TeChameleon

((Heh... nope, I'm pretty sure I was solo on that mission. Which makes this even more confusing, since I PMed BaB about this, and he said they used Demorecord to make those >.O))

SIREN'S CALL-

The Mu simply nodded and turned slightly, red lightning burning brilliantly around the room. The crimson wrappings around him twitched slightly as long-bound arms instinctively tried to make the somatic gestures, then the lightning coalesced into a single, brilliant point of red fire before vanishing, streaking out through a wall, and leaving streaky afterimages in Cry's eyes.

The seeker spell arced high above the Siren's Call, before blurring invisibly towards Kings Row. Not far from the zone boundary, the spell ran into the titanic storm of chaos energy howling through the aether as Scarlet Eye and Bang struggled for dominance, and simply vanished, torn to shreds by the wild currents and counter-eddies in the realms of magic.

If Cry had cared to, he could have sensed agitation from the mystic... it had been a seeking spell of terrific power, and the Mu couldn't be sure which would be worse, if the Scarlet Eye had sensed it and obliterated it so casually, or if the Scarlet Eye had destroyed it without even noticing it was there.

Disturbed, the red-bound sorceror summoned up a spiralling collection of tomes, like a whirlwind in some ancient library. Red lightning strobed out, again and again. A jumble of images formed in his mind, 'held out' for Cry's perusal. The Scarlet Eye... Chaos Incarnate, the Dark god of the Mind... immortal perpetrator of the cruel cosmic black joke... the Brain Eater (the Mu did a slight doubletake at that one, trying to figure out if his translation spell had glitched out)... finally, in one of the texts that predated the Orabengan's migration, he found some concrete information.

Translation slowly spilled out... "On our shores this day arrived an elemental, in the form of a tall, gaunt man with shadowed face and a single eye, blazing red with the fires of hate. He lends the appearance of harmlessness, but our wisest mystics believe him to feed on chaos and destruction..." the rest of the parchment trailed off in a smear of blood before ending as a burned, ragged fragment.

Confusion and shock overwhelmed the mystic, emotions so strong that they could potentially cause a sensitive psychic pain. Mental images flooded the link, feverish, frightened imaginings... Scarlet Eye whispering in Mu'Rhakmet's ear... Scarlet Eye at the shoulder of the Orabengan king... a titanic Scarlet Eye above the final battle between Hequat and Ermeeth, manipulating both like puppets with an almost ecstatic look of pleasure on his face as he fed... and fed... and fed...

The Mu collapsed without even a sigh, emotionally overwhelmed and having drastically overtaxed his mystic reserves.

KINGS ROW-

The Scarlet Eye straightened, intangible winds stirring his black duster, and shook his head slightly. "My... thanks... for the... meal." he rasped briefly, then almost smiled. Bang's ultimate-psychic-dart hit him square on... and he shattered, shards bouncing around the shelter, each bit pulling off part of the dart until it shredded to nothingness, consumed entirely by the whirlwind of Eye-shards.

A voice 'behind' Bang whispered "A cute... trick... little god... but best... leave the... mind games to those... who know them..." there was silence for a beat, then "Two... excellent... meals in... a single... day?" Scarlet Eye's voice rang from all directions, sounding amused. "One for... each hunger. Excellent..." The elemental barely acknowledged Bladewing and Dax' landing, aside from a brief nod, although he twitched a bit when Dax encased them in crystal. He lay a hand gingerly on the glowing greenness, releasing a self-replicating chaos virus, a tiny manifestation of TK that fed off chaos, much as he did. The worm crept through the crystal, spreading, disordering it, steadily making it brittle and cloudy.

That dealt with, he sort of shrugged. "Your... little god... may wield chaos.., child of... order... but..." he faded. His voice roared from everywhere. "I AM CHAOS!"

He struck.

Bang had fed him well; the psychic energy that had molded ten million brains now hummed through his ancient mind; enough chaos magic to jumpstart a minor god coursed through his veins. And controlling it all was an intellect that had watched, studied, and learned, for millennia.

Reaching out with his mind, he teleported all four combatants around rapidly, like a card shark shuffling a deck, while clouding their minds, so that none save him was sure who was where. Red Lightning clawed from the ground under their feet, sapping their energy and wearing at their endurance. And a psychic storm screamed around their heads, an invitation to madness or sanity, twisting the senses and assaulting their very memories, all the while probing, testing, seeking...

((Oh, and if you're wondering why the Scarlet Eye is fighting when it's 'clearly' suicidal- this is a great opportunity to sow chaos, which is 'food' and power to him... and he's just gotten a crazy supercharge, thanks to Bang))

((Ken seemed to imply that he didn't expect Energon X (or, for that matter, any English speaker) to be able to pronounce U!n'kd|m. *shrug*

And I think I've got which is which... you said that U!n'kd|m was wearing a 'stealth suit', and E-X has been calling 44 of 6 (in his own mind only) a 'jelly being'... amorph? He's the same species as Sergeant Schlock?

The majority of Energon X' vision is full-spectrum- if it's energy, he can see it. Visible light only makes up a tiny fraction of what he 'sees'. You said the music 'came from everywhere', which implied some rather funky energies at work, which would have an... odd... effect on someone with E-X' senses.

I'll admit to taking a few liberties, but... well, you started it ))

((Sorry 'bout the Mask thing, Build... although, since I don't think it changes anything important, I'm not gonna worry about going back and changing it, although I'll get it right from now on in.

And Project_M... I sent you a PM re. the whole Cry/Scarlet Eye thing. Could be interesting, and I like the idea, but there's some stuff that we'd need to get sorted first))

BOOMTOWN-

Energon X didnt' have any eyebrows left... or, indeed, any head to keep them on if he did, but at this point he was really wishing he had at least one to raise. Great... just what I needed. Sarcastic aliens with a sense of humour. And... Shades? Airships? Bleh... this guy couldn't be any more cryptic if he was trying. He inclined his head to stealth-suit wearer. "U!n'kd|m." he intoned gravely, briefly thankful for the artificial voice that made him a masterful mimic, and quietly amused by the startlement the others tried to mask. "Forty-four of Six." he continued, inclining his head to the jelly-being.

Then he turned to the central speaker, blinking momentarily, and asked the question that was bothering him the most at this point. "And... Ken?" He paused for a second as his mind raced, thankful for the blank mask that hid his emotions as effectively as a solid wall between him and them. Okay... clearly, they've been to some version of Earth previously that not only spawned the English language, but also one that had George Lucas as a movie director. He almost snorted out loud. Maybe they got lucky and he was hit by a bus before he made Episode 1... Then he had to fight the urge to double over in screaming pain as U!n'kd|m... spoke, what appeared to be gentle lights in the visible spectrum and soft music spiking through the back of his skull like... well...

Take the Van Halen tour laser show. Replace the light emitters with weapons-grade laser cannons. Project directly onto some unsuspecting victim's eyeballs.

Congratulations. You've just subjected your unfortunate test subject to something of the same level of pain that Energon X experienced when U!n'kd|m's 'speaking lights' went off.

Through a red haze, he was barely aware of Ken(?) inviting him aboard the 'Dark Rover'. He nodded gingerly, afraid his incorporeal head was about to drop off his ethereal body. After a long moment, he spoke up again. "I mean no offense..." he started, his vocoder conspiring to make him sound like he had just woken up from a three-day absinthe binge, "But would U!n'kd|m be willing to signal briefly before speaking? Something about their mode of speech interacts... badly... with my visual senses, causing me intense pain." He shook his head, trying to clear it, and began floating down towards the hulking machine, keeping pace with his hosts' flying platform.

KINGS ROW/FORGOTTEN ZONE-

"Geeettt... stuffed... yoooouuu little... giiiittt..." the Scarlet Eye managed, absorbing some of Bang's mannerisms along with the raw Chaos energy that he was greedily lapping up. Chaos was being pulled out of the very ether by the mask, and he was determined to absorb all he could without exploding.

His psionic tempest had faded; it had failed to sever the link between mask and host, and now he was doing his considerable best to prevent the mask from attaining its full power by blocking and consuming the chaos energy it was summoning to 'recharge'.

The First Gift of Chaos was enormously powerful- far greater than anything the Eye could compete with normally... but it wasn't much stronger now than an ordinary mask. If the Scarlet Eye could continue blocking its intake, he would grow in power faster than the mask's wearer would, and eventually simply separate mask from host, and most likely, host from life.

He settled in grimly, his entire body taking on a faint red glow and his single eye rapidly becoming a supernova of hatred, as mask and elemental entered into a race of consumption, like some bizarre, survival-fuelled eating contest.

((Nuh-uh. Not dropping off the first page with two updates and not even one comment!

As I said before, I am a comment-[censored]. Gimme!))

((Whoops... sorry 'bout that, you just said 'planes', Devious. I guess I got mixed >.o

So... anyone want to take 'em? The NPC Sky Raiders, that is?))

The oddly-matched trio crossed back into the transplanted City Hall in sombre silence, broken only by Lady Grey's voice speaking through her Dark Servant once again. "So you can see why we're under rather a bit of time pressure." she commented drily. Energon X gave her a look, then shrugged. "I'll have names and locations to you as soon as I have terminal access." he called over the incessant roaring of the portal.

"Can you get K'ssn'dreh a suit of Rikti armour from the Traditionalists? Preferably Mentalist?" the Blaster asked next, startling all three of his listeners. The Dark Servant went quiescent for a long while, then stirred. "You really must warn me before you say things like that." Lady Grey commented reprovingly. "I actually gasped audibly; dear Marcus spent five minutes demanding to know if I was alright, as I am not given to allowing signs of stress to show." the Dark Servant commented acerbically.

Energon X made a wry noise as he typed away at one of D.A.T.A.'s control consoles. The Dark Watcher had been able to boot up one of their terminals and load an ordinary word processor. The Blaster figured it was best not to speculate how, exactly. "Glad to see I haven't lost my touch for shocking people... but the question remains. I can't read Rikti, and I need someone who can keep up with me; this one's going to be all about stealth and speed, not just raw power. And that portal generator could be useful."

The Dark Servant shrugged, and E-X marvelled at just how tight Lady Grey's control had to be... either she was shrugging in her own body upstairs at that moment for whatever reason, or else she had phenomenal self- (and servant-) control. "The meeting is sojourning for a few moments; I believe I'll be coming down to join you momentarily. I've caught glimpses of some of your choices, and am having a hard time believing who I think you have picked." The servant inclined its head to the Watcher. "Devon, dear, if you would be so kind as to teleport me down as soon as I am out of the doors, claiming urgent Vanguard business?"

The Dark Watcher nodded, and faded from sight. Energon X finished typing, and then he too disappeared, wreathed in cloaking energies. K'ssn'dreh gave the spot he had disappeared in a dirty look, then hid behind a pipe, muttering under her breath.

((is anyone going to join Target at the Sky Raiders... whatever? And Devious, are you going to control them, or did you just introduce them for some reason?))

KINGS ROW/FORGOTTEN ZONE

The Scarlet Eye slipped into the small refuge, ignored by almost all within, and ignoring them in turn. He had his one red-blazing eye fixed on the mask that hung loosely off of "Clown's" face. He felt the pull at his own energies, but ignored it- at this level, it was far too weak to separate this particular predator from his 'food'.

If any of the shelter's inhabitants save Clown could make out the Scarlet Eye's face, they probably would have fled, screaming, into the fatal night. Beneath the all-shrouding shadow was an unholy amalgamation of something that bordered on reverence and raw, naked hunger. The first gift of Chaos... Even the thought was hushed.

The homeless refugees hiding with Clown shifted uneasily as a spectacular vortex of invisible power began to amass, an ethereal tornado spiralling downwards as the Scarlet Eye opened himself fully to the psychic energies of the zone, amplifying his already-immense power a hundredfold. Marshalling his strength, he made a sharp, peremptory gesture as the full force of his mind roared into the shelter, a magnificent attempt at separating the mask from its host.

The weaker of the refugees simply collapsed; vermin rained from the ceiling as small animals died for a hundred yards around at the shockwave as the Scarlet Eye reached gingerly for the mask, his fingers brushing it lightly.

There was a flare of red as Chaos erupted within the shelter.

BOOMTOWN

Energon X whirled at the voice, too startled by the odd nomenclature used by the visitors to even prepare for the attack he was sure... expected out of purest reflex... was coming. Uncle... E..? For a long moment... uncomfortably long... he just hung in the air, staring at the hovering aliens, the brilliant spots of light that were his eyes flickering on and off once in a while as he blinked (or, at least, whatever part of his incorporeal brain that remembered having eyelids mimicked that function by dimming the lights momentarily).

Then his brain kicked into gear. Right... these aliens are with the same lot as the two back at the base that were arguing with Danny. Guess they never did hear my proper... nom de guerre... Huh. Wonder if even Danny remembers my real name? he wondered briefly and irrelevantly.

He folded his arms, rearranging himself more comfortably in the air, and shook his head. "Er... yes, I am who you are referring to; however, "Uncle E" is a title indicating familial relations. Apparently some of your people have been speaking with my nephew, who usually refers to me thusly. I am most commonly known as Energon X." The blaster replied without any particular rancour, hoping that whatever the aliens were using for translation would interpret tone as well- this was merely a minor correction, with no reproof intended.

He inclined his head politely. "To whom am I speaking?" he asked. *sigh*... First Contact is always so awkward... sorting the protocols, figuring out if there's someone specific I need to speak to to avoid offense or declaring war or some such silly thing, figuring out who not to speak to... even just sorting out who's sapient and what isn't.

He hesitated for a second, then decided to simply go ahead. "I am here seeking a Kheldian Peacebringer who, according to the energy traces, appears to have entered your ship... or whatever you wish to call this thing." he said with an inclination of his head towards the Dark Rover.

E-X carefully avoided staring too hard at the jelly-being; it reminded him uncomfortably of a Shivan, but as it didn't seem inclined to go charging about eating people, he wasn't going to simply attack it.

THE BASTION

Target snorted, pausing in the doorway. "What's even sillier is that you are essentially correct. The Sky Raiders, decades ago, were originally a splinter military faction; but they degenerated into common thieves with rather startling swiftness. Now, 'air pirates' is a pretty good definition." He shrugged. "As to the Arachnos flier... Arachnos is the name of the organization that rules the country that invaded. Their leader, Lord Recluse, has some kind of weird spider fetish, so the vast majority of his soldiers and equipment are 'themed' thusly. A lot of it looks completely ludicrous, but, unfortunately, remains quite effective and highly dangerous."

He turned and vanished through the doorway. A few minutes later, halfway across Steel Canyon, he emerged from one of the Bastion's dozens of hidden entrances and clawed for altitude, rising vertically with impressive speed. He oriented himself quickly, then homed in on the distinctive chatter of the Sky Raider's microplane engines and jetpacks. Glad that these mooks have always been too arrogant to try masking that sound... 'military discipline, triumphant!', indeed...

-----------------------------------------------

BOOMTOWN

Energon X jerked back slightly when he encountered the faint shimmer of the secondary hull. He tapped it once or twice, then shook his head. The energy trail of the Kheldian clearly passed through; presumably his quarry had entered before the Rover gained even the partial functionality it had now.

He paused, thinking for a moment. Considering how skittish the Bastion's two Rover-alien houseguests were, the Blaster doubted that simply hammering down the fields was a good idea. And there was no real way of knowing what simply knocking would do; it wasn't universal even to Earth cultures. E-X shrugged, once again displaying the exaggerated body language that had become habitual to one who could no longer display facial expressions.

He rose off the ground and hovered near what was probably the fore end of the Dark Rover, decloaking to hang like some huge, improbable Christmas ornament, gleaming in the partial darkness of Boomtown's perpetually smoke-laden air. He waited several beats, and, lacking any noticeable reaction from the transport... not even the turrets beginning to track him... he shrugged again and began blasting the rubble trapping the giant tank, smashing it clear.

Bah... only reasonably benign way I could think of to let them know that I'm here, desire their attention, and... bloody paranoia, but it's kept me alive-more or less- so far... posessed of some reasonable degree of power.

((Project_M, Energon X didn't see your fight and wouldn't have stuck around if he did; Lord Recluse is hunting Kheldians, and he wants to get whoever it was he sensed off the street as soon as possible, unless they're on a mission. So he was already in Boomtown long before your fight was over. Plus, he always flies cloaked with a minimum of three layers of stealth))

BASTION

Target blinked at the Specialist's assertion. Ay-yi-yi... projecting much? Then he shook his head. "If you're talking about Uncle E, he went to do what he said he went to do. Find the wandering Kheldian. He doesn't prevaricate about things like that... and he couldn't sense psychic energy unless you used it to drop something heavy on his head, so I doubt he even noticed whatever it was that made you two so jumpy."

The Archer exchanged glances with Wolffe at the pair's next statement. "Planes?" he echoed. "I'm headed topside, Wolffe. Any other fliers want to join me, s'all good, but I can usually handle Sky Raiders or Arachnos Fliers. Amazing what a handful of steel rods in their intakes can do."

---------------------------------------------

BOOMTOWN

Energon X returned to the vicinity of the Dark Rover, hovering invisibly over it and shaking his head slightly at the turrets festooning it. I think this lot have been at war a little too long... he thought briefly, before returning to scanning the area. The energy traces went up to a breach in the hull, clouded for a moment as though whoever made them had paused, then moved over to the another, larger breach, and disappeared inside.

The Blaster would have frowned, had he still been able. Scavenger party? he wondered. He glided invisibly up to the breach and peered inside, noting with irritation that the visible spectrum was pretty much nil. Even infrared wasn't much help, and the exotic energies pulsing through the ship were already giving him a disembodied headache. He let out an inaudible grunt and slid in through the gap. If the heroes' Kheldian ally was in here, they needed to be out; if they weren't an ally, they needed to be out and warned.

---------------------------------------------

FORGOTTEN ZONE/KINGS ROW

Scarlet Eye stepped out of the shadows behind the old Garment Works. He was still seething over his failure to suborn Dax; to turn a creature whose very being was Order to the purpose of chaos would have been a fitting irony.

His lanky, dark-clad figure rippled for a moment, growing shorter and paler as he assumed the form of a high-ranking Pariah Prelate. This done, he slid through a convenient manhole, passing intangibly through the heavy, cheap metal and landing in the sewer below without a splash. Already, the psionic nexus that swirled invisibly about Kings Row was invigorating him.

Ishmael had planned to use the powers of The Lost, boosted by this location, to wreck Paragon City through brute force. The Scarlet Eye had... grander plans. He had been carefully suborning this cadre of The Lost for more than a decade now, coordinating them to far greater effectiveness than they had ever had before; isolating, and then killing or turning the defenders of Kings Row, one by one, leaving those who remained easy prey for kidnapping and mutation.

He nodded at the Headmen who guarded the doorway to his sanctum sanctorium, who in turn greeted him with a respectful "Prelate Occulum." and nods of their own, although their hands never left their heavy Rikti blasters. Once safely inside his heavily shielded chamber, the Scarlet Eye allowed himself a small smile. It will be... a shame... to lose so... handy... a base... of operations. he thought, amusedly.

Of course, should that loss occur as planned, his power would have increased a thousandfold, so it would, in all likelihood, matter little. The time... draws... nea... eh?

The Scarlet Eye's train of thought was interrupted by Cry's imperious call, barely more than a squeak from this distance, through the shielding about this chamber. The Eye briefly replayed what the little monster had said, before echoing incredulously YOUR... other Eye..?, followed by a roar of psychic laughter and the telepathic equivalent of a solid cuff upside the head, then gave Cry no more thought for the moment. The infant would kneel (or dance, or explode... it mattered little, so long as it was to his whim) before him, in the end. If Cry did not, it would be because the Scarlet Eye had been discorporated, and he would be past caring.

Then his head snapped around. Chaos... Energy? he thought, as close to wonder as it was possible for him to be. I had... thought... all such... lost... to the ages... long since... Re-attuning his senses from one rarified plane to another, he 'switched channels' from psychics to magic, carefully following the faint trace he had 'smelled'.

He frowned. There was little or nothing in Kings Row, yet he had sensed enormous power, a tendril reaching down from the sky to brush across... someone. Resuming his more usual trench-coated form, the chaos elemental stepped into the shadows to emerge not far from Bang's hiding place, wandering aimlessly, carefully projecting a low-level psychic aura of helplessness. These... lesser lost... guard... one another carefully. Should I appear... as one of their own... they will... undoubtedly bring me in... and allow me to scan them for what... I sensed... briefly.

Depends what time of year it is, I guess...

*stuffs Revan into his own machines*

There we go.

The Scarlet Eye arrived in the Shadow Shard, a wary partial manifestation in the Psychic Plane. The Shard's current master was no telepath, but here, his rule was absolute.

An ethereal smile, shrouded in darkness even on this rarified plane. There is anger here... anger that can be channeled... used... used for my purposes. he thought. The Eye reached out, carefully, shuddering faintly at the contact with the crystal mind. If ever there was something that could exemplify absolute order, it was in this crystalline labyrinthe of mathematical perfection.

A touch, lighter than a falling feather. A push, a natural shift of thought. A gentle tug, distorting the senses ever so faintly. The Scarlet Eye worked his chaotic magic on the orderly mind before him.

If his efforts were succesful, when Dax attempted to follow his senses back to Earth, he would appear in the heart of the Arachnos compound, and fly into a blind rage instantly. With luck, Scarlet Eye's supposed allies would be able subdue Dax and regain access to the Shadow Shard and its wondrous Kora Fruit.

Energon X flew out of one of the Bastion's many hidden entrances; the psychic plane was not his domain, so the shockwave passed over him unnoticed as he winged his hidden way North.

Inside, Target was on his feet nearly as fast as Danger, then airborne, bow fully drawn as he took station near the ceiling where he could cover very nearly the entire room. Any threat that appeared would be greeted with an arrow between the eyes. Questions could come later.

If Bastion falls, so too does the rest of the world. he thought grimly.

... he said that he was still alive after the frying pan hit him on the head (after he killed me with it).

And he said that Chameleons were cold blooded (which we are).

Where did he control what anyone else said?

*Chaotic96 vanishes in a puff of logic*

((Up from the depths! IT RETURNS!))

Energon X made a brief, choked noise, then whirled as every combat-tuned sense he posessed started screaming. A Behemoth, bigger than any he'd ever seen and carrying a giant chain, stomped past, leaving flaming hoofprints like small canyons as he walked. The Blaster's fists were up and glowing, but the Dark Watcher knocked his hands down with a sharp, almost desperate, "No!".

More calmly, the trenchcoated man continued "You're not here to fight, but to see. That was a Behemoth Pitlord; be thankful that they've never found their way into our home dimension." He took a deep breath and continued. "As you have probably guessed, this is the work of the Circle. This was once Recluse' Victory; and, in fact, Recluse did claim his victory in this world. However, in this timeline, it is because the population of Paragon City had been decimated in Rularuu's attack. For some time, none knew what had happened; Rularuu, at the height of his power, simply disappeared."

The Dark Watcher paused as an eddy in the smoke revealed the ruined Atlas Park; it appeared that some rebuilding from the Ravager's attack had happened, although the fountains ran blood red and the strange Shard plants still grew here and there amidst the ash. Stretching into the distance, hundreds... thousands... tens of thousands of Circle of Thorns Mages and servitors bowed endlessly towards a titanic demon lord. The smoke mercifully closed in again, and the Watcher continued.

"It took some time, but it was eventually revealed. Lord Recluse attacked, and conquered; but his triumph was shortlived. The Circle rose from Orabenga at the head of a demon army, billions strong. They had taken Rularuu, ensorcelled him, and drained him of his dimension-shattering power. Then, they were wise; they lay low while hero and villain destroyed one another, and struck while we were weakest."

Another swirl of smoke, this one stirred by a flight of ghosts screaming through the sky. "Even then, it was a battle to be remembered to the ages. Lord Recluse' inner circle, for all their faults, are beings of vast power; they fought shoulder-by-shoulder with the surviving heroes... in the end, humanity was unified as never before, even the Fifth Column coming out of hiding to take up arms against the demons. But it was too little; Rulaaru the Ravager's power, combined with that of their demonic masters, allowed the Circle of Thorns to take this world as their own."

K'ssn'dreh, who had been silent up until then, spoke up. "Query: destruction: Orabenga?" The Dark Watcher shook his head. "We have significant reason to believe that wouldn't work. Not only would bringing enough power to bear on Orabenga to obliterate it blow Paragon City off the map, this is actually the result of a time shift. Originally, this was a fog-shrouded haven of the undead; the Banished Pantheon were the ones to capture him in that future."

The Dark Watcher made a noise that could almost have been a chuckle. "Less than an hour ago, when we first discovered this, Ms. Liberty and Lady Grey put aside their differences; the Banished Pantheon were hit by a combined force of Longbow and Vanguard. I doubt there's a single zombie left in less than a dozen pieces the length and breadth of Paragon City; the Zig is overflowing with Shaman." He shook his head. "They'll rebuild; they always do. But for right now, they don't have enough firepower to catch a civilian, much less Rularuu. When that resulted in the all-but immediate change to this hellhole, several of D.A.T.A. and S.E.R.A.P.H.'s best ultra-techs got together with the seers from Magi, precogs from G.I.F.T., and the best probability math prodigies that E.L.I.T.E. had to offer; the results were... disturbing, to say the least. Assuming we were able to take out the Circle without destroying Paragon, the Malta Group would take Rularuu; if we took them down first, the Rikti would capture him. If we were to weaken the Rikti enough, Arachnos would simply destroy us and him both. If we were to pre-emptively strike at Arachnos (after taking down the other villain groups), there wouldn't be enough firepower left on the planet to stop Rularuu, and he would continue his multidimensional path of destruction."

He shook his head. "Unfortunately, the Freedom Phalanx thinks we'll be able to prevent the wave effect that would let Rularuu completely free when the Rikti transport their battlestation. However, independent testing tends to indicate that Positron has a decimal in the wrong spot... we'd lose a significant chunk of the city to the Shard, with no guarantee of ever getting it back, if that decimal is wrong. And, of course, no-one with the qualifications wants to say anything because... well, it's Positron, no?"

Energon X spoke for the first time. "... how significant?" he asked. The Dark Watcher shrugged. "Founders Falls, Talos Island, and Skyway, most likely. Yes, I know that's unacceptable." he said, holding up a hand to forestall the Blaster's angry retort. "That's why we brought you and your friend here. We need you to get on board that battlestation with a select team and sabotage it. We'll have to manage the Ravager without it somehow."

Energon X raised an eyebrow. "This could get... interesting." he commented. "Agreement: expressed." was the Comm Officer's only reply.

((Whew... glad I got it moving again, the story nearly stalled out. Of course, you just know it's not going to be as simple as all that...))

*rezzes*

*steals frying pan*

*sharpens edges of pan and throws it like a... frying pan with sharp edges? Maybe a discus...*

*decapitates Revan*

You know, I think I might have a new favourite toy...

Hmm... I think the biggest obstacle to this is actually a technical one; many powers behave differently in PvP than they do in PvE, necessitating the separation between the two into distinct zones.

The switch you propose could be fun, but if my understanding of the mechanics involved is correct, it would be an absolute nightmare to code, if it were possible at all without rewriting most of the game.

*frying pan to the back of the head hard enough to leave a back-of-the-head-shaped dent in the frying pan*

*steps over Sentai_Sage's body*

Nope, not really.

((E-X is unconscious, don't worry about him. Just assume you've cleared the area and they don't care about unconscious people))

With a garbled scream that might have been "De bog pie iz movink! Keel it!", Jager Horowitz launched himself at the furious giant. A prodigous leap, springing from the ground to Ruladak's arm, from his arm...

To clamp his mouthful of four-inch fangs on Ruladak's nostril.

He hung there a moment, clawing and kicking. A shard of shattered Ruladak tooth tumbled down with surreal slowness... and then Horowitz was swatted sideways to embed himself cartoonishly into the shardstone of the surviving bit of Tyrant's Rock.

*rezzes*

*steals all the wheels off Entropy's car while he's doing 90 mph*

*points and laughs as Entropy's car tumbles over the guardrail... into the Grand Canyon!*

*car explodes in midair for no reason*

((well... since all my other NPCs other than the insta-gibbed tanker were ignored, I'm going to assume that they've taken down Black Scorpion's Bane Spiders, and are free to concentrate on him.))

Scarlet Eye watched from his hiding-in-plain-sight (if he weren't invisible, anyways) place on the ceiling as the last of the Bane Spiders loyal to Black Scorpion fell. Those 'heroes' that consider themselves "Scrappers" are such wonderfully efficient killers, given the proper motivation... he thought with an ironic twist of hidden lips.

Black Scorpion's roar of triumph became a howl of pain and fear as the Scrapper's broadsword slammed through his robotic shoulder joint, crippling his arm. He dropped the body of the Tanker and the corpse of one of the Blood Widows who had unwisely gotten too close to him, but it was too late.

Cry's ex-puppets closed like a fist.

After a long moment where all that could be heard was what sounded like an amplified version of someone trying to put a tin can through a blender, Black Scorpion threw the last of his attackers off... and collapsed, wounded, dead, or dying, Scarlet Eye cared not. To the Eye's considerable amusement, one of the Fortunatas was still alive. Or, at least, half of her was. The other half was a good fifteen feet away.

The Scarlet Eye slid his psionic hooks into Cry's mostrous, clumsy control points on the dying psychic, and pushed. A telepathic death-scream ripped out of her, like the ecstasy of a demon, aimed at Cry. A titanic psionic shockwave roared out of her, the sum total of her telepathic potential for all the years she might have lived channeled through this single instant, rattling the shields of telepaths and psychics half a continent away and leaving Fortunatas all over the complex stunned or dying, blood leaking from their ears.

By your command, master... IT IS DONE!

Scarlet Eye chuckled again. Perhaps this would even distract Cry at a crucial moment... the little monster had gone out to 'play', after all. It was a pleasing thought, and he faded into the shadows and was gone.

The armoured Blaster shrugged, ignoring the tiny blue man's jibe now that he had cooled off some, and seen that Target was okay. I probably shouldn't get so worked up, but he's pretty much all the family I have left... he thought in passing. "Judging by Target's reaction, it sounds like you said that us fighting this war is unquestionably the wrong choice. Given that we don't have the resources to evacuate, or anywhere to run to even if we did, I'm not sure what you'd have us do, since our only other option is to lie down and put our heads on the chopping block." He shrugged.

"And that's just considering ourselves; Steel Canyon... this area... is the last great refuge; the one place on this continent where you can live in relative peace... unless you are sufficiently wealthy and don't mind being leashed and branded, of course..." he added, thinking of Creyville in new Skyway. "If defending those who cannot defend themselves is wrong by your lights, then, as far as I'm concerned, you've just forfeited your right to air your opinion to me." He gave another shrug, this one far more eloquent, basically saying with body language 'Aliens... go fig.'

Energon X headed for the door, ignoring the irritably stewing Target, and partially turned at the exit. "I will be in that area also; I saw energy traces that were consistent with the presence of a Kheldian Peacebringer in the area of your giant Rover-thing, and wish to make sure that they are safe, as Recluse has been conducting a concerted campaign to slaughter every last one on the face of the planet. Needless to say, most of them are on our side. If you have need of assistance, my commlink is keyed to your map for the next three hours."

He turned fully, and gave them an unreadable look, emotionless helmet and brilliantly-blazing eyes trained on them. "I do not like you." he said flatly. "You are poorly-spoken, arrogant, and, I believe, projecting your own issues onto us and judging us for having made the same mistakes you have without knowledge of whether we have or have not." He held up a hand to forestall comment. "BUT..." he continued, more passionately, "I will not see you come to harm as long as you have offered no injury to me and mine. And make no mistake... the area your giant black tinkertoy crash-landed in is as dangerous to those who lack knowledge as your unlabeled nuclear burn."

He turned and left, cape billowing about him like a living thing. Target, who was left behind, simply stared moodily at the two aliens, his chin in his hand, idly curious as to how they would react, and glumly suspecting that they would dismiss it out of hand as an act to try and convince them of the 'rightness' of his cause. Wonder if these jerks realize how far out on a limb Uncle E is going for them? Comm discipline borders on sacred here; to do what he's doing is an incredible offer of trust. He sighed, and shook his head, thankful that everything seemed to have settled into the right place.

Target twitched as healing energies abruptly and violently mended all the damage he'd taken. "Yeah, yeah..." he muttered. "And I really wish you'd warn me before you did things like that, 'Wing..." Then he levelled a flat glare at the Specialist and Groul. "So... your experience is irrelevant to ours, since every planet is different... so you can't offer any concrete advice... but our choice is unquestionably the wrong one, because... uh... your unapplicable experience says so? And we'll just have to trust you, even though you just finished saying that we can't trust one another..?" His voice trailed off mockingly, but he was interrupted by his Uncle's sharp synthesized voice from behind him, where E-X had been waiting patiently until his nephew finished saying his piece.

"Enough, Danny." Target started to object (again) to the diminutive, but the older Blaster just barged over top of him, continuing "There's a big alien tank-ish war machine parked a moderate distance to the North of here." He tossed a holo-generator onto the table, and a hologram of the half-buried Dark Rover popped into existence. "I'm assuming this is it? This little widget is outdated tech, and it has a map of the area in it- you'll have to excuse us if our base isn't located on it, but you should be able to navigate easily enough via the landmarks..." he poked a control, careful to show what he'd just done. "Like that- that button shows where any landmark you indicate (just poke your finger into the hologram in the appropriate spot) should look like from where you're standing."

He waved and indicated the exit. "I wish I could say it's been a pleasure, but arrogant, uninformed lectures so rarely are... Door's to your left."

((Devious- I'd consider it a courtesy if you didn't openly berate my technobabble as technobabble. This is a cooperative RP, after all, and my technobabble is certainly no stupider than the 'official' Portal Corps stuff and whatnot.

Oh, and Project_M? Calling shenaningans on Black Scorpion being able to insta-kill an Invulnerable Tank, with a Talsorian Blade or otherwise.))

Target sat back a bit, and opened his arms wide in a big shrug. "Your comment about your technology 'falling into the wrong hands' sounded like every other 'oh-so-advanced-alien' who has passed through here telling us that if we got our hands on their technology we'd blow ourselves up like a monkey tribe with a box of hand-grenades."

"If that was not your intention, then I apologize; however, after being told that, time and again, the refrain starts to sound a trifle old." Then he waved a finger at the pair. "And it appears that I am not the only one suffering from a misconception. I understand that you are trying to help (even if you are doing so in a singularly pedantic and overbearing fashion), but... Those we are at war with? We took no aggressive action against them, unless they or their proxies invaded our country and offered us harm, and then only to repulse them and return them to their own land. If that translates as 'choosing to fight' for you, then you are, one supposes, correct; but on this world, acting strictly defensively does not qualify as 'declaring war'."

He raised an amused eyebrow. "So, what does the 'voice of experience' say of dealing with those who are the aggressors, desire the death of oneself and all those who have even the vaguest association with one, and will not stop until either their warriors are dead, or else your side has been butchered to the last man, woman, and child? Perhaps, by your lights, we 'chose' to fight, but when it comes to an enemy that cannot comprehend non-violent resistance and wouldn't even notice it except as a convenience- 'Oh look, those who oppose me are unarmed and gathered in a single place! Fire.'- it was either fight or be slaughtered like animals."

He shook his head irritably, wincing a little as leftover pain from slowly-healing breaks twinged. "Honestly, you say you want to drop the argument, then make statements that reveal the most blatantly egregious errors of thinking... that invariably paint yourselves as holy saviours and us as stubbornly ignorant Phillistines... and expect them to be ignored?" Then paranoia twinged, and he gave the two a careful look. How does this whole 'we're only here to help' bit jibe with 'we're lost, and had no intention of coming here'? Best watch this pair.