Power Starved

Power Starved

A collaborative effort from the members of the Awesome Hangar forums.
Chapters by Animae, Ryurei, Kasaii, and Kaleesh (aka Felliniesque)

Power Starved.
The time is 2029, 9 years ago the world had extinguished all methods of fuel, draining all sources of oil, natural gas, and coal. In the nine years the world has gone without these resources, the worlds economy has taken a shift that the government couldn't handle. People started to riot, destroying homes, vehicles, businesses, including government buildings. The world leaders couldn't decide what to do about this problem, they gathered in a hidden government base located under the ice fields of Greenland. They all debated what resource they wanted to use to generate power for their locations, people suggested using fire; using geothermal energy to power their homes. Others suggested using water, going back to the days of water wheels, and using power turbines placed under waterfalls and in rivers. Some suggested using air and wind, powering windmills to create limitless energy. Several areas suggested using earth, extracting minerals and what little oil was left. Stormy areas suggested using lightning, using energy given from the planet itself. None of the leaders could decide on a method for the world to use, so they split up into areas using different power methods. Some areas compromised, using things in unison, such as fire and air. Leaders across the globe still believe their power choice was the right decision, so war broke out, trying to find a way that everybody could use to power the planet. Which side will you choose?

Chapter 1

Steam

“Dammit, none here either.” a young man sighed. His power supply faction had ordered all the members from across the world to group up in a new area, because the other factions knew about their old bases.

“Think this will be any good for the base?” a young girl asked him.

“We need every part we can spare, so we can find a use for that.”

“Alright, where should I put it?”

“In the truck, with the rest.”

The man was sitting around, currently supervising the operation. In the condition he was currently in, he couldn't do much.

“How was it you manged to break your arms again Al...” A girl behind him asked.

“I'm pretty sure you can tell how Tess. That freaking electric and blaze faction, a bloody pain in the ass for us, the bastard from blaze melted my left arm and that guy from electricity short circuited the other and my legs. Thank god your Dragon Snout scared the crap out of them.” Alistor sighed shaking his leg which was now functioning. “To bad I couldn't find any scrap metal that was hard to melt. Should really look around for some.”

Altessa just sighed and went back to fixing Alistor's arms. She tweaked a couple screws on Al's right arm and tapped his shoulder, signaling him to try moving the arm once more. This time the arm roared to life, spouting steam in the process.

“Better search for some water Al. Your generators are running low.” Altessa said while brushing off her dress.

“Where the hell am I gonna find water in a scrapyard? Puddles are muddy and will ruin the generators.” He paused for a bit then picked up his comlink and spoke into it, “be on the look out for some clean water guys. If you have to, strain puddle water through a cloth so theres no mud in the water. We dont need mud in my legs and arms when the mud faction is near by.”

An Older girl, around Al's and Tess' age spoke up first. “Roger that. I have some here, but not a lot. My steambot needs some too, so I'll be on the look out.”

“Roger that Anna.” Al responded, acknowledging the idea.

“Ok Al, hold still for a sec, so I can replace that arm.”

“Alright Tess, lemme sit dow- AH FRICKEN A TESS! That hurt!”

“Relax you big baby, the arms on now.”

“Hey now, I'm the older of us. Dont forget that, as much as you want I was born first, not by much, but still I'm older.”

“Still doesn't mean you act older then me.”

“...Just be quiet and help me find some water.”

The young girl walked by again, sighing, “you'd think for twins they wouldn't argue so much, but I guess they can't help but argue, can they..”

Anna's voice came over the comlink, with a bit of excitement she beamed, “Everybody! I found something we could really use! Coordinates are uploading to your goggles as I say this.”

could she have found an old generator? Tess thought to herself.

Al was the first to respond, saying “ok team, meet up at Anna's location! Alexi, be careful.”

“Hey! I'm not an idiot you know! Just because I'm young doesn't mean I'm stupid!” Alexi burst over the mic.

“Exactly, your young, you're an easy target for the other factions.”

“I found some water too Al, I have my bot filled up now. Once you guys get here, I'll be leaving. I'm sending the bot to guard Alexi, just to be safe.”

“Roger that Anna.” Alistor said.

It didn't take long for everybody to reach Anna's location, however Al's generators were running on almost nothing.

“Give the water to Tess please Anna, so she can refill my generators, I'm running on empty here.” Anna did as she was asked, and in seconds Al was back at full power again.

“Well, what did you find?” Altessa questioned with a hint of excitement. Anna pointed towards a giant pile of something, buried under a cloth and said, “this.”


Blaze/Electricity

“Well then, that could have went better.” a man in black sighed, igniting a fire from his finger, lighting a smoke.

“Thanks for coming Quinn, I know you usually dont interfere with others.”

“Its no trouble, just means more fun for me” Quinn replied, taking a draw from his smoke.

“I dont see how you can smoke, its bad for you, you know.” the blaze trooper said. Quinn merely opened his mouth slightly, shooting a jet of smoke forward towards a giant rock, and moments later the rock was engulfed by a giant blaze fury, and before long nothing was left to the rock, other then a few smoldering cinders.
“Thats how I can.” Quinn smiled and walked away.

Suddenly Quinn heard a loud shout and the sound of electricity flowing, Quinn knew something was wrong, he shouted out, “Blaze, step away from the tents!” the underling blaze units ran away from the tents, and Quinn ignited the lot with a cone of blaze element coming from his mouth. One tent erupted into a shower of electricity and archs of lightning flying around, shocking anything near metallic substances, leaving only the tend and Quinn standing.

Quinn waited, knowing a strong electricity faction member would emerge from the tent. To his surprise, a man not much younger then him stepped out, sparks flying form his arms.

Quinn smiled, took another draw from his smoke and shot another jet of smoke, this time engulfing the electricity faction member, the electricity member stood still and waited, thinking Quinn would strike through the smoke at melee range. “Whats your name boy?” Quinn asked. The man from the electricity faction calmed said, “Colt. But you might know me as Volt Edwards.” An expression of shock came apon Quinn's face Volt Edwards? They sent him here?! Quinn quickly wiped the shocked expression off his face when Colt asked him, “and yours?” Quinn took another draw, and said, “Rimbaud. Quinn Rimbaud, but you can call me the Man in Black, for your final minutes.” Quinn snapped his fingers and tendrils of blaze struck the area where Colt stood, Quinn smiled and begun to turn around, when a bolt of lightning flew by his face and struck the car behind him. “Glad to meet you, Mr. Man in Black, but I plan to stick around for awhile.” Quinn turned back to see Colt encircled by an electric storm. Cursing under his breath he then smirked and said, “this should be fun.”

Chapter 2


Blaze/Electricity


“Not bad boy.” Quinn sharply remarked. not many people survive that attack, guess hes really as good as they say. Quinn snapped his fingers again and fire started spinning in a circle around himself and Colt. Colt merely flicked his hair out of his eyes and started up another charge. Colt simply smiled and said, “can't say the same about you.” Striking one of Quinn's nerves, colt may have sealed his fate. Quinn lashed out firing wave after wave of intense heat at Colt. Colt threw up another storm in front of himself and charged up his blast. Quinn cursed again, knowing what that field did before, he manipulated his blaze to swarm around Colt, and not strike him. Colt took this as a chance to strike, firing a bolt in the direction of Quinn. Suddenly Colt saw multiple Quinns, Colt started to panic clones?! Sense when could people make clones in the middle of battle?! All of the Quinns started to laugh, making Colt uneasy.

“Can't take the heat Volt?” they all said in a harsh hypnotic voice. thats right, I'll take you out wit ha heat stroke. Not many people know about this, an ability blaze faction can use. Mirage clones. Quinn said to himself. Volt started to calm down, he sat down on the ground and started to channel more of his energy. Quinn took this chance as a moment to strike, exhaling another jet of smoke and firing a cone of flame at Colt. Suddenly Colt's electric storm exploded, sending Quinn's fire storm into tiny cinders. Caught off guard Quinn stepped back. “My turn.” Vold barked.



Steam

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Al said ripping the giant cloth off. Under the cloth lied a giant computer, one with multiple monitors, uncountable buttons, switches, levers, etc. Al was shocked to say the least, he knew what this computer was, it was a central mainframe that had long sense been discarded. He walked around and surveyed the old computer. He knew what they found would help them, sense none of the bases they had before never had the luxury of having such a incredible machine.

“Anna...” Al said looking her straight in the eye. “This, this is just amazing! You have to stay around and help now! The top brass will reward you, they'll name you a hero of the steam faction!” Anna started to blush. She knew she had found something her faction needed and always wanted to be a hero, but she was to afraid to accept that, feeling afraid when the time came she would fail everybody. “I-I can't.” Anna spat out quickly. She then turned around and started to run away from the group, shortly followed by her steambot. “Wa- was it something I said?” Al awkwardly questioned. Altessa shot Al a look of disapproval, she then turned around and chased after Anna. It didn't take long for Altessa to find Anna, the sound of her companion giving her away.

“Hey, you ok?” Tess asked her putting out her hand. Anna took her hand and stood up. “Your brother, he can be so, so...” “stupid?” Altessa caught her. “yes. He knows I hate staying in one place, I just can't do it.” Altessa just shook her head. “Well, why dont you just stay until the base is built, take the credit you deserve, then go out and just be a wondering hero?” Anna scratched the back of her head, then looked at her steam powered companion, who looked back at her and nodded its head. Anna nodded back to her friend and smiled at Tess and said, “Sure. Sounds good to me.” Suddenly over their comlink Al's voice could be heard, “Next time turn off your comlinks if you want to have a private chat.” In response, Steambot, Anna and Altessa facepalmed and said, “dammit..”

When they returned to the others, they could see Al was talking to a different comlink, reporting their findings. Al looked at Anna and said, “Congrats, the higher ups are happy with your find, and are ok with your lone hero idea.” Anna let out a sigh of relief and waited until Al was done reporting the find. He stood up and signaled everybody to follow him. They all returned to their vehicles and Al broke over the comlink again, responding, “Ok, the higher ups have made a truce with the Ice Faction, they're letting us build out base on the border of Alaska, that way they have protection thanks to us, and we have large quantities of water to power us.” Anna broke over next, “Roger that Al. Hope they have some winter coats for us up there.” she replied. Al only laughed and said, “Yeah, sure hope they do. Can't let these generators freeze up on us.”

Chapter 3

Steam/Blaze/Electricity

The members of Steam Faction were driving for several hours, when they noticed a giant mass of fire and electricity in their path. “Talk about the after math of a fight. Blaze and electric really made a mess of here” Alistair noted as they slowed down to look for a path around the destruction. They weren't looking long when two strange people were fighting near them. A man from Blaze, and a man from Electricity. The two stopped fighting for a second as they saw Alistair and his sister, at the same time Quinn and Colt said, “you two?!”

Al started mucking around in his truck, finally finding some unfinished combat plating Altessa had made during the drive. Altessa turned to Alistair and nodded, they knew they had to fight. Quinn turned to Colt and said, “how about we take care of these two before we continue our fight?” Colt nodded and said, “good idea Mr. Man in Black. That girl there is a real pain.” Altessa started to flare at Colt, he never went out and said it, but she knew he was calling her a bitch. She pulled out her Dragon's Snout and a sawn off shotgun she made awhile back and screamed, “come and get it, Dolt Edwards!” Colt simply smiled and laughed, “that the best you got, Ms. Steam Whelp?” “Thats Steam Banshee to you, you bastard!” Tess screamed back. Alistair turned to the other members of Steam Faction and said to them, “get out of here. If anybody is going to die for Steam, its going to be the Twins of Death.” Anna nodded and drove off, Alexi in the back of her car. “think they'll win, Anna?” Alexi asked nervously. Anna shook her head and said, “I hope so. Let the Steam Guardians look over them.”

“Well then, Man in Black, your fighting me, not my sister.” Alistair said adjusting the combat plate. Quinn nodded and him and Al walked to the other side of a pile of rubble. “This shouldn't take long, last time we fought you were out in seconds, steam punk.” Alistair just glared at him, “that was just a lucky shot Quinn, won't 'appen again.” letting his accent take his words. Quinn laughed at Al's words and lite a new smoke. “Shall we start?” Quinn asked. “with pleasure.” Alistair said, popping some of his mechanical fingers, appearing to crack his knuckles. Quinn was the first to strike, shooting a jet of flame towards Al. Alistair changed his left arm into a cannon and let out a quick laugh. “Thanks for the help Quinn!” he screamed, shooting a blast of water at the blaze. Steam erupted everywhere, filling the area with a scalding mist. Quinn jumped out of the steam cloud, “God dammit!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, losing sight of Alistair. Al quickly jumped out of the steam cloud, punching Quinn square in the stomach. Quinn let out a grunt of pain, not realizing how strong Al was. What is this? I thought Steam Faction hardly ever fought? How can this guy be so strong? All hes wearing is a bulky gauntlet. Al shot a blast of steam from his hand, launching Quinn into the rock behind him. “Wondering how I'm so strong?” Alistair taunted Quinn. Quinn spat out a bit of blood, slowing standing up. “How can you be so strong?! I destroyed that arm of yours, how do you still have it and feel no pain?!” Alistair laughed, “Guess its true, nobody knows about me, only my sister.” Quinn was puzzled. What is he saying? Alistair took off his coat, revealing his shoulders. “W-what?” Quinn questioned. “I'm not all human anymore, Quinn. Melting my arm did nothing, I only had to make another.” Quinn was furious, he thought Alistair would be an easy fight, not a mechanical brute that he actually was. “A couple of years ago, I was working on a new generator model for my faction, when somebody turned the generator on to test it, unknowing I was fixing some panels. My legs were sucked into the generator blades, cutting them off just above my knees. I crawled out, riving in pain, but my arms were damaged by loose wires. Before I replaced them, I built myself a pair of mechanical legs, then my sister made me these arms, they put me into surgery, cut off my arms to my shoulders, and replaced them with what you see before you. I'm a walking Steam Engine, Quinn.” Quinn's jaw dropped, now connecting the dots. Thats how he shot that blast of water, it all makes sense now! Quinn took a draw from his smoke, and blew a cloud at Al. Alistair knew what was about to happen, Quinn was going to try and finish him quickly. Alistair transformed his arms into a different state, one where holes were visible everywhere, with steam slowly pouring out of them. Al started to make his generators work harder, building up a large quantity of steam. Quinn fired his blast at Alistair, with a look of anger on his face. Al took the blast full on, and Quinn smiled. When the flame started to die down, a shadowy figure stood in the blaze where Alistair had been standing moments before. When the flame completely died down, there stood Alistair, his arms in front of him, with the combat plating glowing red hot. Quinn shocked again shouted, “How?!” Alistair laughed and spat out some steam from his arms. “Moisture Barrier.” Al smirked. “I'm use to high temperatures, but your blaze element is an exception. I had to throw up a wall of steam to get your heat to back off. You know, shooting a cone of flame at somebody is a bad idea, you can't see your opponent, thats how I fired that water cannon before, and you never seen how I did it.” Quinn started shooting flames from his ears, showing he was overly frustrated. “I dont need tips from some punk whos title is non-existant!” Quinn blared. He knew he was right though, He never seen Colt's electric storm, Alistair shooting a blast of water, and just then, a wall of steam. Quinn wrapped some of his blaze element around his arms, he wasn't the best at close quarters fighting, but he had to try something. Quinn rushed in, firing waves of fire at Alistair, making him move around. Suddenly, Quinn noticed something, a hole in the ground, an abandoned gopher hole. He noticed there was one near him as well, so he smiled. Quinn threw a giant wall of fire at Alistair, blocking Al's view of Quinn. Quinn then bolted it toward the hole near him. When he made it, Quinn fired a concentrated blast of flame into the hole. Quinn saw Al fly through the wall of flame, his clothes smoldering, and a hole in the back of his shirt. Alistair stood up, sighing slowly, “well, you said before you never heard of my title, thats because of a reason. As Alistair I dont have one, as somebody else, I'm one of the Twins of Death, the other, thats a secret.” Twins of Death? Ah, thats right, the twins that destroyed a high fraction of the northern fire faction, but the other one? What could it be? Quinn said to himself. Al spun his arm, rotating his shoulder in a windmill style, then tilted his head left to right. Alistair charged at Quinn, punching Quinn in the stomach again, but Quinn swung back this time and slammed Al right in the jaw. Both fell over, slowly trying to get up. Alistair turned his arm into a blade this time, stood up and charged at Quinn. Quinn was still standing up, when Al tackled him into the ground, punching Quinn in the side of the head, then held the blade to his throat. Alistair was breathing heavily now, barely able to say his words. “G-give up Quinn. I know you're out of breath too, smoking sucks when trying to last in a fight, huh?” Quinn put his hands up over his head, showing he surrendered. “Al took in a deep breath and said, “go back to your base. You've lost, now leave us to our work in peace.” quinn nodded, still out of breath. Alistair quickly got off of Quinn, allowing Quinn to breath easier, without the weight of Alistair's metal limbs putting pressure on his chest. Quinn stood up slowly, and walked off, rubbing his stomach, and coughing on occasion.

Alistair let out a sigh of relief, “didn't think that'd work.” He said out loud. He walked over to where Altessa and Colt were set to fight. To his disbelief, they hadn't started. Altessa saw him in the distance and said to Colt, “hey, one Volt Battery, lets get his show on the road.”


Chapter 4

Steam/Electricity


Colt let out a quick smirk, “Alright, dont blame me when your on the ground, begging to be set free.” Alistair let out a yawn, he was tired after that fight with Quinn. man, in this form I can hardly beat Quinn, and he was tiring from fighting Volt. Thank god he was, or I woulda been screwed. Alistair let out another sigh and said to Tess, “dont take to long, I'm dehydrated after that fight with the Man in Fricken Black.” Altessa rubbed her temples and threw a camel back at Alistair, “ 'Drink' up.” she said. Alistair laughed and started to take a drink. He stood up and walked back to his truck, opening the cap he had on his truck and climbed inside. Once inside he pulled out a socket wrench and a screw driver and tightened up the loose screws and bolts on his arm. “Now that thats out of the way.” Volt smirked, firing up his energy. Altessa just rolled her eyes, aim her pistol at Colt and said, “this bithc has some 'bite', dont think about pissing me off any more, or you'll see how hard this 'bite' is.” the look on her eyes changing from their normal bubbly state, to a state that could make a rabid wolf back away in fear. Colt being completely oblivious to this fired off a blast, Tess disappearing in a cloud of steam fired form her trusty pistol. bad idea Steam Banshee. Steam is water, water conducts electricity. You're doomed. Tess was suddenly in Colt's face, shotgun forward. Colt barely had time to react, just barely dodging the point blank encounter his face had with Tess's shotgun. Colt wiped off the side of his face, noticing a bit of blood. not fast enough.. interesting Steam Banshee. Tess cursed under her breath, “gotta be faster.” she quietly said. Tess then aimed her pistol forward and fired, sending her back a distance from Colt. “Thought you were a good shot Altessa Shinigami? You missed me both times.” Altessa smiled, pulling out a series of mechanical like pieces and slamming them onto her pistol. Altessa stuck out her tongue at Colt and aimed the “new” weapon at him. “Oh, I'm a good shot alright, why do you think I came back here?” Colt was confused, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. Cold looked to see what was wrong, the pain getting more intense, he could see why he was feeling so much pain now, a hole the side of 3 fingers was lodged in his shoulder. He then looked back at Altessa, and saw her laughing uncontrollably. “Told you I'm a good shot!” Colt quickly sealed up the wound, preventing it from bleeding and causing further problems. When did she shoot? I never heard the sound of her gun go off. Altessa started to laugh more now, she knew Colt couldn't hear her gun fire. Her gun was steam powered, gun powder she only used in her other weapons, not Dragon's Snout. Colt ran towards Altessa, sparks flying from his arms, “Since your a sniper, I bet you can't take a punch!” he balled, punching Tess square in the jaw. Tess lay there on the ground, flinching form the energy filled punch Colt had just hit her with. Colt walked over to her and charged a blast, he was goint to shock her into giving up some information. He shot the energy at Altessa, her screams filling the area. Alistair jumped out of his truck to see what was happening.”

“Tell me where your new base is, Steam Banshee.” Colt said calmly. Altessa still screaming looked in the direction of Alistair. Al had his hands over his throat, pretending to scream. Tess got the signal and did the same, her screams hitting a deafening tone. Colt clapped his hands over his ears, riving in the pain of Altessa's screaming. Altessa stood up, laughing once again, Colt tired to walk towards her, but fell over in the process. He cursed, but couldn't hear himself. Tess pulled out a pen and some paper, scrawled some words on it, handed Colt the note, blew a kiss at him then walked away. Colt read the note, “Momentary Deafness. Your body is majorly off balance. Good luck moving anytime soon. Ms. Steam Banshee.” Colt slammed his fist on the ground as he watched Alistair and Altessa drive away. “We got to improve in his form.” Alistair said. “Agreed.” Altessa said.


Chapter 5

Blaze

Quinn wasn't very impressed. He let Alistair beat him, an unknown to most of the world fighter had beaten him. He was at the head base for the Blaze Faction, waiting to talk to the head of his Faction. Horus rolled by, right when Quinn finished his pack of smokes he was called in.

“You'd better buy me a new pack Madam.” Quinn said to his “Boss.” There stood a tall slender woman, with jet black hair that was down past her hips. She was tanned, a feature you couldn't pick out to well in the dark room, lite only by a brazier in the middle of the room.

She turned to Quinn and put her hands on her temples, “Quinn, really? I can't help it you smoke like and old incinerator.” She walked closer to Quinn and said, “Now, what are you really here for?”

Quinn bowed his head to her, “sorry about that, Madam Ash. I bring some bad news. I couldn't find the location of the Steam Faction's new base. One of the Twins of Death caught me off guard and defeated me in a duel.”

Madam Ash's eyes widened, she looked at Quinn and said, “One of the Twins of Death?! Where are they now?!”
“Madam, I'm not sure. Alistair, the oldest of the two threw me off a cliff and I didn't see where he went. He could be anywhere by now. If you dont mind me asking, why do you care about them Madam?”

Madam Ash turned away, “they killed m family in the attack 5 years ago. My mother, father and sister, all that happened to me were these burns.” she said, pushing up the sleeves on her gown, revealing Steam shaped scars. “Tell you what Quinn, seeing as you lost to those kids, I'll train you myself. You will learn Madam Ash's Black Blaze, and make it your own.”

Quinn put his hand over his mouth, “Madam, I can't, thats your famil-”

“My family is dead Quinn, didn't you hear what I just said?”

Quinn fiddled with his empty cigarette pack and said, “Ok, I'll do it, and I'll take revenge for your family, and restore your honor.”