It was a cold morning in the Iron Mountains; or at least, it would be for a non-Arctic evolved animal. Icescale walked up the stairs from the living quarters to see rows of Rupture vehicles in pristine state on either side of him, yet no one to drive them. The white crocodile sighed in resignation. He'd driven a fair few land vehicles in his life, and could probably get to Icedawn's headquarters in a day, since it'd never taken long for Iceclaw to go there and back on speedor...if only Icescale knew where the wretched HQ was. He knew exactly what it looked like, what kind of a place it was, from when Iceclaw described it, but the Arctic was a massive region, and it could be anywhere. Even the short amount of time for Iceclaw's round trips there and back was probably exacerbated by the fact he was using a chi-powered speedor he could refuel on the way; there was barely any chi left in the Ice Hunter HQ now, and Icescale suddenly wondered whether one of the Rupture vehicles would last him the entire trip. Or should I say, the entire search? He felt frustration over his leader's secrecy once again creeping to the forefront of his thoughts, but remembered that Iceclaw withholding Icedawn's species, gender, and HQ location from the other Ice Hunters was a necessary precaution in order to keep them from revealing these details to enemies, were they ever captured and interrogated. The only reason Icescale even knew the names of the parent organization and their HQ was because he'd forced Iceclaw to tell him; in order to prove whether this faction actually existed in the first place, and wasn't just Icedawn bluffing about having an army, while being some random thief by themselves who stole chi and technology to provide the Hunters with. Technology... Icescale grimaced, thinking of the word. Gazing upon rows of advanced, combat-ready vehicles he'd helped to produce made the feeling worse. Ironic, that we have to use technology in order to free the world from it; it'd be a hypocritical paradox, if not for the fact that we'll destroy these vehicles after we've achieved our goal. Iceclaw was on the same page as Icescale on the matter, which was why he joined the snow leopard's crusade to begin with, in addition to his own (albeit moderate) dislike of the Leopard Tribe. Icewing cared only about her revenge and the safety of the Vultures; Icestrike cared just for revenge, period, likely still too young to understand the underlying philosophy of the Ice Hunters; and Icegnash, the spy, unsurprisingly never seemed to give much thought to the endgame (though Aether Gulikovsky's personal goal to destroy the Rupture crystals and vehicles ironically meant that his and Icescale's beliefs overlapped somewhat in the grand scheme of things; but he was trying to sabotage the Hunters and destroy the vehicles too early). Iceclaw, however...he was fully aligned with Icescale's ideals; a near-perfect embodiment of them, even.
Of all the beings Icescale had met in his life, Iceclaw was the most in sync with nature; with his ancestors. A true hunter, a true predator, who knew that the strong are meant to lead the weak, not the other way around. Indeed, though his right to kingship came initially from being the eldest prince, Iceclaw also had the strength to back it up, and had no interest in making any potential son of his the next Leopard King, unless that son was among the strong. Icescale had realized long ago that most Chimians had fallen from the way of nature; that this so-called "advancement" of civilization would not only perpetuate weak leaders, but lead to an even worse betrayal of nature: machines being in control of everything. Icescale frowned as he looked upon the necessary evil to save organic life from machine enslavement: the laser blasters on every Rupture vehicle. At the very least, they'd shoot freezing blasts rather than lethal ones, so they wouldn't technically allow the weak to slay the strong. That's when it happened...he recounted, the rot began with the advent of chi blasters; these deadly ranged weapons that require no strength on the part of the user, thus allowing the weak to overstep their bounds! That threw off the Balance of nature forevermore, unless we can course-correct. In the ancient days, both pre-evolution and several years following the beginning of Chimian civilization, all of their ancestors lived perfectly in line with nature, the strong leading the weak; and when one leader became too hubristic, his fellows would swiftly put him in his place, such as with Tiger Emperor Tenebrae. The strongest and brightest souls naturally rose to the top, as decided by nature itself; not by flawed dynasties that don't guarantee every successive king having the same level of intelligence and might as his forefathers; or by democracy, the glorified popularity contest that so many fools touted as a "solution" to this. Icescale spat on the floor, thinking of these disgusting systems that allowed the weak to come into power. And all because they were able to suppress and subjugate the strong from afar with their ranged weapons, once chi blasters were invented! The hypocrites who supported these systems were always quick to point out that the ancient days were "chaos"; that they were "brutal and unforgiving", whilst turning a blind eye to the method at which their neat little orderly systems came to be in the first place. Indeed, chaos was the natural state of the world, yet so many had forgotten this, and now the unworthy were in charge, causing the people to truly suffer. Yes, there were some exceptions such as King Valum, and perhaps False King Leodus, from how Iceclaw had described him...but most kings were worthless bags of meat, born into leadership rather than earning it through the pure meritocracy that was nature, drowning in excess and becoming progressively weaker with every generation, in a backwards mockery of nature.
Icescale knew what happened under the rule of weak kings; he'd experienced it firsthand. The only reason the pro-war faction had been defeated–the only reason Icescale's son had fallen–was because the pitiful Crocodile King had remained in the comfort of his castle while having his minions shoot down the strong from afar. When Cronois had grown increasingly eager to avenge his grandparents by starting another war with the Leopards, Icescale had cautioned him against it, but acknowledged it as an expression of free will; for his son had most definitely been among the strong. But, once again, the weak feared change and artificially cut it short. All eyes in the Crocodile Tribe were turned on Icescale's Great House following this, and he took full responsibility for "creating" his son's pro-war faction, so that his wife wouldn't have to be punished as well. Icescale's exile led him to the Arctic, to Iceclaw, and to his new name. The Hunter rubbed his lower jaw. Indeed, it was the father's fault for making the son crave revenge on the Leopards, even if unintentionally. Icescale's own hatred of the tribe had ironically waned considerably over the years. Though he'd been born near the end of the Crocodile–Leopard War forty-six years ago, growing up hating the Leopards for destroying his parents' colony and them with it, he'd realized in adulthood that the Crocodiles' Arctic colony was another example of the weak overstepping their bounds. His parents didn't survive because they were weak, yet he survived, as a mere infant, proving that he was strong (and also proving that strength or weakness wasn't guaranteed by genetics). Simply by recounting his early life to Cronois, however, Icescale incidentally seemed to "transfer" his hatred of the Leopards onto his son (though he himself still had a degree of adversity toward them for slaying his parents, despite acknowledging it as the natural order of things). Nevertheless, might makes right, and Cronois was deserving of Crocodile Kingship regardless...only for the Coward King to have the stronger force shot down from afar! The Ice Hunters' co-founder didn't actually know whether his son had survived or not. The laser burn was in what looked to be a non-lethal area, and Cronois had fallen into a rushing river in the territory; certainly not life-ending for a crocodile. He obviously hoped his son still lived, and even suspected he did; but either way, this had been such an utterly blatant example of the weak and their chi blasters standing in the way of true progress, that it solidified Icescale's resolve to prevent the world of machines and restore the world of strength. True, the existence of chi may appear to be a contradiction to his philosophy, being an apparent "equalizer", but it really wasn't; a weak being would plug chi to boost his power and get on the same level as the strong, but the stronger opponent plugging chi would maintain his superior strength, preserving the Balance.
And yet... It was chi that allowed for the creation of blasters, an uncomfortable thought that had crossed Icescale's mind many times before. He couldn't fathom why the gods who created the world, if they did exist, would make such an oversight that'd have disastrous consequences. Moreover, it seemed fate was no longer on the side of the Ice Hunters. I may very well be the only one left. He'd seen Icewing stow away on the landing skids of Aether's helicopter, most likely with the intent to assassinate him and Valum before they could ally the Gorillas with the Vultures; but her wings looked like they'd been burned almost to ash, and she'd either crashed the helicopter and gone down with it, or ended up deep in enemy territory. There was a very small chance of Icewing's survival. Iceclaw and Icestrike, meanwhile, still hadn't returned from the Leopard outpost after two days and two nights. They might've been proven weaker and slain by the Leopards. "Oh gods," Icescale growled, "why must you make us suffer?!" He'd been confident in Iceclaw's power; to think he could've been defeated by normal Leopards...but then, the reason he went to the outpost in the first place was because Icescale and Icestrike had spotted Leia, who had the same unique power. Not to mention, it was possible Leodus was there. Icescale rubbed his lower jaw in contemplation. If False King Leodus had defeated Iceclaw, then he wasn't the "false" king, but the rightful one, proving his superior strength. That left Icescale with a dilemma; like Aether and Valum, Leodus presumably didn't entirely share Icescale's ideals. Only Iceclaw had acted as a perfect window into the world of strength Icescale wanted to restore. "Then again," he murmured, "there was another, wasn't there?" Long ago, when he was but a child, Icescale had met a being who seemed to embody similar principles. The thought had crossed his mind before, but only in passing: "Could it be...that she is–?" The white crocodile was interrupted by a sudden pounding on the hangar door that prompted him to spin around with Rupture Vengious poised for a strike. Once he processed what the sound had been a moment later, he roared, "Who knocks?!" He knew there was no point in staying silent and pretending no one was home; for the intruders, if they were, would soon find the blasted-open back entrance and pour in through there. "Reinforcements," the voice called back, "Icedawn sent us." Icescale's head spun. He hadn't expected that answer. Icedawn had never sent any of his or her forces to assist the Ice Hunters directly, instead only sending them south to liberate chi from tribes' monthly shipments. Icescale had met with them only a few times, when they supplied chi to the Hunters. No one in the world outside of the Hunters and their parent organization knew the name "Icedawn", so the answer seemed to prove the arrivals' claim. But then, how could they know that Icescale needed reinforcements to begin with?
"I don't recall asking for reinforcements," Icescale said carefully, "or being able to in the first place. We don't have radios here." "'Twas Iceclaw who sent for us," the voice replied without missing a beat, "he was injured at the Leopards' outpost and we found him up north. Logos–or, Iceclaw–told us everything and asked us to reinforce you here while he recovered in our HQ. Icedawn approved and sent us south." Icescale nodded slowly. The voice's "slip-up" in referring to Iceclaw as Logos probably wasn't a slip-up at all, but in fact, another way of confirming their claimed identity. They know the name Icedawn; they know Iceclaw's original name; they know Icedawn's HQ is in the Arctic; they knew where our HQ was, and that it was lacking in manpower. How could they know all of this, if they weren't who they claimed to be? "Very well," he said aloud, pulling the lever that opened the hangar door, yet still holding the Rupture Vengious at the ready, "but stay right where you are." Taking his double-bladed sword in both hands as he walked below the rising hangar door, Icescale was met by the sight of at least twenty beings, some crouching on rocks and mountain outcroppings, others on the ground; the one who'd knocked on the door having stepped back a couple feet. What he immediately noticed was that every one of them had their entire bodies covered in black suits that hid their fur, feathers or scales. Icescale narrowed his eyes. The few times he'd seen Icedawn's forces, they'd all been wearing cold weather gear necessary for non-Arctic evolved animals in the north, but otherwise they'd seemed to have a focus on not appearing like a homogenized group; nothing like this. Moreover, Icescale spotted something even more out of place in a group that supposedly came from the Arctic; a faint orange glow leaking out of the closed carrier bags at many of their hips. Fire chi–?? By the time he realized they all had the same vaguely feline head shape despite the black helmets that obscured their species, it was already too late. Just as the crocodile raised his sword for a wide ice blast, a very different kind of blast struck his left leg, with such force that it blew his entire lower body off the ground and brought his lower jaw smashing down. His mouth snapped closed and his sharp teeth naturally aligned next to one another rather than cutting into his jaw, but it still hurt immensely. The pain in his left leg was the worst part, a searing burn from what was undoubtedly a chi laser blast. "Scat–!" Icescale bit out, his pain overpowering his anger and threatening to pull him into unconsciousness, but he resisted. He watched as the Rupture Vengious, having skidded across the ground after his fall, was carefully picked up by one of the Leopards as they all plugged their fire chi, transforming their black outfits into Phoenix armor and causing the helmets to vanish from existence. Icescale managed to push himself up onto his elbows.
His anger began its push to the surface, and he glared at the blaster-wielding Leopards with hatred, even as his vision blurred. "You're all...traitors to nature!" he ground out. "You resort to those little blasters, your pitiful, evil technology, because you know you couldn't defeat me in a battle of real strength–!" "There's nothing treacherous about outgrowing the cradle from which we spent our 'infancy'," a voice that sounded like an old woman interrupted. "'Evil' technology, you say?" The voice was growing closer as Icescale's vision grew more blurry, but he held on. "How can inanimate objects be 'evil'?" The red and gold-armored legs entered Icescale's small field of view. Yes, that's right...come closer. You think I'm weakened... Maybe I am, but I'll take at least one of your legs down with me. "It seems that, like many, you've fallen into the trap of romanticizing physical concepts," the holder of the voice was upon him, the left leg inches in front of his snout. "Then again, perhaps I have too, by referring to nature as a 'cradle'. Ah, well." With the last of his strength, Icescale raked his forearms on the ground, pulling himself forward as he turned his head sideways and opened his jaw to its full extent. Before the crocodile's jaw could close down on the leopard's leg, however, he felt a sharp knock on the upward-facing side of his head, and instantly fell into a deep sleep.
156 BR... Suddenly, there was a slight rumbling. As it grew increasingly louder, Leodus looked to his right to see a thick patch of snow breaking from the mountainside, drifting down in a small avalanche. The nearest Vultures reflexively lifted into the air, and the other Leopards at the front of the line started to back up in alarm, but their king stood his ground. Leodus plugged an orb of fire chi with his left hand and swung the Inferno Blade with his right in one motion, powering it up just in time to wash its heat over the coming snowfall, instantly melting it. The otherwise cold water, already becoming lukewarm from the heat, flowed harmlessly around the feet of Leodus and his soldiers. The small streams poured off the edge of the mountain path. Leodus quickly removed the fire chi from his harness to prevent the Inferno Blade's "activated" heat from causing more snowfalls, stowing the orb as Valum alighted next to him. "Fire chi does have its uses, does it not?" Leodus couldn't resist asking the present Vultures. "We're still not going to use it," Valum replied stubbornly, "...but yes." Leodus would've countered his friend's claim by bringing up the Fire Fleet, but he knew that was now a moot point. The Vulture-Leopard force continued on its path; the path that supposedly would lead them to the Ice Hunter HQ. Agent Fire (having earned his codename by being the second leopard to ever plug fire chi, after Leia earned its usage for the species forty years ago), the only member of Leopard Intelligence who didn't go missing five months prior, had pinpointed the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates, and drawn a map of the quickest route to the enemy base, several days ago. "I didn't see anyone on the outside," the gruff old spy had reported, "but I'd still advise bringing a decent-sized force, in case." Though Valum had been to the HQ, he'd only found it by following the late Icewing (through the sky, no less), and King Guernica had refused to give him its exact coordinates, which his tribe knew of thanks to their former spy, Aether Gulikovsky. Luckily for the Vultures and Leopards, the Gorillas seemed to have been occupied with other matters in recent months, preventing them from taking control of the HQ and its factory (that, and the fact that they were likely still figuring out a way to counter Icescale's Rupture crystal powers, since the Gorillas didn't possess fire chi like the Leopards). Truth be told, Leodus and Valum hadn't been focusing their attention on finding Leia, the rest of LI, and the Ice Hunters until recently, despite all that had happened in September of the previous year. In the five months following the Hunter debacle, the two kings had been in a planning phase; weapons were crafted, armies reviewed. Leodus' blacksmith had forged the Inferno Blade, identical in shape to the Rupture Blade, but opposite in color; a bright red even when it wasn't being powered by fire chi.
The blacksmith had been rightfully proud of his work, commenting on how the two swords "complemented" each other. Following that, Valum had suggested visiting the Vulture Fleet, an apparently semi-autonomous division of the tribe that his grandfather had created. Leodus learned that the Vultures had, in fact, earned the usage of fire chi from the Phoenix, but King Valkar had relegated it to his naval force, which the Vultures on the mainland would nickname the "Fire Fleet" because of it. However they, too, had stopped using fire chi after the Great Illumination (Valum strongly advised Leodus and his Leopards not to have fire chi on them when they went there, since he'd heard Grand Duke Vezok had become particularly distrustful of the power source). Valum had wanted to confirm that the navy was still loyal to the Vulture Tribe proper, in addition to gaining their assistance in fighting the Ice Hunters, if necessary. Leodus remembered reading about Vezok, who'd taught the Leopards the art of ship building and naval warfare during the Crocodile–Leopard War, when he'd just succeeded his late father as Grand Duke of the Vulture Fleet. Gone, however, was the fiery young soldier who'd given the Leopards a fleet without being officially allied with them; replaced by a short-tempered and cynical old bird who was extremely distrustful of the Leopards, due in large part to the Rupture Incident. Despite keeping a venomous gaze on Leodus for nearly the entirety of the meeting, Vezok still expressed absolute loyalty to the Vulture King, begrudgingly agreeing to fight alongside the Leopards on Valum's orders. Vezok's son Vezon, the heir to Vulture Fleet Dukedom one year younger than Valum, was a stark contrast to his father, meeting with the two kings outside the office. He'd apologized to Leodus for Vezok's attitude, assuring the Leopard King that the old Duke had a valiant heart despite his external abrasiveness. In any case, the Vultures and Leopards now had their respective fleets at their disposal. Following that, Agent Fire had returned with the Leopards' monthly chi supply for October. (Leodus kept up the "old fashioned" tradition of sending a tribesman to Lion City every month; that tribesman secretly being a spy, for the additional purpose of reporting on events in the south ever since the Sabertooth–Lion War.) Leodus had pressed him on the disappeared LI, but the old spy had genuinely no idea where his fellows had gone. He did, however, report that the Lions were beginning to work with the Gorillas to some extent, which was how Leodus and Valum learned that the Gorillas were preoccupied for a good while, out of the race to claim Ice Hunter HQ. The next several months had been spent in peace, as if the strange and brief conflict with the Ice Hunters had ended already, but Leodus couldn't accept that it had. There was no way Logos would be slain so easily; he was almost certainly still alive, along with Leia, given the LI's disappearance.
-last edited on Jun 15, 2024 18:00:34 GMT by The J
Post by The J on Jun 15, 2024 17:54:02 GMT
Nevertheless, the Vultures and Leopards spent those months occupied by other matters, such as celebrating Chimas in December. Leodus had to admit that the holiday and its build-up were much needed escapes that allowed him to relax and take his mind off the current situation. Leia had never engaged in the festivities much anyway. January was back to planning; back to readying their forces; back to reality. Now, in February, the time was finally upon them. "There it is," he heard Valum declare as they came around a curve on the mountain path, and gazed down upon the bland-looking rectangular building nestled between mountains. "It looks just the same as before–Wait, let me check something."
The Vulture King lifted off, gliding northeast and swooping around to get a look at the back of the factory. Nope, not exactly the same. The mark he and Vamprah made in the Ice Hunter HQ hadn't been permanent; the door was repaired, quite securely put back on its hinges and doubtlessly locked. Not that we can't do it again... Vamprah wasn't among this group, however, since he was technically a member of the Guardian Force that defended Talon City first and foremost, and the two kings had chosen their most experienced offensive fighters for the mission. As both a consolation and in recognition of the young soldier's achievements five months prior, Valum had promoted Vamprah to the rank of Sergeant, now commanding his own platoon within the Vulture Army. "The backdoor's been fixed," Valum reported as he returned to the group, and grinned. "Though that seems futile to me." "Let's try to be more diplomatic first, before kicking doors down," Leodus replied. "From what you told us about that 'Icescale', it sounds like he was clouded by rage over his fellow being a spy when you fought within the HQ, and then shot down the Gorillas' helicopters only because they didn't give him another choice; he may be more reasonable now than he was that day. "My brother, too, will likely be willing to talk if he's here...and by that I mean 'Logos', not 'Iceclaw'." They all knew what the Leopard King referred to; Leodus' report about the Battle of the Outpost had stressed that the snow leopard evidently developed a mental condition, making him believe there were two separate personalities fighting for control of his body. Logos, the "original", seemed less willing to fight and more willing to talk with his half-brother, while Iceclaw, whom the Hunters recognized as their leader, was the reverse. Valum nodded as he and the other Vultures plugged chi, each of them picking up their assigned "partner" to fly the Leopards to the Ice Hunter HQ. Valum set Leodus down and then alighted just in front of the factory's massive hangar door. They had their respective forces get into a U-formation with the kings in the middle, allowing all the soldiers to train their blasters on the space in front of the door.
The two kings knocked on the hangar door in unison. "This is Valum, King of the Vultures, and Leodus, King of the Leopards," Valum called as they stepped backward into the middle of their half-circle formation. "Open up, Ice Hunters! We have you outnumbered; don't make this more difficult than it needs to be. We can end this without further casualties on either side." Valum remembered what Leodus mentioned, and added, "If you're here, Logos, let's talk," emphasizing the name. It was not a snow leopard, however, who gradually came into view as the hangar door lifted open, but a much more common leopard with yellow fur; the old feline wore a lab coat that looked ripped and burned at the fringes, atop a suit of Phoenix armor that somewhat matched the maroon red eyepatch over her left eye. It took a moment for Valum to recognize her as Leia, Director of Leopard Intelligence. Leodus' mother... "I'd begun to suspect something of the sort," Leodus sighed, as many other Leopards wearing identical Phoenix armor appeared behind their leader. "The LI rescued you from the river and then claimed Ice Hunter HQ, correct? You have all our tribe's radios so you couldn't contact me remotely, but why didn't you send one of your–my–agents back to the city to report? Or call Agent Fire over his radio so he could relay this back to me? It's been five months." "Slow down, Your Majesty," Leia held up her hands. "My reasoning will be explained, I assure you. Please, come in. All of you." Valum and the soldiers of both tribes turned to Leodus, who murmured, "Stay on your guard." They followed Leia into the factory, where Vultures and Leopards alike looked curiously at the Rupture vehicles lining the walls, though to Valum it was a familiar sight. New sights, however, included Leopards, ironically clad in Phoenix armor, working on and even driving around many of the icy buggies...and a white crocodile with his wrists and ankles bound to a chair. "Icescale," Valum addressed him immediately. "So, you can be overpowered after all." "No..." the Hunter replied with a surprisingly feeble voice, "it was only because they used those...accursed blasters...those little nature-defying hunks of scrap that allow..the weak to defeat the strong... The rot began with the advent of–" "Please excuse our prisoner's ramblings," Leia interrupted. "He's still a bit light-headed from the interrogations." It was then that Valum noticed the device on a small stage set up next to Icescale's chair; it looked like a tower with various prongs sticking out, many of them sparking with blue "lightning". Valum swallowed. He knew this type of technology; though the lighting of Chima was far too volatile to ever use as a power source (as many had learned the hard way), devices had been invented to intentionally destabilize the chi orb powering it, causing the chi energy to resemble sparking electrical currents; such had oft been coyly nicknamed "electricichi".
Drastic measures, Valum thought, but Icescale probably left them no other choice. I wonder how much info they got out of him...? Sure enough, Leia said, "We learned a fair amount from our prisoner. I'll start with that, since it's the most important–" "WAIT!" Icescale snarled, and Valum saw the Hunter fix his gaze on Leodus. "They're probably going to kill me in a moment, so I must ask you something first." "I won't permit them to execute you–" Leodus started. Whether or not he was going to end the statement with "yet" would never be known, since Icescale interrupted, "As if they'd listen to you! These traitors already went behind your back to do all this, didn't they? Anyway, please let me ask my question, King Leodus. When you fought Iceclaw at your outpost...which one of you won?" He's probably assuming the other Ice Hunters were slain, Valum mused internally, but maybe there's some way we can use this...? Leodus, however, answered honestly. "Objectively speaking," the Leopard King recounted, rubbing his chin, "I'd say it was a draw." "A draw?" Icescale seemed baffled by this. "We have the same powers," Leodus explained, "and though he somewhat had the upper hand with his Rupture weapons, my fire chi balanced it out. Neither of us really defeated or significantly wounded the other, before Leia blew up the bridge. "I was on the cliff face at the time; Leia, Logos and Icestrike all fell into the river. To be frank, none of us have any idea whether the latter two are alive, though we've certainly searched for them." "I see..." Icescale sighed, sounding less than pleased with the answer. "If you had won, if you had definitively triumphed over Iceclaw, I'd have sided with you." "What?" now it was Leodus' turn to be baffled, and Valum's as well. "I thought you hated the Leopards?" the Vulture King asked. "You don't understand, it's not about destroying the Leopards," Icescale explained. "That's–" his gaze turned on the Rupture Blade's hilt poking out from Valum's sheathe, and the vulture saw realization in his eyes, "...that was Icewing's desire. Revenge on the Leopards' leadership was part of it–though I've begun to suspect it was Leopards like these who were behind the Rupture Incident, rather than you, Leodus–but that was to coincide with putting Iceclaw on the throne; which in itself was just a part of returning the world as a whole to its natural state." "Putting him on the throne, under the assumption that he was 'stronger' than I," Leodus nodded. "Yes, I'm starting to see what this is about..." Valum wished he could say the same. 'Returning the world to its natural state'? What qualifies as 'natural' in the first place? We're civilized beings with complex infrastructures. "...but surely you realize how impractical it would be to try applying this to every tribe, yes?" Leodus continued. "Not to mention, your usage of these Rupture vehicles contradicts the 'might makes right' ideal."
"Hey, that's true!" Valum added, picking up on his friend's train of thought. "When it comes to handheld Rupture weapons, trust me, I get it. They're heavy and unwieldy, not to mention requiring prior experience with weapons of the same class to adequately put them to use; the 'weak' wouldn't be able to use them. "But these Rupture vehicles? These buggies with simple laser cannons that can shoot out ice blasts with the push of a button? A hatchling could hop in one of these and start blasting. The 'weak' could easily use these to freeze the 'strong' from afar; not at all a fair fight won through strength, or even intellect." "You..." Icescale looked around the factory, then sighed, "...are absolutely correct. I had thought it was a necessary evil to achieve the world of strength, and then destroy them afterwards, but even using them temporarily would be an almost comical degree of hypocrisy...a total contradiction of our ideals. "It was Icegnash–no, Aether Gulikovsky–who kept encouraging Iceclaw to construct the vehicles in the first place. When I found him out as a spy, he admitted that it was his plot to gather all the Rupture crystals in one place and destroy them; even if that bag of bones King Guernica had different plans." So Aether even told him that, before Vamprah and I busted in here, Valum thought. "I now realize that we never should have built the Rupture vehicles," Icescale continued resolutely, "especially now that Leopard Intelligence has its claws on them..." "Alright, you've said your piece," the LI Director snapped, turning back to the kings. "Sorry about that. We would've clamped his mouth shut, but it seems crocodiles' jaws are too strong, and can break out of any binding. Now, this is what we've learned by interrogating Icescale: first, the Ice Hunters are funded by a parent organization called the Liberators." "An oddly sympathetic name for a group funding terrorists," Leodus mused. "Terrorists do tend to see themselves are 'rebels', after all," Leia reasoned. "Anyhow, their leader, going by the codename 'Icedawn', is stationed in a secretive Arctic colony called the Gray City. The Liberators would steal chi from tribes' monthly shipments, then give a portion to the Ice Hunters on the way back. They also provided the Hunters with the metal and other resources used to construct all of this; it can be logically assumed that the Liberators possess a mine in the Arctic. "We tried our hardest to get more information about Icedawn and the Liberators, but this is literally all he knew about them. Of the Hunters, only Iceclaw has actually been to the Gray City and met with Icedawn in person; the rest don't even know Icedawn's species or gender." "The Liberators have covered their tracks well," Valum crossed his arms, "making the 'leader' of their sub-faction the only one who has substantial info about their boss and HQ." "Indeed," Leia agreed.
"We've also searched for Iceclaw, but haven't found him; he might've gone north." "North, to the land of his birth..." Leodus said quietly, "...and to this 'Gray City', presumably. From the name, I'm guessing it's camouflaged in the snow fairly well." "It doesn't matter," Leia waved off the concern, "because we have its exact coordinates." "I thought you said that was all the info you got from Icescale?" Valum questioned. "It is," Leia reiterated, pulling out a rolled-up parchment and handing it to Leodus. "We didn't learn the coordinates from him, but from this map within a hidden compartment in Iceclaw's office. He likely kept it for his trips to the Gray City and back; an understandable necessity, since otherwise it'd be impossible to remember the route to a specific place in that permafrost wasteland." "I didn't even know that was there," Icescale grumbled. Leodus unfurled the map, gazing upon it with Valum and their nearest soldiers. Sure enough, the exact location of the HQ was marked on the map, which also listed its longitude and latitude, as well as depicting the fastest route there. "Well, there we go!" Valum clapped his hands together. "The best lead we could've asked for! Thank you, Director Leia, and the rest of you. Now we can get a move on and–" "I wish you were right about moving on, Valum," Leodus cut him off, rolling the map up and handing it to the leopard next to him, who securely tucked it in his pack, bowed, and then left the factory after a head movement from his King. "Unfortunately, however, we aren't done here...not just yet." Leodus' voice had become a low growl, and Valum sighed. I failed to diffuse the tension...well, I guess I was just delaying the inevitable. "Of course," Leia nodded, "I will now explain to you why we didn't contact you for the last five months, Your Majesty. You see, after claiming this base, we noticed the Rupture vehicles; began testing them out; began studying them. We of Leopard Intelligence have spent much of our careers halting the rise of criminal empires and warlords–such as when we discovered and reported to you on that group within our tribe at the time of the Rupture Incident–but even we couldn't realistically deal with all of them. "Thus, we came to a collective realization: rather than pointlessly wasting this technology by destroying the Rupture vehicles, or monopolizing them and subsequently turning the other tribes' ire on the Leopards and Vultures, there is a third option." "Which is...?" Leodus' voice was still a growl, but Valum kept his eyes on the Director, intrigued. "We continue to manufacture them," Leia explained, "until we've used up the Rupture crystals that have been mined. We then sell these 'supernatural' vehicles on the black market for fittingly high prices, while–and this step is key–posing as the Liberators."
"In addition to making an enormous profit for the Leopards and Vultures, this would draw out all the criminal organizations in Chima, since they’d arrogantly use the seemingly infallible ice powers to 'take over'." "This doesn't seem very beneficial to the good guys, aside from the 'enormous profit' part," Valum crossed his arms again. If anything, this sounds like exactly what Aether was warning me about; maybe he's right. "What's the end goal here?" "I'm getting to that," Leia turned her eye to the Vulture King. "In response, the tribes of Chima would naturally earn fire chi from the Phoenix, and would then be able to counter and destroy both the Rupture vehicles and their overzealous drivers, eventually removing Chima of all its criminal organizations. "That, of course, includes the Liberators, who we'd point to as the group behind this, ending in the Liberators’ destruction through a combined effort from the tribes." "I understand the reasoning," Valum replied, "but we can't just allow violent criminals to possess this technology, even if there's a countermeasure for it. Such a vicious cycle would be detrimental to Chima's citizens, especially with how long it'd take for the criminal organizations and Rupture vehicles to all be snuffed out. I think I speak for all my people when I say that the Vultures won't be taking part in this. What say you, Le–?" As Valum turned toward his friend, his arms fell and he almost took a reflexive step backward. There was none of the typical stoic calm in the Leopard King's eyes; only anger. His brow was furrowed in rage, and Leodus visibly shook, as if struggling to contain a simmering fire within. "Leia..." Leodus rumbled, "you, and the rest of Leopard Intelligence, have betrayed your King, and the Leopard Tribe as a whole. By going behind my back, you have perfectly illustrated that you cannot be trusted! I should've disbanded the LI long ago...and I'm sure you'll come to agree, for that would've been far more merciful than the fate that's about to befall you miserable turncoats!" "What a turn of events!" Valum was surprised to hear laughter in Icescale's words. "For once, I side with the kings, rather than the rebels. I'm powerless in this state...so I must beg of you, Valum, Leodus...please, stop Leia–!" "Yes, YES!" In a reaction no one in the room likely expected, the Director spun around to look at her captive, her remaining eye lighting up with recognition. "That's what you said!" "I...what–??" Icescale's expression, previously one of urgency, turned to abject confusion. "That's EXACTLY what you said in my vision!" Leia seemed genuinely excited. "That's why I kept you alive, to see if you'd say–!" "ENOUGH!" Leodus roared, cutting the bizarre conversation short as his voice echoed through the factory. "Loyal soldiers of the Leopard Tribe, your King has decreed: the LI is to receive immediate punishment for the crime of treason! WIPE OUT THESE TRAITORS!"
Leodus raised the Inferno Blade as he made the order, staring into his traitor mother's remaining eye even as she took several steps back and signaled to her troops for combat. He glanced at Valum, who, while obviously not sharing his fury, ordered the Vultures to charge in turn. In an instant, the factory erupted into battle. Despite Leopards versus Leopards, it was easy to tell apart Leodus' troops from Leia's; the former wore thick coats over their Phoenix armor, since they'd been using their fire chi sparingly on the way there, whereas the LI were all just wearing Phoenix armor (likely transformed versions of their bodysuits, Leodus surmised). As the battle raged around him and Leia, his main target, retreated further down the length of the factory, the Leopard King faced his first opponent: an agent who reflexively pointed a blaster straight at his King's face. Leodus knew hesitation would mean death, so he was swift in (literally) disarming the leopard. However, it was when the enemy fell to his knees, crying out in pain and clutching his elbow, that Leodus' rage began to subside, and he hesitated. He'd never slain a leopard– But he didn't have to contemplate this much longer, as a blue laser blast struck the fallen agent's neck and freed him from his pain. Leodus glanced around, but didn't see the executioner in the confusion. Since it was a blue, regular chi blast, it must've been from a vulture. He didn't know if it'd been deliberate, or a random shot in the chaos, but either way, a vulture soldier had just taken out a leopard. A traitor, not one of the Leopards he's allied with, Leodus reminded himself, and I don't get to complain; I gave the order in the first place. Indeed, as he looked around, he saw Vultures and Leopards alike taking down the LI agents. Perhaps he was imagining it, but Leodus could swear that he saw the pain on his soldiers' faces as they shot down their "fellows". His anger was renewed as quickly as it had diminished. "You forced our hands!" Leodus roared. "You, who've left us no choice but to slay our fellow Leopards!" He leapt forward to the next enemy, this time cutting him down without a moment's hesitation.
The combined Vulture-Leopard force outnumbered Leopard Intelligence, but the latter possessed the Rupture vehicles; that was Valum's main worry. About a third of the buggies had already been off their racks on either side of the factory, and LI agents seemed enthusiastic to hop into the drivers' seats, immediately firing ice blasts indiscriminately into the crowd. Large groups of fighters had their parts in the battle cut short, and not in the traditional way, as they were frozen in place; it was as though small mountains of ice were instantly growing inside the factory. Even in the limited space, the buggies' drivers started maneuvering them into and around the main battle, so as to more precisely target their actual opponents. "Vultures!" Valum ordered. "Focus on the buggies!"
