"Ah, [dung] son!" Psycho13 shouted as he started zipping toward the rocks and pulling them away, "Just... like... stacking... wood..."
He kept zipping along, pulling away stones. He seemed to be taking one large (roughly basketball-sized) rock a second and depositing it off to the side of everything else. Smaller rocks seemed to cascade off the mound of rubble from the momentum.
"You... guys... go... on... I'll... keep... at... this..."
Zip... zip-zip... zip-zip... zip-zip... zip-zip... zip-zip... zip-zip...
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"... Oh..." Was the only thing Jake could muster up. Not only had he just openly displayed that he was dead wrong, no pun intended, but he had just gotten all emotional over nothing. Blushing very, very slightly, he continued to inspect his minions, pretending to have ignored Baliaal's comment.
Steve chewed the inside of his mouth as he thought. They didn't have time to dig... But if the Masters got to him first... "Alright, anyone who can help move these rocks, do it now. The rest of you, follow me back to base."
He activated his teleporter, fading back home. Arrow did the same, knowing another exploding shot would really just make more of a mess of things.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
((Sorry, would've posted sooner but I obtained a bit of a hectic schedule. Catching up.)
Twilight grumbled as the explosion grew closer, he didn't feel like being trapped again for god knows how long. Though as suddenly as his doubts had him; they vanished with the coming of the strange wind.
After regaining composure in the brutal sunlight, Twilight noticed the one missing. He knew he wasn't dead because there was still a life force, but the man must be under a cave full of rocks by now.
"We would help with these rocks with the gloom but because of this wretched brightness out here we aren't at our most capable--Unless you wish for me to attempt blasting it with bomb-force radiation; though that may not be beneficial to your friend..."
He watched Steve teleport back to the base. "Well, we don't suppose you could have an extra one those for us do you?"
"Your efforts in all honor," Baalial stated mildly as he managed to snatch the speeding hero from the ground. He might've been a fast runner, but without his feet touching floor, he wasn't going anywhere, "but I do advise you to stay back. Otherwise you might get..."
A sudden crunch from Mt. Rubble overpowered the demon's voice, a large section of boulders sacking together and into one another, as if the layers supporting them from underneath had without warning liquefied. A cacophonous, bestial roar accompanied the thunderous grinding of rock against rock, but the former still stood nearly eclipsed by the latter.
"...hurt." the demon finished calmly as the spectacle came to and end, releasing Psycho13 back onto his feet, "My apologies if that made you uncomfortable."
Spitting vehement curses in what had to be a mixture of at least seven, half-millennia-old oriental tongues, Hotaka could now be seen walking out of the hole, batting sand and dirt off his robes in the fashion of someone who'd just fallen into a vat of coal dust.
Aside from that, he exhibited no visible injuries. Indeed, not even his clothing had been singed.
"Like I've been hit by a truck, what do you think?" Ryuu grumbled in answer to Baalial's unspoken question, "I'll not be able to fly right for hours."
Leaving his associate to grumble about the 'kink in his back', the demon returned to considering the situation, "Why yes, a ride would be most appreciated. We're still somewhat new here, and don't really know where anything is yet..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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Soul Striker was shocked at how easy it was for Jake to get past the death of another comrade. Soul Striker moved up to him muttering a, "Why you little..." Only to hear Baalial point out that, he was not exactly dead, just under several boulders. Soul Striker froze at that sentence, but quickly reverted to his generally sarcastic nature. "Oh really, just under some boulders eh? That's WAY better then him being dea-" when in mid sentence, Hotaka burst through all the rubble. Seeing that though, left him completely speechless.
What the...? I'd heard of people having super strength but..that's insane! Soul Striker "woke up" from the daze soon after hearing,
Baalial:"Why yes, a ride would be most appreciated. We're still somewhat new here, and don't really know where anything is yet..."
Soul Striker now spoke confidently, with more then a hint of arrogance, "You know, with my skills, I betcha I could recreate one of these teleporter things." After a moment, he added on, "However, I'd need the right parts to make it..." Soul Striker took a look around to see if there was anything he could use. Hmm, I would use the parts back in Apex's base, but it's probably all crushed by now, but what else could I us-...Aha! Soul Striker's eyes finally fell upon one of Jake's robots. Soul Striker turned his head back towards the owner of the machines, and asked with a childish tone, "Hey Jaaaake? Can you do me a favor?" He then began to chuckle slightly to himself, wondering if Jake could guess what he was getting at.
"My life right now is discomfort..." Psycho13 muttered, "Now I just deal with it... mitigate it... take payment for it..."
His face seemed to collapse a little on itself as he considered the prior "payments" he'd exacted earlier. It caused him to nearly close his right eye, arch his left eyebrow, purse his lips and crinkle his nose. It made an ugly face only worse.
"No..." he finally barked a laugh to Baalial, "No, I won't be doing anything like that to you. Besides, you probably saved my life, so it's all good."
He turned to Hotaka.
"If you want, I could drop-kick your spine... There's a chance I'll knock it back in place..."
He grinned broadly.
"Not a very probable chance, but a chance nonetheless."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"No." He simply said, not even bothering to glance in his direction. "Normally, I wouldn't care, but these are my only copies right now. No new robots if one decides to fall apart on me."
He chuckled and walked closeor to Soul Striker, next planning on responding to his unfinished insult. Whispering at a volume only Soul Striker could hear, he said, "Look. If I'd stopped to mourn every time a comrade died while I was in the Isles, I wouldn't have survived the first hour. That's not to say I don't give a damn, you just don't need to burst out in tears every time a comrade is lost. We all know the risks."
With that, he openly deemed his bots in decent shape and tossed a small device over to Baliaal. "It's a tracking device. The transmitter is right here..." He said, holding up a small chip in his hand. "I'm going to port back to the base. That should lead you straight to me." Without another word, he pushed the button on the device and dissapeared, his bots going with him.
Jake:"Look. If I'd stopped to mourn every time a comrade died while I was in the Isles, I wouldn't have survived the first hour. That's not to say I don't give a damn, you just don't need to burst out in tears every time a comrade is lost. We all know the risks." I'm going to port back to the base. That should lead you straight to me."
Soul Striker tried to protest, "Don't you dare le-" But it was too late, Jake had already teleported away. Stomping his foot angrily he shouted, "He is NOT getting away that easy!"
Soul Striker cursed under his breath, and pressed the button on his teleporter, sending him to....wherever.
"It's not my spine that's got a kink in it." Hotaka returned with a sneer as he joined the group again, causing Baalial to utter a bit of a snicker. He could well imagine what Ryuu felt like at the moment.
"Hm?" the demon turned his attention to Jake as the youth tossed the device into his clawed hand, "Actually, that's probably not a very good..."
But he was already gone. Typical. Baalial just hoped the Masters of Mayhem didn't have the means to track Jake's transmitter - if so, he'd just given away the location of the rebel base for all to see.
"That could be bad." Hotaka commented, his mind already heading in the same general direction as the demon's.
"Quite." Baalial gave a nod, "Not that there's anything to be done about it now. Let's just hope we're overestimating the enemy again."
"Right." Hotaka sighed, looking skyward, "Well, I'm pretty sure I broke my wing back there, so it looks like I'll need a lift."
"Wouldn't be the first time." the demon smirked, spreading the leathery appendages of his back and unfolding them to full span. They'd take a bit longer to follow the others to base, but they'd get there eventually...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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The others reappeared inside of the base's main hall. Guards aimed weapons, but upon seeing Steve's uniform, returned to their position of attention.
He led the others toward Sybil's control room until they came across a closed and guarded door. "We need to see Sybil," said Steve to one of the front guards.
A girl with long black hair stepped forward. "She's in the middle of talking with a prisoner."
"Rachel, I don't have time for this."
"You're gonna have to make time then. This is importa-"
"And it's important we see Sybil! We had a-"
"I already know what you're going to say, and that's great. But Sybil ordered these doors stay shut until she opens them."
Steve sighed. "Can you at least arrange transportation for the people without teleporters?"
Rachel nodded and closed her eyes. She quickly sent a message out to one of the men in the control room.
A few seconds later, Baalial, Hotaka, and any others left behind were teleported in the main hall.
"There," she said. "Now just wait. She shouldn't be too much longer."
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
"I'm getting kinda' tired of being jerked around like that," Psycho13 grumbled, "Oh wow... A different base?"
Looking around, he started pacing. Every so often, ever so subtly, he would expand his pace so he could take in more of his surroundings.
"So, who are we waiting for?" he asked as he gave a rather pointed glance at the locked door; then, when he was answered, "Who's she? What's so special about this place? Why does she need the door locked? Is she torturing the prisoner? Is she conniving with the enemy? What!? These are things we should be considering! People who lock doors from those who are their allies typically are keeping secrets the allies should know about!"
He arched an eyebrow to the guy who seemed to bring them to this base.
"Well? Am I wrong? Who's running things here?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Jake chuckled at Psycho's outburst, while at the same time noting the truth in his statement.
Seriously, who's this woman think she is? We're the ones that risked our necks in that little assassination operation.
He sighed. No use worrying about it. If there was one thing that he'd learned from his experiences, it was not to piss off management.
"Ah, at least someone still has manners." Baalial chuckled, brushing imaginary dust from his suit as he turned to Rachel, "You must be Pstorm. There wouldn't be any private quarters about that my associate could use for a little meditation, would there?"
"I'll be fine." Hotaka waved him off, "Probably just sprained it anyway. What is important..."
He looked about a moment for Jake, approaching the youth upon spotting him, "There you are. I suggest you deactivate your emitter, and quickly. This may come off as paranoid, but if your tracker can pick up that signal, it stands to reason that the enemy can too..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Already done." He said, subconsciously digging in his pocket to make sure that he still had it. "And no worries. It was a secure signal. I'm not sure how advanced their tech is, but not many things I've seen could get into a signal that secure."
Twilight looked around, glad to be in a less lit area. While at the same time noting the relentless and rather irritating questioning emenating from Psycho.
"Maybe if you would allow a response before unleashing your barrage of questions they would be able to tell you something..." He said this remark with a bit of annoyance.
His gaze went to the one who had teleported them into the base, "Now...Are you at liberty to say who exactly is the one she is interrogating?"
Psycho13 rolled his eyes.
"Right, sorry... I've been told I have problems with manners, and I have some... experience... in dealing with conspiracy theories..."
He wiped his hands on his pant legs. His palms seemed to get sweaty in situations like this.
"When I'm in a situation that smacks of it, I tend to want answers, and fast..."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Hotaka gave Jake but a grim smirk, "I may be old, but I'm certainly not behind the curve, young man. Your signal may be secured every way you wish, but that doesn't mean it's not radiating energy."
"He's got a point." Baalial shrugged, "People might not know what it says, but so long as they can pick up whatever frequency that thing used to send, all they'd need is two locations with a known distance between them to pick it up. Then they could easily triangulate the location...or at least, that's how I'd do it..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Thule looked at Sybil, and let a mechanical sigh out. His cold robotic eyes reflected everything in the room, he blinked and they grew dead cold. Red targeting dots were in his eyes, he ignored them for now.
"My purpose is to join the resistance. To fight against what I once worked for. Why? You could say that anyone can change their ways."
He stopped for a second or two.
"Even the most unlikely subjects."
Act 2: Winds of Change
Elitist watched as the battle replayed again and again from the moment the heroes first struck Aphex to the moment Tyrant's assassin bots were forced to remove him before The Resistance could gain any information. He turned to those gathered around him, his lieutenants. "You see why we must press now, before they begin to think they have some form of chance."
Blightlord watched their leader's movements carefully, noting every ounce of tension and the expressions he was trying to hide.
"Zey cannot warranty a attack of zees size," said Harlequin with a small pout.
"I can promise, you're way off on that," said Techno-Tyrant, leaning back in his chair. He tinkered with a small device as he spoke. "My androids analyzed each and every one of them. These newcomers are tougher than most of the Resistance's men. We'll need to at least demoralize them for now."
"Then we are in agreement," said Elitist, stepping away from the table and returning to his chambers. "You all are dismissed..."
-----------------
Rachel turned to Jake. "She is the commander here, meaning if there's something important she has to deal with first, she can. She's with a defector at the moment. A fairly important one from what I got." She turned to Baalial. "And as for private quarters for your friend, you can ask any of the guards stationed here and they can lead you somewhere quiet. Actually, let me call in someone to help escort Windsong and the others to the med-bay so we can start-"
The doors slid open, revealing Sybil as she stepped toward them all with open arms. Thule was a few steps behind her, and Steve visibly tensed. However, his eyes went blank for a moment, and he relaxed, though obviously not happy.
"You all have done remarkably well. Never has such a great victory been achieved. If it weren't for all of you, why, even now we may be-"
"Commander!" shouted a man, running down the hall. "We've got a situation!"
Sybil turned and her face darkened immediately. "Follow me," she ordered, turning back into the control room and moving quickly toward the view screen. Rachel's face drained of color for a moment as she too sensed what was happening.
The screens flickered to life, and a nearly-destroyed Kings Row was being decimated by flier-strikes as Mayhem ground troops scoured the area for the remaining Resistance soldiers. "I had feared this would happen," muttered Sybil. She turned to the others. "Though I wish you could remain so that we may celebrate, I'm sure you know what I'm about to ask. We can't lose that position. It's our only way of breaking forward at this point and ensuring your victory in Perez Park remains secure."
Steve nodded. "Yes, Commander. Any of you ready to move out, follow me." He stepped on the teleporter pads and vanished to smaller base in the Row.
"I'm in," said Arrow, following suit and vanishing as well.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
"I'll be coming along shortly." Jake casually remarked, giving a slight wave as the two dissapeared into the pit of darkness currently known as King's Row. "Sybil," He started, taking a couple of steps toward the woman, "Can I request some space to store my bots here? It's terribly inconvienant to have them follow me everywhere, and it'd be a lot easier if I could teleport them to and from my location as I pleased." He made a gesture in the direction of his Assault Bot, hoping that it in particular would emphasize his point. "Not so grand for stealth missions..." Jake muttered before continuing.
Jake cleared his throat and continued. "It wouldn't be much trouble. I already have the means to do this, and all I require is a secure place to store them while they're not with me. So whaddya say?"
"Gah, we have to leave so soon?!" Grumbled Soul Striker. Cursing and complaining under his breath, he went to the teleporter, and vanished.
Psycho13 shook his head grimly.
From the footage, it didn't look like any of his friends from Grey's Army made it to this bleak future either. If only...
A slight motion caught his attention on one of the screens.
"Hey!" he shouted as he rushed to the monitor, "Can you rewind this?"
----
The motion he caught was of an end soldier of a line being dragged behind a wall. What he didn't see, however, was Kipland Durj snapping the neck of yet another Mayhem trooper who had gotten too close.
It had been a rough number of years for the resilient scrapper. When the Masters of Mayhem showed up on the scene, most of his allies had already retired. Some, like Cedric Grey and Matt McGinty, stood and fought.
Kip had, too, and the memory of his friends' deaths still haunted him at night.
Which was why, this night, he decided he wasn't going to sleep. Not to mention the carpet bombings, Kip just felt like tonight was a night for hunting. Hunting spiders in new paint...
"A little twist and-" he intoned as he quietly snapped the trooper's neck, "And a little bit of the fire in my heart flares up again."
"What the Hell?" he heard from around the corner, "Where's Bob?"
"Williams!" another voice shouted, "What the Hell are you doin' outta line!?"
Two of the troopers appeared at the alleyway entrance. Turning on their thermal scanners, they checked for anything out of the ordinary.
"You think a Resistance fighter got him?"
There was a loud crack, and the soldiers turned to see their pointman crumpling to the ground. Judging by the way his head was lolling around, his neck was snapped.
"Halt!" the fire team leader shouted as he drew his weapon and fired a few rounds at the corner of the next alley, "Come on, Jones!"
The two pursued their quarry, their thermal resolution helping them know that this way he went left, that way he went right. Every so often, the leader fired off another round, but didn't seem to hit anything.
"Sir, we should call this in!" Jones shouted as he struggled to catch up, "We could outflank him with help..."
"No! This one's mine!"
They rounded a final corner and their thermal resolutions winked out. Cursing, the leader ordered them to switch to Night Vision. With every contour of the alley bathed in a bright green glow, they could see the outline of their quarry standing himself up on two fire escapes that flanked the alley and rose into the sky.
"Hi there," Kip chuckled down at them, "Too bad you boys are having a notoriously bad night..."
There was an explosion behind Kipland, and the light in the night vision goggles suddenly flared to a blinding level.
"Augh!" the fire team leader shouted as there was a sudden crack next to him, followed by the sound of carbon-based armor clattering against concrete.
"Jones! Jones!"
He stumbled around a little, but found nothing. His partner and communications specialist was now a broken heap on the ground, struggling to breathe against the pain of having his clavicle broken.
"Jones!" the fire team leader shouted before tripping over his ally's prone form.
He almost shot Jones in retaliation, but Kip's foot stomped on the wrist before he could get the shot off. With a twist of his foot, the weapon rolled out of the Mayhem trooper's grasp.
"You and your friend get to live," Kip growled down at his captive, "If only to tell your bosses that a reckoning's coming. This was and is a city of heroes, and you freaks done gone [messed] up by [ticking] off both sides of the conflict here... No force that has come before has been able to stand against all this world's super powered beings unleashed on them..."
"I assure you, I will assemble a hunting party and we will wipe you from the fa-"
Kip's eye beam blast tore through the fire team leader's faceplate, scorching through the brain and killing the Mayhem minion instantly. Kip stepped over to Jones.
"I don't need to repeat myself, do I?"
"No," Jones gurgled, "They'll kill me, but they'll know what you said."
"Damn straight."
With that, the former scrapper stalked off, seeking the ruin of his old super group's base.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Sybil thought for a moment. "I believe the repair station would be suitable for them. Captain Demens will escort your bots there."
A soldier with a small blue and silver star on his chest stepped forward to guide the robots down the hall, disappearing around the corner.
[ QUOTE ]
"Hey!" he shouted as he rushed to the monitor, "Can you rewind this?"
[/ QUOTE ]
"Sure," said a soldier as he opened up a side window. The current battle displayed on one side while the other showed the rewound footage in a small loop.
---------------------
They reappeared inside the old tram station of Kings Row. The railing had long since been torn away by Masters assault strikers to prevents easier movement of troops and supplies, but it was still a location relatively safe from the bombarding dropships.
Steve watched as the others began to appear. As soon as what seemed like everyone was there, he gave the plan. "We need to go out and find out whose forces are leading this attack. Sybil will let us know where to move from there. Split up. If anything happens and we get seperated, meet back at the base with what you know.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
"Ehwhat?" Baalial's serpentine face performed the equivalent of a quizzically raised eyebrow, "What're you people talking about? He's not dead, just under a ton or two of boulder. All I said was that it smarts because I know from first-hand experience."
"Si, gringo." the same Spanish-accented voice form earlier garbled out of the demon's briefcase, followed by a tumble of rotten flesh and dirty bones - the parts of the chain gun-wielding zombie from before.
Once the undead man had pulled himself together (more or less, at least), he gave the poncho and sombrero a toss, now clothed in a fine black business suit. Where he'd left the vulcan cannon, however, was anyone's guess.
"It's not like those things are that easy to kill, you know." the zombie chuckled, his tone now without any accent at all, "Those eggheads back in Japan called him Ryuu Hotaka for a reason, after all. I mean, when'd you ever hear of a little cave-in doing in a-heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyy...!"
The undead man's head came down no less than a hundred meters away, Baalial having chucked the cranium quite far once he'd beheaded the zombie.
Even as the head still filled the air with curses and complaints, the body took off running to recover its lost part, which of course resulted in an immediate sprawl upon the ground, brought by courtesy of the closest rock.
"My apologies." Baalial told the group, "Balthazar is a fantastic secretary, but I'm afraid being quiet is something he neither mastered in life nor death..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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