Mr_Grey

"Oh, sonovabi-" Power Breaker shouted as he dove away from the arcs of lightning.

Bioserj was running down the street, staggering as his body replenished its radioactive energy. He'd drained himself badly crashing through Khelldragon, he didn't know that would happen, and had crashed though the window with his momentum. He seemed to be making for the barn they'd passed earlier.

Power Breaker, however, turned back to the assaulting lightning rod.

"Hey!' he shouted, "Congratulations, [dip]wad! You just became my new pet proje-Ungh!"

An arc of lightning nailed him again. That was decidedly unpleasant, but it wasn't slowing Breaker down just yet. He gritted his teeth and his eyes flashed brightly for a second. Then the circuitry channels across his body started to glow and with a vicious roar, Power Breaker was overloading his energy shields.

Target: Knee Joint.

Power Breaker launched himself into Xabu's right knee joint, hammering into it with a punch that channeled so much energy through his fist it hurt.

Target: Spine

He immediately fell to Xabu's back and smashed both of his fists against it. Red lightning arced around and against him, but it seemed to just slide off.

Target: Face

Power Breaker made his way around the lightning giant's body, whirled around, and popped him one square in the jaw. It wasn't his best punch, but it was a start.

Behind him, just outside the range of the lightning field, Kipland Durj kicked over a wooden table. He crouched behind it and started pushing it toward the armored monstrosity, his body getting wreathed in black-purple energy. His eyes also glowed a dangerous shade of red.

In the meantime, the energy shield generators near the building's entrance overloaded and exploded, blasting out the entrance. The others, the ones near the med-porter near the back of the room, were still running fine.

((I have to kill my brother for distracting me from my computer now.))

"I didn't even realize I brought him!" Sheldon replied, just as surprised as the combat android, "Felix! What were you doing inside my coat?"

"Mrahr? Muh-raaaaah... Mrah," was the animal's reply.

"He used to be a gerbil," Ryat99 explained, "Shel's pet... Then he turned him into a living teddy bear. It was a somewhat painful process for the bear, but increased his lifespan... To what?"

"I don't even know," Sheldon said, "Felix was looking at around another month before I put him through that experiment... Now he's just a little fuzzy machine!"

"Mrrrmrrrrmrrrrrrrrrrr!" the tiny bear whined, then went back to making happy "Nn" sounds as he drank greedily from the glass.

"I have another one, too," Sheldon explained, "Not my project... A little lab mouse that somehow got into our boss's base... She was turned into a smaller, cuter version of this guy. My friend, Sarah, she's been keeping Katie because she's obsessed with the cuteness."

When the video played, Ryat99 stared blankly for a few moments as Sheldon furrowed his brow and considered the possibilities.

"It appears," the inventor intoned, "that the people are being infected at the very least by that first individual and being placed into a form of mind control, as mentioned earlier, before being put through a cybernetic enhancement process. This process seems to be little more than a 'Chip', a device that here changes the normally automated controls of the body, such as breathing and heart rate, and converts it to other commands, such as adrenal output, acuity, and muscular development. Carefully regulated, such an individual could easily become exceptional at most feats, but it would burn out most living bodies... I've heard of similar experiments before, but mostly conducted on corpses and massively supplemented by cybernetic augmentation, and no, I don't mean Freaks or Vahz proteans. If this is an enhanced version of such research, I must say I'm growing quite distressed."

Ryat99 was still playing the footage back in his head. Felix had crawled out of Sheldon's lap during his explanation to hug Essex's upper arm. The little bear made a low rumbling akin to a purr, but more dog or bear-sounding.

"Peculiar," was all Sheldon could say.

If he'd been an anime fan, he probably would have had other things to say, but he preferred American psychological thrillers and old black and white movies.

"I'll take water," Ryat99 said as he took a drink, "Hm... Naturally purified. Excellent quality..."

The android's left pectoral armor plate opened up and he poured the water in. Closing the plate, he mused at the flavor.

Sheldon didn't have need of a drink at the moment. However, a bulge suddenly appeared at his hip. A pair of tiny brown paws reached out and grabbed a glass. What appeared to be a small bear's head poked out of his trench coat and started sipping the fruit juice.

"Mraaaah!" Felix growled happily.

((Diov, Igor's lisp faltered on "surgeon".))

Sheldon was glad his shades covered the fact that his eyes nearly bugged out of his skull.

"Suicidal... And non-suicidal... Wow. I'm glad that I'm not nearly that far gone..."

"Dammit, Sheldon..." Ryat99 grumbled, "That's just the sort of thing to start a fight. A fight we don't need here."

Ryat66 bolted after Ghost and was nearly smashed by one of the acid mortar grenades. Twirling through the air over the crates, he launched a stream of energy from his chest, guided down his arms and through his hands, only to miss the mortar.

"Damn!" he shouted as he keyed up some energy for his next attack, "this should do it..."

Whirling around the crates again, he fired a short-range but powerful beam that smashed into the mortar he'd missed earlier. Unfortunately, he took two acid grenades to the chest for his trouble.

"OW! PAIN!" he screamed.

----------

Sheldon chuckled as Radiator tumbled through the air. He indicated to one of the nearby... Rikti? Is that right?

In any case, he shouted about how he was heading for that individual and charged up his gravity gauntlets. He wasn't about to let Radiator get away.

"I'm Sheldon Wallace," the young man in the white trench coat and blue beret declared, "And my profession is... well... mad scientist for the blue side."

"I am Ryat Ninety-nine," the android declared, then indicated Sheldon, "He built me, but doesn't have much say over what I do except when our boss assigns him a billet over me. When he said he was coming here, I decided I should probably come with him... I'd feel kind of bad for a while if he wound up in the hospital because of my neglect."

"Interesting," Ryat99 muttered, "I suddenly feel less out of place."

"That was definitely unexpected," Sheldon agreed, "Do you figure there's... bad oil... between them?"

"You're not funny. I'm sorry if I ever gave you the impression you were."

The big android started plodding into the direction the loud android indicated.

"Reminds me of Kip in his better days," Sheldon sighed, "Loud and demanding... Abrasive, even."

"I never knew him then," Ryat99 rumbled, "Sounds like someone I wouldn't like."

"He's not much different now. Just not as loud. He's lost some enthusiasm. Still fights like a rabid dog, but he's definitely lost some of his spark of life."

"And what does his soul have to say about the matter."

"Like it always says... That they'll deal with it."

Bioserj ran into Kheldragon, trying to push her away from the energy draining field and out of the common building. He still radiated his healing energy, but he was getting tired fast. The arc of lightning still struck Power Breaker, right in the eye as intended. It did little more than tick the cyborg off, though.

"OW! You [frick]ing [dastard]!" Power Breaker shouted as he writhed around in place, gripping his right eye, "That's it! [Frick] me? No, no... [FRICK] YOU!"

And with that, he marched right into the electric field and kicked on his own draining aura. A bright blue orb emanated from his body, siphoning the energy of whatever hostile malevolent force was present, regardless of its stealth or defensive capabilities as the energy field returned. Then, Breaker gritted his teeth, instructed the nanites to initiate the efficiency protocols, and prepared for the next volley.

"Sonova!" Bioserj shouted as he slammed his fist onto a button under the bar.

Four panels in the corners of the floor popped open and four shield drones floated out of them, emitting their defensive emissions. Bioserj then made for Kheldragon, radiating energy than seemed to regenerate those caught within the wave. Brother Hand pulled an SMG from under his jacket and backed away from the power sink. Another man that he called to, Brother Hood, drew a revolver and sighted in.

"Alright," Power breaker grumbled toward the center of the room, "You've got our attention. How about you show yourself and we can make with the smashing you?"

Sheldon and Ryat99 mostly sat in the background throughout the introductions. When asked their names, they supplied them. Ryat99 asked if it was alright if he stayed near the exit.

"I'd hate to think I was intruding," the android explained, "And since this is a meeting of the minds, and I'm pretty much not given to pondering the workings of the universe, I don't see how I would contribute that much."

"You could collate data," Sheldon offered, "You know, plugging numbers, rifling through equations... I'm certain we'll be needing those kinds of services."

"Even still, I'd rather they grant me permission to enter, or at least provide me a place to remain. I don't want to leave you in any form of danger, boss. And you're right... I can almost see a causality gravity well beginning to form..."

"Heh-heh," Sheldon chuckled, "Uh... What Ryat Ninety-nine means is that since there's so many of us here, there's a chance somebody might take an interest in what we do, regardless of what precautions we've taken. I hope the security here is sufficient for even Nemesis-level intrusions."

Sheldon rubbed his thumb across his chin as he pondered Igor's question.

"No... Not yet, anyway. For now, please stop calling me master... Unless you meant her..."

The two were following behind Igor and his zombie at nearly two arm-lengths (Ryat99's arms) distance. The inventor was relieved that the security system seemed to be allowing them passage, he was fairly certain the cameras were hooked into some sort of image recognition software, and that if it didn't recognize Sheldon, well, he'd be on the Red Cross Express faster than he could blink. Ryat99 must have been on a "Known Accomplices/Associates" list.

"If you meant her, well, she could certainly use some more food."

"Sir!" Ryat99 nearly shouted at him, "That was very inappropriate."

"Let it be," Sheldon replied flatly, then turned to Ms. Vanessa, "Why do you look like you're halfway to death's door?"

"I won't apologize for him," Ryat99 rumbled as he cradled his face in his big metallic hand, "I never saw the point in that... one needs to be repentant for himself. However, I can assure you, that while my creator lacks certain understandings about social etiquette, I do not. He does not mean to insult... He's just curious, and figures it's easier to avoid socio-political small-talk."

Power Breaker arched an eyebrow and shrugged at the altercation.

"There's no need for that kind of behavior... I'm certain the young lieutenant is more than taking care of herself. Energon, please, we're all amigos here. I'd be more concerned with..."

Electron count in immediate area steadily rising.

"Oh... Guys... I think we're about to get hit."

"No..." Wallace replied in answer to all of Igor's suggestions, "Just.. Please call off your protean... To be quite frank, it disgusts me... And that formaldehyde certainly didn't help matters."

Ryat99 put a hand on the zombie's shoulder and gently pushed it toward Igor.

"There ya go," the android muttered, "No need to... Does that thing have a robot arm? Wow, that's odd."

"Hello there," Ryat99 said to Igor's back, "My boss here already tried that... We're kind of waiting for the security to react."

"You might want to step back hee-" Sheldon noticed Igor's protean monstrosity shamble into the building, "Well... Now I see why we're here."

"I can take it if you can, boss," the android muttered, its arms still extended into a near perfect "T."

"There's time for scruples and unflinching morality later and with different individuals," Sheldon replied, "For now... Greetings. I am Sheldon Wallace."

Sheldon hesitated for a brief moment, but figured it was the best chance he had to seeing what all of this was about. he raised his shades and put his eye to the ocular receiver. He calmly allowed the laser to read his eye, despite the minor blindness.

"Now what?" Ryat99 asked as the inventor backed away from the reader and stepped behind the tank.

"I'm not sure if West has my retina pattern in his database... Unless of course he has access to medical records..."

Ryat99 made a grunted sound and his heavy combat armor clacked out of his chassis. This was further reinforced by a thick layer of ice armor riddled with nanites. The machine spread his arms out and started shaking his head.

"Godammit... Why must everything have so many variables?"

"Thanks for being my shield..." Sheldon chuckled a little.

"You didn't give me much of a choice in the matter, boss."

"That sounds like nasty cough..." the bartender said, then thought on it, "A nasty cough... Is there something you'd like to drink?"

"Forget it Serj," Kip explained, "She only drinks energy... Nearly killed someone in the D just from crashing into him. Yet another strike against Poe for inadvertently making it happen."

"Oh..." Serj reached his hand out to her, "If energy is your drink, I have radiation to spare. Please, help yourself."

--Steel Canyon -> Siren's Call--

Ryat99 dropped out of the sky next to the Siren's Call entrance. Hovering a little above the ground, he clicked off his rocket boots and disengaged his flight armor. Shortly thereafter, there was a zipping sound as Sheldon arrived. He had a grin on his face.

"It feels good to yank some speed out of an Outcast again..." the inventor chuckled as he shoved the gauntlet back into the duffel bag.

"You really should have built something that enabled you to not require the presence of an enemy," Ryat99 chided, "Plus, there's always the chance for massive error."

"Indeed... But I'm more than equipped to deal with a botched attempt at siphoning the kinetic energy out of a criminal."

They showed their identification to the Siren's Call security guards and proceeded through the heavy armored gate.

On the other side, Sheldon pressed his fingers to his glasses.

"Did you get that?" he asked the large android.

"Yes. So... Am I to understand that all of this cloak-and-dagger stuff means this Doctor West is a tad... Paranoid?"

"From what reputations I could research of him... Yeah."

"Fan-freaking-tastic," Ryat99 droned in his monotone, clearly displeased, "A regular meeting fo the best and brightest across the world is about to happen, huh? So, what'll you say when you meet Lazarus Crom?"

"I don't think he's coming..."

Ryat99 turned to his creator.

"I was joking," he rumbled, "I could have said Aeon... Or maybe even Ryat Eighty-four."

"If he shows up, we're dismantling him."

"I don't think he will... Ryat Prime's been hounding him pretty fiercely."

"How is that all going, by the way?" Sheldon asked sadly.

"Bad. Every time Prime gets a hold of Eighty-four, he unleashes another one of those damn berzerker androids he's built and runs off... We may need to go after him ourselves someday, boss."

"Right..." Sheldon shook his head, "Well... Let's see if this map West sent me is any good."

"And if it's not?"

"Then I'm probably Stalker meat."

And with that, they headed off for West's laboratory on foot. Sheldon didn't want to risk being too far from his guard in case they ran into any trouble (which Siren's Call was practically rife with), and Ryat99 didn't want to watch Wallace get med-ported repeatedly.

When they finally arrived at where the map indicated for them to go, they were both speed boosted (Ryat99 from Sheldon's application of kinetic energy boosting nanites and Sheldon through his siphon) and the inventor was out of breath. A couple brutes and Arachnos patrols had made them figure it would be better to just rush it.

--Grey's Army Base--

"Ninety-nine?" Sheldon asked as he stared at his monitor, "How would you like to go somewhere with me?"

"Sir?" the android asked, "Are you sure? I thought you were suspended..."

"I was. I'm not anymore."

"You're not lying to me, are you?"

A short while ago, Sheldon had been involved in an event that almost netted the Clockwork King a new body. Positron had suspended his hero license pending an investigation. The investigation was called off, however, when Wallace was kidnapped by Arachnos. It seemed Black Scorpion wanted somebody new to work on his armor, and after the Inevitable Incident, Sheldon became the prime candidate.

The ensuing battle as Sheldon attempted to escape and some of the heroes in Agent Wild's stable as well as members of the Brutal Warriors Order tried to mount a rescue wound up proving which side of the law the young inventor stood on. Despite the horrific violence of that day, Sheldon hadn't taken one life, plus he'd come back with valuable intelligence on the rogue government. Shortly after his return, Positron reinstated him.

Sheldon regarded the big machine. In most science fiction, when the creation exhibited the kind of independence the members of the Ryat series displayed, it wasn't long after that a "Robot War" scenario followed. However, the closest they'd come so far was Ryat84's rebellion, and it was largely an inept generic "Destroy All Humans" affair. The rest of the series was full of its own unique personalities, some heroic, some adventurous, some easily frightened... But no two were exactly the same. Ryat60, for instance, was deathly afraid of water, despite the fact that his circuitry was specially shielded. Ryat31 was also afraid of water, but could often get over the fear to get on with his work.

It was so strange that they regarded Sheldon not as their father or their creator, but as an equal. They certainly had some measure of awe for him, but they largely didn't need him anymore. Sometimes they deferred to him when it came to matters of organization, though 66 and 99 were considered the de facto leaders of the series. Largely, though, he worked on other projects.

Projects like the e-mail that had just arrived for him. He was concerned by what he read... It reeked of danger. Now, he wasn't necessarily a scientist. While he had the label of "Mad Scientist" lately, he didn't have the patience for scribbling notes, collating data, and experimenting. He was more of a "doer."

Of course, that was what made him "mad" in the first place. Real scientists experimented, checked their results, ensured they were in as safe an environment as possible...

Now, from what he saw on Dr. West's e-mail, it seemed as if it was going to be a frank discussion. Just an exchange of ideas. However, considering the fact that it seemed to be a call to a large number of the brightest minds in the city, it sent chills down his spine.

"I can assure you, Ryat, I'm not lying," he finally said with a grin, "You know I can't lie to you."

"I'm the one devoid of deception, sir," the big android rumbled back.

"In any case, this isn't about hero work... this is just a friendly invitation to discuss theory..."

"Uh huh."

"A lot of scientists..."

"Right."

"All in one place."

"Ah."

Ryat99 figured out why Sheldon wanted him along.

"So... Where to?" the big machine asked as he keyed up his sleek flight armor and it rattled out of his general purpose chassis, covering up holes and smoothing out bumps, "Steel Canyon? Peregrine Island?"

"No..." Sheldon replied as he threw his gauntlets into his duffel bag before donning his trench coat over his body armor, "We're going to Siren's Call."

"So... Steel Canyon, then?"

((Sorry, Toxicity, but I'm afraid you're confused... Our group isn't currently in the D (though we may return at some point). As such, I'm going to have to negate your smashing damage and aggro.

Unless, of course, you're saying you're in the Community Building on Brother Mauthe's island... In which case, I'd like to know how it is Toxicity arrived. It's an RP forum exclusive location (Read: it doesn't exist in-game), a secret, and Mauthe's not one to trust just anybody...))

"Good point, DeeVee," Breaker sighed, "I still don't know what i did to tick him off... Maybe try to talk sense into him? I threatened to break his neck once, but he wasn't conscious for that... And I was informed then that he wouldn't stay dead, so I don't see how this got so personal."

He walked over to the open bar where a young man of Slavic descent was tending. He pointed to a bottle that the bartender handed over and proceeded to drink from it.

"Okay," he growled between swigs, "Here's the deal... If we go to the Dimension of Mists, Poe unleashes all unholy Hell on us, and we likely die slow, agonizing deaths over the span of a few millenia... Don't ask me why I say so, it's just the threat I was given last time... Or, we find a way to bring him here (or get him to come here on his own volition) and he unleashes all unholy hell on us, takes us back to thw Dimension of Mists and makes us die in agonizing pain over the next few millenia..."

He took another swig.

"Alright... I'm thinking our best chance lies in setting up an ambush of our own... We've already got some proper bait... Thank you Dark... Now we need a proper setting..."

"You could try the top of the temple," the bartender offered, "Brother Mauthe doesn't seem to be using-k it."

"Yeah, but he also doesn't seem to want anybody going near it just now..." Power breaker took another swig and looked worriedly to the rest of the group, "I've got nothing. It's hard to plan anything for somebody as unpredictable as Poe..."

((Especially NERVOUS trained military... They're likely to shoot first and ask questions later, especially since the med-porters would enable the asking of questions later.))

--Portal Corp Courtyard--

"I see..." Matt grumbled, "Hm... I never met a Texan around here... He turned to ask Unai about it, but noticed the forces gathering at the portal instead.

"Oh well," he grumbled as he drew his blade and took a position near the rear, "I guess not everything has to run smoothly..."

----------

--Jade Moon: Command Center--

Sheldon picked himself up from the blast and cursed. He was almost worried about radiation poisoning and started firing up a set of his kinetic powered nanites when he was hit by Essex's own healing technology. Noticing that his monitors indicated the poisons and toxins fading from his bloodstream, he turned to the tiny pink android.

Wiggling the fingers of his left gauntlet in a quick but complex pattern, he fired off a green beam at Essex. If she could see the tiny robots now surrounding her, she would notice that they were energizing, repairing and increasing her rate of speed. The repairs and the energizing were a tad slow, much slower than her own recovery and regeneration effects, but the speed boost was second-to-none.

Conversely, Sheldon turned to Radiation's perforated form and fired a green beam at him. This one siphoned the energy from his body and his speed, delivering it to the inventor.

"Let's try this again," Sheldon hissed as he launched another nanite gravity wave at Radiation, "And this time, stay put!"

From here, he just seemed to randomly fire in every direction, boosting the speed of anybody he thought would benefit from it, especially the rooted Randall Grey who stormed angrily into the Command Center.

Cory nodded to Archlich's handling of the strange little black orb and prepared his own magic. Feeling it course through him like a river, he focused his sight on Radiation, blasted and broken as he was, and prepared a subtle sliver of ice. All he'd need is to get close enough...

Ryat66 received his speed boost and cheered. He then proceeded to approach and attempt to pummel the bejebus out of Radiation with a flurry of tiny electrified fists.

Martin rolled over and reached out to grab Auswitch by the ankle. Tripping him over, he held his grip and pulled some of the life out of the Archon.

This also had a nasty side effect of drawing some of the toxin out of the man's body. Martin winced, but it wasn't quite as bad as when he'd been kicked in the groin.

"Calm down," he growled as he pushed himself off the floor, "Klaus, next time you put somebody through that kind of pain, you might want to hold them in something more resilient than ice. Now... You..."

He turned back to Auswitch. The inept Archon was kicking him in the hand. A lot.

"This is going to hurt..."

He kicked the man over and bent his leg. Taking a double-armed grip on his ankle, he proceeded to twist.

"I'm not going to stop until you calm down."

--Jade Moon: Command Center/Portal Chamber--

Sheldon cursed as he raised one of his gauntlets at the offending individual (Radiator), the censors in his glasses showing clearly the rads that were pumping into the room and their source. He gripped his hand into a fist once, then popped his fingers back into an extended position, flinging a scattering of nanites at Radiation.

The nanites began their oscillations immediately, causing a strong gravitational singularity to focus on Radiation's body, compressing him and working to pin his arms and legs in place.

Ryat66, seeing what his boss saw, spun around and fired an energy blast from his chest into Radiation, a blast that would score into the offender's shoulder (possibly knocking him over or spinning him in place).

Cory heard the device talk, and arched his eyebrow at it. Perturbed by the sudden chaos, he reached toward the object in the pink android's hand, his own flickering with peculiar blue energy.

((Mauthe's Island isn't Evil Island... Yet... And we came here to get revenge for the massive battle Poe waged on the D (as well as the kidnappings). Breaker always intended to go looking, much of the rest of the crew just kind of followed. We're here because it's "neutral ground".))

"Welcome to the crew," Power Breaker bellowed to Kaega, then looked over the assembled heroes and rogues, "Kip? What the Hell are you doing here?"

"I heard a crew was getting slapped together to fight that freakish looking waiter guy you warned me about," Kip replied, then narrowed his eyes, "He went and kidnapped me, now I want to tear him a new [butt]!"

He turned back to Kheldragon.

"That's not going to affect your energy consumption, is it? I'd hate to think I ruined your meal."

"Don't take this lightly," Power Breaker grunted, "Poe's a [dip], but he isn't a pushover. He will fight to the bitter end, maybe even beyond it. We all saw what happened in the D... And if I'm getting this right, we're about to wage war with him in the seat of his power... So this won't be easy. Also... I dealt with the guy before, and individuals he worked with hinted that there are others even more powerful than him."

He let that last bit sink in a moment before continuing.

"I don't want to risk [ticking] these others off, so lets please... PLEASE keep the collateral damage to a minimum."

"Sure," Kip grumbled, "Take away all our fun."