_
Â
Opening File: 02030-NIMCITY
Bad Filesystem,
Proceed? ( Y for yes / N for no )
Y
Â
Nimbus City, Nimbus Station
-Summary
 Nimbus City, also called the City of Nimbus, is a 305 square mile city first built for the Nimbus Republic's civilization reconstruction (CIVRC) project, and was the most populous metropolitan area in the system between 2012 and 2020. Built over Nimbus Stationâs western sea, across the superbridge from the Race Place, the city's sea location was made possible by creating an artificial rock island for it to be built upon, with materials mined from the Darneu around Forbidden Valley.  The city's plan and unique base construction method was envisioned by former-Assembly craftswoman Dedria Signer, a mindstorm for which you can be assured she has received many awards.
-History
--Timeline
February 1st, 2012: The Nexus Force declares victory over the Maelstrom.
February 15th, 2012: Nimbus Republic formed, Civilization Reconstruction Project announced.
May 25, 2012: Ministry of Construction members Bruno Underbite, Dedria Signer, and Sandy Studs announce Project Stratospheron for a floating city above Nimbus Station.
June 1st, 2012: Project Stratospheron is rejected.
June 2nd, 2012: Dedria Signer proposes the ministry's backup plan, Project Atlantis, and it is approved.
June 9th, 2012: Mining of the Darneu is approved and following allocation of funds commences.
June 14th, 2012: Sufficient Darneu-sourced rock is placed in Nimbus Station's western sea. With the foundation laid surface construction commences.
October 26th, 2014: Consctruction of Nimbus City proper is completed; construction of Nimbus Suburbs commenced.
November 25th, 2014: Construction of Nimbus Grove suburbs completed.
--FILESYSTEM DAMAGED, SKIP DAMAGED SECTORS?--
Y
Â
July 21st, 2020: Transdimensional attack on Nimbus Republic
16:37 / 8:37 PM - Maelstrom infantry commence attack via transdimensional rift.
Â
Intermission
Chapter ??
July 21st, 2020
Â
 What had started as a celebratory evening very quickly erupted into chaos.
 First a low rumbling began to murmur from the heavens. But what might have been thunder, quickly became apparent as something else, something not to be irrationally feared. Rather, something to be legitimately afraid of.
 The pictures on the apartment walls began to rattle. They fell clanging, the tile floor creaked and shook, and every glass window, the small ones in the bedrooms and the large bay window, shattered.
 There was a loud bang and all the lights turned off, casting the white walls and everything in between them into darkness.
 Someone struck a match and its little flame shone brightly in the darkness. Somehow it withstood the quaking, burning only a gradual amount before the trembling ceased, and there was silence except for its little fizzling. The flame was like a beacon, in many ways.
 The flame had been meant to light the candle on the cake, on the dinner table, now forgotten in the darkness. Around the table, the minifigures present all stood up. In the flame's glow they saw each others faces. The most illuminated face was that of a woman, the one who had lit and now held the match in one hand. In her other arm she cradled a baby.
 Kate stared at all those around. She was about to open her mouth to speak, when other sounds, too low, too far away to be heard under any sound except that of the current silence, made their way in from outside.
 There was a distant shout.
 A distant snarl.
 The piercing ting of distant gunfire.
 A piercing wail filled the room, and Kate tensed, reacting immediately to hush the child in her arms. "Shhhh," she hissed, but the child did not quiet. Shadows danced across the walls as the match in her hand shook, and around her people began to move.
 "I'm going outside." a man's voice announced.
 "Looking to get smashed, Ray?" another male voice quipped.
 "I don't think it's safe," a woman protested.
 The match was nearly down to Kate's fingertips when an alternate form of illumination finally lit up, a phone screen. Blowing out the match, Kate looked at the face illuminated directly by the phone, that of a third man. In the noise and disorder she didn't recognize him at first, since lately she was used to seeing him with facial hair, since he was trying to grow a beard, but that morning he'd shaven for the occasion. Her husband's face looked grim now.
 "The network is down." Intrepid reported. "The public network, our private channels too." He held the phone up to his ear, and then blanched. "And there's a heck of a lotta interference on the transdimensional channels. I can't reach the base."
 "We've got to do something." the first voice, Ray's, spoke again. "I'm not staying in the dark." Another phone screen lit up, held by Ray, and he began to move to the apartment's door.
 "I think we should wait," the woman said quietly.
  Kate heard her. "I agree! We're all in the dark here and we need to figure this out together Someone needs to take charge."
 Intrepid looked up. "Okay." he said. "I guess I can-"
 "By someone I meant me." Kate said, and she turned her attention back to Ray and the woman. "Mara," she addressed her, "you're in no condition for a fight."
 Mara's face was pale in the glow of the smartphones. "We're fighting?" she breathed.
 "It's a possibility." Intrepid said.
 "We are." Kate said for certain.
 "How do you know?" the last voice, that of the second man, Luke Mercury, asked.
 With her free hand, Kate tapped the side of her head. "I was a Stromling once. I know Maelstrom when I feel it." She pressed her lips together in thought. "Mara," she addressed again, "hold Red." Gingerly, the other woman took the exactly one year old girl, who was finally beginning to quiet down. With her arms free, Kate could fight.
 "Now Ray," Kate continued, "you want to check things out?"
 "Definitely." the dark haired man said, nodding determinedly and flexing his arms.
 "Good luck punching the Maelstrom," Luke deadpanned from the other side of the apartment. In the dark he'd moved over to a side table, locked with a passcode and key, both of which the Leek Works agent had. From its drawer he removed a set of weapons, and he tossed an Elite Drill of Lasers across the room for Ray to catch with both hands.
 "Leave it for the Maelstrom to come back when I'm the least able to fight them." Mara muttered, shifting her weight and resting her face on Red's fuzzy head. The baby started to sniffle. Technically Mara now carried two children:  Kate's, and hers and Ray's.
 Luke and Intrepid had silently gotten flashlights, cash and coins, insurance cards, car keys, and backpacks of old gear from around the apartment. After handing Kate her backpack, the five adults all put on their shoes and exited Intrepid and Kate's apartment. Flashlights and smartphones lead the way for the two couples and Luke, as they made their way out, down the stairs, to the building's lobby.
 As they neared the door, the sounds from outside became louder and more discernably worse. Intrepid, who stood at the front, at half the room's length away from the door motioned for them to stop. He crouched down and began to open his backpack.
 "Stay inside." Luke instructed Mara, before diving into his own pack. Kate still held hers in her hand, and she slung it over her back, testing the feel of its old straps tugging on her shoulders. It was a familiar feeling, both in the body, and in the mind. With minimal effort, she recalled a skill she had never forgotten.
 Kate conjured a picture in her mind of the backpack's contents, organized in the same way they were eight years ago, when she'd put her Nexus Force gear away presumably for good. With her mind's eye she found her set of white Rank 3 Sentinel Samurai gear. She pictured them adorning her frame, and it took only that thought for the gear to fly out of her backpack and equip itself on her. They fit snugly, properly, and despite herself having grown some in the past eight years, they easily and effortlessly conformed to her new dimensions.
 With her Samurai helmet came a heightened sense of sensual awareness, aided by Imagination. There was a mechanical clock on the pale blue lobby wall, above the gray chairs, and its fingers pointed to 8 hours, 38 minutes, and 50 seconds post meridiem.
 Elsewhere in the lobby, Intrepid had donned his old Bat Lord suit, while Luke now wore some modified Sentinel Knight gear. Ray wasn't much of a Nexus Forcer but he carried his laser gun with purpose. He stood in front of Mara protectively.
 Now Kate focused on the world outside the door. She, Intrepid, and Luke all had the same vision. They all detected Maelstrom outside, doing Maelstrom things against the helpless Nimbus City populace. Tormenting, damaging, infecting.
 And Kate, Intrepid, and Luke all had the same thought.
 They had defeated the Maelstrom one.
 They would defeat the Maelstrom again.
Â
*****
16:39 / 8:39 PM - Defensive force working from local secret base (see File: Leek Works) responds to the immediate threat.
16:40 / 8:40 PM - Leek Works engages the Maelstrom.
Â
*****
 Eight years of peace categorized the city's formative years and the state of its current existence, at least until today. Nimbus City held people from all walks of life, and all sorts of backgrounds, both Nexus Force veterans and immigrants from other planets and worlds who had never had to carry a sword into combat against forces of any darkness.
 The newcomers brought friends and families.
 That being said, the majority of Nimbus City was wholly unprepared for an attack. It didn't help that the Nimbus Republic had disbanded its military and ceased funding of any offensive, or defensive projects long ago.
 But that's why Leek Works existed. Leek Works had persevered in the past eight years.Â
 Kate didn't want to think thoughts of, I told you so, or Look what happens when you don't listen to our warnings! Since those thoughts could be seen as trivializing the real misfortune that was befalling the innocents around her now.
 Brandishing her katana, Kate charged for the Stromling nearest to her position. It was an advanced type, with hammers for arms and obsidian armor for its head and chest. A flying kick later, the Stromling was on the ground. A katana strike later, the Stromling was smashed.
 Rising, Kate detected that the most nearby Stromlings had turned their attention to her: a minifigure who could actually fight back or impede their operation. They turned away from their previous targets and began to advance. At least she could fight, and the other civilians who were not yet infected, and there were many of them, wisely took the chance to run.
 Kate was about to duel the nearest Stromling, a Pirate, when a car came careening around a street corner, straight towards her. Three Chainsaw Stromlings had embedded their weapon arms into its black roof, and she could see the blades swinging and swaying in the monsters' attempts to reach the driver. But the Stromlings only succeeded in cutting longer strips in the vehicle's metal, and sliding farther to its rear. Nevertheless Kate loaded her bow and launched three arrows, before diving out of the vehicle's way.
 The car plowed through the Stromling Pirate she would otherwise have battled, smashing it, and her arrows smashed each of the Chainsawlings.
 "You're welcome!" she shouted after the vehicle's receding taillights, and then she ducked to avoid the swing of a Mech's arm, from a Stromling Mech that had approached her from behind. With an upwards swing she removed the robot of its arm, and a followup strike turned the rest of it to a state of bricks.
 Kate, Intrepid, and Luke had fanned out, and in a minute their efforts had effectively cleared the streets of Maelstrom forces. There had been other signs and sounds of combat in the immediate area, but those had died down.
 That meant there were other fighters around. Kate raised an arm to signal the others, and then she darted to the nearest street corner. Around the corner store, in the middle of the next street, she recognized the characteristic Sentinel gear of two fellow Nexus Force veterans. Even more, she recognized their faces. She waved.
 "Is that all of them?" a man she recognized as Suave Able Cat asked. The former Sentinel looked as well equipped as ever. Somehow the 'Super Sentinel' still managed to equip a bit of each Sentinel kit into his attire. He blew steam off a Space Ranger Zipgun he carried in his right hand, in his left he had a Samurai Bow like Kate's own, and on his back he wore his old Powerjouster and a new Energy Spork.
 At his side walked another familiar figure, that of a man called Master Blade Nine, armored up like any good Sentinel Knight. "If there are other reports of Maelstrom in the city," Blade started, "I haven't heard them."
 "We would have no way of knowing," Intrepid Fusion Eclipse said, walking up behind Kate and looking around. Kate followed his gaze. The only Maelstrom damage they could see was restricted to these two streets, at this street corner on the city's edge, overlooking Vertigo Bay that seperated Nimbus City from the rest of Nimbus Station.
 Was it coincidence, Kate thought, that this same street corner, the one the Maelstrom targeted, was the one that housed their apartment building? Or as a parent was she being too paranoid?
 "Look up." Luke said. Kate, Intrepid, Suave, and Blade looked at him for a second, and saw that he was pointing upwards. Then they stared at the sky. A dark blanket of purple clouds seemed to carpet the air directly above them, hiding the actual sky and smothering out the stars.
 "This can't be good." Intrepid muttered.
 Arcs of lightning flashed soundlessly between the clouds' folds, and then something began to change. The storm's center began to swirl like a whirlwind, forming a dark hole in its center. Then a lightning bolt arced right down from its center, traveling barely slow enough for them to see, and with a mighty crash it struck down not fifty feet away from the five of them. The force of the blast cracked the road, shattered whatever glass still remained unbroken, and loose objects fell from wherever they were knocked loose, and all five of the minifigures were knocked off their feet and sent flying away from the blast.
 When Kate's ears stopped ringing and she had enough bearing to stand, she saw what had formed at the point of the lightning strike. A vortex that was both dark and light, black and white, purple and pink greeted them. Flashes and shadows emanated forth in a familiar pattern. Kate recognized it, and Intrepid recognized it too. "Darn." the man muttered. "So they did rebuild it."
 It was the pattern of a certain transdimensional ring appliance, just infused, transformed- infected. The Maelstrom counterpart from another dimension that was not their own.
 Kate sighed. "We destroyed it to prevent their ring to prevent this from happening."
 "We knew they'd rebuild it soon enough." Intrepid said with aimless obstinacy. "It's not our fault no one did anything about it."
Â
 A dark laughter echoed forth from the portal.
Â
 "I hoped it wouldn't get worse." Intrepid groaned. "Now he's here." Suddenly he stood up straight. He gave Kate a glance, and she stared back, a silent communication being sent between them. Fear. Understanding. Approval.
 Kate shifted the weight of her weapons, found the optimal balance on her feet, and steeled herself.
 If the Darkitect was here personally, they would need to fight back with everything they got.
 She would need to.
 Kate closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She'd only done minimal training in these abilities with Cyclone, before... before an event she'd rather not think about. But before then, they'd shared a training room, and developed some skill. It was difficult training in an art with no one to guide them but themselves, but they'd trailblazed it themselves. It was difficult but rewarding.
 She found the core of Imagination spark, nestled somewhere next to her heart. She sensed the imagination within her being harnessed, and felt it being pulled forth with each heartbeat, being sent through each of her arteries outwards. She felt the goosebumps on her arms, the hairs on her neck and each strand of hair on her head rising, her nerves prickled as her supply of raw imagination surged, threatening to breach her skin. But she could control it.
 Intrepid watched her in awe, his face lit up - his clothes as well, and the environment around them all, as Kate literally glowed with energy - her imagination potential emanated out from her. It radiated from her fingertips.
Â
 The darkness laughed again.
Â
 A shadow began to stretch forth from the portal. A hundred times the height of any minifigure in length, it snaked across the tarmac ground towards them. The portal widened, to accommodate the appearance of a towering silhouette. Two large squared boots tapped on the ground. A massive cape swished and swirled in the rush of air that howled from the vortex. Atop its head stood a comparatively tall top hat, shiny black, brimmed article of authority, of supremacy.
 Of barony.
 Dark creatures skittered around their master's feet, up and down his cloak.
 A ghastly smile spread across the dark master's face. Red eyes appeared under the brim of his top hat. An arm extended forth from his figure, a hand opened, in it a glowing orb, a shimmering violet in color, pulsating and hovering above his palm.
 With an upwards thrust, the orb was launched upwards into the sky like a rocket.
 Like a missile.
 It exploded in a searing white flash, accompanied by searing heat, and an instant of searing pain.
 No one could see. Kate couldnât see or hear. Her ears rang. Despite her blindness Kate lashed out, and somewhere in the whiteness she heard a howl as her strike hit some fowl creature. She felt a rush of air, and a shout from one of her teammates.
 Her name?
 A warning?
 She felt the heat of her own power rising within her, around her. With her mind's eye she sensed the dark creatures closing in, and she swung her arms to dispel another imagination blast. Thunder clapped, she'd emitted lightning, she felt the blaze of its heat on the inside of her arms, and the creatures turned to dust.
 There was another rush, this time headed straight towards her. She felt the air bouncing off her from its approach like an approaching train, and she pushed back.
 Something sailed over her head.  It landed behind her.
 Then she felt a sharp twinge in her back.
 Her ears rang with a different intensity. She stopped feeling the power rushing through her arms. She stopped feeling her legs, or feeling entirely. She stopped seeing white, only a staticky gray.
 Kate blinked, or tried to blink, but her sight remained unchanging. She wanted to shake her head, but felt no response from her neck muscles. When at last outlines began to appear in the grayness, and she finally began to see again, it was to the sneering face of a Stromling she never thought she'd see again, standing above her, staring down at where she lay on the ground.
 She couldn't murmur his name, Demonstrait. She could move her lips, and articulate her tongue, but her breath seemed caught in her mouth.
 Demonstrait only smiled.
 Kate's eyelids suddenly felt heavy.
 She became conscious of the darkness spreading from the edges of her vision - the emptiness ebbing away at her spirit.
 The hollow laughter of the Darkitect as he looked on at her demise.
 She was smashing.
 And she heard the cry of her name being shouted. She saw Demonstrait knocked aside, out of sight, replaced by the face of Intrepid, only caring, only concerned for her. His mouth moved silently as her hearing was lost as well.
 It was too late for Intrepid to help her.
  But it wasn't too late for Kate to help him.
 Perhaps her brain's last call of action, to push her arm upwards, successfully pushed Intrepid out of the way from what was about to come next. But it was only Imagination and it wouldn't hurt him or any of her friends so long as they weren't infected.
 But it would hurt the Maelstrom.
  With Kate's last breath came an explosion of pure imagination. Any Maelstrom within the blast radius of her detonating imagination spark was vaporized in an instant.
Â
*****
 July 21st, 2020
16:39 / 8:39 PM - Defensive force working from local secret base (see File: Leek Works) responds to the immediate threat.
16:45 / 8:45 PM - First Maelstrom wave defeated.
16:50 / 8:50 PM - A second Maelstrom Vortex is opened for Maelstrom reinforcements, including the First Darkitect. A Maelstrom orb bomb is detonated above Nimbus City, immediately infecting a hundred square miles of the island's eastern seaboard.
16:51 / 8:51 PM â An imagination explosion from an unknown source destabilizes the Maelstromâs Transdimensional Vortex, forcing the Maelstrom to retreat.
16:52 / 8:52 PM - Leek Works casualties are confirmed.
--FILESYSTEM DAMAGED, SKIP DAMAGED SECTORS?--
N
File terminated.
End Intermission