SHARDS

Written by Richard ”Commander Destrik” Bonomi

Edited by: Sinead 

Two Bodies, One Spark… 

DISCLAIMER!

Ok, I don't own any of the following: Beast Wars, Transformers, Mage the ascension, Critical Craft or Hal, I also don't own Sinead or any other characters I put in.  The only character I own, is Rich...who is in the first chapter only...in addition thank yous go out to mitch and paul wyatt of critical craft and to Joe Phillips for the source material I used for Rich and Hal 

Part One 

The half moon shone brightly in the cold November night. Shining its light upon the alleyways of Boston well enough so that all who walked could even notice a dust scribbling on the pavement normally only seen during day. The night was far from quiet with taxicabs bustling about picking up people from here and there that came in late at night from the airport...bus stops...and from the local bars in southie.  

Bored. Need to do something. A young man clad in black thought to himself as he ran his hand through his hair. 

A dark figure with a medium build walked the streets of the North End of Boston. Hands in pocket, humming a tune to him that was barely even a memory to him, he walked letting his long Brown Black hair cover his pale white face and faded gray eyes. Unsure of where to scrounge up some excitement that night he walked around calmly. Silently as to not disturb the locals who were sleeping so soundly (or not so soundly) in the cardboard boxes or heated grates he walked by. Walking by the pizzeria where he had a hearty meal earlier with the last of his money, he shuddered as a cold wind swept up in his path strongly. The lights on the streets began to fade away in walking away from the pizzeria and towards the nightclub Horizon where the local trouble would occur every night. It normally wasn't his place, but lately there was some form of glamour to it, something attractive, something fun.  

Facing the entrance of the nightclub were several young girls trying to flirt their way past the doorman to make their way in. The doorman, unflustered and clearly unimpressed just let them attempt to woo their way in unsuccessfully. The young man walked close nearly shivering to death as he came within the doorman's view. The doorman, glimpsing for a moment began to open the door for the young man. 

"Hey Andrew," the young man said "how is work today?"

"Ah you know, just talking with my girlfriends over here and keeping them away from the wrong-"

"GIRLFRIEND?" a girl spoke up obviously offended by the remark the doorman made. "YOU WISH, YOU BEST JUST LET US-"

"Des, just go in man, I think I hit a soft spot," the doorman told the young man who simply smiled as he seemingly glided into the doorway unconcerned for his friend and his...lady problems. 

Upon entering Horizon there was little to be seen, for it was difficult to see inside the club itself with a strobe light half blinding all the vision of what seemed to be shadows when facing the light. Crowd surfing inside and away from the crowd that was more than likely on some form of drug or something not legal, he got a prime view of the stage in front of him with what looked like some form of machine walking around about seemingly twenty feet tall in the forty foot tall building.... 

Great, just what I needed, a transformer around here, I bet that stupid war of theirs is going to be dragged into here one day or another...just will be...I bet a Decepticon will come in tonight just to ruin our fun...I swear, they would be much better off if they just left this wreck of a planet. 

Moving to the side to stay away from the strobe light, which pained his eyes, he refocused attention to the bar, a simple stool setup with just about every stool filled, minus one. At the bar he saw another friend of his, Viper, a tall dark haired individual playing with a hanging wire light fixture that was not working using a towel in his hands to avoid getting shocked.  

"Another piece of cheap lighting from the party store?" yelled the youth to Viper.   "You really should invest in some custom job, your club can more than definitely afford it." 

"IF I HAVE TO HEAR YOU WHINING AGAIN ABOUT HOW I SPEND MY MONEY I WILL KICK YOUR SORRY BUTT DESTRIK!!" yelled the bartender who looked in his later twenties. "However, if you want a free drink its on the house buddy." 

Laughing, Destrik took the empty stool and sat there waiting for his best friend to get him his usual. Another noisy night in the club of course, however the acoustics of the building were made expertly to allow for talking near the bar area and bathrooms. Destrik was able to listen in on several conversations nearby, mainly one that interested him was the conversation between a heavy set individual who obviously worked out…a lot, and a young man dressed in white jeans and a shirt with long black hair and brown eyes talking in what seemed like some form of code. 

"I tell you Hal,” said the young kid in white who seemed rather slender for his age with long black hair and an Asian chime hanging off of his belt which rarely made noise,” I don't think we will be able to find another Hermetic anywhere, we don't even know if any of them survived, everyone gave their life in that massacre and we barely got out. If another Black hat comes after us again...we are so-" 

"I don't care Rich, just stuff it, if they come they will have to deal with me, and they will get their ass kicked...badly," the heavy set individual seemingly scolded him, raising an arm with many scars on it located near the hand. It looked as if he worked out every day of the week and was built like a tank beneath the Bruins shirt that seemed rather worn often. "And the first one that comes near me will get their face full of cannon. Just like that Hobgoblin" 

"You only blew off its arm." 

"So what," Hal said turning his attention to a girl on his left dressed in a black trench coat with a leather corset in the middle and sleeves lined with oriental looking symbols minus one symbol that obviously belonged to the Autobots. "So would you like to see my cannon baby?" 

The young woman slowly turned her eyes towards the heavier man of the two, with a cold stare that could pierce the toughest steel available to man. The reaction from her face was blank, yet showed thousands of curses, statements of anger, and a desire to simply kick this rude mans ass...thoroughly. Putting one hand down from the can of soda she had, she began to tap her fingers on the table rhythmically. From the look of it in total, it could be easily guessed that she was not happy.  

"Hal, stop it, that's not right man, when the hell will you ever learn that's rude to talk to a lady like that and for goodness sake, you HAVE a girlfriend," the slender longer haired man scolded him. "Listen miss, please excuse his drunkenness, it's just him...I hope you understand." 

At the time being on the stage the performance came to a lull and those who were dancing tended to move away from the dance floor to other parts of the establishment leaving more open space on the dance floor. Destrik was not one to dance for he never had grace in movement. His typical dance included three moves, stumble, fall, and tend to wound on head. However, it was nice to see some of the younger or less fanatical patrons moving out to tend to their hormones, addictions, aches, pains, etc. Hopefully, they would not come back anytime soon, for it was nice to just have a group of regulars instead of just the one timers. It left some of the more sociable, or more interesting characters left in the club to talk to. Normally, Destrik would get Viper to get into a conversation with some other customer probably too drunk for his own good to have a civilized conversation to have a decent laugh. Tonight, Destrik was more interested in the argument between the two guys next to him. For some reason, he felt burnt out to an extent in front of them, almost as if they had some sort of aura that did that to people. As Destrik listened to the conversation, he began to feel sleepy, tired, as if he just ran a marathon and needed a break.

Turning away from the conversation and towards the dance floor facing more towards the entrance than the stage, he noticed several interesting characters upon the floor, one was a tall man about six foot tall with a shaved head and what looked like a silver plate around his eye looking around as if he were looking for someone. As a random couple moved around blocking the view of that man Destrik's eyes fell upon two other characters on the floor that caught his attention. Two men, dressed in what seemed to be black trench coats all tidied up from head to toe seeming military in some way or another were walking around searching everywhere with their eyes. Destrik was about to pass them off as gothic people when he noticed that they were aged about ten or so years older than most of the other youths on the dance floor. This made Destrik think they were part of a mafia or organized crime syndicate.

“Hey vipes, you know those guys?” Destrik asked spinning his stool around making a worried face. “Those guys in black trench coats seem to be pretty umm…out of place”

“Oh those guys?” Viper said in reply shortly glancing up from cleaning glasses freshly washed with a towel. “They come in here looking for reality criminals or something…pieces of work they are but the guy who comes in with them pays pretty decent to let them come in.”

“People in trench coats,” Rich asked “where?”

Pointing quickly in the direction they were at Viper continued what seemed like a rather boring conversation with another customer. Looking around Destrik's eyes fell upon the girl in the black trench coat, a slender young girl about his age, maybe a little younger with eyes as strong as fire, trying to avoid staring at her so much as to catch her attention Destrik only stole quick glances toward the face. Her face was smooth looking and thin, somewhat fragile looking however at the same time held a sense of danger to it, something…dangerous was in the air about her. When not glimpsing at her face he admired the designs on the sleeves of her trench coat. After taking a look on the designs…he went back to his own business in talking with Viper that just put a sum of money into his register as the loud arguing next to him went to a dead lull. Leaving only the sounding of what sounded like an oriental chime randomly placed in the mist of the noise.  

Finally…those idiots stopped yelling. 

As Viper went back to fixing the light fixture removing the wire and splitting it into two separate wires Destrik went back to his soda…a nice warmish coldish drink that warmed him up but not just enough. Heat came from all around him from other bodies that were just worked up in sweat. If one thing was good in the club, it was the ventilation; otherwise there would be a permanent stench around him from all the body heat and oils. It was nice to have some heat, unlike back home in Michigan where it was almost always cold during the winter months. In the middle of losing his thoughts louder sounds came from behind him that were quickly disregarded. It seemed to grow somewhat, however it wasn't until someone smashed into the actual table knocking over his drink and someone else's water all over did he notice what caused it.

Right next to him was the man with the silver plate around his eye, held by the neck by the heavier set man named Hal who did not look in the least bit pleased. Surprised, Destrik leaned into the table and kept his distance as the water that spread over the table soaked his shirts sleeve.

“WHAT THE **** ARE YOU DOING HERE YOU SCUM? YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I WANT TO JUST KILL YOU?” Hal yelled seemingly in insanity.

“D-DON'T hurt me …please, I didn't do anything to you” the silver plated eye man pleaded.

“DIDN'T DO ANYTHING? YOUR FRIENDS KILLED EVERYONE WHO WAS IMPORTANT TO ME!!! SO WHY SHOULDN'T I KILL YOU?” Hal retorted pulling his fist back. 

After Hal just pulled his fist back someone grabbed his hand from behind holding it there so that it wouldn't move. From behind a heavy set man about six foot five inches stood with deathly cold eyes and blonde hair holding his arm tightly and prohibiting all resistance from him as if it were a menial task.

“Now I wouldn't want you hurting my minions now would I?” the heavy set man calmly said as if he were some wealthy man from one of the better communities in the state. “What if you were to be beaten now…yes…Damien, Pug, show this troublemaker who not to touch around here.” The man smiled in the sentence sending glances over his shoulder to what seemed like to the two men in trench coats. 

As the men in trench coats came near Destrik could see one had what looked like a handgun with what looked like X5 engraved into the side. The heavy set older man was pretty impressive; he protected his own people, Destrik thought to himself now praying for a fight to ensue. The man on the right pulled out his gun first trying to aim at Hal's stomach. 

“Now I don't suppose you would want to fight me now would you hmmm?” The older man said. “Or would you like to become meat for the grinder?” 

At that moment what looked like a small distortion appeared between Hal and the man in the trench coat holding him at gunpoint emerged almost shifting regular space. Hal noticing this quickly turned around and threw a punch to the heavier set man. Stumbling back he lost his grip on Hal's hand as he gripped his face in pain. At the same time a loud shot rang out from the pistol the man in the trench coat wore. Scaring the living daylights out of everyone however, it did not seem like Hal was hit from the angle Destrik was watching. It almost seemed as if the bullet did not hit him at all. However, the whereabouts of the bullet was quickly discovered by a rather pained Viper holding his arm scared excrementless running around letting the two wires fall down and out of his hands where they landed barely touching the table and near the water.

At this time Destrik just was stunned, he didn't know what to do but watch and stay still…very still in fear of becoming the earthworm's next meal. Hal, who was not about to quit his onslaught upon the older man, punched him in the gut with his left arm. Speechless, and seemingly not able to breathe the older man bent down holding his gut as Hal rushed in yelling words that he had never even heard before. “Non shalen katiem fagala!” Hal shouted as his uppercut connected with the chin of his opponent literally taking him off the floor and up about ten feet off the ground flying above the heads of several other patrons. 

By that point the man in the trench coat who opened fire on the right hand side was closing distance with Hal. The other trenchcoated one already was about to restrain Hal. Hal, not noticing the second man in the trenchcoat was overtaken and put into a headlock quickly. The first, with the firearm once again began to hold up the gun to shoot at Hal, this time with quicker motion seemingly scared. However, what he didn't focus on became his weakness as the girl in the trench coat kicked the firearm out of his hand flying away quickly. The lone girl smiled as she reached for something inside her long coat. At about the same time, the man with the eye plate began moving around with his hands bizarrely making some form of spark with his hands that completely seemed unnatural.

This small gesture however was nothing compared to what the man in the trench coat grappling Hal just had in store for him. “Celorium Me Fac!” Someone yelled out. Then in what seemed like a blur, a man clad in white looking like Rich came in from the side and unleashed what seemed to be multiple hits that hit with such accuracy so quickly it looked like he was the flash. Quickly releasing Hal from the immediate shock of pain the trench-coated man suffered an extreme assault to his body by Rich who then proceded to trip him. At that time on the floor that man took out his gun and seemed to unleash what seemed like automatic fire upon Rich who managed to quickly dodge out of the way and pinned him on the floor with his hand on his neck.

“You want to shoot at me you dishonorable freak?” He yelled reaching for his back pocket clearly in rage and taking out a pistol. “THIS IS FOR JEREMY!!”

As his hand pulled the trigger a loud bang rang out as blood spurted from the trench-coated man's kneecap. Rich who seemed to quickly calm down from his assault yelled towards Hal who was at the time still recovering from the chokehold. “We gotta get out of here before someone calls for-”

“JUST BURN!” the man with the silver plate on the eye yelled as Rich was about to complete his sentence sending a large lightning bolt towards Rich sending him back what seemed a good five feet stumbling over the man he just shot. Hal, noticing what just happened to his comrade, reached for his back pockets with his hand and pulled out a knife and what looked like a rune. Destrik still stood at the counter, confused completely, definitely scared but unmoving until completely necessary. With his left hand Hal attempted to swing his small pocketknife towards the air probably aiming towards himself however the other trench coated man caught his wrist in mid air. At the same time that same man kicked the girl right into the bar after she pulled out what looked like to be an energon blade of a small size. Slamming into the bar the blade dropped into the wet bar table where the silver plated man was attempting his trick again. Hal, whose right hand was free with the rune, began to channel what seemed like an immense amount of what looked like white energy…pure blinding white which quickly shot out like a ball towards the silver plated man. Scared beyond belief the silver plated man rose his arms in the air to cast the next shot however was too late as the energy ball, which seemed almost like a large fireball engulfed his face just as he let loose the second ball of electricity.

The electricity that shot out of the mans arms shot upward into the ceiling where it connected with an electrical wire, the same one that was connected to the light fixture which sent what seemed like a large spherical ball of electricity down the wire to where it split. The energon knife, which Destrik saw in the corner of his eye, began to react to the ball of electricity and seemed to split the ball into two halves. One wire was almost directly connected to the girl in the trench coat who seemed to be somewhat spaced out in looking at Hal, the other ball…was heading for a piece of wire that was right next to Destrik. By the time he noticed it, there was not enough time to remove his arm from the water as he became shocked from the ball and went into a state of immobility. At that time, there were no other thoughts for Destrik, only pain for the first few moments, the ball of electricity seemingly became closer in his vision before he saw almost nothing. Then, the next vision he saw was something that completely absorbed him…it was like a memory, but clear, of riding a bike up a hill on a cloudy day with one thought in mind, a thought that seemed like one of affection, then another vision came where there was what looked like an insect on the ground that he stomped upon, and countless other weird faces with red eyes, it seemed weird, an overwhelming feeling of aggression surged inside of him for moments and one of discipline…something tight and constricting…a feeling that Destrik was never used to. Various images flashed throughout the time of what seemed to be minutes and a name seemed to flow into his mind…it sounded like shin aid or something close, he couldn't understand what it was from everything that was happening…after the visions a searing pain began to engulf him again…and the last he felt was the feeling of cold pavement…opening his eyes or regaining focus again…wasn't sure of which it really was, he saw what looked like to be an alleyway and then nothing…pitch black as he fell into a forced slumber from traumatic pain. 

 

End of chapter one…confusing isn't it…I guess you can tell exactly who the man with the blonde hair is already…however, you won't be able to see Rich or Hal anytime soon…they belong to another story and I merely used them as guest characters to show a few things in mage. So you mage fans won't be seeing anyone using Holy Bolt anytime soon. However, if you like the technocracy…you are in for a treat. In addition, I will be including in the next section I write Sinead's point of view on the story since this is the point where things begin to divide somewhat. I hope all who read will enjoy this and although you won't be disappointed with the lack of BW so far…I promise to include it soon enough and when it's put in it shall be enjoyable….yes it will be.