Mithril_Zeta

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"Looks like we are at ground zero of the invasion of the lizard men."

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“Great,” Newton said. “Sounds like a B-movie. Figures that we the B-grade heroes get that.” He floated up over the desk. “I’d like to see the lizard. Do we know if it’s a science project or a dimensional creature? What do we know about it?”

((occ Sorry. Thought I'd put in my two cents.

((I'm afraid I'm on the side of 'Don't use the Marvel characters here.' For a couple different reasons.

((1. We are putting the CoH in the position of shutting this down just so Marvel has NO excuse to sue them. We're not being fair to the company. When they do turn this into 'Generic RP 1804', we'll get irritated and blame them, when what they are trying to do cover their legal butts.

((2. CoH is a rich world of nearly unlimited possibilities. Do we really need to pull a different company's House of Ideas into this superhero dimension. I mean, I have to admit, I think it would be fun to have Mithril Zeta meet the X-men or get pummeled by the Juggernaut, but, in my opinion, we need to expand the CoH world rather than play with someone else's characters.

((If you are interested in the 'school' idea, there are a couple different places you could go that are hooked into the CoH world. One is The New Recruits RP, which takes young heroes and helps train them. The other is the Paragon University RP. Add to their stories.))

“Honey, we’re home. What’s for dinner?” Newton said as he walked into Coolant’s room and opened the refrigerator. He pulled out a Mountain Dew and walked back in, nabbing an apple and a cheese stick on his way out.

Mystic stopped and talked to his friend as Newton checked the desk for messages.

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“Please tell me in our absence someone has gathered some information about those lizards we encountered.” Mystic’s now glowing eyes searched the faces of the group.

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“We’ve been a bit busy trying to find you and fighting clocks. I haven’t even seen the lizards yet,” Newton said. “Did you know your eyes are glowing now?” he asked, squinting at the mage’s face.

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Sting stepped out to greet them. “What took you guys so long? I was beginning to get bored.”

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“What, you mean cleaning does trip your trigger?” Newton asked. He took a swig of Dew. “So, lizards in the sewers. What do we know?”

Newton nodded, watching the violent man dive into the Council. “We’re outa here,” Newton said, pushing his singularity as far away as he could and still safely send living beings through.

A moment of extreme pressure, and he popped out far above the Maw. Gasping for breath, he yanked Mystic, RJ, and Abrahms away from the fight. The three floated next to him as he caught his breath. “Give me a moment,” Newton said, looking up at the three men. “The next set of jumps will be shorter.”

He did a series of short jumps until they were above the garage. “I sure hope Elisa had enough time.”

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Elisa had snuck ‘upstream’ of the Council soldiers who were rushing towards the fight. The radio orders she overheard were amusing as they described the carnage and flying humvees.

She reached the coordinates of one of the munitions dumps, she saw that a squad of troopers were loading ammunition and other ordinance in a large truck.

“What about the bazooka?” a rough voice yelled out.

“Bring them!” another voice cried out. “Apparently one of them is a tanker. We may need them to bring him down!”

Elisa crept up to the driver’s side of the truck, crawled in, checked for the keys – which were in the ignition, and waited for the squad members to stop for a cigarette break, and then turned the key in the ignition.

“Hey!” one of the troopers cried as he ran to the drivers door. He swung it open, and Elisa kicked him in the face. The trooper fell to ground. She ground the gears and got the truck moving.

She keyed her comm device. “Max, I’ve got a truck. Meet me at Pier 33. Be ready to port us out as soon as we get it unloaded.”

Newton swore as he watched RJ go berserk in amongst the Council troops. From above, he had been throwing soldiers and vehicles around, bubbling the three heroes, and slowing down some of troops not in hand-to-hand range.

He threw himself through a singularity, and appeared next to the fiery figure behind Abrahms. “Mystic, that’s an interesting new look for you,” he screamed over the sound of gun fire and explosions. “Hold on another 30 seconds, and we’re all outa here!”

‘I sure hope that’s enough time for Elisa to do her ‘shopping’,’ Newton thought as he pulled one of the Council’s own humvees through a wormhole and slammed it into a row of approaching soldiers.

((ooc: sorry I haven’t been posting as regularly as any of us would like. Hard disk drive crashed. Trying to keep up.))

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"Hiya," RJ stepped out of tha van giving his greeting along with a curt nod of his head. Looking around the garage, he went to a window to take a peak outside. "Well it could be worse, I think. You could of parked outside. So Newton whats our next move.?" Pointedly Rough Justice gives his attention to the joker.

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“Let’s stick to the ideas that we had. RJ and I will go to rescue the boss and Abrahms, and Elisa will go on her shopping trip at a different base. She should have little if any trouble – we’re going to be making lots of noise.”

“I think someone already is,” Tommy said, peeking out of his window. “Major council movement heading east.

“Gee, do you think Mystic got the Council’s attention. Ready, RJ?” Without waiting for an answer, Newton chose a location far above the city and teleported himself there.

Looking down at the rough terrain of the island, he could see figures swarming to the east. “I guess I better get moving a little faster,” Newton murmured. “Defense station sixteen should be on the eastern edge of the Maw…”

A few moments later, Newton pushed himself through a singularity, and saw Abrahm’s and a fiery figure battling it out with a platoon of Council soldiers. Newton keyed his mike. “RJ, hope you’re ready,” Newton said as he pulled the fighter through the wormhole and placed him next to Abrahms.

((ooc: written with SquirrelWizard))

“Thanks, Sting,” Newton said with a certain amount of relief. “Keep the homefires from burning down the place.”

Newton, RJ, and Elisa stood on the stoop as an unremarkable Van drove up. It was brown with gray patches where the paint was worn off. Max looked out the window. “Well, hurry up,” the man said.

The three heroes opened the side door and hopped in. Newton realized he was standing up straight in the van, and their was ample room for the three of them, as well as room for a ‘shopping trip’ and the other two heroes. Even Abrahms would be able to stand up straight.

“It’s a van-shaped Tardis,” Newton said, wondering if anyone else would get the Dr. Who reference.

Max drove the van down the street and then turned into a narrow alley not two blocks away. “Hang on to your tights,” Max said as he pressed a button on the gear shift.

The world outside the windows shifted, and then came back into focus. They were in a garage.

“It really is a van-shaped Tardis,” Newton murmured as they got out of the vehicle.

“Elisa, Max, what are you doing back here?” a loud voice asked. A heavy-set balding man limped out of the office.

“Need a base to work out of, Tommy” Elisa said, her tail swishing. “You got elected.”

“Oh.” The balding man didn’t show a lot of happiness about the prospect. “Of course. No problem.” He looked curiously at the other two heroes.

“This is Rough Justice and Newton’s Apple,” Elisa said, motioning to the two men. “Meet Tommy One-Toe. He’s my contact here in the Family here in Striga.”

((ooc: SquirrelWizard is currently off-CoH-line due to circumstances., but still wants to participate here (and eventually get back on CoH). If you have any questions/comments for him, please direct them through me for now.))

“He’s fun,” Newton said. “The Bone Daddy part makes sense. I’ve noticed they don’t appreciate humor either.” He walked up the stairs and headed to the desk. He programmed the phone to ring to his cell-phone, and then headed out the door.

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He turned back to the map. "Ok, I guess once we pull the Boss and Abrahms out, those guards will raise an alarm and cat lady can get in and steal whatever she needs. But it's really up to Newton at this point."

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“Man, why are you guys determined to put me in charge,” the fat man asked. He listened as the two rough heroes bantered back and forth, and then broke in.

“Elisa’s plan should work. Max’s transport has got to be classier that the freighters we have to hop to get out to Striga, that’s for sure.” He turned to the cat-lady. “Okay, let’s go shopping. I was thinking of something getting something nice for the Two-Six; maybe a competent boss. If I’m the next best thing, boy, are we in trouble.” Newton grinned broadly. He was fairly proud of that; he managed to slam himself and everyone else in the Two-Six with a single statement. He wondered how long it would take the others to realize he had insulted them as well as himself.

“So, Elisa, where do we go from here?”

Newton turned and looked at Sting, Elisa, RJ, and Eidolon. “They’re on Striga, of all places. That’s a little far for me to teleport living beings. If someone stays here and monitors the desk, I’ll jump onto the ferry and yank them back once I get close enough – unless someone has a better idea.”

As Halo and Zot walked by, Newton handed them their IDs, feeling a little baffled. Something had transpired that he did not fully understand, but the looks that Zot and Eidolon had exchanged were nasty. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you expect.. He exchanged a look with Sting, and they both shrugged.

((ooc: and now, back to our regularly scheduled adventure/hack writing/enjoyable rp forum. Take your pick. ))

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Moments later, the land line at the Two Six was ringing.

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Newton sprinted back to the desk – not a bad feat for an overweight individual. “The Two-Six, Newton’s Apple speaking…” His eyes widened. “Mystic! My gawd, I’m glad to hear your voice! Where are you?”

((ooc: Happy birthday a day late!))

Newton walked back into the garage, a bundle of robot parts floating behind him. “I think I got all the pieces. The bad news is that they did get into the force field system. I’m no electronics expert, but does the word ‘junk’ mean anything to anyone. I’m sure Ion could fix it, and maybe Coolant, but…” He shook his head. “We’re back to where we were three days ago, Sting.”

He was introduced to Zot and got her and Halo’s hero IDs. “I hope someone has a plan,” he said, looking over at the other heroes.

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"Does this happen often here? These... uhmmm ... base raids?"

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“A lot more often than we like to admit,” Newton said. “In the last three days, we’ve been attacked by Skulls and Tsoo and now Clockwork in our home.” He thought for a moment. “Oh, yes, and the whole building was taken to Hell.” He glanced over at Eidolon. “We’re not too worried about your crossfire, Eric. We’ve been to hell and back already.” He hurried toward the basement, tracking the clockwork sounds.

((ooc: edited to get the right gangs (I hope ) in there.))

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"Thanks Newton."

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“Seemed like the thing to do,” Newton said, grinning.

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"Nice work there man. I think you done punched his lights out."

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“Yeah, you did, Rough Justice.” Newton straightened a bit. “We still have some gears wandering about. I can here them in the basement. And let’s get these pieces contained.”

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But Bombard didn’t want any part of that. A massive fist connected with the floor as Sting dodged to the side, narrowly missing the hurt bug-man.

Sting climbed to his feet, still emitting spines, as the large clock loomed over him

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Newton looked back up after ducking behind the remains of the police car. “I don’t think so.” He focused his power on the car, and pushed. The police car skidded across the ground, knocking over and grinding down other clockwork before it collided with Bombard.

“I think I got it’s attention,” Newton said as the robot shoved the car away from it.

((oops. took to long writing. nm. add more later.))

((ooc: heh. I thought it was still up and going – Coolant was messing with it and learning to maintain it. Mind must be going.))

Newton’s manic mind went a little crazier as Eric connected him to the others. With quick gestures, he set shields over the others without even looking at them. “I’m not all that thrilled with my mind being read, but we’re going to live,” Newton muttered as he set a gravity field over the cannon knight Halo was shooting.

‘Eric must be able to filter out the other thoughts besides the fighting moves,’ Newton thought. ‘My multi-tasking can’t make it easier for him. I have five other singularities sending info to my mind right now. How can he make sense of it all?’

On of the singularities sent the sound of clockwork gears to his ears. “I hate it when I’m right. Sounds like some gears in the basement. We’ll worry about them after we send these junkheaps to mechanical hell.”

((occ: No, you didn’t misread anything, Rough. In the hundreds of posts that got deleted, Ion set up a force field machine – run from the basement – that encompasses the whole building. It’s based on the same technology as the War Walls. Teleporters can’t get in or out. And the computer that controls the forcefield will only let those with DNA that it recognizes as 'okay' through it.

Sorry for the confusion. I am working at getting the old posts back up, but it takes time, which is short right now. I’ll try to speed up the process. ))

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“ZZWARRMINGSS” Zot shouted to the room, the electric cage that still prevented her from moving creating a greater static to the normal crackle of her broadcast. “Dizzreguarzz zzah dronezzz, dezzroy zzah puppezz mazzer!”

"Puppies?" Coming out of her dazed state, Halo looked around and said. "Am see no puppies?"

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“Okay, I’m beginning to get ticked,” Newton as he threw a gravity bubble around Zot. The armored woman was released from her electric prison. “How are these things getting in through the force field – unless…some gear or another shut down the force field. D’oh.” Newton focused in on the four partially made robots. He reached out his hands and then slammed all four constructs into the center of the room, rattling Bombard and knocking him down.

He triggered his comlink. “Oh, in case anyone out there cares, we are about to be overrun by clockwork. You might want to come back here and kick some more metal butt.” Newton dropped to the ground as an electric strike struck the wall above his head. “You might also want to hurry.”

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"So Newton I got a hold of one of my friends she will be here soon. Unfortuneately the best chance is Zot and still have yet to hear from her." He checked the board, his little joke still there. "As Sting said the parts are locked in that old weapons locker downstairs. I figure if it gets back up we will at least hear it getting out." Looking around eyes landing on a hoho wrapper. "Hmm, so wheres the grubb? I am getting hungry"

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“We’ve got a couple refrigerators around. This floor, right next to Coolant’s station, and upstairs, there’s another. We get our food just down the street. Nice family joint.”

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"Halo there you are can you let her in." The floor shook from the impact of the bench smashing the wall below. "Told you we’d hear it escape. Hurry we might want here help" With that Rough Justice head to the stairs, his movement a blur.

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Newton leapt nimbly over the desk past Eric and to the door. “Halo, welcome aboard,” he said as he grabbed the bluish woman by the shoulder. “I think that we have clockwork downstairs. We’ll cover the administrative bull-crap later.” Newton ran down to the fight just in time to see RJ crash into the prince.

With a moment of concentration, Newton spread an intense gravity field around the armored figure, and the cogs and sprockets that had been getting up from their encounter with RJ were being crushed back down again.

Eric
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Eric smiled through the Force Field.
"You must be Newton's Apple. I've read about you and your groups efforts here in the Row." Pulling out his Paragon Supers registration ID he held it up so that the man could see it. My name is Eric Massey or Eidolon, whichever's easier. I was hoping I could talk to someone in charge. I think I've been sent here to die so I'd like to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

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Newton looked up. He thought he had heard the footsteps outside of the doorway through his little singularity, but wasn’t sure if it was a curious bystander or what. He rose, but then Rough Justice entered as a cell phone rang.

Rough Justice
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"Ah hey Newton, right? Do you have coms for the group.? I got to get this," pulling the phone out and seeing the caller. "yes" Sean smiled as he hit the receive button as well as pointing out side to the watcher. Then nodded and headed to the side area to talk.

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Newton turned back around and saw Sting arrive with the well-dressed stranger.

Sting
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“You wanna die? Jeez man, there are a lot better place to do that than this dump.”

Eidolon
"Holy Hell !!!"

Sting saw the hero ID. “Ah, you came to join us not kill us? How nice. Here I think if you are in contact with me then you can pass through the force field.”

Sting put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Nice %&#$ing suit dude. Kinda pricy if you are just going to die.” He said as they passed through the shield.

“That’s Newton, he’s in charge until the Boss gets back. I’m Poison Sting, or just Sting, and I am unpleasant so don’t screw with me. That’s Rough Justice, he is even more of a bada$$ than I am. The rest we have pretty much lost to boredom or attrition.” Sting said as he introduced everyone.

“So who sent you and why are in such a hurry to die?” Sting asked in a nonchalant manner.

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“I’m in charge?” Newton asked sadly. “Boy, are we in trouble. We need to find Mystic fast. So, Eidolon, let’s hear it all.” He grabbed an apple out of the desk drawer and took a bite.

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"I don't want to die. I was sent here to die. I'm just hoping you all don't get caught in the wet-action. Though you look like you could hold your own. I was assigned by Vassily Chenekov he's head of a Black Ops Grey Works project. I really need to talk to someone in charge so that I can become someone else’s problem... Although I can't reject the assignment the head of your project has the right to veto my presence. I've been to see 4 other division heads this week. No one wants my mess, I come with blood. Oh and nice to meet you call me Eric or Eidolon" Eric smiled congenialy.

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“Well, that sounds like the rest of our crew,” Newton said. “No one wants any of our messes either. We’re that group of heroes that they don’t know quite what to do with. You know, the type that don’t deal well with authority. They wouldn't be too sad to see us hit in the crossfire. Our leader, Mystic Inferno, is missing, but as the poor sap who inherits the mantle, I can accept you in unofficially. Could I see your ID. I need to run it through the computer system.”

He glanced at Sting. "Any leads on finding Mystic. And what did you do with clockwork parts? I wanted to take a look at them."

Newton returned to the Two-Six after calming the building owner and making sure the ladies all got home safely. He was shaky; his energy level was low, and he made a bee-line to the refrigerator.

After he had downed two Mountain Dews, a package of Ho-Hos, and a small bag of M&Ms, he started feeling better.

He clicked his radio. “Anyone in the Two-Six? Coolant? Brian? Sting? RJ? Elisa?” Newton frowned. Once again, the front door had been un-attended; then again, it was to have been Abrahm’s job to watch that, and he had disappeared. Along with the boss. With a certain amount of irritation, he sat behind the sergeant’s desk again, and wondered what he should try next.

“I wonder where Sting put the clockwork pieces,” Newton murmured. “There may be something there that shows where the robot was built – and I’m in serious trouble, now, because I’m talking to myself, and I’m answering myself. Not a good sign.” He sighed.

((occ: yeah, real life does get in the way of what we love to do sometimes, doesn't it. Speaking of which, I'm heading off to lovely Madison, WI for vacation. Not sure of internet access while I'm there. Be back on Monday night, but don't let me hold up the story. Have a good weekend!))

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Elisa shrugged, "I'm not too sure, but it definately inconveninced him. Newton, you deal with teleportation, can you trace where Mystic went? You know like tracking via reverse teleportation?"

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“I haven’t tried to do anything like that,” Newton frowned. “I’m not sure what to look for – some sort of sub-space distortion…” The green-haired man shut his eyes and then shuddered. “It’s no good. Paragon City has too much background, foreground, and all-around-ground teleporting noise going on. Between the grid and the teleporting heroes, no way.” Newton reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “And looking at all that gave me a headache, as well.”

He sighed. “We’re going to have to do it the old fashioned way – dig the clockwork out of the basement and see if there are any clues to where he came from.”

He glanced at the sobbing beauty salon owner and her staff and her clients. “As a future note, let’s also see about helping in the rebuilding of this salon.”

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“Hey Newton, I think now would be a good time to be leaving.” Sting said as he saw the prince slowly rise – standing between Sting and the exit where the stairs used to be.

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Newton shook his head to clear it, and saw only three Stings, two Elisas, and one clockwork prince. “This didn’t go quite the way we had intended…” he murmured as he sent one of his singularities out. With a mighty mental heave, he threw himself, Sting, and Elisa out of the building.

They reappeared ten feet above the ground, and Newton fell like a sack of potatoes and landed with a dull thud.

The creaking of the building got louder, and Newton looked up and saw a little old lady through the glass door.

“Bloody frag!” Newton yelled as his gravity warp engulfed her and yanked her unceremoniously through the wormhole. She sprawled on the ground next to him.

With a clamorous crash, the building collapsed in on itself, and the sound of clockwork parts crushing in on themselves was added to the mix.

Newton looked wearily over at Sting and the silent Elisa. “Do you suppose that took it out?”