Another short chapter, next one should be nice and long. Hope you guys like dialogue. :D Harlow adjusted his crown as a fine spring laden breeze ruffled his hair. Below his large gold-ornated balcony stood a mass of floodians milling about. Their cries of joy marked harlow's crowning as flood emperor and king as a -blam!- and magnificent occasion. He cracked a toothy grin. The speech announcing his kingship was made specifically to whip of such a crowd, Hell if he kept this up, he would be in power forever. Waving and backing away, harlow flashed smiles and pointed at random spots through the crowd to give the illusion of knowing various floodians in the giant crowd while he backed into the building. Inside, the din of thousands of voices shouting in joy vibrated the walls of the floodian palace in slight, rhythmic patterns. One of harlow's guards shuffled toward him and began to speak, planting his fist on his chest armor in true imperial guard fashion. "Royal guard Supertramp requesting permission to speak" Harlow sized the man up, he seemed to be a guardsman of distinction. "I keep a freeflowing kingdom." harlow said. "You may speak." He kneeled to the ground and began to talk. "recon agent Gamerz has returned, it seems she requests an audience with you concerning her recent mission." Harlow mulled it over in his mind, then decided it would be prudent to see about the matter rather than give His queen a good "shagging" As he had originally planed. "Thank you, I must see to it at once. Have the palace guards disperse the crowd outside." He said, making his way to the deep underground planning room. He needed to wrap this up fast, his queen was waiting. Deep inside the musty planning chamber, Gamerz leaned against a wall in a state of boredom. Contrary to belief, she hadn't viewed any of the information on the datapad, but she had gotten some background knowledge with her interrogation of Joker. He insisted they were doing something wrong. She scratched an itch on the top of her breast. She surmised he was only trying to put them on a bad trail. With a gust of air, the well greased door swung open silently, revealing a pair of Royal guardsmen, then harlow. Harlow's royal gown danced in the air pumped into the room, but stilled as the door was shut and locked tightly with a complex set of locks. The guards checked it, then gave harlow a thumbs up. He smiled and turned to gamerz. Harlow was a fairly short man with an evolving beard and deep brown eyes. Save for the regality he had built up over the years, he was a very normal guy. His slight pot-belly served as a reminder of his wealth and influence while his gait and posture spoke volumes of his steadfast resolve. He might not be perfect, but he was a great man for the office of emperor. He sat down in the large chair overlooking the primary view screen. In a flash, one of the royal guardsmen darted to Gamerz and requested the datapad she had acquired, She handed it over. The guard returned to Harlow's side and slid the datapad into a slot. With a buzz, the screen filled with various bits of information, notes, and scientific formulas. After a few minutes, harlow's face began to transform from a soft, happy tone, to a hardened expression. "where did you get this information?" he asked sternly. "Man named Joker was poking around the classifieds for someone to decrypt it. I felt it was of importance, so I brought it to you." She said. This wasn't the time to make jokes or deviate. Harlow nodded and continued reading, his face became harder and more thoughtful as his eyes passed over the text and pictures. "I must see him." Harlow said finally, putting the display on temporary hibernation. Gamerz pushed herself from the wall and motioned for harlow to follow her, She led him and his pair of guards through a hallway that gave way to a small cell. Inside, A man with a bloodied face sat in a chair nearly unconcious. harlow typed in a full overide code and oppened the doors into the cell. He stepped in and looked at the man, then gave him a slight kick. The man shook himself then looked up grogily into harlow's eyes. Harlow took a forceful tone. "What exactly has bungie done." he asked sternly. The man in the chair stared at harlow in anger, then spoke. "What haven't they done, That datapad proves they are up to something. So mr. "king of the flood", How do you feel about your bungie overlords now?" the sarcasm and anger in his voice was apparent to everyone. harlow flipped through a booklet with information, then prepared to speak, suddenly a guard kicked open the door and ran into the room with harlow. "Panzie is on his way, he'll be here withing the hour. Your highness, what should we do?"\ harlow cursed himself for not hunting the terrorist with every asset at his disposal. Not only had the man proven himself homicidal, but he had also shown he could rip a man in half. "Scramble every guard in the palace, we must stop him." he said in urgency as he slammed the door to the interrogation room shut and scrambled to get to his balcony. Gamerz followed suit. As he ascended to his throne room, Harlow realized he had been studying the datapad for hours, When he left it had been early noon, but now the sun waned into a dark red sunset. Harlow exited the room onto his balcony. His crown shown red in the evening light, blasting Gamerz in the face with a red reflection. Below, hundreds of guards armed with lances, Verbal assault rifles and batons were armed and ready. Out of the line of buildings, a shiny blot appeared, Behind it a cloud of dust obscured both cars and people. Those who recognized panzie ran in fear. The large blot stopped as it saw the collection of troops, then backed into the cityscape. harlow yelled into his emergency radio for them to follow, but as they converged on the street panzie had disappeared in, a fairly loud bang erupted and the white blot flew into teh air, getting progressively bigger. eventually it became obvious the blip would land on the balcony and harlow ran inside. With a slam, the large flaming pony hit the stone floor of the balcony and trotted in. On its back rode Panzie and rogue. Rogue appeared to be as wide eyed as Harlow. After a few seconds, she recovered and repeatedly punched panzie in the back of the head in an angry tirade, yelling various combinations of the curses, -blam!-, dumbass, hard headed, reckless, and stupid. Harlow sneered. "Guards, fire on the.." he yelled, but he was cut off mid sentence. Panzie held his hand up. "Whoa there harlow, we're just here for information." he said. "And why would I give information to a terrorist?" he said sarcastically. Panzie stared daggers at the man, then spoke sternly. "I.AM.NOT.A.TERRORIST" harlow looked at him with a "yeah right" face, then laughed. "You've killed more people than the flood has in twelve years, WHY IN THE HELL would I believe you. the bombing of the forum was the single most heinous terrorist attack to ever happen." harlow said, beginning to get pissed off. "the bombing of the forum was the work of the floodian resistance, an anti bungie group. They were trying to get your attention." Panzie said matter-of-factly. Rogue here was an agent of theirs and can verify it. Check your records, she's there." Harlow threw the the statement in his head for a few seconds. Sure they were a very extreme section of the flood, but surely they wouldn't bomb their own kind. Still, panzie had stated information he could check. Harlow called one of his guards over and ordered him to search her in the flood's database. "we'll see, But in the meantime, what am I supposed to do with you..." he said. "meh, You can lock me in the dungeon if you want." "-blam!- that" rogue chimed in. "I'm sleeping in a bed." harlow scoffed. "Since when did furries have a right to a bed, You represent one of the worst" He looked at panzie angrily "created diseases in the flood. Your sickness is running rampant through the lower districts, and I have half a mind to shoot you on site." "I would like to see you try" She said adamantly. her anger began to seethe. Gamerz stepped in. "You don't have any rights vermin, go sleep in the dungeon with the rest of the filth." She spit at rogue. Rogue screamed and lunged at gamerz, but panzie grabbed her and held her still. She gnashed her jaws while kicking and punching at gamerz. "Were going downstairs," Panzie said. He was still trying to keep Rogue from tearing Gamerz a new turd-hole. A pair of guards followed them. Harlow rubbed his temples. Second day and he had to deal with a disaster like this? He decided he would sort out the issue in the morning, He had a queen waiting in his bed, and she was probably wet.