Diane could hear metallic creaking and groaning as she slowly opened her eyes. She could see a tiny sliver of light creeping into the room as her eyes adjusted to the dark. It felt as if she was moving, even though she was lying down on a rather stiff mattress. She slowly sat up, trying to get a good look at the room she was in.
It was cramped, with a small desk directly across from her bed, and a small covered window on the wall above her. The room had space, but it wasn’t exactly screaming luxury either. She got to her feet, looking over to the window as she looked at the small bit of light peeking out from it. She wanted to pull up the curtain, but her instincts were stopping her.
Don’t look. Not yet.
She could see two doorways at the other end of the room, and she slowly made her way towards them. She could still hear the creaking and groaning around her as she tried to recall how she had gotten here. She didn’t remember drinking, or being attacked or anything like that. The last thing she could remember was… shit, it was all a blur. She remembered walking back home, splashing some cold water on her face and getting ready to get in the shower… and that was basically it at the moment. That wasn’t a good sign of anything.
Looking to her left, she could see the doorway opened into a small bathroom with a standing shower. She walked up to the room’s sink, turned on the faucet and looking at herself in the mirror. It was something she really needed to see, for some reason she couldn’t fully explain.
She softly ran her fingers against the multiple scars that covered her face. They were all still there, thankfully no new additions. She slowly dragged her fingertip across the one that ran right across the middle of her nose. She looked at them, seeing how they stood out on her dark brown skin.
An expression was stuck on her face. That couldn’t fully be deciphered at the moment. It was like one of anguish, anxiety, weak flickering optimism and pure patheticness all rolled into one. And yet it also was none of those at the same time.
She held up her arms, seeing the few but noticeable lines of pink arm hair, standing out like the scars on her face. It matched the color of the hair growing on her tummy and the side cut of curly and shaved hair on her head.
She splashed the water on her face, blinking a few times as she looked at herself. Nothing had vanished or been added. She reached into her pants pocket, pulling out a decently sized pocket knife, flipping out the blade. Her fingers held on to the handle as she looked at her blurred reflection in the thing for a few long seconds. She could feel her breathing increase a bit, as she quickly put the blade back in and put the knife back in her pocket.
Diane was still herself. She was still Diane. She was still alive. That was at the very least… something. “Alright… let’s try to learn where the hell we are,” she said to herself, not sure if it was to give herself something to do or if it was trying to distract from the inner voices, telling her that the knife she had pulled out needed fresh blood.
She walked out of the room, entering into a dimly lit corridor of doors exactly similar to hers, lined up in front of her and on her sides. She could see more natural light, peeking in through the porthole of a door at the end of the hall to her right. Her footsteps made tiny clangs against the steel floor. She couldn’t tell if she would be better off with other people close by, or her being left all alone in this section.
She braced herself and opened the door, stepping out into the light as she shielded her eyes. A cool breeze hit her skin as she stepped out, seeing the bright blue sky above. She approached a guard rail, grabbing onto it as she looked down at the realization of it all hit her. Clouds, clouds were below her. She wasn’t in just any kind of ship. She was in an airship.
“Oh, what the fu-” she muttered, feeling her legs turn to jelly. She desperately grasped onto the railing, trying her best to take slow deep breaths as she could see a figure nearby, looking out at the other nearby clouds. “... Best to talk to someone…” Diane muttered, slowly making her way towards the figure.
She slowly regained her movement as she got closer and closer, seeing that they were on the deck of the ship, with the breeze somewhat kicking up. Cool and fast. Diane felt her hair blow as she drew closer, seeing the figure was a woman wearing a plain white dress shirt. A woman with stunning, red hair. A braid had been tied in the back.
“I’m not the one that brought you here, I woke up here like you,” the woman said, turning her head and locking eyes with Diane. Layers of yellow rings surrounded her pinprick pupils. “Are you going to attack me?” Her voice was calm, in control, but still threatening.
Diane shook her head, holding her hands close to her chest and away from her pocket. “No, no. I’m just,” she thought on her next words. “Trying to get a grasp on what’s going on, I guess,” she explained, getting closer to the woman. Getting a better look, Diane could see she was also wear a black tie.
The red haired woman watched the sky as they moved through it for a bit, before looking down and adjusting her tie. She seemed to be considering and thinking about multiple things. She then turned her head again. “I’ll assume you’re the one that did.”
Looking, Diane could see another woman approaching. Her outfit was seemingly all made of leather, looking much more propper and fancy. She had a parasol slung over her back and brown hair touching their shoulder as they moved in the breeze. She had a confident grin on her face as she pointed at the red headed woman. “Makima,” she then pointed over to Diane. “Diane,” she then pointed her thumb back at herself. “Patricia. Welcome to the ‘Fair Lady’ or FLfor short, the greatest airship to ever adventure the endless skies,” she said as she got between the two. Her voice was fancy, accented, but also full of energy and eagerness. She was beauty, she was grace. “If you’re curious, your friends are here as well, and they’re all unharmed. I mean no ill-intent or will with my actions or what I do,” she explained.
“What is your intent then?” Makima asked, getting to the point. There was no anger in her tone, but rather an upfront forcefulness.
Diane knew to hold her tongue for now. Maybe she wasn’t even supposed to be part of this planned introduction to things.
Patricia just chuckled, looking to the starboard of the airship. Other similar looking ships could be seen following behind it, making for an impressive fleet. “Why explain when I can show? Please, follow me,” she said, heading off towards a door back into the airship. After a few steps, she turned back to them. “Do you think it would be wise to start a fight up here?” she asked, before heading back inside.
The two started to follow, with Diane turning her head back to the deck as they went back in. While she didn’t see anyone there, she could feel the presence of someone else. “Shit…” she knew exactly who it was, and that she would need to talk to them if she wanted a better understanding of what was going on.
The three women walked through pathway after pathway of corridors, filled with doors of various sizes and seemingly endless pipes and steam gages. No words were spoken, just the sounds of the ship echoing around them. Soon enough, the hallways started to turn into rooms. Gigantic rooms, full of crates and boxes stacked and lined to the ceiling. Some of them could be seen into. Various currencies, gems that sparkled even without sunlight shining on them, steel plating and an uncountable amount of guns of every size and type known to man. Even a few unknown ones as well.
“These are cargo airships,” Makima commented, finally breaking the silence. “You’re engaging in some rather dangerous item trades.”
Patricia nodded, bouncing her parasol against her shoulder as they walked deeper in. “That is correct, Miss Makima. But, there is more to it than just that. These machines can hold precious, rare cargo and materials without damaging them. They can host life for hundreds of people and give them luxuries, if they are desired. It can give any country mouse the life of a city mouse, if that helps make the images more clear,” she said, her smug grin growing for a second.
After a while, the three were in a darker cargo room, with the materials being shipped out on full display: statues, paintings, framed swords and amulets. And resting against a back wall was… a silent creature in the shape of a man. From the way the few bits of light in the room shined off its dark blue exterior, it appeared to be mechanical in nature. It was both bulky, yet sleek, with its head being rather large but a smooth jet black glass visor in place of the eyes.
Diane was the one to move in closer, examining it more. The arms looked to have steam vents at the elbow end, there were sharp quills on the back of the head, its feet had mini-cartwheels on them, seemingly to help move it around when it was like this. Its stomach panel was slid down, revealing a burnt out and cracked core that connected to a rather heavy looking engine in its back. She had no idea where this came from or what it was supposed to be used for, Diane knew one thing… This was a mechanical beast.
“We found this, a long while back… never been able to activate it,” Patricia explained, leaning over the beast. “The technology that makes it up is truly incredible, most of it being made of hard to find resources and materials. Repairing it has been a long process, but we are almost done with polishing it up… there are just a few things left to be replaced.”
“I’m gonna guess one of them is a new power source. But, why are me or her or any of the other people you’ve brought here needed for that?” Diane asked, tapping the core. The glass softly clinked with each tap.
Patricia walked up to the machine, placing her hand on its head, strumming her fingers against the cold metal. “Getting the materials I need for this thing’s continued restoration isn't exactly easy. The crew on these ships only really know how to keep them running, and not much else. You two, I know about you two,” she said, noticing the slight flinch in Diane, while Makima’s glare only tightened. “You’re both leaders of two rather skilled groups, aren’t you? I’ve heard about the amazing things you’ve been able to pull off, and I thought it would be best to cordially bring you on these expeditions of mine.”
“Are there more people here?” Makima asked.
“Oh, yes. These are rather important ventures after all. The other ships following behind us are headed to different locations from us. We need as much power on this as we can get.”
“And if we say no?”
Patricia chuckled. “Well, then you can just join the rest of the low level staff here and clean the place, replace parts and keep it all running smoothly. No point in letting you freeload off all this. I assure you, the sooner we can work to get this done… the better, and I’ll make sure you’re all sent back without issue.” She stuck her hand out to Makima. “Let our handshake form a contract, before we get to signing actual papers.”
Makima just looked at her hand. “I don’t sign contracts on the first offer. Let’s see how things go first, before I can consider trusting you with anything. My team will follow my words. Not yours.” With that, she turned and made her way to the room’s exit.
Patricia just tutted, shaking her head before turning to look back at Diane. “And what of you? Do you feel ready to make this a bound deal?”
Diane looked at the machine, standing up. While this thing was in the crouched position, she guessed it would be able to match her height if it stood. What the hell was this thing really…?
“Miss Diane, is everything alright?”
Diane shook her head, looking back to Patricia. “I’m not gonna agree to anything yet either. I’m already in sort of a contract with someone, and the rest of my group would want to be with me when I do it anyways.” She crossed her arms. “If you really know who I am, then know I’m not gonna put up with any bullshit you may try to pull.”
“Will you still work for me, help me with this?”
“Not like I have much other choice,” Diane scoffed, walking past her and heading out. She turned her head as she got to the doorway as she felt a flash of boldness run through her. She let her pupils shrink down to pinpricks as she flashed a grin at her new ‘boss’. “Don’t worry, I’ve already got your number down.”
She made her way back to the maze of hallways, looking as she saw an all too familiar figure waiting for her, sipping from a glass of bourbon. “Minerva, tell me everything you know about what the hell any of this is.”
Minerva finished her sip, and grinned.
Meanwhile, Patricia softly rubbed the head of the deactivated machine. She could only guess what kind of power this thing was capable of outputting when reactivated. “My very own weapon of true destruction. This shall be my greatest conquest yet.”
This was the start of a true adventure.
Author's Note
Alright, so try and explain this... I've always enjoyed sprite based animations, stay with me here. Casts of characters from different series going to new locals, meeting and fighting strange and dangerous people, and just having a good time of it all. Hell, I even made a whole paper about it that should probably still be up and goes into more detail about what I like if you look farther back in my stories selections. I always wanted to make one, but it... isn't exactly easy. Writing is the next best thing, right?
So, I finally bit the bullet and wrote out something for one of the many crossover based adventures that have popped into my head and have stayed there for who knows how long. I wrote this first chapter for a writing seminar that I'm in so apologies if it isn't as long as my normal pieces, though it still is about five pages along, all things considered.
New Chapters will drop whenever I feel I have enough spark to continue on, and hopefully this'll be fun. Smash enough hyper-fixations together and eventually you'll get something to work... right?
God, I miss when this kind of stuff was popular on Youtube...
Comments/feedback always welcome and highly appreciated!
