DeviousMe

Acid sighed. This wasn't going anywhere. Then again, maybe a here wasn't the best place to talk strategy anyway.

"Alright guys, leave the poor man alone, otherwise you'll just get more and more confused." he chuckled, stepping towards the door, "C'mon, let's get to the bridge, maybe I can make some sense of all this there. Not to mention grab a bite to eat. Sound good...?"

((Isn't Quick-Strike Leo's character? *boggle*))

"That can be agreed on." Acid took the offered hand, "Though you may want to be careful with the salavge bit. Things are damn often booby-trapped."

Listening to Experiment's monologue, he turned to Moonscribe again, "Didn't I ask you not to drive anyone nuts right now? No...wait...I didn't. I asked that nobody be driven nuts. Poor choice of words on my part..."

"Heh, copycat." Acid grinned as he stepped towards Moonscribe, giving him a quick and sporadic hug for no reason at all, "Good to see ya. Oh, and you're not doing the mind-overshadowy-unwillful-takeover-thing, right? 'Cause you know I'm severely against that."

Turning to the others again, he was lamost embarassed, "Oh, where are my manners today? Guys, this is Moonscribe. He likes to be ambiguous, so don't let him drive you nuts over simple things."

With a glance back to the mathematician, he added, "And I'm sure you already know who's all here. Or is that of no importance again, hehe...?"

Vern was the first to notice the ripple as it bounced off the dampening field of the AGS III much like the ping of a sub. The construct had multiple purposes, one of them being protection from things that attempted to alter its composition without permission.

The ripple itself was strange, as if someone had put together a bunch of pre-packaged components, much like a teletyper spitting out numbers. So it couldn't be one of Vern's people...

Even as he puzzled, SENECA put two and two together. There was only one person of whom she knew who manipulated the Illusion in this way: Djehuty.

The only question was, could he be manipulated by the might of magic?

Theoretically, that was a no - at least, so said the odds.

"Hey, Ace." she piped up less than half a second after Vern had noticed the initial ripple, "I know who the Overhead is. I also know Old D's alive and kickin'. Here."

Without even waiting for his response, she transmitted the message directly into his watch, bringing it up on a hologram. It didn't take long to read.

Acid smirked.

"He's got a point." he replied to SENECA, "So don't tell me where this came from."

"Right."

The only question now was how to reply to this? Ah, but of course...

Acid stepped to a console, brought up a holographic keyboard, and began typing. Since Moonscribe no doubt could sense or measure the variations in the dampening field, he should be able to make out a pattern. So Acid redirected power to different sections to do the simplest thing in the world: make a pattern in morse code.

- . - -
.
. . .

Y
E
S

This done, he deactivated the field in the drop bay. Moonscribe should be able to discern this and teleport right inside if he wanted to.

Well, so Acid hoped, anyway. All in all, the guy didn't have too much common sense...

Post deleted by DeviousMe

Seeing how this exit had only led to the sewer exits of Perez, Hotaka took the time to get his bearings. Something felt...odd. It practically pervaded the air, but it was uncertain, unsteady.

Not only that, but the heroes hadn't tried to get at either him or the Jounin. Normally, he expected them to have tried to arrest them by now.

Lurking beside the sewer exit, he knew he had to make a decision...but which path to take...?

--------------------

"The first line's been breached! Fall back! Fall back!"

Another M30 detonated.

Then the flash of a teleport as the C4 went off, blasting a troop of Rikti to pieces.

Within moments, the Gunslinger appeared some distance away, leaping behind a tight wall of sandbags.

"What're we at?" he asked Lt. Volkov, peering around the corner of the wall to where the Rikti had overrolled the first line.

"Between a rock and a hard place." the military man sneered, reloading his rifle, "Pete, we can't hold out like this. Hammond isn't gonna get here in time."

"I know." Gunslinger Pete returned, watching the troops of sthe secod line bunker down. They had a few tanks, but those weren't exactly a match for an enemy like the Rikti, "I sent out a call to the mainland. Get some heroes in here. But they ain't here yet and I can't get through no more. Damn Rikti suckers must've figured out how to jam our comms. Even my cell's dead."

"Yeah. My radio's going bad too. If it goes on at this rate, soon all wireless communcation in Paragon'll be useless."

"Tarnation...they really planned it out this time, huh?" Pete hefted up the heavy assault rifle, loading another ammo belt. He had plenty of DU slugs left and he was gonna be damned if he didn't take at least a few of 'em down!

A massive explosion rocked the ground. Pieces of shrapnel sailed over the sandbags.

Pete smiled. Well, DU slugs and a few suprises in the ground.

"I just hope your signal got through." Volkov slammed the clip into his gun, "I figure we got about fifteen minutes before they figure out how to cross that mine field."

Another explosion echoed as a droned had tried to fly across. Then another as they tried teleporting.

"Make that ten." Pete grumbled.

For a moment, he sank into throught. What would they do if Dr. West hadn't received the signal? He hadn't heard anything back butstatic, and...

No, that was quitter talk! Even if the Repliforce wasn't coming, they'd show those Rikti what fer, come hell or high water...!

Yes.

"Well, if yall want money, I'm afraid I can't help ya." Acid shuriged with an indifferent expression, "Don't have any anymore...at least none that'd be accepted on Terra."

Acid was perfectly fine with Tam going to sleep. It didn't look like she knew much about what was going on down there anyway.

"And yeah, I gotta say you'd be wasting a chance - though I can't believe I'm agreeing with Phillis, hehe. But if you want to leave, we'll be sure to drop ya off when we start the next op."

Acid seemed thoughtful for a moment, "Though I still don't know where. So does anyone here know who the Overhead is and where? I couldn't find it anywhere, so I'm going to have to assume it's either such common knowledge it isn't stored or it's a highly guarded secret."

[ QUOTE ]
"Um..." she finally piped down once the main conflict was over and awkward silence reigned.

"D..Does anybody know how we know each other? I mean...Besides...uh... Dr. Phillis, was it? I'm sorry, I'm just picking up names - but the Acid person and the Stone seem to know the most. I'm sorry to be a burden, and I know I-i'm just an idiot, but...if someone would explain it to me...I promise I'll be quiet from now on."

[/ QUOTE ]
Acid just smiled gently at her, "Don't worry, Ess, you're not. And as soon as we know where to look for the Overhead, I'll have time to explain it to ya..."

((Is there a thread here where both of your characters won't start something with one another? ))

[ QUOTE ]
Rifling through his back pocket, Damien grabbed a handful of ID holders. Throwing them on the ground in front of Acid. "Anyone you know been marked by the Cross?"

[/ QUOTE ]
"Not that I recognize." Acid shrugged coldly. It ticked him off when others just saw lives as something to be played with, but right now that wasn't the point. Objective first. Always objective first.

Acid chose to ignore Phillis' comment. He could find out what SENECA was another time. At least she'd calmed down now, probably brooding and grumbling somewhere around here...or light years away. With her, you never knew.

It was also quite fortunate that Damien had moved to intercept the punch instead of contiinuing to talk to vern like that. Wow, humans really were damn stupid when it came to it. But they had information, and that was important right now.

"Immediate plans, hmm." Acid mumbled, "Well, as you can see I've got a bot division ready to field. But first I'll need some info. Heck, I don't even know who or where the Overhead is. That'd be something to start with."

As he said this, he spread his arms in a quick gesture to point out the mechanoid racks. If someone asked who had built them, or some question related to this manner, they'd be in for quite a surprise...

The silence didn't last long. With loud clacks, the latches on the bottom row of crates along either wall snapped open. Though the crates didn't unfold this time, it became more than apparent that something akin to an entire combat division was stored in the narrow space of the drop bay.

"Argung with a machine?!" the protector bot gasped, or at least it sounded a lot like it, "Why you sniveling, narrow-minded, pea-brained human! I am...!"

"Ahem!" Acid finally caught himself, "Madam! Do show your good manners. Yes, Midas is very human, and he's had a rough day. I don't think he can digest the concept of you just yet. Maybe I've thrown enough at his head for today."

"Mnongmnonggrummlgrummlblabla..." the bot buttered as it set Midas down in front of Midas and turned about, slouching back to the crate it had come from.

"And as for you two," Acid turned to Darean and Damien, "you asked twice and I already answered. If I wasn;t clear, let me reword myself: this Overhead ruling the so-called World Empire - I seek to let him go, to downsize his deparment, to make him part of an outplacement. To go in a different direction, to not pick up his option, take your pick, I've got more."

"Now..." he grinned fiendishly, "even though Phillis' ranting tells me quite a few things, I'm not entirely sure if I can trust you guys. After all, you might be completely alternate versions of the selves he knows and only be acting. So then...you...roam around in back alleys...mmhmm...archery and...fire, then...cash..."

Taking a step forward, he confronted the two, "Let me guess: hitmen for hire, live in the proverbial underground, preferred method of doing the deed is burning people to a crisp. Oh, and tell me if I'm getting warmer here..."

Heh...I don't know what to say...except that I feel all waltzy now. But ya can definetely play the piano a whole lot better than me.

Then again, I've been told I have all the musical talent of a tumbling spacerock.

Acid didn't say a word, though his lips quivered surpiciously. He bit his tongue - it was all he could do to not burst out laughing right then and there, both at what had already happened and what was about to.

"COMPUTER???!!!" suddenly thundered across the bay, practically shaking the air. There were few things SENECA hated more than being called a computer!

The crate the gem had slid against started making a ruckus as it split apart, folding out onto the floor to free the way for a protector bot. The mechanoid picked up the gem-Midas qithout a econd thought and headed over to the beleagured scientist, viciously shaking one Midas at the other in a severely reprimanding manner.

"How dare you call me a computer?!" the bot fumed with the woman's voice. If anyone had ever seen a robot boil over, this was it, "Why I oughta...!"

And then Acid lost it, not able to hold it in any longer. Leaning against another crate, clutching his side, he laughed until tears came to his eyes. It was even funnier because the bot didn't even reach Phillis' full height.

"Stop...hahaha...please...no more...!"

"Well ain't that just plain rude." Acid snorted at Hallucinogen as he approached the group, thinking he meant Morsko, walking beside Acid, as he'd held the second remaining egg.

But he quickly transitioned to a more relevant subject, "So, what do ya do for fun around here?"

Since nobody else seemed to have brought a car, he highly doubted they could street race - and Ceres was just plain old out of the question...

"There, there." Acid patted Morsko on the back, the very defeated-looking black creature lying flat on the ground, "Ya did well. Though I gotta admit that was pretty funny when he just picked ya up like that. Being a rock was just a little too good of an idea there, huh?"

As Acid helped his friend up, he took a deep breath of the ocean breeze, trying to decide what he wanted to do now. Normally, it'd be right back to plotting. They never really had anything like vacation time.

So what did you do on a vacation in the first place? Blow stuff to kingdom come...?

((Oops, I forgot we had new people here. I didn't describe Vern, did I? ))

Though Vern may have had a fleeting resemblance to the brothers, he wasn't huge at all, only about the size of a large dog, perhaps a Great Dane. And unlike both Big M and his twin, he really was a quadruped, though the clawed feet looked nimble enough to at least perform a few crude tasks.

With a pair of large leathery wings sprouting from his back, the best likeness of Vern would have been some manner of pocket-dragon, though without any horns and a tough, dark-green hide instead of layered scales. Indeed, his face looked a while lot like Acid's, and it was rumored that long ago his species had been related to the Khelari.

The dull-gray collar around Vern's neck blended well into the dark shade of green of his hide, though the azure-blue 'jewel' at its center contrasted sharply.

And though Vern wasn't large, he wasn't one to be taken lightly by any means. Keegan ended up on his rear, alright, but he'd never gotten to Vern in the first place - it was almost as if he'd run into something much larger, something invisible, hovering around the reptile.

"Ah, I see you've met Vern then." Acid couldn't help but grin at the mage's misfortune for a moment, but the smile quickly vanished as he saw Essex's reaction. He bent down to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Ess, you're gonna be alright now. C'mon, you can't seriously tell me you don't remember Vern...?"

!

Morsko had thought himself very clever just now...until Kaloaten decided to turn him over!

Too susprised by this sudden action to do anything about it, the 'rock' shifted textures even before it hit the ground again, which greeted Morsko's jaw happily by ramming into it.

A slight crack echoed, only to be overpowered by a gurgle as Morsko farked up the now twice-done-in egg...

[ QUOTE ]
"Oh yes, how could we all have followed your instructions so terribly when you had set them out for us so plainly and clearly?" Midas asked sarcastically. "God knows I was expecting you to teleport us onto a spaceship!"

[/ QUOTE ]
Now how the heck had he known that? There weren;t any windows in the drop bay...well, maybe the oddly stacked crates and omnipresent humming of the walls gave it away.

[ QUOTE ]
Looks like they kidnapped more then just us, Brother." Darean stated.

[/ QUOTE ]
"Yeah, sure, you've been abducted by aliens." Acid mumbled nonchalantly, "Oh boy, this sure turned into one giant mess."

"I didn't kidnap anybody." the woman's voice protested, "You just happened to get caught in the fiktive transpitter's area of effect. I didn't have time to separate out your signatures."

"Well, guess that leaves only one thing to do with 'em." Acid sighed, his eyes narrowing as he stapped towards the brothers, "I'm planning to mangle the Overhead. Care to join in?"

As the others discussed, a door at te far side of the drop bay hissed open and a four-legged creature by the name of Vern walked in...

With a loud creak, Waziri slammed the door shut as the last of their band existed. He'd almost been bowled over by the fire tanker, cursing Guapo under his breath for being so disrespectful. Just because he was a lot smaller than the luchadore didn't mean he was liable to be stepped on.

Wait...?

He didn't get time to finish that thought as Hotaka grabbed him and started slinking away. The three had no idea of the invasion going on above, and with a nunch of heroes around ready to go back to arresting villains, as they believed, it was probably better for them to amscray before the Halon wore off completely...

[ QUOTE ]
"Okay people... All I have to say to that is... WHY THE HELL DO I KEEP TELEPORTING?!"

[/ QUOTE ]
"Because you don't bother to listen." Acid sighed, seeming completely neutral on the subject, "I ask everyone to get up into the warehouse and what do yall do? Half of ya jump at the guys coming in while the other half decides that ticking off the troops that surrounded the whole damn building is a good thing. Oh, and let's not forget about the so excellently unmentioned self-destruct system."

[ QUOTE ]
"Oh great, We've been kidnapped." Damien said.

"And by some one who's rude." Darean added.

[/ QUOTE ]
"Do forgive me." Acid mumbled back at them, "It hasn't been the best of days. And since I've got the feeling Ess' question is gonna be your next one...SENECA, what kind of pathline we got right now?"

"Oh, we're about at Bronze Way and 4th Street." a woman's voice replied over an unsen speaker system, "Give or take about fifty meters..."

((Location of Midas, Essex, Damien, Darea, John, Tam, Keegan, and Acid is about 42,000 km over Paragon right now.))

[ QUOTE ]
Combat Toy, senses still a bit addled from running into the tree but still reacting to Toy's commands, picked up the tree in its hands and wielded it like a massive broom, sweeping the tree in front of it. Of course, in front of it happened to be Acid, but that was probably the point.

[/ QUOTE ]
Acid just chuckled, starting to disband his molecular structure to let the tree pass through him harmlessly - and then Combat Toy let go of the tree, flinging it aside without so much as a care.

[ QUOTE ]
Kaloaten picked his face out of the beach, his cowl covered in sand and eggshell. He turned around to look at Morsko returning in the general direction of the group. "Mr. Acid! Let's box him in and take the egg!" And with that he was up, skittering around to be in Morsko's eventual path.

[/ QUOTE ]
Kaloaten being on a collision course with morsko didn't really bother Acid - heck, he wanted to get Morsko's egg too - but the missiles that were right upon the Kosunn certainly did!

Just let him get smacked. It's not like he'll die from it. Or will he? No, this is just a game. But thats Toy's stuff, he's not...no, it's just a game...AAAARG!!!

Acid really, really, really hated when his conscience got the better of him! Phasing back into sync with what people here considered reality, he pulled a blue-shimmering pistol and took aim at Combat Toy, firing three shots.

At the same time, he reached across to Kaloten again, snatching him out of the path of the missiles via teleport.

Thebluish energy blasts impacted Combat Toy on its feet and head, but seemed to have no effect other than sticking to the mentioned parts and spiraling around them - until Earth's magnetic field suddenly fell in love with the robot's metal and pulled it down with the force of a steam hammer, smacking Ct face-first into the sand, pinning its head and feet firmly to the ground. Even a powerful machine like the modified assault bot wouldn't be able to escape this for a little while.

However, that wasn't the end of it. As an unintended consequence, the vacuum that collapsed as Kaloaten vanished was close enough to the missiles to turn them into a new direction again...

...right at Toy Dispenser!

--------------------

Moonscrbe's scan would most likely yield some very puzzling results. With his way of looking at the code of the universe, he would see that Morsko's code seemed to not be entirely there. There were pieces missing, though very few of them, and there wasn't even a hint of where they might have gone.

Morsko, however, didn't really care about the scan seeing as how a tree and a few missiles were headed his way. Not bothering to dodge them separately, he leaped onto the incoming aerial battering ram, using it to jump off again, and let the missiles turn the offending tree into toothpicks.

Just as he leaped off the trunk, the signal reached the egg. His first thought was to spit it out, but it was already too late, so he didn't. Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised when it didn't leave a foul-tasing mess, going on about his business as he hopped into th line of tall grass that lay at the other edge of the beach and disappeared behind a large rock.

Anyone who followed him would find another rock right behind that one, though they could have sworn there hadn't been one there before...

Alright, I'm done, That whole idea went down the drain right there.

Stretching out his right arm, Acid projected a barrier of energy across the room's span, covering Tam, himself, and anyone else still in it.

Even as the barrier still expanded, he was already talking to his watch again, "I'll need a ride."

With the dampening field the soldiers had brought, he couldn't naturally teleport. But the fiktive transmitter was under no such limiation.

"Alright, gimme a sec." came the reply, a woman's voice, "Gotta find...nevermind, got 'em."

An instant later, Acid threw a grenade at the solders' feet, the canister insstantly hissing out a layer of super-heated smoke aimed at scrambling nomal eyesight, night vision, and even thermals.

Tam was already enshrouded as she vanished. Experiment was next. One after another, the fiktive transmitter locked on and pulled them through, following with Essex, Midas, his bots, and even Damien and Darian.

And lastly, of course, Acid himself...

---------------------

Drop Bay 2 suddenly became a hotbed of activity as the fiktive transmitter started spitting out its charges. The metal sphere with the rainbow-colored lens rematerialized what it had scooped up almost at once, only milliseconds separating the apperance of each infidividual on the metal floor.

However, the hangar-esque room was large enough, even with what were clearly armored crates of some sort lining the walls, often stacked up on top of one another and attached to inclined rials of some sort.

"Well, that was a mess." Acid commented as he turned to the others, a bit surprised at the sudden appearance of Damien and Darien. More to himself than anyone in particular, he mumbled, "Oh, great...hitchhikers..."

((It's not just okay, it's encouraged - so long as you can keep track, anyway. ))

Peregrine was in chaos. The Rikti portals brought troops down directly from their ships in orbit, and the meager forces that had time to assemble at Portal Court fought desperately against not only stacked numbers, but superior technology.

Heroes found themselves confronted with power sappers and strong mystics, and it seemed that super-powerted folk were now in the same boat as the military. The Rikti had learned. Worse, they had adapted. The only thing the defenders had going for them was that these new threats were not omni-present - only a few squads had been outfitted, as there simply weren't enough to go around.

Yet.

The destruction of Portal Corp, however, was an objective the Rikti Warmasters had ranked high, and the attacking force had been equipped with as many of the new tools as could be spared. They and the force that had taken Terra Volta were most likely the best-equipped units at this point, with the forces in other parts of the city being assigned what was available.

It wasn't a perfect system, but it showed results. A single power sapper in a whole squadron often caused heroes to turn tail at the mere mention. If they didn't, the anti-super troopers seemed to be more than they were thanks to quick teleportation from one end of the fight to another. Through cunning and tactics, the Rikti made themselves appear a bigger threat to heroes than they actually were.

But the force attacking Peregrine had no need for that. They were all they seemed, and the defneders found this out much more quickly than they wanted to.

If the Rikti could take or neutralize Portal Corp, the contigents in the Shadow Shard, as well as many other worlds, would be cut off...

Morkso seemed to have a preternatural sense for the field, as he twisted right and inland again just moments before contact.

At the same time, Moonscribe's contingency function found a sudden discontinuity. All the mathematician got was a large clamshell.

There was a reason Acid hadn't already tried teleporting the egg from Morsko's jaws - well, except for that it would be covered in drool, anyway...

((Alright, I guess I've decided not to let this die after all, partly because quite a few people have characters in here whose conflicts need exploring. But please, no more powerposting - it creates a very large gap when most of the characters are 'normal' and then one throws the invincible people in there.))

The Rikti may have been in a rush, but they weren't stupid - the first hero to try and jump through the portal was viciously repelled by the matrix even as the Rikti next to him dove through without pause.

DNA key! shot through Hotaka's head even as he gagged on the foul-tasting Halon. For various reasons, it wasn't venomous to him, but manifested itself in a very different form - a gagging odor that, in his opinion, could raise the dead in less than a second and have them tapdancing the next!

"Yeeeech." Ryuu's face twisted as he tried to get out of the quicky growing noxious cloud, "Forget this, we're outta here! It's not worth it!"

Walking in a more or less straight line - alright, so he staggered like a drunken man - towards a door on the floor level, he tossed a vile-tasting concoction at all the heroes around him, as well as Waziri and Katashi.

The Jounin were grateful, soaking cloths with the mixture and placing them in front of their mouths. Not only did this prevent a large amount of the Halon from getting through, but the stuff also went into the bloodstream, strengthening them immune system as it worked.

With a loud creak that could be heard across the entre room even with all the noise already inside, the rusty door opened wide, if under protest.

But as he stepped into the frame, Hotaka's nature once more got the better of him. He should've just left well enough alone and disappeared, but noooo...!

"Come on, all of you!" he yelled back, inhaling a large cloud and instantly starting to gag again. Alright, so that had been a bad idea...

---------------------

Above ground, the day in Paragon had been going as close to normal as a day here could go. Once more, a squad of Longbow Eagles were chasing down a frantically flying supervillain, the winged evildoer dropping piles of cash as they doggedly pursued.

On the streets, half the super-powered gangs were busy ODing on drugs while the other half were wasting their time in entirely different manners, generally giving the cops a large headache - just as on any other day.

Until the alarm at Terra Volta sounded.

Well, this of itself was nothing special. After all, the reactor was so overstressed just looking at it in the wrong way probably caused the core to take damage in some way or the other. An attack by Rikti was nothing new either, and the team of random heroes that had banded together to stop them was just as routine.

As happened on a good numer of occasions, the team couldn't hold together, and the Freedom Phalanx was called in to mop up the invaders and save the day from the attackers the up-and-coming heroes couldn't handle.

This was when the first oddity of the day reared its ugly head - none of the hero team had appeared in the hospital, even though the machinery showed their mediporters had been activated.

A failure of the mediport system wasn't above suspicion, and the hospital technical staff went to work without a second thought, making note to the Phalanx to recover the heroes that they still expected in the field.

But as Statesman and his team entered the cordoned-off power plant, the second oddity surfaced - every single one of the Rikti wore their powered armor, no matter what class of soldier.

The Phalanx was also confronted with a very familiar threat - a hovertank just like the ones the mystics Dawn Patrol had confronted in the invasion!

And by the time the third oddity was doscovered, it was too late. The last thing a plant security camera transmitted was a Rikti taking aim at Statesman with a sadistic-looking, three-pronged weapon.

The newest creation of the Malta Group.

An Orestes Rifle.

Fifteen minutes later, Terra Volta went up in flames. More than half of Paragon lost all power...

---------------------

"My Lord, Kuhr'Rekt to see you."

"Can enter."

The Rikti ambassador to Arachnos entered without a word.

"You wished to speak to me?" Lord Recluse questioned, not taking his eyes off his monitor for a moment - the same monitor that showed a sudden wave of chaos befall Paragon.

"Answer: affirmative. Deliver: news."

"Would these 'news' be that your people have finally grown desperate enough for a second strike?"

Kurh'Rekt said nothing.

"I am no fool!" Recluse spun about, his eyes blazing as he stepped towards the Rikti, "Arachnos keeps tabs on its allies...to determine if they are loyal, if they are useful. And it seems you vermin have failed at both. Paragon is mine and mine alone! This world it to be ruled by me, none other! You will not take this any further!"

"Agreed." the Rikti answered, giving Recluse pause, but only for a moment as the villain realized what he meant. The mastermind's clicking spider legs rushed at Kuhr'Rekt, but it was too late.

"Plans: already at completion." were the ambassador's last words. Even as the legs pierced his body, his mental signal went out.

To the charges...

---------------------

To a bystander, it had to appear as the end of the world. Without warning, the base of Recluse's tower burst into a raging inferno, flames and debris flying every which way as the massive structure began to list.

The Tangle's cables snapped and twirled all about, the massive tendons of the demented project skewering and slicing through whatever was in their way. Multi-ton supports became lethal projectiles, and one of the main cables sheared right through a Grandeville skyscraper as if it was tissue paper.

The city in the sky, the plate of Spider City, collapsed one section at a time, buring the old grandeville underneath itself in a cacophony of thunder and a sea of flames. From the ocean, the scene could have looked almost surreal, if it weren't for all those trapped and dying in the madness...

---------------------

And in high orbit, the true invasion force now drifted from their portals. The Rikti had learned. In pace, their ships were safe - and they didn't have nearly as many as last time. They had to be careful with their resources.

On the bridge of the command ship, order and a sense of calm belied the masive coordination effort.

[Have all Warmasters reported in yet?]

[Still pending. Our present forces are ninety percent accounted for, though the locations of some are still unknown, including Chertak.]

[Keep searching. But do not delay. The second objective must be secured as soon as possible.]

Though the mental conversations continued across the bridge, they werte of little importance now. The Warmaster's eyes hung on a high-zoom picture of a single location.

Objective 2.

Portal Corporation...

((And welcome to Act II. Want to know what Objective 3 is? Well, you'll have to figure that out for yourself! Take control of a Rikti platoon and raze the streets of Paragon - or coversely lead a team of freedom fighters to stand against the evil alien invaders. How will this end? No one knows. The position of GM has officially been reduced to administrative purposes, as this thread has turned from a story RP to an all-out war for the Earth...))

Acid smirked as he felt the resistance of Toy's detention field. Cocking an 'eyebrow' at Combat Toy barreling toward the tree that Morkso had just left, he shrugged as he focused again on Toy's egg.

Alright, he couldn't teleport the egg through the detention field, so he did the next-best thing: he snatched the whole field, contents and all. Acid loved being a cosmic engineer. Energy was such a compliant thing.

At that instant, he spotted Kaloaten - and the large assault bot barreling for the tree re-entered his mind. The Kosunn was right in its path.

Time seemed to freeze. Acid's eyes snapped back and forth...

Heartbeat.

The disappearing detention field...

Heartbeat.

Kaloaten about to get squashed...

Heartbeat.

The detention field vanishing in a flash...

Heartbeat.

Combat Toy's roaring rockets...

Acid winced.

Aw, HELL!

As suddenly as time seemed to freeze for his perception, it sped back up, and kaloaten vanished in a flash of light at the same instant as the detention-fielded egg appaeared about a third of the way between Toy and Acid, landing in the soft sand.

Kaloaten, in the same instant, felt himself pulled across space and time whether he wanted to or not, being dumped in a dune right beside Acid.

The reptilian sighed, egg 11 now out of reach to him, even as Morsko rushed by Experiment and Helper, looking like some sort of black streak. He was vaery careful as his jaws closed on egg 19, his razor-sharp teeth taking it without so much as a scratch to either the egg or its holder.

His prey in his maw, he tried to jet away acros the sands...