"Awh, y'all don' hafta worry 'bout her no more." Curtis cackled darkly. "Ah reckon she an' 'er l'il killbot 'ave had sum technic'l difficulties..."
He suddenly stopped.
"Y'all just hear a Class 17 shell impact up 'bove?"
"Workin' on it, boss." The Engineer responded.
"Command, we need satellite imaging of Perez Park...
---
"I thought I told the last one...."
"No more interlopers!"
One of the trees next to the two Praetorian attackers was suddenly cleaved in two by the force of an energy beam, its source becoming obvious as the Magus stepped through the smoldering remains flanked by two of his best Death Mages.
"Begone from this place or suffer as she did." He snarled, throwing what was left of Praetorian Selene's head at their feet.
"Class Nine and two Class Six enemy arcane types identified," rumbled the robot as it slowly turned to face the Magus. "Activating anti-magic defenses. Loading anti-arcane type combat algorithms. Requesting aid of Subject Mooncipher to annihilate Class Six arcane types."
Moving slowly, the robot slammed both fists together, creating a sparking field that enveloped the machine in a globe of hissing energy that faded away soon after it was revealed. The arcs of electricity coursing over its form started shooting out wider, grounding themselves in the ground around it and blasting smaller burn marks in the already blasted ground.
"Obeying prime directive: All metahumans of Primal Earth must die," said the robot as it leapt up out of the crater and shot down through the air at the Magus, one fist pulled back to smash the offender's head in.
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.
"Then suffer for your transgressions as all of your kind shall!" The Magus boomed, flinging his hands forward in unison with his Death Mages. Each of the two Death Magi fired screaming skulls wrapped in ethereal energy right out of their hands, but the Magus had another attack entirely coming.
"DIE!" He cackled, and a bolt of pure force flew from his hands, primed to blow the Robot back with enough force to shatter Impervium Armor.
((I think me and colin are about to have an awesome-off.))
((Too bad Magus doesn't have the boost from those sacrificed police officers like he's expecting... I almost feel bad about that (thanks to the Watch series...). Oh well...))
Cory and his opposite ducked and dove through the air, prisoners of Ziggursky watching below. It was surprisingly silent, it seemed the prisoners didn't know whom to root for.
What was even more peculiar was what little distance the two had made against each other...
Whenever Cory threw a ball of fire at his foe, it was absorbed into an armor of flames that wrapped and wreathed around the Praetorian. Whenever the Praetorian threw a beam of ice, Cory altered the attack to make material for his own frosty armor.
"It seems," his foe muttered as he paused in the air and simply dropped his latest assault to the ground below, "We have reached an impasse..."
"Indeed," Cory formed a blade of ice in his right hand, "What do you say we find another means of finishing our duel?"
"Sounds intriguing," the Praetorian chuckled, "I shall enjoy spilling your blood and reducing your corpse to ashes!"
"And I will be just as happy doing the same to you," Simmons replied, "I've been informed I shouldn't be, but my moral beliefs are vastly different from my fellows."
The Praetorian crafted a pair of fire blades, one for each hand.
"Perhaps, there's more similarity to us than we first believed..." the dark version mused, "How unfortunate we must meet in these conditions."
"Unfortunate," Cory agreed, "But necessary. For us, there cannot be two in the same world."
"And others?"
"Others don't bear the weight of destiny so hard."
With that, the two demon-winged warriors dove at each other, one wrapped in and wielding ice, the other fire. They clashed where they met and sped away from each other without losing momentum. After an appreciable distance, Cory looked at himself.
The fire blade he didn't deflect had scored a neat line across the torso of his armor. He sighed as he realized just what he would have to do to win. He had a subtle fear he was slightly behind in the course of the fight however.
----
Cedric paid little attention to the Praetorians falling out of the sky around him. He should have known, the first attack was almost a diversion, just something to amass Prime Earth's forces in one region, and attack somewhere (or, as the case may be, everywhere) else entirely.
He made for the statue at the center of Steel Canyon. There, he found a small army of low-level heroes battling alongside Positron and Valkyrie. Though they seemed determined, there was definite fear in everybody's eyes.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" he shouted as he dove into the rear ranks of the Praetorians.
The first one, he simply cleaved through the back. It was a robot, so that was fine.
The next, he wrapped a chain around his neck and dragged him to the ground. A swift stomp on his face and the Rampager stopped moving. A little much, but Cedric wasn't in hero mode anymore.
He was a Marine again.
Two more dropped with swift kicks to the backs of their legs, and Cedric ended them with hard chops.
By this time, the Praetorian soldiers noticed the newcomer and started turning their attention to him as well. Cedric wasn't really paying them much mind, though. His target was further along, engaged with Valkyrie.
A few beams of bright, incandescent energy tore through the ranks of Praetorians and Ryat66 was suddenly there. Diving into the middle of the fight, the tiny android started wailing on the villains, his punches charged with high voltage. He seemed especially devastating against the Clockwork robots.
"Your city is finished!" Battle Maiden shouted at her counterpart, "Give up, and your death will be quick, if not painless!"
"I will never give up!" Valkyrie shouted back, "I will not let you reduce this city, this world, my home into a wasteland! You will not bring Ragnarok here!"
"Hee-YEAH!" Cedric slammed into Battle Maiden from behind and the villain went tumbling a few feet away, "Need some help?"
"Verily," the heroine replied, "But we had a battle of honor-"
Cedric threw the axe and struck a Rampager sneaking from behind her.
"This is war," Grey replied curtly, "All's fair, remember?"
"Still, this is my fight..."
"You're going to have to step in line, then," Cedric muttered, "I owe it to my Praetorian to make good his fight, which happened quite a while before you met her..."
The heroine glared at him like he was crazy, but relented. She didn't have much choice at the time, as another group of Praetorian troops broke through the Freedom Corps retainers and started making for her and Positron.
"Remember me?" Cedric shouted over the rioting, "Maybe not... See, you probably remember longer hair, a leather outfit... Not like Domi's little toadies, but more like one of them..."
Cedric hurled one of his chains and tripped up a Champion of Mourning to illustrate his point.
"I recognize the attitude," Battle Maiden hissed as she picked herself back up, "Cedric the Gray..."
"Cedric Grey, here," he replied, "Though, uh..."
He waved the axe at her.
"My brother does have a bone to pick with you."
"His axe?" she whispered, "The one stolen from my armory... How did it come into your possession?"
"Who knows?" Cedric pulled the axe back, ready to fight, "But it's time to settle the score!"
"You truly think you can win against me?"
"Oh yeah," Cedric chuckled, "You're dog food."
----
Ryat99 reached the Freedom Corps building as the Praetorians did. Back Alley Brawler was leading the fight as fresh heroes, Freedom Corps troops, and heavy class Police Drones attempted to hold back the enemies.
"Excuse me," he muttered as he tossed Rampagers, Cockatrices, and Alley Cats out of his way, "Pardon me. Coming through."
Back Alley Brawler's fist almost connected with Ryat99's face as he broke through the Praetorian lines.
"Whoah!" the big android intoned passively, "That's a big fist!"
"You sound almost like Citadel," Brawler backed away cautiously, "You're not some sort of alternate alternate, are you?"
"Oh no, I can't hope to compete with the complexity of his programming," Ryat99 replied almost cheerfully, "At least, I think I can't... Maybe it is possible... Oh well, food for thought later. For now, can I please enter the Freedom Corps building? These guys scratching at my back and butt are starting to do some real damage."
Ryat99's icicle spikes were dangerous enough to cause the villains worry, but they were still getting their hits in. The fortunate thing, however, was that Ryat99 was providing an excellent distraction at the moment for all of the low-level heroes to take a breath and coordinate their attacks more effectively.
"Go right ahead," Brawler nodded after a short while longer so he could be sure everybody was ready for another push, "Thanks for your help, so far."
"Don't thank me yet," Ryat99 warbled cheerfully, "Wait until I unleash the cavalry!"
"Cavalry?" Back Alley Brawler grunted as he jumped back into the fight, "What the Hell?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
The skulls shot right at the machine but stopped in midair, blocked by a shimering yellow shield that seemed to absorb them without any undue effects. The bolt of pure force presented a little more of a challenge. The bolt slammed into the shield and was stopped by it, but not before imparting a hefty amount of its energy as kinetic force in the direction opposite of where the machine was falling towards. This served to arrest his fall as though his shield had hit a brick wall.
Plummeting to the ground, the machine landed in a crouch but surged back to its feet almost instantly. Barreling down on the Magus, the machine displayed an agility that was incongruous with such a bulky hunk of metal and circuitry. With this agility, the machine easily dodge any straight attacks that the Magus threw at it, though the Magus couldn't know how adept the machine was yet.
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.
Knowing well that the strange machine could easily outmaneuver his more mundane powers, the Magus immediately switched to the big guns.
"Suffer and die!!" He roared again even as his Death Magi blasted out waves of torrential Dark Power. The mage himself held his hands high above his head, and a giant swirling vortex of hellfire and energy appeared in them. He flung his hands forward and the massive wave of energy and flame blasted forth, turning the ground below it into magma and shaking practically the entire park with its power.
---
"H3Y 1\10013 M155 M3?!" KR|_|51-1 yelled, slamming into the ground about half a mile from Bobcat, who had moved to Atlas. The Cat only hissed ferally.
"S|_|C|< 01\1 T1-115 F|_|RFAG!!!!" The monstrous beast of man and machine triumphantly roared, producing from his armor --
A Warburg Nuke Beacon!!
"OLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!" He cackled to the heavens triumphantly as his Freaks joined in the cheer. The streaking missile came flying out of the sky at hundreds of miles an hour, and Bobcat could only look up for a moment--
FWOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!
AJ blinked at Greta, closed her eyes and shook her head, then leaned forward to peer closely at the woman for several seconds.
Then she began to laugh uproariously.
"Oh my ohm... the chick's possessor over tracks for the Doc!" The tombot clutched at her sides, nearly doubled over in laughter.
"Can you believe that?" She asked of the nearest Malta she was now leaning against. The TacOp looked down at her, a bemused smile under his mask as he wondered how long before she would start acting the same once she really realized Curtis was in the room.
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
The dank darkness of the sewer closed in about him as he stepped slowly, carefully along the tunnel. He was massive, nearly eight feet tall, and wearing either metal armor or robotic parts over his entire body.
"Don't know how I drew this duty," Scrap-Yard grumbled to himself inside his helmet. "I'm about as sneaky as a Mac truck hitting a glass wall."
"You're there because you can see in the dark Scrap-Yard," he heard from his helmet comm. "And because you know your opponent."
"And because there was nobody else in the neighborhood," Scrap-Yard replied in a low tone. He was hardly Paragon City's most experienced hero. He had barely cleared Security Level 20 recently and now he was pulling a solo mission against a terrible and hated foe.
A sound came to him from the darkness, a scrape of metal on metal. The dripping of the water, the low groaning of the shifting earth around the tunnel, even the occasional hiss of steam releasing could all be filtered out. He froze, dialing up the gain on his sensors to the maximum. There, in the distance, he saw it. The faint red glow of a cybernetic eye. A quick sweep confirmed that his opponent was alone. So it was to be a duel then...a fight to the finish. Well at least he knew who he was fighting.
"I hear you Scrap-Yard," a mechanical voice echoed through the tunnel. The red eye shifted and fixed upon him. There was a glint of metal, sparks as steel rubbed against metal pipes, and then he was there.
"Chop-Shop!" Scrap-Yard hissed through his speech filter as he hefted his heavy mace. "I see you came alone...again."
"Always do as you recall," the other cyborg almost chuckled in reply. He hefted a large battle axe easily in his hands. "No point in bringing friends along...our fight is a personal one...always has been."
"I think I'm up on you by two...brother," Scrap-Yard said as the two of them stepped towards each other. They met at an intersection of two tunnels...cramped but with just enough space to swing their weapons.
"I don't count the last one...brother," Chop-Shop said as they slowly circled each other. "Longbow brought me down that time...not you."
"Very well, one then. Let's see if you can even the score of if we finish this once and for all!"
To be continued...
"Comics, you're not a Mastermind...you're an Overlord!"
"Ah, good day to you," came a cold voice. "Quite impressive, my friend. . . do you have anything that does not create a large explosion?"
Mooncipher had appeared behind the Magus, apparently untouched by any of his attacks, as his ally had taken much of the notice. . . just the way he liked it. Before the words had left his lips, both the Death Mages had been yanked up into the air and hurled at the Magus as makeshift projectiles, while Mooncipher fired a beam of bluish-white moonfire, much more chilling than burning and more like ice than anything else, at the Magus as well. . .
"Hah!" The Magus shot, his feet instantly lifting off of the ground and propelling him into a near twenty-foot-long backflip. As he flew through the air, he drew from his robes a blade that was dripping blood and magma.
The Hellfire Blade.
The Magus had, in ancient days, found the true Hell that many religions saw as ultimate punishment. Fearing no thing, mortal or immortal, brazenly the Thornsman had entered, slaying and binding Demon and Damned alike. And he had arrived at the Lake of Fire when he decided that this would be the place to forge the sword of torment itself.
Every day for Six hundred sixty-six days he traveled back, binding beast and demon into the hellish scimitar. Finally, to cast the Unholy Blade itself, he had forged it in the Lake of Fire, the pit of Eternal Suffering where the Devil and the Beast burn to this day. This was the Hellfire Blade, and it was one of the most powerful artifacts the Circle possessed. Upon contact with nearly any material known to man or otherwise, the affected substance would be completely annihilated at a molecular level, and if living, its soul would be touched by the icy pall of all evil itself. The Chill of Death and the Burning of Hellfire were wreathed together in that Obsidian blade, and constantly it dripped corporeal manifestations of Hate and Malice taking the form of molten metals and fiery sulfur. It is said that to be slain with the Hellfire blade is equal to Damnation.
And as the Mage twisted through the air and swung with supernatural force at Mooncipher, it seemed this was to be decided.
((This incredibly Satanic moment brought to you by the Circle of Thorns and Uncle Patches Chicken Basket Barn.))
[ QUOTE ]
((This incredibly Satanic moment brought to you by the Circle of Thorns and Uncle Patches Chicken Basket Barn.))
[/ QUOTE ]
((Uncle Patches Chicken Basket Barn - When you need your chicken DEEP FRIED. How deep? Core of the Earth deep! Now seasoned with the souls of the damned!))
"Guh...vas...?" Greta fidgeted desperately, turning her glance to AJ and flushing nearly purple in embarrassment. "I am...nothing of the sort!"
"That is fortunate." West said coldly as he typed away at his panel. "Because, I will inform you now, you make a very poor friend as a spurned lover. I would not enjoy another murderous lunatic in my life, thank you."
At this, the Praetorian turned a little grey.
"What is it, sir?" Essex asked Curtis, now back to her calm self now that they were safe. "Surely you're not thinking of...leaving, are you?"
"They can leave if they like..." West interrupted, finishing his task with a tap of keys and standing. "After all, if Praetorians truly are invading, then the outside needs as much help as they can get. But you..."
Essex suddenly vanished from among the Malta and appeared next to West as he teleported her onto the control panel. "...You are not going anywhere."
A globe of light enveloped the android, and she looked down at her father, wide-eyed.
"What...Papa, but they might need my help...!"
West typed quickly, the globe hovering in midair, lifting the android's feet off the ground.
"I am sure your friends will agree that the safest place for you is here. It is far too dangerous outside, and the ones you are fighting are not your friends. They are the antithesis of everything you know and love about them. What would you do if you had to face a Praetorian Curtis, hm?"
"Mr. Curtis already owned him." Essex offered quietly from inside the sphere.
"Oh. Well, then, a Praetorian Reikoff then, or Toy Dispenser, or even Hallucinogen. No, my girl, I am not risking having you destroyed by your own sentimentality. You are staying here, and that is final."
"But Papa --"
"Final!"
With that, the sphere was enveloped by a laser matrix, containing the android inside. West leaned back in his chair and exhaled, turning around to face the others.
"This laboratory is secure." he said. "If you wish to leave, we must be very careful of entry and exit. I do not suggest leaving the lab without a plan of action."
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
((Yay! Mommy, can we go to Uncle Patches Chicken Basket Barn? D: There's a free Asmodeus action figure in every box!))
"What?!" Mooncipher exclaimed, as the Magus flipped over him and drew his hellish blade. The Praetorian demigod veered to the side in a gust of wind just in time to avoid his eternal damnation from the Magus' strike.
"Very well, then." came his voice as fog engulfed his surroundings, obscuring his location. "I am glad to see you have decided to try."
Where he had been a moment before, the dimensions warped, and gravity collapsed into a single point, the circular field resulting so powerful that it might as well have been solid. The Singularity tore at the laws of physics, threatening to trap anything that came near in crushing fields or gravitational distortions or simply hurl them away, while Mooncipher typed frantically inside the fog, and storm clouds gathered in the sky. He had seen that blade for what it was, and did not intend to allow the infernal weapon anywhere near him if he could help it. . .
* * * * * *
"Gah!" Hal exclaimed as West teleported Essex to him and forbade her to leave. "Well. . . um. . . at least you'll be safe here, Essex," he said, watching her wistfully.
"Uh, I don't even know what's going on. . . anyone have a plan?"
"Hmh." Curtis grunted softly, turning back to one of his Engineers and muttering something almost inaudible to him.
"Get Reikoff on th' line an' have 'em find all 'o RFP's Praetors. Ah gots wunna them bad feelin's."
The Engineer quickly complied as Curtis glanced back to make sure no one had heard. "Ayup, ah reckon we gots Praetorians ter bust. We can't spring no plans when two-timin' bastards like that Ninja 'n his crew're wreckin' everythin'." He responded, acting perfectly nonchalant. "Reckon we could recall outta here. Think ah dun done it afore once 'r twice. Doc, this new lockdown gonna interfere with m' 'slinger teleporter?"
---
"Die! Every last one of you DIE!" The Magus shrieked, a lightning strike blasting the ground near him on the final 'die.' Bracing himself, the Magus slowly began to drift forward into the mass, unable to stop its awesome gravitational pull.
But the Magus was an Arcane Master, not a fool of science.
Knowing good and well that he could collapse the Gravity Well by overloading it with mass and magical energy (Which could assume several properties at will because of his great power,) he began to blast away at it with Ice, Fire, Darkness, and everything else he could think of with one hand, whilst the other fired wide-spread waves of radiation into the haze.
"Warning! Class Twenty magical artifact detected! Excessive caution when engaging is advised!" shouted out the machine as the Magus drew the Hellfire blade and set about jumping around.
Knowing full well that it could only stand up to a Class Twenty combat artifact for less than a minute, the machine decided to end this fight as quickly as possible.
Snapping both arms out wide to its side, the machine deployed two long blades from its forearms. One blade hummed with pure energy, powered as it was by pure light and the good of all mankind, it glowed brighter here than it normally would on Praetorian Earth. The second blade was like a hole cut out of existence in the shape of a sword; powered by the void and the evil of all things, it was slightly weaker in this world, but still extremely powerful. The two blades were called Yin and Yang by their creator before he was killed and his creations stolen. They were only classified as Class Twleve artifacts, but their dual nature allowed them to survive against things that would annihilate a normal Class Twelve. The machine had only had need to deploy these weapons once before and that fight had nearly cost it its life. Hopefully this would go a bit better.
Taking several steps forward, the machine hurled itself straight at the Magus, switching power from its personnal armor to the m-shield surrounding its form. The swords would be its only defense against such a powerful artifact.
Both swords pulled back to punch them into the Magus' body and magic impacting on his shield, the machine was quite prepared to end this now.
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.
((By the way, Soviet, West's Praetorian is dead. <.< ))
"I don't know...." West said with a thoughtful frown, typing again. "....Actually, I have an idea."
Looking up at Essex where she floated, he smiled briefly.
"Now don't you worry, m'girl." he muttered. "You'll still be able to keep everyone safe."
With that, her eyes blazed green as a module came down from the ceiling to contain the laser-protected sphere. Hal, AJ, and the Malta had seen this plenty of times before - Essex was connecting directly with the base itself, taking complete control over its functions.
"...With Essex overseeing the base's functions, she can make a temporary vulnerability for your frequency and your frequency only. It will close after a moment, so we must be sure to take care."
West straightened, walking towards the group. Along the way, he picked up his massive assault rifle and swung it over his shoulder.
He handed off little single earbuds to the group. "This will allow us to communicate with Essex and requisition what we may need from the base. She will be able to teleport it to us without delay."
"I'm just glad to be able to help, even if I have to stay here." Essex's voice came from a nearby speaker.
"That's my girl." said West. "Don't worry. Nothing will happen to us."
"Well, gentlemen, AJ. Shall we go for a walk outside?"
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
((DEEERRRRP...Edited...post forthcoming....))
((Collaborative.))
You dare to defy the might of the Circle of Thorns, soulless machine? shouted the Magus as he brought up the Hellfire Blade just in time to keep the robot from running him through.
Even though the Magus had more than enough time to prepare for the impact, it still forced him back through the air away from the singularity. The three swords clashed, held between the two as the machine tried to exert its tremendous strength to overpower the Magus despite his dangerous blade. But the Magus was not to be taken that easily as he gathered his sorcerous power to augment his meager strength and hold the machine off.
By the will of Tyrant, all of your kind shall be brought to heel, the machine stated, speaking this as an immutable fact of life that the Magus simply hadnt gotten around to accepting yet. Your way of life shall be ended and all that you once knew consumed in my lords quest to dominate all.
Powerful blasts of energy were emanating from the locked swords as the two struggled against one another and unleashed the great energies their swords contained. Below the midair fight, the earth churned as though it was rippling water and pillars of rock and fire shot up at random, tearing apart the ground with the sheer force of their struggle.
Truly it was like something out of Dragonball Z.
Foolish automaton, the Magus hissed. I shall not be slain as easily as you would like to think![/b]
Narrowing his eyes to focus his concentration, the Magus began reciting the words to a spell that would surely force the machine back and enable him to get in the single blow he needed to end this travesty of a challenge. But several of the machines eyes whirred as they studied his lip movements and deciphered what he was muttering over the sound of the countless demonic souls of the Hellblade screaming in abject pain and torture as they ground against their very anti-thesis in the blade Yin. Comparing the words to its extensive database, the machine decided that it would be a very bad idea to let the Magus finish his spell. Things were solved with a simple kick to the Magus shin. Even devoid of most of its force from the odd position both fighters were in, the kick still managed to break what little concentration the Magus could scrounge from giving himself enough strength to hold the machine off.
Insolence! the Magus shouted as he returned his full concentration to the fight and sent a surge of power through the Hellblade.
With a shrieking that rent the air, Yin came apart in a massive explosion, throwing the machine to the ground and staggering the Magus. The machine fell like a comet, wreathed in white fire and trailing bits of metal from the stump of its right hand. The Magus, much better off than the machine, was able to quickly right himself and quickly launched into a new spell while the machine struggled to its feet.
Detha karan bakarat neson! Ahlak terran mo-!
The Magus chanting was abruptly cut off by a sharp pain lancing through his chest. Looking down, the Magus beheld the hilt of the sword Yang protruding from the center of his chest. The blade of the void blade poked out his back and the Magus could feel it eating away at his insides.
I SHALL RETURN FOR YOUR LIFE, MACHINE! the Magus screamed as he redirected the energy he had been gathering into his own body.
With a tremendous roar, the Magus exploded in a soul-shaking blast of green fire, splitting trees in every direction. Yang was consumed in the detonation, utterly annihilated by the force of the Magus suicide explosion. Unnoticed in all the commotion, the bodiless soul that was the true Magus fled down into Oranbega, the Hellfire Blade rendered into a non-corporeal form so that it could remain with its master.
Class Ten arcane type defeated, the machine grumbled. Moderate damage suffered to combat frame. Efficiency reduced by 30%. Combat operations still possible.
---
"Les' move it, troops." Curtis barked at his Malta Operatives, who snapped to attention and waited for Doc West to lead the way. Curtis walked back to the troops to make sure all their gear was in order and to survey the satellite feed. As he passed by AJ, he looked down at her and grinned roguishly.
"Reckon there's fightin' ter be done, AJ, you ready?"
The Engineer was still watching the satellite photo stream of the battle above. "...I knew recording this was a good idea."
And then the Magus detonated.
"Holy sh-!" The Engineer couldn't finish his curse as he and several other Operatives stumbled to the ground, some to take cover, some because their feet had suddenly deemed it to be so.
"Whoa nelly!" Curtis almost fell in the suprise of the shock but managed to both keep to his feet and try to keep AJ from toppling as well.
Nearby, the automaton could pick up Mooncipher panting. Three massive trees, having been uprooted and levitated into the air at the last minute to shield the Praetorian demigod, fell to the ground, scorched half away. Mooncipher himself was merely slightly burnt, as his fog had dampened the arcane fire further.
"Excellent. . . well done," Mooncipher said, catching his breath. "If you require time to recuperate, take it now."
* * * * * *
"Y, yikes!" Hal exclaimed, boggling at the monitor. "You SURE everything will be okay?"
Regardless, he made to follow the others. . .
"Be careful, Essex," he muttered, waving.
Cobalt Black 3-8-9 gazed across the water to the edge of the beach. Funny enough, Terra Volta was still Terra Volta in Praetorian Earth, it just wasn't a savage wasteland.
That was the surprising thing. Despite the devastation done during Tyrant's rise to power, he and his cronies had left that region (and many other utilities) largely unscathed.
Of course, Cobalt knew it was just so they could more easily utilize them later. In this case, the Terra Volta Reactors were supplying the power to all of the Portal Devices scattered throughout the city. Where Prime Paragon City had only one nuclear reactor, all of the power plants in Terra Volta were up to par and more than capable of engaging in this act of war while still supplying the city with the power it so desperately needed.
"Sometimes," Red Renegade muttered behind him, "People don't care who their king is... They just want to do their jobs, raise their families, go to school... So long as the routines of daily life aren't interrupted, there's no problem."
"But a lot of the city is a wasteland!" Cobalt replied darkly, "How can the people forgive Tyrant?"
"They don't have a choice. Sure, he took their old routines away, but he quickly supplanted it with a new one. The people were tired. They were tired of the fighting, tired of the war... And they quickly adapted to the new order of things."
"What about us?"
"We..." Red sighed, "We don't belong here... Not anymore."
"Is that why this is Operation: Last Hurrah?"
"Yep."
The armored insertion vehicles stormed the beach and made for the small fortification nearby. Fifty caliber machine gun fire pelted the transports, but could do little to stop the tracked machines. The first one, designated Invader One, smashed through the wall and popped open its hatch.
The vehicle had only one passenger.
Ryat Dreadnought, a massive machine built mostly from the parts of Zeus Class Titans from Prime Earth, stormed out of the opening and unleashed pure Hell on Tyrant's troops. Chaingun ammunition, energy beams, rockets, and even fire were all used against the foes. In minutes, the robot had cleared the base and was moving on to the next.
In the meantime, the Maltese Resistance took the small firebase, stripped it of its valuables, and prepared to follow Ryat Dreadnought. The machine was a one-man wrecking crew, and demonstrated its skill efficiently and admirably.
Within a few hours, the freedom fighters had torn their way through to the first power plant. Here, Ryat Dreadnought stopped.
"You're going to have to move on to Phase Two," he intoned to Red Renegade, "It's the only way."
"You know the plan," the red-clad gunslinger growled at the machine, "Don't make me regret my decision to trust you!"
"The plan calls for speed, calculation, and not a little brute strength," the robot replied, "Not to mention certain lethality for you."
"That's not..."
"It is not your destiny to die today," Dreadnought closed his arm and pointed the limb at the leader of the revolutionaries, "But know this, there will be victory."
Praetorian Crimson stared at the machine for a few moments and nodded. He turned to his men and gave a few hand gestures of silent command. Get back to the boats, on to Phase Two.
"Are you sure about this?" Cobalt asked the machine, "We could really use you back home..."
"If they need me, Sheldon will make another," Dreadnought replied, "One far more upgraded. I know my lot in life, and I know where my destiny lies. I'm not afraid."
"But... What you told me... Won't you be missed?"
"Consider this a shave."
"I see..."
"You better get going," Dreadnought gave the Gunslinger a nudge, "They can't wait for you."
"I know... Thank you, Dreadnought."
"Just take care of your family. That's thanks enough."
Cobalt Black turned and headed for the boats. Ryat Dreadnought watched him go and felt a pang of what he could only have described as sadness. Not at what his immediate future entailed, but at the simple end of a friendship. They'd only known each other a few weeks, but that had been more than enough for the machine.
"Freeze!" he heard behind him, "Down on your knees! DOWN ON YOUR KNEES!"
They were soldiers. Real soldiers. Not just Marauder goons or RAM androids. These were straight up "U.S. Military."
"Oh goodie..." Ryat Dreadnought muttered as he turned around.
"Who the Hell told you to turn around?"
"Time to make some new friends!"
The android's arms popped open and a flurry of rockets cascaded into the green-uniformed soldiers. Assault rifle fire impacted on his armor, but the android had little intention of letting that stop him. His chaingun made short work of the rest.
----
"Set course for Peregrine Island," Red Renegade ordered.
"Red?" Black Purple inquired, "You're still with us?"
"Let's just say... That robot added a new dimension to the plan..."
"Good... Good..."
----
"Here we go," Randall muttered as he loped up to one of the buildings in king's Row that was just way out of place, "This has to be a portal generator."
"Die, Hero!"
Randall just swung his fist around in a wide arc and twisted his body to the right. He wound up backhanding one of the assaulting minions into a nearby wall.
"And here I was thinking this would be boring," he chortled as the rest of the Rampagers and their Wrecker leader tried to bull rush him, "Come on, now, don't be trying that super karate on me..."
Six Eagle Claw attacks struck him full in the face. He didn't even flinch.
"Let's try this on for size," Randall roared before stomping on the ground as the villains landed, knocking them all down, "And one to grow on!"
Shortly afterward, the streets were filled with the sounds of men screaming. A broken body was tossed from an alley as Randall decided to go on a small rampage.
"Freckers can't take it when it's happenin' to you..." he rumbled to a cornered Ocelot, "I'd say that means ya got no right doin' it!"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Essex waved goodbye to them all ruefully...not even entertaining the thought that this was the last she would see of them...
-------------------------------------------------------
"Hmph." West said coldly, watching the monitor with analytical eyes. "An adversary I would not have enjoyed facing, to be sure. Nonetheless..."
Scanning the monitor, his frown deepened.
"....Whatever he was fighting is likely still there. We must use caution."
Glancing down at his wrist for a moment, his eyes softened.
"...Vern, I have never needed to use this until now..."
With that, he twisted the small bead on the bracelet he wore - and a suit of Allen's armor suddenly enveloped the doctor protectively, shielding him.
"...Let us show them some Earth hospitality." West finished, readying his gun.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
AJ smirked at Greta, though her expression faltered at Dr. West's harsh statement to her.
"Hey now..." She started only to be cut off and ignored as Essex, then the Doc overrode her. The silver-haired reploid frowned as the conversations. Then Curtis turned to her.
"Reckon there's fightin' ter be done, AJ, you ready?"
AJ grinned at the gunslinger, a faint tracery of red stretched across the bridge of her nose.
"Always am. Anything's better then sittin' 'round here while something major's going on up top."
The Magus' detonation rocked the lab and nearly set her off her feet, though Curtis' hands steadied her.
"Um... thanks."
"...Let us show them some Earth hospitality." West finished, readying his gun.
AJ arced an eyebrow and smiled. "Welcome to Earth, huh?"
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
"Then les' do it." Curtis said, cracking his knuckles and spinning his .357s around his fingers as they made their way to the surface...
"Initiating emergency repairs," stated the machine as it crouched down and placed its undamaged hand over the shattered stump of the other. "Estimated time until completion: Ten seconds."
Light green energy wafted from the palm of its hand and drifted onto the damaged areas where it was quickly absorbed. Within seconds, the shape of a new hand was recognizable and seconds after that the repairs were finished. Flexing its new hand as it stood up, the machine suddenly pivoted in place toward an open patch of ground.
"Incoming teleport!" it shouted to Mooncipher. "Prepare for combat!"
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.
"Hey, Tommy, who're we rootin' for again?"
"The one that looks like a devil."
"They both look like devils..."
"The one with pants on, then!"
In the Zig's "yard," a large group of prisoners were watching the duel taking place above them. They knew that Cory had put a large number of them in the prison (as had many of the heroes they were rooting for), but there was something to be said about the devil you know.
Cory and his Praetorian dove and struck at each other like some sort of hideous dogfight. Flames and icicles continued to rain from the sky, causing the spectators below to scatter briefly.
Cory's armor wasn't holding out. Worse, his Praetorian's close-range fire attacks had some nasty tricks to them that didn't require a lot of the specifics the Primal Cory needed for his ice spells (like the Ice Patch).
"I'm running out of tricks," Cory started flying away, "I'm getting tired... I gotta do this another way..."
As he fled, he left a trail of flames. The Praetorian followed doggedly, throwing beams of cold energy and lines of jagged icicles. One again, Cortland thanked his lucky stars for the "Whirling Wind Armor" spell that kept him protected, even from this assault.
He and his foe bobbed and weaved through the alleys. He ducked under fire escapes and darted over rooftops, all the while leaving a trail of flames. Praetorian Cory glided along the trail, absorbing the fire into his armor and making it stronger. Soon, he figured, the fight would be over.
Suddenly, Primal Cory started to ascend. Climbing higher and higher, he started dropping more powerful spells behind him. The dark opposite had a little trouble gathering energy from these spells, the fireball hit a little too quickly and the Blaze was just a little too hot. Cursing, the Praetorian pumped his wings harder and coalesced some fire blades into existence.
"This ends now, brother!"
"Yes," Cortland replied as he stopped suddenly, and an ice sword was in his hand.
The two met, Cory's ice blade getting cleaved off at the hilt, but he was able to stop the other blade from killing him as he caught it with his free hand. Staring coldly into his enemy's eyes, he jabbed at the dark version of himself with the broken sword before the villain could recover from his last assault. The point jabbed into the Praetorian's shoulder and they pushed away from each other.
Floating in the air, the Praetorian with his wounded shoulder, Cory nursing his burnt hand, they regarded each other.
"That was it?" the dark one hissed, then grabbed at the ice hilt in his arm, "This was your 'end-of-it-all' attack?"
"Yes," Cory replied, "Because it's over."
The Praetorian glared at him perplexedly, then tried to pull the weapon out of his body. The blade was stuck. Worse, still, his hand was frozen in place. Not yet realizing what Primal Cory had done, Praetorian Cortland looked to the injury to witness that the hilt had grown into an ice coating that was starting to restrain him and prevent him from fighting.
His eyes widening, he attempted to blaze his way out of the ice, but Primal Cortland suddenly charged forward and crashed into his enemy with an elbow smash to the face. Stunned, the Praetorian was unable to resist the ice wrapping around his body and dropping his infernal body back to the ground.
Watching his enemy plummet, Cory mumbled a few words and gestured to the air around him. The heat was drained out of the sky in great, brilliant arcs that coalesced into an orb of brilliant orange light just in front of the wizard. Grasping the energy, Cory aimed down and unleashed a blazing bolt that tore into his "brother" and finished the fight definitely.
On the ground, a group of Freaks found themselves witha new guest.
"Hoo-boy! Did somebody order barbecue?" a steel-toothed grinning Champion Swiper shouted, "I think i'ts about done!"
"Mm-mm..." a Tank chuckled, "He sure does have a purdy mouth... Heh heh... I bet cape tastes like chicken!"
"Wait..." one of the shotgun toting initiates tried to stop his friends before they started mangling the burnt offering from the sky, "Is this one of the capes, or an anti-cape that's been running around?"
"Who cares?" the Champion shouted, "They're all meat, right?"
"Whuh-wait!" the Praetorian choked out as he pointed to the sky, "look... No!"
Cory was descending like a raptor on prey. His wings pinned back and his hands at his sides, it had to be odd that he was casting spells on his way. Gathered globes of flame were left spiraling down behind him, and a moment before reaching the rooftops, he spread his wings and soared away.
The spiral, however, did not. An agonized scream echoed with the explosion as several fireballs and Blaze spells connected with their target. The Eyes of Eagles spell was quite handy.
The alley was incinerated, leaving burnt pieces of metal slag as the only evidence of any villainy. Cory muttered a quiet prayer to the winds for the souls that had to be taken in the final attack. However, he felt no remorse.
This was war. He had no time to be careful... And he didn't feel like having to fight himself again. He'd already done that twice now.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
It looked like the reports were right, the Outcasts and Trolls had all but disappeared. That did not set Matt at ease. In fact, it made his job a lot harder.
Especially when he had to deal with nimrods like the guy over his shoulder. Judging from the rotten feeling in his gut, it had to be...
"Let me guess," he muttered, "Mattock the Mad?"
"Good guess," the ninja rasped as he hopped off the ledge and landed in front of the Prime Earth hero, "Can you guess why I'm here?"
"To kill me, no doubt."
"Indeed!"
Mattock the Mad lashed out with his katana, and it hummed with violent energy. That was kind of funny... Matt's own blade made high-toned sounds.
They assaulted and parried each other worldessly. They were evenly matched, for the most part, and Mad Matt was surprised that his counterpart was capable of such skill. Especially when he started hopping away.
"Woah," he rasped at his opponent, "Why're you running? You were doing pretty good back there!"
"Catch me if you can!" his foe growled and hopped over the building.
"Sonova..." the hero barked, "What a time I could be using one of those kinetic leaping machines..."
Matt started sprinting after his dark self. Mattock was leading him on a frigthening chase, often bounding over Praetorian patrols to get their attention. Matt carved through the first group, but he couldn't keep up that kind of effort.
"I don't know what he's trying to do," he grunted as he stood loosely on an Ocelot's throat, "But I bet he gets plenty tired..."
A few minutes later, Mattock the Mad stopped at a rooftop, noticing that he'd lost his pursuer.
"Damn fool," he rasped as he crouched to rest, "If he were wise, he'd have learned how to keep up with me... And we could finish our duel properly."
"Properly?" Matt pressed the point of his blade into the back of Mattock the Mad, "We had ourselves a decent fight over there. Why didn't you settle up?"
"I was... I was getting tired."
"Ah," Matt nodded, "You've got the skills, but not the stamina. Makes sense."
"Now, however," Mattock's weight shifted a little, "I shall kill you!"
The Praetorian's blade snaked out as he twirled around off Matt's blade and stabbed to where the hero should have stood. Only Matt wasn't there. Instead, he'd started moving as soon as he felt his brother's shift in weight and whirled around to wind up with his blade at his foe's neck. The back of it, that is...
"Ghack!" Mattock the Mad choked out and started coughing violently.
"No more talk," Matt barked at him, "We settle this here and now. And don't you try running off this time! I'll find you again, and then I won't go easy on ya!"
Mattock glared back darkly, but nodded. They took their positions in the classic duel pose, back-to-back.
"Five paces," Matt barked, "I'll count. Ready? March."
Mattock the Mad tried to stab him right there. Mad Matt's blade deflected the attack and they started fighting from there. Still back-to-back, they hacked, snaked, and slashed at each other. The air was fille with the sounds of metal raking on metal, and neither was making any headway.
Finally, Mattock the Mad broke away from teh fight and staggered to the ledge.
"I..." he gasped, "I cannot go on..."
"Here," Mad Matt tossed him a couple blue gems, "Take one now, another later. I want to finish this."
Mattock looked to be at a loss for words.
"Just squeeze it into your palm, the crystal will break and leave you with energy."
The villain complied and the duel was on again. They closed with Matt deflecting the blade and kicking his foe in the gut. Mattock took the hit, fell back slightly, and bounded back with a thrust that nicked Matt's waist.
The scrapper backed away and set a defensive stance. Mattock the Mad grinned behind his mask, and set himself in an aggressive stance. Stalking forward, he plotted out his next attack.
His slash at Matt's leg was deflected, however, as was his quick assault to the scrapper's forehead. Mad Matt replied with an assault to his foe's left shoulder, which was also deflected.
The fighting continued in this vein for a little longer, but Mattock was still badly outmaneuvered. In a short while, the Praetorian was finished.
"Wait! Wait!" the villain held up his ahnd to plead with the hero, "I have information! Information!"
Matt's blade stopped at just beyond his Praetorian's eye. A fly would've been able to get through, maybe even a mouse, but it still illustrated McGinty's point.
"Jrud Retsen... He's had a lot of us riddle this city with bombs... I can tell you where some of them are!"
Matt nodded and finished the stroke. Mattock the Mad was surprised to see the hero's fist coming down on his forehead. A quiet beping signalled a Police Drone to start heading for the Praetorian's prone body.
"Oh no, I'm not giving you a chance to get away just yet," Matt growled as he hefted up his unconscious foe and started carting him off the roof in a Fireman's Carry.
At the bottom of the fire escape, he pulled out his communicator and started plunking out a message for the Zig.
"When you get to where you're going, they're gonna interrogate you," Matt muttered, "If you don't tell them what you said you'd tell me, I'm gonna come down nd visit you real quick. You got me?"
The Praetorian groaned.
"Good."
"Hold it right there!"
Matt turned around and saw a couple patrols of the Praetorians trailing behind him. They were led by what looked to be a woman dressed in fetish leather. He blinked a couple times at that, and at the fact that they were just about the most motley crew he'd ever seen, but started backing away quickly.
"Stop him!" the neon-yellow-haired woman shrieked and the collective forces of the Praetorian soldiers rushed forward.
"Yet another instance where I need a transportation power," Matt grunted as he turned to sprint more properly.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"Wait. . . Selene?" Hal exclaimed. "What's going on. . . the Praetorian version of Selene?" He glanced nervously at Essex. . .
* * * * * *
"Ah, I see. . . so I am to receive help," Mooncipher said, continuing to type as he glanced down at the robot. He had heard of this one, and knew he was good. . . but did Marauder always have to lend him assistance? He had never failed at any task he was set. . . he did not need any assistance. . .
Fuming internally at that for a moment, but not long enough to threaten to compromise his mission or his composure, Mooncipher called down to his new robot ally.
"Scan the area manually for any signs of the targets, or any other beings that seem to possess significant power to be threatening. . . though the targets have top priority, along with any form of weak point you may find that will aid our entry into the base I suspect to contain Hallucinogen and allies. I shall remain here, and monitor the base previously mentioned, ensuring none escape it. . . and ensuring that as soon as their defenses are down we may strike posthaste."
"If anyone opposes you, kill them, or destroy them if death is nonapplicable. Should you have difficulty, I shall come in response to any signal you deem appropriate. . . with the orders in question thusly concluded, good day to you. Oh, yes, and might I ask by what designation you are to be addressed?"