{Choas! Choas! But what art thou? I be insincere, but, regardless, demand the sincerest answer back! Ho! Are yah a force that we can only make semblances out of and never truly understand? Could be so, yet we ever can identify yah before yah even emerge. How can it be? 'Tis because yah are a contradiction to Order? Possibly, yet if that were true, then let me be free to declare (and hold right) that Horror is the lure before the scare for which only Terror can actualize. Thus, Chaos is the outward cry of Order when it can no longer be orderly since the price of dysfunction is too high to bear. And for Chaos's vision, Order is the correction or negation of the dysfunctions and the end of the unleashed greater pains the dysfunctions tried to quell oure attention to. A great sin that a dysfunction is orderly and not chaotic... This is the first post to be fully contest-dominated in a great while! With entries to @bananafish’s contest, @vdux’s Haiku contest and @tygertyger’s Electric Dreams fourteenth iteration... Also check out @bananafish's thirty-fifth iteration as I (self-insert moment) wrote this week's prompt and wish to get more people to get exposed to it, also good on @michaias taking first blood... Today’s music-aides: "Hip Shop" [1.] "The World Revolving Around a Legend" [2.] and "Field of Hopes and Dreams remix" [3.] (various YT artist Deltarune OST remixes).}

[Photo taken by @marcoriccardi.]

在草地上嚼
虽然被相机逮捕
晴朗的天空

Hierba jaspaeda
mientras arrestado
cielo soleado

Gobbled grass
while arrested -
sunny sky.
{This part of the post is a part of the Mizu No Oto contest by @bananafish.}

Image Source Here

- Fishery -

鹳？ 那边有鱼！
渔网设置在水下
鱼是共享的

¿Cigüeños? ¡El pez!
Redes bajo el agua
pescando juntos

The storks fly, fish there!
Fishnets under the water
the fish shared about.
{This part of the post is a part of the haiku contest by @vdux.}

Image Source Here

- Spouse talk under fire -

[1.]

Two sets of feet scurry across the polished, concrete floor. Huffs and puffs competed in the noise pollution, yet hush they were as the scurrying feet came to a halt. Fatigues and white silk were pressed against the bulkhead, staring at the hallway they emerged from.

"Blerrie Heck, only now you pull out that-"

"Hush it, I hear those New Angel pecknecks."

The flaps of dried, husky wings echo about, soon a covenant of grey-skinned angels float about and dash past the corridor. However, one slow to flapping with the covenant rests the flying programme and the feet transported the separated no-eyed angel. With the feet on walking duty and the wings rested, the fingers played the concrete wall in a small tune. Yet soon the fingers would cry as their strikes against the concrete was soon replaced with the emptiness of the air and that New Angel twisted their head. Only to find a wooden crate in the corridor the covenant passed by, so it kneeled and placed its hands on the crates. Soon rubbing hard the entire thing, but its mouth soon twitched to a frown as 'twas a normal crate and not a potential spot to capture the bounty. Returning back to the patrol, a cocking sound emits:

"Kneel kerel, I got no time for you or your chop friends' ærs-shite."

"I be no-"

"Kneel! Aren't you an angel?"

"I won't obey a sinner."

"Well, I can send you to Heaven faster I guess."

And so, after the unlit hallway flashed, the smell of burning incense plagued the corridors with the release of red-rum. With the fatigues rufling about, the pistol was holstered but made clear that 'twas ready for deployment.

"That was the only safe call, no worries we can stiff that kerel in the crate."

"They're not kerels, they don't even pretend to uphold laws."

"Well kerel meant friend or mate or something, but I only learnt that only after doing some many ill-acts against the Murkies and blue uni-"

"Vernon please."

"Fine, but don't get disgruntled at my usage. Anyways sweetie, can you give me a hand?"

"Fo' sho', honey."

"Blerrie, that's my line. Anyways, why now?"

"Well truth be told, I was hiding from the one we're hiding right now?"

"So... these New Angels and the such... why now?"

"Truth be told again, no one is exactly sure and I'm not going to those... best I save that talk for later, don't want to give them ill-representation."

"Are they at least less bad than your supposed old dæmon counterparts?"

"There has been, so far, only the old dæmons. No new dæmons."

"What's with it with you non-Terran folk and having to one-up everything?"

"If only God... no, it's possible."

"By the Rum of Cap'n Morgan, those buggers come; you made a real talented show there."

"Yeah or that we get captured by who knows what and your heisting crew become mincemeat in the kitchen."

"I'll teach you a lesson in humour after I klop their lights out."

"Ah, the killing move you always do."

Those same, rugged wings ring back again but halting on the small splotches fuming the excess incense. Unholstering his pistol and unsheathing his knife, he steadies the pistol and lodges a bullet to the cerebrum at a kerel. With the unlit hallway flashing again, so too the knife rise high to only plunge back down to crack into the backbone of another kerel. Two other New Angels gaze at Vernon's beret and pounce at him, only for both to shuffle hard to the side as their faces were compelled. Compelled other than the head of a nine-iron, Vernon unhinged the knife from the backbone and spoke:

"Ah, my friend, you finally figured out how golf is played."

"And I assume when you were doing it all in fatigues that was fake golf to say the very least?"

"No better than these kerels we're dispatching back to Heaven."

"You're lucky I can take your bs and not slug this at your face. Fo' sho' any other old angel would've done so."

"No worries, if what you said was true, then I have to never worry about such an occasion. Anyways, thanks for using something I was about dispose of anyways."

"You're welcome."

"Hey."

"Yeah, want to stowe them away?"

"That and what were those damn cookies anyways? They were more like snozberries-"

"Those are not girl scout cookies. They were mercury mixed into the cookies that were later reshaped into those lovely snozberries as you called them."

"Wait a second..."

"Don't put that much thought that way Mr. Fatigues. They were more aimed at your old Murky acquaintances than anything."

"So says you, but why didn't they die of poisoning then and there?"

"No, this is holy mercury not the poisonous element."

"Ah, basically what that Qin Emperor believed in as he submerged all that loot in a sea of mercury after finishing most of that Terracotta army?"

"No, he was deluded to believe Terran mercury was like holy mercury. Albeit, we ought to clean that area out later; if the PRC hadn't already."

"Fo' sho'! But shame that both Mercuries share the same name! But whatever, let's skip to the part where we had the awkward scene."

"Well, I transformed into an old angel and gave ourselves time to scurry about."

"Yeah, but now what speaks of the damn heisting crew. They surely are having a hassle cracking through this mountain they managed to perfectly stealth into so far. I'm glad I forced them to carry heavy duffel bags containing their loud gear. Else those Murkies would make Swiss cheese look full."

"Heh, good judgement call - they probably are fine."

"Trust me, this rock are like the others. One sector makes a simple fuck-up, the others go haywire fast. I can only imagine in addition to Murky gear they have to deal with these grey-skinned, no-faced kerels who's only connection to an angel is merely the wings and tattered grey silk cloth."

"Well, we have no worries on that procedure. Let's get to overriding the other parts of this rock so the crew can go."

"Fo' sho', don't want them being like the chops we disposed here. Alright, let's continue going where we were headed."

[2.]

Emerging from the unlit corridor, two bodies scan the two branching paths of equal lighting. Yet Vernon, after readjusting his beret and digging deep to his black mustache, gestured to take the rightmost path. The old angel inquired:

"You know the layout truly?"

"No sweetie, just the markings and such. Anyways, Cheryll, what's your real name in this case?"

"I cannot pronounce it in your Terran tongues, it would anyways be an unfathomable uttering to non-holy listeners."

"Heh, anyways the markings suggest the blerrie control room is close by. Stick close by."

Tapping the floor fast yet ever aware to not pain the floor, the two danced on the concrete like ballerinas in their final show. Near the steel door, both shouldered near the frame of the door; with Vernon pressuring his old id card on the scanner and Cheryll summoning a glowing entity that she soon clasped and held like a sword. Upon the screen glowing green, the lock clicked to which Vernon readied his hands on it.

"So, Cheryll?~ Ready for me to do the peppering while you slice and dice about?"

"Aye, ready on you."

"Well, let's klop their lights out!"

The steel door announced the arrival of unwanted guests, the attendants of the room twisted around to see the spies at the hatch. Yet the greeting gift was soon to be the cause of why holes dotted their once connected body, most opting to collapse and let Death grant them an earlier trip to their eternal slumber. However, in the mixture of New Angels and Murkies, only the Murkies remained standing and soon were collected to one mess in Vernon's image.

"So the traitor Vernon comes crawling back."

"Yeah, I did. What good that helped you in stating such?"

"..."

"Well, with that announcement, I'm back and well I gotta say: the return party is a shitshow."

"There-"

"I never liked him anyways, he deserved more than a bullet to the head however. But I'm not willing to waste much on the Murkies anyways. So, who has the card? I know one of you PMC scum have it and I will make an example of you all if I must; this time, instead of repeating your actions that you self-excused, I won't be excusing mine and live up to that sin."

"Sick sun of a bun!"

"Heh, well I was a peasant boy fo' sho' - but not now. Now, I'm here to cripple you Murkies."

"Ah c'mon, you know the Insurrectionists and the Government have no ties with us. Heck, we even banned the testing of Shamblers here as well."

"Yeah, but that's after Washington D.C. was accidentally flooded with them."

"C'mon, Vernon. Even if you knew it all, you couldn't tie us back to them."

"Unfortunately, before you cut ties with those kerels who fancy fatigues like me, I managed to possess some good docx on the matter."

"What they say?"

"You only increased efforts, in fact knee deep in the heart of the facility. And more-so-"

"Fine, so we do test them, but-"

"Want to end up like your friend there?... Anyways who has the key-card!"

"Me, I-"

"What a blerrie Murky you were and are now. Gotta give it to the Murkies to draw people holding them hostage to long debates and, hypocritically, silencing those objecting your policing. Anyways, Cheryll, take care of these other Murkies."

Marching off before seeing the ancient smile plastered on Cheryll's face, he for sure heard the blade slicing the air and the blood geysers going off. Soon blerrie thuds clanked on the metal floor of the control center, but Vernon soon slotted the card into the system. A ballet of lights emerged, soon structuring itself to a 3D semblance of the facility; Vernon tapped on the flashing room and was brought to security footage.

"Ah, look at them go away. The crew handles themselves fine, but I have to warn them that I can help ease their pains... Alright my friends I'm in! Thanks for holing up just fine, but time to undig yourself from that chokehold and proceed further down the rabbit hole. The lift will arrive in a minute, best prepare yourself for the underground to be rowdy... Alright comms off, how's the corridor leading up to here?"

"Fine, none coming here yet. Want me to set up the defences?"

"I'll be helping soon, just overriding the turrets to target Murkies and those kerels... Anyways: why did you come here, other than to hide? There's a whole Universe, but this galaxy was the final decision... Why?"

"Truth be told, heh I say that too much even for my taste... Look, I didn't exactly choose where I wanted to go. I for sure wasn't going to the old dæmon nor Myst territories! Neither was I to humour areas that went, well let's say, dark nor places not ventured. So I chose my old post and landed here."

"Were there many survivors?"

"Old angels? Not many. The Archangels got corrupted and the dead angels were thrown to these dark pits. Who’d later be spat out into these New Angels I had the pleasure to crack skulls so far. The few that successfully escaped scattered about the entire Universe, I only know for sure that Gabriel landed in Lucy Boy's den. Which, I must give it to the dæmons, they pit a good fight and made quick work of the massive pearly gates crew. They weren't here to reclaim it in oure glory, just buy us time to escape if we hadn't already."

"Interesting fo' sho'. But what were those black pits?"

"... I haven't a clue, but I'm not going to humour the Void is back. Anyways, this MG emplacement is ready."

"Roger on the emplacement, but what's-"

"We can discuss more on that later, but know now: where we operated, they want to reclaim that lost territory and turn into their malignant project. Heh, they made good progress in the last half-century on this planet alone. Even if this is their only spot."

"So, the Government's not affected by these New Angel chops?"

"Not that I can sense so far, in fact I sense this as their only stronghold."

"At least the illusion for freedom rings in those blerrie American heads."

"Says the illegalist that thrives on the ills of the World the Government helped shape."

"Well I'll give them that, but how much I'm willing to go? That depends if I want the victims of imperialism to klop my pecking lights out whence I enter on the ship with the Great Helmsman."

"I'll watch with delight and might join in."

"I'll make sure to klop yours out whence their done klopping mines out."

"Eep~"

"Yeah squeal, see where that gets you. Anyways, done on this door."

"Yeah, that should keep them at bay for you to do your masterminding. Anyways your crew made it to the bottom."

"Good, lemme take it from here."

[3.]

"Alright, homestretch here my friends. From here 'tis a one-way trip. As planned of course. You're looking for markings that lead to the testing chambers, so, my Echo Team friends, look for pairs of wings. I repeat, look for pairs of wings and proceed in that direction. All locks will be disengaged shortly, the turrets are on your side, the robots more than willing to take their sweet and blerrie revenge and, also, unrestrained access to the armory upon stepping to the doors. The Murkies are gonna be Swiss cheese if they think they can use it as well, thanks to some convenient defences. Anyways, we're tight on the schedule here... Alright comms off, just looking at this area... How can even these New Angel freaks figure out this pseudo-abstract shit as a good way to make the daily functions bearable?"

"Ask me not on that, we were good architects as old angels."

"Heh. Anyways,... who's that G-man figure there... Cheryll? Cheryll!"

"It... It"

"Who's this It person, spit the name of the G-man."

"Heh, Its name is forbidden to spoken. Heck, speaking Its name will hinder us. Not because It will do so, but because we'll weaken It by revealing its location-"

"Which I presume New Angels will start pouring in, not these freaks but the freaks they made when they got bored."

"Indeed, It is a dangerous figure; a White-Myst spawn."

"Mist? It appears human here."

"Be tricked not, though true it be oure friend and will not dare to think to harm us, the appearance is to make it easy to do what It wants. That spawn was granted freedom and recognized as something differentiable and not a clutter of particles."

"As you say, so have a clue why Its doing here?"

"No clue, but I see it has taken out... what you call... those juggernaut units?"

"Do they have skulls or a letter plastered on their face plate?"

"Letter."

"Zeal-Team Bulldosers... Wait, how many are in the room dead?"

"Twenty give or take."

"Blerrie!"

"That's It fo' sho'. Anyways It left a message stating in my holy tongue-"

"Does every creature share this holy tongue of yours?"

"I know only of the angels and dæmons sharing it. Mysts are just a set of dæmons that refuse to acknowledge their dæmonic past. However, I can see why with how those dæmons can be - sad we couldn't adopt them... Anyways the message states: tell your crew to advance five paces and stop, the rest will make sense."

"Should we trust It?"

"I think the death of those Bulldosers is a clue enough already."

"Okay Echo Fi- Team! Echo Team, take five paces into the room you're going to enter and stop entirely. Move not one inch. Yes I'm being serious... Alright chops, let's see why the Murkies made this instruction clear in their notes."

Upon the door to the room closing up, Vernon and Cheryll glanced at the footage: Echo-5 Team holstered their weaponry and waited. Soon the entire room the E-5s was quaking and the E-5s began dancing with the shake. Yet upon its stop, the E-5s corrected their position and awaited the next microgame with the room. But, with all fun, the reward came and out poured a mass of dead corpses, for which the corpses twitched to life and began sniffing the E-5s. In the end, the horde picked them up and carried them to the center of the room; soon placing them all on the center stage. Taking the cue, the E-5s placed C-4 on everything glowing and soon they were carried to the next stage - repeating 'til everything 'splodable came to mind.

"Well, I guess It blessed us today."

"I... I... understand now. It is very smart here, he's going to unhinge this galaxy from the New Angel's concerns."

"Wait how?"

"Why, when comms go dead in heated zones, you assume your comrades are dead?"

"Blerrie Heck, those New Angels are that gullible to not check?"

"They're probably spread thin as-is, this will certainly be a curse in disguise."

"I'm glad I picked a good wife like you."

"Save it, we haven't even gotten outta here yet."

"Killjoy... Alright, on you crew. What does the hoard advice you to do?... I see, well! Let the Fourth of July happen yet again! You Ameros deserve it unlike those ungrateful kerels and Murkies!"

A loud kaboom erupts the entire facility, but, in both Cheryll's and Vernon's eyes, they see each ex-human and E-5 troop being taken away even before the cascade steals their body. Within the last ex-human in the vicinity, coldness pressures the two's shoulders. They twist about and see It, It only coughs and weakly smiles. Soon flashing lights overtake their visions which finally landed them unto some sandy shores. Both getting up together, they twirl around gracefully and see the entire shore populated by ex-humans and E-5s celebrating. Off to some distance, Vernon smirks at seeing robots grasping each other as-if they had actually lost a lifetime between each other. Cocking his head to see Cheryll, she responded:

"Well, going to amaze the World one more time by golfing in fatigues."

"Fo' sho'!"

"Excuse me, Miss Miss Misses and Mis Mister."

"Aye?"

"I like to thank you both."

"How'd you... I see, this It figure isn't a quiet one. Is It?"

"One should not gossip about someone who is listening."

"Indeed, Mr. Locke and Cheryll - I rather it be between us that we talk on this matter. But I am on a tight schedule, so we shall see each other again later... When that time of course comes, when the New Angels come back. But... in another time..."

And with sand dust covering everyone's eyes, It disappeared in thin air and everyone began making shelter. Vernon and Cheryll gazed into each other's eyes, only snapping out of it whence they realize a fatal clue left at their doorsteps. Nodding their heads, they proceeded to help the shore crew and that book would be closed for a while... And for a while it shall stay so, 'til business calls.

------

And so I return to these end post blurbs, but I think this time the blurb at the beginning had done it's job. Truly, a preface that was great to state something and play off one element of this story, and many others.

And I mean it, why to bother truly making an end-blurb here?...

So let's make a conversation on something semi-random: crossovers!

For those not in the know, this story could act as a perfect standalone and I repeat you don't need to know my others stories to understand this. But know this: this story is one that acts as a crossover of two respective sagas that I had been serializing for quite a while. They hadn't been released in full, that's because I have no time to truly make them nor does Steemit seem to incentivize users to create series. And I could bring this conversation to past conversations where I talked about attention-spans, but let's return back on track. That being: crossovers! Of course I made this crossover since @tygertyger's prompt was rather convenient and I wanted to expand upon the "Shambler" saga that I left to rot for quite a while. (A whole list of stories for that is down below.)

And I must say, 'twas fun for me to mix in both sagas and to have fun with them in the meanwhile. The Word limit, thankfully, was gracious enough to allow such a story like this to occur. With any a regard, crossovers in general are those hit-and-miss things. The more related a series is and the more the fans are similar to one another, the better off it is generally. Yet if two series crossover and can play off the lacks the other series have, it can truly be the recipe for a great movie or series special. In any a case, crossovers can be great uniters and great trenches. That being they can unite fandoms and series, and equally push them apart further; all depends on how the people behind the two series communicate to each other how the crossover ought to happen... And well, it's time to make right that I'm creating a monoverse, multigalaxy setting...

The Shambler Saga

@theironfelix - The Rebel Compound

@theironfelix - What remained after

@theironfelix - Runaway Convict

@theironfelix - Scouting for Danger

@theironfelix - A ponderous choice

@theironfelix - A step towards hope

@theironfelix - Escape by pier

@theironfelix - aftermath

@theironfelix - The Second battle for Vicksburg

@theironfelix - Ides of March anno domini 21XX

The New Angel Saga:

@theironfelix - Adviser readjustment

@theironfelix - Flipping the Script

@theironfelix - Shu'ualathoi

@theironfelix - Portal Inferos Scriptor

@theironfelix - Connexione

@theironfelix - The Spirits’ Cave Course

@theironfelix - Pretzel's apocalypse

@theironfelix - A childhood acquaintance

@theironfelix - A Divine Intervention

@theironfelix - Incident 111a

@theironfelix - A campfire story for It

@theironfelix - Cap'n Wither

Cited posts:

@bananafish - FinishTheStory, thirty-fifth iteration

@bananafish - Mizu No Oto contest

@vdux - Haiku Contest

@tygertyger - Electric Dreams, fourteenth iteration

Cited images

Birds mockin’ about

Fishing

Gasmask Angel