For a moment, Spark Force briefly considered a career change as he saw from far away what awas happening and inwardly cursed. "Great... Lady, you really starting to get on my nerves today. The way I see it, you could either die or let the heroes help you. What the HELL is that thing and will our powers do any good against it!?"
"Yeah, I'm kinda with him." Jake said, hiking a thumb in Solid's direction. "And may I add, why is a black hole in the sky right now?" Jake grabbed onto something solid while simply temporarily dismissing his bots via teleportation. "Honestly, that kind of thing shouldn't be showing up under present conditions."
[ QUOTE ]
"Oh [censored]!" Solid cursed as his jets sputtered and he barely managed to touch down on the edge of the giant hole in the wall.
Flailing his arms wildly for a second as the black hole almost jerked him off balance, Solid stumbled inside and pointed one finger at Penny while his gun made a slow circuit of the other people in the room.
"I hate it when this [censored] happens while I'm around," Solid muttered to himself before turning up the volume. "Ok girl, you've got ten seconds to explain what the HELL that thing is... Or how the HELL shooting it with BULLETS will do anything!"
[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
For a moment, Spark Force briefly considered a career change as he saw from far away what awas happening and inwardly cursed. "Great... Lady, you really starting to get on my nerves today. The way I see it, you could either die or let the heroes help you. What the HELL is that thing and will our powers do any good against it!?"
[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"Yeah, I'm kinda with him." Jake said, hiking a thumb in Solid's direction. "And may I add, why is a black hole in the sky right now?" Jake grabbed onto something solid while simply temporarily dismissing his bots via teleportation. "Honestly, that kind of thing shouldn't be showing up under present conditions."
[/ QUOTE ]
Penny Arcade held up a hand. "While the portal is forming... its construction is something like... a glass pipe," she panted. "The vortex forms at the mouth. But under the mouth... it has a tail... like a funnel... it takes a minute or so to stabilize... but while it's forming, the tail is vulnerable to gunfire... it disrupts the energy matrixes."
She took a rather pained breath. "As for why... why will take... too long to explain... we are running out of time. If you gentlemen... would excuse me?" She manuvered towards the hole in the wall.
OOC: Don't worry, lots of exposition upcoming! 
"Ah, but affairs here involve me quite vivaciously, if I do say so myself." the obscured man told Jake in a gentle tone as he lifted a final block of concrete out of the way.
He didn't seem surprised as Penny rolled to her knees in spite of her obvious injuries, his featureless mask giving the impression he'd expected it, as well as her threats.
"Verily, vivisection is not valued in my verses." he chuckled, spreading his arms in a disarming gesture, "But let us be brief. You have no intention of harming others. I can assure you, neither do I. I would but like..."
Though he kept speaking as if nothing at all was happening, the cacophony overpowered his voice, making his intentions rather irrelevant as well. The crackling thunder of shattered glass upon the floor eclipsed virtually all tone for a few moments.
The heated discussion was virtually ignored, the man's attention seeming to be somewhere else entirely for a few seconds. Still, it was quite obvious he overheard every word.
"Not quite accurate." he commented as Penny finished her explanation, "But close enough. Your friend does not understand much of dark gateways, I'm afraid. This is both a good and a bad thing, but I do agree it needs to be closed."
He turned to the gathered heroes, "I do believe you can handle this, yes? Oh, of course you can, what am I saying? Oh Miss Arcade, do wait for me, you still have something I need..."
--------------------
Yeah, this wasn't good. For a moment, he'd thought the Shades had somehow survived and were starting another invasion attempt, but then the thought was dismissed as silly and illogical. They never would have attacked in broad daylight, not to mention without possessing things first. No, this was somewhat more mundane, but nonetheless threatening.
Along three streets leading into the area now approached somewhat strange-looking armored vehicles, silently rolling down said roads in groups of two. Stopping just outside the borderline that had once been the security force field, the Crawlers were clearly marked as belonging to an organization that really didn't fit the context here.
Portal Corporation.
The triple-ringed company insignia stood present on all six of them, and from their next action, the conclusion that Portal Corp really did operate these things wasn't far off.
The Crawlers themselves did nothing, but the security force field the trucks had formerly projected snapping back to life in even better integrity than before made it quite obvious what their purpose had to be.
Containment.
Their plainly visible armaments, however, suggested they could do quite a bit more.
The strange ripple that appeared for a moment or two at the apex of the containment field certainly was a clue there was more to this than met the eye. The barrier oscillated quite noticeably for that short duration of time, as if something large had passed through.
Whether in or out, however, was another question entirely...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Threats against the world first; random super villains second," grumbled Solid as he braced himself against a wall support that looked sturdy enough.
With his foot pressing against the chunk of metal to give himself a stable firing position against the black hole, Solid brought up his rifle and took aim at the funnel-ish bottom of the hole in space.
"This had better god damned work," Solid shot at Penny as he calculated trajectories and filtered in the pull of the black hole. "And if someone touches me or helps her get away, they are so getting a fist to the face. Repeatedly."
Aiming complete, Solid flicked up a coolie cap near his thumb and pressed the button underneath. With a roar, a small, high explosive long range missile rocketed out from a modified grenade launcher and streaked toward the funnel. It exploded against the field as though it had hit a solid object, the resulting smoke quickly being whisked away into the hole above it.
"Well, at least I can hit it," Solid said for everyone else's benefit. "Anyone else want to lend a hand here?"
Switching back to normal sniper mode, Solid got ready to plant a hyper-sonic bullet right where the LRM had hit. After that he'd follow up with a grenade and as many bullets as he could throw downrange before his sniping system cooled down.
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.
"Nuts... It's times like this I wished I could fly..." Saprk Force muttered. "No way I could hit it from down here. Unless..." A thought slowly comes to mind. "Anyone here can throw me to that 'tail' thing? I might have a plan."
When Tommy flew into the building, he was surprised and a little relieved that the fighting seemed to have stopped for the moment. Too bad outside the building, reality itself seemed to be circling the drain.
"Gah! Started it has, boss," Scratch rasped irritably, jumping up and down on his shoulder as the little creature watched the chaos outside. "Fire and endings. No more wicked, no more shinys. All gone boss."
Tommy quickly hovered after Penny and the others, the zombie-like boy moving over to float beside them.
"Excuse me Miss," he piped up nervously, but politely. "I'm, um... kinda s'posed to help you, so..." he trailed off, unsure of what to add. Finally giving up he simply ignited his hands to show he was ready to help out.
From far away, the heroes and villains could hear a distinct sound. It was approaching nearer and the sound was growing more familiar. Was that...A person? Yes, that was definately human, a man by the sounds of it. Looking up it seemed as though some tendril was dragging him down... "aaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHH" The giant tenril slammed him through the wall of the apartment onto the floor the others were standing on; nearly crashing into a robot with a gun. He was about 6'6 with brown hair; he wore red and green tech armour with a red and green ventilator.Although it produced a near humorous scene he felt this was no laughing matter. After he regained his composure and the tendril, now obviously some sort of vine, seeped back into the ground he braced himself against the wall of the place.
"Ow damnit....That hurt." His eyes darted around the room as he noticed the odd bunch already here."Sorry for crashing the party." He let out a breath he'd been holding in since his fall...or ascent rather. "Oh yeah, introduction. Hey I'm Flaming Earth, yadda yadda yadda. Now does anyone know WHAT THE HELL THAT THING IS?!"
"Why, a dark gateway, of course." retorted the hooded man, still after Penny, "Somewhat primitive and haphazardly stablilized, though, but still potentially dangerous. Do take it out for me, would you please...?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
(Nothing says, 'I'm ready to help!' like flaming appendages. 
)
Jake gave a slight wave to his unofficial partner in crime with the hand that wasn't keeping him tethered to the Earth. "Was wondering when you'd get here." He said simply before grabbing what seemed to be an energy rifle from under his trenchcoat with the very same hand and taking aim at the black hole. "I'm skeptical as to if this will actually work, but if the black hooded guy agrees, I'll give it a shot. One thing I've learned in my experiences is that the mysterious guys with hidden intentions tend to know a Hell of a lot more than I do." And with that, he fired. "Oh yeah, Flaming, to answer your question, this is Penny." Jake vaguely gestured in her direction with the still smoking gun. "Penny has something valuable that seemingly everyone here wants. Arachnos and myself slammed her into this building with a missle-o'-death and she became vunerable. That's when that opened up." Jake said, gesturing again, this time to the portal. "And that's pretty much all you missed." He smirked and fired again into the portal.
"Err, right." Flaming was still staring at the giant purple vortex o' doom there. "So...Attacking that thing will make it go away so I can get back to the ba--" He remembered there were many heroes in the room too. "Submarine." He aimed a hand down at his feet as green gass came pouring out. A various asortment of roots came up from the ground and wrapped around his feet, securing him for a while. After which he raised his right arm and braced it with his other. Fire started swirling around his had as he prepared for the long distance shot.
Penny Arcade took a moment to shout at people. "You see the tail.... under the black hole... like the string from a kite? Shoot it! Spines - bullets - flames - anything!" A particularly strong gust of wind almost pulled her off her feet but she held on doggedly. "We need to take positions around the square!" She pointed out nearby buildings. "You go here - you go there - you on the top of that tallest skyscraper, that should put you in range... We'll be able to see each other! The portal is spinning clockwise! We're going to set up a ring and shoot in a concentric counterclockwise, that will give us the best chance of overloading it!"
To Solid Shot, she added: "I'm going to be directly across the square from you - we'll coordinate via radio - here's my frequency!"
To Tommy, she said, "If you want to help, get him" (indicating Spark Force) "Over there!" She pointed to the tallest antenna on the tallest building. "Then take a position by that building," (pointing at a nearby building) "And shoot anything you've got at that tail!"
To Spark Force, she said, "You're going to be closest to the tail! Lash yourself down on something solid, if things go south and you're not lashed down you'll be the first one pulled in!"
To Flaming Earth, she said, "Take position over there," she pointed at another nearby building around the square. "We want to put as much mass into the tail as we can! Stones - spines - anything!"
To Jake she said, "You know, Buster would be really useful for this!"
To the Hooded man, she said, "Come with me - we need to talk."
To the group she said, "Let's go!" She made to move to the position she had selected for herself.
OOC: I don't *think* I missed anyone - please send me a message if I inadvertantly failed to include somebody!
This was quickly becoming an impass - he knew the Crawlers would prevent just about anything from getting out of the area (or at least his readings suggested there wasn't anything that gate could spit out that could make it past them), but for people inside it, things might soon get very dangerous indeed.
He looked down upon the dark gate. He knew enough to wipe the thing out in one shot, but that would not only give away that he was here at all, but also reveal his position to anyone with even a gram of good sense to follow the telltale trail of energy artillery.
No, they'd handle it. That was their job. His was not to be seen, and that's how it had to stay.
They'd handle it.
Hopefully...
--------------------
"Of course, Miss Arcade." replied the figure in the dark cloak generously, following Penny without a second thought.
[ QUOTE ]
"Come with me - we need to talk."
[/ QUOTE ]
Uh-oh...I hope she didn't just notice that...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Feh." Jake said, frustrated that his near victory had been interrupted by the sudden appearance of a dark portal. Releasing Buster and the Protector Bots from their interdimmensional doom, he again summoned his own and gave to the order to completely open up fire on the tail of the portal, following the plan of counter clockwise fire. Quickly tying himself and his bots to the floor, he just sat back and watched, like any good mastermind should.
If a robot could scowl, Solid's expression would cause stone to crack under the strain of his displeasure. Normally he would violently disagree with letting a known villain get far away from him and out of possible pursuit distance, but considering that something was trying to suck the city into a bottomless void and that Penny herself was quite injured, he figured he could let things slide just this once.
"Target lost," Solid muttered as the funnel swung away from him.
"If this doesn't work," Solid informed Penny over the radio frequency she had passed him as he waited for his chance to fire to roll by again. "My ghost is going to kill your ghost till the end of time. Got that?"
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: you forgot me
Drakonice flew next to penny healing some wounds with a portable healing device. "All I have is a one shot crey pistol but if you need someone or something secured I'm your man. Unless of course rock would work." Drakonice reached his hands in the ground and pulled out a giant chunk of rock.
"Alright....Penny was it? I'm on my way." Normally he might make a smart-aleck remarck because of being ordered so soon, but now wasn't exactly the time. "Here goes nothing." He shot some greenish gas towards his feet in an arc motion towards where he needed to go. As it fell to the floor he was grabbed by roots and dragged under-ground. 'Least I'm safe down-- Before he could finish the thought the piece of ground above him was ripped up towards the vortex in the sky. He let out a bit of a yelp at this unexpected event and continued on his way, though now with a bit less protection.
(I shall be away for a week, try not to let Jake fall behind too much, and even control him if need be, just don't act too OOC.)
ooc that;s fine - been away the weekend and too busy at work today to post, will try and post tonight.
Jen 8)
(Back! What'd I miss...? *looks around* >.> *pokes thread* Hello?)
((Yah, not much. We're all waiting for Jennifer. ))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
((Everyone:
Please accept my apologies for my silence. I have been completely buried at work. Hopefully next week will be better, though it might still be spotty.))
[ QUOTE ]
If a robot could scowl, Solid's expression would cause stone to crack under the strain of his displeasure. Normally he would violently disagree with letting a known villain get far away from him and out of possible pursuit distance, but considering that something was trying to suck the city into a bottomless void and that Penny herself was quite injured, he figured he could let things slide just this once.
"Target lost," Solid muttered as the funnel swung away from him.
"If this doesn't work," Solid informed Penny over the radio frequency she had passed him as he waited for his chance to fire to roll by again. "My ghost is going to kill your ghost till the end of time. Got that?"
[/ QUOTE ]
"Got it," Penny sounded mildly amused. "Though I suppose... it would be an interesting philosophical discussion.. as to whether or not I would have a ghost.... good shot, by the way."
[ QUOTE ]
Drakonice flew next to penny healing some wounds with a portable healing device. "All I have is a one shot crey pistol but if you need someone or something secured I'm your man. Unless of course rock would work." Drakonice reached his hands in the ground and pulled out a giant chunk of rock.
[/ QUOTE ]
Penny blinked and stared at Drakonice. She had visited Paragon City only very infrequently, and had learned not to expect aid or kindness from anyone, let alone a Paragon City hero.
The healing beam definitely had an effect, and she exhaled as some of the pain was suddenly relieved. "Er... thank you," she said uncertainly. "And rock would be wonderful. The bigger, the better. We're after density of mass or potent energy, either one will work."
[ QUOTE ]
"Alright....Penny was it? I'm on my way." Normally he might make a smart-aleck remarck because of being ordered so soon, but now wasn't exactly the time. "Here goes nothing." He shot some greenish gas towards his feet in an arc motion towards where he needed to go. As it fell to the floor he was grabbed by roots and dragged under-ground. 'Least I'm safe down-- Before he could finish the thought the piece of ground above him was ripped up towards the vortex in the sky. He let out a bit of a yelp at this unexpected event and continued on his way, though now with a bit less protection.
[/ QUOTE ]
The swirling hole in the sky gained momentum with amazing speed. Its rotation was now reaching out to pull in things that had previously been too large, including one of the unfortunate burned-out generator trucks. Still slightly too heavy to be sucked in completely, it was nevertheless flung a quarter of a mile to impact a building that had previously been out of range of damage, turned from a constructive force for good into a forty-ton bomb. Having already burned itself out, it did not explode, but cracks ranged up the walls of the building, which trembled uncertainly.
Penny Arcade's plan became obvious almost immediately. The vortex had a long, twisting tail which was spinning in the same direction as its mouth. However, when it was struck by the blasts from Solid's rifle, it hesitated before continuing to spin. It caught up almost immediately with mouth again, but its rotation had been momentarily interrupted. With enough firepower in the right direction, it should make the tail spin in the opposite direction than the mouth, and thus the portal would tear itself apart in the middle.
Buster, freed from his bonds, radioed in. "Six or nine?" He called to Penny Arcade.
"Nine, I'll take six!"
"Got it."
Penny Arcade turned off her radio. Solid heard her do it. But in the badly-damaged suit, her transmission did not cease, though she didn't seem to be aware she currently had an open mike.
"Look," she said to the shadowy, robed figure, "the guy who made this damned thing is called Dr. Shayde, and he's completely around the bend. He believes that he's contacted the Rikti and that they have agreed to make him their king if he can find a way for them to invade again." She took up her position. "Obviously he is a moron, but it seems that somewhere, somehow, he actually has been in contact with the Rikti. It should take a minute or so for this thing to stabilize, maybe a bit longer because of the distance. Once it's stabilized, the Rikti can grab it from the other end and maybe make it actually work instead of being the nuisance it is now... at least, if they can figure out the encryption without the key." The tail swung around, and she opened fire, not speaking again until it had swung past her. "They would be here already but we got reeeeeeally lucky in the Isles the day before yesterday."
Sparks flew angrily around as the tail began taking fire, but the vortex didn't close. Not yet. Its center enlarged itself until it was possible to see that there was something else inside of it. At first, it wasn't possible to see what it was - a sort of grayish, bluish mass.
Then, something moved. The grayish stuff seemed to be water. That much became apparant when the enormous, red, suckered tentacle rose from it, and brushed curiously against the opening. It didn't go through, as if it had brushed against glass, but everyone had a spectacular view of it, each of the suckers looking every bit as big as the unlucky generator truck that had shot by only a moment ago.
"Oh yes," Penny Arcade deadpanned, "And even when it is unstable, it does have a few other little quirks..." the tail came around again, and she opened fire.
Flaming's eyes grew wide as he saw the tentacle emerge from the stuff inside the vortex. She didn't say anything about giant-****ing-space-tentacles! He slapped his hand against his face Mikey is gonna have to pay double for this time.... As the tail swung by again he shot a ball of flame towards tail, watching the ball explode as it hit.
"Oh, we know all about that." retorted the veiled figure calmly, "Though you are partially mistaken. But I'm afraid I'm not allowed to go into that. All I'm here for is the key, and I suppose now to destroy that...heh, 'gate' if your efforts fail by some highly unfortunate perchance. Oh no, do not worry yourself - I do not actually want the key. I want but its destruction."
"Oh, that does remind me." the man chuckled, raising a finger, "I believe your suit may be quite damaged. You are presently broadcasting our conversation still. Not that I mind, but I surmised you might..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Oh [censored]!" Solid cursed as his jets sputtered and he barely managed to touch down on the edge of the giant hole in the wall.
Flailing his arms wildly for a second as the black hole almost jerked him off balance, Solid stumbled inside and pointed one finger at Penny while his gun made a slow circuit of the other people in the room.
"I hate it when this [censored] happens whle I'm around," Solid muttered to himself before turning up the volume. "Ok girl, you've got ten seconds to explain what the HELL that thing is... Or how the HELL shooting it with BULLETS will do anything!"
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.