The Warlord System

Niles Van Roekel was looking upon a tube holding his perfect weapon, Paragon. She was almost ready, all she needed was some field testing and a method to control her. His experiments on the others had led to this moment.

There had been delays of course, arranging the "accidents" that caused the Imperfects to agree had not been easy. As they say, anything worth having isn't easy. For the first time since their creation, Niles had the Imperfects gathered here in one place.

He doesn't remember why he did this, he felt it was important though. Johnny Ohm was the first to speak, asking why they had been gathered. Before Niles could say anything, another voice said, "Actually, I was the one who called you here."

They all immediately turned to see a man standing there. Niles wanted to shout the order for them to attack, but he wasn't able to move. Despite that however, his Imperfects still launched into action.

Fault Zone leaped into the and brought down her seismic drills. The man parried and slammed her into a wall. Ohm, Hazmat, and Solara tried to attack him at a distance. He proceeded to doge those attacks and close that distance. With the hilt and scabbard of his sword, the man struck them repeatedly leaving them immobilized.

Brigade charged at the man; a distraction meant to keep him from noticing Wink. It didn't work, he twisted his body, evading their attack and he used their momentum against them.

The fight had lasted only a few minutes. He then stood in front of Paragon's stasis pod, Niles tried in vain to move, to stop him. The pod open and Paragon fell out into the man's arms. After helping her to his feet, the man began to speak. Only for some reason, Niles couldn't understand what was being said. Did his translator break?

That must have been it, because he couldn't understand what anyone was saying. While he couldn't understand what was being said, Niles did recognize the looks of betrayal and anger on their faces. Was this man somehow sharing Niles' secrets. One by one the Imperfects each stood up.

Then each one began to strike the still immobile Niles. He could feel each strike, he wanted to explain why his actions were necessary, but he could say nothing. Finally, Paragon stood before him, a sword formed in her right hand. Then she proceeded to split him in half. As his body began to break apart, his last thought was, 'Who was that man who destroyed all my efforts?'

...

Khan was standing in Transia, at the base of mount Wandagore, in front of Lilith's tomb. There was no sign of Hydra, at least nothing newer than WWII. His recruitment of the Imperfects had been seamless, thanks to the skill he got Aizen. An event seemingly so long ago that he actually forgot about it.

Still, with it he got Roekel to summon everyone, and revealing the role he played in ruining their lives, proved simple. They were understandably hesitant to just up and work for Khan, but the fact that he dealt with them so easily had helped convince them it needn't be a permanent employment.

It was unfortunate that his little puppet master ability couldn't utilize a person's full potential. Otherwise, he wouldn't have to play so nice when recruiting. The mind stone should help partially, but honestly, it would only go so far.

Khan entered the tomb and approached Lilith's coffin. A prompt from his system suddenly appeared above the crypt.

[Here Lilith, Mother of Demons, lies sealed.

You can spend 50,000 to awaken her yourself or 1,000 to prompt Faust to come do it.]

Khan looked at the message, it was obvious what the system was implying. It would always be cheaper to follow the plot rather than make a new one. However, for his plan to play out like he wants, Khan will need to be the one that awakens Lilith, alone.

Though in reality, at this point, 50k was barely a drop in the bucket since he hasn't really been spending his points. So, Khan watched as energy began to flow into Lilith's coffin. The lid fell off, and Lilith burst out. It was clear she was combat ready. Apparently, the lack of ceremony shocked her.

Lilith looked at Khan, and said with an intimidating aura, "Who are you! For what purpose awaken me!? Speak and I may let you live!" Khan, neither impressed nor intimidated, simply said, "I've come to offer true salvation for your child, but if you're not interested..."

Lilith, with eyes full of anger said, "What could you possibly do, or even know?!" Khan, looking Lilith in the eye said, "You sold your soul to save your only child. Of course, the entire thing was a setup. Chthon influenced Shaw with power, and in turn Shaw; publicly tortured and killed the local coven, lusted after you, and unleashed a plague to clear the board of any would-be competition."

Hearing Shaw's motivation and what that desire drove him to, had caught Lilith off guard. She almost immediately recomposes herself and asked, "How was I setup?"

Khan resisted the urge to give a smug smile, and said, "Chthon has had his eyes on you for a while now, as I'm sure you are aware. But not as a servant, instead he needed you as a mother for his vessel."

Lilith's eyes narrow for a moment, then went wide when the realization hit. Khan continued, "While sure he would've preferred a child that was born after your fall, but I know he was more than willing to settle for the one you already have."

Lilith suddenly lost all her energy and dropped to her knees. Everything she ever did had been for her child's sake, but the knowledge that her plans would've erased her child and bring forth a monster was threatening to break her.

Khan then said, "You really should be grateful to your sister, while she gravely misunderstood the nature of Hunter's darkness, Sarah did know enough to fashion a collar to suppress that darkness."

Lilith looked up at Khan, hope was beginning to shine through. Khan then said, "Like I said earlier, I do have a way to truly save your child. Do you want to hear it?"

Lilith immediately stood up, with genuine concern on her face she said, "Please, tell me. How?" Khan began to tell her, and she listened to every word. When Khan finished, Lilith was a whirlwind of emotions. Then she immediately settled, with a look of suspicion in her eyes, Lilith said, "If I've learned anything in my life, it's that no one will offer something like this without wanting something in return. If they say otherwise, then they're either a liar or a fool. So, what do you want?

Khan smiled for the first time of their interaction. He said, "I'm glad I'm not dealing with a fool. So, I'll tell you. There are a few important items inside the Sanctum Sanctorum, items, other individuals might covet to the point of doing something stupid. When you feel the Sanctum is yours for the taking, I'll join you and get first pick."

Lilith looked thoughtful, but it was a ruse. She knew Khan's "reward" was vaguely worded on purpose, and how broad the term items were. Lilith was clearly thinking of a way to further benefit from the situation.

After another minute passed, Lilith said, "You are asking for a lot, but you're also promising a lot. So here is my counteroffer, if you can secure my child from the Abby in Salem then I'll grant what you desire."

Khan paused for a moment before saying, "Your sister and her followers will probably not want to hear what I have to say and will try to prevent me from taking the Hunter. Are you okay with the consequences that will follow?"

Lilith was silent for a few moments that appeared to stretch. Then she said, "For my child's sake I severed my bonds with my sister long ago. If she stands in your way, then what happens will happen."

...

Johnny Ohm was not sure what he was looking at, and after years of working for Roekel, he wasn't sure to ever expect that feeling again. Yet here it is.

He was standing on a massive spaceship, called the Martyr. To his understanding, without proper transport, if one were to try and walk from one end to the other it would take more than a week, and that was if you didn't get lost.

But what was truly confusing him was such a massive place was being used for a mock combat scenario. Apparently, this place had a special field that would allow everyone to feel the full reality of combat, including the grip of death, and when it was done, with the simple push of a button it was all undone.

The soldiers would retain all the useful experiences and be brought back as fresh as a daisy for the most part. Apparently, this feature didn't work as intended with the Zerg or Orks, whose ability to rapidly replace their numbers created a bug, that apparently was too tedious to deal with.

While this mock battle would restore what was lost, it wouldn't get rid of that which was created during. So, both the Zerg and the Orks were not participating. Still, the Blood Angels, Protoss, and Drukhari were not letting the lack of permanent death to act recklessly. They were all acting like it would be permanent if they died.

Ohm looked around. With all the resources Dovak had at his disposal, Ohm wondered why they were hired in the first place. As if merely thinking about him was all it took, Dovak emerged from an unseen shadow.

Wink, undaunted by his sudden asked, "How long before I can be reunited with my mother?" Dovak immediately answered, "The plan is in motion, but it will at least be six months. What's the rush anyway? You've been searching for her for years, what's a few short months."

Not waiting for a response, Dovak approached a woman in a military uniform. Then he said, "Tanya, how goes are mock battle training exercise?" Tanya sharply answered, "Fairly smooth, a winner should be determined within the hour."

Suddenly a beep from a counsel got everyone's attention. Dovak walked up, and said, "The Milano has just entered the system. They're right on schedule... good."