//------------------------------// // The Renegade: First Dibs! // Story: Rogue Chaos // by FrostTheWolf //------------------------------// Rogue Chaos- The Renegade: First Dibs!         Shortly after the doors opened up, Discord and the entire group that was on the ground immediately began to traverse the uphill slope that lead to the next stop on their journey. The facility control station, which was needed in order to help transfer the power from the backup generator to Caldarius’ assault frame. Everything seemed fine for the most part, until Benedict took to the skies to scout ahead and came across something that did not seem good. “Uh guys… Not to rain on our parade here, but we got ourselves some company.”         That soon got a response from Deande as she cursed to herself upon seeing what the avian was talking about. “Damn! The imperium beat us here!! Clear out a path through those Jennerit before you reach the station-!” Ghalt nodded, splitting up the group to where Discord, Foxtrot and Sweetie Bot take the base from the east entrance while he and Benedict took the west entrance. During this though was when Hylis then spoke up upon realizing who was talking to the group.         “Wait a minute… I recognize that voice! You’re Deande aren't you?” he asked as his voice changed a little. “Rendain’s right hand!”         “Not anymore…” The spymistress firmly responded.         “Wow! Big fan!! At the prison we mostly deal with turncoats and traitors, but this? This is something even more special,” The jailer spoke up. “Guys, guess what? We get to kill Deande! Yeah, I know right! The spymistress herself!!”         Deande deeply sighed a little, groaning a little bit before she spoke again. “Apparently, I’m not as popular as I once believed.” During that moment, Discord had conjured a replica of Ghalt’s shotgun as he took out a pair of Evolved Thrall’s that were coming his direction as they began to clear out the control station.         “Anyways, just who the hell are you people anyway?” Hylis questioned. “What’s this chump to you? Don’t you know what he’s guilty of? Why we threw him in prison in the first place all those years ago?”         “From what I understand it, Rendain threw him in prison because he was a celebrated hero of the people.” Deande responded, just causing some of the Battleborn on the ground to look confused.         “That’s right… and for the most heinous of crimes, he’ll suffer to his last breath!” The jailer cracked a bit of laughter before clearing his throat once again. “After all, Rendain doesn’t take kindly to fugitives… or the treasonous… or anybody really. He’s basically not a kind guy. But I’m not here for you fools… I’m here for Caldarius.”         “So are we…” The Spymistress retorted. “And since we arrived here first, we have… uh, what are they called Kleese?”         “Oh yes, First dibs!”         “First dibs! That’s right, WE have first dibs!! So I’m afraid you have to deal with us first, you dib!” Deande finished her statement and ended it on a small bit of laughter as Discord and the others began to regroup in the middle of the facility.         “Why heck, if you insist…” Hylis confidently responded. The squad took out the Thrall inside. Whiskey, Sweetie Bot, and Benedict went around, activating turrets around as Discord and Ghalt stood around the power core. Hoping for the power transfer to work. Unfortunately, that was not the case.         “Power redirection… failed. System reboot required, please stand by.”         “Reboot?” Deande and Discord both questioned at the same time, followed by a simultaneous plea. “No no no, please don’t reboot. Please don’t reboot!”         “JINX!!” Sweetie Bot joked a bit in response as Discord put a paw to his face.         “You can’t tell me what to do, lady.” The computer responded “Initializing system reboot.”         “Ahh, so that’s your play…” The jailer spoke up, sounding like he just saw right through their plans. “Power redirection hunh? Well, that means there’s only one place where you jerks can be hiding out. All forces!! Caldy’s idiot friends have reached the facility control station!! BURN IT TO THE GROUND!!”         “Ugh, it seems like we haven’t got much of a choice. Better dig in, Hylis’ forces are on your way. Defend that substation until the reboot process is complete!” The Spymistress told them as Ghalt told Benedict to get to the upper ledge on the right while Whiskey take point on the Upper left. Sweetie Bot herself would be at the main entrance with missiles at the ready while Discord and him would defend the power core. He conjured up Thorn’s Bow & Arrows… along with pointy ears & white, flowing hair.         “Discord! What do you see!?” Ghalt yelled. Discord looked out in the distance.         “...Baddies!” He replied “And why kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch!” Ghalt groaned and facepalmed himself, but returned to the fight about to happen. “Oh! And a dinosaur skeleton… and I found Waldo!”         “Hey.” A random man in a red & white stripped shirt said before disappearing. Somehow, he reappeared in front of the thrall… and exploded.         “...What the-!?” Everyone yelled.         “We found him!” Discord said, tearing up “And now… we lost him. ...Goodbye, Waldo! We’ll always remember- Ooh! Bread!” Discord lunged himself at Ghalt’s shotgun and tried to eat the barrel.         “Discord! Stop!” Ghalt ordered.         “But I want a sandwich.”         “Gamma Squad, Report!” Hylis barked. “Gamma squad! Wait… they took out ALL of them!?”         “I’m sorry, they’re in our way.” Deande mocked.         “Epsilon squad! You’re up next! Get your asses over there, now!!!” Both Discord and Ghalt were taken off hand as thrall landed next to them. Ghalt fired at the Thrall around them, and Discord made his arms look like El-Dragon’s, albeit, smaller and not as buff. What caught Ghalt off guard was that music played around them as Discord wrestled some Thrall, and some announcers were heard, commenting how Discord ‘RKO’ed outta nowhere’ The Power Core rebooted and energy was sent to Caldarius, with the doors behind them opening.         “Power rerouted.” Deande spoke “Caldarius, you should be all set-.”         “Ooh! An energy spike! Could that be our man? I better send every Thrall at my disposal to investigate!”         “Hurry to the energy core! Caldarius needs our support!” Everyone rushed through the door, seeing a line of robots running & firing at various other Thrall on a bridge. Ghalt however, did not like the sounds of things when he checked his bracer again.         “Ah damn, bad news guys. I asked for an aerial strike from the UPR, but they denied clearance for it because they do not have the firepower to take on a capital ship.”         “You wouldn’t need to worry about that,” Caldarius interjected. “Once my assault frame is recharged, I should have enough power to take down the ship myself.”         “One guy against an ENTIRE ship!?” Ghalt questioned. “Are you insane!?”         “Maybe a little bit…”         “He’s not insane…” Discord said, cuing music from a boombox that he conjured out of nowhere. “He’s got the touch… he’s got THE POWER!!!”         “Ugh, why this song?!” Whiskey Foxtrot shouted in protest as his gun went into Overdrive.         “When your awesomeness factor exceeds Caldarius, you get to pick the soundtrack!!” Discord snapped, just getting Benedict to snicker a little.         “Need some aloe vera, Whiskey? Because I believe you just got burned.” All that did was cause major silence across the bridge and even cause some of the robots to boo him. “Come on, that was a funny joke!”         “Leave the humor to the professionals.” Discord advised as they approached the main headquarters where Caldarius was located and began to clear out the facility. One by one, the group began to defeat thrall after thrall and collect shards to make sure and activate turrets and set up traps before anyone was able to get things started up.         “Caldarius, how much longer until your assault frame is recharged?” Deande then asked over the intercom.         “Mere minutes, which we may not have… Hylis may be an idiot, but he’s persistent.”         “And handsome! Don’t forget handsome!!” Hylis blurted out of nowhere.         “Oh and he’s also handsome…” Caldarius sarcastically said, causing the thrall jailer to be distracted for a moment. Until his frustrations got the better of him when he did not hear back from the forces he deployed ten minutes ago.         “RGHH, YOU IDIOTS!! I’M NOT GOING BACK TO RENDAIN EMPTY HANDED!!! ALL FORCES, BREAK INTO THAT FACILITY AND BRING ME CALDARIUS!!” With that, multiple cracks can be heard as Thrall began to warp out onto the landing platforms outside the facility. Sweetie Bot and Discord soon got outside with Benedict to cover the landing platform outside while Whiskey Foxtrot and Ghalt worked on having to face any sorry Jennerit that stepped inside the abandoned headquarters.         “Buy enough time for Caldarius to finish charging his assault frame! Protect the core!!” Deande responded as Discord prepared a set of dual pistols to hold at the ready.         “Here we go…” He said, just as the thrall began to spawn. All was going well originally, but then some banging above the facility caught their attention.         “The windows above! They’re coming from the windows!!” Deande yelled in their intercoms.         “Targets acquired.” Sweetie Bot said, firing at the oncoming Thrall.         “The Hell is that?” Caldarius asked “Either I’m really low on energy, or is that some robot pony?”         “You aren’t hallucinating, Caldarius,” Ghalt spoke up, “That’s Sweetie Bot… I know, weird name… It was once a wolf sentry before the AI we used for it was transferred-.”         “Fire at will!!” Discord roared as he conjured a new weapon         “Huh… a Draconequus…” Cadarius spoke “Never thought I’d see one moving… or alive for that matter.”         “You know about Discord’s kind?” Deande spoke up. “How?” The destruction around the base made it hard for the youngling to hear the Shock Trooper’s response. But what he did say shocked both Ghalt, Deande, and Kleese upon hearing him speak.         “Rendain saw them as inferior beings… and ordered everyone of them to be executed. In fact, another reason why I was thrown in prison was because I refused to take part in the massacre that happened shortly afterwards… And to top it off, I prevented Hylis from killing a young child that was trying to escape.”         “Are you saying-?”         “Maybe… it’s probably just a coincidence.” Deande spoke “We barely know much on the subject of the Draconequus in the first place… We don’t even know when this took place… Jennerit can live thousands of years if they are sustained so… He can be as old as Rath.”         “Seriously!?” Rath yelled in the back, overhearing Deande’s comment.         “Or a runt… no offense to Shayne,” Kleese spoke up. Only to realize the teen was not there. “Okay, how can she be sleeping through all of this!?!”         “To correct you… This occurred eight months ago…” Caldarius retorted, just as the glass broke above them. “Damn it!! Keep the Jennerit away from the core!!”         That was when the captain brought out his second shotgun and took down the Thrall that came in above them along with the thumper turrets that were set up. Despite the odd name, thumper turrets were the short translation for missile launchers that did not necessarily had to be reloaded by hand for them to work. But that was not what was on Ghalt’s mind as Discord and the rest of the squad rushed inside as quickly as they can. “Hostels down. Deande, we’ll pick up on this conversation later… Caldarius, are you all set?”         “Assault frame charge complete in three… two… one…” Electricity began to crackle throughout the room as the shock trooper absorbed the kinetic energy around him before breaking out of the containment tube he was in and landing on the ground with a loud CRASH! His mechanical fist causing the glass floor underneath him to crack on impact as his energy blade and TMP blaster were combat ready at this stage. “That’s better… Now, please allow for me to assist you!”