Oh Hell, what a twist! [weekly mission]

[Takahashi Aki]

A most mysterious package made its way to Keystone early in the morning. The Steward picked it up as he entered the facility. Upon opening it up he found a note, which explained what it was: a phase focusing symbiotic cube. The Steward's eyes narrowed as he picked it up. Apparently those who solved the riddle of the cube vanished. The Steward placed down the cube and went to go grab his end all for worldly mysteries Sage Khan's the Greater Ends of the World. Sosuke flipped through pages of the book and found the item in question. He looked at the history of the item, and yes there were no actual good reason as to why the person vanished.

Would that stop the Steward from solving the riddle? Absolutely not.

The cube could be dissembled and taken apart. Unlike a rubix cube it didn't used colours it had designs such as circles, squares, and triangles. After assembling the cube, the Steward realized that he had missed the circle pattern. Again he disassembled it, only to reassemble it. This time he had it right, and the Steward placed the cube down. He stared at it wondering what next would occur. The circular symbol opened up and black liquid began to pour out of the cube. Sousuke's eyes narrowed. It wasn't acid because it wasn't melting the table. The black liquid continued to pour out and out of the cube. "Does it stop?"</B><i></i> Sousuke spoke out loud, and just as he finished saying that the black liquid rose up and attacked him.

Who knew that such a thing had sentience? The Steward found himself being coated in the black liquid as it proved to be quite sticky. This was indeed quite a problem as the Steward next found himself on the floor being unable to move. Soon enough he was over taken.

Shade surfaced in Sousuke's mind as something was amiss. The entity rode his skeletal warhorse throughout a desolate landscape where as Sousuke's mind usually took the form of a library or a lab. This is disturbing...<i></i> The Shade would speak to himself as he came across a familiar sight. He found one of Sousuke's puppets. The one that was in the shape of a canine which highly resembled Number Seven.

"What the devil is going on here?" Metal Seven would inquired. The metallic canine was armoured and weaponized to the teeth.

I could ask you the same.</I><i></i> Shade spoke as he looked about. I believe our friend has been overcome with something trying to overtake his mind. I suspect that you are a failsafe engineered to stop such an event?

"I believe the term is ... fail-safe keeper. Sousuke has such complicated names for things." Spoke the metallic canine. The two journeyed the bleak landscape and found nothing but ruin and destruction. They came across a ruined fortress that slightly resembled something like Keystone Prime. As they walked on in something skittered across. "I don't like this."

<I>Prepare yourself. It comes.<i></i> Shade detected an abnormality as he had entered the facility pinpointing it was difficult. A sluggish pile of black slug rushed up and tried to overtake them, but was pelted back by the Metallic Number Seven who opened his mouth and fired a red plasma beam. Symbiote!<i></i> Shade would cry as he drew his own version of the Ebon Blade. I thought their kind to be erased, but still they linger!<i></i> Shade charged the ebon blade and fired a stream of fire at it in an attempt to burn it. The stream missed as the black slug regrouped itself and expanded itself greater than before as it attempted to slam down upon both Shade and Metal Seven darted in opposite ways avoiding the slam.

Metal Seven took advantage and opened fire with a kunai cannon in which each kunai had an explosive note strapped to it. Several explosions rocked the symbiote as it retreated back and formed into a ball which it threw itself as the puppet canine. Shade in order to aid his ally formed a spear of a fiery nature and threw it. The spear impaled the ball form, and caused it to roll off course. Fool I am! I should have warned Sousuke of these, they're not well documented by the agents of the new world! The Shade rode towards the ball with the ebon blade in hand. He held out the sword and expanded a great fire blade and he began to slash at the ball. He began cutting through it but each piece he cut away regrouped and flung itself at Shade. Shade again responded with more slashes to deflect it.

Metal Seven slammed his paws on the ground and projected great plasma nails and began slashing through the fiend and vaporizing the symbiote. The black sludge reformed and transformed into a black lion which let out a roar. Metal Seven growled at it in return and began arming up. Another kunai cannon formed out of the back, duel senbon cannons formed out of the sides, and the puppet simply opened fire unleashing a plasma barrage upon the hellish lion. Smoke formed from the ruin, but the lion raised up again and made way for Metal Seven who lacked ammunition.

The response to this came from Shade who held the ebon blade and then hurled it at the black lion. As it went flying towards the beast the blade turned bright red drove itself deep into the beast. The Shade then detonated it with a spontaneous combustion completely vaporizing the beast. The moment that it was completely gone the desolate landscape began to deconstruct into steel tiles. Before the two mental entities knew it several miniature Sousukes in the mark 1 armour were appearing and working along as if none of this had happened.

A Sousuke with a shirt with the Number One on it approached the two. <B>"Back to work you two we got a mess to solve... oh... where did the black liquid go? It's gone! Did you two...?"<i></i>

Sousuke came to eventually rising up and shaking his head. The black liquid was all gone, but the cube remained. Sousuke shook his head and felt the sudden urge to take the cube to the incinerator... and that is precisely what he did.