Midas, in an uncharacteristic fashion, chuckled and looked embarrassed, his eyes avoiding the mage, playing the part of a found out and humbled mad scientist quite well. He nodded to the Mu and waved, Thank you, old sport, Ill be off to new horizons. He called after him. I can only hope youre correct!
He kept a slight, false smile on his face as he hurried beside Vern, motioning for the others to follow. He took Essexs hand, whispering for her to stay quiet for just a moment until they were away. He could only pray the stupid feline wouldnt attempt anything that would get them killed.
[ QUOTE ]
In the room where Thuel entered there was a plain oak desk. On the desk there was a thick file. Inside the file were pictures taken of all of the members of Acid's group along with whatever information was avaliable on them. Some, in Acid's and Essex's case, were very sparce, with nicknames given them in place of their real names and very little information filled out. Others, such as with the Cross brothers, were more detailed. Also inside this folder was a mostly blank piece of paper signed by Commander Feliks Danya himself. It read: "You have half a day to do whatever needs doing in New Mu. Once you are finished, meet with General Jack, he shall inform you of your targets' current whereabouts. They are considered armed, super powered, and dangerous. Don't dishonor the Secret Police by getting yourself killed."
[/ QUOTE ]
Thuel read the papers, pulling out his lighter, he burned the paper. He turned and walked out of the building. He walked down the streets to where his stockpile of ammunitions were cleverely hidden beneath a pile of garbage.
Rosalind loosened at the appearance of the soldier and sighed. "Good to see you all right." she said. "Okay. Break up in accordance with evacuation plan Phi. No groups larger than four, and four ONLY if necessary."
Wagging the stub that was once her tail, Rosie gave a brisk nod to the soldier, and then rubbed her head. Gods, but she was tired. There was so much to think about...so much to do now. Their base was gone...everything was compromised. Mages would be there almost immediately to greedily glean the remains of the information - luckily, Rosie had briefed the troops on what to do in these sorts of situations.
All those files...lost.
"It's a good thing Little Boy Blue knows everything under the sun." she muttered. "Let's take off. We can't stay here any longer."
With that, the commander was gone, and in her place stood a border collie with a short nub where its tail had been.
---------------------------------------------
When Midas took her hand, Essex hopped off of Vern's back and trotted alongside the man obediently, her head ducked to avoid eye contact with anyone. The scientist could feel her thin, cold hand shaking with barely contained fear, and it was clammy. Her steps were slow, stepping cautiously around the rubble in her bare feet so as not to cut herself on the broken glass and stone.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
John's eyes drooped slightly as he saw Midas begin walking off. "'Ey... Didja find out if they had any gin or somethin'?" he muttered, following behind quickly. He pulled a small flask from the back of his belt. "This stuff is gettin' old." He gulped whatever liquid was inside down quickly, placing it back in its holder.
Rosalind may have thought her pursuers gone....
But there was one more.
---
"Th...This is...Bear...I'm...hit..bad...I...ngh..." Inquisition Trooper William Bear groaned into his communictor.
"M...mage ambush...Took 'em down...I...lost...my...f...fingers...And...m...my. ..eye..."
It was true.
Most of the top of his left hand was gone.
Along with the left side of his face.
"T--target sighted. Need extraction...Upon assassination."
He grit his teeth, bringing his powerful bow to rest against the flat of his palm. He was prone already, so now the only matter was aiming.
He stared down his Bow's sight at Rosalind. A powerful tip was fit - An armor-piercing model. He aimed right for her heart, pulling back the string with his good hand and an accompanying groan.
And he let go.
((Gotta make things fair 
))
A sharp yelp cut through the air as the arrow cut through the dog's chest like nothing.
The border collie hit the ground with a hollow thud, her form sliding along the ground with the momentum of the powerful arrow. Almost immediately she shifted back into humanoid form.
A brief flash of fire in her eyes was all that Cortianna could see before Rosalind swooned, the powerful Commander of the Rebellion lying in a pool of her own blood.
She was dangerously close to death.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
Bear winced in pain as the wind caught the nubs of his fingers and the gaping wounds in his face. He stared down the sight for the finishing blow....
And finally saw her.
"F..or christ's..."
"..."
"Hat...e...moral...dillem...nrggh..."
---
After what felt like hours of pain, but what was actually only a few more seconds, Bear slowly got to his knees, and then stood.
Oh, would he catch hell for this.
He shambled down towards the downed Rosalind, eyeing Cortianna with his permanent gaze of mistrust and dislike, but this time, it was only through his right eye.
He fell to his knees in front of the downed commander.
"G...Get..."
"...Ant..ibiotics..."
And he painfully tore off a small piece of what was unbloodied on his own clothing, and waited for the trooper to give him something to stop it from getting infected.
The mathematics complex really was very university-like. Vern would have loved to just roam around and look at absolutely everything.
Sigh...well, guess that's what I get for going into this line of work, hehe.
He led the group through a few bereft hallways and corridors. Not badly-kept, in fact they were very well-maintained, just bereft of people at the moment, which was actually quite good.
He stopped by a random door. It looked very ordinary and didn't have a window. Indeed, it had all the indications of just a regular supply closet.
"Alright guys, time to make a choice." Vern turned to the group, stretching out his senses to make doubly sure no one was approaching. If someone came, it was nearly impossible that vern wouldn't know ahead of time.
"The base is stil there because of one simple reason: it's bonded to the planet. Now when I take you in there, several things might or night not happen because of this - you might stay just the way you are, you might revert to te way I know you as, you might die, or worse..."
He paused.
"...you might just plain old cease to exist. The odds for those last two are really really low, but I really have no idea what's going to happen to you once we cross the planet's threshold..."
--------------------
Acid semed to know exactly where he wante to go an how o get there: the Edge of the World. Gate by gate they passed, moving ever closer to the government complex of the World Empire.
"I've got everything sorted out." SENECA reported through the car's interor speaker system, "The rig's as good as it's gonna get. You should be able to make it inside without any difficulties unless they try to scan your souls or something."
"Good." Acid nodded, "And the real Blood Roller?"
"Taken care of." SENECA giggled, "We won't have any problems with conflicting reports."
"Nice to know." Acid chuckled as he drove up to one of themany heavily secured entrance gates of Archlich's complex.
He really hoped they'd be let in. After all, he really just wanted to talk with the lich, and he didn't feel like causing a mess today...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Damien and Darean stood blank faced as the mage and Midas talked. When Vern lead them into the Mathematics Complex Damien got a slight chill down the base of his spine. Darean looked at his twin as flt the same chill.
[ QUOTE ]
"The base is stil there because of one simple reason: it's bonded to the planet. Now when I take you in there, several things might or night not happen because of this - you might stay just the way you are, you might revert to te way I know you as, you might die, or worse..."
He paused.
"...you might just plain old cease to exist. The odds for those last two are really really low, but I really have no idea what's going to happen to you once we cross the planet's threshold..."
[/ QUOTE ]
Damien smiled at Essex. "You might want to let of Midas there little girl. If he reverts to his old self, we might have to kill him."
Darean's face contorted to look of shock. "Brother, must you always be so crude." Darean replied.
"Please Dare, how long have you known me?" Damien asked rhetorically.
Darean just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.
(OOC- Sorry took me long to post was waiting for the fighting to die down.)
John thought for a second.
Well, in all honesty, a second was an overstatement.
"Let's go! This world has bored me beyond belief. Lack of existance or death would be MUCH be--"
He froze. What had he been like before? Evil? Heroic? Annoying? Hero WANNABE? Someone whose inventions blew up all the time like that old cliche'? He practically shivered on that last one. Or... Wait, did he have super powers? Superhuman abilities like Overmagus Archilich?
"...Uh... Let's go?" he said, slightly less enthusiastic. He wanted to find out what he was like MUCH more than be killed or cease to exist now... Ugh, dilemmas...
Essex paled beyond what the others had considered possible. As she clung to Midas, she shook, her eyes wide.
"No..." she murmured, her gaze suddenly turning stormy. "I...I won't go back." the girl declared.
"...I don't want to be a robot again. I don't care if ...if I'm a monster in this life, an abomination, a crime against humanity that doesn't deserve to live. I can feel things. I can taste, smell, touch...I can experience life."
She looked down, her hand still in Midas'...feeling the warmth of his grip.
"...I've never been able to do that before. I mean, I always have, but...not in my other life. My real life. I know that now...it's a terrible time in the world. I'm frightened, and I'm miserable. But...When I'm frightened, I shake...and when I'm miserable, I cry. And that...that makes me happy. Which is perhaps the strangest thing of all."
Essex bit her lip, shifting her footing. She knew she had probably already said too much, and the others would tease her for being so emotional and dramatic. But...she had to at least say something...before she lost the chance.
"...I know this world isn't the way it should be. And I want it to go back. And that's fine. But until then..."
She raised her eyes to Vern's.
"...Please don't take this away from me."
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
Experiment rolled his eyes, and began speaking. "Do you ever stop whi--."
He froze. He could not finish the sentance. Usually, he had no problem telling people they whine too much, or they piss him off, or... Whatever else they do. But this Essex girl was different... In fact, all of them were different, but mostly Essex. He felt like he just COULDN'T hurt her. If he did, he would feel terrible, or would have to hurt himself equally. If not more.
He decided to test this theory.
He clenched his right hand, spun around, and...
Sighed in exasperation. He couldn't even let his body throw a fist at the girl.
He sighed a second time, crouching low, almost to the little girl's height if he wasn't as tall as he was. "Hey, kid," he said, his head turning sympathetically and his eyes seeming to twinkle kindly. This now seemed to be something he was used to. "You know, if you don't go back to how it was, this world could be in big trouble. Heck, you could even help us save the whole world! You can heal people, right? What if one of us get's badly injured, and your arm is stabbed. In your current form, you would be in no position to help anyone... But as a... what was it, a robot? That arm probably wouldn't be really needed..."
Then, his eyebrows lowered. "Okay, that probably isn't a good example..."
He stood, rubbing his chin intently, thinking. "Okay, well, what about this... I am pretty good with technology, I think... If you get badly injured now, it would be MUCH harder to... No, that one sucks too..."
He smacked his head with the bottom of his hand. Then, his eyes shining once again, he lowered back to just above her height. "Okay. How about this... Right now, you can feel sadness, happiness, pain, joy, hatred, love... As a robot, you wouldn't be able to feel what you would now if one of us died, right? If one of us died now, you would probably be traumatized, based on the gore-factor of death and... Okay, you know what?"
He stood again, shaking his head and sitting on the ground entirely, sighing for what seemed to be the tenth time. "Forget I said anything. I can't help you to make the 'right decision.' I can't help you if you are human. I could probably not help you as a robot, as a matter of fact. Stay human then. I will just hang out here too. I am probably just as useful now as I am anywhere else..."
[ QUOTE ]
"...I know this world isn't the way it should be. And I want it to go back. And that's fine. But until then..."
She raised her eyes to Vern's.
"...Please don't take this away from me."
[/ QUOTE ]
Vern sighed as he opened the door. It really led only to a really large supply closet, full with racks and shelves holding cleaning implements of all sorts. The room itself, however, was quite large.
"It's not my choice to make." he finally answered her, "It's yours...in a way. Ya see...dammit, how do I explain this to you...? Your planet listens. It always listens, whether you're paying attention or not. And it has the final say in this. Like I said, nothing at all may happen...or everything could."
With that, he walked into the supply closet, waiting to see who would follow...
((Basically a small plot device for your charcter to 'connect' with his/her normal self. Have nothing happen, see a vision, etc, it's all up to you. 
And no, the closet door isn't the 'threshold' Vern mentioned, so nothing's going to happen just yet.))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Midas could feel the Stone pulsing in his pocket, urging him on to enter the door, but remaining silent. It longed for the scientist to walk through and become himself again, and didnt want to ruin it by making him feel bitter. He knew himself well enough to knew he could become defiant easily.
Midas didnt want to enter the door at all. He was afraid of what he might find on the other side. He was pathetic, but he was also frightened of what he was before, or at least what they said he was before. His mind raced, but he was taken from his own dilemma by little Essex.
Even the Stone could empathize. Dr. Phillis had hated Essex for her insistence that she was independent. She used to be a robot, programmed and without any sort of free will. Her personality had been a mockery, it was disgusting, but this, this was different.
She was real now!
Midas bent down, patting the girl on the shoulder. No one will make you go. Ill make sure of it.
Damien watched as everyone tried to calm down the little girl. Why was she so vital to all of them? Damien looked at his twin brother hoping that he could shed some light on the situation. Darean just stared blankly back at him.
"Yo Dame, take a picture or something, but stop staring at me.", Darean told his brother.
"You know Darean, you can really be an insensitve [censored] sometimes." Damien replied. "What happens if we get back to the real world and the dream we both share comes true?"
"Whatever, it's a dream. We all have dreams and how many come true?"
"I'm just saying waht if it does?"
"Shut-up." Darean said as he pushed past the stragglers and headed into the room with Vern.
With the others busy making their decisions, Vern opted it was time to bring Hallucinogen into this. The fiktive transmitter on board the AGS-III came online agin, locking onto both the hero below and his destination.
In literally zero time, the machine pulled him from normal space and time, through the supersaturated medium of hyperspace, and placed him into the ridiculously largestorage closet with Vern and anyone else who'd entered so far.
"No shouting please." Vern requested of him as soon as the hero apeared, "I'd prefer not to attract undue attention just yet..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Rommel." A voice from behind Kommandant Thuel approached him with something in their hands.
Thuel turned around, pulled out his pistol and held it to the mans gut, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
"Rommel, you dont remember me, but I worked with you a long time ago, I have something for you," The man spoke, holding out an envolope that had a swistica for a seal. "Its not much."
Thuel reached out to grab the envolope, the gun still in the unknown mans gut. He tore open the envolope, there were three photos inside. He didnt reconise the photos and thought the man was trying to scam him, so he shot him in the gut and walked away.
He walked slowly down alley ways to where General Jack was, "Hallo, bin ich hier von Feliks Danya für Aufträge gesendet worden." He spoke in German.
"W, wha, agh!" Hal exclaimed, and then clapped his hand over his mouth, looking around nervously.
"S, sorry," he muttered. "Wait. . . Vern? Do you remember too? Wait, you don't live on this world, so. . ."
Hal looked around at the others assembled there. . . "Experiment? You too? Uh, I don't think we've met," he continued, glancing at Damien and Darean. "And you," He continued, turning to Tam, then Midas. "No, I don't recognize. . . ugh, sorry. . . I bet not all of you remember. Heck, maybe none of you do, I'm amazed I do. . ."
". . . E, Essex!" he exclaimed suddenly, his eyes finally resting on the little girl holding Midas's hand.
"Uh, I mean, uh. . ." he muttered, forcing his voice to drop again, "h, hi, uh. . . do you, uh. . . remember me. . .at all? I'm Hallucinogen. . . remember?"
His face fell as he spoke, though. It looked to him like Essex had been changed considerably. . .
John rolled his eyes and sighed after the initial shock of a smokey figure appearing out of nowhere after Hal spoke.
"Right. You have got to be one of THE BEST liars on this planet, don'tcha. 'Oh, hey Experiment. I don't know you. Hiya Essex, do you remember me? Oh, hello! I know you! Oh, wait, no I don't. Forget I said that.' Well played." chuckled the man, apparently having lost his original 'soft side' from talking to Essex. "I have made up my mind. Into the closet we go!"
With that, he stood and stepped inside, chuckling again at the stupidity of walking into a closet with a bunch of random people and some sort of sentient lizard.
Essex's eyes widened as Hal appeared, and she quietly edged closer and behind Midas, her vision filled with the green smoke. It was dizzying, and she coughed weakly.
Hallucinogen.
"Hal-chan." she heard herself saying, much to her own surprise.
He is a friend.
"You're...my friend."
Swallowing a little, she fixed her eyes on the boy, narrowed a little in humorous scrutiny. As people began to file into the closet, she looked anxiously up at Midas.
"...Do we...really have to?" she pleaded with the scientist. "...The...me...the other me...is telling me to go...that I'll be more helpful that way. That I'll be better and less of a nuisance. And...I'll know people...and be able to help better."
The girl glanced down. "...I guess I mustn't be selfish."
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
((>_>)
Bear couldn't wait any longer. They'd have to disinfect the wound off-site.
And his backup would be arriving soon....
He growled viciously, rolling the dog woman over with little care for her comfort and making sure the arrow was completely out of her. Once this was done, he set to work, one-handedly, with his suture kit, sowing the gaping wounds closed. He pressed firmly down with his makeshift bandages and sealed the wound.
"She isn't going to live long if she doesn't get to a hospital NOW! Haul your sorry [censored]!"
And he took to his feet, staggering from blood loss, and waited...
((Sorry Soviet, was waiting on Arashi. D: My only PC there is the unconscious one. T_T))
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
[ QUOTE ]
"...Do we...really have to?" she pleaded with the scientist. "...The...me...the other me...is telling me to go...that I'll be more helpful that way. That I'll be better and less of a nuisance. And...I'll know people...and be able to help better."
The girl glanced down. "...I guess I mustn't be selfish."
[/ QUOTE ]
"Essex, nothing at all may happen." Vern reminded her as several of the shelves scattered about the room lifted themselves off the floor, their screws seeming to twist out all on their own. They stacked neatly in the corners of the large room, "I really have no idea."
Or everything might happen. Damn, the thought of two Essexs suddenly forming is really creepy for some reason.
"Anyone who isn't coming down," Vern finished moving the shelves, "would do well to clear out right about now. This is gonna get loud..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Midas gave Hallucinogen a dirty look, not liking the smoking metahuman in the slightest, his hatred from the war still going strong. He stood straighter, glaring at the boy patting Essex gently on the head so she knew she was safe.
[ QUOTE ]
"...Do we...really have to?" she pleaded with the scientist. "...The...me...the other me...is telling me to go...that I'll be more helpful that way. That I'll be better and less of a nuisance. And...I'll know people...and be able to help better."
The girl glanced down. "...I guess I mustn't be selfish."
[/ QUOTE ]
Midas shook his head vigorously and growled an angry "No!"
"You're just a little girl, you need no burdens!" he told Essex. "You can't go through there on the risk of losing who you are!"
The Stone certainly seemed to agree.
"If you value your life, you'll stay where you are, child!" the gem argued. "Going through that door and reverting to your former artificial form would destroy everything real that you are! No soul, no true personality, no free will, just a mockery of a self-righteous brat! You will literally cease to exist going in there and becoming your old self!"
"The exact reason I'm not absorbing the Stone!" Midas added.
"You're different, you half-witted idiot!" it argued. "You're a lie, I'm what you really are! You have to absorb me or you won't be able to help anyone! It's your damned duty! Only the illusion will fade, it will be an awakening!"
"Shut up, damn you!" Midas hissed at the pulsing gem. "This isn't the time!" he directed his attention back to the little girl. "I can't let you risk entering there, Essex!"
(( can i write in another char sence Xey is stuck?))
[url="http://www.g4tv.com/pile_player.aspx?video_key=16533"]http://www.g4tv.com/pile_player.aspx?video_key=16533[/url]
a City of Heroes movie on the way?