Khellendrosiic

"Most annoying," muttered a tall, auburn haired man dressed in a casual suit who had ducked into the alleyway with Kruger. "Teivos had agreed to participate in this parade. I can only assume he pulled one of his infamous whims and had himself replaced by a body double at the last minute."

His flat grey eyes observed the combat and Kruger could almost see the gears churning and numbers adding up in his head. Toy Dispenser had a damn good holographic disguise.

"What now, then?" grunted Kruger through gritted teeth as he lurked further back in the alley, unable to catch more than the occasional glimpse of the fight. "Your plan has gone down the drain and with it all reason to keep you alive."

The disguised Dispenser glanced over his shoulder at Kruger and one corner of his mouth twitched up in the parody of a grin.

"You didn't think I'd be doing this alone, did you?"

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

A sudden spike of magical energy suddenly bloomed on the detection devices around Teivos' residence. Automatic systems engaged anti-magic fields in response, but the magic somehow slipped between gaps in their cover that only someone intimately familiar with sorcerous working could manage. There was the standard bright flash and loud pop of a teleport.

Then there came a light rap of boney knuckles on the front door.

"It appears as though you shall require a heavier escort than usual, Teivos," came the rasping voice of Overmagus Archlich, easily audible to Teivos and Wolfgang even though a door and several meters seperated them.

Arrayed behind the lich stood all six drones of Dispenser's command, their normal banter tamped down in the presence of their boss's boss.

"Affirmitive," answered Cher'tak to Arek's question. "Course: Undivided."

Eyes flicking about behind his helmet, Cher'tak mentally called up the information Wong had downloaded to the hero issue communicator partially integrated into his suit and nodded after a second.

"Objective: Steel Canyon, Bronze Shield. Suggested action: Take tram. Faster transportation: Rikti-make: Unavaliable."

"Eternal hope: Warriors; Soldiers: Skills: Not required," mused Cher'tak somewhat after Paxtera's comment. He then swung his head toward Wong and fixed the man with a stare that had an inquisitive air about it. "Query; Request: Information: Attacking villains: All avaliable."

OOC: Oh good, guess I won't be alone blue side after all.

BIC: The translators really did a poor job of this.

Oh quit complaining. If you would just download the lessons you would be perfectly capable of reading it on your own.

I'm eccentric. It's 'part of the job description' as a human would say.

There's a difference between eccentricity and willful pigheadedness, Cher'tak.

Yes yes yes, replied Cher'tak, Traditionalist Warmaster of the Rikti on Primal Earth. Now excuse me, I'm almost there. You know how anxious the humans get if I'm actively connected to the group-mind.

Remember that you're representing all of us out there, Warmaster, shot back C'Kelkah, one of the leading members of the Traditionalist faction from where she paced in one of their secure bases. You are to generate good will toward all Rikti people by assisting Hero Corps, not just to prove your warrior prowess.

Ah yes, us Lineage of War folks just need to daub our cheeks with woad and dance around waving our spears to feel fulfilled, Cher'tak replied, a wry tone coloring his thought. I'll make a good impression, don't worry.

Tell me that next time I have to authorize yet another full organ transplant for you. Regardless, I should go.

With a wordless thought of affirmation, Cher'tak withdrew his mind from the group-mind and settled back into the comfortable isolation that was his 'job description.' But while he might have been alone in his head, he certainly wasn't alone in any other meaning of the word. He was in the middle of Atlas Park, after all, his blood red Rikti battle armor sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the spandex, wings, and capes of his fellow heroes.

Fellow heroes. No matter how many times he thought of that, it still seemed to fit like a glove a few sizes too big. He still had a lot to do before he could consider himself an actual hero.

"Greetings; Salutations," grated the Rikti over his annoyingly synthetic sounding translator. Despite the ever bothersome annoyance he stood proudly before the three people, Vanguard badge gleaming bright on the left side of his chest and bladerifle attatched to its carry point on his back.

"Self name; Designation: Warmaster Cher'tak. Faction: Traditionalist. Objective: Assist Hero Corps; Paragon heroes: Recover or Revenge: Missing heroes," he continued, subtly giving Arek and the heroine an appraising glance behind the anonymity of his helmet.

[ QUOTE ]
"It's breezy."

[/ QUOTE ]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Genius!

[ QUOTE ]
Fascinating.

[/ QUOTE ]

What he said.

With human form comes human thought structure. But Rikti have problems keeping to the script.

Anyway, in regards to the OP. Rikti speak varies pretty much from arc to arc, depending on who wrote it.

Neccessity: Rikti speech: Broken up. Everything else: Perogitive: Speaker, user. Remember: Legibility, understanding: Important: Above all.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!

*stares at thread*

Ah geez, this thing. I should really fix Toy's arc, maybe make one for Archlich too. He's really more of a contact guy than Toy is.

The instant Brawler stepped through the door there was a blade at his throat and a gun barrel inches away from his face. Rezyzin and Solid might not have detected the officer coming in, but they were both professionals with reflexes built up against stealth types. Of course, it helped that the door was the only way into the back of the shop.

"Actually, why don't you put your hands behind your head and get down on the ground," ordered Solid as an almost invisible ripple of energy swept over his body, his grey armor turning black once again. "Seeing as if you make a wrong move you'll be getting some head rennovations."

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

"Sir," rumbled Combat Toy over the secure link, his armored bulk straightening up a bit reflexively.

"Has he done anything like this before? What are the chances of this being part of some plan of his?" inquired Teivos as Sombal remained silent.

"Negative, sir. Highly probable, sir," answered CT somewhat curtly as though unused to talking directly to someone without Toy Dispenser there.

"Do you have any idea what he could be planning?"

"Negative, sir. None of us are getting anything over our intranet and that's never happened before."

"He's still there," broke in Large Toy, seamlessly hopping into the phone line even as it was busy effecting emergency repairs to the Kazbeks. "He's not transmitting or receiving, but he's still there."

"You all would know best," mused Teivos. "Very well, we'll just have to trust that he knows what he's doing. If you get back in contact, let me know."

"Yes sir," replied Combat Toy with a glance at Large Toy as the link went dead. The protector bot looked up from the suit it was repairing to meet CT's gaze, shaking its head minutely as if in response to some unspoken question.

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

Toy Dispenser glanced at Kruger after the man uttered his incredulity, giving him an almost smug look. Regardless how things turned out, it was clear the mechanoid was going to enjoy this moment as much as it could.

"Of course I am extra-dimensional," said Dispenser as he turned his blank faceplate on Isabel, being of the same opinion as Kruger on this matter. "The vast majority of Teivos' forces are. But your ignorance is understandable, seeing as how you too are not native to this world."

He paused as Zeo performed his spell, seeming to bristle a little at the dragonman's insult.

"I am as sentient as you are," grated the android, his voice slightly more distorted than usual. "And as for the matter of trust I shall tell you now two things. First, there is a traitor aboard this train by the name of Donald Hastings. He has been working for the Sovereign for two months now. We had been planning on destroying your small outpost as soon as he brought himself to transmit the location."

Dispenser snorted a little, a surprisingly accurate human-like sound that was somewhat out of place.

"You beat us to the chase, however. Question him about his family. He would have told you that they were killed by my hand, of all people, but he is lying. The Sovereign has them as hostages in exchange for his continued cooperation," he continued, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "Secondly, I shall inform you of Teivos' plan to destroy the home dimension of these new arrivals. He calls it Operation Coconut and it has likely begun even now."

OOC: Ah, yes, thanks you Devious. I totally would have figured out something to do without your help, though.

BIC: Solid's black coloring slowly faded back to its normal gray as his limited stealth function cut out. The targeting eye of his standard cyclopix-pattern headset whirred slightly as it assessed Max and his thugs, the droid tapping idley on the ventilator covering the lower half of his face.

"Was wondering what'd take you so long," replied Solid as Rezyzin came in before he pointed at Max. "This is Max. Max, this is Rezyzin. He's a Russian with a sword, so don't piss him off."

Pausing a moment to check his rifle over, Solid gave the thugs to introduce themselves if they wanted then continued.

"Ok, just so we all know, the only thing keeping me from turning the lot of you into the authorities right now is cause the authorities are all Nazis. And we're in the wrong dimension. So I mostly just helped save your [censored] cause I figured a gang of nine stands a better chance to take on the Nazi hordes than just the two of us capes, badass though we might be," Solid rattled off, pausing a moment to poke his head out the door and look around, continuing after he pulled back in. "Anyway, ask your questions now, but hurry up and know that I've been here like ten minutes longer than you guys. That and I want to go raid that hospital before the police cordon gets us. Oh, and my name's Solid Shot. Solid will do. No, I'm not a guy in a suit. I'm a robot."

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

Toy Dispenser glanced at Legion again at the mention of nuclear blast modules before turning back toward Zeo and Kruger.

"By all means, feel free to collapse the tunnel behind you. It will prove redundant however, as the small armored detatchment has already turned back due to a tunnel collapse brought on by the implosion of the CPSR dragon," he said. "As for being tracked, have your probe here scan me for any emitted frequencies, I have deactivated my trackers."

He nodded at Legion and then leaned forward, steepling his fingers and looking up at the assembled group.

"Simply put, I have a business arrangement for you all. Your enemy is my enemy, in the long run of things, and quite frankly you will need someone on the inside to defeat the Sovereign. He is very good at getting what he wants."

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

At the same moment Dispenser mentioned that his tracker was cut off, the Molvia did indeed lose the signal. Toy Bot acknowledged that he had also lost his connection to his master as well and that none of the other drones could raise him.

"Hold position and contact Teivos," rumbled Combat Toy as Large Toy and the put together Block Bot moved about fixing things and people in the background. "Let him know the boss has gone silent."

So I came up with this amusing idea for a thread. You know how we all run around pretending to be superheroes and aliens and robots and stuff? I was wondering how we'd look from somebody else's perspective, someone not as gifted in the superpower department, you might say.

Thus: What's it like...? A thread for little vignette things where our figments of imagination try to describe what it's like being them. Do it IC with some normal Joe asking your fire-slinging mutant what it's like to breathe fire or maybe OOC with a real-life average Joe asking your heroine what it's like having to fight in spandex all the time. I dunno, there has to be something you guys want to tell or elaborate about with your characters. I know I like too.

To start things off I asked one of the most contemplated questions in human history to somebody who's not human at all and, hopefully, provides a new and interesting answer.

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

“So what’s it like to fly?”

Toy Dispenser paused in the middle of tightening a bolt on an arm he was working on. The colorful android seemed to blink as he turned to face his questioner, a new recruit who was looking for some protection from the Hellions and fit a good psyche profile.

“Technically I don’t fly, I just fall in whichever direction I feel like,” he retorted, giving up the arm once he saw the expression on her face. Her profile was right, she was going to be a handful.

“You know what I mean,” she said wryly, hopping up on Toy’s worktable and resting one sneakered foot on the opposite knee. “You might just be a colorblind robot but you’re the only flier in this gang who’ll talk to me. So talk!”

Toy tilted his head to the side before rolling it in exasperation. Motioning for her to follow, he maneuvered around a half-disassembled Mekman he hadn’t gotten around to cleaning up yet and went to check on some experiments he had left running. Not that he couldn’t check on their progress digitally, he just liked seeing them first-hand if he had the chance.

“First of all: I’m an android, not a robot. Get that straight and I won’t sick Mini Bot on you,” he said as the former Hellion smiled smugly and hopped off the table to follow him. She made sure not to touch anything though, which made her smarter than average and seem as though she called him a robot just to annoy him. Women. “Secondly: I’m an android. I don’t feel or experience things like squishy people do. Why don’t you just wait till Gen Nine gets back?”

“Cause he’s a creepy [censored] Paragon Protector,” she said with a heavy mock shiver. “He was kinda cool at the meeting, but the way he keeps wearing that blank yellow mask… Ergh…”

Pausing again, Toy slowly turned towards her and pointed at his equally blank, if off-white shaded, faceplate. He then noticed out of the corner of his eye that the refined ghost-slayer laser test was having issues again and turned to adjust some settings while the girl gathered her thoughts.

“Right… Walked into that one…” she mumbled, idly with a lock of black hair as she looked around. This was Toy’s section of the base and things weren’t generally set up for ease of human understanding. No labels, for one thing, and stuff was scattered about seemingly at random. Not to mention the small swarm of ubiquitous spider drones running around over almost everything, tending to mundane tasks like cleaning, moving stuff about, and monitoring the devices Toy didn’t have the time to attend too at the moment. The mastermind was also busy peering intently into what seemed for all intents and purposes to be a high tech filing cabinet with buttons and some panels on it.

“Totally,” he replied after a moment. “But as to your question… I don’t exactly know.”

This lost her and she blinked for a moment, stuffing one hand into a pocket in her jeans as the other kept playing with her hair.

“You don’t know? How can you not know how you feel about something you do all the time?”

“I’ve never really though about it, for one,” Toy shot back, turning to look her full on. “And the problem is that I’ve done it all the time. It started out devoid of a lot of meaning that a young mutant or aspiring inventor might put in it. It’s simply another thing I can do that’s kinda fun.”

“Why’s it fun, then?” she asked, grasping at what straws were to be had. “If you do it all the time like you said, why isn’t it boring?”

“Well…” Toy said before he lifted a few feet up off the floor and started slowly floating around the room, orienting himself on her and avoiding the various large containers or esoteric pillars without looking. “When you’re flying, you’re pretty much looking down on everything else except for other fliers, tall buildings, and the sky itself. It gives a feeling of superiority, of ascension, of ‘I look down on you just as the gods once did.’ But even while you’re feeling this about the people down below, you have to look up too. And it’s only really when you’re a couple thousand feet in the air that you really start thinking about how far we have to go.”

Pacing in a rough circle around the middle of the workshop, avoiding such things as a perfect working replica of the head of a velociraptor, a couple laden tables, and a folding chair, the girl frowned a bit at Toy’s answer.

“So… You go on a power trip then start wondering about how to conquer the rest of the galaxy?” she asked with a smirk, one eyebrow slowly curving upwards.

Toy snorted, a short burst of static, and landed next to a table occupied by what looked like a small chemistry set, a small collection of ancient swords, and an AK-47 missing its barrel. He talked a bit more as he moved the items about, forming most of them on one side of the table and placing individual things scattered about the other half.

“You go up high enough and once you get past, or never have, the whole joy of flight thing, you start thinking with a new perspective to suit your, well, new perspective,” he said, chuckling, rapping one blue gauntleted fist on the table. “Imagine all the stuff is civilization and the empty table is just empty space. Seems kinda empty right? Clearly demarcated at least?”

Beckoning her over, he put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her down with him as he crouched, putting himself at eye level with all the tables in the room.

“Now look around you? See stuff all over the place and can’t really tell where it isn’t, right? That’s the difference. You look at the world from a normal perspective and all you see is what we’ve changed, what we’ve built and done. Get up a bit higher and not only do you see all that, but you see where we haven’t changed, where we have yet to go. Now imagine going up even higher, into orbit. You’d see even more places we haven’t gone. Then up higher to see the whole solar system. Can’t see very much of us any more, can you?”

Patting her on the back, Toy hopped up and scooted over to pick up the dinosaur head she had passed. He figured now was a good time to re-unite it with its body. The android left the newest member of LMOUSVEV alone to chew what he said over, she looked like she’d handle the thought food fairly well. It’d certainly agree with her profile.

“Now where did I store those robotic velociraptors?” Toy mumbled to himself as he slipped out of the room.

OOC: So yeah, go wild folks! Or not. I dunno if people will like this or not, but I haven't slept in a while and I finally got enough energy to write something, so I'm satisfied from this whole venture.

Combat Toy swiveled it's head around to look at the soldiers, assessing their injuries and general state of being.

"Cool your heels, squishies," grunted the assault bot after a moment. "The boss won't be needing us for a little while. Lick your wounds, plot revenge, and play a game of poker or something. L and B will do what they can to patch up you and your armor, so don't worry about having to remember which end of your pig-sticker you put in the good guy."

Large Toy was already shuffling among the more wounded soldiers, holding them steady with one hand while playing it's nanite beam over their wounds. While most of the energy requirements were satisfied by the energy of the beam itself, the drone recommended getting something to eat while they had a chance. Block Bot would get to work making the sets of armor somewhat battleworthy again as soon as it's legs could figure out exactly where to connect to the torso, ignoring as they were the shouted commands of their irritated owner.

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

Unforetunately for Isabel, Toy Dispenser didn't have any obvious means of opening him up. Aside from the miniscule flickering of electricity over his surface, he showed no life during her examination, nor even when Zeo picked him up and shook him. This changed after the massive tanker suggested chopping his head off, though.

"Your plan would be most ill-advised," burbled Dispenser, his vocoder apparently out of whack as his voice see-sawed through ranges and tones before settling down into its normal, slightly distorted monotone.

Swiftly reaching up to grasp Isabel's arm, he used her to assist himself in standing up, hopefully before anyone else could knock him down again. Currently he wouldn't resist much, though that could change.

"Not only would such damage cause my reactor to overload and kill every person on this train, but said action would net you no useable information. My code cannot be deciphered," explained the android as he glanced around and then moved to sit down, calmly resting both arms on the armrests of the seat as he glanced at those in the car, blank faceplate lingering on Legion for a moment longer in interest.

"Besides, why attempt to wrest knowledge from my memory banks when I will be more than willing to answer any questions you might have? I assume you will have more than a few, especially of things good Kruger here was unable or unwilling to tell you."

Dispener shot a glance that could be construed as shrewd at the rebel colonel, who glared right back. Several of the other rebels around looked more than willing to shoot first and ask questions later, though they refrained as long as their commander did.

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

Solid also didn't like being blind.

What with the radar jamming, IR flooding, sight blocking cloud of the sphere that had lodged itself on CANINE, Solid counted himself very lucky that he could still smell things. One of the often overlooked functions of a security droid was that he often acted as a hunter as much as a defender, so a technical sense of smell about as good as a bloodhound's was considering worth installing.

"Thank god the old [censored] had both money and sense for as long as he did," muttered the droid as he plummeted in an arc toward the ground, aiming away from the very distinctive and overwhelming smell the jammer gave off.

He landed a bit hard, losing some excess momentum by immidiately curling into a roll down the street. His roll was stopped by colliding with Eddie's legs, probably knocking the man over as the unexpected several hundred pounds of armor, munitions, and cape slammed into the back of his legs.

"[censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored]!" loudly muttered Solid as he scrambled to his feet, yanking the enforcer up so quickly that his head probably spun from the sudden changes in height. "[censored] getting off the street and follow me before that god forsaken hunter-killer gets off its [censored] and comes to kill us!"

He then darted for a nearby alleyway with a harsh "Follow me, damn it!" lingering behind him. His black armor was a bit hard to see in the darkness of the path, but he telegraphed his motions enough that even an unskilled punk would be able to follow him if he ran fast enough.

Solid would lead them through a couple of alleyways, across a street, then into a closed department store who's back door was slightly ajar as Solid and Rezyzin had broken in a little while ago to make a temporary safehouse. Alarms had been blocked or diverted, so it was here that Solid would finally pause long enough to let the no doubt slightly annoyed thugs question him.

If they didn't follow, then, well, Solid wouldn't bother doubling back for them. He was already pushing himself to be trying to lead them to safety as it was.

Very interesting. Creative way to explain those +Stealth IOs. It even looks semi-professional.

Good job, I say. Now I wonder how long it'll take Crey to steal the plans and make their own version for purchase on the black market...

Toy Dispenser calmly watched the massive electrical beast come at him. He lashed out at it with a curved force bolt, blowing chunks of the beast away to ground themselves on the tunnel walls, but with at least one hand needed to keep himself attatched to the train, he was unable to stop it. Briefly rolling his head in annoyance, the constant small flickers of lightning on his armor strengthed in frequency and intensity as he overcharged his aura. Disengaging his tether at the last moment, Dispenser crossed both forearms in front of him, flaring his force field generators as the electrical beast grabbed a hold of him.

Nothing could be seen of him for a moment except as a roiling sphere of blue and red lightning. Then the sphere seemed to explode and Dispenser's smoking form was thrown on board the train, crashing heavily against the wall next to Kruger and crumpling motionless to the floor.

Kruger blinked a couple times at the inert body of the Overmagus' Iron Fist. ...had they really just done this? Could a few metahumans from this other dimension actually turn the tide?

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

A black mechanical fist punched through a layer of rock. With a rumble and small cascade, the fist withdrew and punched out again, widening the hole. A battered suit of Kazbek armor was then thrust out, collapsing to the ground before the Caldok could yank off his helmet and cough hoarsely. His emergency teleport had been screwed up by the implosion of the CSPR forces and only intervention by Combat Toy, who was now forcing its way out of the rubble, had kept him from being completely crushed.

"That didn't exactly go as planned," muttered the head of Block Bot as it's torso jiggled out from the rail and dragged itself along with the stump of its left arm.

"The boss has the rebels where we want them and the Chinese mooks lost a dragon," grunted CT. "I think things went fine."

Several flashes later and they were all aboard the Molvia, its teleporters finally able to get a lock through the distortion. Mini Bot hadn't survived, but even now a new chasis was being prepped.

"Follow the course of the train," ordered Toy Bot as it clattered into the cockpit. "I will advise you of neccessary course changes. Additional, inform the reinforcing armored units that they are no longer needed."

The co-pilot shared a glance with the pilot, both men a bit uncomfortable about being ordered around by a battle drone, even if it belonged to Toy Dispenser, but what could they do?

"Yes, sir, I'm on it."

Toy Dispenser hadn't fought someone who could move almost as fast as he thought in a while, as such, Zeo's mad dash jolted him off course. He bounced into the wall of the tunnel once, twice, three times, crushing the spikes and badly denting the armor on his right side. The arcing bands of electricity were somewhat easier to combat. Dispenser simply disengaged the lightning grapple which had started off his journey, he was hanging securely from the second grapple now, and lifted the freed arm in front of him to blast a bubble of force that cleared and dispersed the energy like a blast of wind in a smokey room.

Lashing out with his left arm again, he powered down his force field generator and latched another grapple onto the back of the train. By the time Zeo got back and the rebels were rather ineffectually opening fire, Dispenser was about ten feet away and closing in at a rate of a foot a second.

"You'll have to do better than that," shouted up the android in an almost conversational tone. "The Iron Fist of the Overmagus does not easily loosen his grip. Surrender now or die painfully."

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

The departure of the force bubble and subsequent exposure to the heavy winds discomfited the drones only because they were forced to spike themselves into stationary positions. Toy Bot's light frame was unable to succesfully aim through the winds, however, so once it was stabilized it vanished in a bright flash of light, re-appearing on the Molvia like a gangly ice-carved statue of some bizarre spider monster.

Combat Toy bent into the winds and weathered them like an especially sturdy tree, aiming his heavy torso-mounted plasma cannons at the mages atop the dragon while his blades made shards out of any ice-wolf stupid enough to charge him. Block Bot and Large Toy overcharged their force field generators to prepare for the coming fire storm with Block Bot shielding Large Toy and Large Toy shielding CT. When the wave of fire hit, the pair of shielded drones survived with moderate damage, armor shattered in multiple places over their bodies to expose secondary or tertiary layers, all that now protected their actual guts.

Block Bot was fairly unlucky, shattering at the waist, upper neck, and left shoulder. His various parts became randomly strewn about, his head lodging in the hole in the wall the Ice Wind had gotten knocked into, arm flying off to almost brain a sorceror, torso getting caught on a track, and legs remaining upright where they had been spiked to the ground.

Mini Bot, meanwhile, had been ignored by the dragon as its blades did little more than scratch the scale. Scrambling like a monkey over the armored hide in search of a weaker spot, the drone was barely missed by the rebels as they hopped aboard their ride. Receiving new orders, Mini Bot shoved a tracking tag under a scale near the dragon's belly and then clung on for dear life as it's armor changed color to the same white of the scales it lay next to.

OOC: This gives a new meaning to the term 'bullet train', eh? Momentum ftw!

BIC: "I hate hunter killer droids!" shouted Solid angrily as he threw himself to one side to avoid the heavy rounds blowing up dust and concrete right next to him.

But Rezyzin's attack gave the security droid enough time to scramble back to his feet and launch up into the air. His foot-mounted jets flared brightly for a moment as they accelerated him to top speed as quickly as possible, barreling straight for where CANINE and the scrapper were tangled up. He was aiming to grab a piece of the machine as he flew by and pump it full of enough volts to short something important out, but he was prepared for it throwing Rezyzin at him. At such a time he'd just tuck and roll in mid-air, grabbing the thrown human and basically shoving him behind him instead of slamming right into him.

Either way CANINE was going to get hurt by something, most likely Solid's fist.

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

Toy Dispenser's head turned to glance behind him as the first dragon appeared, mauling two soldiers and freezing Sombal. Gesturing irritabley at the Ice Wind trying to cast a spell, the android hammered him with a force bolt, knocking him into the wall again and disrupting his casting.

Events seemed to stretch out now, brief moments of time almost appearing to stop as Dispenser made calculations and issued commands to his bots interspersed by time flowing normally as said commands were executed and situations for new commands arose.

Thanks to the warning from the Overmagus, his Right Hand was not caught by surprise, indeed he had expected the dragons to make their appearance much sooner. As such, various contingency plans immidiately swung into operation. Or would have, if Teivos hadn't taken that moment to call.

"Ah, there it goes. Toy? Are you there?" asked the Sovereign as Combat Toy extended a pair of nasty looking rune-carved blades from each wrist and charged the dragon.

"Affirmitive, Teivos," replied the android as the train suddenly lurched into motion, magnetic fields sticking out like a sore thumb on his HUD. The Ice Wind hit by the force bolt finally slid to the ground, momentarily disoriented.

"I've recieved reports of a dragon down there, you do remember you're not supposed to kill it, right?" he continued as the dragon tried to rip another soldier in half, succeeding in only knocking him across the tunnel as his protective shield flared and shattered under the awesome force. Dispenser's left hand rose up and took aim at the tracks under the moving train, which had already moved ten feet away.

"I recall, Sovereign," said Dispenser as Combat Toy pulled it's punches, jabbing the two heavily enchanted blades into the dragon's shoulder, rather than it's heart. Their runes flared a bright, bloody red as their disruptive energies began working their way into the dragon's blood stream. "Rest assured that by the end of this encounter, you shall have at least one dragon to interrogate."

"You make it sound like there's another one, Toy," Teivos remarked, sounding more interested. A flare of red lightning arced out from Dispenser's hand, dancing over the train rails and right into the magnetic fields created by Legion. Magic brained physics on the head as the android's feet left the ground, getting tugged after the train like a man being dragged behind a bull he had lassoed.

"There was one other," Dispenser answered as he lashed out with his other arm, connecting an almost solid bolt of lightning to the back of train and starting to reel himself in. "But it was ill-advisidly placed."

"That sucks... Ah well, I'll leave you to your work. Hmm... You wouldn't happen to need any reinforcements, would you?" said Teivos in a sly tone.

"Everything is completely under control, Sovereign," finished Dispenser, cutting the connection as he hurtled through the underground smuggler tunnel, slowly reeling himself onto an enemy filled train by use of a pair of magical solid lightning bolts.

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

"Hit this [censored] with all you've got!" roared the massive Combat Toy just before the dragon batted it into the wall with an equally massive claw.

The energies of the twin Bane Blades, so named by the Overmagus as they had been specially constructed to be the bane of anything, worked their way into the white dragon. The entropic energy seemed to revel in the destruction it caused as it flowed from the dragon's shoulder down its arm and into its chest. Blood curdled in its veins, muscles cramped and began to decay, and bones grew brittle. But the sheer power of the dragon was able to mostly hold the entropy off, forcing it away from vital organs to instead pave a line of destruction down its side.

On the outside, skin and scales grew dark grey and shriveled or fell off around the wound before spreading like a gangrenous infection. A being of great intelligence as well as raw power, the dragon likely knew it would survive this attack, but it would do so greatly weakened. It would be best to escape before its strength departed it.

Not that the Sovereign's forces were likely to make that easy as Mini Bot crawled along the roof of the tunnel like a spider before jumping onto the dragon's back, whirring razor blades on it's shoulder tentacles dipping down to saw away at a single scale protecting the dragon's spine, aiming to cut through with it's adamantium blades and then sever the poor creature's spine to paralyze it.

OOC: The PCs are gonna escape, so I'm accelerating the tunnel NPC fight some.

Dark grey, unimaginative buildings and annoyingly omnipresent dark red and black banners.

"I hate Nazis."

A long range shot of a trio of tanks with treads both smei-articulated and longer than the main hull, cannons gleaming under street lights.

"I hate extra-dimensional Nazis."

Shadows, too many shadows despite the lights, and enough alleyways to make the Back Alley Brawler a happy man.

"I hate sneaking."

Off in the distance down a street, a group of thugs hijacking a car-jeep thing and almost getting skewered by some Matrix-reject in the back trunk.

"I hate helping bad guys."

Solid Shot knelt on another rooftop, his grey armor having shifted to a dull black to aid all his sneaking around. His rifle was still eclectic as ever though, and right now was aimed for one of the little red lights on the front of the Matrix-reject's body. Solid hadn't had more than half a second to get the shot, but he had already been aiming for the driver, so it wasn't that hard.

"Get ready to cut some [censored] up if it still moves, Rezyzin."

A flat crack just as War and Famine appeared, the bullet's path passing through the unlucky merc and hopefully into the machine. It was an AP round, so War would likely just be annoyed at the hole in his torso just below his right lung.

"...I hate teleporters."

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

This was what he had been created to do. This is what he had built for, trained for, fought for, lost for. He was the Iron Fist of the Overmagus, second in strength only to the Ultimate Arcanist himself and two bit ice conjurers would not stop him.

Specially tempered armor rendered Toy Dispenser almost invulnerable to extreme conditions, but the cold the Chinese mages were generating tested even it's extrordenary tolerances. Dispenser's reflexes were dulled, but not enough to prevent him from pivoting at the waist and deflecting the Ice Knife's kick with a force energy wreathed forearm. A sharp burst of energy sent the ninja crashing into the wall of the tunnel with a heavy crump, but inflicted little damage otherwise.

"Analyzing," Dispenser said out loud as he continued walking toward the train, his experiences telling him that emphasizing the unstoppable and fearsome nature his armor and forces gave off tended to render opponents less effective.

Despite the howling winds, missiles explosions, and sharp cracks from plasma discharges his voice could be heard by those on the train, the slight electronic crackling barely distorting every word and phrase.

"Magic-based metahuman, draconic fire-based powers. Possibility of high Security Level: High," said Dispenser as he flexed one arm and held it toward the train, fingers out-stretched. "Primary target."

A brief rippling of the red electricity crackling over his arm was the only indication of the massive lightning bolt booming out at Flashpoint Zeo. The bolt was magical, rather than technological, in nature, oddly enough, and powerful enough to rock Statesman back a step in surprise. This was the test shot.

Back in the scrum, Dispenser's bots were having a more difficult time with the cold than their master was. The agility its multi-farious legs granted Toy Bot was almost negated by thier individual strength having difficulties breaking through the ice building up. Operating as a more or less stationary turret, the drone swiveled around, blasting powerful balls of plasma at the teleporting mages, seeking to keep them off their feet and reacting instead of actively attacking.

Mini Bot was having the same sort of difficulties, having caught the second Ice Knife's cold blast head on. But liberal applications of heated laser barrels to gummed up joints freed the drone to leap at the ninja, shoulder mounted razor tentacles flailing and blade tipped fingers ripping and tearing. It was almost all the Ice Knife could do to fend off the wild assault as Mini Bot fed every ounce of energy into attacking, sparing nothing for defense.

This set the ninja up for the two protector drones to flank him with several seeker drones, the small machines careening through the air at high speeds as they attempted to self destruct in the man's face. The drones themselves fought back to back, blasting laser fire at whoever came close as they trained healing nanite beams on the soldier who had lost most of his chest to Isabel's energy blast. Said soldier leapt back to his feet and ducked back into cover behind several huge chunks of masonry blown out of the wall by Combat Toy's missiles.

Of the massive assault bot itself, not much could be seen as it dove head on into the whirling hurricanes of one mage after another, seeking to grapple with and rip them in two rather than give them a chance to heal. Two bloody corpses already lay on the ground and it's spiked armor was heavily caked in frozen blood.

Watching this happening, the rebels decided it was a very, very good time to get the train moving again.

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

"ETA five minutes," muttered a tank commander into his comm as his detatchment barreled down the tunnel.

The Molvia vanished from the skies of Independance Port...

...and reappeared an instant later above the underground American supply tunnel the train had passed a short while ago.

As the pilot deftly maneuvered the helicopter further along the path of the train, his copilot checked the sensors and cursed loudly at what he saw.

"Holy [censored]! There's enough magical energy getting thrown around up ahead that we should've detected it from orbit!" he exclaimed. "They must have got some high class cloaking spell to hide it all for so long."

"They have a pair of dragons," remarked Toy Dispenser as his bots moved toward positions marked in bright yellow paint on the floor of the Molvia. "It gives them great flexibility. After you teleport us in on top of the underground signature, you are to stay in a holding pattern. If you are engaged by the creatures you are to transmit a distress signal on the channel I am now downloading to your computers."

"But sir," interupted the pilot with a wary look. "Standard procedure is to-"

Dispenser cut the man off with a swift gesture of his hand.

"This is not a standard situation. You will recieve aid if you do as I have told. Be prepared to teleport us out at any time."

The pilot obediantly shut up and did his job as Dispenser walked back into the main hold, joining Sombal and the others on the marked positions.

"My men are ready to attack, General," said the Družstevník, his voice rendered slightly tinny by his helmet comm. "Do you have any further information?"

"Standard tactics apply: Kill the mages first, all others second. We will mostly likely appear in their midst but I shall disrupt their formation."

As he spoke, Dispenser began waving his hands at each soldier around him, white light flaring from his wrists to coalesce as an almost completely transparent shield around them.

"Casualties are acceptable and they shall recieve full honors," he continued, sounding almost as though he was remarking on the weather by this point. "My drones shall assist you. I will take care of the rebels."

Sombal exchanged glances with his men, garnering almost imperceptible nods of readiness in return. Dispenser nodded in satisfaction and alerted the pilot.

"Ground teleport in five! Four... Three... Two... One... Port!"

All fifteen figures vanished in a brief flare of light from the hold of the Molvia...

...and appeared almost right on top of the Chinese forces just as they emerged from their own teleport. As soon as they fully materialized a bubble of pure force slammed out from around Toy Dispenser, phasing through the Sovereign forces as though they didn't exist to plough into the Chinese, slamming them against walls, floor, and ceiling with the irresistable force of an industrial strength junk compactor.

Taking advantage of the element of surprise, Dispenser and his forces opened up on the stunned Chinese like a force three times their size. Plasma rifles, missiles, and laser beams of various sorts storming out every which way except directly at the train, which Toy Dispenser would begin running towards after assuring himself that most of the Chinese were eliminated.

Toy Dispenser tilted his head slightly at this new information, absorbing it and waiting for Sombal to finish speaking before saying his piece.

"You are correct, Družstevník," he said with a slight nod. "Have the 34th secure the base, but do not enter until one of my drones arrives. It would be a complete and utter waste if they set off a booby trap or disturbed some fragile piece of evidence. As for where we are going..."

Dispenser turned his head toward the front of the super-heavy helicopter and almost instantly a flash of coordinates would appear on one of the pilot's screens, detailing a certain point almost fifty kilometers away from the base they were currently heading for.

"...we shall be heading for the rebels themselves," the android continued as he turned back to Sombal. "They are currently on a train inside one of the old American supply tunnels under attack by a force of Chinese magicians that my Lord has been tracking since they entered the country on behalf of the Sovereign. Equip your men for anti-spirit combat and be ready for extremely heavy resistance. There is a seperate detatchment of 34th coming to support us, but most likely it shall be over and done before we arrive."

"We'll be reaching the specified point in five, sir!" shouted the pilot over the copter's intercom. "I'll get you as close as I can, but this bird's not going to fit in that tunnel!"

Stiffly patting Sombal on the shoulder in a poorly mimicked gesture that likely did nothing to reassure as it should, Toy Dispenser moved toward the cockpit.

"See to your men, Družstevník. I must guide the pilot in and tell him to watch for dragons."

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

Small Toy waved cheerfully when Wolfgang pointed it out, clearly enjoying it's part in helping the cyborg. Once the three ducked back inside, however, it subsided into a passive crouch once more and gazed around the area like a mechanical gargoyle.

New orders from it's master arrived shortly and at once it began bounding from rooftop to rooftop, making a beeline for the abandoned rebel base at a quick pace.

"Družstevník," curtly nodded the android as Sombal intruduced himself. A brief glance at his record was all Dispenser needed to reassure himself that this soldier and his men would handle themselves admirably.

Motioning for the Družstevník and his men to follow, Dispenser hopped up into the Molvia, his retinue following closely and dispersing themselves about the interior of the craft in order to spread out their weight. Combat Toy squeezed itself into the back and loomed there, grumbling quietly to Mini Bot who grumbled back in it's much higher tone of voice.

"This is satisfactory, Družstevník Sombal," Dispenser said as he moved aside to let the SZBV troopers clamber in. "As for the good DS Vlasta, I have one of my drones near his location. DS Wolfgang should be able to catch him this time."

Dispenser's almost-monotone voice grew distinctly chilly at those last two words, but the any implied displeasure was put aside for the moment.

"We shall likely not be requiring his assistance, in any case," continued the android as he transmitted the coordinates of the rebel train to the pilot of the Molvia. "The rebels will be already under assault by a rather idiotic splinter of the Chinese People's Socialist Revolution. The reason they have for assaulting the rebels does not matter. We shall divide, conquer, and eliminate two thorns in the Dark Sovereign's side at once."

"As long as you meat cans think you can keep up," laughed Combat Toy with a rumble, his eye strip flashing a brighter red.

Dispenser's exasperated reply to the drone was cut off as the Molvia's engines warmed up and soon, they were all airborne.

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

Small Toy hadn't followed the two Horsemen into the bar, rather it had detatched a small, independant surveillance drone that even now lurked in a shadowy corner of the ceiling. With the real time information from this sub-drone, Small Toy was able to see and hear most of the conversation Famine, War, and Vlasta had. They didn't seem to be talking about anything very interesting though, so the heavily modified battle drone had been more than willing to sit through another boring spy mission and then get back to real work once the Horsemen were cleared.

Small Toy recognized the orange-skinned Vlasta of course, it was hard not to have this highly effective, if annoyingly free-willed soldier, come under Toy Dispenser's notice more than once. But until Wolfgang showed up, Small Toy didn't feel it necessary to assist in bringing the alien in. Now that the cyborg had shown up though... Well, that changed things.

Tensing its legs, the battle drone leapt from the roof of the building opposite the bar and neatly sailed across the street to land with a light thump on top of the bar. It was unlikely to have been seen, its non-reflective paint ample protection against the casual observer it had to worry about here.

Scampering across the roof, the stubby legged drone accessed public records for the bar's schematics, then took up position above the back door. A soft clink heralded the release of a small but effective flashbang from it's internal grenade magazine. Listening carefully, the drone would drop the flashbang a second before Vlasta opened the door and hopefully give Wolfgang enough time to actually catch the runaway soldier for once.

Small Toy was sure it was going to be a novel experience for the cyborg as it chuckled softly to itself.

Tickticktick... Tickticktick... Tickticktick...

The sound of fingernails rapping in impatient rythym echoed through the small, dimly lit room, made to seem even smaller by the tall towers of books stacked against every wall. A winding path led from the single door through the literary debris field to a cleared area in the exact center of the room. A small hardwood table and two straight-backed, uncomfortable looking chairs occupied the space. The trio of candles providing light stood upon the table in a triangle formation, a basin of perfectly clear water placed precisely between them.

Tickticktick... Tickticktick... Ticktickti-...

The fingers paused in their incessant beat, the white of bone gleaming dully in the candle light as the lone occupant lifted his hand and dragged a single boney finger through the water, setting it into an unnatural swirl. A harsh blue light joined the mellow glow of the candles, twin points of the new color appearing reflected in the swirling water like a pair of sapphires seen under a rushing river. But mere gems did not hold the glimpse of a cold and calculating mind like these did; mere gems did not stare back into the soul of those beholding them.

Tick... Tick... Tick...

The sound of bone on bone, finger slowly rapping on naked jaw as the owner of those two sapphire eyes stared into the water, sheer force of will and barely muttered words from vocal cords long since turned to dust bending the liquid to his purpose. Within moments the water stilled, once again perfectly at rest, but the water wasn't simply water any more, it was a tool.

From the point of view of an eagle, the attack of the Chinese sorcerors upon the rebel train was laid plain as day, rock and stone meaning nothing to the energies worked upon this tool. Nonexistant lips curved into a grim smile and the lights of the candles bent as well, darkness and light flickering over his bare skull to expose his ever present rictus.

With a curt wave of his hand the image in the water vanished and the candles puffed out as though snuffed between immovable fingers. A deft twist of his hand caused a burning blue rune to appear in the air, followed by another and another until the spell was ready, waiting, then cast. The room dropped into blackness again, his armor seeming to welcome the color that was it's brother.

Deep in the reccesses of the Dark Sovereign's tower the ancient being known as Archlich, Overmagus of the dimension formerly known as Malleus Mundi V2279, took what he believe was one more step in the long road to reclaim his power, but which could end up being so much more.

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

"-and it is our belief, General, that the rebels will likely be dead by this time and should prove little threat to the initiation of our plans," finished a small, fat little man who had the annoying tendancy to gulp like the frog he vaguely appeared to be.

Situated in the temporary command post for the first wave of invading Amerika Korps, 'General' Toy Dispenser had been standing as still as a statue for the entirety of the chief of staff's briefing. The man was visibly unnerved by Dispenser's presence and the android could only wonder how such a simpering fool could have survived so long. He was clearly good at something of use, but Dispenser couldn't be bothered to root through his personnel files just to find out what it might be.

But then something much more interesting happened and the android slightly cocked his head to the side, as though listening to something no one else could hear. The chief took this as a sign of approval and almost continued when a breathless aid dashed into the conference room that the meeting had been taking place in. Several dozen pairs of eyes turned to appraise this new comer, as most of the higher ranking officers and their staffs were here at Dispenser's request.

Frowning at the younger man's evident lack of exercise (the comms room really wasn't that far away from where they were), a female Oberst snatched up the note the aid had closely clutched in his hand. Reading silently to herself, she smirked after she finished and looked up at the rest of the room.

"Seems like our rebel friends are more alive than we thought," she said, passing the note to the man next to her. "A patrol heard a large explosion from-"

"One of the older subway stations," interrupted the android from his seat at the head of the table, his head now staring directly at the now uncomfortably shifting woman. "It seems as though the rebels were both more alive and much closer than we all thought. Normally I would have someone executed by now..."

The chief of staff paled even more and stealthily pulled out a hankerchef to dab at the sweat on his brow. Dispenser didn't even bother glancing in his direction as he continued speaking.

"...but this is not a normal situation, for any of us. I will require a mechanized infantry unit to follow my team in and assist with mopping up. I trust you can effectively decide which men can be spared."

Pushing back his chair, the legs grinding loudly against the thin beige carpet, Dispenser stood and began making his way to the door. Officers and aids alike hastily moved out of his way, but someone managed to recover enough of their nerve to ask a question, causing the android to pause just before exiting.

"Herr Dispenser!" called a gruff, Germanic officer from his seat near where the android had been sitting. "Where are we sending them and how will you arrive there?"

"The coordinates will be transmitted to you once I am in the air. And I believe the SZBV has a chopper I can commandeer."

With a brief glance to remember the face of the officer who called out to him, Toy Dispenser strode out of the room, his retinue of robots (minus Small Toy) gathered around him as he went to pit his authority against those of Teivos' elite.

OOC: Hehehehehehe. Devious, toss me a PM if I got any names or titles wrong.

Only plausible?

It happened, just nobody remembers.

((So yeah... Internet back for tonight, posting nao. And yeah Rebel, feel free to add someone to Toy's entourage. I'll toss you a PM with some basic info about Toy that your dude would know.))

Solid's vision suddenly whirled and spun as the delayed consequences of staring into the portal light caught up with him. Gazing into a phenomena that shouldn't exist and defied all rational explanation that Solid could understand caused the mish-mash of programs, viruses, and software comprising his personality to violently rebel. Akin to a normal human suddenly crashing from an adrenaline high, Solid's sight whirled into flashes of light on pure blackness as his sensors malfunctioned.

Crashing to his knees after Isabel left, the android pressed one hand against the wall in front of him, barely keeping his balance as systems flew into emergency checks, shutting on and off randomly as they sought to localize and eliminate a problem that couldn't be localized or eliminated, only lasted through.

And last the poor security bot did, though he hated every second of it, heaving himself to his feet just as he caught Rezyzin's reply.

"Forget about it," he wheezed, vocoder crackling as it came back under control. "Let's just grab Hans and duck into the rabbit hole after the girl."

Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, partially under his cape, Solid reached down and grabbed the bound Unteroffizier by a couple sturdy straps and heaved him over the other shoulder. Checking back to see if the Russian scrapper was following, the robotic blaster muttered an old phrase about hanging together or most assuredly hanging seperately.

*****

"Teleport in three...

Two...

One...

Teleport engaged, good hunting."

****

With a bright flash that momentarily threw the surrounding buildings in sharp relief with its harshness, Toy Dispenser arrived at the analogue of Freedom Court.

The light of the teleport faded as quickly as it had come, leaving the android and his team to be illuminated by the massive fires still burning in the building. The light flickered haphazerdly over the blocky form of Combat Toy, decoratively lethal spikes jutting from shoulder and elbow casting dizzying patterns of shadow over dull red plating as the massive machine thundered into motion, scanning the area for threats or targets.

Sticking to the wide shadow cast by it's much larger brother lurked Small Toy, only visible at all due to the fire light reflecting off it's multitude of eyes and lenses. It's night black and camoflauged form hiding effortlessly in the shadows as it waited for a command. Also stumping along side Combat Toy was the ubiqutous Block Bot, seeming almost to fade into the background of the other war-ready machines. Odd green light seeped from under it's black armor, back lighting it in a frightening way if one could only focus on it, thought for some reason the mind tried to refuse too.

Mini Bot, ever energetic, swiftly scampered up the tallest piece of intact wall, humming happily to itself as it looked around. Bright red armor seemingly at home among the flames, the little drone made rude gestures at Large Toy with it's two shoulder-borne tentacles. The stoic protector bot, painted in alternating shades of grey as camoflauge in the city environment silently ordered Mini Bot back into formation even as it began the process of sifting through every radio and electromagnetic band in the area. Identifying and coding each of them, the robot freed his master from the task and also made sure the mere humans had set things up properly.

Toy Bot minced quietly on it's four spider legs, arm turrets at rest position and head seemingly leisurely observing the perimeter, noting each and every sentry and calculating how many it could kill before being destroyed. When that was done, it remotely accessed the army's network and identified each soldier it saw, running through their histories and resumes, searching for possible traitors. Each arm turret twitched slightly with every file read as though eager to resume the duties it once had under a different rule.

And finally there was Toy Dispenser, head panning unerringly toward the highest ranking officer in sight and feet carrying him unhesitantly toward the man, vocoder crackling out in perfect German his quieries of the precise location of the commanding officer, this current officer's name, and the current status of the area.

The iron fist of Overmagus Archlich had come to Paragon City once again, though not perhaps in the manner anyone had expected.

((Hey Devious, take control of Toy and crew if I don't come back to post within a few days. I think I can trust you not to screw them up. ))

"There has been an incident..." grated out the voice of the android known as Toy Dispenser, light static underlying every word and utterance.

The light behind him reflected dully off the alternating pitch black and dark red shades of his armor as he stepped further onto the balconey, allowing the door to slide back shut behind him. Bright red running lights on either side of his faceplate and chest allowed his position to be known in the darkness, though he knew full well the man standing before him wouldn't be in the least perturbed if he turned the small lights off and simply faded into the shadows.

"A troop of rebels have destroyed the research facility and escaped through one of the portals in the nearby warehouse before that too was destroyed," stated Toy, getting right to the issue. "A security detail led by one Unteroffizier Heimlen commandeered an armored unit from the Third Panzers and pursued."

"Have we heard anything back from them yet?" asked the man, whom Toy knew as Teivos. The raising of his eyebrow was almost as audible as the words he spoke.

"Negative," replied Toy as he shook his head slightly. "Knowing Primal Earth it is highly likely that they ran into a band of hostile metahumans and were destroyed along with the rebels."

Teivos shifted and half-turned to look at Toy now.

"That would be an unfortunate loss, but not as unfortunate as the escalation of our plans. I assume everything is well in hand?"

"As well as could be at this time," responded the android carefully, he still wasn't quite sure how to inform a ruler like Teivos of bad news. "The majority of your forces are in place and about to begin the assault, but there have been difficulties with the supply chain and logistics arm. Your adjutant could inform you of the particulars more than I could."

"No plan survives contact with the enemy," chuckled the man as he leaned back against the railing more comfortably. "But now then, you didn't have to come here yourself and tell me what happened. Did you want something?"

Toy momentarily broke from his motionless stance and glanced out across the field below the tower, his sensors easily stripping away the darkness to reveal the full scale of the men and materials moving down below. Hesitating slightly, he glanced back at Teivos and shut off his running lights.

"I would like to request permission to assist in quelling resistance around the area in question and to engage any metahumans that may come back through the portal."

"You didn't need my permission for that," remarked Teivos as he nodded and gestured for Toy to go on. "But you have it. Just be sure to keep the commanders in that area updated."

"My thanks, Lord Teivos," said Toy with a fist to chest salute. "Your enemies are mine and shall be ground to dust."

As he stepped back out the door which cycled open under a brief mental command, Toy caught Teivos' parting comment.

"How many times have I told you that it's just Teivos?" rhetorically asked the man in an amused tone.

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

Solid flinched in an almost exaggerated fashion, his rifle swinging back one handed to point with uncanny accuracy right at Rezyin's chest, the rest of the android following his rifle after half a second.

"Don't scare me like that, man!" admonished Solid in a loud whisper. "[censored], almost made me jump out of my boots."

Grumbling in annoyance, the bot lowered his rifle and moved closer to the other hero as he kept one eye on the street outside the alley.

"Anyway, Rezyin, right? Good of you to find me. We need to grab the others and link up. Maybe find somewhere quiet to talk with Hans here."

Solid punctuated the generic name with a prod of his foot to the unconscious officer's stomach.

"You see where that girl, the sword guy, or that borg go?" continued the blaster. "If not, can you grab Hans and find a bolt hole? I've got your bio-signature in my records, so I can find where you go unless it's too fortified or something."