Hallucinogen_NA

". . . Something's wrong," said Hallucinogen.

Essex was still hooked into the robot. . . but there was something going on in the next room. . . the others were in danger. . . but. . .

But he couldn't leave Essex. "Phantasm, come," Hal said, and a being formed of light appeared beside him.

Haha. What is it this time?

"You already know," Hal sighed. "I want you to go find out what's going on in the next room. . . while I make sure Essex is safe."

Essex, Essex, Essex. Is she all you think about?

"Please, Phantasm. No banter right now."

Get a sense of humor. Sheesh.

The Phantasm flew out of the room, heading towards the source of the commotion. . .

Ah yes, Megaera. I believe I remember you. Schizophrenias once fought Deathsurge with you nearby. . . Wasn't really RPing in game at the time. Too chicken.

As he waited for Essex, Hal forced himself to stop looking at her and look around the room. He paid particular attention to how tidy it was . . . if the robots were really cleaning this place all day, then it should be spotless. If it wasn't. . . then perhaps they were busy with something else.

"Hey, toots!" Schizo cackled at Essex. "I wanna soda!"

Hal crawled behind Schizo, grabbed his arm, and bit hard.

"You not call her that!"

"OWWWW!"

Meanwhile, Moonscribe was typing again. Ingredients were rising into the air of their own accord and forming into sandwiches. Moonscribe calmly toddled over and snatched on out of the air.

Hallucinogen was standing behind Essex, waiting. Realizing he was about to touch her back, he jumped backwards, blushing slightly. "Wife's Away. . .?" he muttered to himself. What could that mean? One thing he was pretty sure it did mean, though. The robots were in on this, and it had been carefully planned.

Well, I'm on Protector, and I RP! And, ah, Essex over there is. . . and so is Khell. . . that's three people! See? LOTS of RP on Protector! Assuming one of us is on!

. . . Hehe. I talk too much. Oh, and welcome.

Bah! Avalanches of angst are good for you and quite tasty!

. . . But yes, she's right I'm sure. I don't play much on Triumph and Guardian, so I wouldn't know about that.

Hallucinogen promptly disappeared. His Phantasm released him and began blasting at the creature, as Hal channeled radiation into his allies to boost their abilities.

Virtue.

Thank you.

((. . .Okay, forgive me, I'm lost. Curtis, Hal and Essex all went, I believe, down the right hallway. I know you've probably said what's there, but. . . what the hell is there?!? ))

[ QUOTE ]
But...what does that have to do with poor Johnny Sonata?

[/ QUOTE ]

He's answering my challenge. Johnny Sonata is the only entity from the Tortured Victim villain group.

. . . Well, actually I think it's *Johnny Sonata's Soul*. But he obviously knew the answer essentially. Shut me up. XD

Hehe. It's Tortured Victim, I believe, and kudos to anyone who can tell me the one (I think) entity in either game who comes from that group.

But anyway.

NEMESIS: This is obviously inspired by the story arc, and if you don't know what I mean, I ain't telling. Any power set will work, assuming it's vaguely technological. He's really an automaton, but believes he is a real person. Technically this is Nemesis Automatons, but count it as whatever, they're instance only. (This is what you get for asking me. . .ANGST POTENTIAL!)

PARAGON POLICE: Mind/whatever controller. This guy is a Psi-Cop, and tends to take the law into his own hands.

LUDDITES: Martial Arts/whatever scrapper. A monk who has lived since Martin Henri's time, and who studied under him. He is the ultimate embodiment of the Luddite philosophy, but he's just as witless as the rest of them.

Hopefully that gives you a few ideas no one else was going to suggest.

"Yes," Hal said, his Phantasm carrying him forward. "Come on! We're wasting time!"

[ QUOTE ]
". . .Okay," said Hal, relieved that he was not expected to make all the decisions. "Ah. . . Shall we go?" He tugged at her hand tentatively, leading her down the hallway to the right. . . or that was what he intended, anyway. He was torn between wanting to hold her hand, and not wanting to drag her around like some large orange doll.

[/ QUOTE ]

((*pokes Essex with official Essex Brand #2 Pencil*))

". . .Okay," said Hal, relieved that he was not expected to make all the decisions. "Ah. . . Shall we go?" He tugged at her hand tentatively, leading her down the hallway to the right. . . or that was what he intended, anyway. He was torn between wanting to hold her hand, and not wanting to drag her around like some large orange doll.

"I'm on it," said Hal. Blasts of light were shortly firing at the turrets from Hal and his illusion, as the Phantasm dodged the attacks expertly. . .

". . . Are we there yet?" Hal quipped as he flew across the water. Surely they were nearing the island by now. . .

". . . Okay,' said Hal. "Come on, Essex. . . let's go talk to Ian. I mean. . . if you want to. . ." He felt like a jerk leading her around by the hand. He hoped she didn't mind. . . he felt it was very disrespectful.

((I know little about programming, so forgive me. ))

Percy sat at his desk, typing endlessly.

"Dangit!" he muttered. "Won't compile again. There's a bad variable here somewhere. . ."

Yes! There it was. Stupid thing. What value was it returning?

He checked the equation that defined it. . .

41058212025

. . . What? That didn't make any sense. . .

Wait. No, it was returning Y squared, like it was supposed to. Why had he thought those. . . other numbers had been there?

. . . He couldn't even remember what they had been. . .

And in a few seconds, he couldn't remember that anything unusual had ever happened.

((I hope this isn't too early to foreshadow anything. ))

"Okay. . ." Hallucinogen said. He walked over to Linn, leading Essex by the hand, which made him feel rather dizzy.

Ugh. . . he had no idea how to do this sort of thing. . . He wished Essex wasn't watching, so he didn't have to worry about messing up. . . eh, but she would probably not really care.

"Uh, excuse me. . ." Hal said, "but could you tell me any more about the scene of the crime. . . please?"

As Schizo flew back, he spat on the ground. And where the spittle landed, a huge geyser of saliva roared into being, hurtling straight for Ian. With any luck, Ian would at least be too busy throwing up to attack.

Hallucinogen, unfortunately, saw the attack, and covered his mouth abruptly, looking queasy. His Phantasm was hit and vanished, and Hal was dropped unceremoniously to the ground.

"Dangit, Schizo!" he yelled. "Why have you got to HAVE attacks like that?"

The Phantasm had little trouble pulling Hal out of the way of the shotgun blast. It focused now on defending Hal, as he continued to heal himself.

Schizo, meanwhile, was pulling the urchin out of his face. "You suck!" he remarked, shooting backwards past his Coralax, firing thorns in a wide arc as he went to cover himself. Clearly, he couldn't let this guy get too close. . .

Hal gasped. He ran over to Ian along with Essex, but he had already left. . .

"Oh no," he said, looking over at Essex. He couldn't think of what else to say. . . Ian was supposed to have a family. And he couldn't bear to see anyone else robbed of such things, to end up like him. . .

((Schizo would have, but his Coralax is really dim. ))

Schizo attempted to make the punches hit the spikes that ringed his head by swerving it. By the time Ian kicked his side, thorns were sprouting all over his body. Regardless, it had broken his concentration, and he had left Ian's mind.

Meanwhile, the Coralax had realized that nothing had actually hit it, and another urchin flew towards what was presumably the real Ian. . .

((Pokes Soviet. . . if that IS your real name now ))

The Coralax was not particularily bright, and all three Ians hit it squarely on the head. Dazed, it attempted to throw a large sea urchin at one of the three.

But Schizo had closed in on Ian's mind, and a few copies weren't going to fool him. Ian would feel a terrible force closing in on him like a vice, trying to crush his sanity to dust. . .