spare her from his corrupt ways-

Caen had stopped crying... Somewhat, and was getting up, brushing the dirt off of him. "I... I'm sorry, guys... That was... I'm..." Caen shook his head, a stern look on his face "those bastard'll pay, I'll ensure that myself, if need be."

He looked at Liela and Shrike. He had heard her story in his moment of weakness. "Wow... It's amazing how sadness can bring people together... Look, Liela, I understand your story completely, and... I'll admit.. Similar things have happened to me, not quite on the same scale but..." Caen walked towards Liela, extending a hand out to her "people like this Voltraire aren't worth it. I should know. I know I may not replace this guy, and it is completely up to you whether or not to cut yourself off from him but... Liela, I would like to be your friend." Caen spoke, giving a cheesy smile, tears still in his eyes.

Liela took her gunblade and looked at the group."You guys don't know how much this means to me." She gave a small smile but still was crying. She wasn't entirely happy, though. It's just she didn't like the way they had talked about Voltraire. It hurt her. She knew he'd never use her... right? She started to doubt. Liela turned to the stranger " I'd love to be your friend but... Voltraire he wouldn't want me to." She looked down and crossed her arms

Dione watched as Caen got up and reached his hand out to Liela. He wanted to be her friend. *Should I ask her if she wants to be my friend?.. Maybe we can help her with that Voltraire person...* she thought. Then she noticed how Liela was standing. Defensive, arms crossed. "Hey uhm.. W- we could help?.. Like, where do you live? You could come home with one of us so Voltraire wouldn't know where you are?.." Dione said. She put her hand on the shoulder of the fox and gave her a smile.

- As the 3 Talked and began to be friend her, some how in all that and smoke, Shrike seemed to of vanished around them, no trace other then his foot steps in the ground were there. Why he had suddenly gone, to them was unknown. Shrike himself left due to 2 reasons.

 Number 1 being that he was now on the hunt for this voltraire. The second being was he could not risk being around them any more, if something slipped out of his mouth and they discovered the other bit of detail he was hiding, chances were they turn on him. Shrike also knew there was little time to rest tho he was pretty much fucked up at this point he was still able to walk. It seems like Shrike couldn't get close to any one. It seemed either he couldn't risk it or something else was going on, Shrike was now off on a new mission.

 To find this guy and deal with him, himself. Shrike knew all to well Voltraire was using her, he had seen this kind of person before as he was subject to such matters before when he was tricked into helping some one destroy a Dark one's force when infact that person had used him to take out a bunch of innocents, The other part of the story was he knew once Voltraire got what he wanted.

 He would dispose of her. The masked soldier still remained a mystery to them, all they knew was a small part of the story and his name but what is all they knew.

"I'd love to be your friend, but Voltraire, he wouldn't..." Liela replied to Caen, crossing her arms. Caen retracted his arm.
"Fine. I respect your decision. But, tell me, is this Voltraire worth it? Do you want to do this, or is this merely a façade to impress him? Trust me, I've been in your position before, and I've been stuck on those exact questions. But there was one litmus test to answer them- am I being myself? Now, obviously that sounds a bit rich, coming from someone who's occupation it is to be someone else, but I differentiate myself from my characters. I make it clear who I am. If you ask yourself these questions and feel it truly is necessary to destroy this village then... I'm not gonna stop you."
Caen finished, laying his hand on his heart, and smiling "thespian's honour."

When he had ended his speech, he noticed that Shrike had disappeared into the thickening smoke "Hey... Where'd Shrike go?"

Liela thought about what he said. (Was I really being myself??? No, this destruction isn't what I want. It's what Voltraire wants. What is it that I want???) " Hmm I don't know. All this time I've been doing things others would want from me." She looked around.. Shriek was gone. "Umm... can we talk this over at my house??? I promise Voltraire isn't there right now. I think he's robbing the station square bank or something... again" She sounded annoyed.

Dione looked at Liela with a troubled expression. "Well... Are you sure? I mean, what if he's coming back earlier?" she said. *Why would she live with a villain?..* she thought. Dione looked at Caen and asked him "What do you think?"

- Shrike by now was well away, the sun was going down and that meant one thing, the Dark ones become more active during this time, Station square was a place he would not enter, for if he did, he either faced being captured or worst, executed. Alone, he sat on a near by boulder, large enough for his whole body to be perched on. Setting his weapon down on the side, Shrike looked back over at the city lights, as he had his arms over his knees. It was quiet and lonely, something he had grown use to. 

Shrike then slowly removed his helmet, turning it to so he could look at the visor, using his thumb wiped away grim and blood from it as he stared down into the visor's reflection of his face. Shrike had many thoughts going through his mind, one big one was...when and if this would ever end, using the visor as a mirror he could see the marks left by the fighting on his face, blood streaks down his left side with a single 2 scars he had suffered a long time ago. As he went about wiping the blood from his forehead he sang to himself a song he once knew.-

" One more bullet through the heart, we take this tyranny from the start, our quest will not finish till the deed is done, as we take the whole army down one by one. Reel it in, sink it in, you'er in for a war, reel it in, sink it in you'er in for a war. 


Killing off the whole horde, this is your game, it never ends, it all depends now let them know your name, cry out like no one ever has ever heard you before, you make their deaths much more. 


One more bullet through the heart, we take this tyranny from the start, out quest will not finish till the deed is done, as we take the whole army down one by one."