Pyrrhic Reconciliation -- Mount Mon

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Date Posted: 19:23:28 01/30/02 Wed
Author: Mercado and Raph Sar
Subject: Pyrrhic Reconciliation
In reply to: Biggs, Dream Guide 's message, "While Chris' friends tended to him, Biggs approached the guards..." on 14:15:31 01/21/02 Mon

"You can put him down now."

"Merc....are you sure? If he jumps from up here, then you'd...I mean...c'mon, think what almost happened last time!"

"Mercado appreciate concern, friend-Grey, truly he does. but Raph Sar Mercado's burden to bear and friend Christopher--" The armored Nebulan gestured to where Christopher Braddock lay, under the unreadable gaze of the enigmatic Bolt. "--friend-Christopher need you right now. And for what guide-friend Biggs is leading us toward...now more than ever we need to pull together."

Cautiously, the winged youth called Nathaniel alit upon the mountaintop and released the struggling facsimile of Mercado's deceased brother. He eyed Raph Sar warily as the Nebulan pushed away from his captor, eyes glaring with hatred and resentment. Mercado waved Nathaniel over to check on Chris, nodding slowly. In a moment, he was at his friend's side, coaxing him back to consciousness. Now, two brothers faced one another.

"Well, this is a turn...quite the risk-taker these days, eh Cado? Or maybe you really DO have a death wish...you know as a figment of your imagination I'd survive a fall from this height....you, spiritually speaking, wouldn't do as well. Then when this fool's expedition was over, I could just waltz back into the waking world in your technologically enhanced body..."

"Do it not, you will."

"Again with that tired scramble-speak? That Decepticon really scrambled you good...besides, how can you know what I'll...."

"Mercado KNOWS."

The two stood in silence now, an intenisfying wind toussling the elder Sar's hair. The armored Nebulan broke the tense silence, taking a step closer even as Raph backed up toward the edge of the precipice.

"Listen, shade, listen carefully to the words utter you. Friend-Ebonhawk...a Decepticon? Though the derision in your voice exactly as Mercado remember, the terminolgy affords more respect. 'Anomaly' was the best Raph Sar could manage for any of Cybertron's sons and daughters. Aberrations. Mistakes. Targets. And your plan to usurp Mercado's being? Raph Sar would not relish binary-bonding...far from it! Any 'Unebulan' who mingled flesh with metal was as much the enemy as their robot partners. The thought of being in my armor? Mercado's brother die first. Die already he has.

You are the anomaly here, the mistake, the aberration. Mercado now know what he face--not the potent memories of the real Raph Sar, no, Mercado realize not all memories of brother bad...time there was before TLA, before loss of parents, when Raph was a good brother. But twisted he was by mother's death, with blame toward Cybertronians. Potential for such darkness in all of us. Casualties and statistics from WR@ occupation of Rugby certainly to that will attest. In your own way, perhaps you are a kind of WR@, spawned from the fear and darkness within Mercado. Pain and resentment Mercado's own, long buried and festering, now given form in the most obvious of choices. Mercado know you better than Mercado knew brother, as well as Mercado know himself.

Not destroy you...cannot; a part of me always will you be, a part long ago Mercado should have faced. Nor would Raph-facade's plan work....one cannot survive without the other. But, Mercado know hatred cannot survive in the face of courage and love. Young officers Grey and Braddock a testament to true spiritual strength; no less can Mercado be."

"You're rambling, grasping at straws. You're no closer to the answer than--"

"Love.

Compassion.

Forgiveness.

Brotherhood.

Courage.

With all these and more, Mercado embrace you. Not separate entities, not intolerable aspects at inner war with one another, but separate halves of the same whole, without which, neither can properly function. And though Mercado must now lose brother all over again, Mercado regain a part of himself, and for the first time since perhaps leaving Nebulos, be truly whole.

"No!! You FREAK! Get away from me! Get away I tell you! NOOOOOOoOoooooooooooooooooooo!!!"

Mercado had been advancing slowly, through the whole speech, and now metal-encased arms embraced his brother's likeness. Mercado squeezed his eyes shut, tears streaming down his cheeks, as the simulacrum began to glow blindingly bright in his grasp. He could hear the whir of turbines, many inert since entering Dah'Li, and his trademark crimson visor once more slid down over the top portion of his face. Within moments, the static he saw gace way to growing power readouts, even as Raph faded, blurring into him. Nearby, Nathaniel had helped a dazed Chris to a sitting position, and now the pair along with the Bolt witnessed two beings overlapping, coalescing back into what they were before being separated in the transition from reality to dream. It would be a sight that would haunt Christopher Braddock long after he realized the full significance of it.

"Goodbye....brother....and...welcome...home..."

Nathaniel shielded himself and Chris from the dazzling array of energy that now erupted from where their ally stood. Only the Bolt and the Sacred Guards seemed unaffected, as well as Biggs who remained in the outer chamber. Through a haze of smoke and debris, bright lines illuminated the charged circuitry of a blocky figure, and the distinct unmistakable sound of buzzsaws spinning echoed in the canyons below. Mercado, whole and at full power, stepped forward.

"Now, my friends, I think it's past time we got down to business and saved the SPUniverse. Who's with me?"

"You appeal to a small, select group of confused people."
-Message in fortune cookie

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Replies:

"I'm in." -- Ensign Christopher Braddock, 19:39:15 03/06/02 Wed
- "Guys! Something's wrong! I'm....." -- Ensign Christopher Braddock, 20:47:23 04/23/02 Tue
  - Me must go. NOW! -- Biggs, Dream Guide, 19:16:26 07/15/02 Mon