Khellendrosiic

"Pfft," ARC said and waved its hand dismissively. "Can a woodchuck chuck? Can only you prevent forest fires? Is HK-47 bloodthirsty? Of course I can do it. In fact, let's start."

Tucking its rifle away, ARC figured in Reishi's placement and the mecha's speed. This would be easy.

As ARC sped up in place, it looked as though the Jump Bot's edges were blurring and its line were melting together. After a second or two of this, ARC started dashing around the mecha moving so fast that it looked like a continuous line of white was surrounding the machine. Now, this technique would take more than a moment and ARC spent a trillionth of a second hoping that the mecha wouldn't realize what was wrong until it was too late.

OOC: What launched fist?

"I'm just tired of everybody I work with thinking me a meatshield," ARC grumbled. "And I'm not even made of meat!"

The Jump Bot then scracthed its head and looked at the electrically charged mecha.

"I can try to bleed of its charge or something by running really fast," ARC suggested. "I'll you guys'd have to do would be to not trip me up."

"What the hell are you doing!?!" ARC shouted as the energy bolts slammed into it. "I'm a good guy!"

And then it was being thrown right back at the mecha. But at least this time it could do somethig about it.

Jump starting its thrusters, ARC pushed itself through the air so that it missed hitting the mecha and instead tumbled to the ground on the other side from Reishi. ARC immidiately sprung back to its feet, dashed over to grab its rifle from under the mecha, and then dashed over to Reishi, completely ignoring the giant machine.

"What the hell was that about you crazy [censored] girl?" ARC screamed as it waved its arms around in emphasis. Its left arm creaked audibly and charred bits of metal fell down from holes in its torso but ARC ignored those minor details. "You could have killed me! The only reason I'm still alive is because that hunk of scrap metal can't hit for beans! Now you better apologize right now or I'm never going to talk to you again."

ARC waited just a second for Reishi to begin her reply and then interuppted her.

"And I'll probably shoot at you too."

"HOOOOLYYYYYY CAAAAAAAARP!!!!" ARC screamed as it was alternately knocked around, knocked against the wall, and then shot almost to pieces.

The Jump Bot picked itself up of the ground and shook itself rapidly, like a dog trying to shake off water. Reaching down and grabbing its gun, ARC watched Ian get his [censored] kicked before it did something.

"Ok, kill the glowing thingie. Got it," ARC said as it zipped in front of the Mecha again. "How ya doin' lugnut?"

Arms suddenly spinning like a pair of hyperactive windmills, ARC built up a strong electrical attack that was aimed right at the glowing thing, which ARC could see because it was right underneath it.

"If ya can't stand the lightning, get the hell outta the storm!" ARC shouted as it jumped up into the air and slammed both electrically charged fists into the transmitter.

OOC: Who's the GM for the next fight?

"That was a load of crap," Bruno spat as Chertak walked into the small wing given to Bruno's gladiators. "You should've taken that [censored] down with one hand tied behind your back. Now go get yourself cleaned up and your armor fixed. And tell those damn engineers of yours to have you ready in four hours. Otherwise I'll cut their [censored] heads off and get a new pair of dumb [censored] Rikti."

Chertak's hands clenched and for a moment it looked as though he was about to pound the cyborg's head into the ground. Then Chertak seemed to remember something and his shoulders slumped.

"Order: Acknowledged. Objective: Repair and refit. Goal: Regain favor," Chertak said unemotionally as he walked away to his room.

"Damn [censored] Rikti," Bruno said. "At least they fight good."

"A properly inspired soldier fights much better than one that is browbeaten into submission," remarked Wolf Spider Warrior from where he leaned against the wall behind Bruno.

"Ah shut yer trap," Bruno said without turning around. "I've got what I need to make you [censored] fight for me and that's all I need. Now shut up and get ready, you're going up next."

Wolf tapped his red Wolf Spider helmet and smiled.

"I'm already waiting," he said.

Chertak stumbled a few steps and then toppled over, thick purple arcs of some form of electricity coursing over his armor. Upon closer examination, it appeared that the armor took damage closer to what would have been the normal case, maybe because the things protecting the gladiators were not given as high a priority as the gladiators themselves.

So right now the glove that had held the bomb was completely blown away and the revealed hand looked slightly charred. As the suit malfunctioned, Chertak twitched every now and then. But he wasn't damaged enough to warrent a medi-port, which was beginning to annoy the Rikti through the haze of pain. He disliked being in such an embarrassing posture.

Toy Dispenser leaned back against the giant statue of Lord Recluse and crossed his arms, watching the crowds of people, Arachnos employees, and the occasional villain move about. He didn’t have anything to do at the moment and watching other people was a rewarding practice every now and then. That and he was bored.

“Why don’t we just go squish some spider lovers?” Combat Toy grumbled as it slouched its way through a pace to Toy’s right. “Anything else than just sitting here.”

“Arachnos is our ally as of late,” replied Toy Bot as it stood stock still, its only movement the slow panning of its head scanning the crowd. “It would be considered bad form to attack them while under contract.”

“Hasn’t kept us from doing it before,” huffed the assault bot as it glared down at a pedestrian who had been staring at it for too long. The man quickly hurried off.

“But we haven’t worked for a patron before, lug-nut,” Mini Bot shot back as it hung from one of the statue’s spider legs. “Even I don’t think we could afford insulting Scirocco.”

Combat Toy made a dismissive noise but shut up anyway, instead spending the next few minutes disrupting nearby radio waves, causing several people to wonder what the hell was up with their cell phones. Just as the Arbiter on post in the center of the square started to sense something amiss, a tone beeped on Toy’s wrist, signaling an incoming video call. Combat Toy immediately shut off it’s interdiction device and edging closer to Toy, wanting to hear what was going on.

Flipping up his wrist panel, Toy hit a button and accepted the call, revealing Scirocco’s face on the small screen. But while the video might have to be redirected to an external source, the sound was being picked up directly by Toy’s comm. sat system. To anyone but Toy Dispenser and his bots, it would look as though they were lip reading a mute talking head.

“How’d the talk with Mako go?” Toy asked right off the bat.

“Not well,” answered Scirocco wearily. “I found his conversation as tiring as ever and received nothing to show for it. He said that he would ‘attack who ever comes out the weaker’ and I quote.”

“Well, that sucks. But I suppose shark face was a long shot anyway.”

“True,” replied Scirocco as the scenery behind his head changed. Apparently he had just entered an elevator. “But there was still a slim chance of him offering his aid just as there was with Black Scorpion. And since neither of them will help me, I shall turn to one who has been much friendlier with me in the past than those two.”

“Ghost Widow.”

“Exactly. And I have a much better plan than before,” Scirocco said, his voice perking up a bit. “I have learned that Ghost Widow’s protégé, the Wretch, is going on a mission to destroy a Malta base that has been discovered in Siberia. Why Lord Recluse wants this base destroyed I do not know, but I have also learned something interesting from one of my mystics. It appears that the Malta know the strike team is incoming and have prepared an elaborate trap for the Wretch and his soldiers. I have little doubt that they will succeed and in so doing give us the opportunity we need.”

“Rescue the damsel in distress and kill the dragon, eh?”

“Yes, although in this case the damsel is a twisted, malformed mutant and the dragon is a paramilitary group of professional covert ops.”

“Things just aren’t like they used to be.”

Scirocco laughed lightly. “Indeed. But you know what you must do. I assume you have transportation?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a friend who can get me up to the backwaters of Russia pretty quickly.”

“Good. Now, I have one last thing for you. It seems that Arbiter Daos would like to speak with you. I do not know what he wants but I advise extreme caution. The leader of the Arbiters is not a man to provoke.”

“Don’t worry, Scirocco. I’ll see what Daos wants and then nip on over to Siberia. If I’m lucky, they won’t even see me coming.”

“Good luck, Toy Dispenser.”

“Meh, I’ll be fine. Toy, out.”

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

His robots trailing behind, Toy walked up to Arbiter Daos and raised his hand in greeting.

“Hey there,” he said as he stopped just in front of Daos. “I heard that you wanted to talk to me?”

Daos nodded. “Yes, I did inform Scirocco of that much. Now then, let us get to the point quickly.”

“I always appreciate those kinds of conversations, go ahead, shoot.”

“Do you remember the bases that were attacked and how they were always storage locations for artifacts of Scirocco’s? Well, I obtained a complete list of the artifacts stolen and ran it by some of my own sources that have no connection to Sciocco’s Mu. What they sent back to me was…unsettling, to say the least.”

“What do you mean, ‘unsettling’?” Toy asked as he tilted his head to one side. “It’s my understanding that a lot of magic can seem that way.”

“I can’t say anything without more proof,” Daos said. “But I would advise you to keep an eye on your patron. Scirocco has long wished that things could be different and he might be doing something to further that goal of his.”

“Riiiight,” Toy said sarcastically. “Ok, I’ll keep one eye on Scirocco. But if I see anything, don’t expect me to call you.”

“That is just as well. Now go, villain, and do what your patron has asked of you.”

Almost the second after he said that, Daos turned away from Toy and started consulting with one of his aides. Apparently Toy had been dismissed.

“Bloody load of arrogant Arbiters,” Toy grumbled as he led the way out the doors and out onto the Spider City streets. “One of these days I’m going to hit one, just to see what it feels like.”

“Probably a lot like hitting a normal person,” guessed Toy Bot.

“Except more satisfying,” added Large Toy with a mock slap in Toy Bot’s direction.

“Probably,” Toy said absently as he looked up at the sun shining overhead. “Well then, time to get going. I think Commie is going to want plenty of time to get ready.”

“Too bad he doesn’t have any,” snickered Combat Toy.

“Too bad, so sad. He'll live with it.”

When the human charged him, Chertak had a pretty good idea about what was going to happen next. So in order to end this fight in some short amount of time, he decided to take the fall, hopefully bringing the hero with him.

The instant Shinae phased to go through him, Chertak reached down to his belt and pulled off a small rectangle. As soon as it was removed, the device activated, sending off loud telepathic shouts of how many seconds were left until it exploded. Concealing the bomb in his hand, Chertak turned to block the first sword blow with his rifle.

The third blow sent his weapon flying and the fourth thudded into the chest of his battle armor. But by then the bomb was about to explode and Chertak extended his hand out toward Shinae.

The bomb went off, most of its force directed toward Shinae, enough to vaporize her body normally but currently only enough to knock her out, while enough energy went into Chertak's suit to seriously stun the Rikti.

OOC: Chertak's gun doesn't shoot bullets. His uses a Rikti Repulsor Rifle, which shoots balls of energy. For the purposes of the damage limiter, the ball is slightly undercharged and mainly knocks you over.

Chertak circled around Shinae. The moment he had a clear shot, he'd take it.

OOC: When he shoots is up to you. It'd probably happen if she dodged.

Moving so that Star Scout was in no danger of being caught accidently, Chertak brought up his rifle and took a shot at Shinae.

OOC: Mortal Kombat: FINISH HIM!

BIC: Underneath his helmet, Chertak's eyes narrowed as his stance shifted slightly. Keeping his sword up, Chertak fell back a bit until he could talk to both the robot and Burning without being overheard.

"Suggestion: Robot: Engage primary melee combat. Mage and myself: Open fire: When target appears. Query: Understanding."

"Order: Finish her!" Chertak said as he pulled out his sword and swept it around to cut Shinae in half.

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

"Hey," said Bruno. "Robot face."

"Yeeeeesssssssss?" asked ARC.

"You see that other robot?"

"Yeeeeeeesssssssss."

"Go help kill it."

"Aye aye mon capitan!" said ARC and then it was gone in a flash and a slammed door.

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

One of the doors to the arena creaked open and suddenly there was a Sky Raider Jump Bot jogging in place right in front of the mecha.

"Dayum but you're big," ARC said as the machine noticed it and brought one fist down to crush the bot.

"Ha ha! You missed!" said ARC as it waved from a position a foot away from the fist.

The mecha replied by swinging its arm around and paused when ARC superspeeded up onto its arm.

"Bam! Zoom! Straight to the moon!" shouted the Jump Bot as it lit its jets, flipped over the mecha, pulled out its assault rifle, and fired a grenade right inbetween the mecha's legs.

"Oooooooo! I got you good!" shouted ARC as it hopped in place and pumped its arms.

OOC: @%^@&* Shinji. >_<

OOC: Yes, yes it is.

Chertak smoothly dodged one slash and then ducked under a high one. He swung his rifle like a club and then lashed out with a foot as Shinae phased just long enough to avoid the rifle.

Eyes narowing, Chertak slung his sword away and whipped out his rifle in almost the same motion. His HUD showing his invisible human ally, the Rikti fired at Shinae's back while making sure that he didn't hit Burning.

[ QUOTE ]
Shinae ran full bore at the Rikti, phased through him, and made another run at Burning.

[/ QUOTE ]

OOC: Burning's invisible.

Chertak led with his shoulder and hit the ground rolling, no easy feat in the cumbersome battle armor he wore. Springing up to his feet, Chertak swung his sword around in a defensive posture, ready to block the human's movement. He knew that the human wouldn't be able to keep up her intangibility for too long and as soon as it dropped he would move in for the kill.

OOC: I thought I had her, what with the jumping into the air bringing sword down on her head thing.

BIC: Mentally cursing, Chertak sprinted forward toward the back of Shinae and tried to tackle her to the ground. She hadn't displayed the characteristics of a super with super strength and so would be at a disadvantage if pinned.

"Man, that Holo sap was such a pushover," grumbled Combat Toy from a repair rack.

"Then explain how you lost an arm to him," shot back Toy Bot from its seat in front of one of the computers.

"The arm was the only damage we took," said Toy Dispenser as he reclined in his chair and flicked on the TV. "I'm just glad Cacophony didn't come after us. She really has a bone to pick after all the times we beat her up."

"And a hoo ha to that, boss," said Combat Toy with a nod.

"Hey boss!" shouted Mini Bot as it came accelerating around the corner into Toy's room. "You've got mail!"

"Toss it in the inbox," Toy replied, waving his hand dismissively. "I'm closed for the day."

"But boss!" Mini Bot whined. "It's from Essex!"

Toy sat up straight and held his hand out at the mention of Essex's name. Mini Bot slapped the letter in his hand and Toy sliced it open with a little blade that popped out of his forefinger. Handing the empty envelope back to Mini Bot, Toy scanned the letter and then chuckled.

"Looks like the healbot's having a birthday party and we're invited."

"Cool!" squealed Mini Bot. "There's gonna be presents and cake and people and presents and pinyatas and presents and-"

Toy ignored Mini Bot as the little drone babbled on. The address was in Paragon City and last he checked the Freedom Phalanx was out to get him. It would take him a little while to come up with a plan to get inside the city. But meanwhile...

"Hey Toy Bot," Toy said. "Bring this letter to Ghoul and Archlich and ask if they want to come. Tell them they can bring presents anyway because I think I'm going to. And tell them to hurry up if they are coming, we should leave soon."

OOC: Well, it should say on the post where Shinji outlined his gladiators. And the fact that I'm asking you to take control of Shinji's character is because he isn't here. Thus, you can't get a pm from him.

OOC: Hey PLague, why don't you control Shinji fighter until he gets back.

BIC: Seeing that the flame wielding hero had the other hero well in hand, Chertak turned his attention toward the female with the sword.

"Order: Ally: Construct: Eliminate: Illusion: Construct," he said as he put his rifle away and pulled out his massive Rikti Warblade. "My target: Female. Destruction: Assured."

Taking a few steps forward, Chertak bent his knees and jumped through the air, bringing the sword down on Shinae with a overhead blow.