A Night at the D (Open RP)


Amanita

 

Posted

OOC: Just thought I'd dive headfirst into RPing on the boards here with one of my own, featuring the swankiest club in the multiverse

IC: Marty Rallner grinned as he stepped off the elevator and into Pocket D proper. Even though he was a regular here, the atmosphere of the place never got old. There was an energy here, a freeness of spirit you couldn't find in the regular tense world of superheroics.

The blaster straightened his leather jacket and strolled toward the bar area. He had left his assault rifle at home for the night, as well as the rest of his gear. The ex-Marine was determined to make sure tonight would be eat, drink, be merry, and maybe wake up the next day with a few new piercings or something.

Marty looked to the dance floor and saw that a lot of other heroes and villains must have shared his goal, as the glass floor was packed with a kalidescope of people getting down and gettin' funky to DJ Zero's tunes.

Marty sat down at the upstairs bar of the "hero" side, flashing the cute female bartender a grin. It was shaping up to be a night to remember...


"Take the Yuan-Ti, bash them with a club made of frozen stupidity, then rip out their sense of subtlety with a rusty spoon, and then you have the Snakes of Mercy Isle" -Taltha Widowfang, drow stalker
Now playing at an MA near you: Dragonslayers #335375

 

Posted

Marty watched the dance floor and saw as person after person joined the immense crowd.

“Nice crowd tonight,” said the calm voice of a woman next to him

Marty turned his head to see his new drinking buddy and was shocked. A statuesque woman standing 5’10” stood just behind the barstool to his left. He gave her a quick once over and it suddenly felt as though DJ Zero turned up the temperature a few degrees. She was wearing a long blue mermaid-cut gown and a pair of stilettos that were way too formal for a regular at pocket D. Her wavy brown hair hung about her shoulders and her silver-purple eyes glistened with the party lights below.

“Care for a drink?” said the woman, her French accent now very obvious, “Wait, what am I saying? Of course you do. Mai, can you get my friend here a glass of scotch?” said the woman motioning to the bartender.

The glass of amber liquid slid across the bar and sloshed silently as it stopped directly in front of Marty.

((OCC: This should be fun))


 

Posted

(OOC-Hey this is an open RP right, so im going to join.)

A man dressed in Bright red and Gold tights came up to the bar to take a break after dancing on the floor. He flashed a glance from behind his gold rimmed and red lensed glasses. Sending a psycic message to the lady in a black dress whom he was dancing with. Hey baby don't worry Phscologist X will be right back. Turning back around he saw his face in the mirror behind the bar his sweat made his mask gleam. it may have only covered half his face but it still covered enough so it was hard to make it out.


 

Posted

On the dance floor a young woman was giving new meaning to the term "Hot Dance Floor".

She was known as Serafina, but most of the heroes and even a number of the Villians knew her as Bale Fire. She was dressed in a red tube top and tight black leather pants that accentuated her athletic figure for all to see.

As she danced her Long red hair seemed to flow about with a life of its own, and her Emerald green eyes reflected the strobing lights.

As She danced letting the driving rythim move through her an aura of flame swirled up around her. the fire changed colors with the lights and seemed to flow around Serra like water. but that was as it should be for She was an elemental prodigy or so her mother had named her. the Fire was hers to control it worshiped her ,and sang to her ,and did as she commanded.

Out of the flame came several small imp like creatures of purest fire. each one hit the floor and with small keening cries that sounded like wind blowing through a flaming tunnel; began to dance and contort to their mistresses gyrations.

Serra though was lost in the music she didnt seem to notice that she was putting on quite a show. when the music was moving through her like this it became a sort of meditation allowing her to feel the flame of life that burned brightly in all living things.

Radiant and beautiful she was over whelmed for a second and suddenly unleashed a wide Radiant aura of pure soft green fire. the green waves pulsed out over the dance floor accelerating the metabolisms of the nearby dancers and erasing any fatigue they may have had.

The enervating effect on her combined with an upswing in the tempo of the music caused her to speed up her dancing and found her lifiting off of the floor. as the song came to its conclusion the flaming aura intensified untill it became unbearable to be around her.

then a pair of bright firey wings flared out from her back, the keening of the firey imps became an soft wailing as they seemed to bow down in praise to their mistress suddenly they were sucked into the burning patch at her feet and the entire patch flared upwards to suround her then exploded suddenly in a shower of buring butterflys that flitted about before fizzling out slowly as the song ended Serra floated slowly down to the dance floor breathing heavilly but happily.

opening her eyes she saw the onlookers applauding her display, and suddenly realized what she had done. embarrased her face turning as red as her hair she smiled weakly, waved then hurried to one of the bar areas for a drink of cool water.


((lots of fun ))


So you mean you'll put down your rock, and I'll put down my sword; and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?

Dubbed first knight of pep-istan by her majesty Queen Pepcat. first catmonaut to walk onna moon.

PENGUIN!!!...(^)>
...............C(...)D
.................m.m

 

Posted

Sure, the sound was near deafening, and the lights glaring beyond the capacity of most people's retinas, but the whiskey was good and Mia didn't water it down.

Jack Banshee watched the spectacle on the floor. Then he watched the spectacle at the bar, then by the rails, on the stiars, and floating near the ceiling. Yes, Pocket D was rife with spectacles, all beautiful beyond imagination and powerful beyond...well, beyond him, by the looks of it.

He thumbed a cigarette, lit it, took small puffs as he observed what he could. The smoke curling from his mouth shurnk and warped and flipped inside out to form the image of a hula girl slowly dancing her way to the ceiling with come hither, flowing hips.

Despite having lived in Vegas, he felt out of place. He blamed it on his attire...a black jacket and slacks just didn't fit in this wardrobe of primary spandex. Hss burgundy die-cut mask held some resonance, but Jack thought it looked ridiculous. If he wasn't under Freedom Corps.'s thumb, it would have seen the bottom of a dumpster very quickly.


 

Posted

Carli Higgins stared out at the dancers and Patrons in the club. She hadn't been in here in quite some time and she had forgotten how noisy it got. The rest of the Carnival came here often, but Carli was a loner. She laughed softly at thought of what Penny would say when she found out her sister had come in here. She walked over to the bar and ordered a 5 shot iced Mocha and stared across the dance floor. She was burning herself out, sleeping only 3 hours a day between a full day at the hospital, coming home to tend to the troupes wounds if any and then spending all night trying to come up with a way to save a fellow Carnie's child. She closed her eyes letting the energy of the bar flow around her. "If only I had access to some Isles Technology." She said to herself forgetting that there were people all around her.


 

Posted

Jake smiled to himself as he walk out of the Port Oaks lift and made his way to upstairs Villan the bar. "Good ol Pocket D, good drinks and plenty of Capes to get their tights in a bunch." He adjusted his leather jacket and idley played with the headband over his dark red hair as he waited for the bartender to turn away from him. As soon as he saw his opening he grabbed a bottle of whiskey and wandered over to the balcony.

He smirked again as he took his first hit from his stolen drink and looked out to the dance floor. "Nice crowd tonight, maybe I can find a nice gal here too."


@Shotgunbadger

Hero Main: Bright Arrow

Villian "Main": Jack the Scrapper

Proud Altoholic and Virtueite RPer

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
"If only I had access to some Isles Technology."

[/ QUOTE ]

"That is a wish that can come true."

The voice was a mellifluous, lilting soprano, its sibilants liquid and its enunciation careful, as if the speaker were taking special care to be understood in a language not her own. Yet the accent was pure Roguw Isles. Carli turned, surprised to be liiking straight into the eyes of someone as diinutive as she was.

That was odd, but far from the oddest thing about the speaker. The eyes into which she looked were a deep amber, the pupils slitted., The face was a mask of glossy ebon fur, with a striking starlike pattern around the right eye. Her very human 'wedge' haircut was somehao all the more strange-looking for the pair of catlike ears protruding from it.

The ailuroform wore a black leather motorcycle jacket (of all things!), a black pleated skirt worn over black and white striped tights. And a pair of Converse. Chuck Taylors.

Not at all sure of how to respond, Carli simply waited for the catgirl to continue. She didn't have long to wait.

"My name is Mrrrah'chkt Hssihn...and I would like to know just what sort of Isles technology interests you." Her speech held none of the common oddities associated with catgirls, none of the broken syntax, the confusion over personal pronouns. The catlike face was mobile and alert. "I might be able to be of some assistance...if the price is right."


"And in this moment, I will not run.
It is my place to stand.
We few shall carry hope
Within our bloodied hands."

 

Posted

(OOC-does everyone have a leather jacket but, me)


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
(OOC-does everyone have a leather jacket but, me)

[/ QUOTE ]

((we are all unique rebels man))


@Shotgunbadger

Hero Main: Bright Arrow

Villian "Main": Jack the Scrapper

Proud Altoholic and Virtueite RPer

 

Posted

X scanned the minds of all those around him. Nothing to interesting. Nothing to serious. and most importantly no one was planning to come after him. "When ya want ta feel funky ya gotta feel free" Even if his mind escaped him others were always there.

Turning around to face Mai. "I would like..." He quickly looked into here mind trying to decide on one of the drinks she knew. "a white russian." Deciding he was in a vodka mood, or atleast someone was. He turned to face a girl that had just walked over to the bar. She had long red hair and her name was... Serri. Sending some psycic messages to her "Whats up" although no one else could hear it she heard it quite clearly over the loud music.


 

Posted

"the temperature." Serra replied mischieviously at the sudden mental intrusion.

She wasnt worried at the telepath reading her thoughts too deeply; heck the last arachnos psychic that had tried it had ended up in the hospital with third degree burns from the experience. her mind was like looking into an inferno and she was sure the person speaking could allready feel the heat.

She slowly sipped from the water she had brought enjoying the cool touch of the liquid as it flowed down her throat.

As she drank she scanned the bar seeing a small cat like woman speaking in hushed tones to another woman. probbaly making a deal of some sort Pocket D was the place for such happenings after all. others moved in and around the area.

Serra stepped up to the balcony and spread her arms and closed her eyes. Allowing the fire that was in every being to wash over her.

She allowed herself to feel the subtle rythms in the flames but pulled back before she got too enraptured. It was easy to become lost in the passions that made up the bright spark of the fire of life in humanity.

Catching the beginnings of one of her favorite songs she jumped over the railing and then flew down to the floor landing softly and beginning to dance again.


So you mean you'll put down your rock, and I'll put down my sword; and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?

Dubbed first knight of pep-istan by her majesty Queen Pepcat. first catmonaut to walk onna moon.

PENGUIN!!!...(^)>
...............C(...)D
.................m.m

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
My name is Mrrrah'chkt Hssihn...and I would like to know just what sort of Isles technology interests you." Her speech held none of the common oddities associated with catgirls, none of the broken syntax, the confusion over personal pronouns. The catlike face was mobile and alert. "I might be able to be of some assistance...if the price is right."

[/ QUOTE ]

Carli reached into the pocket of her vest. The secret pocket held her pay from the hospital minus what she gave to Lili to use for the Carnival and to Penny to repair her infrequent forays into the kitchen. "I need a maturation chamber and an independent power supply, as well as some human growth hormone. " She said quietly. "The answer to your next question is...Its private, but its not malicious." She sipped her coffee feeling the surge of the chocolate and caffeine course through her. Can you be of assistance with any of that and how much do you want for it. I'm willing to pay real money, not influence of in your case infamy. Cold...hard....cash." She said flipping a solid platinum nugget on the counter.


 

Posted

"Come on, I just want to see how the other half lives," whined a techi-colored armor suited figure near the back of the hero section.

"Yeah, right," replied the Longbow bouncer. "And how many banks would you rob if I let you through? No dice, villain. Besides, your little buddies don't hide very well."

The armored villain turned around and saw his robotic minions attempting to mill around aimlessly. The villain shrugged and sighed.

"Fine then, see if I donate some charity money to the families of Longbow veterans, punk,” the villain spun around, his cape swirling majestically behind him, and stormed away. The six robots quickly fell in behind their master and took up a standard circular defense formation.

“That’s nice guys, but I won’t need you for the rest of the night,” the villain said to his robots. “Go out and exercise those new dance routines I gave you or introduce yourself to a nice lady robot or something.”

“Gotcha, boss,” replied one of the battle drones, Mini Bot. As one, the minions left their master behind and went out to the dance floor to dance. They may have been soulless automatons but they had some damned good programming and could act like normal, rational human beings. Usually.

Wiping a bit of dust off of his armor and returning the dirty look a muscle bound hero gave him; the mastermind tramped up the stairs to the hero bar and flopped down in a seat. The stool groaned and bent a little bit at the villain’s great weight but he ignored it as though it happened often.

“Hello there, miss,” he said. “You have something that’s healthy for the old nuts and bolts back there?”

The bartender shrugged at this normally unusual request and pulled out a can of something that looked a lot like motor oil. She poured some of the thick liquid in a glass and wordlessly passed it over to the villain.

“Thanks,” he said as a straw extended down from his chin. He sipped his drink a bit before he noticed the pair of heroes sitting next to him.

“Hey, there, nice to meet you,” he began. “Toy Dispenser’s the name and it’s awfully blue over here, isn’t it?”


Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.

Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.

NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.

 

Posted

The catgirl palmed the nugget in a deft motion. Her ears flicked forward and the amber eyes smiled, even if her mouth didn't.

"Not malicious?" she asked. "What you're seeking very well could be, you know. A maturation chamber...off-grid power...growth hormone...all the makings of a clandestine bioweapon project."

She held up a hand to prevent Carli's objection.

"But if that is so, it is your affair, of interest to me only if your weapons threaten my home. And if occurs to me that there may be another reason the reknowned Dr. Higgins would need these things." Mrrrah'chkt gave a chortling purr as Carli quirked an eyebrow. "Your work in the Isles...in the Bay in particular...is known to some, and much appreciated. Isles technology is formidible, and our medical care can be superb. But only at a cost, and so many cannot afford it. Your work has saved many who would otherwise have done without. Maybe some of my kind, even."

The ailuroform paused, taking a sip of her milk & Bailey's. Then she nodded, as if reaching a decision.

"I will produce what you need. The power supply is a simple matter...I can adapt the nanofusion ractor from one of our assault drones. The nugget you gave me will obtain the growth hormone from...unusual sources I have access to. I think I could develop a hormone synthesis array..but I presume time is a factor, su purchasing the real thing is the only choice.

"The maturation chamber is the sticking point. Arachnos versions are usable and not so terribly difficult to obtain. But I find them unreliable. Arachnos accepts a rather high percentage of "wastage" in their cloning and genetic alteraton projects. I presume your standards in this regard are higher. I'd prefer to develop an alternative. And I can.

"I've been pondering some ramifications of the translocation technology, the 'teleporters.' Instantaneous alteration of spatial coordinates also implied alteration of spacetime coordinates. I believe it's possible to alter only the temporal component, leaving the other loci unchanged. I also believe it's possible to create divergences in relative movement along the temporal axis...to 'speed up time,' as it were, by a factor of slightly over four for the area of effect and available power we're discussing."

She paused. "I ramble. What I believe I can provide is a maturation chamber that is more reliable thanthe Arachnos versions...and one which will reduce the incubation period by a factor of four, in conjunction with the growth hormone. I'll need three days and considerable medical input. Can you give me both?"


"And in this moment, I will not run.
It is my place to stand.
We few shall carry hope
Within our bloodied hands."

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]

She paused. "I ramble. What I believe I can provide is a maturation chamber that is more reliable thanthe Arachnos versions...and one which will reduce the incubation period by a factor of four, in conjunction with the growth hormone. I'll need three days and considerable medical input. Can you give me both?"

[/ QUOTE ]

Jack checked his watch. His contact was late, but that wasn't unusual. Longbow had always treated him with spurious contempt ever since he wriggled his way out of going to the Zig, and being late was one of their many consistent, if tediously juvenile, ways of reminding Jack that he was less than nothing.

But he had orders to keep his ears open. Above and beyond his duties involving his former mentors in the Circle of Thorns, Freedom Corps. wanted him to be one of their many eyes and ears, and they didn't care if was willingly or not.

The cat-lady spoke with surprising competency, and with an anunciation so clear and sharp that Jack had very little problem listening to the entire conversation, even if most of it was over his head. And anything dealing with Arachnos, well, that had to be a concern for Freedom Corps.

But hey, he didn't owe FC anything. Let them choke on whatever plots Arachnos was cooking up. Except...maybe people would get hurt. Innocent people. Jack cursed into his ebbing whiskey glass. This wouldn't be the first time that having a conscience bit him in the backside.

He'd listen further. If it sounded nihilistic, he'd follow them, or at least one of them.


 

Posted

"I can tell by your display on the dance floor." X said this time with his real voice right before he took a sip of his drink. He let the drink float in the air for a while while he grabbed some peanuts. Popping a few in his mouth he took another sip of his drink and returned it to his hand.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
“Care for a drink?” said the woman, her French accent now very obvious, “Wait, what am I saying? Of course you do. Mai, can you get my friend here a glass of scotch?” said the woman motioning to the bartender.

The glass of amber liquid slid across the bar and sloshed silently as it stopped directly in front of Marty.

[/ QUOTE ]

Marty grinned at the mystery woman and quickly downed the scotch in one pull. "Arigato gozaimasu, senorita" he said with a chuckle and motioned her to sit "My name's Marty by the way. Pardon my saying so milady, but you seem a smidge overdressed to do a little dance, make a little love, and get down tonight" he said with a straight face and twinkling eye.

He managed to not notice Toy Dispenser plunk down at the bar behind him, being so caught up with the gorgeous woman who had approached him so readily.


"Take the Yuan-Ti, bash them with a club made of frozen stupidity, then rip out their sense of subtlety with a rusty spoon, and then you have the Snakes of Mercy Isle" -Taltha Widowfang, drow stalker
Now playing at an MA near you: Dragonslayers #335375

 

Posted

Such... debauchery... in dis place. I love it. It has de life of my old home. I wonder if per'aps DJ Zero will do a Mardi Gras? Dat would be, ohh... such a party...

Baroness Samedi milled around, checking out the various occupants of the club, until finally settling in at the hero side upstairs bar. Her first lounge spot proved to be rather annoying, as it was within earshot of a drunk retching his guts out... so she found herself near the bar proper.

"Set me up a zombie, cherie... an' don' worry if no coconut shells ta serve it in."

Sipping her drink she couldn't help but overhear talk of some sort of project... maturation chamber? Power source? Growth hormone? The word "Crey" was dropped, and she immediately bristled. Crey was the company responsible for the current state of two of her associates, Lucy de Loccia and the catbeast known as Primal Roar. Nothing good could ever come of them.



"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."

 

Posted

Anlek'Toh had to smile at the irony of it all- a skyscraper riding in an elevator! Or at least the anthropomorph, the flesh and blood incarnation of one. She had left her sword back at home somewhere in Steel Canyon, having no need of it here.

Her silk brocade robes rustled softly as she made her way onto the dance floor, her eight foot tall form weaving easily though the crowd, until she was at the center of the dance floor. Anlek half closed her eyes and raised her hands, feeling the energy of the place passing through and around her. In her steel and concrete constructed form, she had always been able to sense the power of the city coursing through her. Not just the electricity that powered her vital systems, but the very life force of the city itself. Ebbing and flowing, always in motion. Sometimes flowing like the wind, other times as turbulent as a wild rapid. A reflection of the city and its people- all those people projecting their hopes, fears, dreams, needs, and wants into the morass. She had been pleased to note that this connection had not been severed upon her manifesting as a flesh and blood anthropomorph. Rather, it had gone mobile along with her. Similar to wireless net access, Anlek'Toh surmised.

Anlek found herself dancing now, both to the music and the currents of energy that swirled around the place. For the most part it felt mellow, smooth even. Not alot of negativity here, a few odd spikes here and there but nothing to cause alarm.

One area of the massive room seemed to have a strange feel- Anlek turned around and looked, opening her eyes fully. Sure enough, she saw a small pack of Vazhikok dancers gathered in a corner. Filthy body snatchers, the lot of them. She fought down a visceral feeling of disgust, reminding herself that now was not the time or place for a confrontation. Something else in the swirling vortex of energy caught her attention and she turned to face it. Over at the bar, another anthropomorph sat, his muscular form barely fitting on the barstool. Another anthro for sure, but he was no silver-skinned skyscraper. She recognized him as one of the Crane clan, usually found on construction sites when not hunting troublemakers. He was a handsome specimen, with pale skin and waist length silky white hair.

Suddenly aware of her scrutiny, he turned on his stool to face her, flashing a soft smile. Anlek raised a hand in a graceful come hither gesture, and the anthro crane male complied, gracefully floating onto the dancefloor, finally touching down next to her.
"I am Kodun, my lady" He purred in a soft yet masculine voice. "Are you the famous Anlek'Toh I've heard so much about?"
Anlek nodded. "Indeed. Care for a dance, Kodun?"


A (Golden Gate) Bridge Too Far- arc 299315
Crazy NIMBY's, Railroad robber barons, and kickboxing Engineers, Oh My! Go back in time and join the fight to save a San Francisco icon!

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
She paused. "I ramble. What I believe I can provide is a maturation chamber that is more reliable thanthe Arachnos versions...and one which will reduce the incubation period by a factor of four, in conjunction with the growth hormone. I'll need three days and considerable medical input. Can you give me both?"

[/ QUOTE ]

"I can give you both. This is my cell phone number right here. I would accompany you, but y'see Arachnos seems to take a disliking to people not under its thumb venturing onto its territory and if I'm dead its not going to help..." She paused unsure about talking about sensitive medical issues in here. She continued a minute later. "Please call about anything and meet me here if you need input on something. Thank you." She said handing over a vacuum packed Salmon Fillet. "Its fresh. A relative of one of our performers sends them to her. I was going to grill it later since thats about the only thing I can do without blowing something up but you may get more enjoyment out of it. I appreciate your help."


 

Posted

Mrrrah'chkkt's tail twitched happily and she purred softly as she was handed the salmon filet. She reached into a pocket of her jacket and produced a business card:

[ QUOTE ]
Technokitty Laboratories
robotics and customized nanotechnological innovations
Mrrrah'chkkt Hssihn, CEO and Chief Engineer
technokitty@scorpweb.org


[/ QUOTE ]

She scribbled a cellphone number on the back of the card. "You can reach me any time...and I'll have a lot of questions. I think I can increase the safety of the maturation chamber by adapting the repair nanocelles we use on our combat drones to organic use. That will be elementary, actually...a simple alteration of the firmware to provide maps of organic molecules, integration with the lymphatic system...that sort of thing. It's getting them to survive in the temporal acelleration that will be tricky." More happy twitching of the tail.

"How pleasant! A challenging problem and fresh salmon!" Her expression became suddenly very serious. "We'll save your kitten..."


"And in this moment, I will not run.
It is my place to stand.
We few shall carry hope
Within our bloodied hands."

 

Posted

SR-1293CSX stared out from the upper floor's window. If a droid could sigh, he would. The humans, all dancing, making sexual refrences, it was a sad site to behold. The only reason he ever came here was to see if there was any work to do. He waves another woman away who has mistaken him for a man in armor, SR must have done it 10 times this night. He does have "fun" (in a robotic sense) freaking out the humans below... instead of jogging across the dance floor to the exit, he activates his rocket boots. Smokes engulfs the room in seconds... People stare up to the window, most likely ready to use it as a distraction for some pick-pocketing or to save the day depending on their alignment... SR shoots down the stairs and past all of them in the blink of an eye. And before any of those organic's know exactly what has taken place he's in King 's Row on his way to Warburg.


 

Posted

Toy Dispenser sighs again and idly watches a power-suited hero activate his rocket boots and zoom away down the elevator that Toy wanted to use. Draining his drink in one quick slurp, the android slaps the can down on the bar, crumpling it, and jumps out onto the dance floor. He makes a loud thump as he hit the ground and a couple of dancers stagger away from him. After all, a seven foot tall man of metal weighs quite a bit more than your average human, despite all his advanced polymers and light-weight metals. Jerking his head back and forth to work the kinks out of it, Toy Dispenser calls out to his minions and the six robots quickly surround him. Pointing to different spots on the raised platform in the middle of the dance floor, Toy sent each robot to a position. Then, they started dancing. After a moment, Toy copied them.


Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.

Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.

NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.

 

Posted

Alpha Vector hated this. He looked down from the rafters at the human and metahumans parting below and was torn. At one time he would have joined in the parting without hesitation, able to just lose himself in the moment. Somewhere along the line he had lost that ability. Maybe it was all the times people's lives and his own life depended on his ability to stay cool and think clearly. Alpha Vector had gotten used to carefully thinking about every action, even if he had only seconds to do so. Gaining that nessessary survival tool had seemed to have some at the price of being able to take mindless pleasure in things. Even though Alpha Vector was still in his twenties he felt old compared to his "normal" friends.

There was also the question of the crowd. While there were many people we would love to toss back a drink with and some ladies he would have loved to show what his nanobot-altered nervous system could do on the dance floor, there was the issue of them. Trash from the Rogue Isles and Paragon's own back streets. He couldn't look at them without wondering how many people they had hurt before they had arrived at the club and how many they would hurt after they left; it made him twitchy. It was always the same. It was like he was always Alpha Vector even when he had the techno-organic armor retracted into his body and was living the life of Derrick Cline. He'd try to go about his day like normal but before long he'd see a drug deal going down or get word from a contact of the latest impending doom. Just like that, Derrick gets swept aside and Alpha Vector steps forward.

Like tonight for example Derrick might be down there having fun but Alpha Vector was up in the rafters, the billions of interlinked nanobots that made up his armor shifting colours to provide him with the camoflage nessesary to stay hidden and spy on the crowd. That the club was used for various clandestine meetings was news to no-one. However, Longbow had asked him to use his stealth abilities to gather info on an smuggling operation that was going on in their own back yard. Usually it was the case that contraband orginated in the Rogue Ilse got smuggled into Paragon. There was only so much that could be done about that. There was, however, something that could be done when someone in Paragon was selling to the enemy. Someone was selling restricted technology to the Rogue Ilse inhabitants, some of which ended back in Paragon in the hands of bad guys bent on doing bad things.

The problem was there was entirely too much to watch. The deals could have been happing right below him but he missed them because he was looking at the wrong set of hoods at the time. At the moment his eye stopped on known carnie having a quiet conversation with a catgirl. Maybe they were trading makeup tips. Maybe it was just another petty drug buy. What he noticed at how the causalness of their body language and movments were contrasting with the intentness in their eyes. It ook barely a flick of ankels to send him soaring across the wide room. Alpha Vector barely had to think to make the nanobots respond, reconfiguring the soles of his boots for maximum shock absorption. This not only let him make a 20 foot landing without breaking his legs, but ensured he landed at the edge of the crowd by the wall with scarcly a sound. He drew closer, his techno-organic armor ever sensitive to the ambient light frequencies, shifting colours to match and provide continuing concealment.