Acanous_Quietus

(Just wait for it, he's not showing it thanks to CoD making him look like an amorphous blob of dark unless you're REALLY close, but he is hurting. He's gearing up for a Dark Regen right now.)

With his touch of Fear have little affect, Acanous caught the force bolt front on, his acrobatic training allowing him to roll vertically with the blow in midair, channeling some of that force back in a negative-energy powered kick to the behind.
"No frontal assaults? lemme try one from the rear!"

(Ac has used the bolt to push him into a flip underneath the Arbiter. The kick would be the equivilent to Dark Melee's Smite, and yes, he took damage from the bolt, but again used the one attack to evade the other. He's currently falling back to the ground, but directing it to land within the building instead oftaking a 5 story drop)

"Right, then... I see you've got it handled..."

Noting that the other heroes would be fine on the offensive, Acanous jumped over to Energon X's semi-prone body.
I'm not needed at the front, so I'll make myself usefull at the rear..
Standing over the Blaster, Acanous began systematically pummelling the Rularuu who were encroaching on the fallen hero.
Tossing a brief one-two combo into a brute's gut, AC latched on to a purple shoulder and hucked it over the new-formed ledge.
"So, anyone else want some?"

The plasma bolts connected with the dark energy surrounding Acanous, the Negative energy diffusing the blast substantially, although the heat was still painfull. Acanous grimaced, instant tan lines appearing on any part of exposed skin under his hood.

The bright side of taking the plasma bolts(Pun intended) was that the force bolt shot harmlessly by.

[ QUOTE ]
"Sorry buddy. Private function. You should've RSVP'd."

[/ QUOTE ]

"Diddn't know I needed an invite, next time I'll bring beer. For now, you'll have to settle for beats"

Acanous hurdled upward, toward Arbiter Jake, looking like he would deliver a mean uppercut. Instead, he thrust his hand, palm upward, and released a focused ray of Negative Energy, the kind that would disrupt thought patterns and bring out a primordial fear in anyone affected.
At the very least, it would make concentration more difficult, making more of those lethal bolts less accurate.

That's awesome

Acanous breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he had filled his quota of recon for the day. Everything else was now at his own discretion.

Plus with that minidisk gone, he diddn't have to worry about possible "Accidental" spying.
At least not from his end.
Cracking his knuckles in anticipation, Acanous took one last survey of the battlefield before jumping in.

With the one arbiter outside, and the raiders capable of flying, odds are against me there. The arachnos troops are all level and in the building, meaning I've got a level fight on my hands. Only problem will be crossfire. Besides, if the Arbiter notices me, I might be able to find out just how much Arachnos knows about my fighting style.

Leaping through the broken window, Acanous unleashed the energies that made up his dark armour, causing damage to anything that got near him- as well as invoking a primordial fear in people affected.
He turned to the Arachnos Webmaster, and began pummeling him in a flurry of negative-energy charged blows, the expenditure of energy snapping him into full visability.

"Hi! how's it goin?" He shouted out the window, delivering a swift, energy-charged uppercut to the Webmaster.
"I was in the area and I heard about this little bash"
The Webmaster, his mind and body assaulted by negative energy, struck wildly, missing Acanous by a full yard, and stumbling as Ac connected with a quick punch to the back of his helmet.
"Thought I'd drop in for the party, maybe score some free munchies"

The Arachnos started to regroup from the surprise attack on thier commander, turning around to blast at the Scrapper. The energy bolts seemed to diffuse in the roiling cloud of nega-energy, dealing far less real damage than they should have.
Acanous focused, and drew energy from the arachnos combatants, refracting it within his cloaks untill it spilled out in a blazing white light, amplifying the energies already pouring out into the troop, and dealing more damage as Acanous focused it into the Webmaster, dropping im with another series of blows.

Acanous watched the battle between Arachnos and the Sky Raiders with intrest, noting the Arbiter's teleportation ability and the Jump Bot's unfathomable speed.
Yeah, they're REALLY going to owe me for this...
Taking in enemy tactics and combat routines, at least those his eyes could track, Acanous was suitably impressed.
As for those he COULDN'T catch, he was confident that Angus would have them documented, with appropriate countermeasures, and hardcoded into his cybernetic brain by the weekend. With a printed version for the field manual.

Personally, Ac would propably go over their routine with a bigscreen and some popcorn.

Watching the Arbiter, Acanous spotted some of his own favorite teleportation tactics being used, and absentmindedly wondered if Arachnos had intelligence on him.

Then things started to get wierd. From his perch on the windowsill, Acanous felt the affects of a reality ripple, something he had rather unique experience with in the past.
This one, however, seemed to be eminating from a young child, who was also apperently centrivical to the battle.

He stopped watching the raiders, and started focusing on the kid.
The youngster was joined by a shifting mass of energy, propably an elemental of some sort. Acanous mentally filed the "Psionic-Also summons things" in case he had to deal with it later.

The battle raged on, and missiles and bullets were sent hither and yon. Notably, the sky raiders' tactics began to change. It was rather subtle, you propably wouldn't notice if you weren't sitting there studying enimy tactics. Then the elemental vanished, reappearing not 5 feet from Acanous' window-perch.

He gripped the hilt of the Gatesaber, certain that he had been detected, but the elemental diddn't attack. Instead, it looked as though it's attentions were focused elsewhere, and Acanous thanked all things good and holy for the Gate keeping him wrapped in negaspace(Obsidean Shield) as he felt a psychic probe bombard him, and propably everything else in a 2 block radius.

Going through the mind-blanking exercise he had learned in the Rikti War kept his cover from being blown, although he had an urge to invest in sweat bands for such situations in the future.

The elemental dissappeared, but not in such a way that Acanous was familiar with- no form of teleportation or phase inverting. He shrugged. if he's gone, good. if not, I can't do anything about it... might as well get back to work.
His attention turned back to the child, who was hastilly being carried away by a Fortunata. Blast doors sealed thier getaway, and Acanous cursed himself for losing such a valuable opportunity to glean more intel.

The battle seemed to be favoring the Sky raiders, although it was now taking place uncomfortably close. More Arachnos troops came out of nowhere to even the odds.

Double-tapping a button on the inside of his hood, Acanous teleported the minidisk that had been recording the battle to a secure satellite, which would beam the data back to a relay somewhere in the Pacific ocean. From there it would make it's way through a series of connections back to the ULTRA outpost.

Sometimes paranoia had it's advantages.


((Note, I'm not controlling anybody's charactors, this was a recap from AC's point of view. He's going to get in on the action soon enough, and Arachnos would've been able to detect him teleporting that disc, although with all the porter activity it might be overlooked.))

"Ohsnap"
Acanous' eyes widened at the sudden display of explosive power before he instinctively turned his head to protect his vision.
Blinking the stars out, he looked upward at what remained of Tyrant's rock.

[censored], the Blaster just aggroed I dunno HOW many Rularuu, and we still don't have fudge-all for intel

Acanous hurdled toward Tyrant's rock, using the newly-formed crevasse to gain extra purchase on the floating once-prison.
Bounding over the ledge into a group of staggered Rularuu, he quickly began beating his way toward the center of the rock.

"Guys, we need a plan, there's too friggin many for a frontal assault" He spoke into his commlink, dodging a Brute's balled, purple fist.
"At the very least, lemme know if you spot Ruladek, remember, I called dibs"

Acanous stared at the blaster, waiting for his pack to cool down, trying to shake the sudden urge to scream 'There is no R in my name!!!'

force of habit he consolled himself, thinking back on the systemic anomoly that had every hero and villain he'd ever encountered, on any plane, adding an R to his name ever since that first, botched gate attempt he had made when he was 18.

The Jaeger though, that guy seriously creeped him out. Was that a Bug in his teeth? and man those teeth were pointy.
I'd hate to be around when that guy gets hungry

Energon, though, and Bladewing, he'd heard of before. While he diddn't know that X could cloak, (Filing that tidbit away for later) he had heard of some of the blaster's exploits, most notably 'sploding a dimension.
That sort of thing just doesn't slip by a planeswalker, especially one trained by paranoid xenophobes.

Now, Bang on the other hand, that guy was just scary. Even with Acanous' extrasences, he couldn't tell what the heck was going on there.
Although the name DID have the rave mix for "New Cillic BANG" running through his head.

A chirping sound alerted Acanous to his jetpack being ready for use again. Activating it, he made the second jump towards Ruladek's ex-prison on Tyrant's Rock.


((lol charactor development exposee!))

Acanous opened his eyes, gathering his bearings. Steel Canyon had changed much over the years, and with all his planehopping, it was hard to believe he was in the same dimension.
Paranoia had him check the minicomputer consealed under a plate on his gauntlet. Not because he REALLY believed there had been an accident with the teleportation, but just because things like that CAN happen.

interesting, there's been recent teleportation nearby...and not mine

His ears perked as he heard a sudden explosion, and he looked up to see something floating in the air near the Arachnos base, laying down cannonfire into a fourth-story window.
well I DID want to get some action, and Angus DOES want tactical data... still, assaulting a fortified position with unknown backup seems risky.

Just then, the most wretched, horrible sounding scream reached him, coming from SOMEWHERE down the street behind him, like three death wails bound together by the barbed chains of hell.

Then again, it certainly seems better than the alternative.

Activating his rocketboots with a hand motion intentionally designed to look like an arcane activation, Acanous leapt towards the Arachnos base, gathering the negative energies needed to cloak him from the normal means of detection.

At the least, I can get a better look before I decide weather or not it's worth bleeding for

at the height of his first jump, he uttered a single word, cracking a smile as he did so.
"Demorecord"
Looking streight down, he figured this was the best way to get Von Auger back for that mars thing.

((*Comment*))

Acanous was bent over a desk, reassembling the latest salvage he had pulled out of a Freak Tank.

The U.L.T.R.A. outpost was pretty much the only place he could go in this reality where he was sure he wouldn't be disturbed. He mentally patted himself on the back for his foresight.

Back in 2004, when he contated the dimension he liked to term "Cold War Earth" and offered them the chance to study new technologies from this reality in exchange for support and supplies, it haddn't gone over well with certain other groups.

Good thing Acanous wasn't origionally FROM this dimension, or he was pretty sure Malta or Longbow would have gone after his family to convince him to stop.

Setting up the TARDIS for the base in Warburg was his idea, too. That one haddn't sat well with U.L.T.R.A. command, but the freedom from most laws, as well as easy access to the latest cyphers had swung the vote in his favour.

Now Warburg was practially the only place that HADDN'T gone to hell.

He started as someone walked up behind him, and turned with saber drawn only to find a rather normal looking young man in a T-shirt and Jeans.

"Oh, hey Angus. What'cha got for me?"

The infiltration robot that served as an interdimensional liason cocked his head, trying to get a better view of the new salvage Acanous was tinkering with.
"Well, command wants a report on the current state of affairs in Paragon City. The tech from this place isn't the only thing they're interested in. The similarity between this world and mine makes for a great 'end of the world' simulation, and they want you to gather all the data you can."

"Great." Acanous' dissappointment was palable. "Anything to avoid sending me supplies, eh?"

The Law of Conservation of Reality stated firmly that anything moved into one dimension must be counterbalanced by something of equal value moving back. Energy for Energy, matter for matter.
It actually helped with the trade system Acanous had cooked up with U.L.T.R.A. command, as anything they wanted from Paragon Earth had to be counterbalanced by an equal ammount of matter. Usually the Crey tech, Circle tomes, and assorted Rikti bits were swapped for spare parts, weapons, food, and fuel. Acanous also had a large collection of foam beans.

U.L.T.R.A. had always been a little on the cheap side, but recently they had been getting around the equal mass rule by having Doctor Von Auger study whatever Acanous brought in, then sending a report back. Acanous was lucky to swap for a cookie.

"Fine. I've been hearing things about a resistance movement in Steel Canyon. I'll see if I can check it out. But I want something for my efforts, even if I have to stick my report on the back of a boulder."

"I'll talk to the fat man" Angus said, nodding as he walked out "But we're almost done here. This dimension has gone to the wolves, and the growing sentiment back home is that we should pull out and leave no evidence of whence we came to be traced back."

Great Acanous thought, looks like I might end up on my own again

He put down the Freakshow bits, jotted a note to himself about where he had left off, then sealed the worktable with an energy barrier.

Walking into the Teleporter bay, he donned his cape and checked his supplies.
can't be too careful, never know when I won't be able to port back...

Satisfied, he walked up to one of the glowing, Gazeebo-like teleporters he had built personally over 20 years ago. Steel Canyon was one of the 4 city areas that he had actually bothered to chart for a perminant beacon back in '05, as it was right next to Siren's Call.

only thing is, do I wanna go out there as a Hero, or a villain?...ah, screw it, I'm in a fighting mood.

palming his Hero ID, he keyed the rune, and vanished in a black-on-black sphere, appearing near a burning building in Steel Canyon.

Yup, I'm gonna even buy a rename for one char who was from the future to show the impact.

"Well normally I'd just teleport" Acanous added, as he stopped on a floating rock, letting his jet cool down
"But I wanna see what I'm getting into beforehand, and I wanna make sure y'all can keep up"

Entropy, you rock, adding the Nukes and shivs like that.

Man, that would SO happen 'coz of me.

The more you know.

"So, we're off to see the wizard. Tyrant's rock is always a pain to get to. I assume you all brought jetpacks?"

*Acanous thumbed on his ULTRA issue jump pack, and leaped upward, starting to cover the vast distance toward Tyrant's rock*

(Done this in game. Takes 3 bloody jump-jet jumps to get there from the entrance.)

Because, you know, a hero named after the parent company and influenced only by writers who'se paycheques are signed by said company wouldn't REALLY stay dead.

((FOOOOOGLIIIIOOOOO!!!!!!!!))

MeLikey.

*Acanous said nothing, simply taking after Bladewing, making short "Hops" to the exit*

Yarr. that being replaced by a nemesis robot is actually in Evin's backstory.

Of course, when it happened to me it was on Beta and I was one of the first >.>

moar!

"Right.

So, chaps, Ruladek than?"
*Acanous re-pockets his remote*

Oo! Oo! she's like Roll from Megaman only with a bit of T-1000 stuck in there