No one seemed to be fully on board, but no plan was without its flaws at this point. Each weighed the options in their own minds. Aryu took the moment to be secretly pleased with himself at his plan and the way things had turned out. Johan would be proud.
“We don’t go in half-cocked,” Nixon said after a moment. Aryu didn’t really know the expression. “We sit right 'ere and wait, we make a plan, and we do somethin’ other than hand ourselves over t’ 'em and think on our feet when tha time comes.”
“You know they can likely see and hear everything we do, right?” Sho asked. “Even right now. All the whispering in the world won’t help us.”
“We’ll do tha best we can. Although, before we go any farther, I 'ave t’ say tha’ I’m not accustomed t' so many odds bein’ against me.” Nixon’s honesty was scary.
“Well,” said Crystal, “seeing as I’m looking at the handsome holder of the Shi Kaze right there, alive and breathing, I’d say being in new and crazy situations Is your new favorite pastime, Nix. Good thing too, or else where would we be now?”
Aryu blushed at the statement as she flashed him an impish, rosy-eyed wink coupled with a slight sticking out of her perfectly pink tongue. Her manipulation of a person was nothing short of perfection.
“Alright, take a seat, folks. We’ve got a bit o' a wait and many things t’ discuss in the meantime.”
“And the likely surveillance on us right now?” asked Sho.
Nixon shrugged. “Does anyone know any good songs?”
-----------------------
The messenger slinked off into whatever hole he came from, terrified by the brief glimpse of the Est Vacuus sword, with urine dripping on the floor from pissing himself in fear of the emptiness. The bearers of bad news often tasted its full wrath, so this one got off easy.
Singing? Of course they were. Singing their little hearts out while they concocted a plan. Simple but effective.
They wanted to get caught. They actually thought they could devise a way to stand a chance.
The leader of the mechanical army resumed his surveillance of a series of translucent monitors, each showing live aerial images from different fronts of the pressing army, each the same boring mishmash of marching troops, hovering tanks, and wheel mounted weaponry. Boring, boring, boring.
Ever since he had activated this fantastic army ten years ago and learned of the rumored boy with wings, he had come up against a disheartening lack of obstacles, save for the likely inevitable arrival of the phoenix. Still, even he had his weaknesses, proven by his first encounter with the drone and the High-Yield it had brought with it.
He did wish he could come up against something to challenge him and his (mostly) lifeless minions. If he didn’t, this was going to be a very dull domination of the world and all who inhabit it, which of course was where this opening foray was destined to lead.
His discovery of the science that led to the creation of the neural impulse inhibitor was just the icing on the cake. All of those with the Power whom death was too quick an option for were instantly at his mercy, as weak and mortal as any other. In one quick, fortunate blow, he had at his command all the strength to defeat the most powerful beings alive with nothing more than a pinprick. It was simply too easy. Almost depressingly so.
Almost.
He left the screens, weary of his domination. Who knew you could find so much malaise in so much triumph. He walked out to the staging floor of HOME, a large launching pad used to lift the army away in large mechanical troop transporters. Beyond the pad was the vast ocean. Beyond that, the southern beaches where their first foray onto land had begun. Spread out to the visible distance to the east and west were the landing crafts and high-powered battle ships that had announced their arrival to the weak and frightened people of these lands.
What a lot they were. Some of them, like the messenger he had just gleefully intimidated, surrendered and offered their unwavering loyalty in exchange for safety and ultimately, their lives. Although he had no real need for living minions beyond a few loyal people, the occasional strong arm from their own race was useful, and he would much rather have living people on board HOME to serve as his messengers, workers, and minions as opposed to anything robotic. For one, robots loved to break down, and two, he had much more respect for robots versus the weak human form. Most of them were either too scared or too foolish to even operate even a simple handgun, and the ones that did learn took to using them far too readily. Still, they could always get places other more lifeless inventions could not to do his bidding. That was enough to keep a handful around. For now.
He lamented at how quickly and easily this whole operation had come about. If only he had known it was just this simple: a flick of a few proverbial switches, and he was king of the world. All that time, all those useless millennia wasted on mastering the Power only to lose repeatedly when once it had been enough to make him so dominant.
Even his once-loved brother was nothing but a fragile shell of the man he once was. Oh, he knew bringing him and Crystal here was a mistake, but at last he had nothing to fear from him. The malicious weapons of the Old had rendered them powerless.
He recalled what pride always came before and dismissed the ill-conceived notion. He’d have them
