[ QUOTE ]
Closing her eyes, violet energy pulsed around her, resonating with the rune. Midas would feel a wave of comforting clarity wash through his mind like a waterfall.
[/ QUOTE ]
Midas sat down flat on his bottom and set his hands against the ground, his eyes fluttering open as he watched Essex walk to the Stone. His head didnt hurt anymore. He suddenly liked the little girl a lot more.
[ QUOTE ]
I'll tell you whatever you want to know if you just wait, please. I want to know what's going on, too..."
[/ QUOTE ]
Finally, you people are starting to see reason! the gem huffed in exasperation. I thought I was going to have to do something drastic!
The crate next to Essex shifted into a protector bot unexpectedly, snatching the Philosophers Stone out of her hand and walking to Midas to wave it in his face. As it approached, the scientist stood up and backed into a wall, frightened by the robots actions.
[ QUOTE ]
"How dare you call me a computer?!" the bot fumed with the woman's voice. If anyone had ever seen a robot boil over, this was it, "Why I oughta...!"
[/ QUOTE ]
Fracas, Kibitzer, and Imbroglio were almost immediately beside the offending automaton, holding their cannon arms to the back of its head and waving axes threateningly, their cargo dropped on the floor several yards away.
Step away from Lord Midas and prepare for execution! Imbroglio commanded.
Shut down! Midas snapped at the trio of Phillisbots.
Fracas let out a groan and a cut off plea as the three robots took a step back and kneeled onto one knee, the lights in their eyes going off.
Ive taken a lot of critism in my life, from my superiors, peers, and now from myself! the scientist hissed, puffing up to loom over the protector and snatching the Stone from its hand. But I will NOT be ordered or told off by an artificial intelligence! That is as far as my limit stretches! Ive taken insults and reprimands from a number of human beings, and Ive debated with the best men and women to ever grace the planet, but I will most certainly lock myself away in an asylum before I even think of arguing with a GOD DAMNED MACHINE!
He ended with his pointer finger on the central eye light of the bot, shaking fiercly.
The bay was silent after Midas's tirade. Sure you could still hear some huffing and puffing from Midas and some chuckling from Acid but other then that the bay was silent.
Damien started to applaud. "That's right crazy man you tell the tiny scary computer thingy how it is." Damien nudged his brother in the ribs trying to get him to applaud the lunatics rant too.
Darean looked at his brother and rolled his eyes. "Acid like I said you seem to be in charge so what's the plan? I wont ask a third time."
The silence didn't last long. With loud clacks, the latches on the bottom row of crates along either wall snapped open. Though the crates didn't unfold this time, it became more than apparent that something akin to an entire combat division was stored in the narrow space of the drop bay.
"Argung with a machine?!" the protector bot gasped, or at least it sounded a lot like it, "Why you sniveling, narrow-minded, pea-brained human! I am...!"
"Ahem!" Acid finally caught himself, "Madam! Do show your good manners. Yes, Midas is very human, and he's had a rough day. I don't think he can digest the concept of you just yet. Maybe I've thrown enough at his head for today."
"Mnongmnonggrummlgrummlblabla..." the bot buttered as it set Midas down in front of Midas and turned about, slouching back to the crate it had come from.
"And as for you two," Acid turned to Darean and Damien, "you asked twice and I already answered. If I wasn;t clear, let me reword myself: this Overhead ruling the so-called World Empire - I seek to let him go, to downsize his deparment, to make him part of an outplacement. To go in a different direction, to not pick up his option, take your pick, I've got more."
"Now..." he grinned fiendishly, "even though Phillis' ranting tells me quite a few things, I'm not entirely sure if I can trust you guys. After all, you might be completely alternate versions of the selves he knows and only be acting. So then...you...roam around in back alleys...mmhmm...archery and...fire, then...cash..."
Taking a step forward, he confronted the two, "Let me guess: hitmen for hire, live in the proverbial underground, preferred method of doing the deed is burning people to a crisp. Oh, and tell me if I'm getting warmer here..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
[ QUOTE ]
Taking a step forward, he confronted the two, "Let me guess: hitmen for hire, live in the proverbial underground, preferred method of doing the deed is burning people to a crisp. Oh, and tell me if I'm getting warmer here..."
[/ QUOTE ]
"Well it's obivous that we arn't part of the grand scheme." Darean said with a smile. "But im not sure what you are talking about? Hitmen for hire...sounds so thug like. My brother and I are professionals not some amatuer like Dr. Mc Talkingstoneinmypants. We don't take on charity cases either." he continued looking at Essex.
"Oh come on Dare, the cat's out of the bag." Damien said interupting him. " Yeah we're hitman the best in paragon. As for burning those poor bastards, only what can Id them. Their faces, fingerprints, dental records. Makes it real hard to identify them." Rifling through his back pocket, Damien grabbed a handful of ID holders. Throwing them on the ground in front of Acid. "Anyone you know been marked by the Cross?"
"Damien that's enough!", Darean shouted. "Forgive my brother, he is a special case."
Rolling his eyes at Darean, Damien started to head towards Vern. "Here dragon, nice dragon, Daddies got a little girl for you to eat."
Thuel pulled out his sheet with names, he had a few highlighted, he scanned the croud wich was now getting thinner, and thinner every second. He pulled out his radio and spoke into it, "OSA-35, give me the arial pictures of this city." OSA-35 chripped happily. "Alrihgt, meatbag."
Thuel received a thermal immage of the city with the targets highlighted, with a bright neon orange. "Thuel, moveing out." He raidoed into OSAD-35 who was over the townsquare, takeing a thermal picture every other second and forewarding them to Thuel, so he could get mutipul heat signature locks off of them, without stopping.
Experiment rolled his eyes at the current fiasco before it settled down. As the twins began talking, he removed a small device from his right pocket. He spoke a small command into it, and placed it back.
He turned toward the others again, acting as unsuspicious as possible.
Dr. McTalkingstoneinmypants? the Dr. Phillis in the gem asked. You remind me of a child I knew in real time
.
Its just like a metahuman to raise themselves above others because they were born with superior abilities. Midas added. One chance in millions, and theyre lucky enough to be blessed with it, and they brag like theyve achieved something of their own devising. Gloat all you want, your kinds propaganda is what got us into this situation in the first place.
The scientist shook his head and looked to Acid. Tell your computer to keep itself in line before I recode it and take out the part where it believes it has some kind of will of its own. He snarled. Im sick of being threatened.
Now then, I know where we are, and what we plan to do, but I think I have a question that will more specifically address what the badass mercenary boys are trying to say. The doctor explained. And that is, what do we plan to do from here, as of immediately?
[ QUOTE ]
Its just like a metahuman to raise themselves above others because they were born with superior abilities. Midas added. One chance in millions, and theyre lucky enough to be blessed with it, and they brag like theyve achieved something of their own devising. Gloat all you want, your kinds propaganda is what got us into this situation in the first place.
[/ QUOTE ]
Darean took a couple steps towards Midas. "What do you mean by that? You think I wanted this?" Darean said as his hands began to glow with energy. "You think my special abilities are gifts? You ever seen someone hunted down and killed and then reanimated to hunt down and kill you? You ever had to bury someone you loved, twice? You sciencetist are all the same, you think you know what makes a man tick.
Why do you think me and my brother are out there every night, hunting down secret police scum? You think I like being different?"
"Judging from the way you speak about your abilities to strangers, yes, I do think you enjoy being different!" Midas retorted, not backing down. "I think you very much flaunt them about, like every other metahuman, and cry when things go wrong! And when someone points it out, what do you do? Why, you kill them with your powers, just proving their point for all the world to see! This has nothing to do with my being a scientist, but everything to do with me being a logical human being with a functioning brain that naturally makes and connects observations!"
Darean had heard enough. His fist moved with superhuman speed.... right into the chest of his brother. The magical energy that powered both of the brothers cancelled out attacks made on each other, but the punch still hurt.
"Darean, temper temper." Damien said to his brother. "Dr. Phillis has a point. What have done with our powers but kill? I'm sure Dr Phillis, didn't mean to anger you."
Darean walked away from his brother, angry but not in the mood in the to fight anymore.
Damien looked at Dr. Phillis, "I just saved your life. You don't owe me one though. Everybody, gets one. Next time I won't be there."
"Do you expect a thank you?" Midas asked, sounding bored. "Trying to prove something to me?"
((Is there a thread here where both of your characters won't start something with one another? 
))
[ QUOTE ]
Rifling through his back pocket, Damien grabbed a handful of ID holders. Throwing them on the ground in front of Acid. "Anyone you know been marked by the Cross?"
[/ QUOTE ]
"Not that I recognize." Acid shrugged coldly. It ticked him off when others just saw lives as something to be played with, but right now that wasn't the point. Objective first. Always objective first.
Acid chose to ignore Phillis' comment. He could find out what SENECA was another time. At least she'd calmed down now, probably brooding and grumbling somewhere around here...or light years away. With her, you never knew.
It was also quite fortunate that Damien had moved to intercept the punch instead of contiinuing to talk to vern like that. Wow, humans really were damn stupid when it came to it. But they had information, and that was important right now.
"Immediate plans, hmm." Acid mumbled, "Well, as you can see I've got a bot division ready to field. But first I'll need some info. Heck, I don't even know who or where the Overhead is. That'd be something to start with."
As he said this, he spread his arms in a quick gesture to point out the mechanoid racks. If someone asked who had built them, or some question related to this manner, they'd be in for quite a surprise...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
OOC- No there isn't.
Damien collected his ID's from the floor. "Sound's good but as far as we are concerned we dont do anything for free." Damien said.
After having delievered her warning to Acid, Tam lost all interest in the group and found an oddly warm crate to curl up on and proceeded to take a nice catnap. Her ears flickered at the yells and one eye opened lazily to give them all a once over accompanied by a half-hearted rumble.
"Posing and postering aside wake me when ever we decided on something to do that either involves eating or killing then eating."
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
Midas glared at Damien, his hands shaking. "You are the most stupid, selfish man I have ever met. You said you fought the secret police as a defense, yet now, when you have the opportunity to find the Overmagus and free our world, you refuse on the grounds of material possessions!"
"Calm down 'Doctor,' that is how the world is. Nothing is free." muttered Experiment, shrugging. "Hell, you should see some of the stuff I had to pay for..."
There were no magical enhancements on the Ivory Engine. Not a single one. The assassin was a masterpiece of human engineering and advanced technologies, some of which were seen only in the most top secret of the Overmagus's research facilities. Thus, Rosie's dispelling spell did little to impede the robot as it continued to try and find a way to break out of this deadlock.
That time came when Rosalind went berserk. As she threw her heightened strength against it, Engine jumped up and flipped over Rosie while still holding onto her hands. Engine twisted in midair like a cat, it's torso turning 180 degrees around on its hips, and landed with it standing facing Rosie while the were-human was bent over in a very awkward position.
"Target...," Engine began as it suddenly disengaged both hands with a dextrous twist of its wrists and then stabbed them both down at Rosie's chest. "Term-"
The claw blades froze an inch away from Rosie's chest as Cortianna's telekinesis froze the machine in place. It's blank faced head slowly turned in Cortianna's direction as it contemplated this new development.
"Countermeasures activating," it said after a second. "Your termination will resume in approximately ten seconds."
Deep within the Ivory Engine's chasis, a highly expermental, very valuable device activated itself. The machine unfolded and spread thin tendrils throughout Engine's body to every point that was being affected by Cortianna's mind. Then, the machine analyzed the psychich wavelengths being used to incapacitate the Ivory Engine and began emiting the polar opposite of those psychic waves, likely giving Cortianna a mild headache and drastically weakening her hold on the Ivory Engine.
**************************************************
"No throwing objects at Teacher!" Mr. Stegall scolded Schizo even as he dodged most of the thorns, some of them cutting through his flimsy suit and injecting their poison.
His reflexes slightly slowed for the next few seconds, Mr. Stegall somehow still managed to bob and weave forward until he got within striking distance of Schizo once again. Going for a combo, Mr. Stegall stabbed at Schizo then cut upward, down, up diagonally left, right, and then left again all in the space of one second.
*************************************************
"You may take your seats," came the cold voice of Toy Dispenser.
There was much shuffling as chairs were dragged away from the large conference table and then scooted back into place when their occupants sat. Toy Dispenser, in all his red and black armored glory, sat at the head of the table with a symbolically empty seat facing him at the far end. Among the Soulsworn, not a single one of them were Toy Dispenser's equal, although a few harbored doubts.
"It's been a while since we've met like this," Outlaw Jack, General of the Army of Life, said as he stratched at the stubble of his beard under the bandanna he wore around his mouth and chin. His dark brown eyes flicked back and forth as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "And there's a few of us missing."
"Yeah," agreed a dark red android seated across from Jack. The thick set robot seemed to radiate heat as it folded its hands in front of it in a pose of relaxation. "I've got things to do, people to kill, stuff like that. What's up?"
"The Overmagus has been worried as of late," replied Death's Right Hand from his position to the left of Toy Dispenser. The black leather armored necromancer had forgone his helmet for this occasion, baring his extrordinarily pale face to just about the only people who had ever seen it. "Toy Dispenser and I have discussed this and thought it would be best to organize a meeting of the Soulsworn currently avaliable."
"So Danya and the Ghoul are still out in the field?" asked the massive Stone Elemental, its voice sounding like grinding rock.
"Correct," Toy Dispenser said as he looked from person to person. "As is Mr. Stegall and the Ivory Engine. But what I really wish to discuss is this."
Turning around, Toy pulled a remote out of a compartment in his chair and aimed it at the wall behind him. A press of a button brought a projector screen sliding smoothly down while another couple of buttons dimmed the lights and displayed a picture on the screen.
"What in tarnation is that?" asked Short Iron as he forgot about the cigarette he had just lit, even now burning away under the continued heat of his lighter.
"It looks like a UFO," the Dead Don rasped, his milky white eyes reflecting the light of the screen as he stared at it. "But those photos are all fake, aren't they?"
"Not this one," Toy said as he stood and walked over to the screen.
The picture displayed was almost completely filled with a picture of Earth, namely the northern hemisphere. A slash of black space showed on the far right of the picture, but the object of immidiate interest was the bright silver blur that was interlayed over northern Africa at the time the picture was taken.
"This was taken by OrbSat D-13 as of 10:23 this morning," Toy continued as he pressed another button on the remote, causing a red lined box to form around the silver streak which soon expanded to obscure the rest of the picture. "The profile matches none of our shuttles currently in orbit and certainly does not match the signatures of any known Rikti ship."
"Like they could get off the moon after what the Overmagus did to them," Jack said as Short Iron cursed in the background as his burning cigarette reached his finger. "They only exist at the moment because they're technology is still not fully understood."
"Which is precisely why the Overmagus is concerned," Toy said as he triggered the next image, this time a picture of a piece of paper with several paragraphs written down it. "I trust you are all familiar with the prophecy?"
"Of course we're [censored] familiar with it," the Malevolith said. "It's kind of important to our whole reason for being, you know."
Toy nodded as everyone else nodded or signaled their agreement and started pacing in front of the screen, arms folded behind his back.
"Then you all know the way the prophecy goes," he began. "After all of our true enemies are defeated, there will come a time of peace. After that time, there will come new enemies. Some of them new, some of them real, and some of them out of place. Then, they will join the opposers of the Overmagus and attempt to slay him, bringing chaos back into the world. But should they be stopped, the world will know an eternity of paradise."
"The prophecy never was very clear on who would win," Hand said dryly.
"Man, I could have thought of so many better ways to use those Sister Psyche and Numina chicks than on that prophecy," the Malevolith groaned. "We all know the rebels have a snowball's chance in hell to win, even with some new blood."
"Which is why we need to not give them even that much of a chance," Toy said. "I have consulted with the Overmagus and he has left it in my hands to deal with this problem. For now, we are going to stick to surgical strikes, which is why our two assassins are missing. But should the enemies survive, we shall come down on them with all the might of the World Empire and damn our plans with Oranbega in that case."
"Dispatch some Arbitrator's," Stone Elemental suggested. "I've heard good things about them and their ability to destroy things."
"They're rather indiscriminate," Jack replied. "I think they would be best used as a back up, just in case one of us isn't enough."
"Like a Soulsworn would let his enemy live," Mal snorted as he started drumming his fingers on the table. "So are we done now?"
"Yes," Toy said as he sat back down, flipping off the projector and flipping on the lights. "You may all return to your duties. Just be prepared for anything. This has barely begun."
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.
((Too late to join?))
@Dragonistic
Unless I'm quoting someone, EVERY SINGLE post above is QR.
<----Female
Dragonistic, Kheldragon, Ink Dyne, KheIdragon, Squiddy Attack
Total level is about 149.
EVILCAT
SEZ YOUR COMPU-TAR TASTE LIKE CHIKIN
[ QUOTE ]
((Too late to join?))
[/ QUOTE ]
OOC: NEVAR TOO LATE!
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.
Essex hurriedly took the Philosopher's Stone from SENECA's now empty proc-bot shell and watched the group, silently despairing.
Watching them fight made her heart race and her blood pound in her ears with anxiety, but she forced herself not to say anything. She knew she was oversensitive and considered herself merely...swept up in all this at random. Still, though... so many of these people knew her...somehow.
"Um..." she finally piped down once the main conflict was over and awkward silence reigned.
"D..Does anybody know how we know each other? I mean...Besides...uh... Dr. Phillis, was it? I'm sorry, I'm just picking up names - but the Acid person and the Stone seem to know the most. I'm sorry to be a burden, and I know I-i'm just an idiot, but...if someone would explain it to me...I promise I'll be quiet from now on."
------------------------------------------------
Rosalind scowled amid her berserk haze. She hadn't let the clawed blades go, and yet he had managed to slip out of her grip! As the blades stopped an inch from her chest, she didn't give the Ivory Engine the requested ten seconds to 'complete her termination.'
If Ivory Engine wasn't magical, as her spells came back unused, then he was merely a piece of finely honed, precise machinery.
Machinery was breakable.
As Engine's wristblades were turned about, she whirled, locking them into her claws once again. She brought up her right leg and unleashed a powerful kick at the chest area of the robot, attempting to shove it over with the force of her enhanced strength.
The were-human took great care not to release the blades from the grasp of her claws - though her hands were sliced up and bleeding, she knew that if she released the blades, her life would become a lot more difficult - and likely a lot shorter.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
"Well, if yall want money, I'm afraid I can't help ya." Acid shuriged with an indifferent expression, "Don't have any anymore...at least none that'd be accepted on Terra."
Acid was perfectly fine with Tam going to sleep. It didn't look like she knew much about what was going on down there anyway.
"And yeah, I gotta say you'd be wasting a chance - though I can't believe I'm agreeing with Phillis, hehe. But if you want to leave, we'll be sure to drop ya off when we start the next op."
Acid seemed thoughtful for a moment, "Though I still don't know where. So does anyone here know who the Overhead is and where? I couldn't find it anywhere, so I'm going to have to assume it's either such common knowledge it isn't stored or it's a highly guarded secret."
[ QUOTE ]
"Um..." she finally piped down once the main conflict was over and awkward silence reigned.
"D..Does anybody know how we know each other? I mean...Besides...uh... Dr. Phillis, was it? I'm sorry, I'm just picking up names - but the Acid person and the Stone seem to know the most. I'm sorry to be a burden, and I know I-i'm just an idiot, but...if someone would explain it to me...I promise I'll be quiet from now on."
[/ QUOTE ]
Acid just smiled gently at her, "Don't worry, Ess, you're not. And as soon as we know where to look for the Overhead, I'll have time to explain it to ya..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Ouch," Schizo said, and then everything went crazy.
Geysers burst out of the ground at random locations, the sky turned purple, the ground laughed and sang the "Star-Spangled Banner" without faltering, and rafflesia flowers rained down on Mr. Stegall as Schizo's essence was dispersed.
Hal had never really gotten used to it. Besides, it was different everytime.
Just the two of us now, eh Hal? the Phantasm said as it appeared beside him.
"Phantasm! You're back!" Hal said, relieved, as the being of light fired at Mr. Stegall, ignoring the rumbling chorus from the ground, which was being accompanied by various rocks and twigs.
"Everyone hates me," Schizo grumbled inside Hal's head. He might not be able to die, but he could sure be put out of the picture for long enough. It usually took at least a day.
OOC: Ack. Reply coming as soon as I can figure out how to get you people in one place. Keep developing characters or whatever while I think.
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.
OOC: Can I 'develop' the Ivory Engine a few new holes? <_<
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
Now it is... Cortianna felt the triggers she had helped place in Rosie's mind slip, and used the psychic momentum to flip several of her own that she had placed with Rosie's help in turn.
))
The air rippled around her with the sudden unleashed force of her mind, particals around her spontaniously combusting and burning out rapidly.
"That it machine. You are scrap." Cortianna smiled.
A telekinetic wave grabbed Engine with more then twice the force she had used before, locking the machine in place to allow Rosie to 'go to town' as she had once said.
((Domination ftw.
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.