Steel Butterfly
20-12-2006, 07:27
http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p662399.png
Seek me...
Call me...
I'll be waiting...
This distance, this dissolution...
I cling to memories while falling...
Sleep brings release, and the hope of a new day...
Waking the misery of being without you...
Surrender, I give in...
Another moment is another eternity...
http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p686906.png
“You have any kids, Jack?” Emperor Dave Bivens asked General Jack Valkare as the general entered the office of the emperor.
“I’m not married,” Jack replied. Bivens was turned away from him, staring down at something.
“Not really a requirement,” the Emperor responded, turning around. A smile crept across Valkare’s face.
“I think if I had any kids, legitimate or not, you’d be the one to know,” Valkare said. Bivens nodded in agreement before his smile quickly turned upside down. He exhaled.
“Ten kids were killed today,” the Emperor announced. “It’ll be on tonight’s news.”
“Good lord…” Valkare muttered in shock.
“The ten kids were all from families whose parents supported the Resistance during the Civil War,” Bivens explained, not attempting to hide the disgust on his face.
“Former Imperials?” Valkare asked. Bivens shook his head ‘no.’
“No,” Emperor Bivens continued. “The shooter’s father was a decorated Resistance Captain. Apparently he came home from a veterans’ party with the victim’s fathers pissed off. His war buddies didn’t agree that I’d sold out. They didn’t agree that I had become an ‘Imp’ like Nemerov before me. He vented his rage at school…and his son did something about it.”
“His son?” Valkare asked. “A fucking kid did this?”
“It’s been eight years, Jack,” Bivens said, shaking his head and leaning back in his chair. “Eight years ago I was this kid’s dad’s savior…now I’m the enemy.”
“What are you going to do?” Valkare asked.
“Death penalty,” the Emperor replied. “Murder for the son, treason for the parents. What the hell’s changed, Jack? Am I that different?”
“I think it goes with the job,” General Valkare replied. “Can’t make everyone happy.”
“This isn’t the first occurrence,” Bivens muttered.
“But this is the hardest time in the history of the Empire for someone to rule,” Valkare said. “We all knew that coming in. Rebuilding…is never easy…and people aren’t happy when things aren’t easy.”
“I think that includes Emperors as well,” Bivens mused, rubbing his eyes with his hands.
“You need to get some sleep,” Jack said.
“You know I hate to,” Emperor Bivens said, grinning sheepishly.
“It’s hard admitting that you’re only human, isn’t it?” Valkare asked.
“This job won’t allow you to be only human,” Bivens replied. He rolled his eyes sarcastically. “One of the ‘perks’ I’m sure.”
http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p675495.png
“Prison’s what reminds you that this is still a dictatorship,” Adrian Winters told Major Andrew Braddock halfway through their weekly conversation. “You tend to forget it…living day to day…but prison won’t let you.”
“Bet the guards love hearing that” Braddock mused, cracking a smile. Adrian had been in prison for almost a year, his punishment for killing Dr. Julian Rane, the Director of Intelligence at that time.
“About as much as they love your visits,” Adrian replied. He had grown hard to read, and Braddock had trouble figuring out what was going on behind his eyes, which had noticeably changed since the last time they met.
“Hmph,” Braddock grunted, running his hand over the stubble on his cheeks and chin. Adrian, as well, had not shaved for a day or two, but other than that he seemed fit. It was apparent that he had kept up his rigorous exercise, even in his cell. Still, his eyes were different, haunting, and not just due to the expression they presented. “What they’d do to you?”
“Interrogation,” Adrian replied, somewhat surprised that Braddock had noticed anything. They had tortured him from the beginning, but never very physically, as not to leave a mark. Still, Adrian decided to fill his former superior officer in on the latest method. “They blind you…sometimes for days at a time…I’m not sure why, other than for fear.”
“Are you afraid?” Braddock asked.
“I’ve been afraid all my life,” Adrian replied, retreated back into himself as he always did. “This is no different.”
“They look…” Braddock began.
“Spooky?” Adrian interrupted.
“…clouded.” Braddock continued. “White. Smoky, perhaps.”
“Wish I had a pair of shades,” Adrian joked without cracking a smile. He had always been over-serious, and jail did nothing to change this. “Find out why they haven’t killed me?”
“I heard they tried,” Braddock said, almost laughing at the absurdity of the statement.
“It hurt like hell,” Adrian replied honestly, mentally agreeing with Braddock.
“You know why you didn’t die?” the Major asked. According to records, he was the first not to.
“I can guess…but no…I don’t think very many people do…if any at all…”
“I suppose a life in prison makes you suffer more,” Braddock muttered, staring at his hands. He held a great deal of contempt for Adrian’s imprisonment, although that wasn’t to say he didn’t understand it.
“Don’t talk like that, Major,” Adrian said, breaking character. He almost sounded needy, as if begging his mother not to cry. “You’re my link to the world…and my only friend…I don’t want to see you end up on the same side.” Quickly he returned to form. “Remember…I’m an enemy.”
“I owe you my life,” Braddock maintained.
“And that’s enough of a tie to lock your ass up.” Adrian warned, his body sitting perfectly still as it always did. “On top of that you visit me.”
“I’m…still a hero,” Braddock began to explain.
“Oh?” Adrian asked, honestly not knowing what his friend was talking about.
“My…condition…is still secret,” the Major elucidated. “To them, I caught you…arrested you...saved the Emperor himself from your…rampage.”
“And your memory?” Adrian questioned.
“Rane and the doctor were the only two to know…and the doctor still supplies me,” Braddock concluded.
“Well your life’s pretty much in check,” Adrian said, and once again Braddock could not tell if Adrian was spiteful or happy for him.
“Still got a good friend in jail,” the Major replied. He paused, leaning close to his prisoner friend. “You’re…?”
“Yeah?” Adrian replied, almost instinctively knowing what his friend was going to ask, even though Braddock had never asked it before.
“Have they…?” Braddock tried to expand.
“No,” Adrian replied, glaring through his clouded eyes, deep into those of Major Braddock’s, and Andy knew the truth. As he left, a chill rolled down his spine. The door quietly shut behind him.
http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p695280.jpg
"It's been seven months!"
Nevertheless, she managed to stare back at him with the same stupid deer-in-the-headlights look that consistently pissed him off.
"It's been seven months!" Mike Bishop repeated, shaking his head in both surprise and disgust. He stood in front of the door, the only thing blocking his wife and her bags from passing through. He could feel his temper rising. “Seven motherfucking months!”
“Mike, please…” she begged, but he wasn’t about to listen.
“What are you going to do?” Mike asked, his voice in a hauntingly semi-calm state, regardless of his word choice. “You have no fucking job, no fucking money…”
“And no fucking life!” she replied. “You do god knows what all day and leave me here…alone…no help…no companionship…”
“Honey,” Mike said, trying to warm up. He even managed to crack a smile. “We can work through this. I’ll come home more…help out around the house. Hell, we can go on vacation right now…relax…get away from it all,” Pausing, Mike looked down at the bags. “You’re already packed…”
“Michael, we can’t just run away and pretend that the problems won’t be here when we get back,” she said. Mike was desperate.
“We can start a family…” he pleaded, reaching out to embrace his wife. Coldly, she backed away.
“Not with a father who’s never home,” she snapped. Mike’s head drooped.
“I can change,” he said, cursing himself for the clichés and the fact that he, now, was on the defensive. She always managed to do that to him.
“Bullshit,” she replied softly, as if half afraid to say it.
“You can’t leave, Hon,” Mike pleaded quietly, staring at her with those eyes that used to drive her wild. It seemed so long ago, Mike admitted to himself before shaking the thought out of his head. How long had this been going on? Why hadn’t he seen it?
“Michael, I met someone else,” she said in a faint whisper. “We’ve been seeing each other for a while now…just casually…and we’re both ready to take it to the next level.” His heart sunk, his anger swelling. “But I don’t want to cheat on you…so this is how it has to be. You’re cute…young…you’ll find someone else…”
“You didn’t give it a chance…” he said, almost as if she wasn’t there, still mesmerized by the fact that it had only been seven months last Tuesday.
“We gave it too much of a chance,” she replied. “Not just our marriage…but our entire relationship. Admit it, Mike, outside of the bedroom what do we have? What have we ever had?”
Mike could only shake his head. Was she right? She couldn’t be right…but then again…
“Goodbye, Michael,” she said, walking towards him for a goodbye kiss. Reaching deep down, Mike found the strength to push her away. Tears gathered in her eyes, one slowly rolling down her cheek.
“Don’t fucking cry,” he said softly, glaring at her with a fierceness unrivaled.
“Don’t make our goodbye be…”
“No,” Mike snarled, his lip curling in disgust and his finger extended, pointing towards the woman who would soon be his ex-wife. “Don’t you dare cry. You have no goddamn reason to feel sad…this…all of this…and everything that is going to happen…it’s all your fault.”
“Mike…don’t blame this all on…”
“Fuck you,” he said, his voice rising as if it were some sort of unholy command. Timid, she stepped back as if she didn’t hear him correctly. “FUCK YOU!” Mike screamed, feeling the tears swell up in his own eyes. All that she had said suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks, a bullet straight through his chest. The denial, the affair, the divorce…all of it…all at once.
Dazed, Mike simply stood there, where he had been all along, as she quickly took her bags to her small speeder and loaded them into the trunk and the backseat. It took her three trips, but Mike just stared straight ahead, only seeing her when she came into view. He could feel her pause at the door, staring at her attractive and once-loving husband, hesitating for just a minute before she left, slowly closing the door behind her.
The house felt empty, as if it hadn’t been lived in for a hundred years. They had bought it small for both personal and financial reasons, filling it with cheap yet attractive furniture, planning out their futures in the process. Now, seven months later, their futures had been shot to hell, their dreams shattered. Their home was now silenced, and Mike was alone, a simple realization that hurt most of all.
Detective Michael Bishop was an Imperial man of law, and if he had learned anything living on post-Civil War Steel Butterfly, it was that there was no right or wrong. Still, he could not fathom how a divorce could be right. Not far from where the infamous ship had crashed down to the surface, scarring the planet-city even now, eight years later, Mike stood perfectly still, a scar slowly growing deep inside.
His emotions were shattered, and came to him in pieces. Anger, sadness, uncertainty all rushed him at once. This was happening all to fast, his life spiraling out of control, and although Mike knew not how to stop it, he had come to a conclusion – he couldn’t stay. Not here, not now.
Mike drove mindlessly throughout the city, neither stopping nor paying attention to anyone, abandoning his job for the night in place of solitude. Silence made up a large part of his life, and yet tonight he wanted anything but. The rain poured from above, and as the speeder cleared its windshield, Scott stopped at the light and looked up. Something was falling towards them.
Days later, Mike realized that he would never forget that face for as long as he lived. Its features, frozen in fear as it fell, were now smashed onto the windshield, right in front of the passenger side. A quick DNA test told him, as well as the rest of the Imperial Police, who the lady was, but the woman’s identity was the farthest thing from his mind at that time. He had seen her face as she fell, saw the terror in her eyes in the split second before she hit his windshield full force from above. Broken and bloodied beyond recognition, the woman’s face was somehow less horrifying than it had been as she plunged towards him from the heavens.
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Jack Valkare - Dave Bivens - Adrian Winters - Andy Braddock - Mike Bishop - Laura Bishop
Seek me...
Call me...
I'll be waiting...
This distance, this dissolution...
I cling to memories while falling...
Sleep brings release, and the hope of a new day...
Waking the misery of being without you...
Surrender, I give in...
Another moment is another eternity...
http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p686906.png
“You have any kids, Jack?” Emperor Dave Bivens asked General Jack Valkare as the general entered the office of the emperor.
“I’m not married,” Jack replied. Bivens was turned away from him, staring down at something.
“Not really a requirement,” the Emperor responded, turning around. A smile crept across Valkare’s face.
“I think if I had any kids, legitimate or not, you’d be the one to know,” Valkare said. Bivens nodded in agreement before his smile quickly turned upside down. He exhaled.
“Ten kids were killed today,” the Emperor announced. “It’ll be on tonight’s news.”
“Good lord…” Valkare muttered in shock.
“The ten kids were all from families whose parents supported the Resistance during the Civil War,” Bivens explained, not attempting to hide the disgust on his face.
“Former Imperials?” Valkare asked. Bivens shook his head ‘no.’
“No,” Emperor Bivens continued. “The shooter’s father was a decorated Resistance Captain. Apparently he came home from a veterans’ party with the victim’s fathers pissed off. His war buddies didn’t agree that I’d sold out. They didn’t agree that I had become an ‘Imp’ like Nemerov before me. He vented his rage at school…and his son did something about it.”
“His son?” Valkare asked. “A fucking kid did this?”
“It’s been eight years, Jack,” Bivens said, shaking his head and leaning back in his chair. “Eight years ago I was this kid’s dad’s savior…now I’m the enemy.”
“What are you going to do?” Valkare asked.
“Death penalty,” the Emperor replied. “Murder for the son, treason for the parents. What the hell’s changed, Jack? Am I that different?”
“I think it goes with the job,” General Valkare replied. “Can’t make everyone happy.”
“This isn’t the first occurrence,” Bivens muttered.
“But this is the hardest time in the history of the Empire for someone to rule,” Valkare said. “We all knew that coming in. Rebuilding…is never easy…and people aren’t happy when things aren’t easy.”
“I think that includes Emperors as well,” Bivens mused, rubbing his eyes with his hands.
“You need to get some sleep,” Jack said.
“You know I hate to,” Emperor Bivens said, grinning sheepishly.
“It’s hard admitting that you’re only human, isn’t it?” Valkare asked.
“This job won’t allow you to be only human,” Bivens replied. He rolled his eyes sarcastically. “One of the ‘perks’ I’m sure.”
http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p675495.png
“Prison’s what reminds you that this is still a dictatorship,” Adrian Winters told Major Andrew Braddock halfway through their weekly conversation. “You tend to forget it…living day to day…but prison won’t let you.”
“Bet the guards love hearing that” Braddock mused, cracking a smile. Adrian had been in prison for almost a year, his punishment for killing Dr. Julian Rane, the Director of Intelligence at that time.
“About as much as they love your visits,” Adrian replied. He had grown hard to read, and Braddock had trouble figuring out what was going on behind his eyes, which had noticeably changed since the last time they met.
“Hmph,” Braddock grunted, running his hand over the stubble on his cheeks and chin. Adrian, as well, had not shaved for a day or two, but other than that he seemed fit. It was apparent that he had kept up his rigorous exercise, even in his cell. Still, his eyes were different, haunting, and not just due to the expression they presented. “What they’d do to you?”
“Interrogation,” Adrian replied, somewhat surprised that Braddock had noticed anything. They had tortured him from the beginning, but never very physically, as not to leave a mark. Still, Adrian decided to fill his former superior officer in on the latest method. “They blind you…sometimes for days at a time…I’m not sure why, other than for fear.”
“Are you afraid?” Braddock asked.
“I’ve been afraid all my life,” Adrian replied, retreated back into himself as he always did. “This is no different.”
“They look…” Braddock began.
“Spooky?” Adrian interrupted.
“…clouded.” Braddock continued. “White. Smoky, perhaps.”
“Wish I had a pair of shades,” Adrian joked without cracking a smile. He had always been over-serious, and jail did nothing to change this. “Find out why they haven’t killed me?”
“I heard they tried,” Braddock said, almost laughing at the absurdity of the statement.
“It hurt like hell,” Adrian replied honestly, mentally agreeing with Braddock.
“You know why you didn’t die?” the Major asked. According to records, he was the first not to.
“I can guess…but no…I don’t think very many people do…if any at all…”
“I suppose a life in prison makes you suffer more,” Braddock muttered, staring at his hands. He held a great deal of contempt for Adrian’s imprisonment, although that wasn’t to say he didn’t understand it.
“Don’t talk like that, Major,” Adrian said, breaking character. He almost sounded needy, as if begging his mother not to cry. “You’re my link to the world…and my only friend…I don’t want to see you end up on the same side.” Quickly he returned to form. “Remember…I’m an enemy.”
“I owe you my life,” Braddock maintained.
“And that’s enough of a tie to lock your ass up.” Adrian warned, his body sitting perfectly still as it always did. “On top of that you visit me.”
“I’m…still a hero,” Braddock began to explain.
“Oh?” Adrian asked, honestly not knowing what his friend was talking about.
“My…condition…is still secret,” the Major elucidated. “To them, I caught you…arrested you...saved the Emperor himself from your…rampage.”
“And your memory?” Adrian questioned.
“Rane and the doctor were the only two to know…and the doctor still supplies me,” Braddock concluded.
“Well your life’s pretty much in check,” Adrian said, and once again Braddock could not tell if Adrian was spiteful or happy for him.
“Still got a good friend in jail,” the Major replied. He paused, leaning close to his prisoner friend. “You’re…?”
“Yeah?” Adrian replied, almost instinctively knowing what his friend was going to ask, even though Braddock had never asked it before.
“Have they…?” Braddock tried to expand.
“No,” Adrian replied, glaring through his clouded eyes, deep into those of Major Braddock’s, and Andy knew the truth. As he left, a chill rolled down his spine. The door quietly shut behind him.
http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p695280.jpg
"It's been seven months!"
Nevertheless, she managed to stare back at him with the same stupid deer-in-the-headlights look that consistently pissed him off.
"It's been seven months!" Mike Bishop repeated, shaking his head in both surprise and disgust. He stood in front of the door, the only thing blocking his wife and her bags from passing through. He could feel his temper rising. “Seven motherfucking months!”
“Mike, please…” she begged, but he wasn’t about to listen.
“What are you going to do?” Mike asked, his voice in a hauntingly semi-calm state, regardless of his word choice. “You have no fucking job, no fucking money…”
“And no fucking life!” she replied. “You do god knows what all day and leave me here…alone…no help…no companionship…”
“Honey,” Mike said, trying to warm up. He even managed to crack a smile. “We can work through this. I’ll come home more…help out around the house. Hell, we can go on vacation right now…relax…get away from it all,” Pausing, Mike looked down at the bags. “You’re already packed…”
“Michael, we can’t just run away and pretend that the problems won’t be here when we get back,” she said. Mike was desperate.
“We can start a family…” he pleaded, reaching out to embrace his wife. Coldly, she backed away.
“Not with a father who’s never home,” she snapped. Mike’s head drooped.
“I can change,” he said, cursing himself for the clichés and the fact that he, now, was on the defensive. She always managed to do that to him.
“Bullshit,” she replied softly, as if half afraid to say it.
“You can’t leave, Hon,” Mike pleaded quietly, staring at her with those eyes that used to drive her wild. It seemed so long ago, Mike admitted to himself before shaking the thought out of his head. How long had this been going on? Why hadn’t he seen it?
“Michael, I met someone else,” she said in a faint whisper. “We’ve been seeing each other for a while now…just casually…and we’re both ready to take it to the next level.” His heart sunk, his anger swelling. “But I don’t want to cheat on you…so this is how it has to be. You’re cute…young…you’ll find someone else…”
“You didn’t give it a chance…” he said, almost as if she wasn’t there, still mesmerized by the fact that it had only been seven months last Tuesday.
“We gave it too much of a chance,” she replied. “Not just our marriage…but our entire relationship. Admit it, Mike, outside of the bedroom what do we have? What have we ever had?”
Mike could only shake his head. Was she right? She couldn’t be right…but then again…
“Goodbye, Michael,” she said, walking towards him for a goodbye kiss. Reaching deep down, Mike found the strength to push her away. Tears gathered in her eyes, one slowly rolling down her cheek.
“Don’t fucking cry,” he said softly, glaring at her with a fierceness unrivaled.
“Don’t make our goodbye be…”
“No,” Mike snarled, his lip curling in disgust and his finger extended, pointing towards the woman who would soon be his ex-wife. “Don’t you dare cry. You have no goddamn reason to feel sad…this…all of this…and everything that is going to happen…it’s all your fault.”
“Mike…don’t blame this all on…”
“Fuck you,” he said, his voice rising as if it were some sort of unholy command. Timid, she stepped back as if she didn’t hear him correctly. “FUCK YOU!” Mike screamed, feeling the tears swell up in his own eyes. All that she had said suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks, a bullet straight through his chest. The denial, the affair, the divorce…all of it…all at once.
Dazed, Mike simply stood there, where he had been all along, as she quickly took her bags to her small speeder and loaded them into the trunk and the backseat. It took her three trips, but Mike just stared straight ahead, only seeing her when she came into view. He could feel her pause at the door, staring at her attractive and once-loving husband, hesitating for just a minute before she left, slowly closing the door behind her.
The house felt empty, as if it hadn’t been lived in for a hundred years. They had bought it small for both personal and financial reasons, filling it with cheap yet attractive furniture, planning out their futures in the process. Now, seven months later, their futures had been shot to hell, their dreams shattered. Their home was now silenced, and Mike was alone, a simple realization that hurt most of all.
Detective Michael Bishop was an Imperial man of law, and if he had learned anything living on post-Civil War Steel Butterfly, it was that there was no right or wrong. Still, he could not fathom how a divorce could be right. Not far from where the infamous ship had crashed down to the surface, scarring the planet-city even now, eight years later, Mike stood perfectly still, a scar slowly growing deep inside.
His emotions were shattered, and came to him in pieces. Anger, sadness, uncertainty all rushed him at once. This was happening all to fast, his life spiraling out of control, and although Mike knew not how to stop it, he had come to a conclusion – he couldn’t stay. Not here, not now.
Mike drove mindlessly throughout the city, neither stopping nor paying attention to anyone, abandoning his job for the night in place of solitude. Silence made up a large part of his life, and yet tonight he wanted anything but. The rain poured from above, and as the speeder cleared its windshield, Scott stopped at the light and looked up. Something was falling towards them.
Days later, Mike realized that he would never forget that face for as long as he lived. Its features, frozen in fear as it fell, were now smashed onto the windshield, right in front of the passenger side. A quick DNA test told him, as well as the rest of the Imperial Police, who the lady was, but the woman’s identity was the farthest thing from his mind at that time. He had seen her face as she fell, saw the terror in her eyes in the split second before she hit his windshield full force from above. Broken and bloodied beyond recognition, the woman’s face was somehow less horrifying than it had been as she plunged towards him from the heavens.
http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p698783.png http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p698781.png http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p695209.png http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p694680.png http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p692956.png http://209.85.48.8/237/117/upload/p695279.png
Jack Valkare - Dave Bivens - Adrian Winters - Andy Braddock - Mike Bishop - Laura Bishop