Khellendrosiic

"Danger....Will Robinson...." Solid sighed before he collapsed to the ground in a tangle of armor and metallic bones.

************************************************

"And a how-de-do to you too, Kreigg, was it?" asked Toy Dispenser as he flew up next to Kreigg as the alien fell through the air.

"You're just the alien I was looking for," he said as a force field formed around Kreigg. "And once you hit the ground, let's talk."

Hopefully, the detention field would keep Kreigg from any major damage.

*************************************************

"It is indeed time," said yet another person who stepped out from behind Brightflame. "A time long since in coming, I believe."

With both arms crossed and one eye open underneath his backwards facing baseball cap, the Conductor of Souls didn't look like an extrordinary hero at all. Just another of those relatively faceless hundreds that made up the bulk of the hero population. Then again, like Brightflame, this was on purpose.

"It is high time for the Rikti to be judged," Conductor said. "We shall assist you in this task, but we must move quickly."

"HOW DID YOU ALL FIT BEHIND HIM!?!" Wielder asked as he looked at Conductor and Truefeather in confusion. "I CAN UNDERSTAND THE WOMAN FITTING BACK THERE! BUT TWO OF YOU!?!"

"That's not of any importance," Conductor said, turning his head to face the others while still standing off to one side.

*************************************************

[A message from the High Command, Warmaster,] said an aide as Chertak sat down in the chair at the head of the press table. [Commander Chezret and his command are being relocated to our position to strengthen it against possible retaliations.]

[Good, good,] Chertak replied as he took off his helmet and laid it on the table next to him. [Has High Command approved of my plan?]

[They said they are discussing it, Warmaster.]

[Huh,] Chertak snorted. [They shall need to hurry up then. Our time is almost past.]

There was a dim flash of light in the void of space surrounding earth. A chunk of metal and circuitry floated there, several massive runes inscribed on its hull. As the four runes started lighting up, one after the other, the other satellite's in the horrendously expensive orbital defense grid started to do the same.

Devices unused since they had been shot up into space groaned soundlessly as panels and slots opened up, transforming the small chunk of metal into a small chunk of alternating laser or missile death. So far they hadn't found the target they were searching for, but commands from the ground had ordered their activation. Hopefully this display of force would fool the enemy into revealing himself prematurely.

************************************************

With a horrible metallic grinding noise, Engine's arms were pulled from their sockets, sending the assassin stumbling back. But the important fact was that it stumbled instead of falling right over. Apparently, the Engine had lied about how long it would take to move. In reality, however, the psionic disruptor had shorted itself out in a burst of energy that immidiately broke whatever psychic hold the machine was under. Unforetunately, this really wouldn't work again, seeing as how the sensitive device was now broken beyond repair.

But the Ivory Engine was still unprepared for the sudden furniture assault and was hit several times. One enterprising chair even slammed right into the head of its head, breaking off a piece of the blank face and revealing a glowing red diode that rapidly swiveled back and forth as it tracked Rosie's movements.

The next object that was hurled was expertly kicked away as the Engine ducked, shifted its balance, and punted the chunk of desk at Rosie.

"Operational parameters exceeded," the Ivory Engine said as Cortianna's fire surge caught the assassin full in the face, blinding it to the next chair that almost knocked it to the ground. "Termination shall resume once this unit has finished repairs."

And then the Engine was gone. No pop, no flash of light; just gone.

************************************************** *

The Atomic Firecracker snapped his cell phone shut and tossed it to one of his aides. The zombie clumsily caught it and managed not to drop the phone.

"The Engine has failed," Atomic said as he looked up at one of the massive Damnwolves. "Inform your brothers that the attack may commence."

The mutant growled something that might have been "For the glory of the Overmagus," if it hadn't been badly mangled by a mouth not designed for talking.

Communicating telepathically with its brothers, the Damnwolf passed along the Commander's words to the other mutants waiting behind the walls of darkness.

With a howling that could be heard from all the way in the Sacred Hall, where most of the rebels were evacuating from, the Damnwolves placed at the other five exits surged forward, salivating at the prospect of blood and battle.

"Now we get to see if your program is as cooked up as you think it is," Atomic said to a nervous looking human clad in a dirty labcoat. "If it is, I forsee great things in your future, Dr. St. John-Smythe."

************************************************

Mr. Stegall dodged away from the phantoms contemptuously and waved the soldiers forward.

As the men, undead, and robots opened fire on the illusions, the mad school teacher walked back to his dropship. He pulled out a cell phone and hit the speed dial for 1.

"I got the purple one," he said as soon as the phone was picked up. "But the green one escaped. Do you want me to pursue?"

"What direction did they go?" asked the raspy voice on the other side.

"Toward the Oranbegans," Mr. Stegall answered. "And there was just the one. I placed the other in permanent detention."

"Not with those two," the voice replied. "They are as slippery as eels. But call off the chase for now. I shall inform the God Mage of what he shall do about them."

"Very well," Mr. Stegall said as the line was cut from the other end.

Shutting his phone with a snap, Mr. Stegall cackled quietly to himself and continued walking toward the dropship.

************************************************

"An enemy approaches us!" wailed a Spectral Daemon to its coven-brother.

"Approaching us it is!" the second daemon replied. "We must inform the Guardians!"

The two nearly invisible daemons quickly flew down from their position in the upper atmosphere and made their way toward the nearest Oranbegan outpost.

"[censored]....[censored]....[censored]....[censored]...." Solid Shot muttered as he limped toward Portal Court and the newly risen War Wall, dragging the stump of his right foot behind him. "[censored] Rikti. [censored] giant swords. [censored] aliens."

A lone Rikti Drone shot out of a window leading into the alleyway that Solid was limping down and spotted him at about the same time he saw it. Solid's gun was up and firing at about the same time that the Drone fired, as well.

Now, due to massive amounts of combat damage sustained from an entire Rikti patrol he had sumbled upon, Solid was held up by little more than spit and prayer at the moment. Of course, all the broken systems that didn't need powering meant that his time sense could be amped up constantly, as well as the output from his electrical attacks. This meant that in the half a second that it took for his gun to come up, Solid had scanned, identified, and took aim at every single weak spot that that Drone had.

All of this resulted in one very dead Rikti warmachine hitting the ground and the exploding while its plasma bolt just barely missed Solid's head.

Ignoring his brush with death, Solid limped over to the Drone and grabbed a piece of alien metal. Stabbing it into his right leg worked to divert the flow of the fusion flames that went through his jet boots. Stomping the stump on the ground once to make sure it didn't come out, Solid lit his thrusters and leapt into the air. His flying was a bit erratic but he didn't hit anything, which was all that mattered.

"THE CAVALRY HAS ARRIVED!" Solid shouted out on the general band, which for him was somehow not jammed.

He followed up this announcement by landing behind a Rikti hovertank, sliding underneath it for a few seconds, and then coming back out the other side. The tank exploded a second later, tossing the squad of soldiers around it all over the place.

"I could use a door!" Solid shouted, sounding a bit panicked, as the Rikti began to react to his presense and he needed to focus more and more on dodging plasma blasts rather than shooting.

*************************************************

"WHERE AM I NEEDED!?!" Wielder asked in his customary bellow. "FOR WHERE EVER THERE IS EVIL, THERE SHALL BE A FIGHT FOR JUSTICE! BUT IT HELPS IF ONE KNOWS WHERE TO BEGIN THE FIGHT!"

*************************************************

"Try not to get yourself killed," Prototype Twilight said grimly as he blasted a bolt of darkness at a Rikti soldier, blinding the alien long enough for him to drain some of its life and transfer that health to Delphi and Regina.

************************************************** *

"Round up the boys," Toy Dispenser said into his wrist communicator as he stood on one of Grandville's watchtowers, watching the half-hearted recovery effort being waged to save any people trapped under the rubble of Spider Tower.

"The Rikti [censored] brought the war here and now we're going to bring it back to them."

[ QUOTE ]
I, personally, would recommend people who can write essay-long posts with ease. However, seeing as how that seems to be a rarity in this day and age, four paragraph-posters will do.

Hell, even I am not included in that.

[/ QUOTE ]

*looks at Billyboy*

*looks at the success of SH101*

*blinks*

OOC: Wait a second. You were in space the whole time or was that just fancy talk for flipping the hologram? If so, I need to change the event that's going to happen.

“Greetings Toy Dispenser,” said the leftmost of the two Mu floating next to Scirocco’s door as the mastermind approached. “Our master shall be most pleased to see you.”

“As the plan has worked quite well,” said the rightmost Mu, picking up right after his brother finished. “But Scirocco had best tell you that yourself.”

“Well that’s certainly good to hear,” Toy said as he walked up to the two Mu sorcerers and looked back and forth between them. “By the way, have I ever asked for your names?”

“No, you did not,” said the left Mu.

“Which is all well and good,” said the one on the right.

“For we two do not have names,” finished the left one.

Toy looked at them again and then shrugged. The intricacies of magic were best left to those who practiced it. Although Toy secretly thought these two would be considered weird even among their buddies. Nodding to them both in lieu of saying anything else, Toy waved his palm in front of the door, which now was keyed to open for him. The android had barely stepped inside before he almost ran into someone.

The red armored Fortunata stopped bare inches away from Toy’s metallic blue chest and looked up, her five feet ten not even bringing her close to Toy Dispenser’s seven feet.

“If I had eyebrows I’d be waggling them at you right now,” Toy said to Kalinda, one of the most powerful Fortunata’s in Arachnos. “Long time no see.”

“It has been a long time, yes,” Kalinda replied as she stepped aside to let Toy Dispenser past. “And while I would enjoy reminiscing about your battles with the Snakes of Mercy, you and I both have urgent duties to attend.”

“True enough,” Toy said as he reached over her and waved the door open for her. “See you some other time, then.”

“Of course,” Kalinda said and then walked out without so much as a backwards glance.

Shrugging, Toy walked the few remaining steps into Scirocco’s office and looked down on the archvillain as he talked forcefully into the phone and waved Toy to sit down. The mastermind sat and put an elbow on each armrest before linking his hands together, forming a little spot to rest his chin on while he waited for Scirocco to finish his call.

“Yes, yes,” Scirocco said dismissively. “The losses will be barely felt, believe me. Yes. No, absolutely not. Alright, very well. Yes. Give my thanks to your mistress.”

With a definitive click, Scirocco turned off the phone and set it back in its recharging cradle. He then smiled broadly and extended his hand for Toy to shake, which he did.

“Things are coming to a head, my good friend,” Scirocco said. “Your rescue of Wretch couldn’t have been better timed. As soon as news reached Ghost Widow of the rescue, she immediately sent word to me of her thanks. From there, I was able to outline the problem with Serafina and receive assurances that she would bet her best Fortunatas on the case.”

“So Kalinda was here to tell you the good news, I gather,” Toy said as he leaned back in the chair. “You know where Serafina is going to strike next.”

“Precisely,” Scirocco said as he swiveled his chair around and pointed at the blank wall to Toy’s left. At the press of an unseen button, the wall transformed into a sophisticated holoscreen that displayed an aerial image of Grandville. There were several dozen points on the map, a few of them pulsing red but the rest glowing a steady green. One point near the outskirts of the city was circled in yellow.

“As you can see here,” Scirocco said, gesturing at the map. “Serafina has only destroyed a small number of the bases where I keep several artifacts that I am currently not using. The base that the Fortunatas say will be targeted next is the one circled in yellow. It’s a relatively small base, used for storing several interesting Egyptian tablets and fetishes that I was going to get around to studying. Not very important at all.”

“So collateral damage is not an issue?” Toy asked as he mentally overlaid the map on the wall with his own map of Grandville and started marking in the various points that Scirocco was showing him. Surely enough they weren’t all of Scirocco’s bases, but knowing even this could always come in handy in the future.

“Exactly,” Scirocco said and changed the display. This time it showed several still camera shots of the inside of an Arachnos base, probably the one that Serafina was going to attack. Each picture showed Arachnos troops going through their daily routine, acting as though nothing was expected. “Unfortunately, I am unable to warn the base commander of the imminent attack, as any information of our previous knowledge of her actions would send Serafina into hiding. But I have made several troops requisitions and the base is currently operating on a skeleton crew.”

“That should really lower casualties,” Toy said, nodding. “I’ll try to stick to my regular method of combat as much as possible, but Serafina’s defeat comes first. Right?”

“Very much so,” Scirocco said, his voice growing grim. “We cannot allow her to find me and retake the majority of my powers. These powers are mine now, and it has never been her right to play matchmaker.”

“Right. Final engagement set and go, eh?” Toy said as he leaned forward in preparation to stand up and leave.

“Remember,” Scirocco said as he turned off the screen and looked back at Toy. “Defeat Serafina and we can begin the lessons on how best to harness this new power of yours.”

“If you really think you can teach a machine magic, go right ahead, I’ll make sure to listen,” Toy joked as he stood up.

“Good luck,” Scirocco said. “I would send aid if I could but my troops have proven too susceptible to Serafina’s magicks to be safe.”

“I’m pretty sure I can handle her. Just be sure to have my paycheck waiting, ok?”

Scirocco chuckled and pulled a slip of paper from a drawer. He waved it around a bit and Toy spotted that is was a check already signed with the proper amount for taking down a fully fledged metahuman.

“Your confidence in me is inspiring,” Toy said with a short bow to Scirocco. “Now, if only the repair shop guy would be so enthusiastic about me not coming back broken so often.”

Toy left Scirocco to his chuckling and slipped out the door, nodding briefly to the two Mu guards before walking down the hall to the elevator.

“How’d it go?” Combat Toy asked from the alcove it had tucked itself into to avoid getting in people’s ways while Toy was gone.

“Yeah! Did the funny stupid guy pull through for us?” Mini Bot asked as it jumped and front of Toy and waved its arms.

“We’ve got a place, a time, and a target,” Toy said as he stepped into the elevator and waited for his bots to file in before hitting the down button. “All we need to bring is the firepower.”

“[censored] yeah, that’s what I like to hear,” Combat Toy said as the door closed.

************************************************** **************

“Geez, this place really is empty,” Toy said as he stepped over the unconscious forms of the only mind-controlled patrol the group had come across. “Scirocco wasn’t joking when he said that he cleaned the place out.”

“Incoming!” Large Toy shouted as it came running back from up ahead where Toy has sent it to scout. “Another big patrol, about eight of them.”

“Train of pain?” Combat Toy asked plaintively as its head turned to look at its boss.

Toy rolled his head like someone else would roll his eyes but nodded anyway, giving Combat Toy leave to perform one of its favorite moves.

“[censored] yeah!” the assault bot shouted.

“They coming from that corner right there?” it asked, pointing at a corridor about twenty yards away and partially blocked by a large piece of machinery set against the left wall.

“Affirmative,” Large Toy said. “No spell casters or psychics. Just a couple of Widows, some Crabs, and a few Banes.”

“Everybody behind the giant scrap heap,” Toy said as he moved behind the large piece of machinery and took care that no one coming from around the corner would see him. “Get ready to jump out once Combat Toy’s done.”

As the smaller bots took cover, Combat Toy positioned itself right in the middle of the hallway, square in the view of whoever came around the corner and completely exposed to incoming fire. The assault bot crouched down, one leg further forward than the other, almost as though it was preparing for an Olympic hundred meter dash as the mind-controlled Arachnos came dashing around the corner.

“Serafina says you do not love her!” a Blood Widow shouted as she charged Combat Toy, poisoned needles glinting in her hands.

“Toy Dispenser must die!” the Bane Spider in back replied, lifting up its Power Mace to open fire.

“CHOO [censored] CHOO!!!” Combat Toy roared as it suddenly dashed forward into and through the line of soldiers, bowling them over as it went.

Under the weight and momentum of the assault bot, the Arachnos were tossed to the side and trampled underfoot until Combat Toy reached the last Bane Spider who had just brought his mace up to fire. The assault bot slapped the weapon from the man’s hands and then thrust its entire upper body forward, body slamming the Bane into the wall.

“Everybody out!” Toy shouted as he jumped out from cover and expertly shot the leg out from under one of the Crab Spiders using Combat Toy’s targeting solutions. The battle drones and proc bots piled out as well and laid down enough firepower to put the entire ill-fated patrol down for good. The whole engagement had lasted maybe fifteen seconds.

“We bad!” Mini Bot said as it ran forward and gave Combat Toy and jumping high five. “We bad!”

“We [censored] kick [censored],” Combat Toy said as it stomped forward, just a single scorch mark on its chest showing where a lucky hit had been suffered.

“Combat Toy has the right of it,” Toy said as he started moving down the corridor the patrol had come from. “Now, let’s go see if we can kick the [censored] of a fully fledged genie.”

Which, amusingly enough, was how SV101 was set-up. And, as mentioned previously, it died because villains of almost any shape or form don't make for good students. Too much infighting.

OOC: Quick note, Dragonistic. Experiment, Essex, Devious, and the others in that group are currently on a different continent. More specifically in Paragon City. You, Ink, Xey, and Lyden are in the countryside of some country or another near the northern part of the Baltic Sea.

Rosie's foot connected easily and would have knocked the robot over had she not been holding onto its claws. As it was, Engine's arms groaned slightly.

"Termination will continue in seven seconds," it said.

***********************************************

"I'd have to give him a D for effort!" Mr. Stegall cackled as the wave of light hit him and sent him tumbling backwards.

Somersaulting to his feet, Mr. Stegall pointed at Hal with his sword and waggled his eyebrows.

"No sleeping in class!" the demented teacher shouted as he was suddenly ten feet closer to Hal. "What was the answer to question number five in the homework?"

Mr. Stegall paused when he asked this question, almost as though he were actually waiting for Hal to answer it.

*************************************************

"I HAVE ARRIVED!" shouted the Wielder of the Painpipe as he walked into the ready room that Animator had occupied. "FOR WHAT PURSUIT OF JUSTICE AM I NEEDED TODAY!?!"

Animator merely smiled at the heavily armored tanker while several of the other rebels present hastily unplugged their ears and tried to look as though they had hear what Wielder said.

"We are arranging a rescue mission," Animator said as he gestured for Wielder to sit down. "Apparently the time has come to pass and we must gather allies quickly, or so the Commander has led me to believe."

"VERY GOOD!" Wielder shouted as he sat down. "FOR THE UNDERSHAFT OF GOOD SHALL FINALLY TOPPLE THE DECREPIT WALLS OF EVIL!"

"Indeed," Animator said as he removed a scroll from the pocket of his lab coat. "Now, does everyone have their equipment with them?"

"We're good, sir," replied Richard Sikes, one of the more experienced rebels that Animator was bringing with him.

"Good. Now, after we meet up with our new friends, we are to proceed to the main base near New Mu and link up with Commander Rosalind. We shall assist her in orchastrating the attacks."

"LET US BEING OUR QUEST!" Wielder said enthusiastically. "FOR THE SOONER WE BEGIN, THE SOONER GREAT JUSTICE CAN TRIUMPH!"

"Indeed," Animator said as the scroll in his hand flashed black and then disintigrated.

A swirling blue portal appeared in the floor in front of the old villain and he stepped over it without a second thought, falling through and vanishing. His golems followed immidiately after and they too were followed by Wielder and the men.

***********************************************

"Why hello there," Animator said to Dragonistic as he fell out of the portal behind her.

He stepped to one side to let the others fall through without landing on him and then looked back at the dragon mutant.

"How very nice to meet you. Are you perhaps a servant of the Overmagus?"

************************************************

"The signatures match?"

"Do doubt about it. They're in there."

"What fools, thinking they could hide in any city controlled by the Overmagus."

"All rogue metas are fools. These just seem to be more foolish than usual."

"Very well. Inform the Generals and the Overmagus right away. They shall want to be present when we display the severed heads of those who defy Archlich's glorius reign."

[ QUOTE ]
((Hey, since nobody's posted awhile.. how's jumping ahead to the vote sound? XD))

[/ QUOTE ]

QFE. (Quoted for Effect)

Cool. I like.

And was the God-Emperor even around 40k years ago? I'm afraid I'm not that familiar with Warhammer lore.

But yeah, I think I like Inquisitor Tiburon. Good story.

Wielder looked around at Nena, Xander, and the portal and seemed to think about things for a second. Only for a second though.

"FOR GREAT JUSTICE!" Wielder shouted as he strode into the portal, Painpipe held high.

After the brief twisting, gut-wrenching sensation that he typically suffered from teleports, Wielder looked over at the gathering of reploid. He looked around, saw a few faces that he recognized from various places, and let his normaly omni-present ice armor melt away into wisps of freezing air.

"GREETINGS FELLOW HEROES!" Wielder shouted as he slid the Painpipe back into a strap dangling from his belt.

************************************************

"-ELLOW HEROES!" came a loud voice as Solid Shot switched his comm. to the Repliforce channel.

Stiffling the urge to curse, loudly, Solid tapped his 'ear' a couple of times to get Dr. West's attention.

"Yo, Doc," he said, talking a bit louder to be heard over the discharge and sizzle of heavy plasma fire. "News from Perigrine Isle."

Poking his head out of the shattered window of the house he was taking cover in, Solid saw a couple of people dashing out of an alleyway, only to be cut down by plasma fire from above as a patrol of drones swept down the street. Solid quickly ducked back into the house and sighed with relief when he wasn't spotted.

"Things are hell over here, Doc," he finally got around to saying. "The Police Department is just about all dead and most of the heroes taking the ferries have gotten their [censored] handed to them. What's left of them, that is. I managed to get a small group of fliers who'd listen to me to circle around the island and hit the Rikti by surprise.

As far as I know, they're all dead right now. We could really, really use some back-up out here. As far as I can tell, there's only a single, understrength Rikti rear guard here. If we can take them down, we can get to Portal Corp. I'll call back with some more details later and don't ask me why my radio is still working when all the others aren't."

Clicking off his radio, Solid slumped back against the wall and folded his arms in front of him. After a second or two or mourning, the android grabbed his rifle off a nearby table and started climbing the stairs up to the top floor.

*************************************************

[Reinforcements from High Command, Warmaster! Two Headmen armed with power sappers with a guard force of thirty Conscripts!]

[Heavily armed PPD force coming down from Galaxy City supported by Longbow! Drawing up the reserves to bolster Macheck's company!]

[The last council member has been found, Warmaster! She has been imprisoned with the rest!]

[Good,] Chertak said as he stepped backward through a hole in the roof of the City Hall and landed with a cracking of marble on the floor. [Direct several of the humans to begin operating the broadcasting equipment. I plan on making an announcement.]

[Is this wise, Warmaster?] Dra'tix asked as he followed Chertak down a hall to the press room where the cameras where still set up for an announcement from the Mayor that was supposed to happen today.

[It may not be wise,] Chertak replied as they walked. [But it has been ordered of us. How long until the humans are ready?]

[Minutes, Warmaster.]

[Good.]

OOC: Ack. Reply coming as soon as I can figure out how to get you people in one place. Keep developing characters or whatever while I think.

[ QUOTE ]
((Too late to join?))

[/ QUOTE ]

OOC: NEVAR TOO LATE!

Wielder looked down at Hal through the slits of his helmet, saw a small, green smoking hero, and shrugged.

"AGE IS OF LITTLE DIFFERENCE IF ONE FIGHTS FOR THE SIDE OF GOOD! BUT REALLY, WHAT ABOUT THE RIKTI!?!"

There were no magical enhancements on the Ivory Engine. Not a single one. The assassin was a masterpiece of human engineering and advanced technologies, some of which were seen only in the most top secret of the Overmagus's research facilities. Thus, Rosie's dispelling spell did little to impede the robot as it continued to try and find a way to break out of this deadlock.

That time came when Rosalind went berserk. As she threw her heightened strength against it, Engine jumped up and flipped over Rosie while still holding onto her hands. Engine twisted in midair like a cat, it's torso turning 180 degrees around on its hips, and landed with it standing facing Rosie while the were-human was bent over in a very awkward position.

"Target...," Engine began as it suddenly disengaged both hands with a dextrous twist of its wrists and then stabbed them both down at Rosie's chest. "Term-"

The claw blades froze an inch away from Rosie's chest as Cortianna's telekinesis froze the machine in place. It's blank faced head slowly turned in Cortianna's direction as it contemplated this new development.

"Countermeasures activating," it said after a second. "Your termination will resume in approximately ten seconds."

Deep within the Ivory Engine's chasis, a highly expermental, very valuable device activated itself. The machine unfolded and spread thin tendrils throughout Engine's body to every point that was being affected by Cortianna's mind. Then, the machine analyzed the psychich wavelengths being used to incapacitate the Ivory Engine and began emiting the polar opposite of those psychic waves, likely giving Cortianna a mild headache and drastically weakening her hold on the Ivory Engine.

**************************************************

"No throwing objects at Teacher!" Mr. Stegall scolded Schizo even as he dodged most of the thorns, some of them cutting through his flimsy suit and injecting their poison.

His reflexes slightly slowed for the next few seconds, Mr. Stegall somehow still managed to bob and weave forward until he got within striking distance of Schizo once again. Going for a combo, Mr. Stegall stabbed at Schizo then cut upward, down, up diagonally left, right, and then left again all in the space of one second.

*************************************************

"You may take your seats," came the cold voice of Toy Dispenser.

There was much shuffling as chairs were dragged away from the large conference table and then scooted back into place when their occupants sat. Toy Dispenser, in all his red and black armored glory, sat at the head of the table with a symbolically empty seat facing him at the far end. Among the Soulsworn, not a single one of them were Toy Dispenser's equal, although a few harbored doubts.

"It's been a while since we've met like this," Outlaw Jack, General of the Army of Life, said as he stratched at the stubble of his beard under the bandanna he wore around his mouth and chin. His dark brown eyes flicked back and forth as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "And there's a few of us missing."

"Yeah," agreed a dark red android seated across from Jack. The thick set robot seemed to radiate heat as it folded its hands in front of it in a pose of relaxation. "I've got things to do, people to kill, stuff like that. What's up?"

"The Overmagus has been worried as of late," replied Death's Right Hand from his position to the left of Toy Dispenser. The black leather armored necromancer had forgone his helmet for this occasion, baring his extrordinarily pale face to just about the only people who had ever seen it. "Toy Dispenser and I have discussed this and thought it would be best to organize a meeting of the Soulsworn currently avaliable."

"So Danya and the Ghoul are still out in the field?" asked the massive Stone Elemental, its voice sounding like grinding rock.

"Correct," Toy Dispenser said as he looked from person to person. "As is Mr. Stegall and the Ivory Engine. But what I really wish to discuss is this."

Turning around, Toy pulled a remote out of a compartment in his chair and aimed it at the wall behind him. A press of a button brought a projector screen sliding smoothly down while another couple of buttons dimmed the lights and displayed a picture on the screen.

"What in tarnation is that?" asked Short Iron as he forgot about the cigarette he had just lit, even now burning away under the continued heat of his lighter.

"It looks like a UFO," the Dead Don rasped, his milky white eyes reflecting the light of the screen as he stared at it. "But those photos are all fake, aren't they?"

"Not this one," Toy said as he stood and walked over to the screen.

The picture displayed was almost completely filled with a picture of Earth, namely the northern hemisphere. A slash of black space showed on the far right of the picture, but the object of immidiate interest was the bright silver blur that was interlayed over northern Africa at the time the picture was taken.

"This was taken by OrbSat D-13 as of 10:23 this morning," Toy continued as he pressed another button on the remote, causing a red lined box to form around the silver streak which soon expanded to obscure the rest of the picture. "The profile matches none of our shuttles currently in orbit and certainly does not match the signatures of any known Rikti ship."

"Like they could get off the moon after what the Overmagus did to them," Jack said as Short Iron cursed in the background as his burning cigarette reached his finger. "They only exist at the moment because they're technology is still not fully understood."

"Which is precisely why the Overmagus is concerned," Toy said as he triggered the next image, this time a picture of a piece of paper with several paragraphs written down it. "I trust you are all familiar with the prophecy?"

"Of course we're [censored] familiar with it," the Malevolith said. "It's kind of important to our whole reason for being, you know."

Toy nodded as everyone else nodded or signaled their agreement and started pacing in front of the screen, arms folded behind his back.

"Then you all know the way the prophecy goes," he began. "After all of our true enemies are defeated, there will come a time of peace. After that time, there will come new enemies. Some of them new, some of them real, and some of them out of place. Then, they will join the opposers of the Overmagus and attempt to slay him, bringing chaos back into the world. But should they be stopped, the world will know an eternity of paradise."

"The prophecy never was very clear on who would win," Hand said dryly.

"Man, I could have thought of so many better ways to use those Sister Psyche and Numina chicks than on that prophecy," the Malevolith groaned. "We all know the rebels have a snowball's chance in hell to win, even with some new blood."

"Which is why we need to not give them even that much of a chance," Toy said. "I have consulted with the Overmagus and he has left it in my hands to deal with this problem. For now, we are going to stick to surgical strikes, which is why our two assassins are missing. But should the enemies survive, we shall come down on them with all the might of the World Empire and damn our plans with Oranbega in that case."

"Dispatch some Arbitrator's," Stone Elemental suggested. "I've heard good things about them and their ability to destroy things."

"They're rather indiscriminate," Jack replied. "I think they would be best used as a back up, just in case one of us isn't enough."

"Like a Soulsworn would let his enemy live," Mal snorted as he started drumming his fingers on the table. "So are we done now?"

"Yes," Toy said as he sat back down, flipping off the projector and flipping on the lights. "You may all return to your duties. Just be prepared for anything. This has barely begun."

"WHAT IS THIS ABOUT THE RIKTI!?!" Wielder asked as the rest of the group came up behind Reginald. "AND WHO IS THIS SMALL, GREEN CHILD!?!"

[The time has come. Have the heroes organized yet?]

[No Warmaster. With the loss of the Freedom Phalanx and the sudden assaults, the heroes and the police forces have been thrown off balance.]

[Were the nearby military bases also disabled?]

[We have no way of knowing from here, Warmaster.]

[Very well. Let us begin the assault and may their false gods have mercy on the souls of those about to be slain.]

************************************************

In Atlas Park chaos was everywhere. Cars and trucks clogged the streets as civilians tried to flee, remembering all too well the Rikti attacks from six years ago. Heroes ran back and forth, stretched to their limits trying to keep the evacuation an orderly operation and keep some of the more enterprising gang members from making some 'emergency withdrawals'.

Ms. Liberty was consulting with several Longbow Wardens in front of Atlas Statue, trying to come to a consensus as to where they should focus Longbow's efforts. A small group of relatively low powered heroes gravitated to her, all of them unsure and more than a little frightened about what was going on.

But all this was brought to a halt as the distinctive whoosh and whir of Rikti portals echoed through the air. Dozens of the black and green portals opened all around Atlas Statue and even right in front of Ms. Liberty herself.

As everyone present stared in shocked disbelief, the first wave exited the portals. Dozens, soon to be hundreds, of Rikti Drones flooded out of the portals, knocking everyone nearby off their feet as they sought to gain altitude. The Wardens were bulled away from around Ms. Liberty, but the young heroine managed to keep her balance, if only barely.

And then the Rikti entered Atlas Park. At their lead was Warmaster Chertak, his white and black armor exiting from the portal right in Ms. Liberty's face as the other portals disgorged various other Rikti soldiers.

"Greetings: Hero," Chertak said as a guantleted fist rocketed forward into Ms. Liberty's chin, whipping her head back and lifting her a foot off the ground from the force of the blow.

Chertak followed this surprise attack up with a fierce kick that folded the leader of the Vindicators around his foot and then launched her into the raised platform that Atlas's statue rested on. As several other high-ranking Rikti emerged from behind Chertak and engaged the Wardens, ignoring the fleeing heroes, the Warmaster himself jumped forward to land in front of Ms. Liberty, water splashing them from the shallow pool Chertak landed in.

"Welcome: To the end," Chertak said as he grabbed Ms. Liberty by the throat and lifted her up in the air. A solid kick slammed into the Warmaster's head, showing that Ms. Liberty wasn't exactly down and out, but Chertak ignored the blow of desperation.

"Welcome to the end of your world," Chertak said, going the extra mile to form his thoughts the way a human would so that she could understand him. "You and your people: Die now."

With this, Chertak spun around and flung the heroine on the ground, where she bounced once before Chertak's boot landed on her stomach.

"Kill: Heroes: Armed civilians," Chertak said to his second-in-command as he stared down at Ms. Liberty's face. "Allow non-combatants: Escape."

As the hero blinked in sudden confusion, Chertak activated a button on his right gauntlet, causing his rifle to teleport into his hand. With a crack, he brought it down on Ms. Liberty's face, knocking her out cold. Taking his foot off the unconscious heroine, Chertak turned around and looked to see the City Hall already burning as a cloud of Drones fired on it from above.

[Glory to the true race!] Chertak shouted as he thrust his rifle up into the air.

[Glory!] echoed his soldiers as they fought, died, and slew.

"FORCES OF GOOD! ASSEMBLE OVER HERE!" came Wielder's shout, even louder than before, from the door that Hokata had opened.

Due to the assisstance of Gladys, Wielder's voice operated as such so that whoever followed it would be able to go right to where he was, not confused my echoes or sound tricks like that.

*************************************************

OOC: Chertak's getting a nice, long post after I'm done with classes for the day.

Toy paused for a moment as though blinking and then shrugged before tossing the egg at Kaloaten.

"Catch," he said.

"WE WON!" Mini Bot shouted as it jumped up and down estatically.

"Damn right we did," Combat Toy said as it grabbed Mini Bot by its thin neck and walked over to Toy Dispenser.

"Uh oh, spaghetti-o," Mini Bot said as it looked down at the hocked up egg. "I think it's dead."

"I'm...fine..." Toy groaned. "Did I win?"

There was a brief pause and Essex would probably realize he had just gotten a communicaiton from one of his bots.

"Nevermind. I guess I didn't," he said, pushing himself to his feet and looking at the shielded egg. "Damn but I do good work."

Back in the backyard, Combat Toy had finally gotten to its feet and was looking around for Morsko. Mini Bot was doing the same, having followed Kaloaten to see what was up.

OOC: New Mu is indeed in Europe. In fact, it's somewhere in the middle of France.

BIC: "I'm afraid I'll have to confiscate that!" Mr. Stegall cackled as he bobbed and waved among the bolts of energy, suddenly disappearing and reappearing behind one of the halves and chopping his sword through a quick Z.

The wounded golem teettered and fell to the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust and ash. The second golem weathered the blows and tore up a chunk of the ground to hurl at the hero.

The rest of the troops were staying out of the fight, knowing they'd hinder the effort more than help at this point.

***********************************************

But as Rosie attacked, the Engine deftly sidestepped, swung around, and cut up with its sword. The blade rebounded off of Rosie's claws, perhaps the only thing on her that could have repelled the blade, and cracked slightly.

"Congratulations," the Ivory Engine said as it faded back a few steps, hardly seeming to move its legs at all. "This target has proven qualified for Level Two."

Sliding the blade back into its hilt, the Engine crouched and then rushed Rosie, long thing blades snikking out of its wrists, and drew its hands back to stab through either side of her rib cage.

OOC: Well, technically the missiles didn't hit anyone. They just went up into the air about a dozen feet and then went off like fireworks. And when I say fireworks, I mean the real deal, just without all the pretty patterns.

BIC: "Ain't this a [censored]," Combat Toy as it started revolving around on the ground thanks to Kefetasura's telekinetic push and Acid's gravity thingie. And since when the hell had Acid gotten a gravity gun?

"Wheeeeeeeeee!" Mini Bot shouted as it was hurled into the air, flipping end over end until it activated its jets and shot up into the air, eventually landing next to Lyden. "Did the boss win yet?"

"God damn it!" Toy cursed as he was thrown into the air, still clutching his egg. But at least Moonscribe's gravity field was gone, which meant that his anti-grav system could work again.

Which it did, with a vengeance. The mastermind suddenly shot through the air directly at the house. He managed to shift his flight enough to miss, but still went over the house and crash landed in the front yard.

"Now that's got to hurt," Solid Shot remarked from his perch on the edge of the roof coincidentally right above Essex.

OOC: Right, right. Locations. One sec.

Acid, Midas, Essex, Cross brothers, Tam, Keegan: Paragon City proper

Moonscribe, Kefetasura, some of my guys: Near Paragon City

Rosie, Cortianna, Engine: Main Rebel Base, European Operations, random city near New Mu

Thuel, Lyden, the bird guy: Country town, Baltic coastline

I think it's the Baltic coastline anyway. Back to the story.

BIC: The claws gouged deep into the Ivory Engine's armor, tearing long furrows that almost reached into the more sensitive components underneath. The Engine relied mostly on its speed and stealth to avoid taking damage and was thus fairly annoyed that Rosie seemed almost as fast.

The ivory colored blade pivoted and stabbed down while the Engine twisted away, turning its back to Rosie as it dragged its sword along her flesh until the robot was completely facing away from her.

*************************************************

The buttressed walls of the Hallowed Halls were empty, as they usually were, and exuded an aura of age and mystery, as they usually did. But this changed rather quickly as a monstrous presense entered one end of the Hall. Great, hooved feet plodded over the floor as some sort of twisted creature turned the corner and looked down towards the entrance to the rebel base.

Unbeknowest to the defenders, this was actually the same type of beast that had killed the two men through the wall of shadows. Two thick muscled, black furred, double jointed legs supported the main body, which in turn supported four massive arms that ended in blocky fists that clenched and unclenched almost spasmadically. This was all topped by a wolf-like head that drooled as it looked down the Hall, thick ropes of the stuff falling to splatter on the floor.

With a great snuffle and low growl, the beast resumed walking forward between the butresses and pillars that framed the long Hall. As it passed, previously hidden runic lines began glowing, becoming lined with white fire as they were activated. A line of runes carved into the back of the monster glowed bright red in response, but quickly failed under the combined might of Rosie's spells. The wolf beast howled in pain and anger as its life was forcibly ejected from its body and the empty husk fell to the floor, eyes already dim and unseeing.

The fire team of rebels that arrived to make sure the Hall was secure gaped at the giant beast and wondered how much damage that thing would have done had the Commander's spells not stopped it.

"What the hell is that thing?" one of the younger soldiers asked, his voice quavering.

"Some sort of damn-" began the team sergeant as he holstered his two pistols.

"-wolf," interuppted a man wearing a heavy medieval helmet. "It looks like a damn mutant wolf."

"A Damnwolf sounds kind of cool," the soldier said in an attempt to make a joke.

"Someone go and tell everyone that the Hallowed Hall is clear," the sergeant said. "And tell them to watch out for more of these...Damnwolves."

************************************************

"Hmmm... A rescue mission, eh?" said the old man as he looked up from the thick, leathery tome he was reading at his rickety looking wooden desk. "Details up to me, eh? Sounds about right. Go tell the Commander that I'll have a plan and a team assembled within the hour."

The rebel scurried off, but not before casting an eye at the large pile of junk taking up half the medium sized room that the old man called his home. Some of the guys said that the old man made his robots out of that junk, but he had never believed it. Guess he would never find out now.

As the rebel finally left to carry his message to Moonscribe, the Dark Animator grinned slightly and closed his book with a thump. Sliding the book into a drawer and then closing and locking that drawer, the old former-villain got up and walked over to the junk heap. Clapping his hands once, a weak burst of dark magic radiated from his palms and into the pile. Another clap brought about a stronger burst and another and another. Finally he had reached the required level of power and turned toward focusing that.

Six shadowy figures grew into existence at the edge of Animator's sight. One by one, the nearly invisible shapes dove into the pile of junk until they were all inside and at work. Soon, a rusting battle drone made of ill-fitting and sometimes completely wrong parts pulled itself out of the tangle; seemingly held together by nothing more prayer, the drone was actually as sturdy as one of its normal bretheren.

A loud clanging and clattering arose as the other five robots pushed themselves free of the junk pile, the shadow spirits bound into them having chosen parts that were deeper down in the pile for a change. Soon, the Dark Animator's own little squad of robotic golems was awaiting his command.

"One of you go and find Wielder," the old man said. "Have him gather up five other well-trained and trusted men. Inform him that we are going to the rescue of several renegade metahumans. That should get him moving quickly enough."

One of the drone golems nodded and dashed out of the door, intent on nothing else but its mission.

"For the rest of you, chill," Animator said with a slight smile. "It will take some planning to organize this kind of operation."

Ah, it was indeed a good day to have spies in the ranks of the Overmagus' government.