Mr_Grey

((So... You're not going to join in? I could still use the character, you could still be a part of this.))

--St. Martial: Dynamo Rose's cellphone--

It was Gregory Manning. His voice conveyed no emotion outside of professional concern as he asked for a status report.

"Greetings, Dynamo. I trust things are going well. With any luck, you were able to locate Blight Carver. He was a man of a few eccentricities, but he was capable in the purposes we had for him. I hope his habits didn't get the best of him and cause you to have to hurt him."

He didn't wait for her to respond, instead turning to a bit of information he felt he needed to give her in order to help the investigation move along.

"Well, I've got some news on my end. The patient in the Port Oakes medical center has been checked out by an Arachnos operative and a special agent in Crey's employ. I don't know where they were heading, or the identity of teh Arachnos Operative, but Crey's agent should refer to himself as 'Millions Green.' It should have been in that report I gave you earlier, but he should look like a teenager... I know it's weird... And he'll look a little meek. Hopefully, you haven't come across each other and started shooting... So, what's next on your agenda?"

((Don't worry about it, Devious. It's your job to go through the story as you see fit. It's my job to bring the story to you. I see now that I've been failing at that some.

This is only my second serious attempt at GMing, after all...

Also, Kasoh, your communicator is warbling at you.))

--St. Martial--

Dynamo Rose's inspection of the "Bank Gun" revealed that it wasn't wholly a steampunk design. Rather, it looked as if steam-tech parts had been retrofitted into the weapon to give it more kick for its small size. As it was, it could fire a metal spike with enough velocity that it could theoretically break the lock of a vault. The spike itself was supposed to be locked into the weapon, similar to a captive bolt gun ((like the weapon used in No Country for Old Men)), but Rose could already see that the weapon hadn't been test fired, yet, so all bets were off on its capability.

In the meantime, her communicator continued to warble.

-----------

--Bronze Shield's Residence--

The heroine sighed and set down her cup of coffee. She curled up into a ball on the couch, clutching her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them. Finally, she started talking in a croak that seemed to indicate she was on the verge of crying again.

"They were tapped to clear out a Council base in Skyway City. You know Hyde Park? The fascists had a base in one of the caverns out there. Well... Yellow Bomb, she said that there were hardly any soldiers in the base at all. They found their way to the Archon quickly, and he hardly put up a fight... But as soon as he was down, all Hell broke loose. She said there was some sort of bright light and they were on the ground, unable to move, unable to fight back... She said she heard Ripper next to her... He was trying to talk, but it was all muffled, then there were shuffling feet and he was gone. No more muffling."

She squeezed her eyes shut at this point. A couple teardrops pushed from the corners of the clenched lids, but she eventually regained her composure.

"...I'm sorry... The team leader, Onyx Shot, he said they'd gotten the message from their police scanner. He said it was weird, though. A moment earlier, they hadn't been able to get a signal... But that's all I've got."

She rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand and shuddered a little. It was hard for her to imagine what her fiance must have been going through.

(([ QUOTE ]
((Nyeh. And if I remember rightly the last one of these you ran effectively killed that thread. Anyway...))

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Christopher Titus: "How about this dad! I have my own television show! I make more in a year than you ever did in your life! What do you have to say about that?"

Ken Titus: *Anti-Dad Mode On*: "...I think... If I hadn't been pushing you all that time, you never would have made it..." *flies away like a drunk, demented superhero, but suddenly flies back* "...Oh yeah... And they cancelled that, didn't they!? Anti-Dad, AWAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" *flies off*

Okay, I'll admit, Rebel, I missed that. I've just been getting pushed rather hard by this other guy... And no, he's not Ripper Shredder.))

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((Come on, folks... I'm going to take that and run. There's a player waiting for this scene to end before his grand entrance.))

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(( Well, if I had any clue whatsoever as to where this is supposed to go or how we're supposed to go about getting there... All you said was go talk to her. We did that. ))

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((She asked if you wanted coffee. As for where this is supposed to go, well, ask her questions! What was her boyfriend doing when he disappeared? Where did he disappear? Why didn't the other Group members with him attempt to rescue him? I'm sure there may be other things other things you're wondering, too. We're in the investigation period, and if you remember the last time I ran one of these things, it would probably behoove you to find out everything you can before the real fighting starts.))

---Bronze Shield's Residence---

((Come on, folks... I'm going to take that and run. There's a player waiting for this scene to end before his grand entrance.))

"Oh... My home... Yes... Well, it wasn't whomever abducted my husband that did this... It was... Um... Me."

The heroine returned to the living room with a tray of cups and a decanter of coffee. She looked sadly about her trashed living room and sighed. It was as if she didn't even notice the Rikti in the room with them.

"When he didn't come home that night and I kept trying to get a hold of him, I kind of lost it... Well, it was when his teammates in our super group told me how he disappeared that I lost it."

She set the tray on the coffee table and sat down. Taking a cup and pouring some coffee for herself, the other heroes could see her hands were a little unsteady.

"I've been a mess for days," she murmured, "But I guess you want to know what happened to Kei-er-Ripper Shredder... Such a silly name..."

She took a sip and sighed again. She started staring into the black surface of her beverage as she tried to collect her thoughts.

----------

---St. Martial---

Dynamo Rose's communicator started beeping. It was Gregory Manning.

((Not going to control your actions on this one. You can decide whether or not you want to answer.))

The Redeemers

I added the latest segment in the Scoop to the thread, with some alterations. I made the alterations here because I'm kind of restricted to an around 1,000 word limit (I go over it, regularly, but I can't do it by too much).

“Out! Everybody out!”

Garm’s crew tumbled out the back of the van, Doug barley clearing the doorway before Briggs brought his foot down on the gas and sped away, the tires of his van squealing horribly. Garm looked worriedly after the retreating vehicle, wondering if the compact Supa Troll may have lost his mind or turned back to working for the Trolls.

“What’s he doing?” Doug shouted, his voice cracking a little.

The two former Trolls looked to each other. Doug looked worried, but Garm shook his head. The Superadine was wearing off, and they were starting to revert. It made the former Caliban wonder why Briggs didn’t seem to be reverting.

There was a loud hissing noise and a metallic crash. The team looked down the street to see that Briggs had used the hydraulics to jump the van over the concrete median divider and was now going the other way down the highway.

“Okay, now this is weird,” Ashen Roast intoned as the van roared past, some of which was the chaotic Troll’s own shouting, “Just what is he doing?”

----------

They’d been helping Synapse investigate this problem for weeks, now. They had just found the evidence that would lead them to finding and combating the dreaded Clockwork King. However, just as they left the warehouse where they’d dismantled the Clockwork Lord, disaster struck.

A monstrous Clockwork machination known as Babbage came tearing down the streets after them, and the plucky young blaster named Static Havoc was the first to see him. He launched volleys of energy at the approaching hulk, but it was able to shrug them off like they were nothing. The other members of the task force arrived shortly after, but the giant monster already had a bead for the little guy in the group.

In a desperate bid to escape, Static flew away, putting the overpass between him and Babbage. A moment later, though, he realized that wasn’t going to dissuade the walking wreck. It had leaped up and grabbed a hold of the overpass, pulling itself up to continue its deadly assault on its miniscule quarry.

“Oh man!” the teenaged hero shouted as he hurled bolt after bolt at the machine’s head in desperation, “I’m gonna die!”

Babbage, nonplussed by the assault, hauled itself up and glared down at the boy. The team’s Tanker leaped up and gripped one of the machine’s ankles, trying to trip it back over the side of the overpass. The team’s controller was busy dealing with the myriad of Clockwork robots the big machine seemed to have just generated by waving at spare parts that had rattled from it during the fighting. The two scrappers jumped up to try to lend some support to the tanker, but Babbage shrugged them off as it reached to smash Static Havoc into a grease stain.

This was the scene Briggs McBain had witnessed earlier. He saw the big monster pulling itself up onto the overpass and the young hero it was trying to squash. He didn't understand these pangs of conscience he'd been feeling lately, but it was obvious to him that the little guy was way out of his weight class, and decided to do something about it.

He wished there were more time to explain to Garm and the others, but he couldn't have them in the van for this next stunt, or they'd be severely injured, and the trouble the hero was in was imminent.

As he sped close, he reached for the hydraulic handle on the console. He wasn't too surprised it had worked to vault the armored vehicle over the median, he'd tested it using schematics from "lowrider" competitions, but this was going to be a wholly different ball of wax. He jammed the lever forward, bringing the van down, and when he felt close enough, he yanked it back...

There was a loud horn blaring and headlights focused on Babbage. It looked over to see an armored van hurtling through the air at it. Before it could pull back, the machine had slammed into the giant monster’s right chest plate, ripping the body open and spinning it around as it crashed to the pavement. Then van rolled in the air after the hit and landed on its side, skidding to a stop almost a hundred feet away.

Babbage lost control of its right arm and tried desperately to push itself back up. Parts were spilling out of its chest cavity and reassembling into confused Cogs, Gears, and Oscillators. Looking up at it’s bizarre assailant, the machine saw the van on its side, crumpled heavily on all sides and spewing smoke from its engine.

The passenger-side door burst out as a green fist slammed into it and a squat, overly muscled Troll with a blonde crew cut pulled himself out of the vehicle.

“Every couple of weeks,” he shouted as he started purposefully stomping toward the big machine, “Every couple of weeks I have to see you terrorizing another hapless bunch of heroes!”

“Hey, hey!” the tanker, Eli Jones, a super strong and apparently super tough man despite his average appearance, tried to stop Briggs, “What do you think you’re doing!?”

“I’m making a point!” the troll barked as he pushed the man aside, “And it involves ripping this thing’s head off…”

He gripped the large head of Babbage and started to pull. When it weakly reached its good arm to stop him, he kicked it aside and went back to pulling. The neck joint was starting to give.

“… And using it as a toilet!” the troll finished as he felt the give.

“Woah, woah!” Static shouted before a blur of green rushed past him and Garm tackled his friend off of Babbage, “Uh… Guys?”

“Get off of me!” the squat, burly troll shouted angrily as the taller, leaner one held him in a headlock, “I need to… Need to…”

“Hush-shh-shh-shh…” Garm replied, “Relax, brother. It’s over now… The police drones are on the way to mop up the wreckage. You did good… Time to rest…”

“I… Uh… Kay…”

Briggs passed out and Garm let him go with a gasp of relief. McBain had apparently been faking, though, for he then opened his eyes and jumped up to continue trying to wrench Babbage’s head off. Garm and Eli both tried to pull him away this time as the Drones arrived and zapped the working parts of the giant monster to a specialized section of the Zig dedicated to studying the various incarnations of the machine. The sudden lack of resistance caused the three vigilantes to tumble to the street in a heap.

“No!” Briggs shouted, cupping his face in his hands, “It would have been such an awesome toilet!”

“Let it go, man” Eli patted him on the shoulder as he picked himself and Garm up, “It’s over.”

The drones then turned toward McBain's van and zapped it off the highway so traffic flow could continue unabated. When the burly guy yanked one of them out of the sky and started growling, it warbled a few times and started buzzing. A ticket issued from under its teleportation blaster and he read it.

"Derelict vehicle notice?" he growled, "Oh, come on!"

"It was just removed for safety reasons," Garm assured him, "See, right there, 'transported to Lou's Garage.' I'm sure you'll just need to pay a processing fee and we'll get it back."

Then they noticed the heroes Synapse hired to investigate the Clockwork horde staring at them. Eli Jones was the first to speak.

"What were you guys even doing out here?"

----------

The two teams exchanged information. Synapse’s Task Force was composed of various heroes from different super groups, and they were very receptive to the idea of a new type of monster thrashing around the city.

“It wiped out Atta’s base?” the controller, Frost Princess Yuki, asked worriedly, “I fought him earlier this year… That’s a really tough fight! He got out of the Zig?”

“It’s a very quick revolving door system,” Doug grumbled.

“Anyway, keep on a lookout,” Ashen replied, shaking the woman’s hand firmly, “You never know when something like this will turn on those of us on this side of the blue line.”

((Best damn peanut gallery I've ever seen... ))

Lake effect snow dashed my plans for the day against the rocks, so I decided to add another chapter to Grey's Army. Recluse arrives on the Circle's Isle only to hole himself up in one of their huts and wait for disaster. Statesman essentially does the same on Mauthe's, though he brings a larger support group to help with the research. Meanwhile the two teams struggle to figure out how to bypass the central temple's doors and trouble's brewing inside the submerged temple itself!

---Circle’s Island of the Hand---

The next day was opened with a humming sound. Breaker woke up and hugged the snuggling Barracuda next to him. It was weird to think of her in such a way, but it happened.

“Mm,” the girl hummed as she awoke, too, “Oh, what time is it?”

“Six fourteen,” the brute muttered as she reached over him to grab her communicator from the wicker nightstand.

Barracuda activated the device and hummed to herself. She started pressing buttons with disinterest, a behavior which Breaker recognized as deleting old messages. At one point, her brow furrowed and she deleted the final group of messages with growing concern.

“Breaker,” she asked as she got out of bed and started for the door, “Do you have any idea why I would have six messages from Mako, all saying ‘HURRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!’?”

“Well… It’s a funny story…”

----------

They were outside shortly thereafter, joining Mori’ae where he stood with a small entourage of Guardians to receive the latest Arachnos Flier. He looked confused, especially since nobody had contacted him earlier about another Flier coming to his island, and he hadn’t heard any rumblings from the Arachnos troops camped in his village about it, either.

“Where were you two?”

“We were, uh,” Breaker started, “Well…”

“Ray had a little trouble putting his pants on…” Barracuda replied playfully.

“And now I have to re-evaluate my entire belief structure,” Mori'ae's impossibly deep voice echoed from his throat, “Do either of you know what this is about?”

“I have no idea.”

Breaker was already calling back to Scirocco to find out whom this was, as the fish woman hadn’t called back for the Red Coral yet. The answer chilled him to the bone.

He couldn’t say anything, though, as the passenger of the vessel emerged before it touched down and hopped to the ground. His extra appendages waved about a little as he stretched from the cramped conditions.

“No matter what I do to fix it, that Flier’s always cramped,” he grumbled, “Maybe I should install some sort of bed instead.”

“Lord Recluse!” the fish girl suddenly stood up straight from surprise then knelt before the leader of the Rogue Isles, “My lord, we are honored by your presence.”

“Greetings,” Power Breaker gave a low bow, bending his body as near to ninety degrees at the waist as he could, “What can we do for you?”

Barracuda hissed at him. It was a repeated warning to kneel down like her. Grunting with disgust, he belatedly mimicked her. Recluse merely hummed at them.

“My lord,” Barracuda looked up from her position, curiosity and confusion evident on her face, “What brings you to these islands? Have our reports not been sufficient?”

“Oh, they’ve been sufficient,” the spider king replied, “Get up. You look ridiculous.”

“Sorry,” the brute murmured as he stood after Barracuda, “You’re not the first godlike entity I’ve had trouble kneeling before, sir… Lord, sir…”

“Shut up.”

Without flourish, he showed them a simple metal box he had clutched in his hand. It was

“This is a chunk of Red Coral… I’ve been having dreams that something like it might be necessary…”

He thrust the box into Power Breaker’s diaphragm, dropping the big man in one shove. As the brute writhed on the ground, gasping for breath and clutching at the container, Recluse nonchalantly turned to Barracuda and Mori’ae.

“I’ll require a secure domicile for my meditations. You can continue your research and reporting as usual, Barracuda, but don’t bother me about it. You, wizard, will bring me meals at regular three-times-per-day intervals, and I expect to have the very best this island can offer. If it’s not good enough, you can expect to find your head detached from its shoulders unless you find me something proper.”

The two nodded and Mori’ae’s wizards led the spider king to a hut that was furthest from the temple. A Bane Spider Executioner entourage surrounded the dwelling and started standing guard immediately.

“I guess I ticked him off a little,” Power Breaker choked as he pushed himself off the ground, “Ugh… What’s he even doing here?”

“I… Don’t know…” Barracuda replied worriedly, “We should… We should get back to work…”

“Yeah…”

The brute tapped the box thoughtfully, then his eyes brightened.

“Hey! Let’s see what this does to that door!”

“Doesn’t that strike you as a little reckless?”

“Not as much as just sitting here while Recluse glares at us.”

Barracuda looked to the hut Recluse had been led to, and one of the Executioners gave her a curt salute with his Nullifier Mace. Shuddering, she turned back to Breaker and nodded.

“Good point. Let’s go.”

----------

---Mauthe’s Island of the Hand---

Statesman’s arrival was a little more ceremonious. He and an entourage of Ballistae, Nullifiers, and a few Midnight Squad and M.A.G.I. wizards was received with a full formation procession at the impromptu landing pad next to the Longbow camp. He gave a short speech about how everybody was doing a great job and that he didn’t want to get in the way, so he would be playing the role of observer for the next few days. True to his word, he transferred command of his contingent, minus the Ballistae, to Agent Wilder and dismissed the formation. From there, the Midnighters and M.A.G.I. wizards joined the archaeology team and started comparing notes.

Mauthe was a little more than aggravated at the sudden upsurge in conspicuous behavior and the unexpected arrival of one of the greatest heroes in the world. It made him wonder just what was in that late Arachnos Flier that had arrived on the other island that morning.

“A little heads-up would have been nice,” he growled at Dietrich as she walked past, “And thank you, by the way. If I’d known you people would go to all this trouble to expose our colony, here, I would have simply blasted the temple and kept the matter to myself. Now that he’s here, I have to start making plans to leave this place and find a new home for these people!”

“Oh, calm down!” Dietrich barked back, “I didn’t know he was coming here until Wilder announced the formation, either! As for your ‘colony,’ well, these people could always go to the States and become citizens of a truly free nation.”

“Maybe you don’t get it, Wilhelmina, but these people didn’t build their lives in the States! This is their home, these islands, this corrupted nation, and we’re doing everything we can to repair it! In just a few days, you’ll have dashed everything we’ve accomplished here against the rocks and you don’t care!”

Dietrich rounded on the undercover agent, and he realized he may have crossed a line. Her eyes were starting to tear up with rage.

“You think I don’t know what all of this is doing to your friends, Michael? You really think I don’t care? I’ve seen some terrible horror in this world, I’ve lost friends, too! I’ve seen what happens when everything spins out of control, and that’s precisely what’s happening here, and I’m sorry, Michael, but it’s out of your hands, now! It was probably out of your hands before you got here.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying that Statesman wouldn’t be here unless something really dangerous was here, and you’ve been sitting on top of it for almost a year, now.”

Mauthe couldn’t think of anything more to say, so he waited for Dietrich to finish.

“I know it’s a terrible price, but it has to be paid. Something awful waits for us in that temple of yours, and it may cost your little community here to defeat it.”

“That…” Mauthe started, but chewed his lower lip in aggravation, “Sucks. Damn.”

----------

“Here’s the door,” Brother Brick announced as he led the Midnighters and M.A.G.I. wizards into the final chamber, “We’re still combing this temple for any sign of this ‘Heart of the Sea,’ and Charlene Grey says she might have found something over in the western portion of the temple, but so far, nothing.”

“What about the temple’s defenses?” one of the Midnighters, a magician named Kevin Tramere, asked with a slight crack in his voice.

“Well, the physical stuff’s been handled by Longbow, local security forces, and Doctor Stein and Mrs. Grey. That last one was a surprise,” Brick chuckled, “Turns out she’s a Peacebringer.”

The wizards looked at him with shock and he suddenly felt nervous.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” the senior member of the Midnighters, an elderly woman named Lorraine Rush, replied warily, “It’s just that wherever the Kheldians go, dark forces seem to converge. It’s not so much their fault, really, but there are those that they threaten and those that seek to use their energy for their own nefarious ends.”

“Sounds risky,” the slugger chuckled, “Especially after what I saw Char do to that golem… She made these balls of light that just blew that walking statue apart! If somebody wants to use her for a battery, I’d say coal mining’s safer!”

The Midnighters and M.A.G.I. magicians chuckled at this and proceeded to conduct their survey of the temple. Their scrying determined that there was a powerful energy located within the structure that grew more powerful the closer one got to the sealed door. It was also very demented and left the wizards wondering whether or not they should have left it all alone.

Largely ignorant of the terms and phrases the wizards were using, Brick left a detail of troops with them and made his way to the western portions of the temple. When he came across Charlene and another wizard, he almost cursed.

“Brick!” the woman greeted warmly, “This is Cory! He works with my husband and me in our group!”

“Greetings,” the young, dark-skinned man reached out and grasped Brick’s hand in a warm shake, “Charlene has been telling me of your brave struggles in this light-forsaken place. I came with the Midnighters at the behest of her husband.”

“He must want to make sure I’m not ‘getting into trouble in my condition,’” was the derisive commentary.

“Well, it hasn’t been so terrible,” Mauthe’s henchman replied, “Charlene was able to handle herself plenty of times.”

“Hey, you haven’t been so bad yourself! Cory, this guy punched a golem in the face with his bare hands!”

“Hurt like Hell, too…”

“Oh dear,” the warlock chuckled, “I trust you wound up suffering a sound thrashing for your heroic effort.”

“Actually, no,” Brick replied confusedly, “The thing crumbled to dust as I was rubbing my hands… I never knew I had any kind of ‘oomph’ in my punches…”

“Let me see your hands for a moment…”

He submitted to the scrutiny of the wiser man and Cory looked the appendages over. Once he was satisfied, he tapped the gold ring on Brick’s right hand and its silver twin on his left.

“These… These have sentimental value to you, yes?”

Brick rubbed them and got really quiet. They were his and his wife’s, but she was gone and had been gone for a long time.

“I’d rather not talk about it. They’re my demons, okay?”

“I understand.”

Charlene patted the man on the shoulder comfortingly before leading them further into the western chambers of the temple. Here, they beheld a number of fantastic frescoes depicting a terrible titan ravaging the seas. Cory closed his eyes for a moment after taking it all in, only to shudder and reopen them.

“What is it?” Grey asked.

“I was trying to communicate with Azuria and Montegue Castellana, but it was... Distorted… And I got the feeling of something watching me…”

He looked around the temple and rubbed his shoulders.

“It’s still watching me… It’s watching all of us…”

Charlene turned to Brick and the man shrugged. Some of the nearby archaeologists stopped their excavations as they saw Cory’s behavior.

“Is it dangerous?” the Peacebringer asked, “Should we leave?”

“No… It’s… It’s unfocused,” Cory replied with relief, “It doesn’t know what to make of us… Probably feels we’re undeserving of scrutiny, but it’s still wondering what we’re doing here… Almost as if it expected someone else.”

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to get back to trying to find this ‘Heart of the Sea’ artifact and find out what’s going on.”

----------

---The Temple of the Hand---

Within the central chambers of the submerged temple, a robed figure chanted. The fifteen coral pillars around him glowed with an eerie green light that reflected off of the figure’s iridescent scales and made them shimmer. Over his chanting, a great rushing sound could be heard as water flowed toward the chamber.

The pillars started to hum and motes of light coalesced in the center of the circle. Floating there, they drew in toward a central point and started clustering together. As the mass ebbed and bobbed, shifting and morphing in an attempt to find form, the rushing sound grew stronger.

Then there was a great explosion as water burst forth into the chamber. At first, it just poured into waiting pools, filling the once-empty crevasses until they were brimming with seawater. Just as the pools were about to overflow, the robed figure started shouting his gargled chants. Instantly, the spouts from the fountains arced up and away from the pools and swirled toward the central light within the chamber.

In a matter of seconds, a great orb of ocean water started to form around the motes of light, the glow from within turning the eerie green glow blue. The orb filled to the edge of the circle, just to the point where its bottom almost touched the floor and its top almost touched the ceiling. Once at this point, spouts emerged from the sphere, wove between the pillars and found their way to drains that would lead the water back into the ocean outside.

With the magical flow complete, the figure stopped chanting, bowed to the orb, and stood upright again. Flipping back his hood, he revealed the scaled and scarred head of Calystix the Shaper. He was tired, broken, and frightened. The conflicts of the surface world were driving him to this, yet he still had his doubts.

“Bring me the orbs,” he ordered and a red coralax hybrid waddled up behind him to deposit three red spheres in his outstretched hand.

Calystix approached the floating orb of water warily and brought the spheres near its surface. The orb rippled visibly, and the Shaper reeled back as if struck.

“I know it is not what you seek, but the filthy landwalkers have your heart…” he hissed, “Besides… I wouldn’t give it to you if I had it! You were imprisoned here for a reason, and if I weren’t out of options, I wouldn’t even be here!”

The orb rippled again, this time more violently. This didn’t seem to cause Calystix as much pain as before, though.

“You stopped being worthy of our worship the moment you tried to wrest control from the Mother Goddess! She placed you here so you might learn humility! Now, I come here because it is time to test your faith… You wish to be free, I wish to punish the landwalkers for their intrusion into our kingdom.”

The water rippled again. It was less violent, but Calistix wasn’t impressed by the shift in attitude.

“Unless you show me that you can act within parameters of control, I will have to leave you here. You should know that if you continue in your belligerence, I would be just as happy to let your temple be destroyed by the landwalkers and seek another method to dealing with them. Is that what you want? For your only method of rebirth to be decimated because of your pride?”

Calystix turned and walked away from the orb, motioning his followers to do the same. Before he left the chamber, however, he turned back.

“Merulina hasn’t given up on you, yet, and neither have I. I will see you tomorrow and hope that the day’s time, this close to reincarnation, has softened your resolve…”

He walked out, muttering one last phrase.

“…Dagoeth.”

The woman made a slight whimper at the negative responses, then looked down. She laughed a little when she saw the tail getting into the door frame, but it lacked any form of strength.

"I'm not going to slam the door on you," she whispered, "I'm too tired... Please... Come in and sit down... Where you can..."

She led them in to her home and the heroes were visually assaulted by what seemed to be the aftermath of a tornado inside the house of the heroine. She staggered to the kitchen while mumbling something about coffee as they righted chairs or the couch and tried to find a place to sit.

There were holes punched in the walls, the television was toppled over and smashed apart, and from their vantage point, they could see the dining room table was splintered. It seemed only the glass coffee table and the houseplants had survived the wrath of this woman scorned, for reasons that were probably sentimental.

"Would you all like some coffee?" Bronze called out to the heroes.

Added another chapter to Grey's Army and the Hand of Merulina arc... I've got to get through this quick because I need to have the place cleared for the next portion I have in mind which is supposed to happen next month.

The two groups have reached an unusual blockade and have no idea how to get through. Barracuda has a good idea on what is needed, but she's busy with something else at the moment... Something else that is seriously aggravating to Captain Mako, but possibly humorous to others.

The days wore on and the opposing teams progressed as quickly as possible. Many of the rooms had traps of various kinds, and while Barracuda and Power Breaker were able to hold their own against summoned specters and animated statues, Delilah’s team had to call for a security detail of Longbow troops and some of Mauthe’s bravest citizen soldiers (who were led by brother Brick).

As they descended, the imagery continued to become more and more profane. Stylized depictions of torture, execution and sacrifice were scrawled, chiseled and sculpted into the walls. The ceiling was carved to look like a writhing mass of tentacles and eyes. There were warnings in many languages, sometimes started in one language and finished in another. At some points, the phrases stopped making sense, saying things like “I want more chicken” or “The snail empire cannot withstand the cricket uprising,” and other nonsensical snippets and lost metaphors.

Eventually, both sides came to an obstacle that they couldn’t surpass. They were below the ocean, now, the temple’s walls were slick with slime, but the cobble-stone flooring was surprisingly dry. Before them, great doors blocked the way, with a message etched into it repeatedly in multiple languages, but it also had a translation painted across it in plain English.

“Only those with the Heart of the Sea can enter the Chamber of the Hand of Merulina”

This gave both sides pause. The paint was fresh, or at least recent enough that somebody would have noticed the culprit. The rogues attempted to smash their way through the door, but any damage they did to it was mysteriously regenerated almost immediately. Delilah’s archaeology team decided it would be best to mount an investigation to determine who was messing with them.

---Circle’s Island of the Hand---

“I can assure you that none of these wizards have been down there without my knowledge,” Mori’ae barked angrily as he swatted the fish woman’s scaly hands away, “And I don’t let them down there, anyway. The magic we’re dealing with here… It’s dangerous and corrupt, even for us.”

“Well somebody got down there,” Power Breaker growled, “And you’ve been the caretaker here. Chemical analysis shows that the paint was applied only a few weeks ago, and you’ve been in charge here for a few months.”

“Intriguing,” the dark wizard replied, “I will have to discuss this with my lieutenants. In the meantime, you two will have to puzzle over this ‘Heart of the Sea’ question. I would think it means the Heart of the Leviathan, but that serves a different purpose, especially since the Leviathan is much bigger than these pitiful islands.”

“I guess we’ll have to go searching,” Power Breaker grumbled.

“Not today,” Barracuda sighed wearily, “I’m exhausted, we punched through to the end of the temple, I just want to make my report, eat something, and go to sleep…”

----------

---Mauthe’s Island of the Hand---

“So, after interviewing the local guards and suspected citizens, the sergeants report that nobody has gone into the temple, aside from Stein’s team…” Agent Anderson explained.

“And my people were getting too spooked to split up,” Doc Delilah added.

“So a third party was involved,” Brother Mauthe growled, “And I would have appreciated a heads-up when you decided to interrogate my citizens.”

“Time is of the essence, Agent Mauthe,” Agent Wilder waved of the argument, “Look, I’m more concerned about this ‘Heart of the Sea’ and ‘Hand of Merulina’ thing. What the Hell is going on down there?”

“Well, Merulina is believed to be an ancient, alien goddess that crash landed in the Atlantic Ocean, roughly in the vicinity of the Etoile Islands, and is pushing the weird fish people that have been popping up all over the Atlantic seaboard,” Doctor Stein explained, “At least, that’s what Mr. Loveking has been saying in his books. There have been some references to this unusual goddess in a couple small, secluded temples across the world, but most archaeologists figured they were hoaxes.”

“What do you think, Doctor?”

“I think… I think we live in a world where people can lift and hurl tanks, fly, and shoot lasers from their eyes. There’s no reason why this wouldn’t be real, too.”

“Well then,” Agent Dietrich stood and hefted her combination rifle, “Where do we start looking for this ‘Heart of the Sea?’”

----------

---Circle’s Island of the Hand---

“We won’t be able to do this anymore once this assignment’s over…” Barracuda whispered quietly as she embraced the massive brute sharing her bed, “I mean, it was fun and all, but I think it would be safer for both of us to let the relationship end on this island.”

“I guess you’re right,” Power Breaker replied as he started to pet her scalp, “You know, I was kind of worried you’d try to rip my throat out during all of this, but this assignment’s been pretty cool.”

“It’s been a long time for me,” she murmured dreamily, “Thanks for being… Receptive…”

The big brute chuckled and hugged the fish girl. It wasn’t something he’d expected to happen when coming here, but it was a pleasant surprise.

They had shared dinner that night while they puzzled over the meaning of “The Heart of the Sea.” If it were an artifact elsewhere in the Isles or on the planet, they could be at this for ages. Barracuda had been quick to point out that it couldn’t be something unique, but probably something very rare.

Her logic had been that few things in the planet were designed to be used only once, and then they were things that were usually cheap and easily replaceable. Breaker couldn’t argue with the logic, but it was hard to determine just what would be considered worthy enough to open the chamber door.

“I’ve got it,” Barracuda suddenly announced, leaning up so she could make sure Power Breaker was looking at her, “What is it that everybody’s been going nuts over here in the Isles?”

“Vigilantes? Project Destiny? Weird technology? That big dead tree that seems to keep getting bigger on Thorn Isle? I don’t know… There’s so much going on in the Isles that it’s hard to keep track…”

“No, Ray… The Red Coral! The Circle wants to find a use for it in their rituals, the Coralax protect it greedily… The stuff brings those slag heaps to life in Sharkhead, maybe it can also be used here as part of a ritual… Whatever’s behind that door must need it for a ritual of some kind!”

“Makes sense… I guess we need to see if we can get some Red Coral brought over.”

“I’ll call back to Grandville tomorrow,” Barracuda sighed happily, “Grillo owes me one, and I bet he’d like a scoop on what happens. He’s convinced magic is just another form of scientific reaction and he keeps a log of magical occurrences and their effects…”

“Alright, well…” Breaker rolled his eyes and grinned, “What do we do until then?”

The fish girl kissed his neck and snuggled close again. Laughing, the big man hugged her and the two felt human for a moment again.

----------

---Grandville: Recluse’s Tower---

Mako was muttering as he entered the oversight center. He’d been trying to call Barracuda for a few hours. For some reason, she hadn’t been responding and he was getting worried. He located the operative that was supposed to be cataloguing and handling the mission.

When he saw the man, he almost did a double take. He didn’t look like the average Wolf Spider. Instead, he was wearing the normal black body armor with the bright, pearlescent plating of the Arbiters over his boots, wrist guards, shoulder pads, chestplate and helmet.

Operative Daniel Taylor was typing out the last of the latest report from Barracuda into Weaver 1’s Master Computer when he heard a heavy breathing next to his head. He knew the sound well, as he’d had to deal with Mako more than once when he’d worked as an Arbiter before his unceremonious demotion. Turning slowly, he saw the shark man was inches from his face, baring his sharp teeth as he glared into the red lights of Taylor’s sensors.

“Can I help you, sir?”

“Call Breaker,” Mako hissed, “I can’t get in touch with Barracuda.”

“Very well.”

Taylor pulled his communicator from his belt and dialed up the number his dossier said would be able to reach the cyborg’s “head phone.” A moment later, there was a ringing and a strained answer.

“Hello!?”

“Hello, Power Breaker. This is Operative Taylor.”

“What do you want? I’m a little busy here!”

“Doing what?”

Many things didn’t bother Operative Taylor. Since having to try to claw his way back through the ranks of Arachnos, he’d bore witness to the misery his organization was really putting the whole island nation through. Still, he struggled on, and was witness to even more atrocity, some at the hands of the Circle of Thorns, others at the hands of Arachnos (though “Becky” seemed to be adapting extremely well).

However, what Power Breaker told him was too much. It was horrifying and wholly unbelievable.

“How is that even possible!?” he shouted in terror as he dropped the communicator and backed away from the device as if it were diseased.

“What?” Mako asked in confusion as he picked up the device, “This is Power Breaker, yes? I am Captain Mako, and I demand to know what-!”

He didn’t finish. There was a triumphant, static-filled shout on the other end, and Mako simply crushed the communicator in his hand before turning slowly to Operative Taylor, who was now brandishing a Nullifier Mace.

“You got out of my arm’s reach,” he hissed while shaking in anger, “It won’t help you, but it irks me still… It would have helped more if you’d stayed within range for me to kill you with but an angry swipe of my claw…”

“Careful,” Taylor brandished the weapon and the projector lens glowed brightly, “This thing has taken down plenty of meta humans as powerful as, if not more than, you.”

“Besides,” a deep, confident voice said from behind the shark man, “Lord Recluse is calling all of his lieutenants in for a meeting. You don’t have time for this, sir.”

The shark man rounded on the voice and came face to face with an unusually decorated Bane Spider. It wasn’t often that one saw an Exterminator and lived, but Null was an unusual Exterminator. It was also unusual that one would do something as simple as deliver a message to one of Recluse’s lieutenants.

“Alright,” Mako muttered as he trudged off, grumbling obscenities under his breath.

“What was that about?” Null asked the former Arbiter.

“Something I need a lot of alcohol to forget,” Taylor sighed as he logged off his work station, “Come on, I’m buying…”

((Wow... While the logic is extremely flawed, he finally got it...))

--St. Martial: Four Suits Casino: Room 1209--

Upon inputting the code 1-2-3-4-1, the safe opened for Jack. Inside was an assortment of souvenirs from Blight Carver's adventures, some money, a couple gems, another bag of hash, and what looked to be a steam-powered pistol.

As Jack withdrew the weapon, he realized it looked a lot like the various broken Bank Guns he'd come across in his travels. It was supposed to be a weapon that could smash through a vault door in one shot, but all prior attempts had failed. This, however, seemed to be a heavily refurbished, modified and well-kept version of the weapon.

((Sorry Devious, I had some chores I had to get to...

Ah, I see I didn't indicate a location in my distracted state when I initially posted, so I will clarify. Sedadyne Pharmaceuticals' location is a matter of public record. The company happens to have its current headquarters in, you guessed it, Paragon City. Specifically, it's located in the southeast corner of the "Land of the Lost" in Skyway City. I figure leaving it here in OOC is probably best, seeing as how your character's on-board computers could have accessed the information.))

--St. Martial: J.W.'s Lounge--

"Nah, I never noticed anybody following me," Harbinger replied, "But I did see the guy who was talking to me in this video go into the bathroom when I told him to '[urinate] off,' went back to eating. It's crazy what you miss when someone acts like they do something every day. Was there something in there?"

----------
((I figure the Four Suits: Room 1209 section is running on its own impetus at the moment... So I will turn to the Heroes now...))

--West of Steel Canyon: Blue Springs Enclosed Neighborhood--

The collection of heroes found themselves outside a set of homes that, aside from slight differences in the colors and shades of the paint, all looked the same. Numbers indicated which house was what, and they were fortunate to be two houses from their destination.

They approached quickly, so as to avoid making the average people in the neighborhood stare, and rang the doorbell of Bronze Shield's home. A moment later, the door opened slowly, and a haggard female face framed by disheveled blonde hair looked meekly out at them.

She looked like she'd been awake for days, and crying almost as long. Her eyes and nose were red from the constant stress and there were dark lines around her eye sockets. Her hair was especially unkempt and frazzled, and it seemed that she was clutching what looked to be a small teddy bear to her belly.

Seeing they were heroes, and apparently freelance ones at that, she bit back her angry demand for privacy and looked to them with what seemed to be the first rays of hope she'd had in a long time.

"Have you found him?" she asked wearily, "Have you found Kyle?"

((Remember, guys, the spiderling could be any one of the hundreds that patrol St. Martial on a regular basis, anyway. Sorry Devious

Also, to clear up the discrepancy of the code...

Heh...

It's a ten digit keypad, 1-9 and a 0, with the 0 flanked by "Cancel" and "Enter." However, after Dr. Lore's cunning strategy, and one I've always been bothered seeing used with extreme success in cartoons, only the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 are "highlighted." It's a code that uses only 1, 2, 3 and 4, but needs a fifth number, one of which is 1, 2, 3 or 4.

The fortunate thing is that the input mechanism doesn't seem to have a "Lock" function (considering that throughout the apartment, there are bags and bags of... Herbs... This could be understandable), but that doesn't mean there isn't another brand of security in the safe...

So far, I haven't seen the code I have in mind for it applied. For hacking attempts, you could probably jimmy the keypad off the safe, but that would cause me to "roll dice" over here to see what happens...

Also, Red, we usually "assume 50" over here, because a character's current level in-game is actually a very fluid thing up until that point. You could hop on a really awesome team or snag a Strike Force, and suddenly you're 2, 3, or even 5 levels higher than when you started the day. Still, it's understandable why you'd have your character practicing a more "civilian" behavior in such a circumstance.))

--J.W.'s Lounge: Restroom--

The chemical analysis came back with a 95% match. It wasn't from any criminal source as Drago was expecting, however. Instead, it was a pharmaceutical company, Sedadyne, a company known for primarily synthesizing sleep aid medication. The company had come under minor scrutiny a couple years earlier, due to some kind of mixing SNAFU that made one of their flagship brands more potent than it should have been, and had almost been absorbed into the Crey Corporation. However, an unknown party stepped in, purchased the company and retained its original staff, and it was learned that the SNAFU had been caused by a small collection of disgruntled former employees.

Drago knew the story well enough, it was typical Crey behavior, except the part where they botched it in the end. Normally, the organization worked flawlessly, their agents driving the wrench deep into the workings of the competition. Wherever the corporate espionage failed, however, they always had their plethora of specialized muscle to do the trick anyway. What stopped them? Who was the mysterious saving grace of the pharmaceutical company and why was he getting a near-perfect match from these chemicals to one of their drugs.

The scanner also gave him more history on the drug, as well. It turned out to be something that never reached the market. It was intended for use on all types of people, human and meta human alike, to help them get the rest they needed. Clinical testing indicated that patients wouldn't really sleep, but portions of their brains would shut down and rest sporadically, leaving the rest to function as normal. This essentially turned the people into living zombies, and they were highly open to suggestion because most of their logic centers were typically off while the rest of the body moved about as if it were in a dream state. The project was deemed a failure, but somebody seemed to have kept the formula and altered it for some nefarious purpose.

----------

--St. Martial: Four Suits Casino: Room 1209--

((Before you guys go any further, I have to point out that you're about to rip open a safe that's owned by what appears to be a very paranoid stalker. Something seems dangerous about that... Or maybe I just want you to crack the code... You're not getting any clues that the guy's intelligent, after all.))

--St. Martial: J.W.'s Lounge--

Grumbling, the bartender retrieved a surprisingly clean glass and retrieved a gallon of milk from a refrigerator next to the bear spigots. He filled the glass and set it in front of Millions. He then turned to Harbinger.

"That'll be a buck, and don't make me fight you over it."

"The kid's not mine, he can pay for his own drink."

"Look, I know we're not the United States, but the legal drinking age here is still twenty-one. The kid shouldn't even be in here, but he is. That means one of you is taking responsibility for him, and the Arachnos guy doesn't strike me as the kind to do it. I know he ain't yours, but that don't help you right now. In an establishment like this, the guardian has to pay for the drinks of the minor. Keeps you on your toes and makes sure you're taking responsibility."

Daemon glared at the bartender and wondered what kind of Twilight Zone he'd wandered into. He looked to Millions, then back to the bartender. Finally, grumbling, he paid for the drink.

"You didn't put any vodka in that, did you?"

"Of course not. These may be 'The Rogue Isles,' but there are some lines you just don't cross..."

The demon nodded and looked at the laptop for the surveillance system. On a larf, he clicked on the play button in the display program and watched the rest of the meeting to see what it was he'd said.

In the video, as he resumed eating, the man in the suit didn't just leave the bar. He got up and noiselessly entered the bathroom, only to re-emerge a few minutes later. This caused the viewing demon to curse and he kept watching to see what it was he'd actually said. A moment later, he walked into the bathroom, there was a popping sound, and he came charging back out, screaming.

The bartender shouted at him to pay the bill, but Daemon ran out, howling "They took my hands! I gotta kill Toad b'fore the Princess eats the kittens! Power to the mongoose people!"

This got Harbinger and the bartender to chuckle.

-----
--J.W.'s Lounge: Restroom--

Drago's chemical analyzers were fortunate. While the rest of the bathroom was still kept clean (as J.W.'s employees were legally obligated to do), the blasted air freshener remained in its state of explosive disrepair until J.W. could find out what kind of insurance money he could get from the wreckage.

The chemical residue, despite the cleanser chemicals seeping into the fringes of the blast radius, was actually quite complex. Apart from the soot, there were dried remnants of something that definitely was not air freshener. He couldn't tell immediately if it was some form of mind control agent, and his scanners were getting recognition errors, but he withdrew a cotton swab and a plastic cylinder, took a swab of the stuff and placed it within the container. Perhaps he could get some analysis from some of Arachnos' lab boys. He certainly had enough on Grun to get the green-tint-haired goon to help, and perhaps the nut head was looking for something new to base his latest crop of chemical research on.

----------

--St. Martial: Four Suits Casino: Room 1209--

The robots did a lot of structural damage, but there wasn't much else to find. Some elicit drugs were in the bed, the closet, the refrigerator, the cupboards, and in the toilet reservoir. It was a leafy drug, ground up into bits and known for being smoked in various ways and sometimes used in baking. The medicine cabinet, oddly, had cold medicine and a prescription strength aspirin with a note "for migraine-strength headaches."

The unusual thing, before the fight with the mysterious assailant and the robots tearing through the place, was that the apartment didn't look to have had a struggle. It looked like Blight Carver had left without incident and the mysterious individual showed up just to wait for the investigators.

--St. Martial: Four Suits Casino--

Outside the blasted windows, aside from a mix of curious and ticked-off onlookers (some of whom must have been utilizing the rooms the windows had just been blasted out of), there was nothing remaining of the body. There was a fine black powder clinging to the walls. It was possibly all that remained of the mysterious assailant.

In room 1209, however, Rose found the laptop's files to be truly engrossing. Aside from the usual stash of explicit videos and photographs, she found some dirt dug up on various players throughout the Isles. It was mostly stuff she already knew, though, and what she didn't was just irritating hearsay ("Mako wears ladies underwear? Right...")

However, she found one folder marked "WTH" and popped it open. Inside were video files of surveillance footage and image files of photographs of the surrounding area at various times of the day. She sped through the videos as quickly as she could, but didn't see much out of the ordinary, just people going about their business.

The photos weren't much better. Still people going about their business. Always different people except for one thing: they were always in the same crisp black business suit. They weren't like the Marcones, who were often wearing bulky suits to conceal their weapons. These suits were much like the business attire of Crey, only these people lacked the usual "Redfang" accessories their agents usually sported. They also didn't have the bodyguard entourages they were known for.

At the end of the folder was a text document. Dynamo opened it up and started looking at what seemed to be a haphazard journal log.

--Blight Carver's Journal--

-Day 1- I never kept one of these before, but I need to do something or I'll think I'm going crazy. I got done with a job for Stella the Mouth, and as I was getting home, I could sense them. I normally don't travel with my mote camouflage running, it feels like the air's going through me, but I knew I had to get away from them. I ducked into an alley and tried to get a good look, there was this guy in a suit, just smoking a cigarette under the lamplight.

-Day 2- Nothing new. Tried calling Terrence, but the doc still isn't answering my calls. I swear to God, if he's sold me out...

-Day 3- They were out there again. They look like everyone else just... Odd. I don't know how to describe it. It's something in the way they move, the way they all have their faces in the same blank expression. It reminds me of that freaky time I ran into those Nemesis Automatons, only less like dolls and more like... Alive. I took some pictures with my cellphone after I activated my mote field and made sure they couldn't see me. I also put up some video cameras to keep an eye on the neighborhood. I added a mote field around each one, but those only last a day or so, and who knows what those spiderling bots will do if they find them?

-Day 4- No word from Stella. She said she's got nothing for me. No word from Terrence. It's starting to look like he wants his research back... Problem is, I'm his research. I started considering buying some guns, in case my own fighting skills don't suffice. Of course, if they don't, I can't see what a gun can do. Spiderlings got camera five. They even cleaned the epoxy off the concrete that moored it in place.

-Day 5- I got it! These guys are way too high class for Terry. They MUST be working for Crey. My videos show them calling somewhere regularly, except camera five, it just shows me videos of some girl taking a shower. Something's wrong with those robots, but I'm not about to start complaining.

I just need to find the number of that guy who contacted me after I freaked out about Uqua.

-Day 6- Something's up. They're all looking at my window now. I never go anywhere without my mote field running, but I think they can somehow see through it. It's looking like Crey's after me for some dumb reason, and Terrence might have told them about my mote field stealth system and a possible way to see through it... I knew that [censored] would sell me out.

Maybe one way to get through this. I found the guy's name and number, Manning. I'm gonna call him and give him a piece of my mind.

--End of Journal--

Fingerprints did indeed show up on the keypad of the safe. They were horribly mangled, but Dr. Lore didn't need to know exactly whose they were.

However, there were five spaces for the code, but only four numbers had been marked, one, two, three and four.

----------

--St. Martial: J.W.'s Lounge--

"Sorry, sir," the brute grumbled, "I mean... I'm starting to remember the conversation, but I never knew the guy. He just showed up one day, started telling me he had a lucrative job offer, and I had a hangover and had just got done getting a refresher course in how hard the Brawler can hit someone... A lot of freaks in these Isles think he's a pushover, but you catch him in the wrong mood, he can turn you into his own personal litter box. The guy owns a chihuahua... You're not even used by a cat..."

((EDITED: to add which numbers were marked on the safe.))

((Dr. Lore has found a safe with a digital input lock under the counter in the kitchen.))

--St. Martial: Four Suits Casino: Room 1209--

((Didn't mean it was exactly the cyborg explosion, but you got the idea...))

The body of their assailant hurtled through the window and smashed through. Still-laughing, the body detonated mid-flight, shattering windows in a diameter of five floors. There was some light conflagration in the room with the mercenaries, but they were left relatively unharmed.

((Glass from the window had already been smashed out.))

The benefit of Cassie's action, other than saving the mercenaries from grievous damage, was that the room was left relatively undamaged.

Dynamo Rose was able to locate a laptop in the apartment's bedroom. It was still on and logged in.

----------

--St. Martial: J.W.'s Lounge--

((There's a faint explosion in the background... But that could be anything.))

The bartender got shifty eyed as the senior operative pressed him. He had half a mind to grab the shotgun and try to execute the meta humans right then and there, but then he'd be dead and J.W. would find a way to bribe the Circle of Thorns to torture his soul for eternity. Sweating a little, he decided to let them know.

"Well... Uh... Okay... Okay... There's a master camera behind the mirror behind me... I guess I forgot about it, heh..."

He reached under the counter. Seeing one of Drago's combat arms following him, he did it with gradual slowness. When he brought his hands back up, there was a small computer.

"This is keyed to the mirror cam... We hardly check it because it's mostly just videos of people checking their mouths and teeth, their nostrils, acne, or just making funny faces if they're not flipping somebody off behind them..."

He looked to the kid. Feeling absurd, he turned back to Harbinger.

"And yeah... You were fine until you went into the bathroom. No clue what happened to ya in there. Everything seems fine except the destroyed air freshener... But then... That thing never worked right. I figured you cut one before you flared up and booked out of here."

Harbinger looked at him oddly for a second. Then he turned to Millions and said "I was takin' a leak... Then there was a flash... And I was in Brickstown..."

--St. Martial: Four Suits Casino: Room 1209--

The mysterious figure didn't reply to their queries. He merely sat there, laughing harder as the electricity arced about him and the runes turned a violent shade of red.

The lightning arced off the nearby furniture and crackled at the contractors. A fiery glow erupted from the man's eyes and his laugh started to get more haggard.

((It would probably be a good idea to vacate... I'm sure you all know about the destructive end of the Cyborg Pack...))

----------

--J.W.'s Lounge--

The bartender looked to the punk with the laptop and shouted.

"Hey! Quiet down over there, or I'll throw ya out!"

He then calmed and turned to Drago.

"Well we don't have security cameras on the tables for... um... general reasons... The boss is really more concerned about the cash register. But Harbinger was saying something about 'killing the Frog Prince before he could eat the princess' and was out the door."

--St. Martial: Four Suits Casino: Room 1209--

The lightning-fast assault was too much for the mysterious man. While he was able to drain some of Rose's energy while she assaulted him to heal his own wounds, he wasn't able to withstand the robots perforating his body, nor the assassin strike to his spine.

With a gurgled whisper, he slumped to the floor. Before anybody could gain their bearings, however, electricity started crackling from his body and a series of runes started hovering around him. Despite the man's paralysis, he seemed to be laughing...

----------

--St. Martial: J.W.'s Lounge--

"You'd be surprised how easily I could get around that," the bartender muttered to Drago as he replaced the shotgun with trepidation, "But I'm not about to stand in the way of Arachnos... I... I didn't see you there, sir, Crab Spider... Sir..."

He sheepishly looked around the bar before noticing the barflies and decided to regain some composure by shoving them away.

"Can't you see I've got real business to discuss here? Gentlemen, if you would take a seat..."

He waited for the meta human rogues to take the offered seats before he gave them complementary water and leaned in close.

"Okay... Harbinger... You were in here almost a week ago, same as always. It was your chicken-fried steak night."

"Oh man," the demon rubbed his belly, "I could really go for one of those right now..."

He saw Drago's posture was negative on the notion, however.

"On second thought, though, we don't have the time..."

"Well," the bartender continued, "You were chilling over in your usual booth when this guy in a suit came in and headed straight for you. The two of you talked for a while, and you didn't like what he had to say..."

Harbinger's head rolled to the side. He muttered something into his shoulder, but he only seemed more confused.

"...Well, he left and you finished your meal. After that, you went into the bathroom, and a moment later, you were tearing out of here like a man on a mission. I shouted at ya to pay your bill, but you just barked something crazy at me."

Because of a scheduling SNAFU, the next two chapters of the Redeemers is now in its collection thread.

The Redeemers