TeChameleon

BANG'S HEAD:

The Scarlet Eye bowed ironically to the blackness around it, and ate the energy powering the rip in the mindscape behind it. Satisfied with the snack, it stepped off the psychic plane, reappearing in front of Bang in normal space. "I... look forward... to our games... 'father'." the elemental rasped before vanishing.

The Eye reappeared in the underground bunker of the Lost, calmly draining its two ex-doorguards. Folding itself into a strange-looking pseudo-lotus postion, the elemental began indexing its 'siblings' that had been thrust into it by Bang's mask. While Scarlet Eye lacked perfect recall, it could read its own mind, which amounted to much the same thing.

After a few minutes, the sewer-come-Losthome was rocking with mad laughter... laughter that had the lesser Lost cowering in their fetid holes and the more powerful members racing to investigate... only to have their minds stripped from them and devoured by the crazed form of the former Prelate Occulus, now revealed in all his hellish glory as the Scarlet Eye.

These ones are of no further use to me; decades of planning accomplished in an eyeblink by the whim of my 'father', when he gathered the psychic energies of this place and hurled them at me, negating the need to have a cadre of loyal psychics to channel the forces into me... and with the boost in my own powers now, I am able to devour them without them pledging their loyalty to me alone.

His thoughts now firmly set in order, the Elemental left the devastated Lost-hovel, now empty of all but those who had yet to undergo even the slightest transformation. Reappearing in Cry's room, the elemental bowed studiously to the infant, its power carefully veiled so that it appeared to be precisely as powerful as he was when he left. "Underestimation... of the enemy... is never... wise." he commented, after casually tearing a situation report from the mind of a nearby Fortunata. "Those who... deem... themselves heroes... have an annoying... tenacity... and... are often more... than they seem." The blazing red eye that was the only discernible feature in the shadows of Scarlet Eye's face gleamed for a moment. "Would that I... could have been with... you, master... but... even... an elemental... must eat." it finished, faint amusement colouring its tone as the double meaning of its words struck it.

IN BANG'S HEAD:

Scarlet Eye snorted, briefly, still calmly sitting on nothing where the throne had been. It appeared to be... laughing? "To be... constrained... by the very... tenets... by which... I have lived, these past... millennia... is... onerous, indeed." It shook its head. "<Very well; I so swear.>" it said in the language of Chaos, still sounding amused- no easy feat in that harsh, guttural language.

"Rules... amongst... ourselves. How the... Order god... would laugh... did he know." The Scarlet Eye shrugged, not really bothered, and waited for the power boost patiently. While he could make fantastic haste when it was necessary, when it was not, the elemental was as patient as a rock. Immortality tended to prompt taking the long view.

The Eye briefly wondered how Lieutenant Cry would react once the undead infant found that he was helping the "heroes" in nearly equal measure. It shrugged. That could be dealt with when the time came; until that time, Cry would make an excellent protector and key within Arachnos.

And when the time of betrayal came, the little abomination would make an even better meal.

STEEL CANYON:

[ QUOTE ]
"Seriously though, I thought you were past the exploding stage?" the Specialist's demeanor transitioned to a cold, matter-of-fact outlook, "Or did I misunderstand that somehow? What in the world did the guy do to you for this to happen...?"

[/ QUOTE ]
Energon X simply stared at Danger for a long moment. "... stage." he repeated blankly. After a moment, he recovered himself. "That's a bit akin to asking a normal person if they'd gotten over the 'bleeding-when-stabbed' "stage"." the Blaster grumbled. "I have better control now than I used to, but... well, it's pretty much an involuntary physical reaction. Stick me in close proximity to a high enough power active energy source, and my own energies flare up to match. That little [censored] caught me in a reaction loop- that blob-monster-thing was feeding off me, getting more powerful as I blasted it." A shake of his helmet, then a spark of irritation. "Obvious trap? Right, we have energy-eating monsters the size of buildings running around all the time, here. Sanctimonious little son of a..." He choked off his anger.

"If you helped protect the Bastion from that little monster, you have my thanks." he muttered with poor grace. Every time I talk to these jerks, they're all 'more-sophisticated-than-thou'... and then they act affronted when I call them on it. Passive-aggressive pricks. He turned his back on Danger and the newcomer, putting his attention on Bladewing. "Anything interesting happening out in the wide world, 'Wing? Things here have been relatively quiet, all things considered... at least until that miniature monster decided he needed to smash some more of Steel, anyways."

Across the way, Target shook his head. "Of course y've seen tha' energy before, y'twit. I said- tha's m'Uncle E's signature." The archer paused, then smacked his forehead. "Energon X, that is. If'n ye've ever been in a serious situation wi' him before, ye've seen th'kaboom." He shrugged, holstering his bow. "I'm a wee impressed, tho'... he ha' talked about 'lensing' the effect to keep from doing damage to anything he didna want to, but wasna sure i' he c'd do it."

I ask this mostly out of curiousity... has anyone bothered to take a look at Big_Snake's posting history? On the Guardian boards he has a somewhat poor reputation of being needlessly inflammatory.

*shrug*

Villain-only content? Go for it. Throw me a few new costume pieces for my heroes (like some updated shoulderpads that don't involve skulls, maybe? Yeesh), maybe a badge or two to satiate the beast, and I'm golden, blueside. I'd love to see an alternate levelling path redside.

Energon X stirred weakly, startled to find himself back in the armour that allowed him to interact with the physical world... or at least interact in a fashion that didn't involve blowing it up. He managed to focus a bit... apparently half a lifetime's worth of having a body meant old habits died hard, since, lacking eyes, there was really no reason for him to have trouble focussing... and jerked a little as Bladewing wavered into view. Then he relaxed.

"Oh... hey, 'Wing." he rasped, the vocoder correctly interpreting his condition as meaning his voice would probably sound like five miles of bad road right now, if it were still physical. The blaster waved a gauntlet at his 'body'. "You?" A pause. "Thanks." He struggled to his 'feet', then shrugged. "I've still got a few tricks, but energy blasting's out for me for a while until I can re-stabilize the portal. I'm pretty sure everyone would prefer that I didn't do that..." he waved an arm at the trail of molten slag "inside." A shake of his helmet, then an air of puzzlement as Danger and the... whatever... turned up.

[ QUOTE ]
"I'm going to guess things here didn't quite go as planned."

[/ QUOTE ]
"... no, I make it a regular practice of nearly vapourizing the last remaining people I'm able to try and protect. Keeps 'em from getting complacent." he snarked. "So what's the sermon this time?" he asked, exhaustion making him even blunter than usual. Feh... let's see if this is the 'pathetically backwards Earthlings' condescension, the 'the world is many shades of grey' condescension, or something new. he grumbled inwardly.

Across the way, Target snorted. "No need t'go seekin' out th'source o' that blast. I'd know it anywhere. S'my Uncle E, losin' it. Guessin' he must have run into one of the Arachnos big bads- a Looey, at th'least, from the look of that blast- and been pushed to overloadin'." Then the archer sobered. "Less'n, o' course, there's a new player in the game, with at least as much power as Recluse' inner circle."

He glanced around, unsurprised, as the armoured humanoid approached. "Danger? Th'smarmy li'l blue git?" He glanced at the other two. "If he's wi' that lot, he's like t'be arrogant and obnoxious, but not a danger... t'us, at least."

((No, Danny and E-X haven't forgotten the argument they got into upon first meeting the Devialiens ))

*headdesk*

Out of some innate sense of masochism, I've followed this thread all the way through, and I can say this: you're as happy as you allow yourself to be. You can choose to be miserable because the co-op content doesn't fulfill your (frankly a bit deluded) expectations for redside eeeeeeevil, or you can choose to enjoy the freaking free content we get three times a year.

Y'know... unlike, say, uhm... most (if not all) other MMOs on the market? *grumble* Believe it or not, I'm all for redside getting some more content- I'm only on my second villain, and it's already bugging me that there's only one levelling path... once my altitis really kicks in, it's probably going to make me absolutely nuts- but the incessant whingeing, moaning, victimized "Poor us, the free stuff we're being given isn't good enough!" is making me wish the blood game didn't exist at all, if it's causing this much misery.

Yes, redside could use some more content, and the PPPs apparently blow chunks (beyond my experience at this point- with real life, I don't have as much time to play as I'd like), but whining that the content you did get isn't "villainous" enough is, if I may be blunt, malodorously stupid; deliberate obtuseness of the highest, most objectionable degree.

As to the suggestions on how to make the RWZ more villainous... oh, if only there were some forum... some collected place where suggestions could be aired and considered, rather than used as attempted ammunition in some puerile little us-vs.-them hallucination.

The Chaos elemental wasn't particularly perturbed- voices inside him were about as novel as the sky being blue by this point in its existence. It shook its ethereal head. "I promise only... non-aggression... for as long as you... do not... interfere... in my plans. Complete... pacifism... towards you... compromises me... far... too greatly." A faint shift in the shadows that concealed all of its face but its eye, even here, hinted at a dark smile. "Besides.., 'Father'.., you know... as well as... I... that such... geas... are twisted... all too easily. I offer... non-aggression... until your... crossing... of my... plans... without tricks. Between such... as we.., the meaning... of a promise... like... that... should be... clear.., to you."

"And... this host... power, even... a tenth... my own?" The Scarlet Eye reached out, mental and chaos powers intertwining, easing gently over and around the blocks that the Mask was putting forth, sliding through the 'cracks' to deftly re-work the blank white 'reality' it occupied. A perfectly formed throne rose out of the 'ground', knitting itself together as the Eye sank back gracefully onto it. "Power is... nothing.., without... subtlety." the elemental finished.

(([ QUOTE ]
((Go and watch some episodes of dragonball Z, and that will pretty much cover everything on Entropy and Chameleon's end.

[/ QUOTE ]
Jeeze... harsh much, Dogma? O.o

And I thought we decided that Bastion was in Siren's Call?))

Energon X found himself barely aware, adrift in a raging, howling stream of limitless power as a second Big Bang tried to force its way through him. Then... the pressure lifted. Just a tiny fraction. But enough. With a scream that shook the foundations of the frozen cosmos half-born within him, the blaster seized control of the torrent and squeezed, fighting to draw the power back into himself.

The otherworldly nexus slowly shrank, irising shut, as E-X dragged it closed by raw force of will. The beam dwindled, shrinking to an eye-meltingly bright stab of pencil-thick energy, spiralling crazily around the disc of Bladewing's own personal black hole before vanishing. A final, determined heave, and even that vestige winked out, leaving a seared scar across the retina of anyone foolish enough to have been looking directly at it.

The faint outline of the Blaster's energy-form could dimly be seen, drifting towards the ravening disc of the black hole, slowly at first thanks to the still-scrambled natural laws, but getting faster...

Meanwhile, not far away in one sense, infinitely distant in another... Target gasped a bit as he was abruptly slammed into, then... somewhere else. He shook his head to try and clear it, and glared around. "Lovely." he grumbled. "First th' Sky Raiders, and now this bloody mess. In th'Bleed again." Then reality wrenched, and he was back in Steel, next to someone he didn't recognize. Two someones. His fists were up, electricity wreathing them and he put his back to a wall. "Talk quick, y'sods... you friend or foe?"

Energon X reeled back as Cry's Hand uppercut him... or rather, the containment armour did. The helmet popped off as if the Blaster had been decapitated, and the suit simply hung in the air for a moment, in apparent defiance of the laws of physics. Then it tumbled away, dropping to the pavement far below. A trail of blue energy, faint in the sunlight, fanned out behind it... then drew together, coalescing slowly at first, then faster.

The vague outline of Energon X hung in the sky, a phantasm of blue power, for a second or two. Then it wavered, distorted, and gradually re-formed into a blazing ring.

The ring wavered for a second, then dropped like a stone, slowing to a hovering halt at around the monster construct's knee level... or at least, around where its knees would be, if it had any.

Time seemed to halt for a moment, then a silent shockwave roared out, all-but-invisible as the physical laws of a protoverse radically different from our own collided violently with the natural laws more familiar to the denizens of Paragon City.

Then the ring oriented itself on the sludge monster. The world held its breath once more, and Energon X managed a last, desperate call, manipulating his energies to connect to the comm systems. "Control's gone... overloading... can't... stop..."

Cry had been pushing Energon X hard, trying to overload him, pushing him into a feedback loop that spiralled out of control... and Bladewing's arrival, with powers unleashed, had only made matters worse, no matter his intentions. Cry was about to get his depraved little wish.

A final, despairing whisper... "Help... me..." and the sky was torn in half.

A beam the width of a city block vapourized fully three-quarters of the giant monster's mass in a heartbeat, sizzling over the top of the War Wall and into the trackless infinity of deep space. An instant later, the thunder came, a wall of sound that echoed and reverbrated off the facades of Steel Canyon's remaining skyscrapers... and the silent shockwave of clashing realities lashed out once again. The Sky Raider forcefields that had survived Target's initial onslaught popped like soapbubbles under the pressure... soon to be followed by all others in the area.

And still the beam roared forth, as Energon X struggled valiantly to keep it focussed... lensed... rather than risking it becoming an uncontrolled explosion that would blow Steel Canyon, and most likely the rest of Paragon City, off the map.

Gah... you're right >.<

Suppose it serves me right for not double-checking when my memory was fuzzy. Edited for removal of stupid.

/e Elmyra from Tinytoons

"PUPPY!"

*grabs Wolvesbane around the throat and squeezes lovingly*

"Sooooo CUUUUTE!"

*shakes Wolvesbane by the neck as Wolvesbane scrabbles frantically at his throat*

*drags Wolvesbane out of the thread mumbling about bows*

/Elmyra

((Ack... okay, waiting on Project_M to respond to Bladewing magicking at Cry, and for Krazy to respond to his bots suddenly being blasted by the concentrated fire of the remaining Sky Raiders, before I can respond with either E-X or Target >.O))

((Gah... M, please... clarity of meaning > flowery language. I'm still struggling to understand what you're doing a lot of the time. Make sure you're communicating clearly, then add the window-dressing))

Energon X just kind of facepalmed as the skyscraper-sized monster dissolved, spitting out an egg, that hatched... "A zombie baby? What... the... [censored]..!!?" he said aloud, visibly startled. Then he rallied. "Oh... right. Lieutenant Cry, I presume?" Then the baby did... something... Skeletons? and lobbed a beam at the Blaster.

Unfortunately for Cry, it seemed that without his psionics to warn him what his target was going to do, his infant reflexes just weren't that hot (nor, for that matter, was his aim). With a streak of purple and gold that speared half the length of Steel Canyon in a heartbeat, the Blaster appeared behind the bubble-baby with a noise like tearing silk, driving red-glowing fists at his enemy.

Time and space wavered and distorted as the Blaster reached deep into his energy source, the physical laws of another universe entirely beginning to leak into his own as he hammered on Cry with increased urgency. E-X was a blurred blaze of purple fire as two red-glowing blows that caused visible shockwaves, followed by a third that would pinball Cry away, slamming through buildings to fetch up... hard... against the zone's War Walls, assuming nothing interfered.

((Target's kinda stuck until Sov comes back, I think... need to wait on the Raiders doing something :/))

((Er... Krazy? Fragmentation Grenade =/= Smoke Grenade. It's a large bang with lots and lots of very fast, red-hot, razor-sharp shards of metal. If you want, feel free to mostly ignore it, since I (and by extension Target) wasn't sure where the bots were, so just lobbed the thing at where It thought they were.))

Energon X stared for a moment as the monster calmly 'ate' the Cryo Freeze Ray beam. Buh..? was his only thought as it somehow turned the beam that was causing it to hemmhorage heat energy all over the place into another source of power. [censored] psionics... think they're so hot just because they don't have to abide by the same laws of physics as the rest of us... he growled to himself.

With that, the Blaster shrugged, lobbed an LRM Rocket at the monster, 'holstered' his giant frankengun back into its pocket dimension, and outraced the missile. Blurring around the monster in a streak of purple-and-gold, he rammed into it like a crimson thunderbolt, then darted back. If all went according to plan, he'd just jolted the monster forwards into the missile, multiplying the explosive force and wrecking whatever bit was 'absorbing cold', since the thing seemed to have trouble switching rapidly between damage types.

Not far away, Target was cursing himself quite roundly. He'd been a little distracted, true, but the danger you hadn't noticed could kill you just as readily as the one you had. As the Sky Raiders lined up their missiles, he'd made his stolen Skiff jump skywards like a goosed pheasant- whatever their other faults, the Sky Raiders made good miniplanes- and then the world turned into a failed screentest for a Balrog, all blotchy shadows and flame.

He rolled the Skiff, dumping the ex-pilot on top of one of the other Raiders, then brought it around to try and spot where Acanous had fallen. He glanced around warily- the Sky Raiders were a bit shellshocked by the impossible explosion that had just assaulted their senses, and hadn't really realized there was now an unfriendly Skiff around... but they and Acanous weren't the only players in this game, unless the Raiders had started mounting Plasma Cannons along with their favoured railguns and chainguns.

The archer banked again, searching for both potential friend or potential foe. Then he spotted the 'bots. Arachnos. Should have guessed, what with one thing and another here. Well, surprise, boys. The Sky Skiff shot forwards, accelerating hard enough to nearly crack the Archer's ribcage for the second time that day.

Almost a pity to lose this thing. he thought as he leapt clear, flying vertically to lose himself in the shadow of a half-ruined building. I miss being able to pick up a Longbow Chaser if I needed to. Below, the Sky Skiff slammed into the building where he'd briefly seen the Mastermind 'bots, crumpling for a split second before the explosive arrows he'd crammed into every space in the cockpit that he could reach detonated, turning the Skiff, and then the Skiff's impressive loadout of munitions, into the world's biggest fragmentation grenade.

((that could be awkward, considering that one of my characters is inside his character's brain.

... that really didn't sound quite right, did it? In whatever case... eh, I'll just pull a chestburster (well, forehead-burster, but whatever) and bring the Scarlet Eye back into play.))

The telepath's sent thoughts spattered uselessly off the Elusive Mind shielding. This level of power couldn't be maintained indefinitely, of course- the safeguards in the psionic shielding would do a hard shutdown in a few minutes to prevent catastrophic burnout, but for the moment, as far as Energon X was concerned, Cry might as well be headblind.

Energon X simply shut his powers off when the Cry-Monster started absorbing them. Right. Not getting an E-X powered bomb that way, either, you little snot. The blaster pulled out a custom gun- it looked a little like a heavily modified Redding Rail Rifle, but it was hard to say what it had been, once. He plugged a cable into his suit and started hosing the giant monster with a cryo freeze ray, pulling energy back out of it as it supercooled, losing massive quantities of energy as heat.

In another patch of sky, not too far away, Target was having his own problems... and, of course, his own solutions. Taking the split-second of warning from his short-term precognition before the cannons started to track, he leapt for the nearest Skiff and dropped into the seat behind the startled pilot, putting the surprised Raider into an armlock, then pumping electricity into him. The armour of the Skiff and its pilot should save him from the worst of the gauss slugs... Figures that I burned the shield out earlier... the archer grumbled to himself.

((M, I have no idea what just happened in your post. I'm just going with my best guess here.))

Energon X just stared as the monster started to fall apart, reformed, and went through a series of apparently random transformations. The ice was ignored completely, except by his armours automatic systems, which heated the surface just enough to prevent movement being impaired.

The twitching mass that had been the skyscraper-sized monster collapsed into ooze, then reared up and vomitted a massive, Godzilla-esque beam at him. The Blaster did a doubletake, then launched himself forwards, getting in the path of the beam and matching it with his own energies, trying to blunt the effects, disperse the beam, or at least deflect it skywards so that the area wouldn't be further devastated- there were still people living here, after all.

E-X' powers intensified, reacting to Cry's presence, and he gave an ethereal frown. Was this part of the little monster's plan, to destabilize him and blow Steel off the map, getting rid of the Bastion that way? If so, Cry was in for a surprise. Getting blown to intangible energies had stabilized the portal that Energon X had become all those years ago, and it now took a good deal more to send him critical... perhaps more than even Lord Recluse could manage. The blaster shrugged and 'pushed' back harder, seeing if he could knock the Cry-monster back on its 'heels'.

((Uhm... more 'you're not trying to do anything with/to me and/or haven't noticed me' than 'not noticed', Acanous...))

Energon X watched the giant... whatever... with a distinctly jaundiced eye. "Lovely. I seem to have been spotted." He watched the conglomeration of rocks a little longer, then shrugged, sighed, and flipped a switch. Cry was abruptly on the receiving end of a blast of static- the blaster had turned on his old Vanguard Psi-shield, with the gain cranked up so high that the knob had snapped off. No biological brain could have survived the intensity of the scrambling, but, since E-X didn't have one any longer, this wasn't really a difficulty for him.

A staticky transmission to the Rover. "Don't worry about me... this is not, repeat, not the main force of Arachnos. And depending on your power supply, you'll have either Sky Raiders and Malta, or Circle of Thorns and Banished Pantheon, coming after you as well. Er... check the old commsats at 5643, vector 6.73 alpha for data on those groups, it should still be working- it was all general knowledge anyways, so no-one ever bothered to shoot it down."

With that out of the way, he turned is focus on the giant pile of rocks. "Shades of Jurassik... bleh." he muttered, and closed in on the giant monster, hurling bolts of energy that could carve a building in half at it as he went, a purplish streak tearing across the sky.

Target rolled to one side, dodging the JumpBot's fire, then slamming it upside the head with a massive electric charge, stunning it briefly. Gravity carried it out of the fight, and he turned his attention to the most dangerous opponents, the Sky Skiffs. With the usual fire and thunder of battle, smoke from dying skiffs and exploding jetpacks, he hadn't seen Jake's 'bots yet- the Archer knew that there was another player in this battle, but he had no idea who it was.

He lobbed a rain of arrows into the air and fired another one horizontally, letting pointy death fill the air, showering from above and in front, to rattle off armour, stab the occasional luckless Raider... and get sucked into jet intakes, fouling them, jamming turbofans, making things overheat... explode... fall...

((Ergh... okay, so Cry is attacking E-X, the Dark Rover bunch are planning on using him as bait, and... what all else is happening? I'm not entirely clear on what's going on >.&lt)

ABOARD THE RIKTI CHANTRY BATTLESTATION, ROUGHLY ONE HOUR LATER-

K'ssn'dreh ducked as the Rikti Infantry Energon X had belted sailed overhead to bounce, ragdoll-like, off a modified bulkhead. She gave him a reproving look, but refrained from comment, simply melting a Guardian's brain. Behind (and below) the Blaster, a complaining, youthful voice sounded. "Why am I here, again?" E-X' nephew, Target Lad demanded, shocking a Rikti Monkey senseless before putting an arrow into another Infantry's kneecap. A fiery blur whiffled past him, taking the Infantry into the wall and leaving it skewered on a fiery sword, like some kind of huge, unpleasant pinned butterfly.

"Pay attention. Less complain, more fight." the huge, flame-wreathed form of Flashpoint Zeo reproved the young archer, before vanishing in another streak of fire. "Yeh, yeh..." Target Lad grumbled, putting a Talsorian arrow through an importunate Chief Mentalist, to a yelp from... no-one?

Sergeant Allerdyced (esq.) faded into view, waving a clawed fist furiously at Target Lad. "Watch where ye're pointin' those things, y'little git!" he yelled, turning slightly to stab the Chief Mentalist, who was raising an arm threateningly (although its other arm was clenched to its gut, where Target Lad's arrow had punched through), in the side of the head. "I did... y'were invisible, stupid sod!" the boy snapped back. "Er... right." the ex-SpecOps mumbled, deflated. He disappeared again, although the sounds of stabbing and the occasional high-pitched noise that passed for a Rikti scream could be heard from various points in the melee.

The swirl of battle brought K'ssn'dreh and Energon X together again, and the Communications Officer commented "Functionality: failure." "I know this isn't working!" the Blaster snapped back. Target Lad, who had been sticking to his mentor like a small, cranky shadow, piped up "Coulda fooled me, Uncle E. Thought you lot were just having fun." A blue-white bolt howled past his head, clearing nearly a dozen Rikti with one shot. "Well... maybe a little." the older blaster riposted, sounding amused. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourselves, dear, but time really is rather pressing..." Lady Grey's dry voice came over the team channel. "I know!" Energon X yelled. "Oh, for the love of... just get clear." he growled. His nephew's eyes went wide, and he dove for safety, which was about all the warning the others needed- even the tank, Flashpoint Zeo, was flat on the deck around a corner when the world went white with a noise like somebody ripping a planetoid in half.

The team cautiously edged out into the smouldering wreckage, to find Energon X down on one knee, breathing hard. Sergeant Allerdyced stabbed one of the still-twitching Rikti in a disgruntled sort of way, muttering something about "Bloody glory-hounding Yanks...", which Energon X twitched at, but otherwise ignored. "Overkill for one job, underkill for other..." Flashpoint Zeo commented succinctly. "Repeat seven hundred... sixty... eight... times?" The Blaster just glared at him for a long moment, before rolling his eyes (at least, that's probably what the weird stroboscopic flicker was). "Very funny. No, that was just to buy us some time. We need something more destructive than us." "Oy! I resemble that r'mark!" came a yell from wherever the Sergeant was.

"Like... the Freedom Phalanx?" Target Lad mused. "Could be, I guess... they are on board, after all... but they don't want to destroy this thing until after it's too late." A strangled noise; the Blaster glanced at K'ssn'dreh, concerned. The Rikti Comm Officer was shaking, her Mentalist armour clinking faintly. "Terrorists: fear: hatred: irrational..." The blaster reached out a hand, then let it drop. "Oh, yeah... the Phalanx are really a pack of boogeymen for you guys, aren't they? I'm amazed you held it together as well as you did, when we were face-to-face with them." The Comm Officer shook her head. "Beings: legend: unequal." she said, then both Rikti and Blaster jumped violently as arms were draped across their shoulders.

Sergeant Allerdyced faded into view, a nasty grin so broad it was visible under his heavy ninja facemask creasing his face. "Ye wanted something e'en more destructive th'n us, aye? An' what d'ye think happens when a shipful of heavily armed, keyed-up battle-ready soldiers finds out that th'boogeyman ha' come t'eat them... and th'boogeyman's already on board?" Energon X stared at him for a moment, then barked a short laugh. "K'ssn'dreh, can you plug into the network and start that rumour without blowing our cover?" The Comm Officer just nodded and brought her fingertips to her temples, concentrating. Everybody tactfully (or irritably) tried to ignore a boyish mumble of "So th'ninja-wannabe's good for summat other th'n stabbing people? Who knew?"

In a startlingly short length of time, the entire battlestation was in utter pandemonium, explosions and plasma fire filling every corridor and conduit. The Freedom Phalanx was good... very, very good... but that only made things worse for them, as the rare, fleeting glimpses that the various Rikti caught of them (on those occasions when Synapse' superfast scouting, Sister Psyche's immense psi-talents, and Positron's hacking into their computers failed for a split-second) only served to accelerate the spread of the rumours. Soon, the Rikti were shooting each other, and all the blame falling on the mythic monsters the Phalanx was considered to be.

Energon X and his group contributed what they could to the chaos before making a strategic retreat back to the displaced City Hall. From there, they enjoyed the lightshow as bits of the Chantry Battlestation exploded or fell off. Eventually, it went quiescent... it was fairly clear that it wasn't going anywhere, as the last few bits of Rikti modifications crumbled away. The Freedom Phalanx, furious and embarassed, stomped back into City Hall a short while later. "There goes our best hope for stuffing Rularuu back where he belongs." Manticore growled. "Can't believe you clowns got spotted so easily." He shoved Danny aside as the younger archer, starstruck, tried to get him to sign an autograph. Sister Psyche slowed her stormy stalk as she passed the team, staring suspiciously at them... and then her eyes went wide and she slapped Sergeant Allerdyced so hard that he was carried off his feet. "[u]PIG[u]!" she snapped, storming into the conference room and slamming the doors so fast that she caught Statesman's nose in them. He wrenched it free with a splintering noise, tossed a reproving glare at Energon X, and went in, also slamming the doors.

Once the Freedom Phalanx was safely occupied and out of earshot, Energon X heaved a sigh. "Well, we saved half the city from being sucked into the Shard and Rularuu's 'tether' from being cut, but now we need a new plan for getting Rularuu back in here... or else he's going to be totally free and it's all going to end up in here anyways."

THE DARK ROVER-

Energon X took Groul's call. "I live to serve." he said drily, one of his friends in the lounge relaying Groul's first, (he thought) untransmitted comment. "Anyways, this is exactly what I was thinking of. I can make a fairly good decoy, particularly since a couple of our people inside Arachnos think that one of their higher-ups is taking an interest in me. Give me a heading, and I'll flap along, pretending to be lame in one wing..." he finished sarcastically, not really caring if the aliens got the reference or not.

THE SKIES ABOVE STEEL CANYON-

Target didn't even flinch as the gauss slugs ripped past him. It was nothing new, and the pattern and speed he was flying at made it difficult to draw a solid bead on him.

At the bottom of a loop, he drew a handful of arrows back, the heads glowing and spitting yellow-white light. Release; the arrows formed a series of brief streaks, each one aimed precisely at where the archer's short-term precognition said the Raiders were going to be. If they hit, the shield knives should disrupt the Raiders' forcefields long enough for Target to start 'killing' the skiffs and jetpacks with steel rods in their jet intakes and ramscoops.

Energon X waved a hand. "I still don't trust you entirely... from my perspective, there are a lot of holes in your story... but by the same token, I'm not about to let you fall into the hands of Arachnos. Lord Recluse is a crazy enough lunatic to think that he can gain some kind of advantage by trying to ally himself with your enemies, or to try and use his own time-travel tech to grab a Shade to weaponize himself, or something equally insane." He shook his helmet. "Facing down an enemy who is both willing and able to blow up a continent simply to deny it to you... and who would, I suspect, if he had a place to retreat to, blow up the planet to prevent us from benefitting from its continued existence without a second thought... stunning intellectual brilliance and homicidal insanity are never the most pleasant of combinations."

He lifted from the floor. "Welcome to our little war. You can blither about scale all you like, but on the sharp end, all wars look about the same size." The Blaster took to the skies above Boomtown once again, stealthing and fading from view. He opened the channel that he had offered Groul and Danger, on the assumption that since they had communicated everything else to the Dark Rover, they had sent it as well, and spoke. "My energy signature is well known to my enemies- they are likely to divert a significant portion of their forces to pursue and destroy me if it is made known to them that I am in the area." An amused snort. "If you have stealth or invisibility of sufficient potency, it should be a relatively simple matter to lure them into an ambush."

Speaking quickly now as he sped invisibly Southwards, he explained that it was a well-known 'fact' to his enemies that if he needed to move quickly, his stealth field could not cope with the phenomenal energies released and he became a blazing beacon of comet-fire (He had used that misconception occasionally in the past to position Arachnos, Council, and Sky Raider patrols in the most advantageous position possible before turning on them). This seemed to be the best likely opportunity for him to use that particular trick to its fullest effect.

((Even when fully draped in robes, body language is visible to a certain extent, through posture and limb movement, if nothing else))

The lights flickered for a moment as Energon X blinked. "The Kheldians were an empire once?" he asked, momentarily nonplussed. "Er... sorry. Not particularly relevant." he waved the comment off. Although I wish this guy would quit coming all City-Mouse at me... the whole more-cosmopolitan-than-thou bit is getting a bit grating the Blaster thought irritably.

"Hrm... I suppose we can just put this down to a translation issue, then- your word-choice seemed to imply that there was a more direct method of control involved in their taking of free will." E-X continued. "If it were a technological method of mind-control, it would be a relatively simple matter to lure them to the Shade homeworld to allow the Shades to destroy them, then you could pick over their tech at leisure. Conversely, if they destroyed the Shades, then that would be one less worry for you- colloquially known around here as a 'win-win scenario'. Even without a mind-control weapon, it might be worth attempting, assuming you lack intel on their technology, although the risk/reward ratio isn't as favourable. A simultaneous revolt by every conquered people abruptly no longer under their control would be enough to stall most war machines rather badly."

Then he gave Ken a rather disbelieving glance. "Even just planetary populations being sold into slavery stretches credibility- do they really find buyers for trillions of sophonts? Who could possibly require a workforce that large, and of free-willed biologicals? Even on this world, with relatively few contacts with the galaxy at large... aside from the periodic invasions... really, I don't know why they keep trying... it's simpler to build an quasi-AI-guided mechanical that doesn't require feeding or rest, never questions orders, and cannot catch diseases than it would be to have to deal with a slave." The Blaster shook his helmet. "You'll have to forgive me if it's not a mindset I am capable of comprehending, even from a purely practical standpoint."

E-X gave what might, could anyone read his lack of expressions, have been considered a chiding look. After years of hanging out with Bladewing, passing encounters with Dragonistic, and many others, Ken was perhaps assuming a little too much on his saurian body language beign unreadable.

"As I said, it probably seems ridiculous to you. That really doesn't change the fact that it keeps on happening. Repeatedly." A shake of his helmet as the Blaster followed his Saurian host. "But eh, you don't have to take my word for it. If you stick around here for any length of time, you'll undoubtedly see for yourselves. Or is it normal for a world that considered reaching its own satellite barely sixty years ago a major achievement to have been the prime focus and main stumbling block of no less than sixteen cross-dimensional empires, two major starfaring empires, and nearly seven hundred quasi-independent would-be warlords from both other planets and other worlds within less than thirty years?"

He waved an irritable hand. "So you'll forgive me if your 'they can't possibly have followed' fails to reassure." the blaster finished bluntly. Then he paused, rubbing the back of his helmet with one gauntlet. He bowed. "Excuse me. I spoke out of turn; I am a guest here, and should not have been so bold." he apologized.

[ QUOTE ]
"And you'll need to be more specific. They possessed anything capable of being a host. But do tell. If your idea ties in with what will happen in the next few hours, I'd certainly like to hear it..."

[/ QUOTE ]
"As far as my idea goes, it is a simple one, although whether it is of any worth hinges upon a piece of information I do not currently have- you mentioned the Concile 'taking free will'? Is this active mind control, or simply surpressing the populace?" the Blaster ended off, blazing 'eyes' trained sharply on his interlocutor, obviously interested in the answer to this question.