Lazarus Effect: Part 1

The drones that got smashed would fall to the ground and explode upon impact.

As if in response to Neera the remaining drones would give off one long chime before detonating starting from the ground floor up causing major damage to the house and those around it.

"Seriously, what the fuck?" the Mishhuvurhtyar whined, watching as Creature simply shot through the hostage yet failing to phase the strange man. Reaching out with its powerful limbs, it yanked Jack back from the window as the drones exploded, the myriad of tentacles making sure to shield itself and the two in its clutches. Not purpose made as grenades, the frag pattern and punch behind the dying drones was likely less than ideal. As one after the other popped, maws opened up and bit into its own tentacles, pressing the healing hemosynth into their wounds. "Who are these low-lives?!" Inside the house, the walls made sure to hold back the worst of it, however, the floating monster's keen eyes witnessed something that would have had it do a spit-take.



"S̷̭̮͕̱̜͇͍ͫͥͅḪ͇̝̠͈̯͍ͤ̂Iͨ̓ͯ͆͐͏̹͙̳̜T͑͊͋͝͏̝͓͕̲̞!̇̈͒̄҉̵̸̲̜̣͍̳ ͕̣͚̼̜͇̭̲̾ͬ͆ͩ̈́ͧ̇́̚͜͝H͇̮̲̜̦ͮͮͣͬ̿ͮ̕E̬̟̝͂̽̍͐̀͞ ̡͖͔ͯ́ͫ̒ͥ͋ͪͩ̈Aͥ̓҉̼̼̰̝ ͯ͏̰͓͈͚̠͔̀P̡̬̬̣̟̪̯̱̃ͥͮË̘̮͉́̉̊̐D̛̝̪̬̫̻̝̼ͥ͡Ō͚͎̻̤̦̯̲͗̓ͨ ̢͈̦̽͘ͅͅỎ̵̫̖̫͔ͧͣ̌͘R͉̝̙̤̣͔̪͓ͯͭ̓ͬ̌̃̿͊͘͞ ̴̷͓͓̮̜̺͚̺̒͊S̗͕͉̼̮͖͈̫ͫ̏Ỏ̘̦̻̲̌̄̈́́M̭̦̫̼̝̿̾ͧ͋̀E̳̩̬̱͇̓͛̅͟T̖͇̥̣̺̋͌̄͆͌ͫͪ̔͆̀H̴̷̦̙̞̟̾̓ͬͭ̈I̴̥̠̜͇͗ͧͮ͊ͨN͚̿͆̔G̶̴̠͓̻͓͖̼̟̮̰̀ͩ̂ͣ?̸̧̜͓̌̽!̦̗̣͕̻̟̹͕̮́̈́̍ͯ ̵̴̜̜ͮ͒ͦH̵̻͇̫͓̤̼̲̀̀͢Ḙ̱̘͇̭͕ͮ͐̂͗͗́͘ ̱͙͕͖̦ͨͦ͢͞J̦͙͛̿̽̿ͅUͭ̃͛̀͏̖̮̲Ş͎͎̺͚̖̘̋͜T̳̹̉ͪͬͥ̿͑͆ͫ̎͘͝ ̻̻̜̓̉̚G̢̛͉̮ͬR̨̠̜̯͌͒̃͠A̻̦͍̼̣͔̾ͨ̊͋̏͝B̠̳̪̹̙̟̪̙͆ͣ̈́̇̏͛̀B̢̞͎ͤ̄ͭ̓͒͛Ē̶̆̏̽̋̆̀҉̸̦̱̯̗͈̰̱̙D̷̞͖͋ͭ̾̆ ͧ̇ͫͨͭ͏҉̖͖̟̱̯͙̞A ͎̱́ͯḲ̷̴̪̾͋̊ͥͩ̍̚ID̡̠̠̘̺̅͘!̸̣̮̬̤̍ͤͬ͆̒ͩͫ̐̚̕͝ͅ!!̯̮͇͑͛̉̚͟!" Bob boomed in their heads, humanity lost as it reverted to base.


This was not what it was promised; it was just supposed to meet some nice women!

Amit couldn't help but cry out, trying to reach for Jack from his held position in Creature's arm. Why had they shot him? Why WHY WHY?!!! Course a pure shriek left the child as he was snatched from the strange being that had held him like a sack of potatoes. Reaching with a hand, he tried to grab at least part of Creature's attire but his small hand missed as he was taken by Lazarus.

"JACKASSS!!!!" Amit howled out. "JACK!!! JAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCK!!!"

Tears were streaming down his face as he cried out for the man who had saved him once before, the man who had somehow outran a tank. Yet he knew...that there was fat chance of that now. Sharp fangs in their mouth, Amit attempted to bite down on part of Laz's arm in his pathetic attempt to get away.

The booming psychic voice ripping its way through Rose's mind pushed her fully awake, and she jerked against the tentacles holding her. Looking around, the explosions seemed unimportant compared to the eldritch horror simply sitting in the air next to her, holding her off the ground.

That is a Mishhu. Oh, shit! THAT'S A MISHHU! Her thoughs echoed as her hips twisted to plant her feet against its body and push, hard. Adrenaline surged again as she screamed at it to let her go, a string of obscenities flowing through her mind as her Geist frantically searched for compatible devices to use against the creature. The psi-damper it wore was detectable, but her own software was incompatible. Though there was a datapad nearby she could crack and update through.

Continuing her physical struggles, her digital work would not go unnoticed as she connected with Jack's Geist to borrow his brain's processing power. It would only take a few moments to crush the encryption on the datapad and hope the house's internet connection was still active so she could download a few drivers. These would in turn be used to connect to and overload Bob's psi damper, hopefully rendering him mute and knocking him out of the air. In turn, she hoped this would distract the Mishhuvurthyar long enough for her to get away. "I need to get to Sarah! Let me go! My twins!"

Having no pursuers and breaking free from any of the detection nets. Ven circled the shuttle around and settled it in a small canyon to wait. "So, I guess we lay low for a while." She smiled at her companion, "Have any ideas about what to do?"

Freya would walk into the cockpit. "Well for now we need to contact the idiot and decide on where to pick him up. Also we'll need a distraction you got anything?"

Corgan cursed as the shuttle managed to escape, the cloud of particles distorting his sensor readings. He dropped to the ground and walked towards the house. Whatever was going on here, it was his jurisdiction. Someone would be giving him some answers. He went to open the door and was knocked to the ground by the drone explosions.

"What the fuck!" He yelled, climbing back on his feet. The door was missing. Actually, most of the house was missing now. Once the smoke cleared he was able to see clearly into the house. He closed his eyes, looked away, and took another look. What in the hell is going on? This fucking planet is insane, he thought. There was a Gartagen, a Mishhu holding Rose, a dead woman that might be Sarah, Jack was down, and a guy with chunks of flesh missing held a strange looking kid.

Without an idea of who to target, he aimed for the guy holding the kid with his HPAR. "I don't know what kind of party you guys have going here, but it's over. Let the kid go and surrender your weapons. Tell your Mishhu to turn Rose loose before I melt your ugly mother fucking face off." Corgan ordered Lazarus.

Adria and Adilis' antennae gave a little twitch. "Frick this is loud- You hear that?" Adria asked Adilis, hearing Neera. "I think that's our signal to GO!" she yelled. Both began to sprint for the next house, only to get knocked over by the drone explosions. Adilis screamed, while Adria coughed and hissed "AGH! What the heck was that?!" She looked back at the decimated house to catch a glimpse of Lazarus kidnapping Amit. "Amit...?" she asked, puzzled. She realized what was happening and started running towards the doorway. Adilis whimpered and scampered after her in an attempt to catch her before she did something stupid and got herself killed.

Creature side stepped Jack as he was thrust forward into him. His armor clattered against his body and the Gartagen's heavy foot steps clunked as he shifted. Jack passed him and fell to the ground; Creature then looked on as Lazarus seized Amit and dashed away. Creature however set on him. Modified and augmented too, he was swift and precise. Creature moved like a panther and attempted to halt Lazarus seizure of the boy, by sending his scatter gun into his off hand. Creature's right hand lashed out and his bit into Lazarus. Raking down his back, trying to hook into his flesh to halt him from leaving.

Unfortunately, Lazarus was like a freight train and had broken away fleeing from the scene of his crime and out of the house with Amit in tow. Creature holstered his scatter gun, and saw Jack was up and shambling after Lazarus. "This is a fucking shit show. Bob! Secure the normies." The blue Gartagen ordered with his raspy voice. Creature then grabbed Jack and lifted him effortlessly off of his feet.

Jack was now being held, cradle style. Like fresh bride to be carried across the threshold to consulate her vows. Creature looked with his amber eye down at the battered bleeding man in his arms. "That guy like kicked your fucking ass all over your living room and stole your boy? You still want some of that? Are you fucking dumb? You should be letting me go after him, but no I have to waste time carrying you to him." He growled as he dashed out of the house and after Lazarus, Jack in his arms. Jack would find the wiry Gartagen's strength was impressive, his body felt like a slab of stone, and his muscles felt like bundles of wire.

"I could just grab my fucking rifle and put a few in his ass, but like. That is a great idea." Creature then dropped Jack mid stride. Shouldered his Deliverance rifle. He then hopped up to the roof of another house, and aimed. Lazarus had a bit of a head start, but he was still at close range. Aiming carefully, so as not to hit Amit, Creature fired.

CRACK!

The Deliverance rifle gave off almost no recoil. The round left a soft contrail as it was fired at high velocity. Creature's target? In between Lazarus' super humanly sculpted butt cheeks. "One space suppository for that bitch ass." The Gartagen rumbled, smirking beneath his head wraps and helmet.

He had barely cleared the house when the detonation went off, sending the cyborg hurling forward and skidding across the road like a muffler torn from an old car - and making just about much racket in the process. All of his scanners and sensors would be throwing hissy fits and wailing in his artificial ears, giving him the headache of a lifetime. He hadn't expected it to be that close of a call - but expectations rarely meet reality. "Fuuuuck..." He groaned. He hadn't even taken a moment to comprehend the rest that was occurring as he pried himself from the pavement beneath him, his labcoat tattered and laced with debris from the pile of wreckage that was Jack's home.

"What a pain..." Beaumont growls as he beings himself to his feet. There's an obvious scrape that'll need buffing along the side of his mask, and his antenna is a little bent out of shape, but nothing too major. His cooling systems were able to respond to the influx of heat in time to keep him from frying. There's a slight whirring sound as he silences each one of his alerts and activates his targeting system to get a good glimpse of the heathen, visible above the pile, that, and a mech.

This very stuff is the reason why he ran from Nepleslia.

"Goddamn this all to hell. That kid is gonna be the death of me." He won't act like he didn't see Jack get shot. Quite the opposite. In fact, it's that very shot that's the reason why he should back off, but... being that he always has to be the hero (much to the cyborg's dismay) the man would fight and strain despite looking like he just got the bad end of a kebab maker.

May as well be of more use than he will right now.

"Who ever is NOT dead, sound off!" He shouts, looking around to get a reading on the vital signs of each individual signature on his targeting system.

Seeing the situation unfolding before him, Jay quickly fired off a message to Aster before entering and moving towards the.

"Alright Aster, you can come out. I'm on my way in, and I need you to find those guns ASAP."

He then switched back to Reichardt's frequency.

"Ok looks like they've crossed the line. Set condition red. I have an active mech, armed and dangerous. Light transport just went off the grid. Find it now. Meantime, I need air support on that mech. Identify civilians and advise to take cover. I need this place cleared for heavy weapons yesterday."

After thinking for a moment, he added one last ominous order.

"And fire up the SHIVA. Set bearing zero-niner-five. HE advised."

As he finished, the roar of U1s heralded the arrival of backup.

Inside of House 3 Across the Street from the Pine Household

Aster unlocked the trapdoor above her as she finally got the message from Jay. She slowly opened the door and peeked out before she ducked back inside. "They are right here," her voice sounded relieved. She had been listening to the gunfire, explosions and screaming across the street in tense apprehension at her inability to assist her friends. She placed her KIST DMR on top of the open weapons' crate and lifted it up, with some effort, the short stairwell to her living room. She grabbed the Kist DMR again and looked to Jay for further instruction as he made his other calls. She fought down the urge to run to him, he was running the Saber teams and was in his power armor, this was not the time and was the time for her to be emotional. "What do you need me to do, Jay?"

Izzy, who had been frozen in fear for her own life, as well as the life of the twins she was carrying, ran back downstairs at Neera's call. She managed to get downstairs before the drones blew, her wings went around her instinctively, as well as her throwing herself behind an interior wall that would hopefully take some of the brunt of the blast. Her chest filled with fear over what this could all possibly do to her, and on top of it all she felt completely useless through it all.

It was only then that she realized that she couldn't see Jack and she panicked more. What if he was hurt? What if he had died again and she hadn't even noticed yet? What if her kids were hurt? Amit, Neera, Adilis, and Adria may not be blood but she had taken them in just as much as Jack had. The more she thought the more panicked she became and the more what ifs came to mind. She didn't like this. Why did it have to be her home, her family, that was attacked?

She groaned, looking around unhappily. What were they going to do now? That was when she registered that Amit had screamed. She stumbled out the door, looking around for him. Her eyes showed how dazed she was and she was limping in pain. Where was he? Where were Adilis and Adria as well? She had no idea but she was more worried about them than herself.

Lazarus who was already limping from so man slugs buried in his flesh nearly fell as the 50 cal punched into his asshole and against his metallic pelvis, "FUCK! Right up the central space lane." He shouted before he and Amit had been grabbed by the mech and thrusted into the cramped cockpit.

"Did that fucker shoot me in the asshole?! Who does that, that sick bastard.", Lazarus grumbled loudly as he secured the crying kid. "Stop your pitiful tears kid. Father taking such a sad failure as you is beyond me." He said taking his seat before various bracings clamped down on Lazarus's arms, legs, and torso. His senses changed to that of his mech body as he assumed full control of the heavily modified Gekido, and now feeling and seeing with his senses as he stood.

"Follow Father. If you want to ever see the brat again, and if you want the truth.", The mech boomed through oral speakers as it took off towards the desert.

Jack grunted through clenched teeth as he was dropped hard, but unsteadily and without grace got back up to feudily run after the clone and his son. He called in his U-1 as the mech began to take off, now arriving after it had gained distance.

Neera had been thrown from the stairs and into the living room floor which was now burnt and singed, pieces of the house's materials strewn everywhere. She moved a large piece of wood paneling off of her, but cried out and whimpered as pain hit her as she tried getting up. Looking down to her leg she found a metal shard petruding from her thigh, blood running from the deep wound. Pulling at it only caused more pain, "Help! I can't get up,....my leg!" She said whimpering.

"Oh, I've got plenty of ideas, a full range of explosives." Ven offered, waving her hand at the impressive pile of weaponry in the back. "Unless they plan to outright execute him, my inclination would be to wait until they have him in jail and do a jailbreak or jack him when they send him somewhere else."

As dizzy as his head was, he knew just whose life signs it was on the bottom floor. It took him a second to comprehend this fact, but it wouldn't take longer. He pushed past anyone in front of him. Into the rubble he went. Scrambling straight towards Neera. Some debris would strike him, but it would plink harmlessly off of his heavy chassis of a body. Of course, the process wasn't very elegant. Chunks of homestead and nopefully not Sarah would line the way, but a few tosses here and scrambles there and he'd be by Neera's side. It was by sheer luck that she was not crushed. As well and good as it would be to ST her, odds are it would be a costly endeavor. With nothing on hand to patch her up, he would need to get medical supplies from the base if he wanted to treat her.

"Neera, it's okay, I'm here." His voice rings through the scraped up mask. "Now this may hurt, but I am NOT pulling that out. Ironically, that's the only thing keeping you from bleeding out. But what I CAN do..." He runs the laser scalpel an inch and a half away from where the metal is jutting from the skin. "Is make it weigh.... a... little less..." It wouldn't take long for the piece to fall away. He shuts the scalpel off and puts it in his pocket. His arms shuffle underneath her. "Now grab onto me... one two three!" And like that, she's hoisted up, the shrapnel-laden leg on the outer side of his grip.

"This is Lead Medic Beaumont to Section 6 Headquarters. We've got several injured. One confirmed death." As much as he hates it, he's left with no choice but to turn on his intercom. For Jack's sake. For Neera's sake. "I'm going to need five U1s with U2ACMs. Fit a life support system into each one if you can or at LEAST stretchers. Just make sure there's medical equipment in there and have them out here in ten minutes tops!" He disconnects the microphone and shakes his head.

As everything came to an end, the Mishhu simply put down the young woman in its clutches, and drifted to the ground with a dull thud.

"This. This. What the fuck?" they heard the man's voice in their heads. "All of this. All of this was just so much fuck." The now-grounded tentacle monster lifted its 'Grape Time' cap and rubbed the chitinous shell underneath like a person running a hand through their hair. At the same time, others reached into its gift basket and pulled out an excessively large and succulent bunch of grapes. "I just don't get it," the voice continued, the end of a tentacle opening up into a toothy maw as another tossed it one over the over-large fruits to bite. "That freak was something special. I don't even know how he's still alive," the voice spoke again, clearly the shocked Mishhuvurthyar now.

"He should'a already won a Darwin Award or something. It makes no sense."