Pastel and Greyscale

The Summit

Hate stepped off the gunship as it landed on the wide pad of the Ziggurat. A skeletal Hater stood next to her, and she thrust her rifle into his arms as she passed. He wordlessly accepted the weapon and saluted. The gunship was black at the bottom and faded to a deep blue toward the rotors. Hate liked to imagine it was the colors you'd see in the ocean if you were about to sink into the depths.

The rotors hadn't stopped, and as soon as Hate was firmly on the ziggurat the chopper lifted back into the night and roared off into the darkness. Back to the Frontier.

Hate knocked the dust off her fatigues and turned to find the door, but on the horizon, she spotted another aircraft, a much larger one. It was propelled by four massive rotors, and there was a complement of three smaller aircraft guarding it. Hate watched it come up to the edge of the landing pad. It was too big to land anywhere, but it had a wide hangar door that lowered like a drawbridge, offering Hate a look inside. Two ranks of soldiers stood saluting, and between them marched Sloth. Her dress uniform was impeccable, and Hate could see her green eyes darting back and forth between the ranks, inspecting each soldier where he stood.

She walked down the gangplank that a tank could have driven across and stood next to Hate. Neither of them said anything as the giant aircraft raised its gangplank, ascended into the sky, and chugged back the way it came.

"Ridiculous," Hate muttered.

"It's important to show some decorum for these things," Sloth said, "it's rare that every Queen is invited to a summit."

She looked Hate up and down.

"You look like you spent the night sleeping in the dirt."

"I did," Hate said, "I've been out in the darkness, beyond the Frontier, dealing with consequences for the last few weeks."

"Consequences?" Sloth asked sharply, "did something happen that I didn't hear about?"

"I don't think so," said Hate, "we were out in the dark and came across them. They weren't expecting us, but they've been a persistent bunch."

Sloth sighed.

"I wish you wouldn't use that term so liberally," she said, "the term 'consequence' implies fault. Not every monster you encounter out there is a consequence."

"Everything that find's itself on the wrong end of my gun is a consequence as far as I'm concerned," Hate said, "if not a consequence of our actions, than a consequence of our ignorance."

"Someday we'll teach you some refinement..." Sloth muttered. Then she gestured to the large double doors across the landing pad.

"Shall we?"

"Sure."

Hate glanced at Sloth as they descended the stone steps that lead deeper into the heart of the Ziggurat. she didn't mind Sloth's company most of the time, which was saying something, in fact she found Sloth to be the most agreeable fo the other Queens. She commanded the largest army by far, and even with that she was content to stay out of Hate's way. The stick up her ass must have been perfectly straight though, because the woman never showed a hint of slouch. It was awkward for her though, because she never knew what to say to the Sloth. Maybe the best policy was just not to say anything, and trust that the other woman valued their alliance.

The meeting hall was a large kiva with tiers cut into the circular walls. Everyonje else was already there. Including Lust. Hate scowled as her eyes fell on the yellow-clad Queen, chatting animatedly to Hope. Hope's big red eyes had fixated on Hate the minute she stepped into the room. Though she was trying her best to hide her fear, Hate could feel it emanating from Hope like warm sunlight. She smiled, and felt like maybe this summit wouldn't be as torturous as she had feared.