the-cosmic-scales:

starlordapollo:

“Is he seriously crying?” Apollo shouted down incredulously in reply as his singed hairs casually repaired themselves. He floated closer and squinted. “Oh my stars he is. Libra pull yourself together, you’re embarrassing all of us,” he called down and floated a little closer, watching Aries for more deadly hair-singeing fireballs. ”And what I want, madam Aries, is to fix your blasted fire abilities, unless you prefer living with corrupted software and damaged pipes. “

D..Damnit, he’s right. He seemed to have a bit of trouble with stopping it, but it didn’t take long for the waterworks to end. He still felt like total crap tho, as he felt he should. He slithered away a little out of the path since he was afraid of potentially getting in the crossfire of those two. Not that it would do too much to him, but his arms were still fresh and he wasn’t certain how much pain they could take. He just hoped that whatever happens, nobody has to die..though if anyone does need to die, he hoped that it would be Apollo.

“You can cry if you want to,” Aries contradicted as the justice-oriented alien worked on stopping his tears. “I’m not embarrassed.” Another small click sounded and the size of the fireball in her palm tripled and increased in heat as Apollo finished his sentence. “Oh yeah? And what do i have to do if i let you fix them? You’re probably just gonna break them again, anyway. You’re like a child; you only build or fix or gather things for the greater joy of breaking them.”

the-cosmic-scales:

starlordapollo:

Apollo was right there, making no effort to hide himself. Just a floating dot above the clearing a little bigger than Aries’ thumb at arms length. Possibly close enough for her to fire off a few rounds, and hit him if he wasn’t paying attention.

He offered a polite wave as his hair and cape fluttered in the high winds. “Afternoon,” he called down to her. “You don’t mind if I just stay up here until I’m sure you’re not going to try anything stupid, right? Good.”

“Aries, I…you know that I had no choice, and you know just as well as I do that I wouldn’t have the strength in me to make another…” The serpent lowered his head in shame, knowing full well what he had done. “I just hope that you can find it in you to one day forgive me…”

Drip. Drip. Drip. That’s all Libra heard after he finished that as his tears reached the ground. They were the only signs of true sadness that he had displayed in a long time since coming to this planet, and only displayed it once when his arms were removed.

Aries didn’t really know what to say. She rolled her eyes at Libra, figuring she should give some gesture that she’d heard what he had said. Her wrists clicked and her left hand. Steadying her left arm with her right hand, she fired a shot in Apollo’s direction. It flew past him, just close enough for the star lord to feel some heat on his face and get his full attention. “What do you want, kvardak?!” she barked, another ball of flame loading into her left hand as she kept him in her sight.

the-cosmic-scales:

starlordapollo:

Apollo’s head snapped eastward like an animal that just heard a twig snap. That heat was a huge blip on his mental radar, no earth bot could reach that kind of power even if it was dulled.

“About twelve miles downhill,” he told Libra as he floated to face him. “Less if she’s not actually ready to attack yet. You go down and explain. I’ll be watching from a distance so she doesn’t just start shooting.” He zipped up through the leaves and disappeared over the canopy.

“I’ll see what I can do.” The snake activated the hover skirt and made his way down hill at a good speed. He could keep this up because he knew that his comrade would not fire on one of his own, so he didn’t have to worry about conserving energy for his U.V. Ray. “Aries! Aries are you there?” He shouted, a bit of confusion in his voice as he went to around the area Apollo said. He obviously wasn’t certain how to take everything right now.

“It’s Libra, I..I don’t really know what’s going on, but what I do know is that Apollo..He gave me back what I lost.” To prove it, he..snapped. He snapped his fingers, he clapped his hands, to show that he HAD hands to clap and snap. “I know how you feel, I couldn’t trust him at first, I still can’t believe he did that, but..if he had wanted me dead, if he had wanted US dead, than there would be nothing but a crater where this land is.”

Aries listened, but had no words. Apollo’s mind games were sick and twisted and, while a brief expression of shock and surprise had lit up her face, she didn’t think Libra would be keeping his new arms for very long. She peeked through a crack in the tree, and could see her brother. She sighed ever so quietly, wishing his sense of fairness wasn’t so deep-seeded. She step out of her trunk and darted behind another before Libra could see as she heated her hands further, her wrists clicking to build of flame in both hands. She leaped out from behind the tree and darted around the encased naga, creating a precautionary semi-circular wall of fire between him and where she landed. “Exactly WHAT in the universe’s name are you doing?! He probably won’t let you keep those arms, you know. That kvardak is always up to something,” she hissed. She then turned her attention to the sky, figuring the blue asshole had to be hiding around somewhere. The ram kept switching glances in every direction, just in case.

the-cosmic-scales:

starlordapollo:

“…She isn’t answering,” he groaned and floated into the shadow of the mouth of the cave, stopping at the massive door. He touches down and puts a hand to the titanium.

To Libra, it just looked like he was standing there touching it with his eyes closed for a minute or two as he reached out with his mind, sought out any life forms inside the door. He only checked a few hundred meters in before stepping away.

“She’s not in there,” he said simply, walking right past Libra and into the forest. “Ask her where she is,” he half ordered as he floated up among the treetops, peering between them for tracks or the sound of hoofbeats.

He nodded and tried again and again to establish a link to Aries. She cut him off once, but he hoped that this would not happen again and again..damnit Libra, why did you have to agree to that!? You could’ve..no, wait, you couldn’t. You’re just a weak little Naga in the presence of the most powerful being you’ve ever known. And now you’ve lead him right to one of your comrades who offered to keep you safe…”She’s not responding.”

Damn me, damn me and my sense of fairness, he thought…He rubbed his head, getting a small headache from everything that’s happened. He hoped that after this is over, she can find it in her to forgive him, tho he doubted it.

Aries continued to hid in the hollow trunk where she’d sprung up as Libra tried to contact her again. The ram new better than to answer, and ignored the call. She figured it would be best to keep hidden, to try and keep some small element of surprise as she began to heat her horns, hooves, and hands, making them just hot enough to be somewhat painful without causing her hiding spot to catch on fire. Fire. She was a fire element as well as Apollo, Libra, Capricorn, and so many other bots. She wished she was something else, water or ice perhaps. There were too many damn fire bots on one planet.

the-cosmic-scales:

starlordapollo:

“There we are,” Apollo interrupted Libra’s response and pointed to the small hologram before him. “This is the only entrance into this mountain, and it’s the most densely protected in range.” He didn’t bother adding anything else, it was obvious that that particular cave was the only one Aries could be hiding in.

Without any further explanation or warning he dropped his hand onto Libra’s shoulder and in an instant they were a few meters downhill from the mouth of the cave. Also, for the life of him, Libra couldn’t remember what the inside of Apollo’s ship looked like. Apollo released him and floated up the hill a little, approaching from the side like he had the cave Libra was hiding in.

The first thing that Aries would notice most likely is the fact that Libra has arms. LIBRA. HAS. ARMS. His armor’s different from before, but still ARMS. HE HAS THEM. The next thing she’d probrably notice is the depressed and somewhat disoriented look on his face as he tells her in the communicator. “..I’m sorry. He gave me no choice.”

Aries’ palm sprawled its thick, hoof-like fingers before shooting straight up at the ram’s face, hitting it hard. She grumbled and cut the com link. They were probably at the cave by now, but the thick reinforced door was 10 feet in from the mouth of the cave. She had hoped they’d wait so she could fight them outside, away from the mountain…But perhaps if she did pop up from the tunnel, they’d turn around and head back into the woods once they realized no one was home. Or would they just ransack the place before coming out? Either way, it was better if they fought in the woods; her cave was on the north side, the densely populated city side, of the mountain, and she’d grown fond of Ulaanbaatar. She rushed forward and soon enough popped up from underground into the trunk of a hollow tree about 10 miles from the cave. The alien ram stepped out from the trunk and out into a spot where the sky was clear of leaves. She’d wait a few minutes and if nothing happened, she’d shoot up a blast of fire to lure them over and duck back into the trunk. This was a good spot to fight. She could have the star lord playing whack-a-mole with all the tunnels that came up into this spot.

the-cosmic-scales:

starlordapollo:

“Stupid ram,” he grumbled as the signal came through Libra’s comm link and into his ship garbled beyond recognition. But at least he had a lock on the general area, and the ship coasted slowly, slowly forward and made small clicking pings, sending up full-color detailed holograms of the mountain for Apollo to flip through while Libra conversed. “Must be in a crevice or a cave of some sort. Keep her talking.”

“Me. I managed to get a ride over, but now I need to get in..sorry if this was…unexpected.” He was hesitant to mention the star lord, as he knew that the moment he did then communications would most likely be lost, and she would’ve figured it out. ..Wait, She? How long had this been—Oh nevermind, that isn’t important right now. What is is not pissing off the giant bastard of death and killing everyone.

‘A ride?‘ She responded, half thinking aloud. Who could possibly have given Libra a ride? Leo and Aquarius wouldn’t dare come out of orbit for something to trivial, so it couldn’t be either of them. She didn’t know who of the Earth bots were acquainted with her brother. She stopped in her tracks, then decided it would be best to keep moving rather than stand still like a sitting duck as she assumed the worst. She came to a fork and went right instead of continuing left. ‘From whom?’

the-cosmic-scales:

starlordapollo:

the-cosmic-scales:

starlordapollo:

“It’s not for you,” Apollo snapped and slumped into the seat. The ship hummed to life around them. “I still don’t give a damn about you or any of them, alive or dead it makes no difference. And it’s none of your business why I’m doing it at all.”

The ship roared through the sky again. The mountain range was tiny below them, like a line of anthills in stone. “Now where is Aries.”

“I was told to contact Aries when I was near the end of the path in the woods. That’s all I know.” Libra admitted this as..well that WAS all he knew. His sense of fairness would’ve forced him to reveal more if he knew more, but he didn’t so he couldn’t.

“End of the path…” he echoed and sighed. “Hell of a lot of good that does us. Go ahead and contact her now while I scan.” He set a wide search for the general area he’d found Libra in and locked a few signal trackers onto the energy in his armor. Once he’d established the link with Aries Apollo would be able to pinpoint the mountain her cave was in.

..he silently nodded and brought his hand up to his helmet to activate the com system, hoping to establish a link with Aries. He was not certain if he could, but he didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter..

((Sorry, i’m tumblr-illiterate, Splash’s player explained things to me.))

Aries’ com systems picked up an incoming messages from Libra and immediately encrypted and passworded the link, just in case. Even with the densely forested route she outlined for her brother, she was still expecting some sort of trouble from Apollo; there was no way he’d just sit in his ship being slutty while the C Droids were up to something. ‘What’s up?’  she replied as she geared up and began moving towards one of her exit tunnels that led to the forest side of the mountain range. As she walked she noticed his contact had come earlier than expected, and grew suspicious. Something had to be up; something stank of kvardak. The ram smelled a fight coming, and was glad she’d reworked her tunnel systems to lead to various points into the forest, other mountains, and even into the city on the north side of the range. She took the tunnel that came up about 6 or 8 miles away from her mountain and quickened her pace, glad she’d made the tunnels deep enough to prevent tracking signals.