Kipland looked to his friend and shook his head. Psycho13 nodded in understanding.
"If this is the best and brightest of the Resistance, we've got problems," Kip muttered as he prepared to follow after Soul Striker.
"Well, they worked better under a strong leader... With one guy poking and prodding, another an emotional wreck, and a third manipulating the others with his thug in tow... Yeesh, of course it's gonna look bad. But there are more guys... Wait 'til you meet Toy Dispenser!"
"Yeah, I should start wondering why I'm listening to your judgment of character," Kip grumbled, "What was that the guy was saying about slaughtering a whole mess of people? And how quickly you gave over a suffering human being to feed that sick monster! At least when I kill these guys it's quick and clean..."
"But you still kill them."
Kip pressed his lips together and glared at his old friend.
"I still can't be sure you're Levi."
"I can't be sure you're Kip," Psycho13 replied, "But I feel you are. What's wrong with your eye, anyway? It looks like somethings moving behind that patch."
"It's personal."
"Tied in with your old job?"
Kip nodded. Psycho13 made for the hole in the side of the building. He could see Twilight in the distance.
"We better get going."
Kipland leaped up through the hole in the wall. Looking to Psycho13, he nodded.
"It would be better if we found a more stable place to finish this conversation."
"Wanna know what tells me I'm still me?"
Kip quirked an eyebrow at his friend. Psycho13 raised his left arm and showed him the hideous scar he received during an accident in his youth.
"Remember this? The scar you asked me about after I became a Regenerator?"
"Yeah."
"It's still here, man. What've you got to tell me you're you?"
Durj peeled back his eyepatch and Baker reeled back in horror. After a moment, his mind recognized the condition, or something like it.
"Holy crap... Is that the Warden version of Ascension or something?"
"Something like that," Kip put the patch back, turned and prepared to leap away, "Let's get the Hell out of here."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Panzerfrau stormed across the deck, kicking at machines as they began to smoke and spark. "Damn zem! Damn zem all to hell!" One severely angry kick dented a control box, causing it to explode in her face.
The woman wiped smoke and soot away from her eyes. "I vant out of here. NOW!"
"But what about the clown?" asked one brave soldier.
"She can take care of herself..."
The flier sputtered as it began to rise higher, forming a retreat. The machine certaintly seemed to be on its last legs as it tried to fly back it the direction of Independence Port and Striga Isle.
---------------
"Time travellers?" Blightlord sat back in his throne. "Are you certain?"
"It was him," answered The Ruby Blade. "I would stake my life on it." The assassin waited a moment, but Blightlord didn't say anything else. "Elitist will want to know of this."
The master of undeath chuckled. "Exactly."
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
"Hmm..." Jake simply grunted as he landed on the rooftop, observing simply a headless body with the head a few feet away. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's the person we recently risked out [censored] to save... Certainly reassuring to see her headless form here..." He remarked sarcastically, seeming only slightly affected by the new developement. He turned to Soul Striker and spoke. "Where to now, then, captain?"
"Your world's about to end this time!" Toy shot back as he started charging the maniacal villain.
A few psychic disks clipped him, cutting gouges in his armor, while another just narrowly missed decapitating him as he swiftly ducked just enough for the disk to trim the tips of his ear-like sat comm devices. The mastermind-turned-blaster started glowing brightly as he dumped power into his offensive systems, his hands glowing the brightest of all as a shimmering white light enveloped them.
"Make this one count, sir!" Large Toy cheered on as it further amplified Toy Dispenser's might with an infusion of hyperactive nanites. A couple of [censored] hit the robot, but they didn't deal enough damage to really worry Large Toy at the moment.
"It shall," Toy Bot said to itself in reply to Large Toy. Focusing on Harlequin, the corruptor class android caused some of her kinetic force to spill out into the air around her, enhancing Toy's combat ability even further.
"This is going to hurt you a lot more than it'll hurt me," Toy grinned as he neared Harlequin and aimed a destructive energy transfer at her.
********************************************
"What the heck is up with this?" Block Bot asked as he reached down and picked up the zombie's head. "Too poor to afford some real help?"
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.
"Not quite," said a soldier as he walked up behind Block Bot and the others. His cape and the gold trim around the star on his chest signified he was a leader here. "He just doesn't trust them. How much longer do you think your friend will be? I don't like remaining above ground."
-----------------
Harlequin's cry of pain echoed outward into a psionic shockwave, sure to rattle minds to their edge as the structure itself shook with the cry.
The villainess slumped against the wall, her costume in shreds and her hair a mess. One eye was puffing and nearly swollen closed, something that added to the child-like pout she now gave Toy Dispenser.
"Why? Why would you hurt me?" A small tear flew down her cheek. She began to laugh then, a harsh, insane laughter as she stood back up. "Oh, but I 'ave learned much, M'sieur Toy Dispensair. Or should I say, Vendetta?" Her cackling rose to a chilling cry as she vanished in a flash of pink light.
So what if she left the prize? That was so much fun!
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
Hotaka wasn't about to let this one slip away. Panzerfrau had challenged him, and he considered it a very rude break of tradition to simply leave in the middle of a fight.
The dragon lurched forward, grappling on a still semi-standing warehouse, then using momentum to advantage to catapult itself into the air. Clawed hands poised to strike, the creature closed with the Flyer, cutting edges reaching greedily to tear the fuselage to bits.
Until it fell away.
Crashing back to the ground, the dragon's legs caught the impact well, but that didn't end in the now only barely-standing warehouse not collapsing as a result. However, that had been predictable. Truth be told, Hotaka hadn't set any high expectations of this area's buildings surviving intact.
Something else had been predictable as well, but forgotten in the heat of the moment. With a rather angry visage (or as near as a human could tell, anyway), the dragon's head whirled about to inspect the left wing, which had not exactly obeyed in its duty to provide lift just now.
Yeah, still a kink in it. It was true, really - bad people were punished by the law of society, good people by the law of Murphy...
--------------------
"I think he's talking about me." the disembodied head commented as its decapitated body took it from Block Bot's hand, setting it back atop its neck, "Yes, I'm self-assembling, and I do so very, very quickly. Don't need to make a fuss about it..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
The soldier gave a small start at the head lying on the ground. The fact that no one else seemed bothered by this told him it was a friendly, but still...
"Anyway, we've got several wards in place to block the usual scryings, particularly of inside our little compound, but Miss Rachel can only do so much at her young age. Lady Sybil can't risk coming herself, unfortunately. However, as long as Blightlord doesn't suspect we're here, the object should be safe..."
------------------
Panzerfrau's stream of German curses were drowned out by the sounds of the flier sputtering as it slowly lost altitude, not enough of its turbines active to keep it in the air. The villainess shoved her boot through another console. It had been such a beautiful machine!
"Ve vill get zem back later. Prepare for teleport!" she shouted, stomping towards the untorn section.
"Doesn't the captain go down with her ship?"
Panzerfrau whirled around to see Blightlord standing calmly at the edge of the shredded flier, his cape flying back in the roaring wind, but it never took him away. She fired a force bolt that passed harmlessly through him. Damn... Only an image. "Dis is nothing like zat! Go avay. I can handle tings on my own!"
"But of course you can. I'm merely here to observe."
A soldier ran up behind Panzerfrau. "Ma'am, our teleporters are jammed. We're going down."
The villainess whirled on Blightlord, who wore an amused expression, clear even in his rotted eyes. "You... You are ze one doing this!"
Blightlord chuckled. "Da."
His image faded, leaving a once more furiously cursing Panzerfrau. Her screams of anger rang out up until the very moment the flier slammed into one of the few remaining apartment buildings in Kings Row. The thing exploded in a massive ball of flame. It was likely they were all dead before the building came tumbling down on top of the wreckage.
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 people, school just started for me a few days ago, I'm not gonna be posting very often, I'll try not to cause too much trouble))
Soul Striker turned his head towards Jake.
Jake:"Hmm...Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's the person we recently risked out [censored] to save... Certainly reassuring to see her headless form here...Where to now, then, captain?"
Soul Striker took note of the head.
By god....is there no end to this madness...?
After a few moments, Soul Striker looked around for Twilight Radiation. "I'm not sure what to do, but I get the feeling Sybil is gonna want to see it. I say we head back to the main base or whatever, once the others catch up anyway."
Soul Striker looked towards the rambling soldier, "You can take it back with you, can't you?"
Wirespike landed softly on the roof and took note of the lifeless corpse, not saying much of anything as he observed the scene.
"Woah!" Psycho13 shouted as he saw the flaming wreck that used to be the building they had been in, "Sure glad that wasn't us!"
Kip merely scanned the sky, but didn't notice Hotaka. He did, however, find Soul Striker, Jake and Wirespike.
"This way!" he shouted as he leaped far into the distance to land next to the group.
Psycho13, however, just zipped along on the road.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Twilight took no notice of Obsidian leaving, instead revelling in the tone of the area. "This feeling... Oh the air of sorrow, death and rage is wonderful!" To the others this may have seemed insensitive and even traitorous by his tone, though anyone who knew him would know it was only because he took substanance off of such emotions.
Though it was light out, darkness was filling into his ventilator and eye sockets. After it ceased he quickly regained his composure. "Forgive our outburst, you must understand that a stigma such as this is a virtual power plant to creatures such as us. As this was your comrade we won't...use her energy."
After this sentence an explosion caught his attention. "We believe we've found some more of our own. You may report to Sybil; we will join you shortly, however it would seem another powerful presence has fallen there. There is an opportunity for....feeding."
((Soon as Toy posts, I can move us along. 
))
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
The blade dug deeper and deeper into Thule only to be met with the blunt stopping force of an alloy plate that was as flexible as silicone and as hard and resistant as carbon fiber steel. Before this plate there was a complex weave of spider silk, it wasn't your normal weave either. It was one custom created for this purpose. The spider silk weave covered the alloy plate and prevented from contact. The blade would simply cut the silk and slide off before the chain mail-nanites began to mesh the two back together.
His target was near. He detached one of his dual wrist blades and hurled it towards Steve's chest.
Instinctively, his free hand retreived a sheet explosive, it was stuck to his hand with removable glue, but on the other side, it was open in the air with glue that dried and tripled its strength almost instantly. The sheet explosive hand gripped the blade driving into him and attached the explosive. He tried to bend the blade a little bit before letting go.
As soon as he would let go the timer would begin.
Steve charged forward. If he could just knock Thule off the roof, it would stun him long enough t-
All thought was suddenly halted by a sharp pain in his chest. He glanced down at the sword, confused. That shouldn't be there, he was fairly certain. For some reason he couldn't think straight.
He saw Thule step away from the blade, leaving some kind of egg attatched to it. After the three seconds, he realized it for what it was.
"Damn," he choked, and then his world went boom.
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
"Damn!" blurted a high pitched voice from several meters to Thule's left and above.
A web grenade followed the words soon afterward, aimed to entangle Thule's legs while the barely visible form lifted up one arm that looked suspiciously like a gun.
*********************************************
"Didn't think the new paint job would hold up for long," Toy muttered as he leaned up against the pillar that his target was resting on. "Kind of odd that she knew my old name, though. Didn't think that bimbo was just into research."
"We were probably caught on a security camera back in Apex's base, sir," answered Large Toy as it started fusing together the wounds everyone had sustained. "That would make the most sense."
"No matter," said Toy Bot as it stepped forward and grabbed the object. "Let us rendeavous with the others at the appointed location. With our target aquired, we have no more reason to stay here."
"You go on back, Toy Bot," said Toy as he rolled his head in a very human-like gesture. "Large Toy and I will assist the remnants of the rebels in King's Row. Goodness knows they'll need whatever help they can get. Small Toy sent me a burst transmission a minute ago. Panzerfrau has arrived to oversee the battle personally."
"Very well," conceded Toy Bot grudgingly. "I shall continue on on my own. I shall be waiting for you two."
The neon green android ran out of the room before igniting the jet boosters in its back and shooting down the hallway and out of the small underground complex they were in. Tilting his head toward the door, Toy Dispenser and Large Toy followed after.
********************************************
Block Bot froze, his head slowly tracking around to stare right at the guard.
"You're keeping it HERE?" he asked incredulously, his voice rising to an accusing shout. "What the hell was that with THINKING? We're right in the middle of Blightlord's territory! He could have found this place out at any moment, ruined all our plans, foiled EVERYTHING!"
The air around Block Bot's head shimmered a bit as the android strove to regain control of its rampant emotions. If one could read body language, he would notice that Block Bot was grinding his figurative teeth in rage at the moment.
OOC: lol, posted.
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.
Though it wasn't quite sure where Thule had gotten a sword from, the Jounin's certainly wasn't stopped by simply grabbing a hold of it. After all, there was a reason this ninja was a threat not only to humans, but also to robots that carried the armor equivalent of a tank. Unless Thule had suddenly become some sort of tanker, the man had no way of preventing the blade from simply cutting along his fingers, then cleaving into his torso afterwards.
Whatever happened, however, one thing was fact - Thule wasn't getting out of here in three seconds or less. Though the explosion ripped the Jounin apart into a cloud of dark vapors, the betrayer found himself caught in his own bomb's detonation...
--------------------
Hotaka didn't give the Flyer another thought. At first, he'd thought the thing would make it, but apparently someone else had taken care of the thing.
In any case, the dragon now moved toward the sound of an explosion that had racked the area just now. Ryuu only hoped it hadn't been from the demise of Steve Power, having lost contact with the shadow Jounin he'd sent to guard the man...
--------------------
"Er, what?" Baalial questioned with a quizzical look to Block Bot, "Do you mean this installation with 'it' or something else? Because so long as they put up a few illusion wards, even the best scrying can't see anything else but what's being projected, so I don't really see the problem..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Sybil stood silent in the Resistance control room. "My god..." the old woman muttered, shaking her head.
"What is it?" asked Rachel, stepping up beside her mentor.
"They've retrieved it the object, and I've given the order to retreat from Kings Row. They will be meeting here shortly. Unfortunately, things did not seem to be without cost..." Sybil stepped over to her throne-like chair and sat down, weary. Foolish, foolish me. The boy's blood is on my hands... "It seems you- ... we made an error in judgement, my dear."
Rachel stepped up beside the throne. "What do you mean?"
"That thing... Wretched creature... Thule has betrayed us. We were fools and fooled. He has taken Steve from us."
"You don't mean-"
"I'm afraid so, dear."
Rachel bowed her head in silence. She liked Steve. He'd helped her get through a lot of tough nights. Nights where she had that same dream about her mom. Endless darknesses filled with cries of loss and screams of agony... "They'll pay for this."
"They will. Soon. But not right now. Now we need to plan."
-----------------
The soldier shrugged at Block Bot. "This location was given to us under Sybil's orders. From what I understand, your friends thought they could protect it best here. Either way, it seems they've retrieved it. They should be here any minute now."
[ QUOTE ]
Because so long as they put up a few illusion wards, even the best scrying can't see anything else but what's being projected, so I don't really see the problem..."
[/ QUOTE ]
"That's what Lady Sybil originally thought as well. Our first base was cloaked with illusions both magical and technological. But something went wrong right after we secured Galaxy City." He looked around to see if anyone who wasn't supposed to was listening. "A few of the more paranoid soldiers swear we had a mole, but I heard the Lady talking one night. Supposedly, people experienced in magic can use it through a scrying... It's all just fluff though. This anti-scrying ward covers just the entrance as far as top-side goes. It's so small, even if he knows we're here he shouldn't be able to figure out where we are."
----------------
Throughout Kings Row, the Resistance fighters all received a message. Return to base. This place is no longer worth fighting for.
--------------------
"You WHAT?!" Elitist's fierce backhand sent an already battered Harlequin spinning to the floor. The mime looked down, pouting as blood from a thoroughly split lip dribbled down her chin.
"Zey were too strong, Elitist. I could not 'old out much longair. But when 'e attacked me, I learned zomething you may want to know. Hees mind was like an open book to me 'as 'e attacked." The woman grinned, her blood-reddened teeth adding to her disturbing expressions.
"And what is that?" Elitist crossed his arms, doubtful the girl could know anything of value. She was likely attempting to merely save herself from the imminent punishment for her failure.
"Thees Vendetta 'as troubled you before, no?"
Elitist neither nodded nor shook his head.
"I know 'ow 'e slipped through ze cracks..."
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
Jake received a transmission with a rather depressing message via his headset, after which he shrugged and motioned to those around him. "In case you guys weren't on the right frequency, HQ's called a retreat. Ja-... Er... Wirespike, will you be coming with us?" He asked, turning to the armor clad meta. "It'd be a shame for us to split up at this point." He smirked and folded his arms, knowing full well what his answer would be.
-----
Wirespike had been taken a bit by surprise as Jake suddenly announced a retreat order, especially as he had not seen much action personally. Aside from that one battle with Soul Striker's father, [Most certainly not a cause for retreat] absolutely nothing eventful had happened. Truth be told, he was rather dissapointed.
[ QUOTE ]
Ja-... Er... Wirespike, will you be coming with us?" He asked, turning to the armor clad meta. "It'd be a shame for us to split up at this point."
[/ QUOTE ]
To which he responded, "Heh, yes, it would." Wirespike gave a sigh and a slight nod. "Sure. Like I said, my new objective is to keep you alive."
Hotaka stopped as he received the transmission from Sybil, the dragon coming to a fast halt. He could put two and two together, and the answer yielded no solution, no matter which way one chose to bend and twist it. Even Ryuu's mysterious Elixir of Life needed the corpse in more or less one pieces. It simply couldn't revive a man blown to bits...
--------------------
"Sounds to me you fell into the age-old power versus concealment pit." Baalial replied with thought, outlining the principle, "It really doesn't matter how it's done, as almost all forms of concealment need some manner of power to operate. Sure, you can cloak the power source, but then you require more power, which means you'll require more power again, and...well, you get my point. It's an endless cycle. But yes, small is a good idea. That should keep us hidden for a while."
For a moment, the demon quieted down, seeming to listen to something only he could hear.
"Do excuse me a moment." he told the others, reaching for a scroll in his briefcase, "It seems I've a presently flightless dragon to move around..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Wait, here?" said the commander, suddenly very nervous. "I'm not sure we're ready to cloak something of that size. How long do we have to boost the spell effect?"
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
"Retreat?" Kipland asked, "Where to?"
Not waiting for an answer (or maybe just multi-tasking), he moved toward the ledge and peered down.
"I'm gonna have to tell Psych."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Among the wreckage of the flier and the building it collided with, there was a rumble. A fist surrounded in blue light shot up from the debris, grabbing for a handhold to pull the rest of itself out of the ground.
Panzerfrau's head came out, slowly followed by her body, all covered in a shimmering force field that wrapped tightly around her. "Dat fool!" She spat a chunk of cinderblock out. "Vhen Elitist hears of dis! No von makes a mockery of Panzerfrau!"
Staggering, the villain trudged toward the gate into Independence Port. Soldier were of hers were on their way to pick rendezvous, but she needed to get away from the wreckage. It was too likely some Resistance soldiers would investigate this soon, now that the Mayhem soldiers had pulled out.
The entire area was just a smoking wasteland, of no value to either side anymore.
At least, as far as anyone could see.
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
"Hm?" Baalial turned about for a moment, hearing out the question. The answer came along with a nonchalant wave, "Large? Oh, don't worry about that. Don't you know dragons are shape shifters...?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
The commander looked back to the lieutenant standing behind him, who shrugged. "Erm... Right. Well then, as long as it doesn't blow our cover."
He cleared his throat, then walked back over to his men, shouting more orders. Another five minutes and the base would be ready.
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
"Oh, I see we've done some preparation." Baalial remarked, visibly impressed, "Very well, let's get started. If I'm predicting things correctly, Toy should be here rather soon."
The demon opened his briefcase once more (where was that thing always coming from and disappearing to?), then shook out a pile of rotting flesh and bones - human flesh and bones - into a short mound in the grass.
"Balthazar," he spoke to the human remains, "Time to go to work."
"Nyymmmmm..." the pile of bones groaned, the skull shifting over into its ribcage like someone rolling back under the covers of their bed, "Five more minutes..."
--------------------
Hotaka wasn't quite sure what the people aboard the Flyer were trying to accomplish now. The force bolts were too slow for the dragon, the green-scaled creature snaking away to the side no sooner than it had emerged from the cloud of dirt and dust.
The robed man didn't seem to have moved at all, standing rock-steady atop the dragons head as if his wrapped feet had been super-glued on.
Low to the ground, a force bolt managed to connect at the base of the neck, and another at the right shoulder blade, but the dragon didn't seem too perturbed from these, on all fours with clawed hands and feet securely upon the ground.
The creature answered with a thick stream of caustic agents, roaring a vile mixture of acids and toxins at the offending aircraft. Ryuu went by the most basic of logics at this point - the Flyer's propulsion system consisted of air-breathing turbines, the intakes above the outboard engines.
They may have been well-armored to defend against direct assaults, but this provided no protection from the corrosive cloud the intakes now literally sucked into the heart of the propulsion system. The Flyer began to lose power almost immediately, the dragon's vile acids going about the work of disassembling the turbines from the inside out...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters