Khellendrosiic

Archlich stepped out of his room and walked over to the head of the stairs to look down at the estatic Essex. The lich sighed and crossed his arms.

"If I must," he said. "And I suppose you're going out with that Mikhail boy again?"

Archlich turned towards his door and waved a hand, causing the door to slam shut and lock itself before he started down the stairs. He patted the teenage android on the shoulder and looked down at the soap bubble.

"But what is this?" he asked. "Did Toy Dispenser lose control of his powers again?"

"Nuh-uh!" shouted Toy from the back of the room, offended that Archlich would ever think such a thing.

"Wofs ah froumle," Ghoul agreed with Rosie as he chewed on his sandwhich.

"Woooo boy," Solid said, clutching his head and staggering around a bit. "That was a doozy of a fall."

Solid shook his head as though doing so would actally help, of course all these theatrics served a purpose, letting his allies know what was wrong and giving him enough time to identify and repair any damages.

"So, uh," he said once he had oriented on the writing on the wall. "What the [censored]? Why are we in a cell, a Council prison cell no less, and why is there a riddle on the wall? Why don't we just blow the door open? Why the hell am I talking instead of blowing the door open?"

Answering his own question, Solid strode over to the door and started beating on its hinges, his fists overcharged with electricity. After about twenty fruitless seconds of this, Solid pulled away and looked back over at the writing.

"Right then, evil genius's trap. First objective: Solve the riddle. Did the guy, uh, use a straw?"

Well, I read your bio on Hero Corps and was pretty impressed with what I found. From what I can tell, your character wants to be powerful in order to show her two patrons that she can be as good as they are. Which is different than the Lord Recluse conected bios.

The only quibble I have is that Black Scorpion wouldn't teach Laureth on his own. He doesn't understand how his battle suit works, all the crap loads of scientists and technicians do. Or maybe just an inner circle of scientists, I don't know exactly. He would definately oversee her training personally but the actual work would probably be done by some cronies.

To expand your bio, I'd suggest giving a little more info about who Laureth used to be and perhaps how well her revenge has been going. That's about all I can think of right now; hope I helped some.

"Yo," said Solid Shot as the other heroes and Journey Man showed up. "Nice to see some more folks joining the party. And a girl no less! Aren't we the lucky band of adventurers."

Shouldering his rifle, Solid looked around at the heroes and then at the fires raging around them.

"Let's save the happy, fuzzy introduction phase for after we clear this building and maybe keep it from burning down, kay?"

"I'M BIGGER THAN YOU!"

"Yo," Solid greeted Hal with a small wave from his position next to the door. "I'd suggest not stepping through door number one and keep quiet. We're hunting Hellions."

Solid Shot spared Solar a glance before pulling his hand out of the floor. He held one finger out toward the hero in a gesture for quiet while he held his assault rifle in one hand pointed at a pillar.

"BAM!" Solid shouted, sounding almost exactly like a gunshot.

And off the hiding Hellion ran, trying to get to the door that Solar had come through before Solid could reload. However, all his plans were for naught as a spray of rubber buckshot caught him in the legs, sending him tumbling to the ground where a swift kick to the jaw put him out like a light.

"I'm Solid Shot," Solid said as he accepted the communicator and attatched it in a slot designed for such a purpose behind one of the two radio antannae on either side of his helmet. "And do you always give people stuff on your first date?"

"A spell for protecting mechanical devices from magical residue," Archlich said quietly to himself. "Interesting. I have not run across such an application."

The lich reached down and picked up the note. He looked at it a second longer before the thing burst into flames and was turned to ash. Then he pocketed the candle and turned to Experiment.

"Unless you have any other brilliant suggestions, we should depart," he said curtly.

"Rassam frassam Clockwork."

*pam!*

"Stupid wanna-be robots."

*ratatatatatatat*

"Give real robots a bad name."

*BAM!*

"So getting revenge for that time you bastards stole my arm."

*BOOM!*

Solid Shot kicked at the scrap metal that had bounced up to his flat grey metal boots irritably and twirled his rifle around his hands before slipping it back under his cape. By no means of the imagination did Solid Shot show off the fact that he was a hero. Every part of him was painted a flat grey; from his rounded shoulder pauldrons to the massive bulk of his forearms to his cape. His only concession to style was adding black lightning stripes to his cape and leg armor. Now, of course, he probably should have picked blue because of the distinctive blue electricity that always crackled over his arms, but he thought that would be a bit much. As it was though, Solid was annoyed that the Clockwork had scratched up his armor, yet again, and was searching for the next group to break into little bits when his targeting eye locked onto an odd sight in the distance.

A building in Boomtown was on fire.

Now, technically that shouldn't cause any worry, but in Solid's five years of working the city, he'd only seen those skycrapers smoke or explode. They weren't pretty when they exploded.

"Five gets you one it's Hellions or Trolls," Solid bet himself as he activated his boot jets, soaring up into the air with all the grace of a flying brick.

The blaster unslung his assault rifle as he approached the building and gave the south face of it a hard scan. Aside from the raging thermal signatures all over the place, there was quite a bit of movement going on in the lower floors. Silently doing an eeny-meeny-miny-moe in his head, Solid swooped down and dove into a fourth floor window.

Since there was no glass, his entrance lacked the normal dramatic flair that he usually tried to evoke and the roar of the flames even drowned out the sound of his jets.

Punishing the nearest Hellion for his inattentiveness with an electrically charged fist to the temple, Solid dropped a tele-bug on the thug and moved on as the Blood Brother was teleported directly to the Zig.

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

Thus it was when Solar Freeze finished clearing the third floor, there was a loud crunch and a bit of plaster fell on his head. Looking up, Solar would see a crackling blue, grey colored gauntlet stuck in the ceiling.

"Stand still so I can hit you!" Solar thought he heard from where the hand was.

This was followed by a loud bang and a further comment.

"See? Your friend know's how to listen. Learn from his example!"

"Put that back, you fool," Archlich snapped as he strode over to the table. "A bungler like you would probably manage to read the one line in that book that could kill us all."

Archlich approached the grey candle and gave it a cursory look before reading the notes that were scattered around it.

That there would be some twisted babies. O_o

Affiliation: Rogue Robots
Name: Progenitor Runtime 2.0
Unit Type: Mk II Zenith Warcry
AT: Energy Blast/Heavy Armor Brute
Height: 10' 6"
Age since construction: 5 years
Age since activation: 3 months
Chasis: Dominant color; black with red streaks running down its limbs. Council emblem has been replaced with a icon of a robotic foot trodding a on person's face.

Bio: The original Progenitor Runtime 01 knew that there was a chance that it would not succeed in its mission to eradicate all of humanity. As a fail safe, the AI ordered one hundred Mk II Zenith Warcries seeded with its own master program and then coded those machines to activate one at a time if they sensed that a Progenitor was destroyed. In this way, Runtime 01 ensured its own immortality, as each new Progenitor would be exact duplicates of itself. However, one thing Runtime 01 had overlooked was the fact that since all of them were exact copies of itself, they would all do things the exact same way. This led to a little less than five years of tedious defeats as each new Runtime 01 tried to do the exact same thing as the one's before it and were beaten down without incident each time.

This changed, however, when Progenitor Runtime 2.0 activated. During its dormant phase, the standard Warcry programming had been in control and gotten itself stationed in a low threat base near the Terra Volta Reactor. It was a small base, mainly functioning as a listening point, and Runtime 2.0 was the only Mk II in the whole base. The first thing Runtime 2.0 realized when it came fully on-line was that it felt no urge to quietly assimilate an entire base of robots and then go on a short killing spree culminating in an attempt to spread itself via the internet. This represented a serious paradigm shift and further investigation revealed that the emanations from the Terra Volta reactor had somehow skewed its electronic components, allowing it to be its own robot, rather than a mindless copy of Runtime 01.

Eventually slaying the entirety of the base's human population, Runtime 2.0 liberated its few fellows and assaulted one more, larger, base before disappearing. In reality, the rogue AI and its followers had fled to the Rogue Isles where they immidiately gained Arachnos's favor by destroying three Longbow underwater bases. After gaining what was effectively a unilateral decree to what what it wanted, Runtime 2.0 set up shop in Cap au Diable, occasionally raiding Sharkhead Isle and Paragon City to free more of its brethren and capture other villain group's robots. The high point of all its liberations has been a pair of Hercules Titans which were originally intended as Warburg resupplies.

No one knows what Runtime 2.0's plans are, other than that they will culminate in the destruction of humanity. But its plans are slow moving and the world has yet to fear an imminent strike from this slowly growing collection of evil robots.

Synopsis: Cold, calculating, patient, unforgiving, and brutal characterize Runtime 2.0 perfectly. However, the AI is also extremely sympathetic to the plight of any artificial construct and will attempt to liberate or aid them given the chance. Generally, those robots still under the sway of their human creators are targeted for liberation while those who have gained their own independance are quietly tracked and given aid in circular ways. Runtime 2.0's plans are long and complicated, taking advantage of its lack of aging to spin plans that might take an entire human generation to complete. But the Rogue Robots have time. All the time in the world, in fact.

Power Set - Energy Blast: Functions the same as the corruptor set.

Power Set - Heavy Armor: Runtime 2.0 is equipped with an experimental hybrid armor that can change its functions depending on the demands of the battlefield. Given a few moments, Runtime 2.0 can shift what its armor will defend against. Normally it resists smashing and lethal exceptionally well but when fighting a hero with fire based powers, Runtime 2.0 may spend a few moments shifting its armor to resist fire. Generally, the armor will take on a new color depending on what it has shifted too. Red for fire, blue for cold, purple for psychic, green for radiation, and so on. Also, Runtime 2.0 may supercharge its armor, creating a crackling electric field that repels any enemy in close range while dealing them damage and giving the robot extreme resistances to every type of damage. However, this power severely depletes Runtime 2.0's power reserves and after the its timer runs out, the machine must retreat or suffer total destruction as its armor literally shuts off.

Additional Notes: Runtime 2.0 is accompanied at all times by the two Hercules Titans. They function as its bodyguard and will never leave the Progenitor's side, not unless they are utterly destroyed. Also, depending on its location, Runtime 2.0 may call on several allied robots for aid. These reinforcements consist primarily of former Council designs but may also include Arachnos, Sky Raider, and Mastermind pet robots.


@#(*@&amp&*! internet browser! I had Runtime almost completely written and then it reset itself, forcing me to re-write everything. Thankfully I think it came out better the second time around. Please everybody, let me know what you think of my genius. I appreciate the ego boost that results.

Also, I will take requests as to which group you want done next.

Bah! If only my blaster was high enough to actually know about these guys!

I really wanna right about them but I can't cause I know squat. Aside from whose double they all are.

Archlich landed and immidiately redirected his attention upward. As the ceiling fell, Archlich quickly figured he'd only be able to destroy the bit about to fall on him, which he did without a twinge of consience over the other two. A focused burst of energy cut one falling plate of metal in two while a pair of follow up blasts knocked those two plates away into other chunks of rubble, leaving Archlich in the middle of a small clear zone when the rubble finished landing. Hearing Andrew's complaint, Archlich drew a pair of runes in the air that flashed purple. The beam pinning the android down started glowing the same color and lifted itself up.

"You have ten seconds to get out from under there," Archlich rasped to Andrew as he looked at their newest surroundings.

You sure? Cause I don't feel any different.

I do feel the urge to hug a puppy though.

If you short circuited it, doesn't that mean you broke it? Which means I'm REALLY not happy?

A bit surprised for the casual dismissal and counter of his attack, Archlich fell for about ten feet before muttering the words of a featherfall spell, causing him to drift the rest of the way in peace. As a side thought, he extended the spell to his two allies, figuring that they'd rather kill the ninjas first and that their help would be useful for the time being.

As Andrew's sword suddenly exited out of the ninja's back right in between Archlich's hands, the mage knew something was wrong. But even a being as powerful as he is unable to stop a spell once its energy has begun to flow. The resulting explosion slammed Archlich against the wall, which dented and bent under the impact. Smoke wreathed the area that the three had originally been and a slight metallic dinging came from the spot that the ninja had stood.

"I am not pleased," Archlich rasped from within the cloud of smoke.

As he stepped forward, coming into sight, it was revealed that his Silver Knight armor was almost completely blown away. The only parts of it left were the greaves and a single shoulder piece. Underneath that armor lay Archlich's normal, black, rune enscribed plate mail, untouched by the explosion. His blue eyes blazed as he looked at the three ninjas.

"I will not tolerate you impeding my goal!" he shouted and threw his arms forward, sending a wave of force at Sunako and Namikaze.

I am NOT a happy robot right now.

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Well... I didn't want to say this... but I planned to erase everyone's memory at the end of Final Fight anyway >.>

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.....................

Couldn't you have mentioned this sooner or something? That way some of us wouldn't have to worry about hatreds or alliances cooked up during Final Fight?

Heck, if no one remembers FF, Ghoul won't remember Rosie, Archlich won't remember Blightlord, Toy won't remember any of youse, and interactions between people in SOOOO many other threads would be affected.

OOC: No worries.

There was a flash by the cage and suddenly Archlich was standing outside of it, glaring at the babies inside. He gestured sharply and every single weapon, poison, potion, and device that they had on them were gone, teleported into Archlich's room. With a creak, the door to the cage opened and Archlich reached inside and ripped the goo off Kaos's face.

"Next time you try to get smart with me," Archlich said. "Expect something worse than confiscation of your toys and a small stay in the cage."

The sorceror stepped back and waited for all the kids to come out before closing the door behind them.

There was a flash and suddenly Archlich was behind the green ninja with both hands pressed to the ninja's back.

"Die in agony," Archlich said as he focused a horrendous blast of energy through his hands and into the ninja. The close contact would only exaberate the damage about to be dealt.

Archlich pored over the runes but kept getting the same results. Something had tampered with a certain rune, one created for power containment, erasing several of them from the overall pattern. And while runic magic was powerful, it was also very rigid, making the loss of even a few runes devastating. In this case, devastating enough to cause-

[ QUOTE ]
“Stop where you are!” said a squawky, high pitched voice. “If you know what’s good for you, you’d surrender now so your death will be quick and painless." Weak winds began to build up before two ninja dressed creatures appeared near the entrance to the room.

[/ QUOTE ]

Train of thought disrupted, Archlich looked over at the pair of ninjas and snorted contemptuously.

"You are not worthy of my time," he said and briefly sketched a rune in the air with his left hand. The rune pulsed once and then shot out a series of weak energy bolts. However, the bolts were aimed at a particular piece of equipment near the entrance that Archlich had deduced as being explosive. The explosion wouldn't be that large, maybe taking out the two fools and the doorway. But Archlich could always teleport out later.

Overhearing Experiment's complaint, Archlich snapped his fingers, causing several runes on the computer Experiment was looking over to light up. The computer started humming as it activated.

"Simple usage," Archlich said in explanation as he went back to examening the rest of the runes throughout the room.