DeviousMe

"Oh, thank you." the mountain dragon said to Sam, picking up a cup of water, and with a shake of her head and other hand went on, "But I didn't mean like that. I meant I can't imagine living with this many superheroes around, not that I don't believe they are. It's like...well, it's the same thing with so many humans having cars...and that they have wheels. That took me a while to get used to."

"Speak for yourself." Sarah remarked, sitting down again, "I still haven't."

"You will." the little dragon on the table walked between the assembled cups with what seemed to be great curiosity at the bubbly liquids in some of them, "And I'm not an alien. I'm right here from Earth, just like those two. And I'm not tiny. You're all just giant."

The light smirk that accompanied this declaration was a clear indicator: for him, his size was perfectly natural, just like a human was the size of a human, "Okay, I know what you mean. I'm from Isahbalan is all. Everyone there's my size. Oh, where are my manners today?"

He performed a curt bow in the humans' general direction, one hand held flat before the bottom of his ribcage, "John Greenwood, master thief. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Oh don't be so braggy." Kia retorted at this, "You haven't stolen anything in months."

"That's what you think." Johnny only shot her back an evil grin, which in turn gave her face an 'uh-oh' expression, and of course caused Sarah to snicker as she too reached for a cup of water.

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" she answered Pax's second question with a touch of melancholy, looking into her cup with a shake of her head, "But no. They may not have super powers - except that Kain jerkwad - but that doesn't make them any better. Always trying to prey on other people, get ahead by abusing others. Even with...the Protector, it's hard, especially with the racists..."

"Kind of." Sarah returned with a somewhat ebarrassed shrug of her shoulders while she zipped open the pocket she'd accidentally leaned the heavy bag against, "We tried the hem of my shirt a while back, but he tried to get into my bra and..."

"Hey, I told you, I slipped." huffed back the little green dragon that now climbed out of said pocket, looking utterly flustered. He couldn't have been more than eight centimeters tall, but he was without a doubt fully grown, looking very much like the other two dragons in relative proportion.

Like the Tornado, he had but a single short horn on his nose, though he didn't have any hair, head instead decorated with a jet-black comb of razor-like growths that ran all the way back down his neck and tail, nearly to the bright-red deltoid at its tip, as well as presumably down the back under the likewise black T-shirt he wore with a pair of blue jeans and a pair of average-looking shoes...if they hadn't all been to tiny.

His wings, on the other hand, were quite different indeed, folded away behind his arms like those of a bat rather than separate appendages. In fact, compacted as they were now, they didn't look much like wings at all, and if it hadn't been for the slim slits of yellow wing skin that peeked out every now and then as he moved, most observers would've called him wingless.

"I'm not used to T-shirts, you know." he grumbled to the smiling Sarah, then hopped onto the floor and raised a hand to perform a single wave to the others, "Hi. Don't believe everything these two tell you. I'm really an okay guy."

"Says you." the Tornado picked the little dragon up by letting him walk onto and sit on a flat palm, then carefully transferred him to the coffee table between the couches.

"So with a name like that, I'm guessing your brother's a superhero too?" Kia meanwhile wanted to know of Eileen, "And your son's one too? Wow...I think I have to join Mr. Winston there. I can't imagine having so many around. Back where we live, we've only got one."

Whom they all knew and Sarah had a relationship with, but she wasn't about to just blurt that one out...

Griffin couldn't help but give a confused look at this. He'd expected them to go further in the same direction, like asking who'd shot him or why he'd said he'd wanted it, but instead now they wanted to know about someone who he plain-old had no idea who it even was.

"Um...I don't know any Vlasta..." he told Famine truthfully, looking rather disappointed. After all, they had gotten him away from those creatons sticking needles in his head, and even holding him at gunpoint didn't just cancel that out. He really did want to help, "Was he somebody at the hospital...?"

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

Hotaka gave a shrug as Sun Tzu jumped away. He would've preferred to go alone, having means to expertly conceal his presence, but the strategist probably knew his own world better than he did by a long shot. He probably knew what he was doing.

Still, one thing wouldn't leave Hotaka's head. This Teivos wanted to own a dragon? Now there was just about the silliest thing he'd ever heard. However, it presented an opportunity he might be able to exploit later.

After all, what Hotaka really wanted was to get an up-close look at this Dark Sovereign...and if he wanted a dragon...well, why not give him one...?

Drago couldn't help but smile beneath his helmet. Moments like this made him wish he had sunglasses to remove in a dramatic fashion. Regrettably he didn't though, so he just went to the next-best thing.

"Arachnos has no need to explain our intentions." he played the 'Arachnos has my back' card, trying to make it seem he had the organization's backing on this. After all, they had no way to tell he was lying - even the most skilled telepaths couldn't make out his mind to any extent. To them he was just some kind of dead zone; like thin air.

"However, your explanation lies in plain sight." he continued neutrally, his tone devoid of all emotion, "Blow out a bunch of windows in this town, and someone's bound to notice...not to mention my spiderling felt severely accosted. Now, who are you, and-hm?"

He looked down to the small arachnobot, which had prodded his leg with one of its own, the Crabsman's(?) tone suddenly a good bit lighter, "Oh. I see."

"So you are Dr. Lore." he refocused his oct-lensed gaze on the woman, "That must make the you Manning's crew. Hm. I hadn't expected to run into you quite so soon. Senior Operative Drago. These two are..."

[ QUOTE ]
"Shut up, will you?"

[/ QUOTE ]
Drago stopped at this, leaning just a little to the side, from where he was standing seeing a rather creepy-looking man kneeling and leaning over the fellow he'd seen at the bar, who in turn lay on his back.

He looked again to Dr. Lore, "Please tell me I'm not looking at some kind of sexual assault in the making..."

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

((Gonna wait for Khell some with Arek.))

Kia and Sarah didn't really know what to do with that answer, so they just let it be.

"Hero?" the Tornado questioned with a gentle smile as they arrived in front of the house, "Oh no, you've got us all wrong. We're no different from you. I'm just a part-time lab technician."

The mountain dragon didn't add anything to that reference. Apparently, she didn't want to go into what she did for a living, instead following the manner of Akemi and finding a place on a couch - after putting down her own pack, of course.

"Mhm." Kia added to the purple-haired girl's opinion, "Kind of big, though. You don't live here all alone, do you?"

Sarah meanwhile searched for a place to put down her own bag, wanting to at least get the large cylindrical thing out of the general way of people. Eventually she found a spot against a wall that seemed suitable, but when she set the thing on the floor and began to lean it against that wall, a sudden shout echoed from the pocket that she'd wedged up against the solid surface.

"Heeeey!" a light, though decidedly male voice cried out from the bag, hastily prompting the surprised Tornado to pull it back upright.

"Sorry, Johnny." she quickly apologized, a worried look on her face, "Forgot you were in there..."

((Chao...quit running away with the thread. The rest of us wanna participate too, you know. Also...*snatches back spiderling remote* My robot! Get your own! Who gave you this thing anyway? ))

[ QUOTE ]
"Have you found him?" she asked wearily, "Have you found Kyle?"

[/ QUOTE ]
"No." Arek's answer stood curt and emotionless, the tall, denim-hued draconian the very picture of detachment, trying not to let the woman's emotions drag out his own, "But we want to. We will need to know everything you do."

At the same time, he let his tail drift covertly to the ground, suspecting she might well try and slam the door on them. To prevent such a potential occurrence, he stealthily moved the tip of his fifth appendage to block...

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

[ QUOTE ]
"Nah, I never noticed anybody following me," Harbinger replied, "But I did see the guy who was talking to me in this video go into the bathroom when I told him to '[urinate] off,' went back to eating. It's crazy what you miss when someone acts like they do something every day. Was there something in there?"

[/ QUOTE ]
"Putting it mildly." Drago remarked, wondering just how the demon had already forgotten what he'd told both him and Millions just before asking the question Harbinger had just answered. Still, he made no mention of it, simply going over the key points a second time.

"...although it looks like I need to revise my theory of highly elaborate planning." he finished, "If this...person planted that stuff just before you entered the bathroom, and no one's been tailing you as you say, I can't narrow this down to any of the traditional over-the-top planners."

"Hm." he gave a shrug, "Looks like we'll have to check out this Sedadyne place then. If memory serves, their...hello?"

Drago remained silent for a few moments, the eyes of his helmet staring off into space, then turned to the two again, "My drone found something interesting. Let's go have a look."

With that, he reached into a pocket and dropped a hundred dollar bill on the bar, then departed with the two in tow...

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

[ QUOTE ]
"CRAP!" she suddenly blurted, running for the thing to grab it.

[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"CRAP!" he suddenly blurted, and quickly tried to grab the spiderling.

[/ QUOTE ]
The mechanoid had no intention of being gabbed, propelling a pair of silken threads to the ceiling and shooting away with the aid of those ziplines just before Chaos Red found himself clotheslined by a certain woman in lightweight power armor.

Now upside-down on the ceiling, the machine stayed out of reach of what it considered annoying obstructions to its mission, deploying a pair of autocannons just in case, and of course contacting the one who'd given it orders with report of being obstructed. Upon request to identify who or what it meant, the machine painted Chaos Red with an ID laser.

"Ah, the loudmouth from the bar." was Drago's comment upon stepping into the apartment through the still-open door, the Arachnos-armored man surveying the surroundings for effect, "What a mess. You guys sure did a number on this place. Mind telling us why...?"

No worries, mate. I'm an ambush predator - I can be patient.

I say: is it too much to ask for both?

Since you're hosting this on virtue, I suspect you'll have success if you move this to that server's forum section.

((Sure thing. And fine by me. I just make hard lines for my own stuff. The rest is up to you. ))

Kruger had been about to ask Toy just what he meant with that, but when things got hot on the other side of the dumpster, the Krieger made that his priority instead. Unfortunate, really. He'd also wanted to ask the android another rather important question...

What if they surrenedered and were captured? Could Toy get them out? Maybe taken right into the Sovereign's center of power - the State Weapons Factory?

Curse it! No time now.

Motioning to a pair of infantrymen down the alley, he moved the two up with silent order, then opened fire on the flame-wielding VB officers, using the dumpster as cover.

The three employed single shot, knowing burst to be far too dangerous to use with friendlies potentially in the line of fire, and thus fired with great accuracy, hopefully taking Burning Brawler's squad out in quick succession. Generally, the body armor of a VB officer, though rather decent, didn't hold up to the rebels' armor-piercing rounds, and these guys certainly weren't wearing ZUB Gerlach, giving Kruger's expectations good chances.

Back on the street, the soldier had indeed been quite frightened though more by the combination of detonations, gas, and everything else about him than by solely Toy's actions; though they of course contributed, as well as the order to get out of the hot zone. By now, the road itself had been mostly cleared out, everyone who didn't have a gas mask falling back - well, if they were even still on their feet, that was. Egregore's induced chaos combined with what Zeo had done earlier had neutralized just about the whole parade.

The APTH-1, however, was fairly weatherproof, and as the Kazbek-armored soldiers with it got their downed comrades out of the hot zone, the tank gradually got a path toward the alley. Still, it would take a little longer - even though the Gerlach-armored VB officers that a pair of SWAT-van-like vehicles now kicked out after arriving on the scene split off roughly a third to help.

The rest created a perimeter, partially using the armored vehicles as cover, and in part just taking a knee. They had decent confidence in their ZUBs, and for good reason - though the Gerlach had a lot less of it than the more advanced Slavkov and Kazbek models, it still employed MPDAS armor. Combined with the expanded-band vision and sensor suites in their helmets, their Gerlachs allowed the VB officers to sit right there in the thick of the gas, yet retain all oversight they would've had in the clear, their ZUBs' self-contained environments compensating well.

Still, they knew they'd likely be no match against a squad of supervillains, and thus left it at there until ordered to move in. Burning Brawler's special operations unit probably had much better chances anyway...

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

"Escort shmescort!" Vlasta yelled back through the open glass door that led from his bedroom onto the balcony when he heard Archlich outside while he laced up his second boot, "I'm going to go Darth Vader on their [butts], just you wait!"

On the ground floor, Wolfgang by now opened the door, shrugging to Archlich with open palms in a 'what ya gonna do?' manner. He'd already slung his own rifle over shoulder, adding its strap to the belt that held his pistol in the category of clothing worn. Teivos, on the other hand, grumbled down the stairs in the same wardrobe as his stand-in in Paragon City.

The called-for Molvia arrived right about then as well, setting down right in the street and tossing loose little things in every direction. The Sovereign's neighbors didn't even acknowledge it though, by now used to this happening every now and again - well, except the old crotchety fisherman across the street screaming that the music was too loud. Just what sort of music he heard the chopper as, however, was truly anybody's guess.

"Waiting on you now." Vlasta's gait was quick and determined in departure, boarding the Molvia with speed and making his way to the cockpit, "Wheels up, let's go."

"So," he turned to Archlich and the robots, by now in the back with Wolfgang and his unit, "what's the occasion...?"

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

Somewhere in China

Ryuu Hotaka gave an interested nod upon the completion of the sorcerer's story. He couldn't help but chuckle on the inside. Sun Tzu had been right. This Jiang kid was good - really good, in fact - with his sorcery, and his heart was in the right place (namely with his land; or so he told Hotaka), but his attitude left a few things to be desired. It was probably a good thing Xu Guan wasn't in charge here. His impulsive nature would've no doubt rushed the CPSR into en early grave.

Still, he'd given the dragon in the form of a tall, old man the rest of the information he'd needed to make himself a picture of this world - of course, from the view of the CPSR, from which it was truly a horror unto itself. Yes, it was about time someone did something about that.

Thus he sought out Sun Tzu. Xu Guan had told him of a parade to commemorate the Sovereign's first year as generally unchallenged ruler of the world, and Hotaka wanted to have a look at that. Maybe he'd even catch this President Evil himself there, have a chat perhaps. Moreover, it was being held in Paragon City - and that was a place the changes of which Hotaka truly wanted to see...

((Sorry? About what? I never made any mention that it looked special in any way. Also, what about some IC posting, hm? 'Drago' is waiting for where he might head, and the people that just arrived at Bronze Shield's place could use a location update. ))

((Correct. Only 1-4 have prints on them, the other keys weren't pressed before. And Chaos, if you'd like to have your character go after the spiderling, by all means - just remember that it just climbed a building and went into it through one of the broken windows. So if he wants it, he's going to have to follow it into an apartment full of supervillains. ))

The spiderling indeed had a semblance of a brain, though whether it was enough to call a mind stood up for debate. A relatively simple optronic system governed its behavior, a tad more advanced than what Arachnos tended to usually employ in its arachnobot drones, but then this type of spiderling was already a little different than the standard model, employing slightly more resistive armor, quicker maneuvering speeds, and altogether a better assault and tactical suite.

For now though, its directive listed merely as 'reconnaissance'. It didn't really care about being detected or not, and thus made no extraneous motions when Jack spotted it. So long as it could just squat where it could best observe, the little mechanoid was perfectly content...

"Fortunate that I brought short-range warp equipment then." Arek replied with a nod, tapping the guard that covered his right lower arm this time, "Please, step closer."

Once they had, the draconian let the sequence go, the gauntlet's innards whisking the three away and to the address of Bronze Shield - well, the approximate coordinates, at least...

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

Drago couldn't help but be intrigued. A suggestive compound modified to carry a suggestion in itself. The idea shone of brilliance...and general impracticality to just about anyone who didn't know exactly where the compound's target would be.

This meant whoever was behind this had been watching Harbinger Daemon for some time - or installed remote-activated psychotropic compound dispensers everywhere he was likely to do. No, that last one seemed just a little too far-fetched. It was probably the first.

Returning sleeve and glove to their former places, Drago stepped back into the bar and conveyed his findings, then inquired of the red-skinned man if he'd noticed anyone tailing him in the time before his exposure. If not, they'd just have to check out Sedadyne Pharmaceuticals.

Which was where, exactly...?

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

Outside on the street, the spiderling had by now observed what it felt was enough. Seeing the broken windows in the building across the street, as well as a man flying up into one of them, the machine determined that should be its next observation point, and thus made its way over.

It did so quite quickly, though chances were that if Chaos Red spotted it, he could easily follow the mechanoid - well, maybe until it started simply climbing the wall like the creature it stood based on.

Whatever may be, the spiderling made its way into room 1209, jumping from windowsill and onto floor at about the time Jack asked his question of Dr. Lore, its spindly metal legs producing a characteristic staccato clack in their landing on the wooden floor...

Drago couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of Vernon. That man had his own way about him, to be sure, and he was anything if not diligent.

Still...he stared at the vial before his face...time was of the essence here. No, he couldn't wait for von Grun. He needed answers now - even if it was just eliminating more potential groups involved.

Drago looked around, making sure there was no one else in the bathroom but him, then leaned his back against the door to guard against surprise visitors. He removed his Wolf Spider uniform's left glove, the clawed, 'monstrous' hand beneath slipping out of the smaller casing quite neatly, the skin-tight glove of the shrink suit beneath (an assembly of metallic-cool and -slate grays that looked almost organic, like a second, outer skin) giving up function as it detected it to be no longer needed.

He then did the same with the sleeve, rolling it back from over the high-tech arm guard it hid, the gauntlet almost resembling something from Vanguard, fastened about the lower arm's scaled, pitch-black skin by a pair of parted straps. A mental command started the analyzer, a holographic casing becoming solid in the air. Drago placed the vial within it and called up a comparison to everything in the thing's database, including Arachnos, Freedom Corps, Nemesis Army agents and more.

No matter if the comparison found anything, he'd at least end up knowing what the stuff was and what it was supposed to do - for instance, if it specifically made demons crazy or had a more general 'audience', worked via body, mind, or soul, et cetera.

As for the comparison, did it find anything? Or was this stuff just something completely new that pretty much no one knew about?

"Oh." Kia remarked with a knowing nod, "So you're kind of like Billy and Joy. Okay, makes sense. The glowing eyes do anyth-?"

She too stopped when Akemi tripped, though unlike Paxtera, got pretty wide eyes when she saw the sais. Sarah was surprised as well, though she reacted more with curiosity than shock.

"Um...it's okay." the Tornado told the girl as they kept walking, not quite sure why she was feeling so embarrassed, giving the bag over her own shoulder a tug with a smile, "Happens to everyone. You wouldn't believe how many times I smacked into something thanks to this. Though...why are you carrying an arsenal like that...?"

((Edited to account. And what about Sun Tzu then? ))

In the alley, Kruger ducked out of sight as quickly as possible when he heard Zeo's words, knowing well his presence could contradict them in a pretty nasty manner. Luckily, the other rebels seemed to gave gotten out of sight already, Burning Brawler only spotting the Krieger.

"Replaced?!" the actor exclaimed in shock, "What do you mean replaced? Dear lord, I talked to Milton not fifteen minutes ago...did you find them? Are they okay?"

Before he could get an answer though, he heard Isabel's energy blast crack the air, and then the rain of fire began, a stray ember burning a hole in the actor's mask just in front of the left eye. Body double he was clearly not. Heck, he wasn't even a Tsaigon. Just a gifted performer, nothing more.

Still, he knew well whose place he was supposed to be taking here, and he wouldn't have accepted if he'd not had courage to him (well okay, so initially he'd said no, but Teivos had some really good puppydog eyes). Though not trained explicitly in combat, he could offer up some resistance. The armor he wore was real, after all.

Unholstering the plasma pistol, he tried to get a look at just what was going on, presently unable to see Burning Brawler, Isabel, or much of anything for that matter with the large tanker blocking his view...

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

The VB officer at the receiving end of Isabel's punch didn't even get the time to take off his rifle's safety before finding himself in a heap on the grass across the street. The crowd near the heroine, already in a panic, stormed away in all directions, for the moment hindering the other officers and soldiers on the street; the former of course most of all, since the VB focused primarily on getting people out of the danger zone right now.

The special effects crews on the rooftops aborted mission, shutting off their gravity generators and set the tank back down again, though of course it couldn't really move either until the crowd had dispersed. Its thermal sensors, however, were already locked on target, and like the soldiers about it, as soon as the civilians were clear, it would get a move on.

Actually, a few of the soldiers had already managed to - and though the cobalt-blue uniforms they wore had little value as armor, which combined with the employ of very normal projectile weapons (okay, so they used mag rails instead of gunpowder, but whatever) meant their efforts weren't likely to amount to much without available cover here on the street, it didn't mean they wouldn't try to end this threat as quickly as possible...

((Okay, general NPCs are free again. Feel free to consider these guys as about Malta TacOps.))

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

Halfmoon Bay

Vlasta couldn't help but stay glued to the screen, unable to look away, having succumbed to the train wreck effect. From the viewpoint of the news chopper filming what the accompanying reporter by now called a disaster, the Sovereign could watch it all unfold. Well, not all, but what he did see gave him more than enough information to put two and two together.

"Five minutes." he told Wolfgang coldly, struggling to get the sweated-through sleeveless shirt off where it had caught on his artificial spine, "Full arms, full gear, and I want the helicopter ready to teleport the second we get aboard..."

"Don't tell her that!" Kia exclaimed with warding hands to the peacebringer, Sarah already wearing a goofy smile and staring off into space - but only for a moment. Then she let out a giggle, which earned her crossed arms, a huff, and a glare at the fake-out.

"Oh relax, will you?" she nudged Kia in the ribs, straightening the strap of the large blue bag on her back. Apparently, the thing had shifted when the seeming had worn off, but a quick relocation and curt flap of wings did the trick there.

The two then started to walk as well, following the offering Sam, the Tornado apparently most interested at the mention of Positron, stepping to keep pace beside the man and wanting to know, "Every day, huh? Any chance you could convince him to let me take a look at that armor of his? By the way, uh, what's your name?"

"Here we go again." Kia couldn't help but sigh, calling herself fool for actually believing that her friend would leave it at the stated 'just wanting to see' the inventor-gone-hero. Then again, considering Sarah was...well, Sarah, she supposed that one had been inevitable.

She thus turned to the Kheldian, "I guess if we're at it, what's your name? And...are you human, or something else...?"

"Tell me about it..." Drago rubbed the solid chin of his enclosing helmet, his tone slipping to the uncharacteristically casual for a moment, "That guy hits like a-"

"Ahrm." he stopped and cleared his throat, reverting to the distant, emotionless voice again, and gave Harbinger a nod, "Good."

"That gives us something to work with." he stated while slipping off the stool again, one of his backpack's arms curling as far back as it could and fishing a folded-up spiderling from a compartment, transferring it to Drago's waiting right hand.

"See what's going on outside." the man told the machine, which expanded its legs and dropped to the floor stante pede, skittering out the door. Then Drago turned to the two again, "I'm going to run a chemical analysis of that air freshener. Stay here. If I happen to come running out of the bathroom screaming about killing the frog prince...well, you get the picture."

With that, he proceeded into the WC, his target the destroyed device of the bartender's mention - which of course didn't mean that he'd narrowed his search solely to thus.

What existed to be found here...?

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

"Girl." the Sky Commander corrected, though purely factually, tapping the claws of his fingers against the guard on his left lower arm, bringing up the holographic display of the tanker's address, "This is where we go."

"Warmaster?" he turned to Cher'tak with a questioning look, "Are you with us? If so, have you transportation...?"

I'd have to say realistic. Maybe not with quite as much detail, so still a little more drawing-like, but about there.

[ QUOTE ]
hey... where's mine?!

[/ QUOTE ]
Ours are probably somewhere random. He did say in 'no real organized order'.

[ QUOTE ]
OK.. heres the 20 ( or so..) im gonna drawings and colorings and backgrounds for .... in err.. no real organized order..


1. FireBrandi,,,
2. The Mad Butcher
3. .Volt Sentinel
4. ,... Savannah Nightwolf
5. ....thors assassin.
6. ..mr awesome..
7. .crestent.
8. ..bubbawheat.
9. .drunken avenger.
10...memphis bill..
11..little zoe.
12...ladyliberty..
13..katfood
14..thornster..
15..deviousme..
16..states..
17..traegus..
18..hochroterdrache..
19..echosokar..
20..aggelakis..
21..starkitten
22..burningnightmare...
23..gata
24..electirc knight
25..cuppa llx
26..chrome family

[/ QUOTE ]

Infinity, protector, virtue - whichever I currently feel like playing on.

(((<_< >_> *licks the thread*))

The passenger of the crooked-floating tank had just barely removed the plasma pistol from the holster on his leg when some kind of...well, blurry, flaming thing bolted over through the crowd, through the soldiers, and bounded up to the suspended armor before he'd even fully realized what was going on.

Civilians had been knocked aside, military personnel had been set on fire and knocked aside, and Zeo had his man before that one even really knew it, the soldiers all about thrown into utter disarray and still stunned by what had just happened as the tanker arrived back from whence he came less than two seconds after having departed.

Kruger was visibly baffled by this speed, but if he was any indicator, Zeo's captive stood even more so, gazing at the sudden change of company with wide, confused eyes. It took him a full two seconds more to say something about it - which in turn raised the Kommandant's level of surprise (and everyone else who'd heard Teivos' voice by now) to top that of the captive once again.

Why?

Because his voice hadn't a hint of a Slavic accent, and he exclaimed in very American English, "What the hell?! This isn't in the script...!"

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

Halfmoon Bay

Vlastislav Teivos panted heavily as he opened the front door of his house, dragging himself into the foyer, tongue very nearly lolling from his open mouth, the Tsaigon covered in sweat and the very definition of out of breath.

"Ididit...heheheheh...Ididit..." he chuckled in a curt, psychotic manner on his way to the kitchen, desiring nothing more than a glass of water right now.

Wolfgang Wolf, however, was of an entirely different frame of mind when he saw his charge cross the hallway from the living room, the cyborg tossing his head back in a 'why me?' sigh before clapping shut the book he'd been reading and heading around the bar that separated this room from the kitchen in the other direction.

"You're a moron." he told Vlasta huffily, handing him the glass he'd already filled in expectation of just this occurrence, "I told you: take it slow. Keep it to thirty kilometers. The new implants need time to adapt."

"Fffeh!" Teivos all but quacked between a pair of heaved breaths, supporting himself against the wall by the pantry and fingering for the glass, "Thirty kilometers...thirty kilometers?! I don't even...I don't even tie my shoelaces to cross that..."

"Smaaart." Wolfgang mumbled, surrendering the glass, Vlasta taking a first greedy gulp, slowing after that while the cyborg kept on, "You know, one of these days you're going to kill yourself."

"But not today." the Tsaigon grinned devilishly, his breathing finally slowing again, and he set course for the living room, specifically the long, black leather sofa, "Has the parade started yet? Oh, what I'm asking you for? You'll only complain more. Television: on; news."

The plasma widescreen hanging from one wall obeyed the voice command immediately, turning on and flipping over to the state new channel, which Teivos knew would presently be broadcasting live from the parade in Paragon City. He also knew he'd probably missed the opening march, maybe even the start of the show, but still he couldn't help edging the TV on in his mind, not wanting to miss 'his' fight against 'Requiem'.

The eager smile on his lips, however, quickly became a straight line as the picture came up, eyes widening in shock at what he saw there on the screen...

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

Somewhere in China

The dragons looked first to Sun Tzu, then to one another. They had no concrete answer. Though this Ryuu Hotaka was clearly a western dragon, he displayed none of the desires mythology attributed them with, nor did he seem to care about anything in particular at all - least of all boundaries of political power that designated human countries. As fas as the three could tell, he'd only stuck with the CPSR for now because he considered the Dark Sovereign someone of great interest.

Someone who needed a slap in the face yes, but still, someone he was simply interested in by person.

Moreover, they suspected that Hotaka's loyalty actually could not be secured; at least not in any open, traditional manner. True, he might help them 'just because', but on the other hand, he might also bail at any time he pleased. They simply couldn't be sure...

"Hmh." Arek gave an understanding nod at this, leaving it at that. He simply didn't have enough information to render anything useful from it, "In that case, let me merely say it is pleasant to see you again, regardless of current state."

He listened half-eared while Wong finished giving the list of villains the PPD had been able to identify to Cher'tak, then stepped closer to the Rikti to get his attention, "We already have someone working from that end, Warmaster. I suspect we are best served by taking up the trail with Bronze shield. I would be grateful if you joined us..."

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

"Seems a likely suspect." Drago returned in reference to the destroyed air freshener, "Could've held any umber of chemical agents. We'll need to check it. But first..."

A few quick keystrokes called up the footage of the mirror camera from the mentioned week ago, Drago zipping through what didn't interest them until he found the spot that did: when Harbinger Daemon had been visited by the man in the suit the bartender had mentioned.

Drago turned to the red-skinned demon, "Any chance you recognize him...?"

And as the boy did thus, Drago closely scrutinized the bartender, though of course the armored helm prevented much more than the unblinking glare of its eight crimson lenses from coming across there.

No cameras at the tables? As in no potential blackmail of unsavory customers? There weren't many establishments here that passed up such chances...and this didn't really look like one of them. Needless to say, Drago was quite skeptical of the bartender's candor. Luckily, he was a rather good judge of character.

Was the man really telling the truth? Or had he lied...?