Tales of the Rebel Angels

[After the ringing in the ears from the crash—Time crash? Time shatter?—died down, there was still a high-pitched noise…

…Oh, wait, that was pinging.

…

…Pinging—?]

“Heeeeeyyyyyyyy…”

[Well then.]

“Are you okay in there?”

[…The voice of a… young boy?]

“I have a first aid kit an’ a small extinguisher an’ such if ya need it!”

ɴᴀᴍᴇ: Dr. Mikhail Sergeyevich Morozov (NOTE: Known with the surname “Cossack”; his family history involves a lot of name-changes to protect those at risk, and he changed his name as a teenager after all his close family members died following the revelation that his paternal grandparents had gone MIA and lived under false names for nearly 50 years.)

ᴀʟɪᴀs (ɴɪᴄᴋɴᴀᴍᴇs): Michael Kodak (witness protection identity), MC005 (RobotMaster® Database user ID)

Sex: Male

ᴀɢᴇ: 44 (as of several days ago. Do not remind the man, as the average lifespan for men in his family is 48 years, 9 months, and 18 days.)

ᴅᴀᴛᴇ ᴏғ ʙɪʀᴛʜ: Friday June 10th, 1977T

sᴘᴏᴋᴇɴ ʟᴀɴɢᴜᴀɢᴇs: Russian, English, Arabic, German, Spanish, Japanese, Proxan, possibly others. 

ᴏᴄᴄᴜᴘᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: High school technology teacher (former Robotic Science professor); business owner

ᴄʀɪᴍɪɴᴀʟ ʀᴇᴄᴏʀᴅ: Yes, and a pretty damning one at that. The man was behind (though not the mastermind/puppet master of) “the Russian incident” (Broken Winter) and involved in questionable choices during “the virus incident” (Allies Obstruct).

ᴅɪsᴏʀᴅᴇʀs: Still suffering from symptoms of PTSD—more heavily as of the last 17 months. Possibly autistic, but never officially diagnosed as such.

ᴇʏᴇ ᴄᴏʟᴏʀ: Icy Grey-Blue

ʜᴀɪʀ ᴄᴏʟᴏʀ: Dark brown (greying)

ʜᴇɪɢʜᴛ:   6'3" 

sᴄᴀʀs: Numerous as a result of his imprisonment during “the Russian incident” and the ensuing last stand against DLN-001. The most notorious are the ones at his wrists, caused by wearing shackles (with spikes on the inside of the cuffs) for several months.

ʙᴜʀɴs: Most heavily on his hands and face, though the surgeries did a good job of minimizing the scarring. Direct result of fighting DLN-001, and the reason why he wears gloves most of the time.

ᴏᴠᴇʀᴡᴇɪɢʜᴛ: Never. Grew up in the USSR, then had to fend for himself as an orphan. Tends to get too absorbed in what he’s doing to eat, if left to his own devices.

ᴜɴᴅᴇʀᴡᴇɪɢʜᴛ: Likely; he has a tendency not to eat as much AND to skip meals when stressed… which is most of the time, these days.

ʜᴀᴅ sᴇx: He has a biological daughter, so the answer should be obvious.

ʜᴀᴅ sᴇx ɪɴ ᴘᴜʙʟɪᴄ: Of course not.

ɢᴏᴛᴛᴇɴ ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴛ: Not himself, so he was confused with the English phrasing of “we’re pregnant” when his wife first told him he was going to be a father.

ᴋɪssᴇᴅ ᴀ ʙᴏʏ: Not romantically, but he has given fatherly kisses to his sons from time to time.

ᴋɪssᴇᴅ ᴀ ɢɪʀʟ: Yes (and for a bit of trivia, his first kiss was at a New Year’s party, and he later started dating her and eventually married her.)

ɢᴏᴛᴛᴇɴ ᴛᴀᴛᴛᴏᴏs: No. He will explain quite bluntly how tattoos work by filling in critical parts of a cell’s disposal systems with ink, and how that is bad for the body.

ɢᴏᴛᴛᴇɴ ᴘɪᴇʀᴄɪɴɢs: Not intentionally, but the damage from the fight with DLN-001 might have caused injuries with a similar effect.

sᴍᴏᴋᴇᴅ/ᴅʀᴀɴᴋ/ᴅᴏɴᴇ ᴅʀᴜɢs: The smell of smoke has always made him feel nauseous, and even more now that he’s a survivor of a fire that could have killed him if he hadn’t been rescued. He sees substance abuse as irresponsible at best, and has even stronger feelings after having been subject to extremely potent sedatives administered by people holding him prisoner. And as for drinking… two of his close family members died from alcohol abuse, including his father. (He never quite forgave his father for falling prey to alcoholism as a means of escaping the pain of his mother’s death… until he, too, lost his own wife and vividly understood just how all-consuming the pain was. Then, he forgave his father, and fervently took extra steps to avoid following in his footsteps.) He reacts very strongly in a negative way to the presence of alcohol in his work or home environment, as he never wants the temptation to be anywhere near him.

ʜᴀᴅ ᴀ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ: He lost his wife to cancer and has never been the same after that.

ʙᴇᴇɴ ɪɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇ: Yes. See previous entries.

ɴᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ: To a critical degree. It was only thanks to Cardinal’s timely intervention that he was even well enough to be treatable. It took a long time to recover, but the skin grafting worked very well and is barely noticeable these days.

sᴛᴀʏᴇᴅ ᴜᴘ ғᴏʀ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴀɴ 24 ʜᴏᴜʀs: Yes; once, while traveling internationally. He vowed to never do so again.

ᴀ ᴠɪʀɢɪɴ: This is redundant; see previous entries.

ᴀ ᴄᴜᴅᴅʟᴇʀ: Only with his children, nowadays.

ᴀ ᴋɪssᴇʀ: Only to his “Northern Star”, and she died eight years ago.

sᴄᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴇᴀsɪʟʏ: Spooked relatively easily, but it takes something pretty drastic to cause him to be truly frightened. The two cases where this has been most easily apparent were parts of “the virus incident”, and the ongoing reprehensible violence from Marxist hate groups that became exponentially worse as of last year.

ᴊᴇᴀʟᴏᴜs ᴇᴀsɪʟʏ: No; he’s never been resentful or covetous of other people’s situations or successes.

ᴛʀᴜsᴛᴡᴏʀᴛʜʏ: Very. Even if you’re on his bad side, he’s much more likely to be defensive than deceptive.

sɪɴɢʟᴇ: Left a widower eight years ago. Despite his daughter’s wish for a mother figure, he has not been able to form another meaningful relationship due to the whole “witness protection” thing.

ᴄᴏɴsɪᴅᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴍᴇᴀɴ: No, but he CAN be very harsh to those who cross him.

ʜᴀʀᴍᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇᴍsᴇʟᴠᴇs: Not intentionally, but there have been a few lab mishaps over time, not to mention his tendency to not look after his health as he should.

ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴏғ sᴜɪᴄɪᴅᴇ: He was in a bad place after his wife died, and felt utterly broken. He wanted the pain to stop and knew he had to resist the despair, which is why he doubled down on being such a teetotaler. Not so much seeking death as being too exhausted to want to continue… but he did so because he must, for his children’s sake.

ᴀᴛᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛᴇᴅ sᴜɪᴄɪᴅᴇ: Not really… he was placed in a situation that might give across the impression he had a death wish, but he was being blackmailed at the time.

ғᴇᴀʀs: The safety of his daughter is his greatest need. The prospect of her being injured or kidnapped AGAIN is terrifying and a primary factor behind many of his motivations. Beyond that, he understands the dreadfully inhumane terrors of collectivist ideology such as socialism, communism, and Marxism—such tyranny (and being on the receiving end of it) is absolutely chilling. It’s even worse considered many of his family members died in previous generations as victims of one of the most brutal dictators in human history: Josef Stalin. Anyone who advocates for such things (and especially when they start using violence, and physical violence in particular) is rightfully seen as dangerous in his eyes, and he readily warns everyone else against the dangers posed by such horrific and cruel forms of hateful greed and Pride.

ᴘᴀʀᴇɴᴛs: OH BOY DID YOU ASK FOR IT

Sadly, it did not end well for them.

ᴄʜɪʟᴅʀᴇɴ: See list below.

Давид Казак (Морозов) David “Snowcone” Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. David Kodak

1991T - 1993T, 2016T- Present

=================

Калинка Диана Казак (Морозов) Kalinka Diana Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. Katrina Diana Kodak

2007T - Present

====================

Николай Казак (Морозов) Nikolai Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. Nicholas Kodak

2008T - 2015T, 2020T - Present

=====================

Хэндерсон Казак (Морозов) Henderson Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. Henry Kodak

2008T-2015T, 2020T - Present

=====================

Степан Казак (Морозов) Stepan “Digger” Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. Steven Kodak

2009T - Present

====================

Моисей Казак (Морозов) Moisey “Anubis” Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. Moses Kodak

2011T - 2015T, 2018T - Present

====================

Захар Казак (Морозов) Zakhar “Vac” Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. Zachary Kodak

2011T - 2015T, 2020T - Present

====================

Яков Казак (Морозов) Yakov (Jacques) Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. Jacob Kodak

2012T - 2015T, 2020T - Present

====================

Виктор “кольцо” Казак (Морозов) Viktor “Keltso” Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. Victor Kodak

2015T - Present

====================

Пётр Казак (Морозов) Pyotr “Skull” Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. Peter Kodak

2015T - Present

====================

Иван Борис Казак (Морозов) Ivan Boris Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. John Kodak

2020T - Present

====================

Кир Рюрик Казак (Морозов) Kir Rurik “Chorus” Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. Cyrus Kodak

[TEMPORAL ESTIMATE: x≥2027 ↩️ Present]

====================

Кузьма Рюрик Казак (Морозов) Kuzma Rurik “Refrain” Cossack (Morozov) a.k.a. Cosmo Kodak

[TEMPORAL ESTIMATE: x≥2027 ↩️ Present]

ᴘᴇᴛ(s): Two Кавказская Овчарка named Bouncer and Bailiff.

Tagged by: @overx​

[ Ø ] - Because she looks li–

“….”

“HA!”

Such a random, convoluted and yet amusing thought process behind that name–Ah, yes, that was Snowcone for you. It sent her into a fit of sputtering, hearty laughter that she tried to keep down with a hand, but ultimately failing to do so.

Like the soap.

“Y–You know what? That’s fantastic. Go with that, please–”

Haaaaa, that was great. She needed that. She REALLY needed that.

“Heheh…mn, ha–yes, yes, we could go on one of those adventures for that ore, sure. I’m not doing much else nowadays.” Aside from helping Owen here and there, anyway. “We’ll get lucky, maybe, who knows. Just say when.”

And with that, Ray sighs, done with her pizza. Feeling quite full and content.

“Thank you for coming over, David.” We’ve really missed you. “Your stories are always enjoyable.”

[The small ice child beamed, cuddling his Glaceon. Said Pokémon ended up climbing into his hood, curling up as if sitting in a familiar soft nest.]

Snow: Okay! I’ll let you know, then!

[He picked up the empty box, crunching it down into something less unwieldy to carry.]

Snow: Bye, Miss Ray! Say hi to your kitty for us! :D

[ Ø ] - …Now THERE was an idea. She should try to experiment with this strange ore if she can find enough of it…

Time to make plans to head there herself when she has the time on her hands.

Ray gently gives the Glaceon back to Snow after a quick nuzzle and cooing at them a little more. She tilts her head at the mention of a fox, though. No cross-references popped up at that. Must be some other animal friend Snow has, he seems to have a lot of those.

“…Perhaps…I could certainly use armor that protects against the cold.” Real BATTLE armor. Triton’s Ward was good and all–the best, perhaps, but something that would REALLY hold up to a blade would be even better…

Hm. She’ll think about that later, when she actually has the materials in hand.

Snow: I think it would take a really, really long time to get enough to make a set of armor…

Snow: You need four pieces of debris to get enough ore to make one of the bars with some gold, an’ that takes a long time to get. Hours, sometimes.

Snow: It’s fun to explore, though! It’d be worth it to do as an adventure, for sure!

codedhopes

Going back to the small ‘Mon, though, Ray was about to toss in her own ideas for a name–until Snow came up of one of his own. Hm. Dawn…ha, that was fitting, considering it’s mother was Sol.

“I think that’s lovely, David. Though…why Dawn?”

Snow: Because she looks like Dawn! :D

[INCOMING IMAGE FILE. OPEN?]

[Upon accepting, what he meant became… very clear.]

[ Ø ] - Hm. She had no idea where to get a Chinese goat for Felix, but she can sure as hell try?? Or maybe–or maybe she can go back to that shield idea. He would need something like that. She might ask Owen for some favors so long as she thinks of something to repay him o–

And then all of that thought process went RIGHT out the window as soon as Snow opened the ball and out came the most adorable baby Eeveelution.

“Oh–it hatched! Hello, sweet little one.~” She says as she gently takes the small Ice-Type in her claws and scritches her head fondly. “Aren’t you the most precious thing? I’m sure your mother would be very happy to see you, but she’s out hunting somewhere. I’ll tell her how you’re doing, though…”

Does she have a soft spot for Eevees and their evolutions? Absolutely. Calm and fond data emit through the feeds from the Destroyer. The Glaceon seemed healthy, which wasn’t a surprise–Snowcone was very responsible. “Does she have a name? She seems to be very well off. Ah–be sure to not let her out in the sun for too long, though, it IS still summer…”

[The Gladeon hid her face Modestly in its tail at the moment at the mention of her appearance, but seemed more than happy to snuggle.]

[She gave a soft kit squeak and batted a bit at her playfully before nuzzling into the scritches.]

Snow: She’s really sweet! She has a nice coat, too. We go swimming a lot, and that helps with the heat! Mister Blue showed us some nice places we could go while waiting for the others to defeat the moon monster.

Snow: -Beams- I figure that since the special metal is good against fire, it must have great insulation! So maybe it’ll help protect against cold, too, and Felix could use that to make something really neat! Maybe some sort of awesome armored gloves with ridges in them for more tactile mobility, or cool boots with spikes and blades so you can ice skate or scale ice cliffs if you hafta! It’s not always fun to be in a situation like that, but it can be really useful to get out of it an’ travel an’ such if you do get into it. And I’m sure there are other uses!

Snow: I hafta think of a name for her… I haven’t thought of a good one yet! She’s not quite like a fox… I met a fox! He was funny, an’ really clever. An’ I might get a fox, too! But I also don’t want Jazz getting jealous if I call mine “Kitty”, so I’m still thinking of ideas! I’ll think of something, though! It has to be something that sounds just right.

[A pause.]

Snow: 💡

[ Ø ] - And once again, it took all of Ray’s willpower to not mentally bark at the sudden feeling of looming darkness over her, knowing exactly WHERE that came from. It’s like an alarm she can’t turn off. She gets it. Please stop, she has absolutely no intention of ever harming a child. Again.

[“So Dad’s making DCN-009 now to be with me in the arctic! An’ he’s almost done with the main part, too!”]

(Y…You’re kidding. In the ARCTIC? But that would mean…)

…that it would probably be another ice based construct. One that WASN’T little Snowcone, one that that Russian Doctor would no doubt put in all the bells and whistles regarding his family.

One that wielded ice, her only TRUE weakness besides Beck.

[One that held the WRATH of General Winter, no doubt.

THAT was not likely to be pleasant for ANYONE to deal with…]

codedhopes

Years of practiced deception and bluffing worked in her favor as she put up a small smile for the innocent DCN. “You really do seem excited…I suppose it must be, getting a new sibling that can go with you on all your adventures.” …That was probably the only real upside to this. “Don’t worry–I’m…”

…very good at keeping secrets.

“…I’ll keep it under wraps.”

Snow: It’ll be fun! Maybe when his field testing is done, we can look for the ice spikes, or the new snowier snow! They said the mountains would have snowier snow. But snow is already snowy, but they said there would be goats maybe! It would be neat to get one; I had one for a while, an’ it was nice!

Snow: I think Felix wants a goat. There are some interesting Chinese goats that have really soft fur, an’ he could use that to make luxury things.

Snow: I think he also wants a cow. Dairy is useful! The dimension walkers say dairy is always there for you. An’ you can use it to make ice cream!

[Ah, to be innocent again.

All useful information though, especially given Felix’s birthday had been a while back and no doubt he’d either forgotten again or else been too injured to be awake, or something.]

codedhopes

By now she was almost done with the pizza he brought to her.

“By the way…” Ray pointed a small claw at the Pokéball in his hand. She had been wondering about that thing for a while now. “…Is that a new friend?”

Snow: Nope! It’s the Egg! : D

[He popped the Pokéball open, and…]

[ Ø ] - No, yeah, she was expecting that. Leave it to Snowcone to come back pretty much unscathed from the depths of hell itself. She went over the file and the photos with genuine curiosity and awe, wondering if maybe she should make a little trek down there herself. Might as well grab this rare ore for herself and see if she can get someone to make something useful?

Yes, useful.

Ah, right–Felix told her about the trouble brewing there and how he needed to train the people of Lalivero. That was going to preoccupy him for a while. Mn…

Which meant he won’t be back for some time. Yet another twinge of loneliness struck her chest, but she ignored it. Felix had his own life and troubles. She shouldn’t whine about it. Owen was good company, sure…but Felix understood her on a level that most didn’t.

[“I guess Nine will have to wait until after we move an’ such…”]

Wait, what? He can’t be talking about Beck…right?

“…Nine?”

[Snow gave a big grin.]

Snow: Yeah, that’s the story!

[He scooched closer, looking left and right before leaning in, cupping a mitten’d hand to his face and whispering.]

Snow: My sister’s going to be at a different school an’ such, when they go back to having school in school again.

((Chorus: 💧💧💧))

[…One could almost feel the sense of LOOOOOM through Time™ itself, warning, warning—]

Snow: So I can’t stay with her anymore… someone else will do that. Probably the twins… they could use the socialization, really.

[But David didn’t seem bothered by it at all, if he even noticed.]

Snow: So since I can’t be in class with her anymore, that means I can go back to work again! But she didn’t want me to be alone an’ gone all the time.

[He sat back again, speaking with normal volume, if still a bit subdued. He was beaming with happiness, though.]

Snow: So Dad’s making DCN-009 now to be with me in the arctic! An’ he’s almost done with the main part, too!

Snow: I’m super excited! I haven’t been around when my brothers have first come Online, before! It’s going to be fun!

Snow: But it’s a super big surprise, see! :0 So you hafta keep it a secret for now! :O

[ Ø ] - Oh, great, there was more.

Well, at least she was well out of the way of whatever THAT mess was–BOTH of them. She had already known, from her previous adventures in time and space, that Shadow had hailed from the stars–so it was only just a matter of

TIME before it all came to bite them in the chassis.

Ah, but the topic quickly moved over to a lighter tone–it always did, this was Snow–and Ray soon found herself tilting her head in curiosity at the ingot he was holding in his hand. Yes, from her readings and the scent of it, it DID share many qualities with ceratanium. More of a…soot-y kind of smell, though. As if it were near brimstone?

“Able to withstand lava?” Her eyebrows go up in an expression of awe. “That IS quite a find…where did you get that?” …Especially for David.

Snow: I was exploring new biomes in the Nether! There’s a blue forest there that’s super pretty!

[He sent over a file with a picture of what he was referring to.]

[…FIGURES.]

Snow: The red one was pretty too, but the blue one is more peaceful! There’s only Endermen there, and they leave you alone as long as you don’t attack them or try to stare at their faces.

Snow: These were underground! You hafta find bits of the debris. I did that when I was going through the netherrack; it’s easier to travel underground as long as you have fire resistance to get through the lava! Up above, sometimes big white ghost squid spawn and spit at you. An’ I found something when digging that I’d never seen before! o: So I kept digging until I found more, and later did some analysis. It could be refined, so I did that. After some experimentation and research, I combined it with some other ore from the same place, an’ it made that bar!

codedhopes

And then she remembered that if he found this, then he was probably going to share this with his own family, and THEY would show the Mighty Numbers. Ugh. It took all of her will to not grimace at that thought. She was a fire-based bot…

Great. More things to worry about…

Snow: It’s really rare and you need a lot to make a bar, so I only have ten bars right now.

codedhopes

“…I’m sure you’ll find many uses for it.” She said, leaning back and digging into the pizza. “Felix is a good craftsman. Whatever you two think up, I’m sure it’ll be high quality. I heard he’s very busy, though, so…not sure if…mn.”

Snow: I heard! :0 He’s training Lalivero to protect themselves so they don’t get invaded.

[He frowned somewhat.]

Snow: …

[He shook his head.]

Snow: I hope he’s successful. It’s no fun having to do wrong things because you’re scared of mean people hurting you for not wanting to do wrong things and not wanting to be their tool with them taking everything away an’ being mean about it as well….

Snow: He IS a blacksmith as his, um… “day job”, I think it’s called? So I think he’ll still make something! Maybe like… something for your nails, or rings with spikes in them, or something else neat!

codedhopes

Ray trails off. There was…still a lot of things she had to sit down and…admit to the Adept, but aside from all the damn nonsense he was dealing with, he was also…finally putting his life together and moving forward. To put a damper on that when things were looking up for him for ONCE would be…cruel.

((Chorus: -It’ll go over better if you tell him this sooner, the devil snake knows too much and could make things worse for you as well- -But “you do you”, as they say-))

codedhopes

“…We’ll just have to wait and see when he returns, I think. Until then, you should hold onto it.”

Snow: I hope he comes back… it’s been really scary lately at home, too. It would be nice to be somewhere that felt safe again. I guess Nine will have to wait until after we move an’ such…

[ Ø ] - Ah. Ah.

So this is what Owen meant. Suddenly, it made a LOT of sense as to why she was sidelined for SO long. And apparently, so was Snow in some manner…but even in the midst of all this alien invasion and evils being vanquished, that was the least surprising thing to her.

Of COURSE Enigma would prioritize his family first, and leave everyone to more or less fend it off themselves.

Lovely.

((Chorus: -Technically, that was our father’s idea, not Enigma’s-))

codedhopes

“…Mn. Well, I am glad you are safe, David. I’m not too surprised that Felix managed to get himself into the jaws of trouble…again…” Goodness, that man really can survive anything. And it WAS saying something coming from her, from doing THAT for so long. “I assume that’s all said and done with, then…? No more space alien nonsense to worry about?”

Snow: …

Snow: I… I don’t know… [?]

Snow: There was something really weird that happened, and we don’t know what it was. Something about blue fire… a big stone that turned into…

Snow: …blue fire, or something…

Snow: I know the… space overlords are gone, but I just don’t think I can be sure it’s over until we know what the other thing was that fell down, too, an’ what it was doing with the other space debris if it wasn’t working with them.

Snow: Like…

Snow: I don’t know. I think Shadow’s seen something like it before?

Snow: I think WE’LL be okay, but…

Snow: I don’t think it’s over for Shadow just yet, an’ I’m not sure it’ll go too well if the blue fire comes back.

((Yeah, nah, abject MORTAL TERROR is more like it

rust in pings, space ninja

you AND your sensei both))

codedhopes

“…Speaking of Felix, though, what was it you said that you wanted his help with?”

[At this, Snow’s demeanor shifted back to its usual cheerful self.]

Snow: Oh boy oh boy! It’s super great! I found something that’s ALMOST like ceratanium! It’s super strong and durable and FIREPROOF! It floats in lava, even!

[He pulled a bar out of his coat pocket and held it out to her for her to observe.]