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The Mountain - 1956
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The Mountain is a 1956 adventure/drama movie, starring the great (and sober for this role) Spencer Tracy, just coming off his success in "Bad Day at Black Rock" the year before (as well as over 30 other film roles under his belt), and the younger, but fairly recognizable up and comer at this point in his career, Robert Wagner (known to more modern movie fans as "Number 2" in the "Austin Powers" film series). Having acted alongside each other in multiple roles already, the chemistry between our two lead actors is evident and believable enough as they portray two brothers (although separated by what seems like 10-20 years in age, though this is more common in the real world than people want in film). The plotline follows these two brothers as they make a deathly high-alpine climb to the top of a nearby Mountain (Mount Blanc, France) where an airplane has recently crashed with plans on looting the dead. The movie is directed by Edward Dmytryk, recently back from being blacklisted from the film industry, as well as serving a short stint in prison with the other "Hollywood Ten" who refused to testify to the House of Un-American Acitivities Committe in their investigations during the Cold War\McCarthy-era "Red scare". Previously known for his 1940s noir films, particularly "Crossfire" from 1947 (one of the earliest films to deal with the subject of anti-semitism), upon Dmytryk's return to Hollywood, he solidified himself yet again with "The Caine Mutiny" in 1954 before bringing together our two leads for their first time in the same year with "Broken Lance", then going on to direct 3 more films before coming across French novelist's Henri Troyat's recent novel "La Neige en Deuil" (inspired by the true airplane crash of Air Indian Flight 245 in 1950) and deciding to bring it alive on screen, acting as both producer and directer for his first time.
We start the movie off with a bang, when a commercial plane crashes atop a snow filled mountain peak, leaving what seems like no survivors. Down below at the nearest village, Zachary Teller leads a simple life of a sheep-herder on his longtime family farm, while currently constantly dodging out a lovestruck neighboring widow who desperately needs a new husband. His younger brother however, Christopher Teller, is angry and envious with his position in life, working as a server\porter boy, waiting on rich skier and mountaineer guests at the village's local mountain resort, as well as sharing the family home with his more respected big brother Zach.
When word arrives of the downed airplane atop the mountain, a rescue party is put together to retrieve any possible survivors and their worldly possessions. Once having been the most experienced mountaineer in the area (and one of the only people to have ever even made the climb), Zachary is asked to lead to climbing expedition, to which he denies on the count of having lost a man over the edge on his last climb years ago.
Later that night at home, the two brothers argue over the ownership of the house, with Christopher wishing to sell it and Zachary wanting to keep it in the family for as long as possible.
The next morning, the unsuccessful expedition returns having lost their main guide (and Zachary's old mountaineering friend) Tsavos, in the midst of the climb.
Again at home that night, the brother's get into another argument, with Christopher this time trying to push Zachary to lead him up the mountain so as to loot the apparent rich, and now dead passengers. This would give Chris the means to leave the village and put to rest his hopes of selling the family farm. But Zachary shoots down the idea for the sake of both his brother's safety and soul, even offering to renounce his claim over the family farm. Already having the idea stuck in his head though, Christopher likewise denies Zachary's offer and stands firm on making the climb alone, forcing his brother to relent in leading him up the mountain. The two brothers pack their gear and start their way up to the base of the mountain at first light.
The next portion of the movie takes us on a spectacular scenic journey, using a combination of stock shots, matte paintings, and practical built rock walls to showcase not only the mountain and landscape itself, but also emphasizing on the physical capabilities of the plus 50 year old Zachary Teller. As the lead climber, Zach makes his way up and along frozen rock walls and narrow ledges, using the strength of his hands and feet alone, all while using hammer and stakes to fix a line of ropes for his less experienced brother to follow.
We're treated to a quick scare when Christopher takes a slip and goes falling down some way before Zachary finally gets hold of the rope and pulling his brother back up to safety, ripping his palms into a bloody mess in the process.
By now the tables have turned in the brothers' mindsets, Christopher now wishing to turn back out of fear, and Zachary now too far into his goal of conquering the mountain yet again, clear forgetting the reason why they started the climb in the first place. Zach convinces his brother to continue on and up to the summit, and that the worst of it is now over.
Together, now using their ice axes and crampon shoes, the brothers hike up the snowy (now on location) summit without problem, finally arriving at the top of the mountain and the plane wreckage in which they came for. While Zachary is full of pride and achievement at what they've accomplished together as brothers, Chris has no care for their triumphs, and shows his true colors as a man by immediately looting treasures from the dead, as well as breaking a cross which Zach puts together from wreckage to hide the evidence of anybody having even been there.
The underlying theme of this movie now finally surfaces in full (the massive feat of scaling the mountain acting as a metaphor for how difficult it is for Zach to accept how horrible his brother truly is, and to finally turn his back on him) when the brothers discover an Indian woman still alive in the back of the plane. Zach cares for her over night and hitches her up to a sled in the morning to drag her down the mountain, but Chris seeing this as a clear obstacle now in the way of him and his riches, throws his older brother down to the ground and tries to strangle the woman to death. Zachary now rises up and strikes his younger brother down to the ground with some good old classic Spencer Tracy style (starting onscreen and ending offscreen, complete with sound effects) punches to the face, before turning around and leaving Chris to get down the mountain on his own.
Zachary single handedly drags and hoists the surviving Indian woman down the side of the mountain, forcing him to use a different route from before, he comes to a pair of untrustworthy looking snow bridges. He inspects the first and decides against it, but still almost looses the woman while crossing over the second. An angry and frantic Christopher finally catches up to the pair and decides not to listen to his own brother's warnings about the remaining bridge, attempting and failing to cross it when the weight gives out, sending him falling to his death into an unknown depth of crevasse.
Zachary Teller, although completely heartbroken now from having lost his brother both in spirit and in body, wastes no time on mourning and continues on down the mountain with the injured Indian woman in tow.
Upon arrival back to the village, Zachary shoots down all claims that he is a hero of any sorts, and lies about his brother's inhuman actions on the mountain, telling instead the opposite story; that it was he, Zach Teller, who came up with the idea and continued on with his obsession of looting the dead, and that his brother Christopher Teller had only went along solely to aid in the safety of his Zach.
Though nobody believes it, they all give Zachary the benefit of not calling him out as a liar, and his brother as a bad man (all save for the village priest that is). He gets into the widowed neighbor lady's carriage with her and together they head "home" to live happily ever after. A final glance back at the mountain for old Zach Teller finally puts all his stored up inner strife's to bed for good, bringing us from the image of one mountain to another with the classic closing of all the Paramount Pictures movies.
To sum it all up, The Mountain (1956) is a truly amazing piece of retro cinema. Starting with a simple plotline on the surface, and changing into a more complicated family dynamic as the film goes on. This movie set the bar for the man vs. nature genre in film, as well as the common underlying theme in which these plotlines usually emphasize on, with the conquering and/or survival of certain physical hardships (in this case, the scaling of the mountain) simply acting as a metaphor for the deeper internal struggles in which our main charactes must finally come to face. Our two leads actors handle this all with extreme authenticity and sincirety, particularly Spencer in one of his most memorable and suitable roles of his entire career. The combination of both on location shots and special effect built sets make the setting for this movie more than believable enough (as long as you have an imagination enough for movies of both this time and this genre). All this being brought together and guided over by Dmytryk as both director and producer, making this (in my personal opinion that is), one of the greatest film achievements of his career as well. A classic film for all fans of the man vs. nature genre, and all around awesome retro movies in general.
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And that's all she wrote folks. Thanks for reading.
Ryan D. Hurley

The Lineup:

• Chapter 1 (2013-2017):
• The Batman
• Superman: Man Of Steel
• The Batman 2: Heart Of Ice
• Batman Vs Superman: World's Finest
• Wonder Woman
• Green Lantern Corps
• The Flash
• Aquaman
• Suicide Squad
• Justice League

HBO Television Series:

• The Batman: The Early Years
• Catwoman: The Jewel Thief
• Doctor Fate
• Hawkman and Hawkgirl
• Blackhawk

OUTLINE OF THE MOVIES
A detailed outline of plot-lines, changes and in-universe connections.

The Batman:

The Plot: This events of this movie would stay exactly the same.
My Major Changes: Batman is in his fourth year in my version of the film, he's not an experienced veteran like Ben Affleck's interpretation, he still has a lot to learn, but he isn't totally inexperienced like in the film we got. This would be done in a similar way to The New 52. I believe that Pattinson can play a Batman who has sidekicks before, but after Jason's death, he becomes more emo, like in the movie we got.
Batman, in my DCEU, already had adopted Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd and Helena Bertinelli. Bruce hasn't adopted or even met Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, or Damian Wayne yet.
Dick Grayson left on extremely bad terms with Batman in a similar way to in the animated series episode "Old Wounds"
Jason Todd gets lured into a circus, similar to Titans, and is killed on live television by The Joker, similar to Earth-27.
Huntress left Bruce, due to the trauma of Jason Todd's death, since they were dating at the time, similar to Earth 27.
Barbara Gordon got shot in the spine and raped by The Joker, like in The Killing Joke storyline, it happened shortly before Jason got killed. Barbara doesn't become Oracle until a few months after the events of the first movie.
Batwoman is a cousin of Batman, and Bruce is aware of her activities.
This would be subtly mentioned in my version, and Dick leaving and Jason's death are a few additional reasons why Bruce acts like an edgelord and doesn't have that playboy persona anymore (at least until the sequels)
Batman, before the events of this film, has already fought The Joker, Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, Killer Moth, Deadshot, Poison Ivy and Ra's Al Ghul. There would be newspaper clippings that mention these off-screen encounters.
The Joker deleted scene is added in my version, to establish that he exists in this universe, if the post-credit scenes didn't do it already.
Metropolis and Queen Industries are mentioned during Bruce's meeting with Falcone. Setting up the larger DC Universe, in the future.
I would place emphasis that Batman is struggling to make change in Gotham on his own, without his sidekicks to assist him, he only has Alfred, Catwoman and Gordon to rely on, since Dick, Barbara, and Helena, have left on bad terms or to do their own thing in neighboring cities, and Jason is deceased (for now).
That also explains why Batman calls himself "Vengeance". He's on his own with barely anyone to help him, just like how he was when his parents died. (Aside from Alfred)
Bruce's utility belt gets blown up during the final battle. Which sets up him getting a more comic accurate one, in the future.
However, he still uses the adrenaline injection, and I'd later tie that to Bane and his venom formula, in a future movie as a prototype.

Superman: The Man Of Steel

The Plot - Act-1: I’d heavily change the opening, develop Zod more, and make a cleaner Krypton that actually has crystals covering the planet, just like in the comics and in Superman (1978)
(I'd replace General Zod with Metallo as the antagonist, because Zod has already appeared in Superman ll and Smallville, by 2013, so I'd use a new villain that never appeared on the big screen in Metallo, who only appeared on Smallville with a small budget and we never fully saw his robotic form. I'd save General Zod for the third movie)
We see a small meteor found in the ocean, near Metropolis, by Lex Luthor, with a glowing green substance.
We flashback to many years ago, Kal-El is born, they name him. We cut to General Zod who is sitting in his home alone, having violent flashbacks of robotic creatures with symbols on their foreheads attacking krypton, killing people, even Zod’s family, the flashbacks are brief, but just enough to see the Kryptonian council surrender to their attacker, a dome encloses over Kandor and make it disappear, but a pod flies away as Kandor disappears.
(That will set up Supergirl in Chapter 2, and Brainiac fighting Superman eventually)
Dru-Zod is haunted and angry about this traumatic event that happened ago. Jor-El is studying problems in the planet’s core, but their computers say everything is fine. Jor-El asks Zod to come with him to check a fault line, as a scientist needs to be accompanied by a soldier when going to the outer lands, to access military equipment or whatever, just as a soldier needs authorization by a scientist to access scientific equipment.
They talk, it’s clear they’re friends, Jor-El tells Zod about his son, happy for him. Suddenly a violent earthquake erupts, causing Jor-El to quickly check his readings. They’re off the charts. Jor-El and Zod quickly rushes back to his lab to check his main computers, which are all reading things as fine, he digs deeper into the programming and finds the same symbol that was on the robotic creatures head embedded into the computers programming, corrupting it.
Jor-El is horrified, Zod is furious, yelling about how that thing destroyed their families, their brightest city, and now it’s destroyed them, Zod blames the council for bowing to the thing and proclaims them weak. Jor-El warns the council, as Zod rallies any soldiers loyal to him to save their world while they still can, he does so easily, they attack the council headquarters and take them out, Zod finds Jor-El, and asks him to help him save their world through allowing access to The Codex.
The Codex is a computer chip, essentially it’s the brain, it has info on everything, from the genetic code from which all kryptonian children are created, to the entire history of Krypton and all its knowledge, and the how to build and operate a terraforming device called the World Engine, as such a thing has been illegal for a long time due to it requiring a planet with an already habitable environment and thus life.
(Brainiac would get the information about how to build and use The World Engine in a sequel)
Jor-El refuses Zod, saying he will not allow Zod to destroy an entire race. Jor-El escapes, accesses the codex, steals it and goes to Lara, telling her they have to leave. Jor-El has set a warning for the planet to give them time to escape, but doubts they’ll be able to as a military security system destroys any ship entering or leaving krypton, but Jor-El has a plan:
A space probe, small enough to sneak past the security systems, but big enough to carry maybe one person, or one person and a baby. The probe was designed to send robotic drones to other planets and test the planet’s atmosphere and environment. He sends Lara and Kal-El to the probe, and she goes, begrudgingly, as Jor-El gives her the codex and a special command key for the probe that will guide them when they get to earth, telling her he has to distract Zod’s men to keep them from the probe.
Lara is wounded fatally, from a plasma shot by one of Brainiac's drones, but she gets into the probe with Kal-El and takes off. She hides the codex in the main engine of the probe just before this happens.
Zod captures Jor-El, and sees the probe doing that teleporting thing, he puts two and two together and takes Jor-El prisoner, gets on a large ship with his army, and shuts down the security systems, so he can track the ion trail or whatever science mumbo jumbo before it dissipates.
Jor-El, though, has thought ahead, and damaged the teleportation device thing, making it so it would trap them in the “phantom zone” between the teleportation destinations, giving the trail time to dissipate so they can’t track it.
General Zod, Faora and Nam-Ek are all caught in the vortex, and sent to The Phantom Zone, by the teleportation device.
(General Zod and Faora will return in a future sequel)
Jor-El closes his eyes as he is caught in the planet destroying explosion, as we see Krypton blown to smithereens, as a green remnant goes through a radiation storm and crashes in The Atlantic Ocean. As we cut to Earth, where the probe crashes in Kansas at night, near a farm in winter, Jonathan and Martha come out. Lara, barely alive, opens the probe, by pulling the command key out, and they find her, Jonathan tries to save her, but she dies, her last words before passing away are asking them to protect her son.
Jonathan and Martha lie to a friend of theirs in the hospital by telling them that the baby had been left on their doorstep and asking him to write down that Martha had given birth to the baby over the winter, during a recent snowstorm.
Meanwhile, Clark Kent hitchhikes across Metropolis and starts working odd jobs, researching extraterrestrial sightings, and secretly using his powers to help people in need, which results in him having to hit the road again. Clark Kent starts developing journalistic skills as he talks to people and gathers information in his quest to figure out where he came from.
We flashback to Clark Kent's backstory, with Clark's parents trying to raise him right and help him control his powers. In the scene where Clark Kent asks his father in the original movie, which is "Should I have just let those kids on the bus die?".
Jonathan Kent tells Clark, no, and that he did the right thing, but he shouldn't expose his powers too much. During the scene, these flashbacks show that Jonathan Kent wants to keep his son Clark safe, but what kind of father would he be if he didn't encourage his son to do the right thing, even when it is hard?
Jonathan Kent is inspired by his son's selflessness and rushes in to help a lady that is about to be run over, and he succeeds, but the excitement and fear cause him to have a heart attack. Jonathan Kent gets rushed to the hospital by Martha Kent and Clark, but he dies. Years later, Martha says goodbye to Clark as he's moving to Metropolis.
Back in the present, Clark Kent goes to a bar to eat some food, but when he eats, Clark notices a drunk and rude Truck Driver harassing a female waitress.
Clark Kent hesitates a bit, but he notices no one else is stopping it, so he decides to do something about the situation. As the drunk and rude trucker is about to grab the woman inappropriately again, Clark Kent grabs his arm and he angrily tells him to leave the girl alone, which surprises the truck driver and makes him a bit scared.
However, Clark notices that his strength is hurting the man's arm, and in order to not expose his powers in front of people watching, he lets his hand go to show A bit of restraint, but Clark pushes his own to the floor, so he doesn't attack him. The truck driver gets back up from the floor and attempts to punch Clark, but Clark dodges the punch before he can be hit.
A few police officers notice the fight happen, and they decide to arrest the drunk trucker for intoxication and attempted assault against Clark Kent. Clark Kent gets thanked by the waitress for standing up for her, but Clark decides to head out to avoid any suspicions.
(The waitress will later be revealed as Lucy Lane, the younger sister of Lois Lane)
Clark decides to go downtown in Metropolis to apply for a better job. He drives there and we get shots of Metropolis. The design of Metropolis, in my rewrite, strongly resembles the version from Superman Returns.
Act 2: Later, after seeing The Daily Planet building, Clark decides to apply for a job there, and he succeeds, and this is where he first meets Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Chloe Sullivan and Perry White.
Jimmy Olsen is the new kid in The Daily Planet, fresh out of college, and he becomes fast friends with Lois and Clark.
Perry White is the very stern Editor-in-Chief of the Metropolis newspaper the Daily Planet. He is Clark's boss. (I would still cast Lawrence Fishbourne)
Chloe Sullivan is witty, feisty, and cheeky reporter of The Daily Planet. She is Lois's close friend and she vaguely was acquaintances with Clark, back in his Smallville days.
Clark and Lois hit it off, despite their bickering at first, and they even agree on a date, a few weeks later. Clark and Lois interview Lex Luthor, about LEXCORP's new achievements in cybernetics. During the interview, Lex makes some unwanted advances towards Lois, which irritates Clark but he keeps his cool and stays professional.
(That is a creepy politician metaphor, kinda like a certain president from 2016, who has sexual assault allegations from at least 5 women)
Clark decides to help people publicly as Superman, as he pulls out the old black suit that Martha had made for him. After work, Clark hears an explosion, he walks as Clark rips his shirt to reveal his (Silver) Superman symbol.
After that, then John Willlams score starts as we see a montage of Clark helping people from life threatening situations and stopping robberies, as the reports of a guy flying in a gray cape stopping crime is flooding in. However, it's not entirely confirmed by the public, so some cynical people in Metropolis say it was an urban legend of some "Superman".
It's during one of these robbery encounters that Clark fought a former marine, John Corben, though his own machine gun's bullets bounced off Superman, and they ricocheted back at Corben and he's paralyzed and his body was mutilated beyond repair. A regretful Superman jumps him to a hospital, near The LEXCORP Building, (We'll get back to that later)
Later, Lois is involved in a helicopter mishap. Clark publicly uses his powers for the first time to jump high enough to catch Lois Lane falling off the damaged helicopter, as it explodes, near 'The LEXCORP tower, astonishing the crowd gathered below. Very similar to the 1978 film.
Superman is now publicly recognized, but not everyone is welcoming of this, some seeing him as dangerous for having this much power. Lex Luthor was quick to become an enemy of Superman when he accused the hero of being an alien threat to humanity. Lex also did research on the meteor that crashed, and he found out that it is deadly to Superman, Lex dubbed the green radioactive substance, "Kryptonite".
The Daily Planet was the only newspaper in existence to portray him in a positive light, with his first recorded photograph being taken by Jimmy Olsen.
Lex, along with Mercy Graves, plans to kill Superman, before he can interfere with LEXCORP and he sees Superman as a threat, due to his alien origin. It's basically Batman's motive for being against Superman in Batman Vs Superman, but pasted onto Lex Luthor, instead. Eve Teschmacher doesn't see what is wrong with Superman. She's very reminiscent of her counterpart in the 1978 film. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor goes to pay a visit to John Corben, in the hospital, after he heard the new story of his encounter with Superman.
John, by this point, is a man that was screwed over by Superman (inadvertently) and Lex made a deal with Corben that if he killed Superman, he'd get millions after the U.S. Government screwed him out of getting benefits after years of being in the marines. Feeling that he had nothing to lose, Corben agreed to the cybernetic enhancements.
LEXCORP scientists transfer his mind into an indestructible android body made of titanium alloys and powered by a Kryptonite heart. Upon the completion, Corben's android body was covered with a layer of artificial skin, which, aside from a rectangular seam which could expose his Kryptonite heart, allowed him to pass himself off as his original body.
Lex Luthor orders Metallo to cause destruction and collateral damage around Metropolis, to catch the attention of Superman. Reluctantly, Metallo rips off his human skin, revealing his robotic body from underneath.
Act-3: We see Metallo decimate Metropolis with his kryptonite powered weapons. The Military is sent in to neutralize Metallo. However, none of the machine gun rounds from the soldiers can pierce Corben's android body. Meanwhile, Clark hears a psychic call and he discovers a glowing blue crystal from the remains of his spacecraft that he keeps around. It compels Superman to fly to the Arctic where he uses the blue crystal to find The Fortress of Solitude, which strongly resembles the architecture and design of Krypton.
Inside, a hologram of Jor-El explains Clark's true origins, and after educating him on his reason for being sent to Earth and his powers, and he says to Clark,
"The people of Earth are different from us, it's true, but ultimately, I believe that is a good thing. They won't necessarily make the same mistakes we did, but if you guide them, Kal, if you give them hope. That's what this symbol means. The symbol of the House of El means "Hope". Embodied within that hope is the fundamental belief in the potential of every person to be a force for good. That's what you can bring them. They will race behind you. They will stumble. They will fall. But in time, they will join you in the Sun, Kal. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders."
Clark leaves the Fortress wearing a blue and red suit with a red cape and the House of El family crest emblazoned on his chest. It's basically the classic Superman outfit.
After seeing news coverage of Metropolis getting decimated, Clark decides to learn how to fly to save everyone, and it's the same exact scene from Man Of Steel, except when Clark does fly, The John Williams Superman Theme plays in the background instead. When Superman arrives in Metropolis, he evacuates civilians out of the city. (Because that's what Superman is supposed to be written as)
Meanwhile, Lois is about to get shot and killed by Metallo's plasma cannon, especially since she was too close to Lex's operations, as a reporter, but Superman swoops in and punches Metallo, sending the cyborg crashing into a Wayne Enterprises Building. (That's hinting at a Batman crossover)
After Superman saves her life, Lois grabs a nearby AK 47, on the pavement and evacuates Jimmy, Chloe, and Perry out of the city to be safe from all the chaos and collateral damage that Metallo is causing. Superman and Metallo have a brawl across Metropolis.
Metallo activates his kryptonite blaster and Superman is shot in the chest with it, weakening him and sending Clark crashing into a car, destroying it on impact.
Metallo absolutely bodies Clark in his weakened state. Corben is a master martial artist during his time with The Marines, and Superman is reliant on his abilities. Metallo beats down on Superman.
Metallo fires a missile at Superman, but using his reaction time, Clark turns the missile right back at Metallo, and the explosion blows a huge chunk in the torso of Metallo's cybernetic body.
Superman flies away from Metallo, momentarily for extra sunlight, to nullify the effects of the kryptonite, but Metallo has thrusters that allow him to fly at supersonic speeds.
The two engage in an aerial fight, but Superman grabs Metallo by his robotic skull and throws him into The LEXCORP Tower, tearing a hole through the skyscraper.
Superman and Metallo continue fighting in the LEXCORP Tower. When they are in close quarters, Superman freezes one of Metallo's arms and blows it up with his heat vision, knocking Metallo backwards, losing his right arm in the process.
When Metallo rushes towards Superman, Clark, in slow motion, sees an exposed chunk of wiring on the side of Metallo's torso, fires his heat vision and Metallo explodes and he is left a fiery mess, and Metallo shuts down.
Lois does find and confront Lex, thanks to Eve Teschmacher, the intern, next to Lex screams "She's got a gun!!" as Lois shoots Lex in the left arm.
When Superman arrives, Lex explains that they cannot arrest him, since he already covered the Metallo incident up, so Superman leaves with Lois, and flies away, vowing to put Luthor away in prison, one day.
Superman reveals his identity to Lois, and they still stay together as the two kiss, as the camera pans out to see the ravaged Metropolis. News Coverage, the papers and social media posts around the globe publish that Superman saves Metropolis from Metallo's terrorist attack and is a beacon of hope, just when it looked like Metropolis was about to be wiped off the map. Meanwhile, Metallo is sent back to LEXCORP and Lex repairs Corben and keeps him in a room, for something darker and nefarious…
(That is set up for The Legion Of Doom for a future Justice League sequel, especially since Steppenwolf is the villain for my rewrite of the first Justice League film)
The film ends with Superman and Lois being on their date that they promised each other, and after the date is over, Clark hears a crime, Lois kisses him and Clark suits up as Superman and flies off, with the John Willlams theme playing in the background, as the credits roll.
Post Credit Scenes: In the Batcave, Batman is watching a live video of Superman's fight with Metallo, setting up their meeting in World's Finest.
A giant skull-ship with tentacles orbits Saturn, and inside, the computer coldly states, "Kryptonian detected" and a green humanoid alien in silver armor, with his eyes glowing pink, states "Target Acquired" and smiles sinisterly.
This will set up Brainiac as a villain for a future Superman sequel, right after The Justice League.

The Batman 2: Heart Of Ice:

The Plot Act 1: The Batman 2 takes place during Christmas, and a year after the first movie. The opening scene is a flashback montage of Victor Fries and Nora falling in love and would end with the doctor saying she has cancer.
After this revelation, Victor developed a special cryogenic cell and planned to cryogenically hold Nora in there, to keep her alive, until a cure was found. However, Fries had been misappropriating GothCorp's money, which left the company in debt and the experiment unauthorized.
Fries was interrupted by GothCorp's CEO Ferris Boyle and a fight ensued and Fries grabbed a handgun, pointing it at Boyle and the security guards. Fries was then calmly ordered by Boyle to drop the gun, reasoning that it was not his nature to resort to violence and that a possibility may have existed to legitimately bankroll Nora's experiment.
Boyle's smooth talk got to Victor as he relaxed and let down his guard, allowing the deceitful CEO to kick the scientist into a lab table full of beakers which exploded. The explosion smashed him into his cryogenic freezing tanks and the accident soaked his entire body with the freezing solution and rendered him unable to survive outside of a sub-zero environment.
In the present day, Bruce Wayne has been trying to help and go out in public more and has his playboy personality, to help Gotham City recover from the flood that The Riddler caused in the previous movie. Ferris Boyle would be one of the head leaders for Gotham's rebuilding, even after the flood being frozen solid. However, it's another lie and secretly, Boyle is secretly taking money supposed to rebuild Gotham into his own bank account.
We have an opening action sequence of Batman fighting Killer-Croc, in the flooded waters of Gotham City, in the sewers. It's very similar to Bruce's fight with Killer Croc in Arkham Origins video game, where Batman uses his electrical gauntlets to wail on Croc, knocking him out and Bruce leaves Killer Croc for the cops.
After that, we see Batman as Bruce Wayne attending a charity event for Gotham's reconstruction, after the flood. It's led by Ferris Boyle. However, the door is busted down, thugs begin aiming their guns and an armored figure with glowing red eyes slowly walks towards Boyle, as Mister Freeze is introduced and he attacks The Charity Event, and tries to get the diamonds in the area and kidnap Boyle. He begins freezing people with his Freeze-Gun.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Bruce disappears into the panicked crowd and suits up as Batman, and he jumps out and kicks Mister Freeze, directly in his glass dome, cracking it. Due to his limited mobility in his armor, Freeze struggles against Batman, as Bruce continues landing several blows on him. However, Freeze gets Batman off of him and freezes Batman's feet to the floor with his Freeze-Rifle.
Mister Freeze steals the diamond and kidnaps Boyle. Victor takes Boyle to his hideout where he freezes his body. Boyle had caused his body to turn a bluish blue and for him to feel like he's constantly burning and his only comfort is his suit which cools him down. We now cut to Gordon and Batman investigating the crime scene.
Mister Freeze is using the diamonds to power his armor to find a cure for Nora who is permanently frozen. We have a similar scene to the animated series to show Freeze's lack of empathy and cold demeanor towards his goons.
Freeze has also been targeting executives of Ferris Boyle. Which leads to an action sequence in the frozen waters in Gotham City, where Freeze is surrounded by the executives, who all carry assault rifles. Mister Freeze kills them all by smashing the ice and freezing them underneath the frozen water, causing them to drown.
Finally, Batman figures out who Victor Fries is, through some research on The Batcomputer and which bank he's gonna rob next and chases after him with The Batmobile. However, Mister Freeze freezes the vehicle causing Batman to lose him.
Act-2: After his loss to Mister Freeze, Batman goes to The Iceberg Lounge to get some answers and information on Freeze but instead of getting met by The Penguin, it's two super strong thugs who are Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
Batman fights the duo, but he gets overpowered and just when Batman is cornered and about to be beaten to death, Catwoman jumps behind Tweedledum and kicks him in the head and says playfully to Batman,
"I figured you'd be here".
Together, Bruce and Selena knock out both Tweedledee and Tweedledum in a bloody fist fight. After dealing with those two, Bruce and Selina get to Penguin, who does actually have information this time as he is doing a weapons deal with Freeze where he'll trade for this new freeze tech.
Batman attacks The Freeze Thugs, alongside Catwoman. These thugs have less advanced versions of Freeze's gun and interrogate one and figuring out Freeze's hideout and his motivation for his crimes. After they are subdued, Batman and Catwoman go to Mister Freeze's hideout taking out his goons stealthily and finding Freeze looking at his wife in the tube.
Batman sympathizes with Freeze and tries to convince him that he'll help Freeze with his wife and that he doesn't need to steal diamonds and shatter Boyle, who has been frozen all this time. Freeze doesn't care and doesn't trust Batman because Boyle lied to him in a similar way. They battle for a while, with Freeze having an upgraded version of his armor for better mobility.
Mister Freeze catches one of Batman's kicks and throws him aside into one of his ice structures, shattering it to pieces.
As Batman is in a fist fight with Freeze, Bruce begins to freeze up, because his main suit is not built for this low temperature environment, as Mister Freeze pulverizes Batman with a fury of punches, which breaks his cowl.
Catwoman tries to slice into Freeze's armor with her claws, but Freeze shoots her in the neck, causing Selena to suffocate.
(As for the effects of The Freeze-Rifle, The freezing itself doesn't actually kill you but it's the hypothermia that ensues that does it)
Batman breaks the ice and stealthily retreats with a wounded and suffocating Catwoman, back to The Batcave.
Act-3: After this, Batman quickly gets out of his armor and shatters the ice around Selina's neck. During Catwoman's recovery, Bruce reveals his identity to her and the two make out and get into an official relationship. Bruce and Selina come up with a plan to stop Freeze and find some way to cure his wife. His original suit is too damaged and they don't have time to repair it, as Freeze plans to storm GothCorp and steal all their latest technologies to help Nora.
Lucius Fox and his son, Luke, create Batman's new extreme environment suit created to stop Freeze specifically. The Extreme Environment Suit is armed with Thermo Charged Batarangs. Batman with his new XE suit will find Freeze and they battle.
All of Freeze's blasts from his Freeze-Rifle do nothing as they melt quickly on Batman's XE suit.
Batman bombards Mister Freeze with explosives and blasts from his Thermo Charged Batarangs, which ends up weakening Mister Freeze.
Batman punches Freeze across the room.
Catwoman fights off Freeze's thugs. It's a similar action sequence to Black Widow's hallway fight with Whiplash's thugs in Iron Man 2.
Batman reasons with Mister Freeze, to turn himself in for the sake of his wife, Nora, and Victor agrees and surrenders to The GCPD. Mister Freeze is put away in Arkham Asylum, in an extremely cold cell. The movie ends with Wayne Enterprises announcing that they are working on a cure for cancer, and they are almost there, as Victor cries with happiness, as the film ends on a hopeful note.
Post Credit Scenes: - We see a dark haired woman, looking at photos of Batman and Superman's past sightings and footage of their battles with past supervillains, including Batman's final battle with Mister Freeze.
She says "The Silver Age of Heroes is happening, huh." As we zoom in on her amazonian armor, tiara, and lasso, hung up in her penthouse. As we hear the Hanns Zimmer Wonder Woman Theme quietly plays in the background, as it cuts to black…
(Yep, it's a small glimpse at Wonder Woman)

• Tweedledee and Tweedledum are in the streets of Gotham, and they are suddenly hypnotized by a mysterious man. That will set up Mad Hatter for a future Batman film.

So one night after, I and some friends went to my bestfriends house, us 3, deciding to go on a little night walk. The roads we went on were surrounded by wood. We came to this little open field and we were just talking about things like what we don't need to do while we are out there, just a little rule list and talking about other entity's and such. We are still beside the field at this point and come to a little tree on the side of the road and something was standing there in the little ditch connecting the road and the field and it I guess was like a white shape couldn't make out to well but it just stood there, everyone still and standing our ground, it stared at us and then took off and it didn't look like a deer from the outline of it. My friend Val, since we started walking, felt a bad presence after that when we walked a little more up the road. So we walked a little farther and stood under a street lamp to stay in the light. We decided to go back after that. Val is a very intelligent and wise individual when it comes to things like this, and he doesn't think it was a deer or anything like that .
Lmk what you think it could be?
At Vals house, there is a Skinwalker that usually lurks around his place. He lives pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, btw. But another night it was a little stormy and we were chilling talking in the dark about things but we heard scratching on the door like something wanting in I told him about it and he knows and it wants in.

This is something that can be hard to remember because many managers don't know where the line stops. For example, my manager is one moment swearing and laughing with us inappropriately, and the next she's not approving leave or farming you out to a different department to do more work. This means you never know where you stand and you let your guard down. Many people should not be managers and those that are should have clear boundaries so staff know where they stand, rather that being used.

Back in Season of Arrivals when Rasputin tracked the Black Fleet enclosing on the Solar System, I had Mass Effect vibes. I am always optimistic and hopeful, and my freinds call me crazy for that, but I am starting to lose that hope. The Black Fleet could have been Destiny's Reapers waiting in dark space. If you compare the synapse, its somewhat identical. Reapers wipe out civilizations = Black Fleet brings Collapse to civilizations. I was hoping to see some Mass Effect 3 style shit when the Pyramids arrive on our doorstep, and Lightfall just feels like the worse sitcom I ever watched. I like the addition of Loadouts, the rework of the build system, and I love Strand. But the Pyramids are not even scary at all.
​
In Mass Effect 1, when you first interact with Sovereign, you suddenly don't feel powerful and immediatly start working on trying to prevent their return when the Council doesn't even believe they exist. In ME3 you literally rally the entire Galaxy to build the Crucible against the Reapers. And it is somewhat akin to Destiny, like Reapers are synths, and their "pawns" are wiped out species, similar to Taken being former races but no will of their own, and Scorn are dead Eliksni. In Mass Effect 3 you fight on multiple fronts, literally. Like Palaven, you see massive Reapers causing havoc in the background while you are fighting. We have a Lst City, sure, but we have footholds on numerous planets and moons in the Solar System. Nessus, Europa, our own Moon, the Dreaming City.
​
Yeah it shouldn't be a Copa-Paste either from Mass Effect, but something close to it would have been better than whatever we got with Lightfall. I mean the Pyramids literally do 1 thing: Fire darkness blast and that's it and then just surround the Traveler. The Pyramids were set up to be scary and then they don't feel as scary imo.

Huang Yanqiu was born in 1956 in Dongbeigao Village in China's Hebei province. Little is known about his early life aside from the fact that he worked as a farmer in the village and his mother passed away while he was a child.
On July 27, 1977, Huang was 21 years old and still working as a farmer. Huang was recently engaged and planned on marrying his fiancee after the harvest season and the couple recently began building themselves a new home. At 10:00 PM Huang had just finished his farm work for the day and went to bed in his unfinished home. That was the last anyone had seen of Huang for a while as the next morning when the village woke up on July 28 Huang was nowhere to be found.
The village was greatly alarmed by Huang's disappearance and initiated a massive search effort to try and find him but there was no trace of Huang anywhere to be found. This worried and confused the villagers especially Huang's family as Huang never travelled far and only had a primary school level education. They searched the surrounding roads, ponds, cliffs and other unknown locations to try and find him and even contacted the nearest hospitals and police to ask if any unidentified bodies had been discovered but to no avail.
Fortunately, Huang would be found alive and unharmed but this only resulted in more questions. 10 days later on August 6 the village committee received a telegram from Shanghai. The telegram said that Huang was being held at a deportation center and that they were hoping for a local to come and pick him up. The telegram was late to arrive because it was accidentally addressed to the wrong village. There was just one problem, the telegram from Shanghai was dated at 9:AM on July 28 less than half a day after his disappearance. Huang was later returned by the police in Shanghai and it was indeed Huang. There was just one problem, Huang being in Shanghai that soon should've been impossible.
Huang was questioned by his fellow villagers and he could not provide an answer. According to him, he went to bed and when at 6:00 or 7:00 AM he was awoken by a loud noise, this noise wasn't that of the farm animals but instead the sounds of vehicles and numerous people. When he fully awoke he found himself on a sidewalk and that around him were cars, neon lights and tall buildings/skyscrapers. He wondered around and saw writing on the various buildings and businesses which said things such as "Nanjing Shopping Center", "Nanjing Restaurant", and "Nanjing Pharma" and that nearby was a large "swimming pool" which he later found out was Lake Xuanwu. It didn't take Huang long to realize that somehow he was in Nanjing the capital city of Jiangsu Province located 485 miles away from his home village.
While Huang who was now in complete and utter shock at his circumstance walked aimlessly around the unfamiliar city until he was stopped and approached by two police officers. Huang due to his state of shock and disbelief could barely answer their questions. When they asked Huang what he was doing or who he was he simply said that he was "really lost" the two officers led Huang to the Nanjing Rail Station and gave him a ticket to Shanghai and told Huang that they would be waiting for him and once he arrived he'd be taken to a "repatriation camp" for migrants and those without a hukou document. Huang not knowing what else to do and being in no position to disobey or resist bordered the train. 4 hours later the train pulled into Shanghai station and Huang headed out for the first police station he could find and to his confusion, the exact same police officers from Nanjing were already waiting for him despite being out of their jurisdiction, not boarding the train before him and most of all the train was the fastest method available at the time to travel between the two cities and the officers did not bored the train. Arriving to Shanghai before Huang should be straight-up impossible.
The two officers refused to let Huang enter the police station in Shanghai and instead dropped Huang off at the repatriation camp in Shanghai. Huang first told his story to a PLA soldier at the camp named Lü Qingtang and added the detail that the police officers in question were likely from Shandong province based on the ticket he was given. Huang stayed in the camp much longer than expected as when Huang woke up in Nanjing he didn't have any of his identity documents and when the telegrams were sent out to the village to come collect Huang they erroneously addressed them to Xinzhai Village instead of Dongbeigao Village. The confusion was only cleared up after Huang was identified via a birthmark and because the PLA soldier Huang talked to had relatives in the village.
As mentioned any questions the villagers had were multiplied as opposed to answered. Huang arriving in Nanjing that soon should be impossible. At the time trains in China were too slow to make such a fast trip. The nearest rail station was in the city of Handan which Huang would've had to find his way to in the dark despite having never even been to Handan before. But even if he did make it to Handan all by himself with next to no money the train would take 1 whole day to reach Nanjing as opposed to the 9-10 hours between when Huang went to sleep and when he woke up. And this is without taking into account the waiting time for the train to arrive at Haidan station and trains were notoriously late back them sometimes even being held back by an entire day and tickets were expensive.
Other methods of transportation also wouldn't work out. Planes and civilian aviation travel in China was still very new and of course expensive. The entirety of Hebei Province only had a tiny handful of airports with the closest one being in the north near Beijing located on the complete opposite side of Hebei from where Huang lived. It was deemed highly unlikely for Huang to make the trip there by himself especially as he wouldn't know the way and even if he did somehow make it to the airport there would still be the issue of paying for a ticket. A car also wouldn't work as nobody in Dongbeigao village owned a vehicle and even having a bicycle was considered immensely expensive and outside the means of the villagers. And even if he could use any of these methods it still wouldn't explain the short time as to even get from Dongbeigao village to the nearest city Handan would take 4 hours to drive from the village to the city by car. There was also the question of why Huang would assuming he wasn't lying would do this. Huang had never mentioned Nanjing or Shanghai at any point prior and the fact that leaving their ancestral village and families was frowned upon. How Huang made it to Nanjing in such a short amount of time is unknown but most villagers were prepared to accept it as a strange oddity and move on while others dismissed Huang as lying or bragging about visiting a city. That was until it happened again.
On September 8, 1977, it was harvest season in the village again and Huang and his fellow villagers were made to do backbreaking work during a meeting held by the village cadres. At 10:00 PM the head of the village gave Huang and a few other villagers permission to leave and go to bed early as long as they send and deliever manure/fertilizer the next morning. They all took the cadres up on this offer and went to sleep. The next morning on September 9 the villagers arrived at the fertiliser storage area only to notice that Huang was missing. Thinking that he had overslept they all went to his house only to find it empty. Something different caught their eye however, Carved into his bedroom wall was a message and that message said "Shandong Gao Dengmin, Gao Yanjin Relax"
Just like the last time Huang was in Shanghai and was quickly sent back to the village on September 11 and this time there were witnesses both in Shanghai and Dongbeigao. A majority of the village witnessed Huang go to his house and sleep before his disappearance the next morning and just like with his first disappearance Huang couldn't explain it.
According to Huang, he woke up at The Shanghai Rail Station due to a cold breeze, the same one the two mysterious police officers sent him to. Huang was again startled by his surroundings as it was the middle of the night and according to the Station's clock tower, it was 2:00 AM and as far as Huang could see there were no other people and the only light came from the stars and moon. Not only had Huang unknowingly travelled a far distance in an impossibly short time but he also did it at an inopportune time because along with the darkness Huang was constantly startled by the sound of thunder, lighting and battered by heavy rain and high winds because Typhon Babe had recently made landfall near Shanghai.
Huang who was now even more terrified than he was before could only think of Lü Qingtang, Lü was the PLA soldier who helped him after his first trip to Shanghai and was the one who ultimately helped him return home due to his relatives in the village. Lü was not only the only person Huang could think to help him but he was also the only person he knew at all in Shanghai. Finding Lü was not going to be easy as Huang wouldn't be able to navigate Shanghai at all let alone during a typhoon in the middle of the night with no people in sight.
As Huang began to walk he heard a voice coming from behind him hearing a man say "Hello there, you must be Huang Yanqiu of Feixiang County. Trying to head to the artillery division?" this shocked him immensely and he quickly turned back to see who this person was. When he turned around he saw two men dressed in military uniforms. They told Huang that they were soldiers belonging Lü's division and were assigned to pick him up from the railway station.
Huang followed the men who took various ferries and buses before arriving at the "artillery division" located in what is today the Pudong District. Despite how heavily guarded the area is the guards let Huang and the two men pass without issue. They then went to where Lü lived with his family and they were completely shocked to see them as well as Huang again. Lü however, wasn't home at the time. His wife Li Yuying was surprised that the three were even at their home because according to Li "When a relative comes to visit, they have to show their legal documents and sign in at the gate, we'll then come down and confirm their identities, then they can finally be let in. No way the guards and soldiers would let them in without any proceedings!" and years later Lü's son when questioned about the case would say that the two solider's uniforms looked off, he commented that . "...their uniforms looked quite the ordinary, yet not very fitting, especially their visors. One's shoes and visor are the most important part of the uniform,... their visors were too big, and their uniforms seem to have been borrowed, too."
Before his family could question the two they simply walked away and couldn't be found again. Huang being at the base was a major security violation and officials interrogated the guards on duty who all claimed to have never seen Huang and the two soldiers at any point. Once Lü returned home another telegram was sent directly to the head of Dongbeigao Village and they wanted to know every last detail about Huang and who exactly he was with the telegram even straight up asking if Huang was a spy. They received a response from the head of the village, telling them that Huang was just a farmer with no ill intent. Without any other information, the army decided to send Huang back to the village but sternly warned him that he'd be arrested if they ever see him again. He returned home on September 11. In their official reports the military was unable to explain how Huang got to Shanghai so quickly and managed to get into the base.
Due to the multitude of witnesses testifying that Huang went to sleep in the village and the military confirming that he was in Shanghai all those who felt that Huang was lying about his travels soon had their doubts erased. Huang became the most talked about resident of the village and not in a good way as he became the main subject of all the local gossip, rumours and of course superstitions. Many thought that he was possessed or haunted with that being the reason for his seemingly supernatural speed and ability to travel such short distances. The constant attention took a mental toll on Huang's fiance who sued his family for 200 yuan due to "reputational damages" and divorced him. This financially and emotionally ruined Huang and it was when he was at his lowest that the third and final incident happened.
Huang continued his work as a farmer and labourer for the village and on September 20, 1977, he had finished his work for the day and began walking home. According to Huang, however, so tired that he ended up passing out in the yard in front of his house and went missing again. He would stay missing until September 28 when he was found under a Jujube tree in the village and when asked where he had been he told them about the most extraordinary story yet.
According to him, after he passed out in front of his home he woke up and instead of on the sidewalk or in a deserted train station during typhoon season he instead found himself in a luxury hotel room. He looked around and behind him, he saw the same two men from the first two incidents. This time, however, they were both dressed in civilian clothing and introduced themselves. They told Huang that they were brothers from Shandong Province and identified themselves as Gao Dengmin, 26, and Gao Yanjin, 25. Huang also estimated that they were around 170 cm tall. They told Huang that they were the cause behind his disappearances and that they dressed as police and soldiers to help him find his way home, they said that they had something special planned for Huang and that during the next 9 days, they would take him to 9 major cities. Huang asked where he was right now and the brothers told him that it was still September 20 and that he was in Lanzhou located in China's Gansu Province the furthest he has ever been from home.
Soon Huang would learn how he had travelled so far so quickly because the next day on September 21 they made Huang climb onto their back and as Huang would later state "They took off" and quite literally flew away with just their bodies. Huang said that they were "flying" at a low altitude and that he didn't feel any wind, he also recounted that the brothers took turns carrying him on their back. In over an hour, the three had arrived in Beijing. They first went to the Chang'an Grand Theater without tickets and just like at the army base nobody stopped them. They watched an opera performance of Forced Onto Mt. Liang. Their next stop was Tiananmen Square and were in front of a Huabiao. The brothers who were now speaking standard Mandarin instead of their dialects introduced Huang to the surrounding areas and checked into a hotel showing the staff a "provincial-level introduction letter" for registration. That same day they then flew to Tianjin where they snuck into a movie theatre without tickets and watched a movie.
On September 22 they arrived in Harbin located in Heilongjiang Province. In Harbin, they visited a department store and then visited Changchun in Jilin Province. On September 23 they went to Shenyang in Liaoning Province. On September 25 they visited Fuzhou in Fujian Province before visiting Nanjing. They spend the next day in Nanjing. On September 27 they visited Xi'an in Shaanxi Province for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Also on September 27, they made their last stop returning to Lanzhou. When Huang went to sleep in their hotel room he woke up under the jujube tree mentioned earlier and was back in Dongbeigao Village
They travelled to every city via the brothers flying and according to Huang no matter how close or how far the city was the time it took to get there was always 1 hour. He also noted that the brothers could speak the local dialects of all the provinces they visited and whenever they went to hotels the brothers always had a "provincial-level introduction letter". One of the brothers always watched Huang while the other would borrow clothing such as police or military uniforms from somewhere Huang didn't know. Clothing and yuan for the accommodations and meals were the only items the brothers carried as they didn't seem to own items such as bags and wallets. Aside from their ability to fly to anywhere they wanted and their strange behaviour such as only carrying clothes and money, Huang said that they were seemingly normal human beings in every other aspect and ate and slept like anyone else. They also had the same body temperature as anyone else would The only rules they seemed to have were that Huang was not allowed to photograph them or anything and he couldn't keep any souvenirs from his trips. When Huang asked why they singled him out they wouldn't respond and when he asked if they could teach him how to fly like them or tell him how they learnt to do it they gave a firm "No" as their answer. Just as they had told him in the 9 days he was missing they had visited 9 different cities.
Huang was the talk of the village all over again and the superstitions that gods or ghosts were responsible continued. Eventually, the gossip around Huang had gotten to the point that the local police, propaganda department and the nearest military base had heard of Huang's story and began a very extensive investigation into Huang. Offical's believed that he was purposefully sabotaging the village's production and reputation and proceeded to classify him as a "class enemy" While being interrogated his behaviour was found to be "normal" and he showed no signs of mental illness or cognitive disorders. After they were unable to find any evidence of Huang being a threat they reluctantly let him go and revoked his "class enemy" status.
Huang's story became well known throughout China and is one of the country's most famous alleged paranormal events and even the government officially declares his case as "unexplained" This is not the end of Huang's story though.
On December 14, 2004, the case was reinvestigated by Zhang Jingping, an investigator of the Beijing Branch of the China UFO Association, Ji Jianmin, the chairman of the Feixiang UFO Association, and Dr. Wu, a famous Chinese hypnotist, professor of Peking University Medical Department. There was rather conclusive evidence of Huang's first two incidents as numerous witnesses as well as official telegrams all confirm that Huang had gone to sleep in his home village only to appear in Shanghai but there was far more doubt as to if he had been to any of the cities mentioned during his third disappearance.
Huang was put under hypnosis and asked what happened and he told the doctor the same story he did back in 1977. Huang eventually woke up from the hypnotic state claiming that one of the two brothers made him wake up. In 2004 a documentary was made by CCTV and several interviews and tests were conducted during the documentary. He was subjected to a polygraph test and he ended up failing the test and Huang refused to accept these results. Those administering the tests also admitted that Huang's declining memory, the 27-year gap between the test and the incident and the stress of being subjected to such a test for the first time may affect the results. During the documentary, the police based on Huang's descriptions also created composite sketches of Gao Dengmin and Gao Yanjin. Due to the advancement in China's transportation infrastructure, Huang was brought to Nanjing and he was able to retrace his steps and attempt to recreate his journey from the sidewalk to the former then non-existent military base.
They then brought Huang to the physiatric division of Beijing Anding Hospital where the lead doctor after reading his statements said that the brothers would've been travelling at supersonic speeds and that Huang had been sleepwalking or lying. Although nobody defended him from claims of sleepwalking his fellow villagers all refused to entertain the possibility that Huang was purposefully lying to them. They cited Huang's lack of motivation or ability to travel, how he travelled to Shanghai in such a short amount of time and how he had no reason to lie about it since telling his story caused him to become a laughing stock and lost him his fiance. Huang quite literally gain nothing from telling this story and it severely affected him negatively. Aside from a lack of evidence others supporting the lying theory state that Huang only claimed to have visited major cities prompting some to speculate that he just picked them out from a map and that oddly enough he never visited Shijiazhuang which is the capital of Hebei, the province that Huang actually lives in.
Huang was examined by other psychologists and mental health professionals who deemed Huang to be sane which is the source of the sleepwalking theory.
As this theory suggests, Huang was sleepwalking when he made his way to Nanjing and that the stories of the two brothers were just dreams he had while sleepwalking. Various Chinese netizens don't view this theory as credible since Huang while sleepwalking would need to either walk all the way to the train station in Handan (which would take 4 hours to drive to by car) and buy a tick with money he didn't have all while asleep. And while still sleeping once the train stopped in Zhengzhou he would've sleepwalked onto the next train to Shanghai all with nobody noticing he was sleepwalking and waking him up. Just to be sure though doctors performed an MRI scan of Huang's brain and the results came back normal.
The third theory is that Huang suffered from multiple personality disorder and that Gao Dengmin and Gao Yanjin were in fact Huang himself and that he just perceived them as different people due to his disorder. The Gao personalities are the ones that actually travel to the locations only for Huang's normal personality to take over once he arrives at the destination hence him waking up. This theory also states that Huang flying on their backs is actually just a fantasy of Huang Yanqiu's repressed personality. This theory doesn't stand up to scrutiny as various Mental Health officials have found Huang sane and that he would've shown signs of multiple personality disorder before and after the three incidents. This theory also wouldn't explain the short travel times and Lü Qingtang's wife and son also witnessing the two as separate people.
There is one more theory though it is from those who want to believe that it is all real and that Huang is telling the truth and that UFOs may be involved.
They looked further into Huang's claims to try and find any proof that he was in the cities mentioned during his third disappearance. According to one source when describing the weather they matched up with geological data at the time but this appears to be unconfirmed. A journalist went to the Chang'an Grand Theater in Beijing to look through their records and see if they ever held the same performance Huang claimed to have seen.
He discovered that the theatre closed due to the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake and wouldn't reopen until 1979 meaning that Huang could not have seen any performances in that theatre. However, there was another theatre nearby named the Jixiang Theater and they were open in 1977 and on September 21, 1977, the day Huang claimed to be in Beijing they held a performance of Forced Onto Mt. Liang. This journalist ruled that Huang hailing from a small and rural village could've easily confused two nearby and similar theatres in an unfamiliar environment such as the major city of Beijing.
There are also those who agree that Huang travelled at nearly supersonic speeds but instead have a more terrestrial explanation and that Huang fell victim to military experimentation.
This theory states that the military flew Huang to these cities for various experiments and that the Gao brothers were high-ranking officials in charge of the experiments. They then drugged Huang and made him undergo hypnosis to make him forget what he experienced. Many are skeptical of this theory because if the Chinese government wanted to conduct human experimentation they had a myriad of death row inmates and political prisons to draw upon so why instead abduct an innocuous rural farmer from his small village?
"The Huang Yanqiu Incident" remains one of China's most infamous unsolved mysteries but as of now, there have been no new developments as a now 67-year-old Huang has opted to live a quiet life in his village away from the cameras. The last bit of news from Huang came from 2008 when he underwent another round of mental evaluations
Sources
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%BB%84%E5%BB%B6%E7%A7%8B%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6/3270760
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050729/100743.shtml
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050729/100649.shtml
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050728/102027.shtml
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050727/102186.shtml
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/27626821

Has anyone else noticed the extreme amount of bots farming Artio? If you go in the cave once they’ve finished fighting him and stand on top of where he spawns they insta tele out and they are all around level 64/70 wearing the same gear.
I’ve been reporting all of them but nothing will be done tbf has anyone else noticed them?
They are destroying the market of all these drops.

Title really says it all! I’ve heard kangaroos and deer are pretty similar, just wondering if the Kangaroos also have suicidal tendencies just like the deer of USA
Do they wait and stand still in a “safe zone”, then, at the opportune moment - leap into the road just to go headfirst into the side of the car and go boom, thump thump thump

"About time!" Lu t'Cca thundered at her. "Split find hiding spot!
Najia backpedaled, giving the irate Split prisoner plenty of room to get past without coming into arms' length of her. At least he seemed to get that this was a prison break, and he made no move for her or her firearm, darting well clear of her, and out from the cell block.
Axiom's voice cut the sudden quiet that was otherwise punctuated only by her racing heart. "While you two were chatting, I've found a way to temporarily disable security in the hangar. That's where we'll hitch our ride. Head for the second level; the Ministry seems to have installed more switches. They'll require some adjustment, but I know you love a good puzzle." Najia snorted. She did, in fact, love a good puzzle, but breaking out of a prison was not the time to indulge in that. Usually. Unless one looked at the prison as the puzzle. She shook her head, huffing, and drew her pistol again. There was no marked pathway this time, but she made better time; it was reckless, but she jogged, since the place was seemingly totally unguarded. And, if it wasn't, chances were that Lucca would run into the guards first, and she'd hear the struggle ahead. She passed the lift, glancing towards it, and hurrying past in the other direction she hadn't been yet, coming to a door. Slowing, she closed enough with it that it opened automatically.
Najia let out a huff; Lu t'Cca was on the other side, but so was Axiom. She stepped forward, and looked from Axiom, who nodded to her, to Lucca, who snarled. "Creature reveal Split hiding spot! Creature nothing better to do?" This is a hiding spot? Najia shook her head; the two of them were literally standing in the middle of an intersection, in front of an airlock with two branches off on either side. She huffed, looking at Lu t'Cca. "Hey, Mellerd said -"
"Split not talk about friend-foes!" Lucca ranted. "Kriss went against family! Betrayal followed petty betrayal! Way of Windfall, yes. Way of some Split, maybe, but not how real warriors do revenge!" He made a guttural sound of anguish, shaking his head vehemently. Kris? He was on a first-name basis with her? The fact that Ace had spoken so frankly of xenosexual encounters popped into her head, the constant talk of betrayal, pettiness, personal matters, and suddenly it was obvious; somehow, this was personal. Personal; and none of her damn business. She held her hand up placatingly, holstering her other pistol, trusting to Axiom's physical presence to keep peace between her and Lucca. "Fine. I'll leave you to it," she said. "Split thought so," Lu t'Cca spat, looking back to Axiom. She looked to Axiom as well. "Switches, Wildcard. Get to it."
Najia nodded, and darted down the left-hand branch of the intersection, fuming all the while. It ran into a dead-end, and she uttered "ah fuck," turning and sprinting in the other direction, slaloming between Maestro and Lucca. At the end, she dead-ended there, and exasperated raised her voice, "the hell?!" Back in the middle, she examined the airlock carefully; she could see that it connected to nothing, which is why she discounted it previously. Carefully she moved into the airlock, her hand on her pistol just in case Lucca tried to kill her by cycling it, but he and Axiom seemed to be in the process of discussing old times.
Exasperated, Najia stepped back out of the airlock. "Axiom, where are these buttons you're talking about? How are we supposed to get out of here?" "Er..." Axiom blinked, tri-ocularly, at her, and looked around. He looked at his datapad. "They should be... Through..." He let out a discontent rumble. "Oh my. That is not obvious on a computer systems diagram schematic." "They're on the other side of the frigging airlock," Najia said. "You're probably already aware that humans can't survive in vacuum, let alone maneuver in it, right?" She snorted, her sarcasm at least getting a sheepish shuffle on his long legs out of Axiom. "Can we get out the way we came back in? Even if it means abandoning the Raven?"
"No," Axiom said gravely. "The tampering I did to activate the cell block doors will be caught by someone sooner or later - probably later than sooner, but sooner if we try to leave the cell block." "Split has been implanted with a tracking device," Lucca growled. "It will raise quite the ruckus when Split leave the cell block!" "If we're leaving by... Unconventional mechanisms, that will be no trouble," Axiom noted. "But if we enter the lift, it will lock down and security will be summoned immediately."
"Outstanding," Najia huffed. "Let me double-check something, see if I can think of something." She turned and left the way she had come from. She bypassed the lift; she had no intention of simply bailing on them. But now, she had two options. Neither was good, but one was significantly less good, so she hoped the other option worked. She opened a channel to Boso Ta. "Boso Ta, I hope to hell you've been listening in." "I have, Assistant!" Boso Ta's voice came through loud and clear. "You are in quite the conundrum. I hope you see a manner in which I may be able to extricate you, for I do not." "You and the Professor have been upgrading teleporters with the ability to upgrade themselves. To do so, you've been transporting equipment, right?" "Hai!" Professor Nakagawa's voice cut in. Clearly he was on the line. "This capability is within our grasp. What is your proposal, Takio-San?" "Can you teleport my EV suit to me?"
There was silence for a long few moments which felt like an eternity. "Potentially," Boso Ta broke the silence. "Have it placed in one of our lifts." "I'll get right on that," Marta cut in on the line. Najia smiled to hear her voice. "Any other requirements?" "If this will work, we will need very precise measurements," Professor Nakagawa said. "The teleporter is more your project than mine, Boso Ta. My thought is that it will require at least three triangulating vessels, and a beacon, and a substantial amount of open space." "Will an empty cell block do for that," Najia asked, hustling down the corridor. "It should yes... Yes! That will work." Rei Stringer cut in on the call, and Najia blinked as she saw Rei's comm-code. "I can arrange the fly-by," she said. It had been awhile since Najia had heard from the friend she had left in charge of the Eighteen Billion Terran-tech construction supplies factory, and generally, in charge of Eighteen Billion affairs. "There's a patrol of Katana in the area already, it won't look suspicious if they do a swing-by of Wormwood Scrubs."
Najia set her datapad down on the floor in the middle of the cell block. "I put my datapad down on the floor. Is that beacon enough," she asked. "Hai, Takio-San," the aged professor's voice informed her. "But I would endeavor to be in another room when the teleport takes place. This is... Highly experimental." "Vacating the room," Najia said, sprinting out into the hallway and down it. "Tell me when it's gonna happen."
"In... About twenty seconds," Boso Ta informed her. "You might want to cover your ears, assistant." Najia didn't even bother to complain about being called 'Assistant' again, she simply crouched and closed her eyes, covering her ears and tried to become one with the railing. She counted to thirty, then opened her eyes. "Did anything happen?" "Your EV suit and EMU aren't in the lift anymore," Marta said to her. "Better go check."
Najia did, and she laughed heartily. Her hardshell carapace EV suit and EMU were sitting on the floor of the cell block. "A perfect teleport! I didn't even hear anything." "Fantastic," Boso Ta said. "You had best hurry, Assistant."
One fast donning later, Najia opened the door to where Axiom and Lucca were still standing around, chatting like old gossips. They both started when they saw her, and she held her hand up. "Easy, guys, it's me." She was hauling her EMU with her. "Split wonders where creature was hiding that," Lu t'Cca said, pointing at her. "Ancient secrets," Najia flippantly answered, as she hefted her EMU into the airlock, and sat in it, strapping in. "Right, let's do this." Reaching up, Najia slapped the airlock cycle button. The door behind her hissed shut; air was evacuated. Her suit indicated a total drop of external pressure, and the airlock's A-grav let go, letting her float free, and so she pushed off the floor.
"Excellent!" Axiom crowed at her, over the comm. "Level 2 is right through there. That exhaust fan may impede your movements, but it won't make our mission impossible. See those alcoves? There's where I'd hide if I were you, whenever the fan is blowing at full speed."
Exhaust fan? I'm in vacuum! Najia carefully maneuvered out. She was in vacuum and microgravity; but she was also inside a large, cylindrical space. Below her was something like a massive fuse-box with a big holographic turret outline, and she jetted down to examine it, but could see no obvious way to tamper with it without most likely setting off major alarms, so she looked back up - just as a synthesized alert klaxxon sounded.
I hate this place, Naija thought, as she saw a fan at the top of the cylinder spin up. At a guess she thought, perhaps it was something like an exhaust, which struck as horrifically wasteful in space, but she could only grit her teeth, watching it spin. At the bottom of the cylindrical space, she only felt the slightest of buffeting; it might have been substantially stronger closer to the top. I am very confused, very frustrated, and I just want to get the hell out of here, she thought. She was seriously considering revisiting her first plan, which had been to simply teleport herself, Axiom and Lucca to Ace's ship.
But now, though, she was pissed, and she wanted to poke something spiteful in Mellerd's eye herself. So she jetted to the top of the cylinder, looking around. As she did, Axiom popped up in her comms. "These airlocks are shut, so you'll need to find a way to bypass their locks." She responded with only a quick "roger," looking around. One airlock, contrary to Axiom's words, was hanging open, but the lights next to it were red. She tried it anyway; but for once, Axiom was spot-on. The airlock door might have been open, but its functions were locked out, the panel totally nonresponsive. She returned below, and looked around; there was an open airlock opposite Axiom and Lucca, so she tried it, and it worked for her automatically.
"Well, let's see what's down this way," Najia muttered to herself, slipping out of her EMU and leaving it in the lock. She unholstered the pistol that was now clamped to her hardshell-clad thigh, and started to look around again.
To her surprise, she found only another cell block - it was a dead end! She was about to hiss in frustration, when she heard someone call to her. "You there! You! Hey! You are not supposed to be here!" Najia turned to face the Teladi voice, her pistol half-raised, when she saw that the figure in question was imprisoned. She lowered her aim to the floor, and appraoched the bars. Standing within was a Teladi, who looked rather forelorn. Najia's shoulders slumped. Well, this is awkward, she thought. When the Teladi seemed to realize she wasn't a guard, she started to ask, "Oh please, please, please! You cannot leave me here! I am friends with Urgu... Ugusa... I can help you make profitsss! I promise."
Najia sighed at the pathetic display, but she understood the Teladi's desire for freedom; though, on the balance, she also had no idea what this Teladi had done to become imprisoned. Knowing Kriss Mellerd, it was a total crap-shoot; she might be a real scum-bag, or she might be being shaken down. Axiom cut in on her. "I sympathize with the little lizard, really I do, but we cannot compromise this mission in the name of charity."
Najia huffed out a sigh, and looked around. Frustratedly, she slapped the door panel on the imprisoned Teladi's cell, and to her surprise - and the prisoner's surprise - it opened. The prisoner looked around, confusedly, and Najia was glad that her mirrored helmet hid her gaze. "That's the best I can do," she said, resignedly. "You'll have to effect your own escape from here, if you can. Good luck." Turning, she huffed back into the airlock, slapping the button to cycle it as the Teladi prisoner looked around in tentative confusion, taking a few steps out of her cell.
Najia pulled her EMU's straps back on. "Well, that was a fucking bust," she snarled. "I'm about to start lasering shit," she muttered, floating back into the massive vacuum cylinder, and back up towards the locked airlocks. She found a third floor of airlocks, but they only offered some shelter from the fans starting up. After waiting that, frustratedly she flew back out again, and started looking around. "Axiom, there aren't any switches here!" "My diagrams say there are switches, Wildcard. Look more carefully - and swiftly."
Najia let out a guttural growl of frustration, and switched to her cutting laser. Giving in to a pique of frustration, she hit her Mk.2 thrusters, blowing past level 1 to the sub-level, coming up level with the big fuse-box. "Right, let's see what this does," she said with a snarl, and targeted her suit's cutting laser on the big set of what looked like fuses.
She blazed a neat line down the middle of them, and, gratifyingly, the 'Turrets' hologram switched to a big red repair icon... She looked around for a moment. Nothing happened. Najia smirked. "On the one hand, this place is frustrating, confusing, and I kind of want to blow it up out of spite by now. But on the other hand, the gross criminal negligence on display is really working in my favor. Fuck it. Lasers for everything," she said, snarling and going back up the shaft. There were a bunch of unmarked panels, and, giving in to the frustration she felt earlier - which she had barely restrained herself from allowing herself to hold Lu t'Cca at gunpoint - she started lasering the panels like a schoolgirl hooligan on a vandalism spree.
"Your new laser is low-powered, but if you keep it aimed at the lock, it will break eventually," Axiom said. Najia blinked. New laser? This is my laser and I've had it for a while, and... Oh, piss on this! She laughed, however, as she saw that one of the panels had indeed fractured.
One deeply-cathatic vandalism spree later, every panel had been opened, and had revealed that inside the two panels nearest the top-level airlocks were two further, smaller panels, with similar mechanisms. With the fan starting up again, Najia took shelter in one of the alcoves at the top, just under an airlock, and, deciding to use her time productively, she lasered the opposite airlock's control panel. After holding her laser on the box for awhile, it was a glowing ruin, and Axiom commed her. "Partial access to level two established," he informed her.
Najia nodded. She didn't even bother to sarcastically snark at him, though the phrase no shit, Sherlock ran through her mind. Rather, she charitably assumed he was reporting to her something he was learning electronically, and turned around. This is gonna be bright, she thought, as she trained her laser at close range on the near access box, and closed her eyes. She held in the firing stud, and held it - counting in her head to seven, when Axiom's comm made her let up off the laser. "And just like that, we have free reign over level two! They can't stop you now!"
Najia grinned, and opened her eyes to behold a molten, glowing hole drilled into the electronics she had blasted. "Right. Let's get this show on the highway."
On the level above her, in the half just above, she slipped in, and found herself facing a door to another cell block, just through the airlock. She went in and looked; no prisoners. Walking out, she huffed, and decided to walk the half-circuit around the big cylinder again. To her surprise, she found a console, just attached haphazardly to a railing. Really? Najia examined it, and snorted; it looked shoddy, ad-hoc. She tapped the console's screen, and it simply changed color. Axiom piped up. "Magnificent! That'll give you access to half of the switches! There must be another console nearby that will let you remove the second cover."
"Got it. Moving on," Najia said. Back to the airlock she went, after checking the other half of the crescent hallway she was in; without any luck, she just floated across to the other airlock on her EMU. Predictably, she found that, on the opposite railing in the other half of the level, was another console haphazardly attached to a railing, and she rapped it quite firmly with her knuckles. It flashed. "How's that, Axiom?" "Both covers confirmed open," Axiom informed her. "Let's flip some switches. Get back into your spacesuit."
"Never got out of it. Who has time to undress four times? Anyway, switches, yaaay switches," she snarked, as she cycled the airlock again, strapping her EMU back on. "Whoever designed this place is both a madman and criminally negligent."
Once the airlock cycled through again, Najia saw that the two panels she had manipulated had caused five boxes that she had previously taken as unimportant junction boxes to slide their panels open. She groaned to herself when she saw that there were five more lock-like switches within. "Great, time for more vandalism, yay." She lasered the first of the boxes' interiors, the one that was lit, and held it for a long few moments.
"Something's not right," Axiom said, comming her. She had a sinking feeling. "The switches are also setting the state of their neighbors," he declared. Sure enough, she had blasted the leftmost switch, and the second had lit up. Worryingly, the leftmost switch did not look damaged in the slightest. "You'll have to find a combination which turns them all off," Axiom said, as Najia groaned. "I don't think a game of whack-a-mole will get you there," Axiom continued. "Though... Actually, it might!"
Najia groaned, and briefly considered calling for a five-hundred-some member boarding party attack from two capital ships instead. "What tail-hole thought this was a good idea," she bitched. "Who dreamed this up? Why install it like this? Don't anybody answer that, those questions were rhetorical," she snarked, as she set about the process of shooting the junction boxes like they were a juvenile 'turn them all off' game.
About eighty seconds and the false start of thinking she could shoot an inactive switch to switch it on and switch its neighbors states (it transpired that she could only make an active switch toggle neighbors' states), all five boxes were dark, and Najia snarled, bristling with outrage that this was evidently considered part of a high security system and not a child's game.
"You got it, Wildcard!" Axiom commed her. "Access to Level 3 established. And it turned off the darned fan! Off to the hangar, then." Up one level, Najia cycled herself into the airlock, and groaned. She was getting mightily tired of this, and she rolled her shoulders. "I am going to need a massage and to soak for an hour in the shower," she griped to no-one in particular. She hefted her EMU half-over her left shoulder, unholstering her pistol, just in case. The EMU was very heavy, but her EV suit had a fairly substantial low-profile power assist mechanism. Not enough to turn her into a super-soldier by any means, but enough to let her heft a 150kg load like a bulky and cumbersome backpack. She was tempted to leave it behind... But it was a good thing she didn't. The corridor she found was only a straight shot to - and she groaned - another airlock. As she approached it, Axiom unhelpfully congratulated her. "Excellent," he said. "Yo're approaching the internal hangar now. Our getaway ship is right over there." Cycling through, she passed into the deep well of an internal ship hangar - and groaned.
Najia was looking at a Magpie. That was the big, innovative, unique ship?
"If we want to make it out of here, you'll have to destroy the clamps on the hangar doors," Axiom informed her. Najia groaned, sighed, and rolled her shoulders. "Right. I can do that. All this for a..." She seethed, and looked back at the ship.
No, it wasn't a Magpie, but it sure as hell looked like one. It was clearly a derivative design, but it had not the Magpie's massive cargo pods; rather, it had smaller pods, and a lot more gubbins - antennae, dishes, and the like. Fan-dabbie-dozie she thought balefully to herself as she set about finding and destroying the lockdown clamps. As she did so, she also saw a couple more panels that had a turret hologram over them, and, thinking, why the hell not, fried them, too. Moments later, the lockdown clamps fell, too, and she saw a red light glare through one of the hangar windows.
Axiom piped up, "Holy triangle, that's the station alarm! Lucca and I are going to make a run for the ship!" She blinked, looking up - two EVA-suited figures, with full EMUs, cycled through the airlock she had come through.
What, she thought. Where... I... What... Where...? In a moment of dumbfounded confusion, she stared openly, unmoving, before both of them dipped between the ship's large thrusters, and headed for its belly, while Axiom said, "approaching the dock. Be with you in a moment!" Fearing being left behind, Najia abandoned the question of where they had gotten EV suits, let alone EMUs, in favor of making haste to join them.
As Najia negotiated into the airlock, Axiom and Lucca reported that they had boarded, and Axiom was working on powering up the ship's systems, and Axiom was transferring the ship's ownership - and hence, control - to her. They were trying to talk over one another, making it confusing, but, as she got into the ship and shed her MMU, running for the seat, Axiom noted, "This prototype ship does not appear to have an emergency eject system. I assume it was supposed to be added later." "Great," she snarled. "This is going tits-up and I'm in a little ship with no ejection system." "Split been moving into position," Maestro informed her, in a bit of good news. "Alarm must have mobilized more Ministry forces than Split anticipated."
"Thrice blasted!" Axiom roared from the back. "Mellerd deployed a capital ship to head off the Arcadian Endeavour!" Najia groaned, checking her map. A Pheonix-class vessel named Rolling Rock was engaging the Arcadian Endeavor.
As Najia got the Raven's struts up and pushed it forward, she got a comm from the Rolling Rock itself. She snarled as she saw Kriss Mellerd in her comm pane. "Thank you for leading the old man, and his crew of clowns, right to my doorstep. Crossing them off the Ministry's list will do wonders for my career advancement."
Najia gawped at her, in shock at the sheer gall on display, as Mellerd laughed. "You just stumbled into this whole affair, so I will offer you a one-time chance to get out of this. All you have to do is dock at my ship and hand over the pirates youy are currently harboring. You won't be able to keep the ship, but -"
Najia cut her off, snarling in anger. "You just love the sound of your own voice, bitch. Even if I was inclined to take an 'out,' though, nobody can trust you. For anything." Najia switched the comms to her ships, as she powered the Raven up to full. It seemed to be armed with two cannons; she test-fired them by holding in the trigger. They didn't fire immediately, but when she let go, they let fly. "Woah. These must be those Teladi charger things," she muttered. "Whatever. Ladies? This bitch cannot be trusted to keep her word. End her rightly!"
The Rolling Rock was already exchanging fire with Arcadian Endeavor, while Ace nipped at her heels, firing off shots from that launcher and the frontal cannon. Shiv and Kunai - the name chosen for the Paramerion - lifted from the Jackdaw and Arcadian Endeavour respectively, while Jackdaw and the Snapping Tortoise broke from formation with it to engage.
"L beam turrets... Problematic," Najia muttered to herself. "Let me see what I can do about that," she added, as she set the Raven prototype in motion. She could only hope, at least, that Kriss was at least rethinking her decision, now that the odds had tilted decidedly against her.
She dove into action against Rolling Rock, testing out the Muon Chargers, as the ships with her split and attacked. The destroyer was big, and problematic, but it seemed rather... Awkward to control, in fact. Ponderous, its turrets, even the lasers, seemed slow to respond. She nipped around it, firing a few times, as her four ships slipped past it. A plasma bolt struck her shields, and she yelped, diving to evade. "That's it," she heard Rei - not over the open comms, but in her earbud. "I am not letting you get your ass killed like this. I'm dispatching help," she said, and Najia winced.
Great. So this is how the war with the Ministry starts? And yet, oddly... There was no sign of Ministry reinforcements. Najia fled from the immediate vicinity to recharge her shields, coming in close to the Arcadian Endeavour, and watched as the Eighteen Billion Katana squads roared in. She winced as she saw that Okayama and her defense fleet had also been dispatched - a Destroyer squadron was going to bear down on Rolling Rock... Eventually. And yet, the Ministry was doing nothing.
It hit her suddenly; Kriss was rogue. Was doing this on her own. She snarled and grinned. The Ministry might be mad, when this shook out, but they'd have a hard time proving her involvement. Especially if she could play it as her ships responding to a distress call because a rogue vessel with an unaffiliated transponder had attacked a ship. It was flimsy... But it was enough. "Bear down on her, ladies. Tear that thing apart." Najia crowed, as she pulled the Raven in to touch down on the Arcadian Endeavour's landing pad. She looked back. "Axiom, they're gonna need you in the engine room. Lucca, you're not gonna wanna be on this ship!" The back ramp was dropping as she settled down; neither waited for her to have landed fully, they dropped from the ship and sprinted past, to the lift.
"So, you've decided to go down with the sinking ship? One less loose end for me to tie up later!" Mellerd crowed at her, and Najia smirked; of course she knew she couldn't trust Mellerd. "You're worse than a pirate, Kriss. Nobody can trust you," Najia said. "Prepare to kiss your ass goodbye."
Maestro was rattling on in her ear, but Najia could barely hear him over the combat calls. She hoped he was smart enough not to fire upon the T.E. vessels responding - it would be awkward later, and they were joining the fight on his side, after all. He was saying something about escape, and turrets. Najia snorted. "Actually, we're just going to blow this thing up," Najia declared. "We can't leave someone like Kriss Mellerd at our backs."
Things seemed to be doing well at first; the Rolling Rock was handling clumsily, awkwardly, as if she was critically undermanned. That gave Najia an odd hope that she might actually succeed at boarding her; the responding vessels were quickly tearing down her turrets and shields.
Then, everything went dramatically pear-shaped. Najia yelped as lasers tickled the the Raven's shields down and she got them back up again; again and again this happened, each time the hull started to fracture more and more. She made attack runs, damaged a surface element, and then things got worse. Where were those lasers coming from?
"Missile. Incoming missile." She slapped the countermeasures button, only to see the screen flash ammo empty. "Fuck!" A missile slammed into her, followed by a fly-by from a starfighter. She didn't catch it, but she took a pot-shot at it as it went past. Things were going from bad, to worse, when she heard someone howl, "Jackdaw's taking heavy fire! Jackdaw's... Oh fuck!"
Najia felt a moment of total disassociation. Numbly, her hand drifted over the stick, trying to maneuver the clunky ship like a starfighter, whilst fighting through mental fog.
Marta.
"We've got them!" Rei stringer called out, over her line. "I've got the crew of Jackdaw at the depot, but now we're under attack by a Ministry warship!" Najia gasped, shoving her stick forward, hard. Her ship was flying apart around her, and she snarled. "Someone get these motherfuckers!" "We're coming in," she heard - both the first, and last, person she wanted to hear. "Fenrir, engaging!" "Okayama, engaging." "Kagawa, engaging!" "Ark Royal, moving to engage!"
Najia laughed, incredulously. That was four fleets. Four fleets that most definitely were not supposed to be engaging to support the Arcadian Endeavour. One of them the Teladi wasn't even supposed to know about - Alarms blared. The Raven had taken a nasty hit, and a Ministry Kea was lining up on her six. She tried to pull away - she wasn't going to be fast enough - the ship jerked - the world went white.
Najia crashed forward to the deck, yelping, arms up to guard her head. She looked up; a Marine was standing next to her, offering her hand to Najia. "Better get to the skipper, ma'am," the Marina said. "We're Koshirae." Najia laughed, taking the proffered hand and climbing to her feet, hustling down to the bridge's main deck. Selaia Kevlin was standing in the middle like the Maestro, calmingly barking out orders with command presence. She looked up at Najia, briefly, smirking at her. "Does the owner have the conn?"
Najia shook her head, laughing. "Fight the ship, captain. I've got to coordinate this clusterfuck." Selaia laughed at her and nodded, barking out, "bring us up ninety, show her our broadside. Turret gunners, you are cleared to engage."
She hustled down to the fleet coordination console; the crewwoman at it hopping away for her. "This is Takio," she said, hopping on the controls. "Ladies, clear my skies of red. I don't know what the hell has gotten into the Ministry, attacking our stations like this, but if it's hostile out there, we kill it."
Rolling Rock was not having a good day, and it was getting exponentially worse. Her engines had been disabled, and Najia heard Maestro call out over the pirate channel, "Her engines are disabled. Now is the time to get away! But, where is Wildcard?" Najia winced. How was she going to explain that? Did she even want to? "This is Snapping Tortoise," Raleen, the captain of her pirate Baku called out. "We are picking up the crew of Jackdaw and Raven. Let these big bruisers fight, we'll get back to you."
"No!" Kriss Mellerd called out, yelping. "I don't wanna die!" Rolling Rock was coming apart under the growing tide of fire it was enduring, and more ships were still arriving. Najia snarled. Part of her wanted to bid Kriss a bon voyage to the afterlife, but she looked up to Selaia. "If anyone gets out of that ship, I want them. And we don't tell the Ministry."
"Roger that," Selaia said, and barked out orders to the helm to move closer to Rolling Rock. Najia looked back - a Ministry Razorbill was thoroughly engaged, and another had just blown up, attacking the construction depot.
She gritted her teeth, snorting hard. There was going to be hell to pay for this later. Righteous indigation - no, fury - was going to be the order of the day. Her ships had responded to a distress call from a Windfall trader, by an unidentified vessel. It was attacking relentlessly, wasn't on-record as being anything official. Then Ministry vessels, apparently heeding the aggressor's pleas, had jumped in, attacking Takio Enterprises assets, and the inevitable happen.
That was the tack she was going to have to take, and she clenched her fist. Outside, Rolling Rock came apart in a dazzling blossom of red that polarized the bridge windows for a long several moments. When they cleared, the ship was a debris field. Part of her hoped that Mellerd was dead; part of her hoped she wasn't. There was going to be a butcher's bill for today, and she tried - probably vainly - to make peace with that.
"Get us close enough to the Ministry Wharf to make contact," Najia said, looking to Selaia. "I've some barking to do." Selaia smirked at her. "After this? They should know damn well your bark isn't nearly as bad as your bite. They should be happy to get barked at. You should put on a respectable jacket at least." Najia let out a huff of exasperation, hurrying to do just that.
Najia needed to work to summon the righteous indignation she required for the bluff, but she reminded herself of the fate of Ace's mother to do so; the Ministry were assholes, even if they were also the lawful authority; and they had attacked her. She had clear and convincing evidence that Mellerd was up to no damn good. Not that she waas going to reveal it to anyone.
Hence, she found herself with eyes coldly blazing over the comms to the Ministry Police Kea craft which had departed from the wharf to intercept Koshirae. "Enough is enough," she snarled over the holo, standing in the conference room. "My ships responded to an attack upon a free trader from a destroyer that was not transmitting appropriate Ministry codes - not that the Ministry should be allowed to attack random traders, either."
"Your ships fired upon Ministry vessels," the captain of the Kea shot back, clearly outraged - but also, like the pilot who had followed her through the rift - terrified at being massively outnumbered and outgunned.
"Let me be clear, on the record, so there is no ambiguity," Najia said, leaning forward, placing her fist on the table. The effect was to lean closer to the hologram - and on the little attack ship's screen, her face would loom larger. "My ships responded to a distress call from a ship being attacked by an unknown vessel not transmitting appropriate ID. The Ministry, for whatever reasons, chose to respond to the event by siding with the aggressor and attacking my ships. Takio Enterprises warships responded by destroying the Ministry vessels." Her heart was thumping in her chest, but she narrowed her eyes. "If this is the gratitude of the Ministry of Finance, for all that Takio Enterprises has done here in Eighteen Billion, in Grand Exchange and at large, for the Ministry and the company, up to and including constructing facilities and securing neutral diplomats to mediate the dispute between the Company and the Ministry... Well, you might want to check with your superiors before you write a check they have to make good on. To be absolutely clear, this is a threat; you are the highest-ranking Ministry combat officer in Eighteen Billion. It is your decision whether this conflict continues or ceases, here and now. Ah - ah! Shut your fucking muzzle and listen to me carefully," she snapped, as the pilot opened her muzzle to retort.
"If you say anything but words to the effect of 'this was a horrible misunderstanding and we should deescalate the situation' - if you, personally, choose to escalate the situation, the first step I will take will be ordering all of my shipyards to stop producing vessels for the Ministry. The second step will be that I shall cripple the Ministry's ability to replace vessels by destroying the Ministry Shipyard and Wharf here in Eighteen Billion. I shall then proceed onward to prosecute this destructive and pointless war - a war chosen by you, pilot, here and now - by destroying each and every Ministry of Trade station I can find, until someone with some competent authority asks me to please stop doing that. You can see the weight of tonnage I have here, you know the Ministry does not have the tonnage to stop me. The choice is in your claws, pilot; war, or peace. War, or peace. Escalate, or deescalate. Your call."
The Kea pilot visibly shrank backwards in her command chair, obviously struggling to attempt to retain composure and command respect in the face of an overt and direct threat to bring fire and flame directly to the Ministry of Finance. Finally she steeled herself, straightening up in her chair. "This has obviously been a dreadful misunderstanding, miss Takio. The Ministry is undoubtedly going to demand reparations for our lost warships, but such matters are the purview of the financiers, not myself. If you will cease giving offense, we too shall cease attacks upon your vessels."
"Thank you," Najia said, leaning back. She fought not to visibly slump and sigh in relief, or to show how badly her heart was racing. "As for the reparations, they can take that up with the diplomat I have on payroll. Out." She cut the channel, and collapsed back into the chair behind her.
A moment later, the comm lit up again, and she flicked it on. It was a huge conference call, with the commanders of her fleets, the captain of Koshirae, Marta on the Snapping Tortoise with a small bandage on her forehead; Rei Stringer on the 18B construction depot, Tsukiko Peterson back at the headquarters, Professors Nakagawa and Okoye - whom Najia realized with a pang of guilt she hadn't yet formally re-introduced herself to -, Boso Ta,, and Ace. Najia let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Please for the love of god tell me we didn't lose anybody," she said, first off.
"Nobody from Jackdaw, Marta confirmed. "I took a headcount. We got lucky. "That seems to be a recurring theme," added Captain - probably should be Commodore - Xiaowen Kapoor - one of Najia's older friends, and currently the commander of T.E.S. Fenrir. "It helps that we responded with overwhelming firepower. My fleet is reporting no fatalties; thirteen casualties, mostly caused by haste in the heat of battle."
That proved to be the recurring theme; all of her responders reported sustaining injuries, mostly 'workplace accidents' incurred whilst in the heat of battle, but though some were serious, none were life-threatening.
"Najia Takio," Professor Yoriko Okoye - an aged-but-not-venerable, steel-haired professor-turned diplomat said, with the same tone of voice that she had used when reproaching Najia in class. "You are now, as ever you were, charmed, lucky, and reckless. You choose to act with passion first and foremost. This is a fine mess that I'm going to have to clean up, you understand. Can I expect this sort of thing to deal with in the future?"
Najia took in a breath, glancing around at her fellows. Barring a few, they were all young - Tsukiko was the third-oldest and Najia knew she was closer to thirty-five than forty - barely. Most of them looked grave, but not mutinious. She sighed, and smiled, wryly. "While I don't plan to go to war with the Ministry, there may be future... Rough spots to smooth over, yes. If you'd like to resign and go home -" "Not yet," the aged professor said, sharply. "But for dealing with this, I am going to require a pay rise!"
A chorus of chuckles surrounded her, and Najia sighed, face-palming and smiling. "That's fair, professor. We're going to have a fine time untangling this. Ace, how are the Curs?"
Ace looked into her eyes, then looked away for a moment, then back to her. "Secure in Windfall, awaiting your hopefully-safe return." She trilled, and Najia nodded. "Next stop, then."

I just found out about the CKC Canine Companion number which will allow my " Farm" dogs ( herding mix) to compete in CKC events. I've done competitive obedience in the past but it's been a good 27 years or so since that time. I have a couple questions.

1. I live at the ass end of nowhere in a social desert How do those who do not practice with a club handle the stand for exam and long sit/down distraction and neutrality training?
2. Can anyone compare obedience scoring between CKC and AKC? Handling errors in particular.

I'm really excited about doing this. These two have talent for obedience work They should do well if I can get them over their stranger shyness. They came in winter and it's not a good time to socialize cause most everyone here hibernates and hides in the winter. The parks are under 3 ft of ice and snow which make for difficult walking.

Driving home from work one night, those heavy dark trees swayed towards the road, and Frank's car brushed against their lively leaves.
Even with his headlights on, he never quite felt safe going around these roads surrounded by woodland. A deer, a badger, even a stray dog. Just the thought of one of them racing towards his car jammed him upright, despite his exhaustion.
Then he felt the tap of rain on the roof of his car. He listened, finding the sound soothing. He looked at the road and his windshield as the tapping grew louder. There was not a single speck.
He brought the car to a stop and the tapping was gone. Have a quick look, he told himself. He jumped out and saw nothing. Of course, he sighed.
But the sound returned as soon as the engine started.
Once more he turned it off but this time he stayed in the car, checking the mirrors. Nothing.
It was either a case of ignoring it or standing at in the darkness to see if whatever it was came back.
The journey was another forty minutes, he reasoned, so he'd get out, have a cigarette and see.
Nothing was heard or seen in that time, though the cigarette didn't offer him much comfort.
"Alright," he uttered, "fuck this, let's—"
The door was locked.
The windows started to become foggy.
He stepped back and called the police. Fifteen minutes.
*
When the officers arrived they saw a large sheet covering the roof of the car, and they saw gas seeping out from under the doors. Frank was somewhere inside there, completely still with the phone on his lap, and his face frozen by death.

The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) has been a crucial part of the transportation network of Andhra Pradesh for several years. Under the governance of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the APSRTC underwent significant transformations and developments, making it one of the most efficient public transport systems in the country. The TDP, led by its chief, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, took over the reins of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 with a vision to transform the state into a model state. One of the crucial aspects of this vision was to improve the state's transportation network, and the APSRTC was a crucial component of this plan.
One of the significant Achievements of the TDP Government in the transportation sector was the introduction of over 5000 new buses into the APSRTC fleet, replacing the old and worn-out buses. This move not only improved the quality of the services but also created job opportunities for thousands of people. The TDP MLA's played a significant role in these developments, ensuring that the resources were optimally utilized, and the services were reaching every nook and corner of the state. Their efforts helped in creating a robust transportation network in Andhra Pradesh. Another significant Contribution of the TDP Government was the introduction of the 'Smart Bus Stations.' These bus stations were equipped with modern facilities like Wi-Fi, CCTV cameras, drinking water facilities, and charging points, making the travel experience more comfortable for passengers. The TDP government also initiated the 'Seva Mitra' program, wherein passengers could rate the services provided by the APSRTC and offer feedback for improvements.
Moreover, the TDP government under the leadership of the former chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu introduced the 'e-ticketing' system, making the ticket booking process more accessible and convenient. Passengers could book their tickets online or through mobile applications, reducing the hassle of standing in long queues. The TDP government also took steps to ensure the safety and security of passengers and the news used to be on the TDP Live Updates. The APSRTC buses were equipped with GPS trackers, which helped in tracking the buses in real-time. The buses were also equipped with panic buttons, which could be used in case of emergencies. The TDP government also introduced several welfare measures for the APSRTC employees, including providing health insurance, pension schemes, and job security.

Expedition report from RG-5
Area of recon: Shore of Meilume due east of Galdush
Report carried out by Lieutenant Eric Ross
Report states: RG-5 has encountered an elven outpost on its way to the shore. The purpose of these outposts is to act as checkpoints for the Imperial army as well as to maintain surveillance within an area. The outpost encountered by RG-5 had thirty soldiers guarding it. RG-5 attempted peaceful contact, however, the elves engaged and RG-5 retaliated. All enemies have been neutralized and RG-5 has suffered no casualties and the outpost has been searched. Upon reaching the shore, RG-5 made peaceful contact with a local fishing village. They helped in local affairs, such as hunting down several feral welfen and repairing their equipment. In return, the locals gave them information on the coast south of the North Alston river. There are seven villages between the river and the Alston kingdom border and three more north of the river, which make up the fishing community of the southeast coast of the empire. The southeast coast and shore are patrolled by the Imperial third fleet with its center in the port city of Cheemo. Further information is required.
Other news: The airstrip has been finalized and drones have been sent to various locations. New findings include the official location of the river city Kuruk to the north and Imperial fort Mundus to the west. A large cluster of Imperial soldiers has been seen gathering on the opposite side of the North Alston river. Numbers count between one hundred and one hundred and fifty thousand, including auxiliary troops. No signs of any movement south of the river. Will continue to observe. The CIA has been able to establish a network in the Meilume capital and the leading agent, Edward Garcia, has confirmed that the nobility is attempting to flee the area. RG-3 is advised to speed up. As for the city itself, the population is estimated to be roughly six hundred thousand with fortifications and a force of ten thousand soldiers. No elements of any Imperial spy network have been discovered.
28th day of late yellow season, 3000th cycle
Meilume capital, Empire of light
General Laeroth's words reached the nobility of Meilume and they heed its instructions. Lord Bellon Belus rushed his family and the guard commander followed. Servants carried bags and soldiers formed a formation to escort them to Una, where they will meet with the army that will bring them to the other side of the river and then to the city of Imslone. Bellon was always a father and husband first, and lord second. Nearly two hundred thousand soldiers were slaughtered in less than a moon cycle. That was proof enough that he needed to leave the capital and save his family. Abandoning his city in the face of the enemy was an act of cowardice, often severely punished, but he would take any punishment for those he loved. He would not be like his father.
Bellon walked through the halls and double-checked every room. "Hurry up! Leave anything not of use! Leave the valuables, they are only dead weight!"
"Bellon!", a woman called him.
"Nimriel.", he said.
"Must we leave? This has been our home for cycles. And our family's home for far longer. Leaving it is-"
"It is the only way. The only way for us to live. We must, Nimriel. If we do not, the enemy will take us."
"But Bellon-"
"Think of our daughter, Nimriel. Think of Taria. What if those barbarians breach the walls? After they're done with the peasants, do you believe they will spare us? I will not allow such a thing to happen."
And speaking of the devil, Taria appeared from the corner, wearing a battle uniform with a sword sheathed on her left hip and holding a helmet in her right hand. "I am ready father."
Bellon couldn't say he was shocked too much. Since she was little she used to sneak into the courtyard and train with the guard commander. He knew and let her do what she wanted. It made her happy. But this was uncalled for.
"Stop fooling around Taria.", Bellon said, "This is a serious matter."
"Then take me seriously!", Taria responded, "The enemy is coming and I must be ready."
"You are not staying. You are coming with us to Imslone."
"I am not. I will not commit an act of cowardice and leave my post."
"Your post is beside me. I am your father!"
"I am not a little girl anymore! I have trained with Aego for over a hundred cycles! I am ready!"
"This enemy destroyed two armies and bested two generals! We stand no chance! Our only choice is to flee as far as we can and let the armies deal with them. The best we can hope to do is slow them down."
"You dare doubt our guard like that, father! These soldiers are just as strong as those of the Imperial army and our walls have held off the Rosians and ferals! We can-"
"Do you not hear me you stupid girl!", Bellon's voice boomed through the walls and made the servants and guards stop in their tracks, "I do not care for your illusions! The enemy is real! Wars are bloody and repulsive and not a place for you! You are the daughter of a lord! You are the heir to Meilume and a member of the Belus family! You will cease this foolishness at once and act accordingly!"
This was the loudest Bellon ever had to shout. He could feel his throat hurting. Taria could only feel tears falling down her cheeks as she lowered her head in shame. In truth, she just wanted to prove she was as capable as she claimed. That despite being a girl she could live in the world of men. But her dreams would have to wait. Bellon groaned and shook his head as he kept walking down the hall. Nimriel hugged her daughter and tried to reassure her everything will be alright, but her words fell on deaf ears.
As Nimriel left, someone else walked over to Taria from behind. As he placed his hand on her shoulder, Taria turned around and saw a man she thought of as her second father. "Aego.", she said through tears.
"Do not be saddened, my lady.", he said as he wiped her tears, "Your father said what he said because he cares. You are his only daughter, more valuable to him than this entire world. He only wants what is best for you. And right now, the best for you is to go to Imslone."
"B-But the enemy. What will you do?"
"I am coming with you, my lady. I left my first captain in charge. He will make sure these otherworlders bleed for this city."
Taria hugged him, still shedding tears, "Thank you Aego. Thank you."
Aego hugged her back.
---
29th of June, 2070
Since the Rift Groups programs have been initiated, soldiers all around have been eager to join. Some more than others, some less. But none were as stocked as sergeant Emma Davis. The second youngest member of RG-1, she was nicknamed 'Trigger-finger' for a reason. Great results in the shooting range, but not much else. Still, when she heard the 'Prodigy' was joining she couldn't control herself. Ever since they left for Alston, she's been clinging to Logan like a leach.
"Sir, how many people have you killed?", she asked.
"I lost count.", Logan answered.
"Sir, why have you joined the army?"
"It's a family tradition."
"Sir, have you been shot?"
"Yes."
"Sir, may I see it?"
"No."
"Sir, why did you leave the special forces?"
Logan didn't answer that one.
"Sir-"
"Emma shut up already.", Jacob said.
"Yeah, I think you're getting on the captain's nerves.", Michael said.
Staff sergeant Jacob Brown and corporal Michael Hoilman, Emma's friends since high school and pretty much the only reason she's not in jail. They've stuck by her side, being her big brothers for years, and kind of grown attached to her. It was like having a little sister.
"No I'm not.", Emma said.
"Yes you are.", Jacob said.
"You hold your captain in quite a high regard.", said Krolm, the leanoid, "Why?"
"Are you kidding me?", Emma said, "He's Logan Connors. All of Fort Bragg and the rangers know about him."
"Are rangers perhaps elites in your army?", asked Kai, the welfen.
"We're rangers.", said veteran sniper sergeant Nick Harper aka 'Bullseye', "We're a strike fast group made for quick attacks and quick action. We're not like the rest of the army that fights on the front lines. We fight in forests, towns, cities, forts, you name it. We hit fast, hard, and take care of our mission."
"Hell yeah we do!", shouted corporal Lamar Jones, the 'Heavy gunner'.
"Interesting.", said Clara, the lepian, "So that's why you have us with you. It makes sense, you don't really need us on the front lines when you got your large cannons and these armored carriages."
RG-1 wasn't just a normal group. It was the only group with sixty-six soldiers, a captain, and twice as many vehicles. This made them quite a force and that was necessary since they were being deployed to the border of Alston. After prince Bodin agreed to assist REC he chose three people who would aid him. Gregor Bachwich, son of Herwin Bachwich, the baron of the border town of Afa. He will be important in establishing first contact with the Rosians. Lieutenant Pallius Blazewing, son of Lor Blazewing, a great military figure in the Opherin army. The Opherin kingdom prides itself on great military history, having fought more battles than any Rosian kingdom or duchy in history. And finally, a youngster named Matheo Calo. There was nothing special about him besides being prince Bodin's personal squire. He's been with Bodin for years and the two became more than just prince and servant. Furthermore, Bodin promised Matheo he would bring him back to his mother in Olinor. Prince Bodin himself didn't choose to come along. His reasoning was that he wants to present himself in front of all the kings and dukes when they all gathered together. One more person did come with them. Ambassador Eugene Anderson. Together, they will establish peace. Or war.
Right now they were on their way to Afa, only several more minutes. In the LAV where the tribals were, private first-class Ethan Williams sat, writing in his journal. He was the youngest and newest addition to the group. Fresh off the academy, he graduated to be a sniper and was eager to learn from both Logan and Nick. But something kept him from them. Next to him sat Carla, who kept eyeballing him and his weapon. Ethan was nervous, he wasn't used to girls sitting near him, or even looking at him, and Carla seemed interested.
"What is this weapon?", she asked.
"O-Oh Ummm, this?", he stuttered, "This is a modified and modernized Mk22 ASR sniper rifle. I know there are older models but my granddad taught me how to use this one. It can hit a target from about twenty-two hundred yards away. In your measurements, that's four leagues."
Carla's ears went up, "Amazing! I bet I could hunt a lot of meat with it."
"Well, um. It takes a lot of skill to use it. I could show you, sometime."
"Oh?", Carla raised an eyebrow and moved closer smiling, "I think I would like that.". She purred a little which made Ethan stutter and sweat. Across from them, Lin watched with her arms crossed.
"What?", Carla asked, "Envious?"
"Not at all.", Lin said as she grabbed Lamar's arm, "I prefer strong males.". Lamar opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. He and Ethan just stared at each other.
"Before your boners brake your belts and that LAV becomes hotter than a pizza oven at Papa John's, I wanna let you know we're almost there.", said lieutenant James Wilson over the comms from the leading JLTV3, the most veteran among them, chosen to uphold discipline.
"Thank you.", said Logan.
"They seem to be getting along.", said ambassador Anderson.
"Indeed.", said Gregor, "I must say, you humans are more strange than you are frightening. The way you use words with one meaning for another. And your expressions as well. Definitely not the savages Canus described."
"I'm glad we could prove that to you. And it appears we are about to prove it to the rest of your kingdom.". They were nearly at Afa. This town serves as a fortified stronghold against the empire should they attack. Its walls were tall and thick, with bastion towers and a single entry gate. It would be difficult for the elves to take it.
"The town currently has a thousand soldiers protecting it. It's usually three thousand, but two thousand went with me through the rift. Most likely on the orders of the elves, my father would never allow it."
"Only three thousand?", James asked.
"Three thousand official soldiers, but should the need arise we can recruit militia fighters from the residents. The town itself has a population of eighty thousand."
"That's a lot of people.", Eugene said.
"Yes. Luckily, it is able to support them, even if barely. The elves aren't exactly sharing people."
"That will all change soon."
As the convoy approached the gate, a ballista javelin hit the road in front of them. The city defenders had assembled on the wall and aimed their weapons at them. While the vehicles are armored, the JLTVs have weak spots a javelin can pierce.
"Hold it!", shouted a man on the wall, presumably the commander, "Present yourselves immediately."
"I'll take care of this.", Logan said as he exited the JLTV with his hands raised, "I am Captain Logan Connors of the Rift Expeditionary Corps! We are from Galdush and have come to make peaceful relations with the kingdom of Alston!"
"Why should we listen to you!?"
"If not me, then how about someone more familiar!".
At that moment, Gregor stepped out of the JLTV3 and, to put it mildly, made the defenders' hearts skip a beat. "Commander Barion! It is good to see you!"
Barion couldn't even speak for moments. His young baron was alive. Against all odds, he made it back. "Y-Young baron!", he finally spoke, "You... You live! How!? And what are you doing with the enemy?!"
"I assure you, they are not the enemy! I will explain everything, but first, I need to ask you to open this gate and let these soldiers in!"
Barion hesitated for a moment, "B-But young ba-"
"Commander, do not make me order you!"
He immediately understood, "Open this gate immediately! Let them in! Someone inform the baron!"
The gate opened and the convoy made it in. Luckily, there was enough room to fit all of them in. Barion and his men, as well as the people, could only stare in awe at what was before them. Truly, people from another world. The commander stepped down and greeted them as well as Gregor.
"Young baron, you have a lot of explaining to do.", Barion said.
"All will be explained soon.", Gregor said.
"Gregor!", shouted a little girl as she ran towards him.
"Elora.", Gregor said as he hugged her, "My little sister. It is good to see you.". Behind her came his mother and father, who at first walked slowly with tears in their eyes, not believing it was him.
"My son.", Herwin said as he hugged Gregor, "By the heavens. You live."
"Mother. Father. I have returned. Let me introduce you to someone. This is Lord Ambassador Eugene Anderson from the land of America on the other side of the rift. He is here to represent his country and the humans."
Herwin immediately walked to him and bowed, "I am Baron Herwin Bachwich. Thank you for sparing my son's life. It is an honor to have you here, Lord Anderson."
"The honor is mine baron.", Eugene said, "I hope we will be able to discuss peace with you and your kingdom."
This confused Herwin, "Peace?"
"I have much to tell you father.", Gregor said, "The prince lives."
Completely frozen, Herwin took a few moments to process that before replying, "He lives?"
"Enemies!", shouted a soldier from the wall. Commander Barion and Logan rushed up the wall. Logan grabbed his binoculars and observed the enemy from a distance. They came from a treeline, their camp was behind it, otherwise, RG-1 would have spotted them.
"I count five hundred.", Logan said, "Various races. Elves, Rosians, ferals."
"How?", Barion asked.
"These are binoculars. They allow me to see things from a distance. Try it."
Logan handed the binoculars to Barion, who observed them for a few moments before putting them on his eyes and facing the enemy. "Incredible."
Barion handed them back but Logan refused, "Keep it, I have a spare. I get the elves, but why are your people attacking you?"
"Those bastards aren't our people. They are traitors and thieves who think the kingdom is done for. So they run to the empire and beg them for forgiveness.". He spat in disgust.
"And the elves. They don't look like the army."
"They most likely were. They call themselves rogues, those who stray from their so-called 'Path of light'. Both of these traitors sicken me."
"Then let us help you."
"Why would you help us?"
"If we're gonna be at peace with one another, we have to establish a certain level of trust, don't we?"
Barion pondered for a bit before answering, "Very well. I am eager to see the army that defeated the elves."
Nodding Logan walked to the edge of the wall and faced his men. "Jones, take your men and mount the machine guns! Davis, bring the ammo! Williams, Harper, get to higher ground and shoot anyone that looks important or a large threat! Wilson, take Green and set up the mortar! Move it, they'll be here in minutes!"
RG-1 immediately went to work. Jones and his men carried the machine guns from the trucks and mounted them on the walls, Williams and Harper climbed up the tallest tower they could find and got into position. Wilson set up the 60mm mortar in the town square.
"I think we should get to safety.", Eugene said.
"You are right.", Herwin said, "Follow me."
Logan got into position with his Mk4 SCAR chambered in 7.62mm. "Commander, I need a favor."
"What is it, captain?", Barion asked.
"If these guys fire arrows, we don't have shields to defend ourselves. You think your men can take of that?"
"Certainly. Get the shields ready! Protect their soldiers!". In moments, each ranger had a Rosian soldier behind him or her with a shield ready. It was time to fight.
The horde moved closer and closer. First, they walked and then picked up the pace as they put shields above their heads. Naturally, the ferals ran towards the wall like rabid animals. "Hold!", Logan said as he gripped his gun, "Wait for them to get closer!". There was one elf on a horse swinging his sword and giving commands. Not for long.
"It's all you kid.", Harper said as he watched Williams aim his shot.
Letting out a breath, Williams pulled the trigger and splattered the elf's brain all over the field. "Boom boom motherfucker."
"Weapons free! Light them up!", Logan shouted as the rangers opened fire on the ferals. The freaks fell by the dozens as bullets pierced their chest, heads, legs, and arms and turned them into cold, dead corpses. The mortar fired at the enemies behind them, who stopped in their tracks, clearly confused and terrified. The rangers aimed their weapons at them and started cutting them down.
"Get some, blueberries!", Davis shouted, "Come closer! I dare ya!"
The few dozen that survived retreated back to the trees. The rangers cheered, but the Rosians didn't cheer as much as they stared in awe. Now they see why the elves lost, these people are powerful.
Commander Barion walked to Logan, "Thank you for the assistance. But I doubt this is the last we have seen of them."
"I know.", Logan said, "That's why I'll have one of my guys scout those trees with a drone along with Lin and Clara.". Logan walked down to the two of them, "Scot! Get over here!"
"Coming!", Scot answered. Scot Green aka 'Mechanic', was the group's engineer. He was also their drone pilot. "Yes sir?"
"I need you to pilot the Fly into those tree lines and scout for the enemy.". The SPFD Fly was a small recon drone invented by DARPA to save both room and energy. Solar-powered and long-lasting battery, coupled with its long-range and small size made it a very useful tool to have in recon missions. "Lin, Carla, you two are also going. I need good eyes and ears over there."
"Sure thing, sir.", Lin said saluting the best she could.
"You two do know how to use a radio, right?"
"Of course we do.", Clara said, "We're not idiots."
"Good. Go.". Lin and Carla ran to the trees as Scott maneuvered the Fly.
The baron and his family, along with Ambassador Eugene walked over to the soldiers. The baron was first to speak, "That was... most impressive. But I must ask. Why peace? Surely you seem powerful enough to take the kingdoms by force."
"Because my people aren't barbarians, baron.", Anderson said, "If peace can be made, then we will do anything to make it a reality."
"I see. And the prince? What does he say about this?"
"You can ask him yourself.", Anderson said as he nodded to Logan who signaled his men to set up a desk and a large screen. "With this device, we can talk to the prince and even see him."
"Amazing.", said Herwin as he eagerly awaited to see his prince. After some preparations, the screen was ready and it turned on. The lights slightly startled the Rosians before the screen was clear and on it was prince Bodin himself. "My... My prince.", Herwin said as he knelt, "It is a miracle. You truly live."
"Baron Bachwich.", Bodin spoke, "Please, rise. I am not before you just yet. This is strange for me as well. Am I correct to assume the human soldiers have arrived?"
"Yes, my prince. They recently just helped us crush an attack from a bandit horde."
"Do you then see why I have chosen to make peace with these people?"
After a momentary pause, Herwin nodded, "I do, my prince. It is incredible to see that a nation so powerful is willing to make peace with its enemy and not subdue it."
"We are not their enemy, baron. The elves and their empire are. This is why they chose to make peace with us. They understand we are just vassals forced to fight. I suggest you hear Lord Anderson out."
As they were talking, Scot called for Logan, "Sir. I have a visual."
Logan nodded, "Alright. Commander Barion, would you like to see the enemy?"
"Yes.", Barion answered, "Show me."
Scot pulled up the video feed on his screen, "This is their camp. I count roughly three thousand. Lin and Carla confirm."
"Where are those two?", Logan asked.
"In the trees."
"Call them back and give me the radio.", Logan took the radio, "Galdush base. Come in Galdush base. This is Captain Logan Connors of Rift Group 1. Do you copy? Over."
After a few moments, the radio spoke, "Copy Rift Group 1. Sitrep. Over."
"Galdush, we have made contact with border town Afa. Upon entry, we engaged a third party, designated rogue elves, and bandit Rosians. Half a battalion attacked us but we drove them off. We confirm the enemy numbers in three thousand, various races. What's the status of our air forces? Over."
"Three air squadrons of Invictus ACs and a Boeing Stratofortress is currently being fueled and should be ready in half an hour."
"Galdush I request a tactical bombing run. The area will be marked via drone. How copy?"
The radio went silent for a few moments before speaking again, "Affirmative RG-1. Stratofortress will be up in the air as soon as possible. Make sure to mark the area. Galdush out."
"Copy that Galdush. RG-1 out."
"What was that?", Barion asked.
"You're gonna get another demonstration."
"Captain!", Carla shouted as she ran towards him. "I have eliminated an enemy scout.", she said as she extended a severed head toward Logan.
Logan smacked his lips before replying, "I see. Get rid of it."
"Yes sir.", Carla said as she tossed the head into a nearby pile of trash.
'At least she's helping', Logan thought.
---
(Two hours later)
The bandits and rogues were sitting in their tents, trying to plan an attack. The otherworlders were an unexpected problem, but hopefully a problem they could be dealt with.
"Alright, listen.", said an elf, "We'll strike at night. It didn't work last time because there were too many of them, but I reckon there can't be more than a few dozen of them."
"That doesn't matter.", said a Rosian, "I've seen what that few can do."
"You attacked with five hundred to scout their defenses. You were never supposed to win. Besides, we can use the tribals to deal with them. As we are attacking the front, they will go to the sides and strike."
"Are you sure this will work?"
"Yes. Soon, Afa will be ours."
At that moment, an elf rushed into the tent, "Sir, you must come and see this!"
They left the tent and came to the center of the tent. The one who called them pointed upwards into the sky. There they saw something flying. A wyvern? No, it was too big. Its wings didn't flap. What could it be? As it flew over them, something fell from it. Many egg-like things started falling and as they fell to the ground, they engulfed the camp in fire and shook the earth. In moments, the whole camp was on fire and everyone was either dead or dying. The ground was turned into a burning pile of scorched bodies.
If there were any doubts about the power of the otherwolders left, they were long gone now.
---
(Meanwhile)
Road to Una
The Belus family along with commander Aego and two hundred soldiers were on their way to Una. Taria did not wish to ride with her father and so she rode on a horse alongside Aego. Their hopes were that they would reach Una in several days and then cross the river.
"My lady.", Aego spoke, "Are you certain you should be riding alongside me and not in the carriage?"
"I do not wish to speak to my father.", Taria said, "At least not now."
"I assumed we cleared this matter."
"We have but... I still need time."
Aego sighed, "I understand. Still, you should not hate him for-", he stopped and halted the soldiers.
"What?"
"Something is not as it should be. This outpost is quiet.". The soldiers tensed up. They could also feel that something wasn't right. In a split second, Aego was shot by an arrow in the side.
"Ambush!", Taria yelled out. Suddenly, elves, welfen, and leanoids ran from the sides and the outpost. The soldiers prepared but found themselves overwhelmed by the enemies' numbers. Rogue elves fired arrows at them while welfen and leanoids exploited weaknesses and struck. Still, the soldiers fought hard, making sure the traitors and savages suffer. The enemy numbers were dropping, but not quickly enough. Taria used her training and cut down several rogues before crouching down to help Aego.
"Aego!", she yelled, "Aego hold on! You will live! Please!". She cried as he struggled to breathe. He grabbed her arm and pushed her to the side, just in time for her to dodge a spear from a leanoid. She watched as Aego spat blood before dying, his life leaving his body. In pure rage, she screamed and struck the leanoid in the side. Pulling out her sword she blocked a strike from a rogue, stepped closer, and headbutted him before slitting his throat.
Turning to her left she saw the rogues and tribals dragging her family. "Father!", she yelled, but couldn't help as a rogue hit her in the back of the head, knocking her down on the ground. Her blurred vision faded away as the rogue smiled down at her.
"Sweet dreams, little girl.", was what he said before she passed out completely.
End of chapter 9
​
---
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Expedition report from RG-5
Area of recon: Shore of Meilume due east of Galdush
Report carried out by Lieutenant Eric Ross
Report states: RG-5 has encountered an elven outpost on its way to the shore. The purpose of these outposts is to act as checkpoints for the Imperial army as well as to maintain surveillance within an area. The outpost encountered by RG-5 had thirty soldiers guarding it. RG-5 attempted peaceful contact, however, the elves engaged and RG-5 retaliated. All enemies have been neutralized and RG-5 has suffered no casualties and the outpost has been searched. Upon reaching the shore, RG-5 made peaceful contact with a local fishing village. They helped in local affairs, such as hunting down several feral welfen and repairing their equipment. In return, the locals gave them information on the coast south of the North Alston river. There are seven villages between the river and the Alston kingdom border and three more north of the river, which make up the fishing community of the southeast coast of the empire. The southeast coast and shore are patrolled by the Imperial third fleet with its center in the port city of Cheemo. Further information is required.
Other news: The airstrip has been finalized and drones have been sent to various locations. New findings include the official location of the river city Kuruk to the north and Imperial fort Mundus to the west. A large cluster of Imperial soldiers has been seen gathering on the opposite side of the North Alston river. Numbers count between one hundred and one hundred and fifty thousand, including auxiliary troops. No signs of any movement south of the river. Will continue to observe. The CIA has been able to establish a network in the Meilume capital and the leading agent, Edward Garcia, has confirmed that the nobility is attempting to flee the area. RG-3 is advised to speed up. As for the city itself, the population is estimated to be roughly six hundred thousand with fortifications and a force of ten thousand soldiers. No elements of any Imperial spy network have been discovered.
28th day of late yellow season, 3000th cycle
Meilume capital, Empire of light
General Laeroth's words reached the nobility of Meilume and they heed its instructions. Lord Bellon Belus rushed his family and the guard commander followed. Servants carried bags and soldiers formed a formation to escort them to Una, where they will meet with the army that will bring them to the other side of the river and then to the city of Imslone. Bellon was always a father and husband first, and lord second. Nearly two hundred thousand soldiers were slaughtered in less than a moon cycle. That was proof enough that he needed to leave the capital and save his family. Abandoning his city in the face of the enemy was an act of cowardice, often severely punished, but he would take any punishment for those he loved. He would not be like his father.
Bellon walked through the halls and double-checked every room. "Hurry up! Leave anything not of use! Leave the valuables, they are only dead weight!"
"Bellon!", a woman called him.
"Nimriel.", he said.
"Must we leave? This has been our home for cycles. And our family's home for far longer. Leaving it is-"
"It is the only way. The only way for us to live. We must, Nimriel. If we do not, the enemy will take us."
"But Bellon-"
"Think of our daughter, Nimriel. Think of Taria. What if those barbarians breach the walls? After they're done with the peasants, do you believe they will spare us? I will not allow such a thing to happen."
And speaking of the devil, Taria appeared from the corner, wearing a battle uniform with a sword sheathed on her left hip and holding a helmet in her right hand. "I am ready father."
Bellon couldn't say he was shocked too much. Since she was little she used to sneak into the courtyard and train with the guard commander. He knew and let her do what she wanted. It made her happy. But this was uncalled for.
"Stop fooling around Taria.", Bellon said, "This is a serious matter."
"Then take me seriously!", Taria responded, "The enemy is coming and I must be ready."
"You are not staying. You are coming with us to Imslone."
"I am not. I will not commit an act of cowardice and leave my post."
"Your post is beside me. I am your father!"
"I am not a little girl anymore! I have trained with Aego for over a hundred cycles! I am ready!"
"This enemy destroyed two armies and bested two generals! We stand no chance! Our only choice is to flee as far as we can and let the armies deal with them. The best we can hope to do is slow them down."
"You dare doubt our guard like that, father! These soldiers are just as strong as those of the Imperial army and our walls have held off the Rosians and ferals! We can-"
"Do you not hear me you stupid girl!", Bellon's voice boomed through the walls and made the servants and guards stop in their tracks, "I do not care for your illusions! The enemy is real! Wars are bloody and repulsive and not a place for you! You are the daughter of a lord! You are the heir to Meilume and a member of the Belus family! You will cease this foolishness at once and act accordingly!"
This was the loudest Bellon ever had to shout. He could feel his throat hurting. Taria could only feel tears falling down her cheeks as she lowered her head in shame. In truth, she just wanted to prove she was as capable as she claimed. That despite being a girl she could live in the world of men. But her dreams would have to wait. Bellon groaned and shook his head as he kept walking down the hall. Nimriel hugged her daughter and tried to reassure her everything will be alright, but her words fell on deaf ears.
As Nimriel left, someone else walked over to Taria from behind. As he placed his hand on her shoulder, Taria turned around and saw a man she thought of as her second father. "Aego.", she said through tears.
"Do not be saddened, my lady.", he said as he wiped her tears, "Your father said what he said because he cares. You are his only daughter, more valuable to him than this entire world. He only wants what is best for you. And right now, the best for you is to go to Imslone."
"B-But the enemy. What will you do?"
"I am coming with you, my lady. I left my first captain in charge. He will make sure these otherworlders bleed for this city."
Taria hugged him, still shedding tears, "Thank you Aego. Thank you."
Aego hugged her back.
---
29th of June, 2070
Since the Rift Groups programs have been initiated, soldiers all around have been eager to join. Some more than others, some less. But none were as stocked as sergeant Emma Davis. The second youngest member of RG-1, she was nicknamed 'Trigger-finger' for a reason. Great results in the shooting range, but not much else. Still, when she heard the 'Prodigy' was joining she couldn't control herself. Ever since they left for Alston, she's been clinging to Logan like a leach.
"Sir, how many people have you killed?", she asked.
"I lost count.", Logan answered.
"Sir, why have you joined the army?"
"It's a family tradition."
"Sir, have you been shot?"
"Yes."
"Sir, may I see it?"
"No."
"Sir, why did you leave the special forces?"
Logan didn't answer that one.
"Sir-"
"Emma shut up already.", Jacob said.
"Yeah, I think you're getting on the captain's nerves.", Michael said.
Staff sergeant Jacob Brown and corporal Michael Hoilman, Emma's friends since high school and pretty much the only reason she's not in jail. They've stuck by her side, being her big brothers for years, and kind of grown attached to her. It was like having a little sister.
"No I'm not.", Emma said.
"Yes you are.", Jacob said.
"You hold your captain in quite a high regard.", said Krolm, the leanoid, "Why?"
"Are you kidding me?", Emma said, "He's Logan Connors. All of Fort Bragg and the rangers know about him."
"Are rangers perhaps elites in your army?", asked Kai, the welfen.
"We're rangers.", said veteran sniper sergeant Nick Harper aka 'Bullseye', "We're a strike fast group made for quick attacks and quick action. We're not like the rest of the army that fights on the front lines. We fight in forests, towns, cities, forts, you name it. We hit fast, hard, and take care of our mission."
"Hell yeah we do!", shouted corporal Lamar Jones, the 'Heavy gunner'.
"Interesting.", said Clara, the lepian, "So that's why you have us with you. It makes sense, you don't really need us on the front lines when you got your large cannons and these armored carriages."
RG-1 wasn't just a normal group. It was the only group with sixty-six soldiers, a captain, and twice as many vehicles. This made them quite a force and that was necessary since they were being deployed to the border of Alston. After prince Bodin agreed to assist REC he chose three people who would aid him. Gregor Bachwich, son of Herwin Bachwich, the baron of the border town of Afa. He will be important in establishing first contact with the Rosians. Lieutenant Pallius Blazewing, son of Lor Blazewing, a great military figure in the Opherin army. The Opherin kingdom prides itself on great military history, having fought more battles than any Rosian kingdom or duchy in history. And finally, a youngster named Matheo Calo. There was nothing special about him besides being prince Bodin's personal squire. He's been with Bodin for years and the two became more than just prince and servant. Furthermore, Bodin promised Matheo he would bring him back to his mother in Olinor. Prince Bodin himself didn't choose to come along. His reasoning was that he wants to present himself in front of all the kings and dukes when they all gathered together. One more person did come with them. Ambassador Eugene Anderson. Together, they will establish peace. Or war.
Right now they were on their way to Afa, only several more minutes. In the LAV where the tribals were, private first-class Ethan Williams sat, writing in his journal. He was the youngest and newest addition to the group. Fresh off the academy, he graduated to be a sniper and was eager to learn from both Logan and Nick. But something kept him from them. Next to him sat Carla, who kept eyeballing him and his weapon. Ethan was nervous, he wasn't used to girls sitting near him, or even looking at him, and Carla seemed interested.
"What is this weapon?", she asked.
"O-Oh Ummm, this?", he stuttered, "This is a modified and modernized Mk22 ASR sniper rifle. I know there are older models but my granddad taught me how to use this one. It can hit a target from about twenty-two hundred yards away. In your measurements, that's four leagues."
Carla's ears went up, "Amazing! I bet I could hunt a lot of meat with it."
"Well, um. It takes a lot of skill to use it. I could show you, sometime."
"Oh?", Carla raised an eyebrow and moved closer smiling, "I think I would like that.". She purred a little which made Ethan stutter and sweat. Across from them, Lin watched with her arms crossed.
"What?", Carla asked, "Envious?"
"Not at all.", Lin said as she grabbed Lamar's arm, "I prefer strong males.". Lamar opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. He and Ethan just stared at each other.
"Before your boners brake your belts and that LAV becomes hotter than a pizza oven at Papa John's, I wanna let you know we're almost there.", said lieutenant James Wilson over the comms from the leading JLTV3, the most veteran among them, chosen to uphold discipline.
"Thank you.", said Logan.
"They seem to be getting along.", said ambassador Anderson.
"Indeed.", said Gregor, "I must say, you humans are more strange than you are frightening. The way you use words with one meaning for another. And your expressions as well. Definitely not the savages Canus described."
"I'm glad we could prove that to you. And it appears we are about to prove it to the rest of your kingdom.". They were nearly at Afa. This town serves as a fortified stronghold against the empire should they attack. Its walls were tall and thick, with bastion towers and a single entry gate. It would be difficult for the elves to take it.
"The town currently has a thousand soldiers protecting it. It's usually three thousand, but two thousand went with me through the rift. Most likely on the orders of the elves, my father would never allow it."
"Only three thousand?", James asked.
"Three thousand official soldiers, but should the need arise we can recruit militia fighters from the residents. The town itself has a population of eighty thousand."
"That's a lot of people.", Eugene said.
"Yes. Luckily, it is able to support them, even if barely. The elves aren't exactly sharing people."
"That will all change soon."
As the convoy approached the gate, a ballista javelin hit the road in front of them. The city defenders had assembled on the wall and aimed their weapons at them. While the vehicles are armored, the JLTVs have weak spots a javelin can pierce.
"Hold it!", shouted a man on the wall, presumably the commander, "Present yourselves immediately."
"I'll take care of this.", Logan said as he exited the JLTV with his hands raised, "I am Captain Logan Connors of the Rift Expeditionary Corps! We are from Galdush and have come to make peaceful relations with the kingdom of Alston!"
"Why should we listen to you!?"
"If not me, then how about someone more familiar!".
At that moment, Gregor stepped out of the JLTV3 and, to put it mildly, made the defenders' hearts skip a beat. "Commander Barion! It is good to see you!"
Barion couldn't even speak for moments. His young baron was alive. Against all odds, he made it back. "Y-Young baron!", he finally spoke, "You... You live! How!? And what are you doing with the enemy?!"
"I assure you, they are not the enemy! I will explain everything, but first, I need to ask you to open this gate and let these soldiers in!"
Barion hesitated for a moment, "B-But young ba-"
"Commander, do not make me order you!"
He immediately understood, "Open this gate immediately! Let them in! Someone inform the baron!"
The gate opened and the convoy made it in. Luckily, there was enough room to fit all of them in. Barion and his men, as well as the people, could only stare in awe at what was before them. Truly, people from another world. The commander stepped down and greeted them as well as Gregor.
"Young baron, you have a lot of explaining to do.", Barion said.
"All will be explained soon.", Gregor said.
"Gregor!", shouted a little girl as she ran towards him.
"Elora.", Gregor said as he hugged her, "My little sister. It is good to see you.". Behind her came his mother and father, who at first walked slowly with tears in their eyes, not believing it was him.
"My son.", Herwin said as he hugged Gregor, "By the heavens. You live."
"Mother. Father. I have returned. Let me introduce you to someone. This is Lord Ambassador Eugene Anderson from the land of America on the other side of the rift. He is here to represent his country and the humans."
Herwin immediately walked to him and bowed, "I am Baron Herwin Bachwich. Thank you for sparing my son's life. It is an honor to have you here, Lord Anderson."
"The honor is mine baron.", Eugene said, "I hope we will be able to discuss peace with you and your kingdom."
This confused Herwin, "Peace?"
"I have much to tell you father.", Gregor said, "The prince lives."
Completely frozen, Herwin took a few moments to process that before replying, "He lives?"
"Enemies!", shouted a soldier from the wall. Commander Barion and Logan rushed up the wall. Logan grabbed his binoculars and observed the enemy from a distance. They came from a treeline, their camp was behind it, otherwise, RG-1 would have spotted them.
"I count five hundred.", Logan said, "Various races. Elves, Rosians, ferals."
"How?", Barion asked.
"These are binoculars. They allow me to see things from a distance. Try it."
Logan handed the binoculars to Barion, who observed them for a few moments before putting them on his eyes and facing the enemy. "Incredible."
Barion handed them back but Logan refused, "Keep it, I have a spare. I get the elves, but why are your people attacking you?"
"Those bastards aren't our people. They are traitors and thieves who think the kingdom is done for. So they run to the empire and beg them for forgiveness.". He spat in disgust.
"And the elves. They don't look like the army."
"They most likely were. They call themselves rogues, those who stray from their so-called 'Path of light'. Both of these traitors sicken me."
"Then let us help you."
"Why would you help us?"
"If we're gonna be at peace with one another, we have to establish a certain level of trust, don't we?"
Barion pondered for a bit before answering, "Very well. I am eager to see the army that defeated the elves."
Nodding Logan walked to the edge of the wall and faced his men. "Jones, take your men and mount the machine guns! Davis, bring the ammo! Williams, Harper, get to higher ground and shoot anyone that looks important or a large threat! Wilson, take Green and set up the mortar! Move it, they'll be here in minutes!"
RG-1 immediately went to work. Jones and his men carried the machine guns from the trucks and mounted them on the walls, Williams and Harper climbed up the tallest tower they could find and got into position. Wilson set up the 60mm mortar in the town square.
"I think we should get to safety.", Eugene said.
"You are right.", Herwin said, "Follow me."
Logan got into position with his Mk4 SCAR chambered in 7.62mm. "Commander, I need a favor."
"What is it, captain?", Barion asked.
"If these guys fire arrows, we don't have shields to defend ourselves. You think your men can take of that?"
"Certainly. Get the shields ready! Protect their soldiers!". In moments, each ranger had a Rosian soldier behind him or her with a shield ready. It was time to fight.
The horde moved closer and closer. First, they walked and then picked up the pace as they put shields above their heads. Naturally, the ferals ran towards the wall like rabid animals. "Hold!", Logan said as he gripped his gun, "Wait for them to get closer!". There was one elf on a horse swinging his sword and giving commands. Not for long.
"It's all you kid.", Harper said as he watched Williams aim his shot.
Letting out a breath, Williams pulled the trigger and splattered the elf's brain all over the field. "Boom boom motherfucker."
"Weapons free! Light them up!", Logan shouted as the rangers opened fire on the ferals. The freaks fell by the dozens as bullets pierced their chest, heads, legs, and arms and turned them into cold, dead corpses. The mortar fired at the enemies behind them, who stopped in their tracks, clearly confused and terrified. The rangers aimed their weapons at them and started cutting them down.
"Get some, blueberries!", Davis shouted, "Come closer! I dare ya!"
The few dozen that survived retreated back to the trees. The rangers cheered, but the Rosians didn't cheer as much as they stared in awe. Now they see why the elves lost, these people are powerful.
Commander Barion walked to Logan, "Thank you for the assistance. But I doubt this is the last we have seen of them."
"I know.", Logan said, "That's why I'll have one of my guys scout those trees with a drone along with Lin and Clara.". Logan walked down to the two of them, "Scot! Get over here!"
"Coming!", Scot answered. Scot Green aka 'Mechanic', was the group's engineer. He was also their drone pilot. "Yes sir?"
"I need you to pilot the Fly into those tree lines and scout for the enemy.". The SPFD Fly was a small recon drone invented by DARPA to save both room and energy. Solar-powered and long-lasting battery, coupled with its long-range and small size made it a very useful tool to have in recon missions. "Lin, Carla, you two are also going. I need good eyes and ears over there."
"Sure thing, sir.", Lin said saluting the best she could.
"You two do know how to use a radio, right?"
"Of course we do.", Clara said, "We're not idiots."
"Good. Go.". Lin and Carla ran to the trees as Scott maneuvered the Fly.
The baron and his family, along with Ambassador Eugene walked over to the soldiers. The baron was first to speak, "That was... most impressive. But I must ask. Why peace? Surely you seem powerful enough to take the kingdoms by force."
"Because my people aren't barbarians, baron.", Anderson said, "If peace can be made, then we will do anything to make it a reality."
"I see. And the prince? What does he say about this?"
"You can ask him yourself.", Anderson said as he nodded to Logan who signaled his men to set up a desk and a large screen. "With this device, we can talk to the prince and even see him."
"Amazing.", said Herwin as he eagerly awaited to see his prince. After some preparations, the screen was ready and it turned on. The lights slightly startled the Rosians before the screen was clear and on it was prince Bodin himself. "My... My prince.", Herwin said as he knelt, "It is a miracle. You truly live."
"Baron Bachwich.", Bodin spoke, "Please, rise. I am not before you just yet. This is strange for me as well. Am I correct to assume the human soldiers have arrived?"
"Yes, my prince. They recently just helped us crush an attack from a bandit horde."
"Do you then see why I have chosen to make peace with these people?"
After a momentary pause, Herwin nodded, "I do, my prince. It is incredible to see that a nation so powerful is willing to make peace with its enemy and not subdue it."
"We are not their enemy, baron. The elves and their empire are. This is why they chose to make peace with us. They understand we are just vassals forced to fight. I suggest you hear Lord Anderson out."
As they were talking, Scot called for Logan, "Sir. I have a visual."
Logan nodded, "Alright. Commander Barion, would you like to see the enemy?"
"Yes.", Barion answered, "Show me."
Scot pulled up the video feed on his screen, "This is their camp. I count roughly three thousand. Lin and Carla confirm."
"Where are those two?", Logan asked.
"In the trees."
"Call them back and give me the radio.", Logan took the radio, "Galdush base. Come in Galdush base. This is Captain Logan Connors of Rift Group 1. Do you copy? Over."
After a few moments, the radio spoke, "Copy Rift Group 1. Sitrep. Over."
"Galdush, we have made contact with border town Afa. Upon entry, we engaged a third party, designated rogue elves, and bandit Rosians. Half a battalion attacked us but we drove them off. We confirm the enemy numbers in three thousand, various races. What's the status of our air forces? Over."
"Three air squadrons of Invictus ACs and a Boeing Stratofortress is currently being fueled and should be ready in half an hour."
"Galdush I request a tactical bombing run. The area will be marked via drone. How copy?"
The radio went silent for a few moments before speaking again, "Affirmative RG-1. Stratofortress will be up in the air as soon as possible. Make sure to mark the area. Galdush out."
"Copy that Galdush. RG-1 out."
"What was that?", Barion asked.
"You're gonna get another demonstration."
"Captain!", Carla shouted as she ran towards him. "I have eliminated an enemy scout.", she said as she extended a severed head toward Logan.
Logan smacked his lips before replying, "I see. Get rid of it."
"Yes sir.", Carla said as she tossed the head into a nearby pile of trash.
'At least she's helping', Logan thought.
---
(Two hours later)
The bandits and rogues were sitting in their tents, trying to plan an attack. The otherworlders were an unexpected problem, but hopefully a problem they could be dealt with.
"Alright, listen.", said an elf, "We'll strike at night. It didn't work last time because there were too many of them, but I reckon there can't be more than a few dozen of them."
"That doesn't matter.", said a Rosian, "I've seen what that few can do."
"You attacked with five hundred to scout their defenses. You were never supposed to win. Besides, we can use the tribals to deal with them. As we are attacking the front, they will go to the sides and strike."
"Are you sure this will work?"
"Yes. Soon, Afa will be ours."
At that moment, an elf rushed into the tent, "Sir, you must come and see this!"
They left the tent and came to the center of the tent. The one who called them pointed upwards into the sky. There they saw something flying. A wyvern? No, it was too big. Its wings didn't flap. What could it be? As it flew over them, something fell from it. Many egg-like things started falling and as they fell to the ground, they engulfed the camp in fire and shook the earth. In moments, the whole camp was on fire and everyone was either dead or dying. The ground was turned into a burning pile of scorched bodies.
If there were any doubts about the power of the otherwolders left, they were long gone now.
---
(Meanwhile)
Road to Una
The Belus family along with commander Aego and two hundred soldiers were on their way to Una. Taria did not wish to ride with her father and so she rode on a horse alongside Aego. Their hopes were that they would reach Una in several days and then cross the river.
"My lady.", Aego spoke, "Are you certain you should be riding alongside me and not in the carriage?"
"I do not wish to speak to my father.", Taria said, "At least not now."
"I assumed we cleared this matter."
"We have but... I still need time."
Aego sighed, "I understand. Still, you should not hate him for-", he stopped and halted the soldiers.
"What?"
"Something is not as it should be. This outpost is quiet.". The soldiers tensed up. They could also feel that something wasn't right. In a split second, Aego was shot by an arrow in the side.
"Ambush!", Taria yelled out. Suddenly, elves, welfen, and leanoids ran from the sides and the outpost. The soldiers prepared but found themselves overwhelmed by the enemies' numbers. Rogue elves fired arrows at them while welfen and leanoids exploited weaknesses and struck. Still, the soldiers fought hard, making sure the traitors and savages suffer. The enemy numbers were dropping, but not quickly enough. Taria used her training and cut down several rogues before crouching down to help Aego.
"Aego!", she yelled, "Aego hold on! You will live! Please!". She cried as he struggled to breathe. He grabbed her arm and pushed her to the side, just in time for her to dodge a spear from a leanoid. She watched as Aego spat blood before dying, his life leaving his body. In pure rage, she screamed and struck the leanoid in the side. Pulling out her sword she blocked a strike from a rogue, stepped closer, and headbutted him before slitting his throat.
Turning to her left she saw the rogues and tribals dragging her family. "Father!", she yelled, but couldn't help as a rogue hit her in the back of the head, knocking her down on the ground. Her blurred vision faded away as the rogue smiled down at her.
"Sweet dreams, little girl.", was what he said before she passed out completely.
End of chapter 9
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Welcome to Celebrate! Saturday

This is the weekly hype thread, a place for you to share your excitement about in-game achievements, lucky drops, and upcoming projects. This is also a space for the community to celebrate you!
While the subreddit is already a positive, celebratory space, this thread is meant to be especially so. For those of you who might hesitate to post something to the subreddit, because you worry it might be too beginner, too redundant, too low-effort: it's not. Come share with us here!

(Note: this thread is not meant to replace posting directly to the subreddit. You are still welcome to do so!)

Non-exhaustive examples of things to celebrate:

• Marrying your spouse!
• Getting a giant crop!
• Perfecting your farm or house design!
• The mushroom hat! The tiger hat! The living hat!
• Meteorites, Stone Owls, and Strange Capsules!
• A dinosaur egg from fishing or hoeing!
• Hooking a legendary fish!
• Getting triple Stardrop at the casino
• Beating Lewis at Junimo Kart!

If you want to share screenshots of your achievements, upload them to an image-sharing site like Imgur and drop a link in your comment.

This is also a thread where mods might lurk and offeaward prestige userflairs. These are animated icons that go next to your name as a way to celebrate particular achievements in the vanilla game. Note that posting in this thread doesn't guarantee you'll get the flair—you'll want to send us a modmail if you want to apply directly!

Achievement	Flair
Complete the community center!	A prismatic dancing Junimo
Fund all Joja Community Projects	A prismatic Joja Cola
Complete the museum collection!	An artifact trove busting open
Reach level 100 in Skull Cavern!	A flying serpent
Complete all Monster Slayer goals!	The prismatic slime
Cook every meal!	The Queen of Sauce herself
Craft every item!	Robin hard at work
Catch every fish!	The Legend, swimming
Beat Journey of a Prairie King	The King himself
Collect every hat in the game!	Magic Cowboy Hat
Reach Perfection!	A walking golden chicken

Get hyped!

I am 29f and have long standing issues with my mother in which she won't take accountability for the fact she has a big part to play as to why my sister ditched us for another fake family over 3.5 years ago now!!
I moved up North here with her over 1 year ago and she's recently FINALLY moved out of this farm house we have been staying in which is her partners but he doesn't live here.
The thing is, She owns 4 cats, one goat and a bunch of chooks 🐔 that she hasn't taken yet!!
Instead of doing the responsible thing and taking her pet goat and cats, she decided to be extremely immature and purchase a puppy in which she has replaced the goat for her puppy which she takes everywhere with her.
She knows I am over looking after ALL the animals om this farm as their are 8 cats, 7 chickens, 4 goats and my reptiles!!
We are splitting the cats and I am keeping 3 goats even though I'd rather only have 2
I gave her an ultimatum and she agreed she'll take the animals on the 31st of March which is now GONE!!
I re blocked her number again 10 days ago as she was ringing me to b**ch about me texting my sisters fake family ( which is NONE of my mother's business)!!!
I sent her a blunt text relaying how she is NOT going to ring and crucify me and to hell with her etc and she hasn't even bothered showing up to take her pet??
Do I sell them?

I was just standing still farming for a hallow key in the middle of a solar eclipse when I saw the key drop and I know I should’ve just went over to it immediately but I waited until the eclipse was over but when I went to pick it up it wasn’t there. I did go to the left of where it dropped so that it was off screen for a second but why would only the key despawn and none of the other loot

Now, full disclaimer, I am mostly just an ARAM nidalee player more than a SR Nidalee player, so maybe my experience is not the same as others, however I feel like Riot's Nidalee update has repeated the same thing of feeling like she talks too much.
These are just my two cents and I will say it as a disclaimer in case people just wanna say I dislike it because it's new: I did not like old Nidalee's VO, so my opinion here isn't me having some bias towards that. While I don't like the way New Nidalee speaks, I could tolerate it if she at least didn't feel like she is talking so much and I think I finally found the reason why so many VOs are hated: why in Teemo's sweaty toes does Nidalee nid so many quotes on spells that don't even feel that important?
Like, I could get it if this was some big, important moment but here's the amount of quotes that nidalee does FOR PUTTING A TRAP.

• "Stumble."
  
• "The trap is set!"
  
• "Now, I wait."
  
• "Thumbs: useful!"
  
• "Patience..."
  

Now let's look at the heal:

• Wild-blessed!"
  
• "Heart of the Pakaa!"
  
• "Lifeblood!"
  
• two quotes where she huffs.
  

Now ult:

• "As I am!"
  
• "Back on two feet."
  
• "Standing strong!"
  
• "Tool in hand!"
  
• "Meow!" Nidalee clears her throat. "...Anyway."
  
• Two other quotes where she huffs
  

Her throwing a spear quotes are actually fine. she has 2 quotes and 5 huffs/growls - with 3 quotes if she hits and 2 laughs. Since I don't like the voice direction they all sound bad to me, but there's some restrain and marking the important aspect of nidalee imo not shoving Nidalee to speak for something so simple as putting a trap or using spells.
She also has lines for her passive marking enemies.
The problem comes from the fact that these are spells you want to use and are low enough in cooldown and comboing the spells around that you WILL use them and the voice lines just end up coming one after the other, ending up with a Nidalee who is mouthing off a lot for simple stuff like hitting red buff or crab. It feels like it would have been better to just put voiced lines for Q, Q hit, healing and Maaaaaybe reduce the passive VO to 2.
I feel this is also the problem with other complained champions like Ashe: Ashe already can feel lenghty with her movement quotes, but at least the Q, E and R spells have enough CD or importance that you can go a good while without hearing them (you are not spamming Q when enemies are nearby for example for no reason) or when you do, it helps elevate the spell. Oh, but now add the quotes where Ashe is screeching just for using Volley, a rather low CD spell whose visual effect is just some pitiful arrows dealing "ok" damage and one you normally use a lot - Now that becomes annoying and detracts from the rest of the quotes because players don't come out remembering any of these quotes for Q, E and R: "This is the fury of an Iceborn!", "Anivia, guide us", "I am the bow!" (ok, maybe they remember that last one). No, Instead they come out remembering the audio trauma of "ARROWS FLY", "MAKE IT COUNT", "I DON'T MISS" that even as the Ashe player can feel obnoxious.
A champion that I feel balances the spell-to-voice properly imo is Sett. Sett Q and his true damage fist? just grunts and huffs. Sett's stun and his ult? Voiced quotes and facebreaker doesn't even says anything if he misses. IMO, this spread of talking and not talking helps create a better sense of identity or whatever Riot seems to want to give champs, because the few quotes he does feel more important and are on spells that are visually impactful. I can recognize his "now KISS!" (spanish VO) and "now for the finish" or "This is gonna hurt" quotes, and I would argue this is in part because these aren't competing with 6 voices of Sett Q where with variants of "it's clobbering time!" and 3 "MEGA LASER PUNCH" for his mega hit. EDIT: Lillia also does the same, mostly grunts, sneezes, huffs, EEPS, etc. but you know what this means? It makes her "sleepy time!" quote more relevant to Lillia, and somehow it feels like the sneezes and grunts have as much personality as Nida's spell lines despite literally just being random sounds with good vibes.
There's another route less used, and I am not saying everyone has to go this route as he is pretty much an outlier for new champions, but take a look at Pantheon. All his quotes are grunts. Imagine if Pantheon had voiced quotes for Q, the low CD spell he constantly uses instead of the more forgetable Grss and hmmphs. Yes, I can't link a "super amazing Quote that's super cool" to Pantheon stabbing my enemies in one visceral hit which will get spammed, on repeat, for farming and fighting... constantly... but you know what I also don't do? link pantheon to my mental bank of "champs that make me wish to turn voices off" and also champs that talk too much when I am in the enemy team. However, this has the problem of funneling more attention towards Pantheon's voices for walking and attacking, so designers need to be really confident in them and I think that with the usual praise Pantheon gets as a character (rather than a champion in-game), shows it's something they can actually do. Pantheon pretty much uses the way old Champions used to have their voice overs made, but actually having more than 7 quotes for walking and attacking so this isn't a problem.
EDIT: I don't know, it feels like Riot is overcompensating in VOs in areas that would work better with them restrainining themselves and JUST letting the quieter, and simple "HMMPH" and "Hyaa" work. After all, let me ask you people a question: did Melee Fox need to scream "FIRE FOX!" or "FOX STEP!" everytime he used his special moves to captivate us? NO he only needed the exciting "HYAAAAAA", the amazing "TORIYAAAA" and how could we forget the sad "UWAAAAA" - and that was good enough to lead us to the top 10 anime quotes of all time: "MISHUN COMPLET!" and that was good enough to win our hearts and our hatred.
But maybe my opinion is wrong. Maybe I am not wild enough for this new Nidalee and need to go to a few more furcons to understand my animal side in preparation for her new skin. What are your thoughts on Nidalee's current VO? Are you hopeful for Varus update or are you afraid of what Riot will do after seeing Nidalee's ? Do you think Ezreal, Viego and Aphelios need some maid outfit skins?
edited some stuff to add Lillia, and some grammar, sorry if I miss some stuff, I am lacking sleep.