The Book of VALOR Agent Thomas Landis
- NGC Heroscape
- Oct 31, 2023
- 1 min read
Download as PNG:
The figure used is Agent Clive Smith from Unit 9. Print at X-axis 110%, Y-axis 113%, Z-axis 98%. Single base.
Bio: Thirteen Minutes
Click to Expand
Written by Alexandros & Dandelions
Thirteen minutes. That's how long each jump lasts.
Thomas heads north, through the icy tundra before him. He knows he is unlikely to find the flower he was sent to retrieve. Arid climates. He's looking for hot, arid climates. The kind that hosts bizarre succulents not found on Whenua. Still, he had to kill thirteen minutes. Thomas's device was motion powered—the kinetic energy generated by thirteen minutes of consecutive movement was what Thomas needed to make the jump. Thomas had been jumping for days, and was light on rations. But he couldn't rest here- the climate was too unforgiving.
Little more than a minute remained. Thomas kept moving until he saw a plant with brightly colored berries. Oranges and yellows peeked through the surface of the frozen snow. Thomas kneeled down to inspect the plant. He wasn't risking his life on vegetation that could be poisonous—he needed to determine that they were safe. Before he could slide the zipper down the length of his rucksack, he recognized the sound of a creature tumbling through the snow.
A mammal unlike anything Thomas had ever seen, with thick brown fur and long fangs protruding from its mouth, barreled towards him. On its back was a vaguely humanoid creature, its teal blue skin contrasting the mammoth and the snow beneath it. It let out a cry, and raised its sword. Thomas drew his pistol and aimed at the warrior, releasing a bolt of plasma that killed the rider before it hit the ground.
This did not stop the beast. It moved too fast, and was too large, for Thomas to be confident that anything outside of an expertly placed shot could halt it. Thomas reached to unsheathe his machete as the world around him went white. He jumped.
Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the new world he found himself in. The air was hot and heavy, almost as thick as the foliage surrounding him. Once again, he knew the flower would not be found here. He wanted to go home—but he didn't dare to defy the VP's. The VALOR initiative made sure of that. Machete still in hand, Thomas moved forward, prepared to cut down the plant life blocking his path. 11 minutes of walking with no intrusions was a blessing. He had hoped to find food or water, but knew better than to complain. As he traveled, a light shimmered in his peripheral vision.
A metallic figure shrugged off its cloaking aura, becoming visible in a matter of moments. It extended a copper-colored claw towards Thomas, grabbed him by his rucksack, and slammed him towards the ground. "Do not resist, Mariedian," it bellowed, before it smacked the machete out of his hand. The figure produced a bolt of metal cable and wrapped it around Thomas's feet, and in one smooth motion, suspended him upside down from a nearby branch. Thomas was glad his equipment was secured to his person. He didn't have much longer here, if he played his cards right.
The figure turned away, and began to speak into its wrist. "One of the prisoners has broken perimeter... Or a rebel. He is well armed. I am requesting backup for retrieval or permission to execute." Thomas began to swing his weight back and forth, hoping to trigger enough momentum to earn a jump. His abdominal area stung. He must have reopened the rudimentary stitches he had performed, hoping to heal the cut he received the day before from an elf who tried to shake him down. All in a futile attempt to steal a type of currency Thomas had never heard of, let alone carried.
Suddenly, the branch he was tied to snapped, sending him to the ground below with a thud. As the metallic figure turned towards Thomas, Thomas grabbed at his abdomen and rose to his feet. As his other hand reached for his pistol, the world before him turned white.
Immediately, the smell of smoke and dry salt struck Thomas. The sting of his wound worsened. He was standing, now, in an expanse of sand that stretched out in every direction. Hallelujah, he thought. A desert. He wasted no time, though—thirteen minutes was never as long or short as you’d hope it would be. He pulled out his dimensional property scanner, and picked up an anomaly spike on a reading a half-mile out. He’d have to hurry.
Cacti bloomed in spiked clusters and orange flowers in the desert cliffs around him, and he scurried up a bank of sand. The readings were closer, closer, and he was making good time. He crested the hill, and looked up into the valley beyond, surrounded by rust-colored stone, but there was no cluster of glowing succulents where his reader indicated.
There was, however, a figure, twice as tall as Thomas, a cluster of bells where its head should be. It stood as thin and tall as a telephone pole for a moment.
“Not again,” he breathed. “Not now.”
It watched him, as it always watched him, and then it lurched towards him with a first spidery step. He fell back down the sandbank, scrambling to catch his feet, but the pale form was already at the top of the hill, and the bells began to ring.
He had escaped it, time and again, but it always followed. The only constant in his journey across the universe. The threat that he would never be rid of, until it got rid of him. As the pain in his abdomen grew, Thomas realized he couldn't afford to go untreated for much longer. He felt a change in the air around him before the horror swiped him off of his feet, and onto his stomach. The pain seared. Earning that thing's ire the day he sealed it away was the worst mistake he’d ever made.
Thomas rolled to his back. He grabbed his bloodied abdomen and clumsily reached for his pistol. The horror knelt beside him, tall as the blue desert sky, and pinned his hand with one bony finger before he could reach his weapon. With the other hand, it placed a disjointed fingertip on Thomas's chest, and pressed deep. Thomas screamed. The entity shook its head from side to side, bells clanging with a terrible joy as it tasted the blood it had dreamt of for years. The pain was too much. Thomas had to do something fast. He reached a last time for his pistol, for his devices, for anything that could save him, before the world around him went… not white, but gray.
A thick, gray mist blanketed the air around him, too thick for Thomas to see. The reality-stalker, the night-walker, "Bellhop" 1212-Red, was gone. Thomas took a moment to catch his breath, and reached for his rucksack. He needed to wrap his wound.
A voice cracked through the mists: “Thomas Landis, of Whenua. You have been summoned.”
This was not a voice Thomas recognized. Could the Society have found a way to retrieve him? He rose to his feet, and took several steps forward as the mists faded. Standing in the fog ahead of him, he could make out a tall figure with great metal-clad wings, one hand holding an iron hammer, the other outstretched in his direction.
“Hello, traveler. My name is Volarak. Welcome, Thomas, to your new home.”
Powers
WARP BLITZ SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 4. Attack 3.
After attacking with Warp Blitz, you may place any Agent you control on an empty space within 2 spaces of its current location. Figures moved by Warp Blitz never take leaving engagement attacks. Afterward, if Thomas occupies a type of space that he did not occupy at the start of his turn, you may attack and place an Agent with Warp Blitz one additional time.
Synergies
SYNERGY GRANTED
[Agent] Warp Blitz can teleport the following:
Agent Carr
Agent Skahen
Cryptain Agents
Gorillinators
Krav Maga Agents
Microcorp Agents
Nakita Agents
VALOR Agent Thomas Landis
[VC] Agent Nora
[VC] Seleena
SYNERGY RECIEVED
[Agent] Can be teleported by VALOR Agent Thomas Landis's Warp Blitz.
FAQ
No FAQ's have been submitted yet. Be the first!
No, it does not.