CotJ II: The Last Stand Act 2 Part II

Story by Cartoon Malero on SoFurry

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#12 of Chronicles of the Justicar II: The LAst Stand


[The Shadow Core; Dark Spire. 3,568 A.D, November 26th, 4:50AM]

Lord Havoc oversaw his forces entering through the massive Shadow Gate on the level below him. Infinite drones emerged from the dark swirling vortex; all of them in single file as they went through the middle of the huge long tunnel that seemed to go on forever. On either sides of the huge column of drones were the organic allies to the infinite; a collection of hideous mutated abominations and the cult soldiers who produced them also came through the gate along side the colossal drones.

Lord Havoc clicked his metal pincers together as he watched for hours at his invasion force entering into Dark Spire and it would be many more hours before the last of the drones and organics had came through. Lord Havoc summoned a communication portal with a small gesture of both of his pincers to contact his informant aboard the Seer's vessel.

Serverus bowed when he saw his lord on the other side of the portal, "The heretics here are still at the coordinates I gave you. They have stopped to make repairs and believe to be safe."

"And have the Seer and his followers found the human known as Ethan?"

"Yes, just like you wanted master." Serverus nodded

"Excellent." Havoc laughed "Continue leading the organics on a wild goose chase until Lord Vurdamis has found a way to separate Azerigan so that the Seer's followers will try and get to him."

"And that's when we wipe them all out...killing all of them in one glorious ambush."

"Precisely." Lord Havoc nodded

The communication portal closed in a flash as Lord Havoc turned back to see more of his minions coming into Dark Spire through the use of the shadow gate; they poured out like an endless tide. Lord Havoc laughed madly; his voice echoing through the entire base as more and more drones and huge mutated abominations just kept emerging from the massive interstellar gate.

[The Dorian Grey; Medical Bay-A-03. 3,568 A.D, November 26th, 5:50AM]

Liken made a low pitch growl as Carpender was trying to take the small bullet fragments out of her open wound on her thigh.

"You sure you do not want anaesthetic?" Carpender asked carefully as he dropped a small metal piece into his tray that had other bloodied bits of metal

"Just finish this." She ordered

"It doesn't make you any weaker..." Carpender added

"I didn't ask for your opinion!" Liken yelled back out of anger

Carpender went back to taking out anther piece of bullet fragment when Liken apologized, "I'm sorry."

The mummy-like doctor patted Liken on the head with his armoured claw," You sure you don't want to talk?"

"What's there to-"Liken paused from clenching her teeth together as her foster parent took out anther shard" to talk about..."

"It's not healthy to keep stuff like that bottled up inside Liken." Carpender explained

"You are always too busy to talk to me, besides I can work this out myself."

"What about Arjun? He seems to be interested in talking." He nodded as he took out the last fragment

"He doesn't want to talk; this is properly some stupid joke he's waiting to pull..."

"I don't know Liken..." Carpender chuckled as he filled Liken's wound with VALOR made bio foam. "He has really changed from when he first became the Justicar from a sarcastic buffoon who takes no responsibility to a sarcastic buffoon.

Liken laughed as Carpender put his thumb and finger of his bandaged wrapped hand under her chin to lift her head up to his level, "I want you to be happy, Liken. I'm not going to be around forever."

Liken hugged Carpender around his chest from his comment before the floating doctor placed his hands on her shoulder and continued, "The final confrontation of organic life against the infinite will happen, it is unavoidable. I need you to be strong for our last stand against the Void God which means I need you to trust Arjun as you two, Ethan and Azerigan are the only heroes that are still in their prime to fight."

Liken nodded as she released her hold on Carpender and sat back down before picking at her healed leg wound when her foster parent spoke again, "Just give the human a chance, it's all I ask Liken."

The valgary sighed reluctantly, "Fine."

[Planet Drakos; Azerigan's Cave, 3,568 A.D, November 26th, 6:20AM]

Talsora landed on the edge of the well decorated home and proceeded to walk into her dwelling with a very large wilderbeast in her jaws that was recently slain by her to feed the children. She dropped the carcass into the metal pile when she saw a note for her written in her mate's hand writing pinned to the wall near her. She pulled it off and read it where she was given instructions to meet Azerigan at a specific place for a 'surprise' and that Mazerigan and Dalatora were looking after their hatchlings at her family's cave.

Talsora smiled and took off from the cave immediately following the directions Azerigan had given to reach him. She descended into the large forest she recently had hunted in, wild animals scattered instantly when the large dragoness touched down in the woods. She walked along the ground; knocking over small trees that were in her way. She heard a rushing waterfall in the distance which helped her navigate her way through the wooded area that much better as that is where the directions wanted her to go.

She came to a large opening that was a beautiful grove with a large waterfall to the left of the opening and in the middle of the large patch of green was a large fur carpet that only nobles could afford, a large keg of wine that must have been taken from the storage under the royal castle of Caer Sidi, also near the keg where several finely prepared meats that were imported from all around the Draconian Kingdom and in between the delicacies was one Azerigan who wore his full ceremonial armour.

"Azer...what is all this?" She asked while walking closer to him

"I wanted to show you how much you really mean to me." Azerigan answered while bowing his head down

"Oh Azer...this is so sweet." She smiled

"It took me a while to set this all up but I knew you were wor-"Azerigan said when his mate kissed him on his cheek

"This is the first place we had conceived...do you remember?" Azerigan asked

"I do." Talsora blushed, "I assume this is why you are dressed up."

Azerigan nodded, "When we were first here I told my father I was out hunting, I didn't tell him who or how I was hunting." He blushed

"I know you love me, Azer, I just wished you would stop talking about the infinite, you only put stress on your self which in terns hurts us as well."

Azerigan gestured to the various goods he had brought, "This is why I've set this up Tal."

"No Azer, if you really loved me you would stop this notion that the infinite are 'evil'." She said

Azerigan closed his eyes before nodding, "You mean more to me than anything I can imagine...I'll do it for you."

Talsora bunted heads with her consort hoping deeply that Azerigan would keep his promise this time around. As Talsora began to unhook the metal clamps on Azerigan's royal armour he gently pushed her away with his eyes open wide.

"What's wrong?" She asked

"I forgot the desert!" Azerigan said quickly

"It doesn't matter." Talsora answered while shaking her head as she continued to undress the mighty dragon

"This needs to go perfectly." Azerigan demanded "It will only take me a few minutes."

"Alright." Talsora said, "Just don't be gone to long." She cooed

Azerigan planted a kiss on his mate's forehead before taking off from the ground into the sky.

[The Dorian Grey; Hall-way 28 icon_biggrin.gif 3,568 A.D, November 26th, 6:50AM]

Liken stretched herself when she got out of bed as the ship A.I alerted her that someone was at the door. The valgary yawned as she placed her left claw on the door opening control to find Arjun on the other side that was holding two cafeteria trays in his hands trying to balance them awkwardly

Liken sighed, "What are you doing."

"Thought you'd be hungry so I brought you something"

Liken looked at what the human was carrying; one tray had random cuts of meat that must have been leftovers all thrown onto a platter while the other had maybe a third of the meat but had potatoes and other vegetables along side it.

"What's that one for." Liken asked as she pointed with her head at the tray with vegetables on it.

"Oh...that one is for me, I thought we could eat together."

Liken closed the door on Arjun's face and turned around to go back to bed but the human kept buzzing her room forcing her to reopen the door to stop him.

"I don't want to talk." Liken said

"Didn't Carpender tell you to give me a chance?" Arjun asked

Liken growled, "You told Carpender to talk to me?!"

"Hey, it's not my fault you're a closed book!" Arjun argued back

Liken tried to shut the door but it closed on the human's foot who blocked it allowing it to re open.

"I don't know what you are afraid of, I mean, I don't even have my armour on." Arjun shook his head, "how bout this, we eat, I don't talk."

The valgary poked her head out to look in both directions in the hall way before gesturing with her head to motion Arjun inside. The human followed Liken back inside into her room; as before the valgary's home was almost pitch black, he carefully moved about trying not to drop any of the trays.

"Do you mind if I turn on a light?" Arjun asked

Liken didn't answer so Arjun thought it meant that she would have no problem with it, with one hand as he awkwardly tried to turn it on the light's flickered on to show the messy state that was Liken's dorm; her bed was completely torn with all the foam and springs ripped out so it had no structure, claw marks and large indents covered the walls no doubt from her own anger and her whole place reeked with her own smell most likely from rarely leaving her room and never letting any cleaning droids in.

"Scales...don't tell me you live like this since we got you..." Arjun asked

"I thought you weren't going to talk." She hissed defensively

Arjun nodded and placed her meat filled tray on her dirty and torn bed where she laid. The valgary growled when Arjun stood near her for too long so he quickly backed off and sat on a stool whose comforting was also slashed out.

Arjun looked at the small table to his left and saw a small photo in a simple frame standing alone unscathed on top the scratched up table. He looked closer to see it was of Liken and Zhakaev both holding each other while looking at where the picture was being taken from.

"Carpender found that for me..." Liken spoke softly which startled Arjun

"I'm sorry." Arjun said

"What's there to be sorry about...?" Liken pouted who was curled up in a ball on her ripped up bed, "There's nothing left for me in this life... if this 'plan' really works, then I do not know what to do after..."

"You got Carpender, don't you?" Arjun asked

"It's not the same..." She sighed. The valgary curled more up as her stomach pained her, "Zhakaev was my only friend."

"You loved him?" H asked

"Of course I did!" Liken yelled as she raised her head from her body, "He made me feel safe in my stupid, screwed up life! The infinite took him away from me and I want my revenge!"

"I'm planning on seeing this through, you want your revenge? I'll be behind you all the way." Arjun nodded

Liken sunk her head back into herself so her face pressed up against her tail as she sat curled, "Why is this happening to me..." she sniffed, "Why couldn't I save you Zhak..."

"Hey, hey..." Arjun said as he walked over and sat beside Liken who made no effort to detour him, "It's not your fault."

"I watched one of those things cut right through him and I was too slow to stop it! How is it not my fault!?" She cried out

"It's the infinite's fault; they were behind it and no matter what it was only because we are were 'special' that's why they spared us back there."

Arjun's words only made the valgary cry even more, "But I didn't even want to be here! I just wanted to live back with my hive on my world and be with my Zhakaev..."

"I know." Arjun said gently as he took a risk by placing her hand on her shoulder. The valgary looked up teary eyed as even though she had no visible eyes Arjun could tell there was no anger towards him. "We'll get through this, together."

Liken sat straight up; stretching her muscles from being curled up for so long before she looked down at the smaller human. The valgary out stretched her arms which caused Arjun to move away as he thought he was going to be attacked but Liken was much quicker than he was since he did not wear his power armour. It didn't take long for Arjun to find out that he wasn't being attack but instead Liken was hugging him like a child with their favourite teddy bear when they were scared. She began pouring all of her emotions into his shoulder; sadness, rage, all of it came out at once in tears and growls in a healthy mess.

Arjun placed his hand on the completely tear soaked cheek of the blacked scaled alien who continued to stain his clothing with her faced sunk deep into his shoulder with both of her arms wrapped around his chest so his back was against her body. Arjun patted Liken gently along her face and neck which caused her to turn to face the human who was comforting her so well.

"Its going to be ok, its going to be ok" he repeated in a softer voice

"I-I'm sorry, I just miss him so...much." She sniffed

"Told you wanted to talk."

"Thank you... t-this means a lot... to me." She said in a broken sniffled sentence

"Not a problem" He laughed

[Planet Drakos; High Wilderness, 3,568 A.D, November 26th, 7:50AM]

Azerigan flew above the dark green forest with the baked goods he went out for in a basket he held with both of his claws. The dragon smiled in anticipation of what a special day this was going to be for not only himself but his mate as well which motivated him to fly faster than he had before. Azerigan rushed past an open patch in the woods from over head, he knew it wasn't the one Talsora was at because he still could not hear any waterfall from anywhere, the dragon patriarch turned around out of curiosity to see if he could bring her flowers as well.

Azerigan landed in the large patch to see citizens of the Draconian Kingdom that worked for the infinite were harvesting dangerous plants along with piles of bodies of varying classes were massed in the centre of the large operation.

"What is all this?" Azerigan asked

From around the pile of naked corpses of draconians came one Dr. Alterus. The half dragon-lizard folk carried a clip board and he wore is small lab coat that was stained in blood and other various liquids, Malero Alterus adjusted is large red monocle before he answered the fearsome clan prince.

"Just a simple medical exercise, a small one." The doctor answered

"I've yet to see a program that lets students operate on bodies in the middle of woods" Azerigan said

"That's a good question, good answer it needs..." Malero said as he slowly panicked as the powerful Azerigan snarled with flames shooting out of his nostrils

Malero backed away from the giant of a dragon and reached into his lab coat to pull out a complicated looking three-dimensional object, "You are too nosey for your own good prime consort! Too nosey you are!"

Malero threw the object in the sky where it exploded allowing the blast to form a black hole that started to suck in small wild and plant life. In a few seconds a red lightning bolt shot from the rift and stuck the ground behind Azerigan and soon after the rift closed.

Azerigan turned around to suddenly find him self looking directly at the glowing red eye of an infinite drone. Malero backed off with a smile as he adjusted his monocle, "Kill him." He ordered

The infinite drone grabbed Azerigan by the neck and threw him onto the ground on his back that shook the forest. The drone stood over him using both of its claws to choke the massive beast to death but when it saw it couldn't crush the neck of Azerigan as his scales and muscles were far too thick the drone primed its wrist mounted cannons on its left hand before aiming it at the dragon's skull. Azerigan wrapped his muscular tail around two of the drone's squid like legs before he pulled the massive machine from out under itself so it fell on top of him. As the infinite drone struggled to get off from the dragon but the beast began tearing away at its exposed circuitry with his powerful jaws so that the drone's weaponry would become useless. Azerigan shoved the infinite drone off of him so it fell backwards as he got up spiting out chewed wiring in the process.

Sparks flew off from the drone as it stood back up with dirt and grass falling off from various areas it was caked in, it turned to its left and pulled an enormous tree from its roots that dug deep into the earth with one hand and held the massive trunk with both using it like a club. Azerigan opened his mouth wide to completely engulf the drone in his fire that melted the tree onto its black armour. The dragon kept up his attack as infinite drone's armour slowing began to turn red from the super intense heat causing the machine to stagger about erratically and when the drone let its guard down Azerigan punched a hole straight through the chest of the now weakened armour plating.

Malero quickly moved to the side as the destroyed drone fell to the ground unable to do anything, the mad doctor watched as Azerigan who was now madder than he was before stomp towards him before grabbing the half dragon in his claws.

"You won't be turning any more innocents into your hell-spawned creations." Azerigan snarled, "I will enjoy roasting you alive...doctor-"

"Azerigan! What are you doing!" yelled Talsora who came quickly to investigate the noise

The green scaled dragoness landed in the clear cut opening beside her mate who was ready to devour the doctor whole, "Put him down!" she ordered

"Talsora look! This is what I meant the infinite are against us!" Azerigan argued

Talsora looked at the destroyed infinite drone and quickly panicked, "Azerigan, what have you done!" The dragoness proceeded to walk around very nervously, "What the hell were you thinking, do you know what kind of trouble you are in!"

"It attacked me!" Azerigan argued again

"Why would a drone attack you?! You really did it this time!" she continued to panic

Malero shifted his monocle with one hand, "No harm was done, and was not harmful. The drone can be salvaged, be reused."

Azerigan forced his mate to look at the pile of corpses, "Then what do you think of that?"

Talsora shook her head and pushed Azerigan away, "They do medical work, and they are obviously bringing the bodies back to the city while getting supplies for medical practice." She answered

"Precisely." Malero nodded "My poor students were on their final project before this brute decided to attack and wreck the drone that came to our defence."

"You liar!" Azerigan shouted

Talsora bit the neck of her mate to get him to be quiet before whispering to him, "You've done enough to damage our relationship, now shut up before you do more harm to this problem!"

Talsora stepped forward and laid down before Dr. Alterus, "Please don't report this to the royal guard, I beg of you Malero." She pleaded as Azerigan was forcing all his will power into not speaking out

"How can I resist such a beautiful dragoness?" Malero laughed, "I won't report this to the authority but I remind you to keep Azerigan on a tighter leash."

"Thank you so much Malero, I will honour your huge act of compassion by naming my next newborn after you."

"We are not naming our next hatchling after this monster!" Azerigan yelled out

Talsora pulled her mate down by the neck and forced his head to her mouth, "If you keep this up you won't be the father of my next hatchling" she threatened

Azerigan backed down as Malero walked away laughing under his breath as his students continued to harvest materials needed to make the cult monsters.

"Even on a day where you wanted to make things right you still screw it up!" Talsora yelled in her consort's face

The large dragon didn't answer he just put his head down in shame as Talsora continued to yell at him, "Why can't we just be a family Azerigan! Why can't you just be normal?!" Talsora then put her claw under her mate's jaw and forced him to look at her, "You are only hurting your family by doing this! I...I just don't know what to do with you...."

Azerigan stood on his hind legs and held Talsora by the shoulders but she shrugged him off, "You'll never change, you say you do but you never do it! Do you even love me anymore?!"

"I do Tal; every fibre of my body is devoted into making you and our children happy. I want to stop, I really do but please my love; believe me when I say something is not right!"

"Listen to yourself Azer! You sound insane; I will not have our children exposed to such madness! Either you drop this right now and never ONCE mention anything about the infinite or I will leave with the children and you can peruse your paranoia freely." Talsora glared with anger in her eyes but with sadness in her words

Azerigan immediately accepted her ultimatum without question, "I love you Tal."

Talsora nodded and slowly walked away, "I just wish you meant it." She whispered to herself

[VALOR Flag Ship; the Dorian Grey; Serverus' Quarters 3,568 A.D, November 26th, 8:50AM]

"There has been a change in plans, lure the organics on this star ship to these coordinates." Lord Havoc ordered through the communication portal

The Forgotten One leader looked at his data assistant, "This is just an out skirt Draconian colony, why go here?"

The spider like mech laughed, "Think Serverus for a second, you get them to believe that we have a base of operations there to harvest the local population, they arrive and are ambushed by my troops."

"What about the local population?" The thermal suit wearing alien asked

"Once those organics have been dealt with we will eliminate the draconians and say that VALOR had killed them, those simpletons always believe what we say."

"I suppose Lord Vurdamis has found his own way of dealing with Azerigan?" Serverus asked

"Indeed, I will update you with further details in the coming cycle."

"By your command, Lord Havoc." Serverus bowed as the portal faded away

"Well this is a turn of events." Ethan said as he leaned against the door with an apple in his hand

"How did you get in here!?" the alien question quickly

"A trained hunter never tells his secrets." The charred human answered" Besides I didn't come here to reveal your little trickery."

"Then why are you here?" Serverus asked as the human walked closer while taking a bite of the apple before throwing the whole thing away into a trash can

"I want to help you." Ethan grinned darkly