The Longbow soldier manning the guardhouse was quite surprised to see these four so casual considering the blaring sirens that howled all across Portal Court. That certainly didn't match the behavior of the average superhero.
And considering the IDs presented had been stamped 'Vanguard' made them only all the more suspicious to a Longbow man. Even after the renegade fiasco had been cleared up, a good portion still carried on the silent feud between the Red and the Black.
Still, procedure was procedure. He'd have to let them in. But he could still run them through the Freedom Corps database first.
"In a moment." he therefore told them, motioning them over and out of the shadows into an area illuminated by floodlights. As he handed them back their IDs, he explained, "We just need to verify your security standing. Should only take a moment. Please step over here so the camera can see you better."
The indicated surveillance camera mounted on the fence stopped its sweep for a moment, inspecting the four. What did they look like...?
--------------------
"Quite." Acid answered Grey with an accepting nod, "Frankly, I'm surprised it didn't ring a bell or two. Oh no, we've not met in person. But if I recall correctly, some of your associates ran into my tactical coordinator and Allen's sword a while back...either that or my horrid memory's just playing tricks on me again. Now, where is the Lady Grey then?"
"We are present." came the voice of Vanguard's head from down the corridor. It seemed that she had finally returned to her old self once more, the constant strain of past happenings lifted and thus no longer a constant detraction, the Lady Grey expressing herself in the plural again. Stepping to the group at a moderate pace, she bade the ones blocking Acid from her view, "Well, do please let Us see what you have found here..."
--------------------
Accepting the glasses with a quick nod of thanks, the Security Chief flipped up his visor and brought the eyewear over his sight.
"Um..." he remarked after a moment, raising a finger, "You guys sure there's something there?"
Personally, Kemen was starting to doubt it. Of course, he had no idea the angstromite cloud had literally gone underground - and whether or not Sheldon's glasses could see under the earth, the Security Chief certainly didn't have the presence of mind to ask him so.
The Longbow soldiers about looked upon the spot with questioning eyes now too. Still, they kept their weapons sweeping to and fro, just in case.
The small assembly of tiny machines, of course, didn't much care. All they were out for was getting to the monitor terminal attached to that large portal over there. If in air or under the dirt, a path was a path, and hence didn't really matter...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
The team was still shaking off the after effects of the portal. Only when they got closer to the guard station could they hear the alarm.
They promptly complied with the guard's orders, stepping into clear view of the camera.
Anyone looking at the camera would find one hell of a strange assortment of people.
The viewer's eyes were immediately drawn to the strange man in the gold armor. The metallic sheen on the armor produced a nasty glare to the camera, even in the growing darkness. The long blades running from his wrists up to almost shoulder length looked rather unfriendly. His face was blocked by the visor of his matching gold helmet that ran down to his chin.
The seven foot tall grey robot was equally imposing. His green eyes stared directly into the camera lens, as if trying to read the mind of the viewer.
And who could forget the team's real leader, the guy in the black overcoat. Even with a hat and full body wrappings you could still see his unnaturally red eyes scanning the area around him.
The sniper was the closest to being normal. His black t-shirt was covered by a thick bullet-proof vest and slung over his shoulder was a modified SC 20K rifle. His thick black hair was rather windswept.
The guard would find that the Freedom Corps database wasn't very informative. According to it these four were registered as level 50 heroes. It classified the sniper as a blaster known as "The Ghost Killer." The man with the blades was a scrapper named "Scarab". The robot was "HK 48", a defender class. Lastly the man in the body wraps was a tanker by the name of "Hammerhead."
Unbeknownst to the Portal Corps guard not one of these guys was a hero. In fact, the records had been hacked no more than five minutes ago by none other than "HK 48".
((...
HK 48...
Isn't he from KotOR II? The orange assassain droid you find dismantled in the Ebon Hawk, prototype of the HK 50s?))
[ QUOTE ]
((...
HK 48...
Isn't he from KotOR II? The orange assassain droid you find dismantled in the Ebon Hawk, prototype of the HK 50s?))
[/ QUOTE ]
(( That would be HK 47, meatbag
..And he strangely reminds me of a mechanized version of Poe...
HK 47....Husk Korp? (I know it's not spelled right, but if we mixed Mortal Kombat into this.... 
)))
Global - @El D
Servers - Protector
((Poe: I deny any and all relations to that pile of outdated scrap. You now have three point twenty six seconds to redeem yourself before I engage in the facilitation of communications in such a way that will bring about an end to hostilities...Meat-sack...
Me: As you can see, absolutely NO RELATION AT ALL!))
--Jade Moon--
"Associates?" Randall grunted, "Allen's... Oh! Yeah, that weird shadow-wolf guy Nester told me about. Says he saved his bacon a couple times. Yeah, Breaker never told me much about that time."
When Lady Grey arrived, he waved to her and stepped aside as she instructed. It was her time to set the playing field now.
-----------
--Portal Corp Courtyard--
Ryat66 crouched down as his electrical field shorted out and he was scanning the dirt.
"It went down there, somewhere," he chirped, "Hey! If you guys can hear me, we're having trouble getting the portal to work right! If you can fix that, it'd be great!"
"Ryat!" Sheldon shouted, his normally professional demeanor finally cracking from the stress, "What the Hell do you think you're doing?"
"I just," he looked back up to Sheldon, "I just thought... Maybe..."
"Never tell the enemy you're in trouble!" Sheldon barked, "Especially when, for all you know, they're the ones that have caused this mess!"
"I'm sorry," the android sat down on the ground and slumped its shoulders again, "I keep messing things up tonight..."
Sheldon sighed and patted his creation's head.
"You're doing the best you can with limited information. It's not your fault you're optimistic."
-----
The sound of an angry monster tearing its way across asphalt got progressively louder as Matt pulled up to the Portal Corporation courtyard. He didn't even flash his identification to the Longbow troops, he just hopped the fence and slid the demon machine into the grass to park it in front of the Portal Corp sign. Rotating the kickstand in place, he barked a laugh, hopped off the machine and started strolling to the special portal machine.
Out of the sky came Cory Simmons, who arced toward the gate after dropping the rifle to Matt. The scrapper caught it in one hand, the ethereal conversation they'd been having to coordinate the stunt mostly unknown to outsiders.
Seeing the Archlich, Matt gave him a quick salute.
"Here," Matt said as he tossed the rifle to one of the techs, "There's some kind of computer in this with information on something that might be messing with all of this. I got it offa some Malta Goons I had to kick the crap out of. It's got some kinda microphone in it... They were spying on somebody I drove past while on my way here that first time. It just felt odd, so I had a friend look in on it, then he got into a fight... It was just a huge cluster[frig]."
He gestured to the rifle in the confused tech's hands.
"Got results, though.
-----
Cory, grinning, floated down to the gate and proffered his identification.
"Gentlemen, it seems I will be conducting business here, tonight. Ah, is it not distressing, how sometimes the most life-threatening and important situations arise just as you're trying to spend a quiet evening with the one you love?"
He turned to the peculiar individuals and quirked an eyebrow.
"Oh, hello. Are you here to assist as well?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
The team turned around at the approach of Cory and Matt.
HK 48 did a quick scan of the two meta humans. Still connected to the Freedom Corps. database he was able to look up the heroes record.
He made a note of the hero's vehicle, scanning it as well.
48 also made a note of the mysterious Cory. The machine detested all forms of magic, and as such, cocked it's head to oneside, the only sign of emotion in the soul less abomination.
Ghost, who had been watching his team mate scan the two new arrivals was the first to reply to Cory's question. "Indeed. My name is Jack, and these are my associates, Scarab, HK 48, and Hammerhead. Unfortunately we were only told of the situation with the Vanguard Task Force. Are you here to assist them as well?"
--Portal Corp Courtyard: Security Gate--
Cory didn't notice the significance of the machine's mannerism (or was ignoring it). He turned to Ghost with a warm smile before replying.
"My friend only informed me that the Portal Corporation people needed help with an issue... I was contacted to assist and my associate and I have been spending the past hour or so dealing with a group of Malta Group agents... Detestable organization... So unwilling to deal and bargain. So quick to die for a cause that they probably don't even remember amongst their ridiculous conspiracy theories."
He sighed before continuing.
"I don't believe they're involved in the current mess, however. The target I was looking for... It just twisted my stomach in knots..."
The Longbow officer glared at the wizard and Cory stopped.
"Everything I said points no fingers except at a group that's officially nonexistent according to the U.S. government and the United Nations Security Council. Even then, I said it's likely not them... Which could just as easily mean that it is..."
He sighed at the circular logic of it all. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he handed his card to the officer.
"Look, here's my identification, I believe you already met my friend who hopped the fence on his motorcycle."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Ghost paid attention to the various ramblings of the wizard.
"I see. I've had many dealings with the Malta, and I can't say I blame you for hating them."
Jack thought back to his years as a sniper amongst the Maltans. It had been a brief career, and he'd spent most of the time just sitting out there with his spotter in the field, killing time.
His first encounter against a Meta hadn't been pretty. The hero had been a tanker of no small skill who had located the cell's base off the coast. Jack had been given a simple order by his boss, kill the hero.
If only it had been that easy.
Jack had taken up a position on the far side of the compound, opposite of the hero. When the tanker smashed through several guards Jack found he had the perfect opportunity for the shot. He fidgeted about adjusting his rifle until he had the hero's ehad in his sights.
The hero must have spotted the glint of the rifle against the sun, because at the last possible second he moved, leaping into the air, the bullet whizzing by harmlessly. He hurtled through the air like he'd been shot out of a cannon, and landed on the guard tower where Jack had taken refuge.
Jack heard the crunch of the metal above his head breaking and instinctively dropped his gun, wheeling around to face the tanker. The hero, clad in some form of spandex swung at Jack with the full force of an oncoming truck. Jack remembered falling out of the tower and landing on the ground below.
Thankfully he'd been given a special serum that boosted his abilities. Unfortunately he was still in a lot of pain from the fall. The hero leapt back down, ready to finish Jack off.
That's about when Jack's backup showed up. A man carrying a sapper rifle was able to weaken the hero long enough for Jack to pull his pistol and finish the tanker off.
"Tell me, just how does Malta fit into this problem?"
"A warlock..." Archlich said to himself as he ignored Matt for the moment and watched after Cory briefly. "I have not seen many of those for quite some time now. I shall have to speak with this one, find out where he obtained his power."
With the experience gained that one could only garner from living hundreds of centuries surrounded by magic, Archlich had quickly and easily been able to determine the root of Cory's magic. It helped that demonic energies generally had a subtly different feel to them that most other wizards missed.
Turning his gaze back to the scrapper hero and his abomination of a vehicle, Archlich walked over to the bike and examined it more closely, taking care to avoid the shining headlights. His right hand traced several runes in the air as he walked, unlocking several variations of the standard identification spell in order to piece together what this thing was made of.
"Where did you get this machine?" Archlich asked Matt, not even looking in the scrapper's direction but somehow making his voice reach him loud and clear. "And from whom did you purchase it?"
**********************************************
Toy Dispenser stepped to one side as Lady Grey approached, signalling Combat Toy to move further down the corridor with the rest of the bots in order to free up more space.
"Lady Grey," Toy said with a nod. "Allow me to introduce Acid Zero, an associate of mine that I have worked with on several occasions."
"Oh joy, another money grubbing mercenary to fill out our merry band of misfits and renegades," grumbled Solid as he slung his rifle over his shoulder and leaned against the wall so he could see and hear what was about to happen.
"I've always said we need more aliens," he continued sarcastically. "No offense, Cher'tak."
"None: Taken," the Rikti replied as he too watched the conversation with interest.
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.
Innefable scowled very slightly as the scene became too social for him to handle, and he vanished into thin air. Presumably to 'Be About.'
Giving the quartet the all clear as he jotted down a few notes on a freshly acquired clipboard from the guardhouse, the Longbow soldier smirked to Cory, "Oh, him? Yeah, he tore out of here earlier already, so don't worry. He won't run into any trouble...from us, anyway. Can't guarantee for those Vanguard guys. They still give me the creeps."
Ushering the new arrivals on, the Longbow man returned to his post never knowing anything was amiss. As far as he knew, Ghost, Scarab, HK, and Hammerhead were all fully registered heroes.
Security Chief Kemen, however, couldn't help but conclude that there were quite a few things amiss here. Luckily, it had nothing to do with the four, but stemmed from the simple fact that whenever Malta involved itself in something, there always was.
The massive rotating rings of the portal generator giving a sudden crash of static may have qualified. For a moment or two, everyone next to the machine instinctively covered their ears and ducked low, only then realizing the device wasn't tipping over or the like.
"Sir, we're green again!" a technician yelled over the gate's noise from the monitor console in surprise, catching a shocked look from just about all personnel about, even Unai Kemen, "Gate's stable, no anomalies...and the computer's diagnostic's done too! We've got full control again!"
Scratching his head at the unexpected change of pace, the Security Chief of course wasn't looking at the patch of ground in the focus of Ryat66's vision, which for about s second coalesced into a human hand that gestured thumbs up before collapsing into nothing but dirt again.
Indeed, since the only concrete change he knew of was the arrival of the sniper rifle into close proximity of the gateway, the Security Chief drew the first logical conclusion available to him - that thing had to be the responsible factor. He didn't waste any time ordering it investigated, then followed up by contacting the Vanguard expedition and informing them the portal functioned properly once more. In addition, anyone else who needed to know of the portal's status would of course be brought up to date as well.
Meanwhile, the technician Matt had tossed the rifle to quickly got to work. He snatched one of the open laptops about for his purposes. However, upon searching for the USB jack on the weapon's scope, he discovered that upon looking into the lens, a playback function made itself available via an eye movement reader incorporated in the sight. Rather than compromise the company's hardware, of course, the technician accessed the audio clip directly. It wasn't hard to find, being the only one on file. Apparently, the scope's memory had been cleared beforehand.
"Glad ta see yalls made it." a male voice filled with a thick Texan accent came across, "Ya know, there wa'n't no need ta clear all this here."
"Just being careful." a second voice replied, sounding like it belonged to a somewhat younger man, "Can't risk any of this getting out, you understand."
"Gotcha, gotcha. So'n, yalls ready to roll out?"
"Affirmative. The Everpeace Operatives are in place and awaiting your signal. Once you give the go, they'll move to their objectives immediately. You shouldn't have any trouble at all."
"Mighty fine. I'll head o'er right quick then."
"Wait...you want to go personally?"
"Well shux, son, aint' much point in me a-hollerin' from here if sometin' goes wrong. I ain't expectin' them alien scum ta co-operate at all much. Gonna be a fight."
"But...what about the Vanguard task force? If they find out you're involved..."
"Don'tcha worry 'bout 'ems." chuckled the second voice in a dastardly manner, "They get'n the way, I'll take care o' those varmints. Everpeace's been planned the tar outta. All we gotta do now is..."
At this point, the voice degraded into a crude warble from one moment to another, assuming the form of incomprehensible blather for about a second or two.
"...see you're aiming in the vicinity of a vehicle that a friend of mine informed me of." a third voice entered the frame. Though dull and low, it was clearly Cory's, "Do you mind telling me what makes it so important?"
Then the playback degraded again, the laser beam interrupted by Simmons having coated the barrel in ice, savagely corrupting the beam and rendering it unable to pick up anything else. Even the TacOps Commander having so skillfully reoriented the rifle afterwards didn't add anything more to the conversation. That snippet of information was the only useful thing left on here, this was sure...
--------------------
The Lady Grey's eyes widened ever so slightly as she beheld Acid, and it almost appeared she didn't quite believe what she saw at this point. For a moment at the very least, she seemed to have been rendered speechless.
"Ah, Lady Grey." the reptilian greeted her with a toothy smirk before the moment of silence became truly noticeable (though extra-keen senses would still have taken note), "Forward scout Acid Zero reporting in."
"The area's all clear..." he told her with a satisfied tone, though it became somewhat more melancholy as his gaze passed over the empty shell of armor at his feet, "though I'm afraid not quite in the way we'd like."
"We see." the Lady Grey retorted with a firm nod, this time no hesitating one bit, "Nemesis managed to arrive here before us. Preliminary conclusions suggest he had prior knowledge of our arrival. Any thoughts?"
"Too many to count." Acid shrugged helplessly, "Doesn't matter how many viewpoints you've got when you don't know which one you should be looking at stuff from. In short, I haven't got a clue. All I know for sure is that everything's happening a lot faster than we initially expected."
"We agree." the head of Vanguard motioned for the group to follow her back to the main chamber, something Acid quickly took her up on, the woman continuing the conversation as they walked, "Getting to the planet is currently our highest priority. We have already dispatched teams to search for other portal generators, but thus far, results returned to Us have been disheartening."
"Nemesis tore up the place pretty bad, huh?"
"Correct. And personally, We are loathe to call for help in our current disposition, as the gateway we arrived through has malfunctioned. It is not permitting return travel to our world. Would you know anything about this?"
That last question had been asked with just a bit more fervor than usual, the reptilian only giving a silent shrug in response. The Lady Grey seemed intent on further inquiry, but just at that moment came a transmission from Unai Kemen that rendered the questionnaire utterly moot - at least for the moment.
In addition, the Rikti Psi-Scout came barreling from the main chamber just before the group had returned there, nearly bulldozing the Lady Grey into the ground. Lk'Onik seemed to be in a state of panic, his translator spitting out nothing but incomprehensible syllables. Even the small mental network he'd formed with the other three couldn't get any concrete information on just what had set him off. Whatever it had been, however, it had to be big...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"I'll check that..." Ineffable's voice murmered from a non-discernable direction as Lk'Onik came barreling in.
And so he did just that. The brute, immaterial and invisible, dispersed himself. The area that was now him, or rather, the him that was now the area in general, drifted into the main chamber.
--Portal Corp Courtyard--
Matt grinned back at Archlich.
"I built it. Didn't take much... Just time and materials. Back home I used to work on bikes all the time. Even did a stint of it in Sacramento, California... Then the War hit, I took care of my dad afterward for a while, then hopped on a plane here to see how my best bud was doing... Then I kinda got caught up in heroin' and helped a mechanic named Lou. He's been helping me piece this thing together ever since. It started out as a motorcycle with a minigun! From there, I kinda pieced things into it as I found them. Don't worry about the headlight... it only hurts when the machine's on.... Man, I can't wait to test it out in Dark Astoria!"
----
Cory shrugged as he walked with the four newcomers.
"It's not that I hate the Malta Group, it's that I'm disappointed in them," he explained, "So much potential wasted because of the diseased minds of a few. And they don't seem to have much to do with any of this, it's just that my friend and I ran into them in the middle of a surveillance operation while investigating another matter... And the two events were related, their spying and the issue I was contending with."
He noticed Archlich admiring Matt's motorcycle.
"Oh... A dark sider," his tone was still neutral to almost friendly, "I see you admiring my elder friend's conveyance. Is it not an incredible device? To think, that such a gruff young man has the skills of an artificer."
"A whah?" Matt grunted, "Cory... I already told you about that mystical mumbo-jumbo. Don't do it. I understand you're saying ol' Thundermaker is a fine machine and all, but what the Hell is an... Artificer?"
"You'll understand someday, I hope," Cortland chuckled back.
----
Ryat66's head cocked quizzically as he stared at the dirt. Sheldon started to say something else to him, but he waved him off and pointed.
"Did you see that?" the android asked while turning back to Sheldon.
"Unfortunately, no," the inventor replied coldly, "I have a bad feeling that whatever that was, it's out of our hands now. That's slightly disconcerting, considering that it may have been what caused all of this mess out here."
He watched the spinning rings and the portal singularity floating in their center. After taking note that the machine seemed to be running in smooth order, he turned and approached the security chief.
"Mr. Kemen, if I could have my shades back, please?"
----------
--Jade Moon--
"Hey, hey!" Randall caught a hold of Lk'Onik by the shoulders gently, "Calm down, calm down... Deep breath... All the madness of the past few hours is done with... Now... Okay? Relax, calm your nerves, now tell us what you have to say."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Jake instinctively turned toward Lk'Onik as she came in babbling nonsense and incomprehensible syllables. He subconsciously rose two flat palms, the universal sign of 'Slow the Hell down!'. "Calm down for a second! What's the matter?" He said, trying to command as much attention as he could.
"It is indeed a miracle that this mortal did not manage to kill himself and everyone around him while tampering with a Dragon's Heart," Archlich said as he glanced at Matt. "As little as I care about your lives, I would advise you to consult more expert assistance when attempting work of this calibur again. The destruction of magical artifacts is always a thing to be avoided, even if they are but mere copies."
"And you," Archlich continued, turning his gaze on Cory. "You are a warlock, am I correct? How is it that one of your kind stills exists in this day and age, not to mention under the mantle of a 'hero'? I have encountered very few of your brethren among the channels I usually tread."
For the moment, the lich was going to overlook Cory's snide remark about his loyalties. The time would come to even himself with the warlock, but for the moment he was more intrigued than irked.
*********************************************
Toy easily caught Lady Grey's reaction to seeing Acid. After all, aside from his command and control functions, he had been designed to notice just about anything that went on within his vision. Figuring he would press Acid for information later, the mastermind fell in step with the Vanguard leader as she began walking back to the main room.
The rest of the group followed, Solid Shot making a point to walk near to Lady Grey. As a former guard droid, he was going to guard her whether she liked it or not. His position came in handy as Lk'Onik came barreling in, knocking Lady Grey off her feet. Respressing the urge to overcharge his fists and slam the Rikti, however friendly, away, he instead lunged forward and caught Lady Grey before she hit the ground. He had her set back upright and had stepped back in order to get a clean line of fire into the main room before she could offer more than a slight yelp at the injury to her dignity.
Calm yourself, Psi-Scout! Cher'tak projected strongly, attempting to broadcast his own firm discipline to help Lk'Onik get himself under control. You are of no use in such a condition! Calm yourself now and tell us what has gotten you so riled up!
Toy Dispenser had barely seen the Rikti coming and had stepped back out of the way, neatly removing himself from a potential collision. As with Solid Shot, he set about assembling his pulse rifle and looking out into the main room just in case something had happened in there. At the same time his robots, who had been providing rear guard, went into high alert and took up covering positions.
It never hurt to be too sure about one's safety in an alien environment.
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.
--Portal Corp Courtyard--
Cory smiled pleasantly to the Archlich. He'd actually heard of the "rogue", but had never expected to actually meet him. Some part of his mind cataloged this as a missed opportunity to eradicate a twisted abomination from the face of the planet, but most of the rest of his mind was focused on the task at hand. Plus, there was the fact that no longbow, Freedom Corps or Vanguard troops were firing on the rogue or otherwise trying to detain him (despite the numerous "Shoot on Sight" orders, but EVERYBODY seemed to get one of those once in a while; even heroes).
"Ah... Yes, my honorific... Indeed, I am a warlock. An 'oathbreaker,'" he sighed at that, "Most people seem to only believe that the only oaths that one takes are the ones that are just and good... One hardly ever considers the pact taken with a demon to be an oath. In my family history, long before the 'Diaspora' that brought my ancestors to the 'New World', my ancestors made a pact with creatures most would call demons in modern times. Over the generations, my bloodline became polarized, those with kind and just souls, and those whose souls became dark and twisted."
His eyes suddenly blazed fire and he stared deeply into the Archlich's own. His tone had darkened considerably as well.
"Suffice it to say, there was a great battle. The vile ones were eradicated and the curse wiped from our blood. When the 'demons' came to claim back their powers, however, their enemies, both celestial and terrestrial, sided with my family and we earned the right to maintain our bloodline and our skills. However, there is still a taint of the devils in our genetic makeup... Something that usually only reveals itself under stress..."
A pair of horns sprouted from his forehead.
"It's rather painful... And I dislike doing it twice in one night. However, you have irked me with your remarks to my adept friend. He treats the artifacts he deals with as he would any high-quality vehicle part. Who are you to determine how magic works in this modern world?"
Matt walked up and waved to the two magic users, especially Cory.
"Hey!" he shouted, "Calm down, man! If he hates my ride, he hates my ride, that's cool."
He grinned at the Archlich.
"I just take it to mean he's jealous."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Archlich gritted his teeth at the presumption of this mortal warlock. In answer to Cory's horn sprouting, several runes flashed into existence around the lich and seemed to pulse with eagerness to be unleashed.
"I recall the events you speak of," Archlich hissed out after Matt had spoken. "It was a unique event and one that I was quite glad to record. I would be very displeased to have to end your line for the simple fact of provoking my ire. I prefer to embark on such momentous occasions with far more gratifying reasons behind me."
Forcing aside his anger, Archlich swiped his hand across the runes, erasing them from the air. At the same time, however, the glow of his eyes increased slightly to the extent where it would hurt the eyes to look at them for too long. He continued as stare at Cory as he addressed Matt.
"Were it up to me, mortal, I would gladly eradicate the abomination you control from this world," he said curtly. "It is of my belief that magic should remain seperate and inviolate from the advancements of science and technology. Mine is an ancient art, perfected and improved upon for thousands of years before the invention of the automobile or the machine gun. Once science has put a few more centuries under its belt then I shall consider it approaching the magnificence of my art."
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.
--Portal Corp Courtyard--
"I never saw much difference between the two, magic and science," Wallace's voice issued from where he stood next to Kemen as he retrieved his property, "I saw you both glowing over there and decided to eavesdrop a little. Thank you Cortland, for the momentary mental link."
He walked up to Archlich and pointed at the airspace the runes had briefly occupied.
"I would keep those under wraps if I were you. Last thing you want is your temporary allowance into this restricted facility revoked. There's more than enough drones here to make your teleport to the Zig a very unpleasant occurrence. And you..."
He turned to Cory.
"You're usually better in control of yourself. Put those horns away. You're not actually scaring anyone. And YOU!"
He rounded on Matt angrily.
"You ever risk the life of one of my androids like that again, you ever disobey my direct orders like that again, and I will make sure you spend a few days in the pocket dimension where I keep Roland's arrows!"
"Sounds like good practice," Matt replied with a chuckle.
"What's wrong with you?" Cory asked suddenly, "Normally, you're so defensive..."
"I drank half a bottle of rum on my way here," Matt started swaggering away, "It's finally starting to hit me. Come on! Let's go see what was on that gun."
As he left, the wizard and the inventor glared at his back.
"Anything you can do to me, Archlich," Cory intoned as his horns shrank back into his head, "It can never amount to the migraine I suffer trying to train that guy."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
The runes having been wiped away before Wallace had walked over, Archlich simply glared at the hero until he turned away to yell at the warlock. The inventor having successfully defused the situation, Archlich let the glow of his eyes dim back to their normal levels. He instead crossed his arms and watched Wallace and Cory glaring at Matt as the scrapper walked off.
"I have had several apprentices like him," Archlich said in response to Cory's statement. "They all ended up dying at the hands of various do-gooders who came from time to time to kill me and end my blight upon the world.
"I do assure you, however, that if I wished to start an altercation I would certainly remove us to a more suitable premise for such a combat. But that is neither here nor now. Rather, I would prefer and speak with Cortland here regarding how his bloodline has fared in the years since their sundering. I am greatly intrigued with how your people have avoided becoming corrupted once more."
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.
The four man team passed by the now quarreling mages and continued deeper into the complex. They knew their destination now. It mattered little what happened now.
Cutting across the courtyard at a brisk pace they made their way to the portal.
Unai Kemen was still near the technicians, yet another stroke of good fortune.
The quartet walked over to him, stopping just in time to hear the last bit of his transmission to the Task Force.
"I take it you are Unai Kemen. My name is Jack, and my team here is here to assist the Vanguard Task Force."
HK-48 did a quick scan of the equipment around the portal.
He noted that the portal, while in poor condition, seemed perfectly capable of taking them to their destination.
((Last post, then SLEEP!))
--Portal Corp Courtyard--
Cory sighed, glad that the conversation finally had turned to less aggravating topics.
"Ah, yes," his voice suddenly back to its pleasant tone, "That was actually quite simple. We were advised to stay 'off the grid' to use the modern vernacular. What magic we utilized was subtle, often easily explained using conventional contrivances. Through such maneuvering, we were able to avoid the notice of the infernal forces that would have sought us out."
His head cocked from one side to another.
"Also, to avoid corruption from within, for everybody makes choices to alter and determine their destiny, careful study is made of all children within the family. Anybody with a talent for spellweaving is trained slowly and surely at first, the training immediately halted at the first sign of dark thoughts or selfish desires clouding the student's judgment."
He sighed again and shook his head sadly.
"It never goes smoothly. A child can be well into his teen years before anyone notices the darkness there, and by then he already knows enough to craft some useful attacks. The last one to have to make such a duel was my grandmother with her own sister, and they were both in their mid-forties, their fight weakened much of the Kingdale, New York region's dimensional stability."
Sheldon glared at the wizard again.
"You do realize you just gave away information to the enemy, right?"
"I gave away nothing that he wouldn't have already looked into himself. If he wants to fight there, he can deal with the Warden."
Sheldon rolled his eyes.
"Kip's been gone from home for a long time, Cory."
"Kip stopped being Warden long before the Rikti invaded."
Sheldon looked to the wizard, actually looking perplexed. However, his face softened and he decided his question wasn't worth knowing the answer to.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
~Portal Corp Courtyard~
"Excuse me..."
A small voice interrupted Cory and Sheldon as they discussed things in the courtyard. Glancing down, a small girl, looking no older than eight or ten years old, fidgeted in front of them subtly.
Turning her electric green eyes up to the two of them from behind her visor, she smiled shyly, but timidly. The girl wore technological body-armor, pink, black, and orange in color, and scraps of blonde hair protruded from under her matching helmet.
"I'm afraid I was supposed to come here for some...mission...but I was intercepted by some members of the Freakshow, and they shorted out something up there." she murmured, tapping her head. "I can't for the life of me recall the mission data stored. You wouldn't happen to know if there's something on, is there?"
She shuffled her feet a little. "I'm sorry to interrupt you."
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
"Hm. So much for assuming that town had been destroyed by the Rikti," Archlich mused after Cory mentioned Kingsdale. "And as for combat, Sheldon Wallace, let me reiterate that Cortland has nothing to fear from me at this moment. If we did, however regretably, engage in a test of wills, then I would still be sure to impart no lasting harm on the boy. There are few enough true practioners left in the world for me to slim down that number."
Archlich's eyes narrowed as he looked Cory up and down.
"I do not except that curtosy to be returned, however, as purging one's bloodline of the taint requires an unremiting sense of good and justice in the survivors. I honestly would expect nothing less than my complete destruction would he to prevail in battle against me. But I would not be much of a lich if I-"
Archlich suddenly stopped talking as the little girl approached the trio timidly. The mage seemed to squint at her for a second before he spoke.
"Is that you, construct?" he asked. "I did not imagine you rated as powerful enough to be in this area of your city despite what Toy Dispenser might claim."
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 grinned at Acid.
"What? Dino ((pronounced Dee-no)) was a lovable character..."
His grin became a self-deprecating smirk.
"Okay... Acid, right? I gotcha."
----------
--Portal Corp Courtyard--
((Matt and Cory are en route))
Sheldon removed his glasses, revealing perfectly normal brown eyes. He handed the shades to Unai Kemen.
"These are keyed to read many kinds of hidden threats, and I also had them designed to read various forms of energy so I could discern what would best power my nanotechnological gravity manipulators. Apparently, I could see this... Energy as well. I believe it would be best if you were utilizing the glasses for now so as to better coordinate the efforts of your men. Sixty-six should be able to work with the targeting information I transmitted to him."
"Yes, sir!" the android replied, now turning to the energy caught in his electrical field, "Huh... That's funny looking."
"Indeed," Sheldon agreed as he raised his gauntlet at the cage and fired another burst of gravity nanites to hold the offender in place, "I sure hope that hit. It would be a shame if the Nullifiers here had to find out if their draining technology worked on what appears to be sentient energy."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.