DeviousMe

"Yeah, you'd think so, wouldn't you?" was the first thing Solid Shot heard upon rematerializing on board the Drop Ship, Acid's voice coming from ahead, "At least that's what common sense tells you. Like I said, go figure."

The vessel's interior wasn't much to look at. Function had won out over form, and the somewhat oval cross-section only allowed about enough room for one Rikti troop division. This wasn't to say that things would be getting cramped for the team, but they certainly wouldn't be spacious either.

Instead of seating rows that ran along the walls, port and starboard came with lines of harness mountings. From the looks of them, these had designed to form-fit and lock in the back sections of Rikti armorsuits, and ran from the aft bulkhead to the cockpit, where a trio of seats stood arrayed in a tilted delta configuration with apex ahead.

The frontmost obviously belonged to the pilot (the back rest of which Acid's head currently looked astern around), clearly visible flight controls like those in a modern human jet aircraft mounted on the armrests, while the more raised rearward chairs were clearly that stations of gunner and navigator, the equipment easily recognizable despite its Rikti architecture - targeting systems to port and astrogation panels starboard.

The cockpit windshield - technically just a large screen; the Rikti seemed to have gone with a monocoque hull instead of compound construction - allowed a good field of view from the bow, encompassing a somewhat forward extended area. Presently, the monitor showed the open hangar door ahead, a few stars twinkling about in the black of space, the light of not many making it through the interference of the hangar's saffron illumination.

Checking to be sure everyone who had wished to come had indeed done so - there wasn't any way they'd have left anyone behind - Acid then turned his attention back to the flight controls and let the laws of his left hand dance across a touchscreen that displayed several contact plates, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard flight VAA 007 to wherever the hell we feel like. Please take this time to familiarize yourself with your closest nonexistent emergency exit and return your seat backs and tray tables to their upright and locked positions. Our estimated time of arrival will be one minute form now, give or take, local time unknown."

Even as he spoke these words, the ship already moved, the telltale hum of some manner of reaction drive reverberating through the aft bulkhead. This remained the only clue, however, as the Rikti also knew the working principle of a g-force compensator. No motion translated into the ship's interior, and gravity remained firmly Terranorm.

Sah'Teece seemed to have no issues with letting the reptilian take the helm, taking seat in the astrogation chair to determine a good landing site. He'd caught on to Acid's question between the lines, and so set out to find an answer. Not possessing much knowledge about military strategies, however, the sites he suggested weren't exactly based on tactical value, Sah'Teece proposing them based on proximity to their primary objective: the Rikti capital. Two, however, stood out from the rest.

The first he called the Forgotten Sanctuary - an archeological dig site abandoned by researchers soon after the start of the Human War in favor of more immediate concerns. It sat in a range of very rough mountains, heavily isolated, and there certainly wouldn't be any Rikti around. In addition, some of the equipment left behind when research had halted might be of use to the expedition.

The second had been a coastal city before the war, Nemesis' Freedom Phalanx Automatons having done roughly the same thing to the place that the first Rikti attack had done to Baumton. It had been evacuated some time ago, and sat close to the capital than the excavation site. However, chances of finding anything helpful there also stood much lower. In addition, the plain-like characteristics of the surrounding lands made discovery upon landing a great deal more likely.

"Not entirely sure which of those is better." Acid told Cher'tak in particular, but his tone included everyone on board in the discussion, "My vote goes for that sanctuary thing, but I've never been that good with strategic analysis. Anyone got any thoughts on this?"

Regardless of which location would be ultimately chosen, the capital (and with that, both prospective sites) lay on the central southern edge of what resembled North America, and by the rapidly growing planet ahead, it stood clear this is where Acid presently piloted the Drop Ship toward.

Racing ahead of the vessel, however, was something else entirely: a pulse of low-energy radio waves. Traveling in an extremely narrow beam with hardly any scatter, the coded and chopped transmission of at most a microsecond's duration was nearly impossible to make out - especially considering there operated much more powerful equipment back on the Jade Moon, where the message had come from.

Still, energy was energy, radio waves were radio waves, and thus there always existed the remote possibility, no matter how slim, that someone might have picked up on it. Be that as it may, neither Acid nor the Drop Ship did...

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

"Good to know." the Lady Grey gave Sheldon a nod of approval, "We shall leave you to your work then. If you intend to wander about, however, take at least two of Our troops with you. The interlopers are likely still about somewhere. Furthermore, a technical unit from Portal Corporation shall be arriving within the hour and attempt to restart operation of several portal generators in this facility. We are not certain of your methodology, but We felt you should know this if you wished to incorporate it into your plans."

"And while they get the portals working again, I'll try and teach your guys how to fly a space ship." Acid added to the conversation with yet another nod, most decidedly not having departed with the others when the group of volunteers had dematerialized in the Rikti teleportation field.

"Please do." the Lady Grey replied, turning to step toward Communications, "We shall gather any operatives with flight experience as quickly as We can..."

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

((Muahaha...and now I finally get to start Act II. ))

((Well, you may well not have, 's what I'm saying. Could be my end. Gonna wait for Ess to clarify. ))

((Shipment of scientists? Nyer? Did I misread something? I thought Ess had written that there wasn't anything unusual about scientific expeditions into Siberia, not that there was already one on the way. ))

"Agreed." Sah'Teece gave a nod as he helped Lk'Onik off the floor again, the HVAS units already assuming standby position by the remains of the blast door that led into the ops center to further secure Vanguard's position, "The Lady Grey's patrols shall find them eventually. There is more important work to be done elsewhere."

"Accepted." the Psi-Scout returned to Sheldon's apology and conclusion, "We believe so as well. Come..."

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

"Feh." Acid answered Solid with a thrown-aside glance as he let his arms down again. At least the sentient mechanoid hadn't called him Iguana or something. With a shake of his head, he went on to clarify, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. Even with good automation, a ship that size needs a minimum crew of thirty or so. Even then, it'd be severely undermanned - no navigation, no sensors, no weapons. We'd be flying blind and deaf, not to mention practically defenseless. The only reason I even got it off the ground is because a good friend taught me everything he knows about piloting."

"And considering I like to think of him as the very best, I dare say I'm not bad either." the reptilian added with a toothy smirk, connecting to the channel to give Toy a response, "No worries, that's just me. I've never held much regard for 'laws of physics' or some such nonsense. Apparently, my pet peeve is one place at one time. Go figure."

As if to prove this, Toy rematerialized before them in the characteristic aura of a Rikti teleportation field. Instead of Acid pulling him in 'manually', as the Khelari liked to call it, the discus ship had run up its machines and redirected the robotic mastermind here. Incidentally, Toy's arrival coincided with that of the Rikti and Wallace at the ops center's entryway.

"Manners?" Acid gave a chuckle in return to Ineffable, then turned to Essex for a moment as the others crossed the ops center, "No worries, you'll do fine. And that's an excellent question. May I have everyone's attention for a moment?"

"I'm setting up a connection from one of the Drop Ships right now." the reptilian went on to elaborate once he had thus, "It looks like they can only be boarded and left via teleport. At least I haven't found any doors. Either way, once everyone's back here, I'll just pull yalls up and then we're off, alright?"

Sah'teece was quick to consent, planting the staff of his bladerifle in warrior's manner to signify his readiness. Lk'Onik, however, seemed troubled. The cause: C'Kelkah's absence from their small network. By all accounts, she should've been awake by now. The Warmaster's stimulant didn't put that much strain on the body, after all. Something else had to have happened to her.

"I shall stay." the Psi-Scout informed aloud upon a short mental inquiry by Sah'Teece. He intended to get to the root of the scientist's condition - not to mention he'd be the best early warning system the Vanguard personnel could hope for right now. If the four 'odd ones', as he chose to call them, decided to enter the area near the Psi-Scout, he'd pick their thoughts up without any trouble at all.

Luckily for them, Lk'Onik wasn't a full-fledged telepath. At more than about a hundred meters, his mental abilities reached their limit. He had no idea where the mercenaries had stowed away, let alone grab hold of their plan, granting them a certain amount of safety. The facility was huge, and even with Vanguard patrolling their sector, there remained a great many places to disappear in.

"A gesture greatly appreciated." the Lady Grey gave him a terse smile for an answer, then supplemented her part to the briefing, basing herself partly upon Randall's question, the other half of which Acid had already come back with, "We will not make light of this. On the planet's surface, you will not have access to any equipment in this operations center, including the emergency medical recall systems. While the plan is to join you as soon as possible, We cannot guess at the time it will take for Our forces to either reconstruct the portal devices here or learn to fly that contraption up there. You may be on your own for quite some time."

"She's right, guys." the Khelari's staid expression only underscored this, "Nobody's going to think any less of you if you decide to stay here and wait until we can start shipping out in bulk."

"That being said," he ended, extending a clawed hand to where Toy stood, "Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to step right over here so I can pull everyone up in one go..."

"Yeah, it's me." M answered Toy's unspoken question with a short glance to the robotic mastermind, "Didn't I say that? Hm, guess not. My bad."

"Not sure about you guys," Vern picked at the plans being laid out, "but I for one would prefer if our friends had no clue anyone was on to them until the last possible moment. I can't say I'm fond of anything that would cause them to take note, especially a mechanoid. Don't exactly find those running wild in Siberia, ya know?"

"I have to agree." M added, the spindly mechanoid standing up from its seat, "Never underestimate the enemy. They may be only human, but until we know for sure what they can and can't do, I'm going to give them every trick in the book, just in case."

"That much might not be warranted." the Krayten considered, but fell in with his friend nevertheless, "Still, if we're just nice and careful, we should be able to manage not drawing any attention quite well."

Figuring any inquiry to Toy Dispenser about his covert methods superfluous (the mechanoid probably knew how to run an observation op better than most here), he then turned to West and Eirene, "Scientific expedition I can do no problem. I've even still got a model on file. If all the rails are still there where I remember, we should be able to get reasonably close without raising any suspicions at all."

"I've already sent word to the Labtower's mainframe." M informed them, "It's making the conversions as we speak - and it's good. Very good. I dare say that even if it's boarded, nobody will have a clue that train isn't what it's going to look like."

"So now that just leaves one question." Vern finished up, "Everyone good with going by teleport or should I have M call a ship...?"

The "what do you really expect from being in an RP only a few days" part.

Pretty much. I thought that was obvious, hence me not saying anything.

"Oh, but you misunderstand." M replied to Dr. Phillis' list of troubles, "I don't think that any...um, nevermind...well, Vern and I certainly weren't suggesting a headlong frontal charge. We share your concerns in a number of points, which is precisely the reson we should move quickly - to gather intelligence."

"Indeed." the Krayten added, "Since we don't know how time might play into all this, gathering as much information as we can in as little time as possible is the most sensible first step. And where is the best spot to do that? Before place, of course."

"I suppose I could always take a look from orbit first." the spindly mechanoid tacked on with a shrug, "But I doubt there would be much difference between that and a few kilometers' distance..."

M and Vern let Igor's delusions fly by the wayside. So, this was what it was all about - stealing the research. No wonder Dr. West had called something so 'public'. Even considering the relative secrecy of it all, a disruption of these happenings by force now could draw a great deal of unwanted attention due to just the sheer scale under debate here.

"Smooth, Daniel." Vern remarked with a toothy smirk, "Very smooth. Alright, we're in. So about where are we talking? If it's close enough to the Trans-Siberian, we can probably just go by rail; nice and inconspicuous. If not, M can call us a ship anytime. That is, unless you haven't already arranged something...?"

"Action Replay." came the reply to Toy as the ship stopped dead over the surface-level compound. The robotic mastermind's scans (depending on the quality of Toy's sensors of course) would make out either a duo of very concentrated life signs in the center of the discus or a myriad of spread-out readings over its entire volume.

Alternatively of course, there always existed the possibility that the ship's reactors might have overpowered Toy's inquiry with their scatter emissions, but chances were this wasn't too likely.

In the prime case, however, Toy would have certainly noticed one of the readings suddenly vanish. If he followed up by tracking it, his sensors led him nowhere but...

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

"I am not a lizard." Acid huffed gruffly as he materialized in the ops center now far from Solid Shot, crossing his arms on the matter, "Seriously, I'm not cold-blooded, I definitely don't do the tongue thing, and do I look scaly to you?"

"Another time." the Lady Grey remarked cold as ice, not taking her eyes off the besieged sniper as she answered Essex, "You are quite correct. The situation is grave. However, if we are able to procure factual, irrefutable proof of the truth, We hope the Rikti shall consider us enemies no longer and aid us against that despicable man...machine...whatever."

Or become suicidal.

"Now then," she turned to the Khelari, giving a curt nod upward, "This vessel. It functions?"

"More or less." Acid explained with an unsure gesture, "It'll take some time to train a crew, and without that it's pretty much not flyable right now. But I caught it in final outfitting, so it's got three Drop Ships aboard. We can use those, no problem. And does anyone mind telling me just why there's..."

The reptilian never finished his inquiry, eyes giving a twitch as a sudden flash encompassed the chamber from Ghost's ignited smoke bomb.

Vanguard operatives were at a loss as the sniper went for broke, the hot cloud dense enough to obscure their perceptions. Archlich's storm didn't help in this respect - as it only affected Ghost and nothing but, it remained ineffective against the smoke cloud, allowing the sniper to escape from the chamber.

"Hmph." the Lady Grey growled at the unsatisfying termination of this room's hostilities, then turned to the staff returning to the communications console, "Increase patrols in all sectors under our control. Shoot on sight. Shoot to kill. We cannot afford any more of these interruptions. Then recall Delta team. We need a presence on the planet as quickly as possible..."

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

The HVAS units were dumbfounded as a snow storm that defied the laws of physics suddenly sped past them, their programming not capable of independently discerning this was indeed an enemy. Thus being, they simply kept pursuing Radiator until they lost tracking - which did not take very long. Rocket boots, dangerous as they could be, delivered impressive speeds.

The Rikti, however, (especially Lk'Onik) could certainly differentiate just what came down the corridor there. Blades at the ready, they redirected their efforts unto the escaping sniper.

Well, at least they planned to do so until they perceived a certain small mechanoid lining up a particle beam cannon. Following common sense, they rapidly strove to move out of Small Toy's line of fire, succeeding in throwing themselves out of dangerous airspace just instants before the cannon discharged...

((I dunno...but the fact that he's been replying to what people have been thinking could be a clue. ))

((I herby take the time to remind Diov that there are people around with no replies to them who are waiting for him. That is all.))

Then all hell broke loose. Or more precisely, the ceiling did. Firing a powerful sonic pulse right below an ice-covered cavern that now existed mostly in a state of temporary permafrost wasn't exactly the brightest of ideas.

First, a rain of shards and spike descended like a hail of frigid spines, followed almost immediately by large (sometimes frighteningly so) stalagmites crashing down from above, drilling mercilessly into whatever they struck.

Finally, the entire cavern collapsed in on itself, a layer of frozen rock nearly three meters thick and weighing several metric tons taking walkways, stabilizers, trusses and pillars right along with it, literally squishing anything beneath.

Klaus found himself snatched up by the speed-boosted Colonel, but the two still only made it back into the safety of the cell passage due to their immense proximity. Had they been only a few decimeters further out, the ceiling would have crushed them without mercy. Even Synapse couldn't have made it out of the cavern's central area in time...

Bravissimo.

Jake would find very quickly that Arachnos lacked a good bit of information about Vern and M - namely, all of it. According to Recluse's records, the two might as well not have existed.

"Be careful what you pry into." the spindly mechanoid whispered as it stepped next to the youth for a moment, "If you already consider some here freaks, your mind may well warp if you delve too far."

As Dr. Phillis introduced himself, M seemed intrigued for the first time. If one followed Vern's eyes while they mustered the man, one may have noticed him duplicating this sensation. There was someone with a bit of humility here. How very unexpected.

Still, the two kept quiet about it. Indeed, they did so until Dr. West proposed a stop. This was all getting most curious indeed.

"I wouldn't worry about that, Master Build." M commented to the man's troubles, "Madame Eirene isn't one to be careless with knowledge. And even if these...people know, I can assure you we are quite safe here."

"I've got to agree with Mr. B...Experiment," Vern corrected himself, having almost failed to pick up on M's earlier slip-up, "and Mr. Igor. If this is a problem, why didn't you just ask me to order over an execution unit from the Labtower? What's up with this, Daniel...?"

"Oh no, Master West, you misunderstand." M returned as Essex set a cup of tea down in front of Vern, the Krayten lowering his head to sniff curiously at the mixture, "I question no one's intelligence here - it is the overconfidence that troubles me."

"He does gave a point there." the reptilian agreed, finding the tea's aroma appealing, and proceeding to empty the cup by simply inhaling the beverage.

"And speaking of opinions," the spindly mechanoid turned to Build, "I'd revisit those odds were I you. I dare say you grossly underestimate Master Solid - why, I'd imagine he could even take me on under the right circumstances. Underestimating him would be a gross error in judgment. Yet another..."

A loud crunch interrupted M's commentary, a grinding noise emenating from the Krayten's mouth as he chewed. Vern had eaten his cup.

"On the other hand," M sighed with a shrug, "perhaps it's just me..."

"Very well." the spindly mechanoid commented hollowly, waving its left hand in a dismissive motion, "I find the general impudence about troubling. Also, I find your lack of faith disturbing. Oh, and I wouldn't worry about that, Master Ballard. You will have plenty of opportunity still."

Vern let out a sigh. Once again, M had picked up one of Ace's bad habits - he just couldn't keep his big yap shut...

"Very well, you are excused." Acid chuckled over Toy's receiver, "And funny you should mention a Rikti warship."

It was true. From the Khelari's point of view, the robotic mastermind's observation seemed very amusing indeed - for nothing else but now ascended silently from the opening in the landing field...

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


Now the Vanguard forces started to get angry. Still, they had to admit that was some armor these guys had on them, what with it being able to take armor-piercing automatic rounds, plasma blasts, ice bolts, and WP shells without them even affecting the wearer in even the slightest negative fashion - the two should've been slowed, numbed, frostbitten, burned, vaporized, and downright liquefied by now.

There was no crossfire, no section of area to be covered. Vanguard's field operatives had been trained as marksmen, and their aim stood true. Yet there these two still were, moving right as rain. They weren't even running for their lives! Fine. They wanted to play rough? They could have it rough. The time had come to fight dirty. If Ghost and Radiator thought the flashbangs had been unfair, they hadn't seen anything yet.

Speaking of, said munitions once more led the sniper's fire greatly astray, the Wizards he tried to gun down moving as blurred silhouettes in his still-swimming vision. Not a single round found its mark. Even if one had, of course, it would've had one hell of a time trying to get through impervium plating.

Luckily for him, the acid launchers were under no such restriction. Their shells struck dead-on, splattering corrosives over the closest two Vanguard positions, irreparably damaging valuable equipment and reducing the structural integrity of personnel armors. Why Ghost expected them to keel over from this, on the other hand, remained a mystery. Impervium wasn't an easily corroded metal to begin with, and even if the acids had penetrated through their suits, the Vanguard operatives would've simply sought cover and swapped the affected uniform pieces out. The sniper would've probably been better off using normal explosives instead.

However, he had chosen acid - and that may well have spelled doom for him now, as a psi-bomb sailed into his cover in a high arc, detonating in a brilliant blast of psionic energies. The shockwave stood strong enough to affect even machines, completely scrambling the targeting systems of both acid mortars, resulting in Ghost's own machines finding themselves a new, closer target: him.

Even worse, in addition to being assaulted by his own vile concoctions, the psi-bomb's blast also carried a good amount of mental force behind it, capable of stunning even respectably strong minds. If this had caught hold of Ghost, it would leave him in a heavily disoriented state for a good while.

And there were still quite a few very angry Vanguard to worry about, just itching to put this pest down. Crack marksmen the lot of them, they wouldn't hesitate to put something through Ghost's skull the moment they got the chance - be it a bullet or a bolt of the arcane arts...

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

Stomping after Radiator now came the duo of HVAS units had had been attached to the right-hand Mechanical sector, the mechanoids having finally detached their maintenance lines a little bit ago.

They weren't as speedy as Sheldon, however, so if Radiator had truly managed to get all the way around the bend and to the end of the corridor, it's take them about ten seconds to get into line of sight and obtain a firing solution.

Once they had, however, (or if he hadn't gotten all the way), he'd better have prayed to whatever deities he may have had faith in for mercy - because the cold machines certainly wouldn't, their programming commanding them to open fire with their plasma cannons in tactical norm.

In contrast to their slow and steady motions came the forms of Sah'Teece and Lk'Onik, the Rikti having understood Sheldon's gesture quite clearly. More than likely, Cher'tak had come with them as well, but whether or not, the two held their own weapons at the ready, planning to do the villain in with truly excessive force. How dare he try and stop them from returning home when they'd come this close?! He would pay...!

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

"Are We to understand you have not been briefed?" the Lady Grey returned to Solid with surprise, and though her expression was that of stone, the mechanoid could discern the disbelief in her eyes quite well, "Or has there been an accident with your memory? 'Lord' Nemesis is, as you put it, "concocting grand schemes" right here and now. That is why we must dispense of these creatons with due speed and return to our search for..."

The Lady Grey suddenly grew very quiet as her gaze shot up to the motion she'd spied through the hole in the ceiling Ineffable had created earlier in the battle with the copy of Devon Wilcox. The stars had vanished from one moment to another, a dark form simply blotting them out.

It didn't take but a few seconds for the same to happen just outside the window gallery at the chamber's other end, a shadow moving across the moonscape with ominous inevitability. However, the larger viewing area also allowed a clear sight of the cause: a Rikti discus ship in the process of moving into position over the facility.

"...a ship." the Lagy Grey finished tonelessly, unsure of how to proceed further. Even she hadn't expected something like this - not to mention what happened next.

A voice crackled from the loudspeakers of the main console in Communications, a few seconds passing before the frequencies had been matched to present a clip and clear, "Hey guys, look what I found. So, yalls still need a ride?"

It was Acid...

"A few things." Vern remarked with a toothy smirk, "Then again, I know of a few worlds where that's quite normal."

"Don't remind me." M howled in frustration, remembering all too well what the Krayten spoke of, "An election they called that. Yeesh. But in any case, an Ecialist is one who studies Ecialism. It's shorthand - the full designation is Extra Cerebral Integrationalism, basically the combined field of study."

"Like Nexialism." Vern added to give a better visualization, "Except it's not a full-scientific-method study, so it's got some unorthodox methods that more often than not revel things a strictly scientific view just can't see. Almost nobody can deal with it in its full form, so the study tends to result in scientists who know a little about a lot, but not enough about anything specific to carry it to fulfillment."

"Thankfully, that no longer applies to me." M gave a sinister chuckle, "I've got enough memory to ecialistically study the principles of a hundred different infinities now. I dare say it's pretty darn useful..."

"Do not be so sure." the line-like mechanoid warned Dr. West ominously, "As a general rule, the more one tries to hide, the easier it is to make a mistake."

"Thank you for that deep philosophical insight, Mr. I Have An Opinion About Everything.' Vern's eyes rolled as he scrutinized the chairs suspiciously, telling Dr. West, "Yeah, I think I'm going to keep standing. These things just don't work for me."

"Oh, pish-pash." the mechanoid's hands whipped about in the air with a dismissive gesture as the machine sat down, "You're just being too sensitive about your surroundings again. In any case, yes, introductions: you may call me M. I am an Ecialist. And I do apologize for not appearing in person, but I'd more likely than not break something. Hm...I just became a hypocrite, didn't I?"

"My name is Sabre Vern." the quadrupted introduced himself as it came to be his turn, lazily shifting his wings into a more relaxed position, "Cosmoengineer and hyperphysicist..."

"It is not the Rikti We must show concern over," the Lady Grey answered Solid Shot, stretching an arm out ahead of her with noble eloquence, "but threats much more potent."

"We suggest those of you with sensitive dispositions belay these for the time being." she continued, glancing at Essex for a moment from the corner of her eye, "Things are going to 'get rough around here'..."

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

"Technically, it's the automated launch system, but I guess you could count me as the root of all evil again." Acid's voice came across Toy's receiver in a bemused chuckle, "Besides, with Vanguard's goons covering over half the facility now, who else would it be...?"

Vern allowed himself a toothy smirk. He had to admit, this was pretty cool. Usually, humans tended to react to his appearance with either terror or condescension - the latter generally due to his quadrupedal nature. True, he couldn't count Toy and his entourage in this respect, but was certainly able to include a few other people there.

Be that as it may, it was certainly a welcome change of pace. And with company like this, things would probably get even more interesting.

"What a crew." Vern remarked with a greeting nod to Toy Dispenser, then proceeded through the portal, line-bot in tow - and, if warranted, a quick negative to Jake. Upon Experiment's inquiry, he returned with a, "I certainly don't think so. The structure's downtrodden appearance is mostly farce."

"And if something like that does want in," the construct beside him chuckled, "then it'll have to get through me first. My roof."

"Yes, your roof." Vern replied, turning to Ultraviolet Nessie, "Ah, you must be Miss Vanessa Eirene, the cyborg. A pleasure. However, I've got a hunch there isn't time to waste. Daniel's perturbation came through quite clearly. What's the situation...?"

((No idea where he just came from, so I'll let you two figure that one out. ))

Having gripped Dusan's hand to pull him with her, there wasn't any way even the speedy Adjutant would be catching up with the speed-boosted Colonel before they reached the passage to the cells, especially if he stopped to perform a roundhouse kick.

Such a maneuver requited stability too deft to perform while on the run. Salvatore would've been better off with a flying kick. In any case, however, the Colonel was quite prepared for a close encounter, her rifle's energy bayonet thirsting for prey...

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

"Seems we've got trouble." the Sword Sorcerer remarked nonchalantly, turning his helmeted head to the passage that led to the transition cavern, "Apparently, our associates demolishing the teleportation chamber wasn't enough to prevent their reinforcements..."

((Considering it can take weeks for a single day to pass in these things, it's probably better if we just say the timelines were separate, then merge them. ))

"Ph, I haven't got a clue." the Krayten's eyes rolled in their sockets, "You know that in our business, schedules don't exist, so I guess you'll just have to take your chances, heh heh. I'll see you next Sunday then. Vern out..."

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

"I highly doubt Daniel's been befallen by anything of the sort." was the first thing Experiment heard from the Krayten as Vern leaped from a nearby roof in the fashion of a cat, selecting a pile of sturdy rubbish as his descent's midpoint before proceeding to the actual ground, "And no, I don't think that'd be 'cool' at all."

Folding his wings together over his back, the reptilian cast a scrutinizing eye on the portal in the door. As he'd expected - definitely not large enough. Time for plan B.

A silvery rod not half a meter in length and thin as a bone dropped from the roof of the Repliforce's building, clattering onto the ground with as much nose as one would expect. What one would not expect, however, was said rod springing to life and telescopically duplicating sections itself, forming a roughly two-meter-tall spindly semblance of an humanoid shape - or more precisely, a metal stick figure without a head.

Wait, no, it did have a head: a tiny blue lens at the top of its barely decimeter-long neck. Or at least, that's all that could be seen. of it. In contrast, the four-fingered ends of its double-jointed arms and legs showed such care and precision in their design that one might well suspect the architect had simply forgotten the head altogether.

"As I expected." the construct said with a mechanical, yet certainly not monotonous voice, its tone low and gentle, speaking with a male personality. The head turned to the Krayten behind it, inquiring, "You are sure we have the right coordinates?"

A smirking nod from the Krayten elicited something that looked much like a shrug from the spindly mechanoid, "Comme ci, comme ca..."

"Still?" Vern laughed with a toothy grin, "I'd have thought she'd gotten over him a while ago. In any case, no need to worry there - Al's running security for one of our bigger projects right now, so he'll be busy for a while yet. I'm actually headed there myself right now, but I should be done long before this. So unless something comes up in the meantime, count me in."

"Oh, and one more thing." the Krayten remembered, having almost forgotten to ask, "I know that with the Kheldians and all, the situation on your planet's relaxed a bit, but I figured it's better to ask - should I or we be wearing a disguise or is it alright to just come as-is...?"

((Rad/Thermal? Neat. That's a pretty rare build. ))

The switch in positions wasn't a very good idea. With Radiator gaining distance from the Warmaster, even if only for a moment, the battle-hardened Vanguard personnel were give the opportunity to lay a few flashbangs into him as well. Radiator's neutrino bolts went awry more often than not, and the impervium in Vanguard's cutting-edge armor more than sufficed to protect its wearers from the rest.

Indeed, the Vanguard troops didn't suffer in any way from Stormtrooper Syndrome - they were tough, agile, and crack marksmen. Vanguard had taken a page from evil overlords and modified it for their needs: if their operatives couldn't hit a target dead-on at a minimum distance of ten meters (nominal stood at twenty-five), they weren't assigned to field duty. Simple as that - which meant every one of them was a serious threat. Radiator's estimate of a minute or two erred greatly.

To compound on this, he'd also apparently forgotten about the Adepts and their ice bolts, the ultra-sharp shards lethal as any bullet. Combined with cryogenic temperatures, his cauterizations weren't nearly as effective as usual, and many the the rounds he thought would simply melt punched through. If he didn't find cover soon, he wouldn't last twenty seconds.

Worse yet, in the air he presented an optimal target for some heavier weaponry. Two Colonels let loose their own plasma blasts at the offending villain, seeking to simply vaporize the man. However, he could consider himself lucky that's all they launched. Ghost wasn't quite so fortunate.

Debilitated by the flashbangs, his bursts went wide, and vanguard certainly wasn't idle during that time. Soldiers trained their weapons on him as well, blasting at him with one of their rifles' deadliest munitions - Willie Pete rounds.

WP, or White Phosphorous, could burn ridiculously hot if refined correctly, and in the hands of an experienced solider give one man the power to take out a tank. That meant the two or three who'd returned fire at Ghost weren't kidding around.

Even more peril came at him in the form of the Wizards. While some had switched targets, choosing to bombard Radiator with more ice, at least one had taken offense to Ghost's missed bursts and his high resistance to his fellow operatives' assault rifle bursts.

Ghost suddenly felt as if his energy had been sucked through out of him, his reserves downright halved. He felt weak and weary, a large portion of his vitality having zipped right out of his body from one moment to another.

Almost dropping his rifle for the tiniest of instants, he spied the arcane pattern on the floor: the cause of his weariness.

The Wizard had cursed him...!

((Now remember DV, wait for other people to respond as well. ))