OOC: Oh. Maybe their busy? Didn't Jennifer say something a little while ago? Too lazy to go check for myself. Not sure what happened to Binro, though.
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.
((As far as I know, only Jennifer and Proto have been locked down with nastified work schedules. Burning and Cowman just kinda went MIA it would seem. 
))
--------------------
"Huh?" Acid performed the equivalent gesture of quirking an eyebrow with the miniscule ridges of cartilage above his oculae when Grey threw the remark he didn't quite understand at him. before he had time to question the tanker, however, came the very sudden robotic barrage.
"Yeah, that's a lot of questions." the reptilian retorted, counting off a clawed finger as he sought to explain his presence, "Alright then, in this order: one, yes, this is indeed me. Nice to see you again too, Toy. Two, indeed you were. I'm the advance scout, and I didn't get in. My ride's parked out back. And three..."
Acid loosed his crouched position and stood once more, lifting the Rikit armorsuit up alongside him as he pulled his other hand from the gaping hole. The clawed fingers were clean as could be.
"...looking for said cadaver." he presented the powered armor to the robotic mastermind, "Go ahead, root around some. Nothing in there, not even in the arms and legs...or the fingers, for that matter. Poor schmuck got downright annihilated. If I didn't know better, I'd say some sicko obliterated him with a disintegrator from the inside..."
--------------------
Even from the roof, however, it was a simple matter to see that both the black Ferrari and the SWAT van long since moved on, their occupants obviously having concluded their business.
The docks sat empty once more, and already a few members of the Carnival seemed to be returning from wherever they'd hidden from those who'd chased them off. It stood for all to see that the orchestrators of this meeting hadn't wanted any witnesses.
Too bad for them, the men of Malta were always out for more blackmail material. As such, they also valued immediate availability - such as the internal playback function of the sniper rifle's souped-up scope. If Simmons knew enough about Malta's cutting-edge technology, it probably wouldn't take him long to get the thing to regurgitate whatever it had sniffed up before he'd interrupted the counterfeit Crey sniper...
--------------------
Without warning, the rampant activity in the immediate vicinity suddenly screeched to a halt, everyone about seeming to have only one object of focus in Ryat66.
"Lemme at 'im!" a technician roared aloud, making a go for the android with furiously balled fists. Had Longbow agents not stepped in to restrain the man right then and there, he would've no doubt thrown himself into a fight he couldn't win.
Indeed, hateful glares emanated from just about every Portal Corp. employee around, the technical personnel only slowly returning to their workstations. It was rather obvious more than one of them currently fought with his or her self-control.
"If we weren't in such dire straits, I'd have you escorted off the property right now." Unai Kemen growled in a low tone, visibly sharing the sentiment of the technicians, "I don't know where you get your ideas, but Dr. Webb was a great man. Call him a mad scientist again and we'll send you flying out of here faster than a rocket strapped to your back ever could."
It didn't take much to realize what Ryat66 had stepped into right there. Despite him being dead and gone, the staff here still very much admired the mentor who'd accomplished so very much. He'd not only breached the dimensional barrier, but also given his own life rather than tell the Reichsmann what he knew. To them, calling Dr. Webb a madman was an insult of the highest degree...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
--Portal Corp Courtyard--
Sheldon's eyes narrowed at Unai.
"Respect the man all you like, call him what you will, but a rose is still a rose. As Samuel Clemens once said, 'To the living we owe respect, to the dead, the truth.' The only difference between Webb and Aeon is the ratio of success versus casualties. I've read into the man's history, my father even worked for him a few times. I respect Webb as much as any person here, but suffice it to say, his obsessive compulsion to pierce the boundaries between the dimensions, especially his disregard of the consequences, defined his profession."
He leaned closely and leveled his gaze into Kemen's.
"I know this better than most. I'm certain Dr. Webb had made peace with what he was well before he had started the project that would be his legacy, and the fact that he was able to mitigate much of what most call madness is also a testament to not only the man's sheer brilliance, but also his wisdom."
"I meant no disrespect," Ryat66 waved his hands in front of himself in a placating manner, "I just..."
"He has a definition in his head," Sheldon explained, "And he doesn't usually take reputations into consideration."
"I'm sorry," the android slumped its shoulders and actually looked kind of sheepish, "I didn't mean to offend..."
"Now, look," Sheldon turned to the terminal, "We have to try to figure this out. Perhaps whatever Sixty-six ran into in there didn't mean Dr. Webb, but instead meant somebody else. I mean, come on, there had to be some code Webb just didn't have the time to write or deal with. I would really hate to have to sift through all of it..."
"We could get Ryat99," Ryat66 offered helpfully, "He has a system of rifling through tedious stuff..."
"He's busy on a construction project on Dimension Gamma Gamma Nine-Four," Sheldon shook his head dismissively, "We need something specific to look for."
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--Peregrine Island: Bay Area--
"Sonovabi-" Matt grumbled as they approached the area where the Lamborghini and SWAT van had been, "They left while we were fighting."
"I'm certain there's a way to access what's on this rifle," Cory said calmingly, "All we need is a USB access."
"Ryat's got one," Matt shrugged, "Hey, how about you fly this thing over there, I'll get on my bike and get over there, too."
"I hope your conveyance hasn't suffered any major damage..." Cortland arched his eyebrow at the machine in the distance, "How unfortunate it would be..."
"It'll be fine," Matt started walking away, his face curled into a smug grin, "It's tough!"
Simmons shook his head as he watched his friend walk back over to his vehicle. True, it was a tough machine, but Matt would probably take any scratch or nick deeply personally. Not because he really cared, but more because it gave him something to do.
"Such peculiar behavior," the wizard muttered as he prepared to take to the sky.
"Hey there, baby, want to see some juggling?" a Carnival of Shadows Attendant asked sweetly.
"No thank you, my dear," Simmons started flying away, "I'm afraid I simply don't have the time."
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--Jade Moon--
Randall chuckled a little at the reptilian creature's lack of understanding. Of course, that gave way to concern as "Acid" explained that the suits were actually quite empty.
"Well, that's not good," he grunted as he took a look into the armor himself, "Who do we know that uses disintigrators? Ope... Nevermind. I know. Nemesis. Always comes back to Nemesis. This goes quite a bit far from his normal ray gun, though, doesn't it? How the Hell would he have gotten a device like that into all these Rikti, too?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
((Hey all, sorry for the sudden disappearance. Had a major brain fart and simply forgot I was doing anything in this thread. 
))
After receiving the message to regroup, Binro headed back with the others.
"What has happened," the large alien asked as they came upon Randall's team, now seeming to have an addition in the from of the slightly baffled looking Khelari.
Sweeden
"You understand then the importance of this mission?"
"Yes."
"Good, I expect to be constantly updated."
"We'll try."
"Well," the businessman said, rising from his seat behind the extravagant wood desk, "good luck."
The masked man sitting across from him didn't accept his hand. He didn't even say a word as he exited the corporate offices. He didn't make any kind of communication until he'd walked well over a block away.
Reaching into his long overcoat he extracted a black cell phone. "Meet me in Paragon city."
Ineffable was suddenly there besides Grey, seemingly perfectly calm with the knowledge that Acid was suddenly there.
"We have another problem." He said. "While I was about I found this."
He pulled what looked, simply put, like a brass bomb out of his jacket. It wasn't melting to ashes in his hands, although a certain pipe looked like it had been turned into fine powder. A single screen with several digits on tiles presented itself.
00:30:32
"I'm not an expert when it comes to WMDs, but this thing has a nuclear core and a few other things within that make it quite potent and lethal over a larger area of space. I disabled it, as you can see, but what is the golden rule of making bombs...?"
--Jade Moon--
"I don't know... Anything I demolished in my life I did personally. Of course, I figure we should probably either find others like this, or get the Hell outta here. Anybody else got any input?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"We've seen a few other 'bodies' like this," Toy said after Grey had finished speaking for the first time. "Small Toy even spotted what we think is the culprit. But the best look we've gotten is something small, scaley, and with a tail."
"It is doubtful that Nemesis has disintigrated these corpses," Toy Bot said to Grey in lieu of Toy Dispenser himself. "Nothing in our experience leads us to believe that Nemesis would even use such technology unless it would be to replicate powers in an automaton."
"Also," continued Toy as he twisted a bit to talk to Grey as well. "Nemesis tech, while pretty damn advanced, would still leave distinc-"
Toy was cut off as Ineffable appeared and relayed his uncomfortable message.
"What he means, Grey, is that there will be more bombs," Toy answered. "Although why Nemesis went through all the trouble with the Dark Watcher automaton just to blow us all to bits.... Hell, why didn't he just set them all off the moment the portal went haywire?"
"This is why we hate trying to foil Nemesis plots," Mini Bot muttered sourly.
***********************************************
"Hey Binro, Jake, Cher'tak," replied Solid as the other party finally arrived. "Ineff scared off one of the body snatchers, Toy randomly met an old friend, and now I think they're all clonking heads to try and figure something out. You're welcome to go and try to help, I guess."
"This Situation: More: More: Worrisome," sighed Cher'tak as he noticed the bomb that Ineffable was holding.
"And we haven't even got to the planet yet!" Solid responded cheerfully. "Just imagine how much fun we'll have there!"
***********************************************
Archlich cackled gleefully at the reaction of the Portal Corp employees. He had seen this kind of blind worship many times before and it had never ceased to amuse him. It also annoyed him too, but then generally only when some fanatic or another came to try and remove his 'unholy' existence from the world.
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.
Jake nodded absent-mindedly, obviously thinking about other things. "Right, right..." His bots followed shortly after, stopping in a perfect triangle behind him according to rank. "So have they come up with anything, yet?"
"And I suppose Einstein and Newton forged ahead with complete disregard for the consequences of their research as well, hm?" the Security Chief huffed a reply, "Everything's got two sides to it, and can be used for both good and evil. Once you've learned something, you simply can't unlearn it. How the hell was he supposed to know what Nemesis would do with his research?"
A few agreeing nods came along with growls from technicians about, but overall the scientific personnel returned to their stations. As the argument proceeded, however, something new entered the scene.
It prevailed barely noticeable, just a fine mist of black that snaked its way carefully toward the large portal's support facilities. No larger than a human hand, it was difficult to spot by eye, but the very minute energy emissions from the small cloud may have given it away to those that could detect such matters...
--------------------
"Actually, no." Acid retorted to Grey's conclusion, "Even theta radiation wouldn't dissolve something this completely, and Nemesis doesn't even have the capability for that yet, let alone an actual disintegrator. And I think you misunderstood..."
The Khelari laid the armorsuit upon the floor again, tracing a clawed finger about the hole in the chest plating as Binro arrived, greeting the tanker with a short hand gesture, "This here's the entry site. I know it doesn't look like it, but from all I can tell, it's been doctored. Expertly, but still just doctored. Either a shell or a fist or something-or-other came in through there and obliterated the guy inside into basically nothing."
Then Ineffable appeared, and Acid visibly twitched, his long tail curling to and fro just above the floor. With a toothy smirk, he remarked, "Well, that certainly explains a lot. You're the guy who knows squat about being stealthy, huh? Oh, and don't worry about that there - or the others. I saw to it that they couldnt detonate. Also can't move my ship for another thirty minutes, but I'd say it's worth it."
Next Toy and entourage had completed their commentary, causing the reptilian to chuckle somewhat, "I like to think he's copying me. In any case, I guess I've got a little confession there. Your 'culprit' was me. See, you're early, and when I first heard something coming at me, I thought the Rikti had sent backup. I was pretty sure they'd shoot first and ask questions later, so I bailed whenever I noticed something get close to me. I didn't think yalls had gotten here already until this closet here opened. I was expecting a gaggle of really ticked Rikti when that happened."
"By the way," Acid wanted to know, looking over the group as he laxly indicated Ineffable, "Your friend here got an alibi...?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"I dissolve everything I touch. Yes. As these are Rikti, I hardly see why this should be a big deal...But in the interest of self defense, had it been me, the armor would be gone as well. I am not that subtle." Ineffable said. He was wearing a mildly annoyed look on his face now, and the deactivated bomb in his hand was suddenly vaporised. "Besides, if I heard you correctly when you said you were here before us, how could I have done this before I even joined the task force and entered the portal...?"
Turkey
Beep.
Why the hell did they have to beep?
beep.
Really, they didn't have to remind you that someone had just callled you. When next you looked at your cell phone you would see some sort of message telling you you had a new message anyway.
Beep.
So damn irritating.
The career assassin slowly pulled himself out of bed, already regretting the massive amounts of alchahol he'd indulged himself in last night.
When he finally reached the phone he regretted even getting out of bed. His pain felt like it would rip his skull apart. Perhaps it would. That would be a new experience.
He had to read the message twice. "Paragon City." he muttered to himself in his thick Russian accent. He put the black Motorolla cell phone downon his dresser and walked into the bathroom, where he chugged down two asprin.
After taking a shower and finally getting into his clothes, he decided to check his phone again. Sure enough there was another message, this one in slightly more detail. It also gave a number he could call to get more info. Now that his head was clear he decided to actually get to packing his things.
A normally organized man the Russian had kept everything in his suitcase. He avoided touching anything he didn't have to touch, the fingerprints were a pain enough just to wipe away, and he didn't need more cleaning to do. After double checking that his goldish colored body armor was stowed he threw on his blue blazer and gathered his luggage before heading downstairs to check out of the hotel.
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Afghanistan
Weapons deals seldom take place in the middle of the desert. Instead they take place on neutral ground in a city or villaige or someplace.
That said, it wasn't very suprising to find that neither side was playing fair.
Jack "The Ghost" Wilson reached down for his canteen, resting on his belt. Not getting up from his position atop the high rise overlooking the deal he took several gulps of water before putting it back.
Lying on the ground next to him was his personal weapon of choice, a PSG1 sniper rifle. Glancing at his weapon's telescopic sight he saw that the crosshairs were still centered on the gun smuggler.
He tightened his grip on the trigger, his finger pulling the trigger back just a tad bit.
He adjusted the rifle until the crosshairs rested on the arm smuggler's head.
The client had already arrived. The two of them were standing around, hammering out the final details for the deal, and probably making some small talk.
His earpiece suddenly gave a chirp. "Okay, it's show time."
A smile crossed the sniper's face.
He took in a deep breath and steadied his aim.
The dealer turned as if to point to something.
He looked right at the sniper. For a moment he looked like he might have seen the shooter, but he failed to do anything. Instead he waved his hand and spoke a few words to the client.
The sniper made sure to pull back the trigger of the precision sniper rifle as he exhaled. The bullet crossed the distance between him and his target in about two seconds.
Blood shot out of the arms dealer's skull as the bullet blew his brains apart.
Jack tapped his earpiece. "Got him."
Suddenly his cell phone gave a beep.
"What the?
He pulled it out of his pocket and looked the small electronic device over for a few seconds.
Paragon City...
--Portal Corp. Courtyard--
"Einstein? No," Wallace waved the notion off dismissively, "He was a genius who carefully weighed the ramifications of his research. He happened to have lived at the wrong time in history. Newton? Wholeheartedly. His disregard for church doctrines would likely have gotten him assassinated if he hadn't already made proper political connections. Besides, I was talking more in reference to Webb's haphazard portal hopping, not to mention the questionable origins of his research, and how he ran across Axis America in a non-secure test-fire. While we're on the subject of other geniuses who could also be considered mad scientists, Franklin, Edison and Tesla belong on that list, too. Edison especially. Heck, my father's a mad scientist in the employ of the Army. There's nothing wrong with it, just careful mitigation is necessary. Why are we still on this? We have work to..."
Sheldon's gaze drifted to the peculiar dark trail flowing through the air. Most people wouldn't be able to see such a thing, but they normally lacked the enhanced glasses Sheldon normally sported. His eyebrow quirked and he snorted.
"Sixty-six, please handle..." he pointed and what he was seeing was transmitted to the android, "That."
Ryat66 didn't even turn his head, just threw his hand up and a nanite wave carrying heavily excited electrons formed a cage around the front of the energy line. Sheldon started charging his gauntlets and approached the peculiarity rapidly.
"You're new," he muttered, "And your behavior indicates you don't want to be found. I wonder if my colleagues' irrepressible need to defend their corporation's correctly lauded founder is your doing?"
He turned back to Kemen as he fired a wave of nanites at the oddity that should be able to hold it in place.
"Professionally, I do respect the man. He sought to expand our horizons, and paid the ultimate price for his work. I don't question that what Nemesis did with his research was evil and selfish, and I've noted that, at one time, if not for the Brass King's intervention, there was a good chance that we and the Rikti could even have been friends."
"Really?" Ryat66 asked almost happily, "Maybe there's a chance that bridge can be repaired!"
"In time, my friend, in time," Wallace replied, "Now, in the interests of finishing this, Dr. Webb was only a mad scientist in the simplest of definitions. As was Edison, as was Tesla, as is my father. He was, by no means, the true kind, like Vahzilok, Aeon, the Clockwork King, or Lazarus Crom. So please, I hope we can end this ludicrous discourse. My friend apologized, and I have explained the reason for his error. We really should move on now, sir."
With that, Sheldon turned back to the peculiar energy trail that had been seeking the Portal support facilities to gauge his work at detaining it.
-----------
--Peregrine Island: Bay Area--
Matt cursed as he reached his motorcycle. It was dented all up.
"I'm so sorry, man..."
Normally people referred to such vehicles as females, but something about this machine just screamed "male."
"Don't worry, when I get you out of the shop next time, we'll take a long ride through Astoria or Croatoa, and we'll tear apart some undead..."
He righted the vehicle and tested the shocks. They still had good bounce. He patted the armor plating as he turned the ignition key.
The vehicle gave a loud, angry roar. Matt was shouting something over the noise, but nobody would be able to understand that (or why) he was trying to soothe the violent looking vehicle.
After a few minutes of revving (even though it didn't seem the driver was actually pumping the gas), the motorcycle quieted down. Matt was patting it and actually talking quietly to it.
"Don't worry, boy... Everything's gonna be gravy after tonight. Let's just get back to Portal Corp and we'll see what we can do about helping Randy, 'cause I don't want to see what Ced or Kip do to the Army if they stay in charge..."
Popping a slight wheelie, the motorcycle roared down the street and left a number of Carnies in its dust.
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--Jade Moon--
Randall gave a low whistle to Acid.
"It looks like Dino knows his stuff," he grunted, "Well... Now that we know we're not in any immediate danger, anybody know anything about actual munitions? I'm pretty much only good with beating the Hell out of people and barking orders at the moment. My other skills don't lie anywhere near weapons technology."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"I'm only familiar with my own weaponry, myself." Jake chimed in, seeming to at last have come out of his unfocused state.
"Nothing that I know of could cause such effects," Toy Dispenser said as he edged to the side a bit so Jake could step forward and get more involved in the conversation. "If I had access to Hero Corps databanks at the moment, I could probably browse through their files and find some heroes and villains with powers that can disintegrate matter. But without that resource, I can't do much."
"Maybe it only fries organic bits," Solid suggested from in back. "It would explain why the armor has been relatively undamaged."
"Kinda reminds me of Ghoul's problem, boss," Combat Toy muttered as it leaned closer to Toy Dispenser.
Toy grunted noncommittently and then gestured at Grey.
"Well, we're not going to solve anything just standing around and talking. Let's inform Lady Grey that we found Acid here and then continue on as a single group," he said.
*********************************************
Archlich flinched slightly as Ryat fired a bolt of electricity at a patch of air. Closer examination revealed some odd black smoke that was floating over the ground. Cursing himself for his inattentiveness, Archlich reactivated the various wards on his armor, their runes flashing blue once to indicate they were active. Almost immidiately, Archlich's senses were assaulted by the brutish magical presence that was somewhere nearby and coming closer. It didn't feel like a living thing or a being of pure magic, but rather had the odd taste of metal and the sense of being restrained in some fashion. Repressing the annoying feeling, Archlich turned around and looked out in the direction that 'Mad' Matt's motorcycle was. He still kept one eye on the scientist and his pet robot, however. They were worth watching for 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.
--Jade Moon--
Randall grunted in agreement.
"Well, I guess I better be the one to make the call to Lady Grey, then," he took up his communicator, then frowned at it.
It looked and smelled like molten plastic.
"Ah, dammit... The fight with the Warhorse must have fragged my communicator!"
He looked over the devices at his hip. They were somewhat damaged as well, but only their casings. The switches, dials, and most important, the internal workings, were still intact.
"I should've known about this earlier, but I figured you'd be able to talk quieter earlier, Toy Dispenser, when it was somewhat necessary to be stealthy. Now I gotta rely on you for communication... At least until I can get a spare phone."
"Frickin' technology. Always crappin' out on me!"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Jake stepped forward, awarding Toy with a courteous nod for his politeness. Giving Acid a good once over and scanning his... er... 'face' for any files Arachnos may have had on him, Jake got actively involved in the conversation.
"But what only dissolves organic things?" He simply asked, wanting to know at least an example before he was willing to accept the idea.
"No use in accepting an idea that isn't plausible."
"An Etat weapon could have done it, but again, the suit wouldn't still be here..." Ineffable mused. "It could be the victims were teleported out of their suits before-hand, but that I doubt...It could have been some form of negative energy absorbtional ability, but that would have left residue...It could have been an unbound Nictus who sucked them dry, but again, that would leave tell-tale signs...What about Osh'kan weaponry? They do have several adaptive acids that will only destroy bio-matter but will ignore non-organics, at least from my limited experiences with them back on Earth. It would also explain the doctored holes."
Jake raised his eyebrows a bit. "Well, guess I have some pretty limited experience..." He muttered upon hearing Ineffable's explanation. "But then that leaves the question as to why they would have even been in contact with such an acid..."
(((If it's a stupid question, blame it on my ignorance, not Jake's. >.>
)
Paragon City
Normally it would have taken several hours for everyone to get to the meeting place. Each would have to take a plane and hope that they could get through customs in time. For these particular soldiers of fortune however, it was a matter of minutes.
A short distance from where they'd been contacted a portal opened. It was rather inconspicuous, often disguised as something else, but when they finally did reach it they were instantly teleported to a spot inside the city.
The first to arrive was of course the team leader. Clad in a dark overcoat and a duster atop several face wrappings he stood out like a sore thumb. His eyes glowed a brilliant orange beneath the wraps like two fireflies.
Moments later the team sniper arrived. He'd had enough time to change out of his desert camo and into more fitting combat clothes. A black t-shirt with a bullet proof vest over it and black cargo pants. Slung over his shoulder was a FN 20K rifle and strapped to the front of his vest were two handguns. He held a duffel bag full of gear in his hand opposite the rifle.
A man clad in golden armor appeared. His appearance was perhaps the strangest yet. Running from his wrists to almost shoulder length on either arm was a rather large curved blade. The blade was affixed to his armor, and in the glowing moonlight gave off a bright glare.
The final team member appeared a few minutes later. Stepping out of the blue portal, he immediately cast a shadow upon the other members. Standing seven feet tall and covered with some form of thick black body armor the robot joined the huddled team of mercenaries silently. His green eyes pierced through each of the team members, assessing each man's physical condition with a hasty scan.
The team leader quickly briefed the team on their mission. Afterwords he handed each of them an I.D. card.
"Okay, let's get moving. We don't want to be late now do we?"
With that the team members went their seperate ways. The sniper and the blade wielding man were the first to leave, taking a single portal that had opened next to them to their destination. The robot went after them in a diffrent one that had opened up behind him. When the others were gone the team leader pulled out his cell phone to update his employer.
"Whoa there, buddy." Acid gave a sly smirk with closed eyes as he raised the open palms of his clawed hands for a moment, "Wasn't trying to start anything. Though I do have to wonder why you're getting so defensive all of a sudden."
"And I would dearly appreciate if you'd address me by name." the Khelari told Grey with a sideways glance, "It may be fictive, but I've very much grown to like it. Also, I'm afraid my ancestors had very little in common with Terra's dinosaurs."
He didn't give answer to Jake, but even in his silence, the reptilian told the young mastermind more than enough - or more accurately, his profile did. Arachnos didn't seem to have much on the guy, and what they did hung spotty at best.
According to the files, they'd initially encountered Acid in the first big Ziggursky prison break Lord Recluse had orchestrated. Oddly enough, the prison's records refuted he was even an inmate, not to mention that he even existed. Of course, that hadn't been known at the time. He'd been just one of many on the Flyers that day and so no one had paid much attention when yet another robotics mastermind with a few force fields popped up every now and then in the Rogue Isles, causing some manner of havoc or running an errand for Arachnos sometime.
Strangely, when they did want something from him - and he wasn't currently involved in something for Arachnos already - he could be impossible to track down, let alone get word to. The guy was a veritable ghost: sometime here, sometime yonder, but generally just not there.
Still, Arachnos stood well accustomed to dealing with strange folk, and Acid had been treated no different that was, until he shot down Scirocco. That caught Recluse's eye, and it wasn't long before the head of Arachnos bid him to knock down the pride of the Freedom Phalanx a few notches. Supposedly "owing that big lug a punch anyway" - thought to be a reference to Statesman dislocating his jaw during a raid of one of Paragon's banks - Acid accepted and indeed succeeded. Recluse had been overjoyed.
Well, that joy lasted all but until he thought of trying the reptilian on for size for Operation Destiny. That had ended with the man receiving his own head. Not one to be intimidated, Recluse had then...
Wait a minute - further access restricted? The records were locking Jake out of this section? Top-level clearance required...what was that all about?
The trailing paragraphs listed only the usual, burbling forth a compilation of current activities observed by the eyes of Arachnos. Nowadays Acid wasn't seen around the Isles much, having apparently joined the Vanguard in their exploits against the Rikti. When he was around, he seemed to enjoy picking on the Malta group and sending their paranoia meters through the roof - and every now and then, he'd rob the exact same amount of money from a bank on Peregrine Island; usually right after Portal Corporation had deposited that very same amount in said bank.
It was never much, but it had raised a few eyebrows. Too bad no one on either side of the fence seemed capable of actually stopping the guy and asking a few questions. Heroes sent to strike generally had the tables turned on them, finding themselves in the tight squeeze of detention fields, and villains quickly found he'd assumed his old hangouts again: sometimes here, sometimes yonder, but generally just not there.
In summation, the Arachnos records described something of a part-time villain, and with a great many pieces of the puzzle missing. There was a good chance they sat locked up in that secured section, but of course this couldn't be said for certain.
On the topic of such matters of speech, Acid said nothing to Ineffable's nonsense, choosing to ignore the ill-informed drivel.
"In any case, now that I know it's just Vanguard arriving early," he continued, passing a glance over what looked to be a high-tech watch on his left wrist, "it looks like there's nothing more to gain from here. If I'm to believe my ship - and it's got a pretty good nose - we're now the only ones here. We'd best be heading down to the planet before Nemmy has time to do something really nasty. You guys came from...back there, right...?"
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"Guess we had a misunderstanding then." Unai Kemen admitted when Sheldon clarified the earlier commentary. He seemed to have intent to add something to this, but the sudden electrical strike by the Ryat unit caught him off-guard, causing him to whirl about toward the android's target, several Longbow soldiers already raising their weapons towards the location.
Alarms blared into the night, and a duo of spotlights immediately focused in on the cage of electrons, the light cones cutting through the dark of night in an attempt to determine what had been caught inside.
Apparently, however, it was air. None of the security personnel had perceived the tiny black cloud in the dark of night, and with nothing to see right now, were left figuratively scratching their heads.
An invisible intruder should have at least showed up somehow by now, and combined with Ryat66 not getting any response to his remark, this left quite the baffled defense force.
"Either of you wanna tell me what just happened?" security Chief Kemen requested of Wallace and the mechanoid, eyes still fixed on the spot encased in circling electricity. Whatever the luminescent electron arcs had attempted to catch had disappeared into thin air.
Or more precisely, thick ground.
If their means of sensing their surroundings were sufficiently equipped to in some way discern things roughly the size of an angstrom, Wallace and/or Ryat66 may very well have identified the intruder - a cloud of perhaps a few hundred truly nanoscopic machines, which had chosen to make its way out of the electric cage right through the bottom and into solid dirt.
Like a submarine, the assembly of tiny mechanoids had initiated a dive, quite literally going underground. Having an apparent preference to air, it stood to reason that the cloud couldn't move through loose solids quite as quickly as it could in gases, but was certainly capable of using the former as a viable medium...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Good news! I might be able to rejoin a few threads later in a few weeks! 
Edit: ((OOC)): Ah crud, wrong thread...
Jake's face registered surprise when the his goggles flashed 'RESTRICTED ACCESS' at him, making their presence visibly known to all who were looking at his eyes. Critically analysing the reptilian-esque creature for the first time, he noted that there were several key differences between him and the raptors he looked so much alike, mainly the humanlike characteristics he held. His brow furrowed with thought, and his mouth moved from its usual smirk to a straight line.
This guy was going to be a complication.
Just outside the gates of the Portal Corp complex the eerie silence ofthe night was shattered by the sound of air collapsing.
A large blue portal appeared, it's eerie luminescence visible from within the facility.
Two men exited it. The sniper and the blade wielder immediately set off for the gates of the facility.
A second and then a third portal opened as their team members rejoined them.
They all made their way for the security checkpoint at the gate. They all flashed their fake I.D.s Should the guard check on them he would find that all four I.D. cards checked out.
While the man wearing the overcoat and body wrappings may have been team leader, the sniper was the one who did all the talking at the gate.
"I'm looking for Unai Kemen. We're here to assist with the Vanguard task force."
[ QUOTE ]
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OOC: Jake got called by Toy to come over to the rest of the group where Grey is. If he's alone, it's only cause you missed something.
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((I gathered that much; I was commenting on Jennfer8's and Binro's lack of posting. >.>