Ineffable

The Man of Constant Sorrow Peered into the Abyss, and He Realized that the Abyss Peered back at Him.

He Fell.

And from the Abyss, Mirroring His Fall, Came Something Grand and Majestic...

A Rising Light Within the Darkness. A Wave Drawing in the Tide.

And so the Man Passed, and on His Way, he Spoketh but One Word.

"Tag."

Igor never emerged from the materials area. Nobody ever found out WHAT exactly had happened. There were no signs of struggle, and only a few basic materials were missing.

The only sign he had ever been there was the faint scent of Formaldahyde that would never fade away.

Oh. What a relief. Oh god. Whew. That was close. Not what I thought it was. Good.

*ahem*

People assume violence can POTENTIALLY happen in the Pocket D mainly for two reasons:

A: No power supression.

B: DJ Zero is the one keeping the Peace. In theory, if he goes down, the party is over and everyone can feel free to recreate the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and everything can go straight to hell in a handbasket.

Keep in mind, it is generally assumed DJ Zero is more like a god than an actual person. Taking him out or incapacitating him is about as impossible as getting beaten to death with your own skull.

Marty didn't perceive any of that. He perceived being disarmed and slammed into the ceiling by one of the monsters.

The surface he was slowly being ground into grew gory tendrils, and teeth that slowly dug into his body. The room was EATING him...

Fortunately, that's about when the Tombstone kicked in full-gear.

Marty suddenly fell from the ceiling, landing with a hard thud on both feet, both blades in hand again. They had simply reappeared in his hands. The immobilizing waves of gravitational force simply blew right past Marty with no obvious effect, which meant he probably had shielding that protected him from such effects. Or at least enough shielding to prevent from being completely neutered by just one or even four rapid applications of any one effect.

He took two actions.

He leveled one of his two swords at Bladewing, and the tip of the blade glowed briefly before firing a Power Burst at the man. His other sword whirled through the air as Marty threw the weapon at Danger.

((Am I free to assume that...

[ QUOTE ]
Aside from the standard fare of no overpowered characters and courtesy rules the following applies

[/ QUOTE ]

...that rule was tossed out the window when Marty was auto-hit auto-held through intergration and practiced brawler? ))

Experiment caught the hitman completely by surprise, his rifle still lowered. the man was knocked flat on his back, clawing at the negative energies swirling around his face while blood from an obviously broken nose dribbled on the ground.

The five button men hadn't been quite as taken as their lieutenant. Their guns were raised and their fingers had already pulled the triggers.

They did not, however, expect an attack from below. Four of the bullet sprays went wide, peppering the ground with bullets and blasting sections of the roof's stone wall away. Only one of the button men kept firm, firing a barrage of bullets at Experiment, albeit very shakilly.

The only one who HADN'T actually been surprised was the Underboss. With ferocious strength, he simply stepped out of the patch of dark tendrils, ripping apart any that tried to immobilize him with sheer muscle power.

"You're DEAD, cape." He snarled, raising a hand and conjuring a gravitational singularity nearby. Fortunately, he hadn't tried to take any of the Tombstone pills. Yet. They will still firmly grasped in his other hand.

-----

((Build has 'handed over the reigns,' so to speak.

Njoi.))

Marty didn't hear Bladewing's response.

He didn't hear much of anything that was said right about then.

The world was changing...

The room was suddenly made of GORE. The table before him was compiled of bones fused together with caked blood. The air smelled of rot and decay. The light was flickering slowly. On, off, on, off, on, off...

And their were people. People Marty knew. They wern't good people. As a matter of fact, they were the most horrible people he knew. They were his worst fears incarnate. They had simply dropped in and seemingly devoured everybody in the room mid-sentence, meeting zero resistance in the process. They were all perverted and horribly demented visions with claws and fangs, with gaping mouths filled with needle-sharp teeth. Shadows seemed to ooze from their every pore.

It was if the world had suddenly turned into his own personal and private hell. And in a way, it had. Marty felt a sudden surge of something he had not felt for a very long time.

Fear.

It was not something he was accustomed to. He was NEVER afraid. Not even of death. Why should THESE frighten him?

Yet the visions did frighten him. An effect of the drug that was now completely fused with his body.

The Fears closed in.

-----

Of course, all of that was simply inside of Marty's head. Outside of that, everything was groovy.

Some of the gathered may have noticed Marty was twitching and shuddering. His eyes had become the size of dinner plates almost instantly. Probably a side effect of the caffeine.

There was a whisper.

"I'm not going down without a fight. No. NO. I'll kill you all..."

And then, Marty literally sprang into action. He drew both his blades and leapt for the turned Bladewing at lightning speed, seeking to impale him with both blades before the man could react.

And MUCH more loudy this time, he shouted...

"I'LL KILL YOU!

The Nalgene bottle of Tombstone had rolled off the table by now, and was resting rather innocently against one of the table's legs.

-----

Within Marty's body, there were several extremely rapid changes occuring.

Marty was already a considerably powerful super-being. He was proficient in the use of twin blades or dual swords as some called the style, and he could regenerate from wounds extremely quickly.

Tombstone did not really care about either of those talents. It induced super powers. It didn't enhance them.

So ignoring those, the drug went to work on doing exactly what it was designed to do.

It started to cause a series of temporary mutations throughout Marty's body. It began to give him new powers to use along with his current ones...

Ineffable was hit by the drone's attack. He had appeared at exactly point blank range. Literally zero distance between himself and the drone. At that range, even Synapse wouldn't have been able to dodge.

Then Ineffable vanished.

To reappear right on TOP of the drone, fists coming down in a pendulum motion to clock the thing in the face and obliterate it. Again, at point blank range. The drone, having just proven it was capable of dealing with surprises, could probably rotate an arm and spare another energy bolt for the brute.

.........Who would predictably do the same thing, over and over again until the drone was eventually slag.

If the drone could turn on a dime though, it could dodge the brute entirely and knock him away. Whether it had advanced or powerful enough aerial navigation protocols remained to be seen.

Marty noticed the edge of his vision was begining to blur...

It was fairly fitting he had been talking about Wanton Destruction.

The members of the Family group visibly relaxed as they saw Experiment's expression. Hands were still on their weapons, but in a much more lax way.

"Well, as I was sayin, they're cheap. A cupa Formyuluh Thirteen would cost ya over 25 grand, and get ya small results. I'll sell ya this whole bottle with its 75 pills for just 10 grand." The Underboss said.

He was trying to rip Experiment off. He had gotten five bottles of the stuff earlier for just that much. Rumors had it that the original wave had been entirely free. The Underboss doubted that, but there was probably some truth to the rumor.

"And I'd be much appreciatin if ya would pay that to my associate here." He added, gesturing for the hitman to take a few steps forward. "I'll rollya the bottle. Not to be disrespectin, but we have been crossed cruelly by your kind before."

The Underboss smiled innocently. The thoughts of a prospective buyer in his mind.

"Why, it grants super-powers if ya don' already ave em, and if ya do, it enhances what ya already got. Also makes ya faster an stronger an all the bells and whistles. I havn't had the chance to test it out meself, but I've seen people juicin up on it. They become walking engines of destruction, I tell ya. Least until the stuff wears off. Three pills lasts about half an owah."

He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a clear nalgene bottle filled with dozens of dark grey pills. The bottle had an Empowerment Symbol plastered onto it, and below that, an almost cartoonish Tombstone that radiated with purple light.

"An as I said, it's cheap." The Underboss said, a huge smile on his face. His companions were rather tense, however. All of them had hands on their weapons.

((No problems here. Just lemme make a repost of that event.))

"Hey Cape!" Shouted a voice behind Experiment 2.0, A.K.A. Mender Ballard.

It appeared to be a small group of Family. The criminal organization had flourishing with the downfall of Paragon as more and more young twenty-something men desperately looked for a way to stay suave. The Family was often the answer to all their problems.

This appeared to be a standard group of them. Five button men, a hitman, and an Underboss.

"Want some o' tha newest goods? We got cheap Tombstone."

((It's open. Be warned, it's moving REALLY FREAKING FAST.

And this time it's not even my fault. >.&gt)

((I think taking a few hits in return for completely destroying your opponent is a fair trade.

Unless it manages to dodge. >.&gt)

The Tomb Freak screamed bloody murder, ripping the molten piece of slag off his neck. He kept on screaming after that anyway, roaring on and on for a full eight minutes about monsters and demons and nightmares, all the while blasting everything around him with explosive power.

Then something clicked.

The streams of fire and explosive force the Tomb Freak was currently eminating sputtered out. His pit-black eyes slowly faded back to their normal hazel color, and the fire on his arms went out, leaving only smoke trails behind.

The Freak, now normal again, stood perfectly still, as if he was paralyzed. He didn't move a muscle for almost a minute.

Then he blinked. Twice.

"[censored] wierd nightmare..." He muttered, straightening himself. "Where the hell am..." Then the Freak noticed his obliterated and char broiled surroundings.

His mouth formed a perfect O.

Little did he know that three dozen other people in the city were still rampaging around in almost the same state he had been in. (Three of which happened to be heroes.) He had taken three Tombstone pills, and had been in a ballistic state for a full half hour. Many of the other users had taken much more than he.

It would be interesting to find out what would happen should the entire villain, hero, and various population be given full access to these new drugs.

-----

A small tub boat slowly pulled up to the shoreline of Randall's Ruins. Several Ink men leapt off and quickly established a small perimeter.

Three Death's Heads emerged from the tub boat after a few minutes. They were followed by several Dragon enforcers, hefting at least ten green, unmarked reinforced nalgene crates.

The group of Tsoo-and their Cargo-Headed for the nearby ridge. And when they reached the top, they saw the villain base...

((A visual discription would be nice here, if possible.))

((I can't move until we have a set location for the base. Take your time though. ))

((Yes, I'd still like to know who the official 'leader' of this base is.))

Ineffable had vanished not a moment after his punch connected, and once more, he rematerialized in front of a drone. This one being the undamaged one.

As he reappeared, Ineffable brought both hands about in an expansive bear-hug manuver. He was trying to grab onto and envelope the drone and completely obliterate it in one go. The drone would find this harder to dodge, even with its evasive manuvers, as Ineffable had literally appeared at point blank range and was filling quite a lot of space with his body.

((I've only made five posts! With a minium of four posts in between and an average of at least six posts!

It's not my fault! >.&gt)

The dagger combusted and melted to slag before it hit the Tomb Freak. Of course, Molten pieces of slag were still harmful. The only reason the last dagger had been ineffective was because the Tomb Freak had simply zipped around it. With his Greater Fire Sword embedded in Marty, dodging was not an option.

The molten metal smacked onto the Freak's neck and burned.

There was a gigantic roar that seemed to be eminated by multiple layers of voices, each with a different pitch, all of which reverberated to be heard from over a mile away. The Tomb Freak, now completely enraged, erupted in an Inferno of fire and explosive force.

The ability being displayed by this Freak here was completely unprecedented. He was exceeded most blasters and brutes in terms of offensive firepower. (Literally.) Yet strangely, this Freak didn't seem to have earned his metal yet. No Excelsior Feeders were attached to his body and he hadn't received any cybernetic neural implants yet. So what was currently boosting his abilities to such a high level?

((For now, let's just call it a 'Tomb Freak.'

The knife Marty had thrown lay as a molten pile of slag back on the street.

"YOU WON'T KILL ME MONSTER! I'M YOUR BETTER! I'LL CLENSE THE WORLD OF YOUR KIND! YOU'LL CEASE TO HAUNT MY OR ANYONE ELSES' DREAMS! DIE!" The Tomb Freak roared, zipping around the corner at unbelievable speed. The Freak raised an arm...

And a fire sword materialized. A Greater Fire sword than normal appeared in the Freak's hand, like a giant elongated spear, and it descended upon Marty with lightning speed.

-----

"Master Tub Ci. You called for me?" The Death's Head enforcer asked smoothly.

As smoothly as he possibly could. When he was surrounded by over 30 of the Arch-Villain's personal guard. And as smoothly as he possibly could, because he noticed that Tub Ci was staring at a point in space somewhere around the enforcer's right ear. Like there was something standing right behind him that only Tub Ci could see.

"Yes..." The Arch-villain whispered. "These new drugs...Are bigger than anything I have imagined...We must spread them and their influence." His eyes suddenly snapped onto the Death's Head's eyes. "Go to the Arachnos main base. Bring a small group with you, request an audiance with whoever is currently in charge. I want Tombstone, Grave Mist, and Ghost Essence available for purchase by villains from their contacts and standard vendors."

"Very wise master Tub Ci." The Death's Head said, barely recovering from stuttering.

Tub Ci's eyes were black pits...

He left the room a few minutes later, slightly disturbed. Tub Ci spent the next five minutes staring at random areas of the ceiling.

"Bring me more." He said suddenly.

-----

"Construct will require some time to establish bulk teleporter apparatus, and a few more to establish a secure network. Construct estimates that it shall require six hours to work. Construct will need five effecient assistants. Construct requests you aquire these assistants."

The Ink man hated how that thing kept referring to itself in that manner. And the thing was too PRECISE. All of its movements were flawless and perfectly cordinated. That was to be expected, but still...

He set off to get some assistants. Good ones, at that. He didn't want that automaton or whatever the hell it was around any longer than necessary.

That's when a blazing ball of fire rushed past Marty's head, crashing into a nearby building, exploding, and causing the entire structure to collapse.

"MONSTER! MONSTER! I'LL KILL YOU! YOU'LL DIE! GET OUT OF MY HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAD!"

The thrower of the fireball looked to be a relatively normal Freak Chopper. The only immediate visual difference being that both his arms were ablaze, his eyes were black pits, and no Freakshow moved THAT fast...

Because the Chopper had just closed the fifty yard distance between him and Marty and was literally spitting fire and throwing burning liquid at him.

-----

"Why did you call us back? It's too early for the next batch." The Ink man to the right scowled.

The figure in the darkness spoke. "It's getting too risky to directly do business for you. All it takes is for one of you or your assistants to be captured and Pantheon Studio's location will be revealed, sooner or later. Most likely sooner. From now on, shipments of Tomb Stone, Grave Mist, and Ghost Essence will be made via instantaneous transportation."

"And how do you expect us to handle THAT?" The Ink man on the left asked in a frustrated voice. "We use MAGIC. We do use some technology for our things such as rage, (which you are putting out FAST, by the way) but nothing on the scale of teleportation."

"Then you'll be glad to hear that Pantheon Studios is willing to help you there." Said the dry voice of the shadowy figure. He waved at something behind him.

There was a series of heavy metalic footsteps.

"Construct extends greetings." Said an artificial and monotone voice. "Construct shall accompany you to your main base of operations and establish a secure and exclusive teleportation network."

"What he said." The dark figure said. "Very self explanatory."

"A teleportation system?" The Ink man on the right hissed. "That might have been useful twenty years ago. Now without active mediporters and teleport systems, any incoming or outgoing teleports will light up our base like a beacon."

"And what would stop the teleport system from being hijacked?" The Ink man on the left asked.

"Construct offers its assurance that tracing or identifying the signs of teleportation will be difficult. Construct also ensures business partners that the teleport network in question will be purely bulk. Construct states that organics cannot be transmitted."

"What he said." The dark figure said once more. Was there a trace of annoyance in his voice?

The Ink men gave the newcomer a good look-over.

".....Very well." The Ink man on the right said.

"That concludes our business here for today, and all days after today." The dry voice of the dark figure said. "You may go."

((.....What just happened?

No matter, I have plenty more NPCs to burn through.))

The Family lay moaning on the ground. The Underboss had the vague feeling he had just been shanghaied.

"Boss..." One of the buttonmen managed to mutter. "You're a real putz..."

Silence reigned.

-----

Of course, that group of Family hadn't been the only group with the new drugs. The Tsoo had been trading with the shadowy figure for quite some time now, and been distributing it amongst the masses.

Most of the villain groups were too smart to buy the stuff off of anyone. Even the Hellions backed down. They prefered to stick with their own brand of suicide. The Family, normally the enemy of the Tsoo, was eager enough to buy.

So were the Freakshow...

-----

"Come again." The Tsoo Sorcer said, tipping his straw hat slightly before going back down the alley.

The Freakshow Enforcer stared at the Nalgene bottle he now held in his good hand.

"Tomb Stone, eh?" He said. "Catchy. Alright n00b, juice up on this." He said, thrusting the bottle into the hands of his companion, a Freak Chopper.

"Aw man, no way. What does that [censored] even do?" The Chopper whined. He was almost brand new to the group, he hadn't even earned his 'metal' yet.

The Enforcer grinned a nasty grin.

"We'll be findin out won't we? Come on ya [censored]. Nothing Ventured." He waved the bottle in front of the Chopper's face, the pills inside clinking softly against the nalgene.

"What's that symbol anyway?" The Chopper asked, stalling for time.

"Enpowerment Symbol dummy. Duh. TAKE IT."

The Chopper, figuring the Enforcer would never get over it if he outright refused, reached for the bottle. After all, he did have one point. Nothing ventured...

He swallowed three pills.

"Tastes like blood." He said.

"Feel anythin?" The Enforcer asked anxiously.

The Chopper squinted both eyes.

"Eh. Vision is a little fuzzy."

"That's it?"

"Yea." The Chopper looked slightly uncomfortable now. "Funny. The sun is moving really fast."

"What?" The Enforcer said, looking at the sky. The sun hung there, partially obscured by clouds. It was moving at its regular pace.

"Yea. It's like, gone up and down...Five times now...And the shadows be moving funny..." The Chopper said all of this is a dreamy voice.

The Enforcer raised an eyebrow.

"Say...Where've ya gone?" The Chopper asked suddenly.

"What do ya mean? I'm right here n00b." The Enforcer snarled.

"Yo! Where'd ya go!" The Chopper asked.

Then his eyes widened. The Chopper took several steps back until he hit the wall. His lips trembled.

"You ok man?" The Enforcer asked, taking a step forward.

GET AWAY FROM MEEEEEEEEEEEEE! The Chopper screamed. MONSTERS! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! GET AWAY! GET AWAY! I'LL KILL YA! The man had slumped down, an he had curled into a trembling ball.

The Enforcer had indeed backed away a few steps. "Dude, rela-"

"NONONONONO I'D RATHER DIE! I'LL KILL YOU FIRST! I'LL KILL YOU FIRST! The Chopper had suddenly sprung into an upright position, and he was glaring at the enforcer. His eyes had turned black.

The Enforcer, who was two seconds away from bolting, meeped a single question.

"..........Dude?"

There was an explosion. The entire alleyway filled with fire which rolled out and incinerated everything in its path. In the middle of the storm, the Chopper screamed with rage.

The storm of fire faded, and the Chopper leapt over the charred remains of a dumpster, screaming all the while. He ran down the street in a straight line, and all the while, his hands and arms were alight with fire. He swung them wildly, throwing streams of burning liquid in every direction.

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE! He screamed at the air. There was nobody around to listen.

Back in what was left of the alley, the Enforcer was little more than a sack of crispy fat.

One Week Ago, Pantheon Studios, Paragon City, Location Unknown

It was a dark room. One thing that struck was just HOW dark it was. There were many light fixtures that were obviously capable of functioning, which meant they were kept off.

The room was a perfect cube around 20 by 20 yards and 20 tall. The floor was made of fine white marble, with a flawless surface. The walls appeared to be made of some black panneled material, with each panel overlapping the one directly below it, giving the impression that the entire wall was made of dark scales. Only the occasional silvery bolt or weld here and there interupted the pattern. The lights previously mentioned were all stage lights. These were in the corners of the floor and ceiling, obviously meant to illuminate the entire room perfectly when on.

The entire room was bare of any furnishing, except for one piece. A fifteen foot tall statue made of plain grey stone stood in the middle of the room. It was of Minerva, the Greek Goddess of crafts, poetry and wisdom. She held both her hands aloft, clutching an orb within them. The orb, unlike the rest of the statue, was made of gold. There was a single spotlight which shone down on the statue, providing the only illumination for the entire room.

There were two entrances and exits to the room. The first looked like a rather ordinary warehouse door. It could have been a door for any given warehouse in Paragon city.

The second was a corridor which ended in complete darkness. There was not enough light to see down it. There was, however, just enough light that trickled in to make out a white sign with golden lettering which hung from the ceiling of the passage. It read,

Welcome to Pantheon Studios.

This room was full of memories. Most of them fit into two catagories. Hope and Saddness. This place had once thrived. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people had used to frequent this place. And now...It was just...Dead. Only ghosts bothered to come here any more.

Well, that was just a metaphore. Currently, there was really only one thing in the room that could be classified as a ghost. And even then, it was iffy.

-----

The warehouse-esque doors opened. A pair of eyes peered in cautiously. The place fit the description.

Not even pausing to question why the inside of the building was several times larger than the outside, the two Tsoo Green Ink men stepped onto the marble floor of the room. After giving the room a quick look-over with their eyes, they advanced towards the base of the statue, stopping short a few feet.

"Welcome." Said an incredibly dry voice devoid of any emotion from directly behind them.

The Ink Men spun around. They had very fine senses, being trained in many arts and receiving boosts from their magical tatoos, but somehow, someone had managed to sneak up on them absolutely undetected. It would have had to be in the corner of the room to do so, but they had already view the corners as they came in.

The figure stood just beyond the ring of light that lit up the statue, close enough for only his general outline to be visible. He was an extremely tall man, who was possibly wearing a coat. It was somewhat hard to tell, because he was also wearing a cape. He appeared to have long hair. Beyond that, there were no obvious discernable features.

"Who are you?" The Ink man on the right asked.

"Your new Business partner. Or rather, Tub Ci's new Business partner. I take it you are here on his behalf?"

The Ink men blinked.

"Yes." The one on the right managed. "We were given instructions to come to this location and handle negotiations with the property owners concerning certain...Contraband."

"The owners either died or went insane long ago." The figure said in his dry voice, as still as a statue in the darkness. "You may consider me a representative of them if you wish. Regardless, I am the one you need to talk to if you wish to negotiate matters regarding..." There was a short pause, almost as if the figure was tasting the word on his lips, as though it were unfamilier to him. "...Contraband."

The Ink man on the left nodded slightly. The one on the right spoke. "We have been informed that you have something...New." He said. "Tub Ci says we should trust you. Or at least we should trust whoever it is who we'd be meeting. What exactly do you have for us?"

"What I have, gentlemen..." Said the figure, who had begun to move. He appeared to be reaching with an arm into thin air. "...Is the replacement for Rage. More potent then formula 13. More empowering than the Freakshow's Excelsior. I present to you..."

The figure clenched his fist in the darkness. With a blur, he suddenly thrust something into the faces' of the Ink men that hadn't been there before. The silvery and rectangular shape of a briefcase, and the clicking noise that signified it was being opened.

And indeed, that was what it was, and it was being opened.

Within were three items of interest. The first was a clear Nalgene bottle filled with dark grey pills. A sticker was attached to the front, which resembled an empowerment symbol. Beneath this symbol was a small Tomb Stone.

The second was a transparent inhaler filled with a dark purplish/grey tinted air. Another Empowerment Symbol Sticker, only this one had a picture of streaming purple mist spewing out of a mausoleum door.

The final item was another nalgene bottle, only this was filled with a black almost oilly liquid. A Black Enpowerment Symbol Sticker adorned this one, and the picture beneath was that of Will o' Wisp style ghost that appeared to be bleeding black ooze from several cuts and gashes.

"Tomb Stone, Grave Mist, and Ghost Essence." Said the figure holding the case before the Ink men. "And no, those are not onomatopoeias."

The Ink men gave the three items a good eyeball. They were not impressed.

"What does it do?" Asked the one of the left, keeping his voice calm.

"All of them do the exact same thing." The figure said. "The only difference is in delivery. But to answer the question...They all grant super powers, increase strength, speed, reaction time, and senses."

"This is ridiculous." The one of the right spat. "You drag us here to show us some ridiculous [censored] crap in jars and tell us they grant super powers. For all we know, those pills could just be arsenic and baby powder with food coloring."

"I thought this might happen." Said the figure, his voice still dry. "And you'll be happy to know that the first batch is free. You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain by accepting these from Pantheon Studios. It will put the Tsoo on the top of the foodchain."

The Ink men glanced at each other. Absolutely free? The whole thing sounded like complete crap. But why bother going to this length? Still, the dark figure had a point. There would be no real harm in taking it. And if it really was crap, well...Now they knew where the figure liked to hang out.

"Fine." The Ink man on the right said. "We'll take it."

"What are the side effects?" The one of the left asked as he took the briefcase from the dark figure's hands.

"Now now. That would be telling." The figure in the darkness said. "You'll see. I'll be waiting right here once you're done with that."

The Ink men left.

-----

Two days later.

"Look what the cat dragged in." The dark figured said. If it wern't for his dry emotionless voice, it was almost possible to imagine it as a mocking one.

The two Ink men were back. With three Death's Heads Tsoo enforcers.

"I take it you are satisfied?" The dark figure asked.

"Surprisingly...Against all expectations...Yes." The Ink man on the right replied. "We want more. LOTS more."

"Ask and you shall receive." The dark figure said. It reached out with a hand, and clenched his fist.

Three plain, unmarked nalgene mold crates faded into view.

"That there is free, as promised." The dark figure said. "Take it and go. Come back when you need more. Be aware...Next time there will be more available. But it will also have a price attached."

"Why even bother with a middleman?" The Ink man on the left asked with a small laugh. "You could make a killing with this."

"That's not the intention." The dark figure snapped. There was almost a hint of anger in the voice, although it still remained insanely dry.

"You do realize that all we need to do is analyze what you're giving us now and replicate it for ourselves, and then you get screwed over?" The Ink man on the right asked in a smug voice as the Death's Heads moved for the crates.

"Good luck with that." The figure said, voice as dry as ever again. "Tell your next of kin to inform his next of kin to inform me you have made some progress."

That odd remark ended the conversation. There must have been more Tsoo outside, because the Death's Heads all carried one box out a time. Once all were gone, they did not reenter.

"One last question..." The Ink man on the left asked in a somewhat musing voice. "What are the side effects SUPPOSED to be?"

"Oh dear me." The dry voice said. "Am I correct in assuming Tub Ci sampled all of what I gave you last time?"

"Yes. He's been somewhat...Withdrawn...Since then. He's tripled his personal guard and he always insists of being as close to the corner of any room he's in at all times." The Ink man on the left replied.

"And a bit more jumpy." The right one added. "He looks nervous. Always glancing over the entire place with his eyes. Like he's watching for something."

"Ah." The dark figure uttered. "Well, Tub Ci is a very clear-headed fellow. Be warned that the normal reaction is much much more...Drastic than what he is currently experiencing."

There was an akward pause.

"A pleasure." The Ink man on the right said, and then the two Tsoo left.

-----

Current Times

"Hey Cape!" Shouted a voice behind Experiment 2.0, A.K.A. Mender Ballard.

It appeared to be a small group of Family. The criminal organization had flourishing with the downfall of Paragon as more and more young twenty-something men desperately looked for a way to stay suave. The Family was often the answer to all their problems.

This appeared to be a standard group of them. Five button men, a hitman, and an Underboss.

"Want some o' tha newest goods? We got cheap Grave Stone."

Igor searched through the materials in the equipment and grumbled to himself.

Everything was so STANDARD. How was he supposed to make revolutionary tech out of this junk?

That wasn't to say the equipment available to him wasn't advanced. It could have been Alien technology and he would have snubbed it, mainly because all Igors were essentially Comical Inventors. They put something together with a purpose, let the actual construction be damned, and prayed it worked. 99.99% of the time, what they made worked.

Existence is Powered by Irony.

The only true limit to what an Igor could create came in the form of what they imagined whatever it was they wanted to make needed to function. If an Igor imagined that a paper cup needed the same parts as a Quantum Fusion Reactor, he or she would have to collect all the parts needed to build a Quantum Fusion Reactor in order to make that paper cup. (This has happened, oddly enough. Upon finishing, the Igor in question said, 'Oh, tho THATH what it lookth like...)

Right at the moment, Igor was trying to build something special. It was a very common and overly simple device, only complex in thought, with a few minor alterations. Igor thought it was complex, hence, he was going to need some exotic materials to complete what he had in mind. And what was available simply wasn't going to cut it.

So he did the next best thing. Igor started taking something shiny here, something cylindrical there, and with them, began to make the materials he needed. This process would take some time, but when he finished...

Ineffable had vanished the moment the assault bot was held in its little cage, and as such, he was free to react once the other two drones were discovered.

Ineffable popped out of thin air right in front of one of the retreating drones, throwing a destructive punch right at its body as he appeared. He was also extremely transparent now, as he was stealthed, and thereby impossible to see from a distance. He used this in the hope that any additional drones/scouts/long range scanners wouldn't pick him up wrecking these drones. Which was unlikely, but it never hurt to hope.