Faster and faster their feet carried the two combatants, and Acid realized very quickly this crossfire idea wasn't going anywhere. He'd need too much time to get off a shot well-aimed enough, and the Titan's plasma fire became nothing but fodder for the vile iridescence that course about the Khelari's suit. At best, this was a stalemate. More likely, however, it stood in favor of the Malta mechanoid.
OVERCHARGE ACTIVE.
TIME REMAINING - 12:33
Nevertheless, the Titan wasn't satisfied. Indeed, Delta 5 seemed to have come to the same conclusion, launching its grapple line once again, this time in an attempt to catch the reptilian and pull him into the waiting maws of its torso-mounted cannon barrels.
Fat chance, pal. But thanks for the idea.
A scattershot of venom-green bolts virtually annihilated the line, Acid following up with something that bore great semblance to a hybrid between a micro-missile and a beam, the obvious projectile streaking to its target with blinding speed in the form of what was clearly an energetic line.
The finger-sized munition even exploded as it struck the ground ahead of the Delta unit, forcing the mechanoid to fling itself aside, lest it be consumed by the sphere of caustic green malevolence that rapidly ate away at the floor, hissing with vicious vehemence as it tore its crystalline crater into the material.
Just as Acid had planned.
If Delta 5 could have an expression, said visage would have most closely resembled the utterance of the phrase, "What the hell is this on my foot?!" right now, a lasso of vibrant energy that stretched from Acid's armored fist wrapped about its ankle.
Before the Delta even knew it, the mechanoid already sailed through the air at the end of the immaterial tether, the reptilian wasting no time in applying the principles of momentum to his opponent. With a thunderous crash, the Titan came down in a cloud of dust and debris, shaking the ground violently before the Khelari once more whipped the mechanoid into the air.
"Hey Grey, feel like giving this thing the squeeze?!" Acid shouted over the cacophony of three more collisions of Delta 5 and ground, then swung the mechanoid high into the sky and right into the nearest tower with violent report.
The path didn't stop there, however, Acid continuing to drag his opponent through the structure even after slamming it through the wall, the energetic grapple line ripping a long scar into the tower wall as it tore its unwitting passenger along, a veritable waterfall of dust and shrapnel gushing from the speedily growing gouge.
It didn't take long at all for the Detla unit to smash out into the open yet again, and if he hadn't understood before, there couldn't be any doubt in the mind of Randall Grey now - since the rather slow wielder of earth and stone hadn't been able to get himself to the fast-moving Titan, the reptilian intended to bring the mechanoid to him instead.
In the fashion of a beach ball and with all the grace of a deflated blimp composed of pure lead.
Of course, if Grey had refused, or suggested something else entirely, Acid would deftly try to make it happen. Try. With an adversary such as this, nothing could be certain to happen as planned.
OVERCHARGE ACTIVE.
TIME REMAINING - 08:31
Especially with time slipping away...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Well, sir..." A TacOps finally began after a long and awkward silence. "Honestly, we don't know."
Another spoke up, his courage having risen from his comrade's answer. "We were under the impression that we had been dropped in a secure location."
And yet another spoke up. "We had no way of knowing that this place was hostile."
The Arbiter seemed satisfied enough with their responses, despite his obvious displeasure with them. "Well, it seems that while Jake Walsh was able to successfully get Arachnos here, he failed in a critical part of the task."
"In any case, we must make do with what he have. Set up here. I'll teleport in some scouting drones and see what we find."
And, while the men set to work on putting up esential equipment, the Arbiter took three devices similar to Jake's from his leg's armor and threw each on the ground, respectively summong three cloaked Arachnos Drones. With a silent order, they were off. One out of where they had come, and two across where the destroyed bridge would have been.
--Rikti Earth: Forgotten Sanctuary: At War with Delta 5--
Randall smiled under his granite armor and flexed again. The floor below him seemed to explode for a moment as dirt and rock wrapped about his legs, rooting him to the floor. The tank then extended his arms out wide, and when Delta 5 slammed into him, he wrapped his arms around the machine's torso in a metal-crushing bear hug.
"Zap me now," he grunted at it as he exerted a little more force, "I dare ya..."
----------
--Prime Earth: Paragon City: Crey's Folly: Outside the Second Base on the List--
"This is the next place," Kip said as he kicked open the door, "Hey, Malta Group! You in there?"
There was a moment of silence before a stunned "...No?"
"Perhaps they're not the Malta Group," Nester suggested as his brother rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I got off suspension in the middle of this whole mess," the scrapper was grumbling, "Randy's off saving the world... I'm stuck here... Dealing with... Nevermind. Even if these aren't the idiots we're supposed to smash into the walls, they're idiots that need smashing into the walls."
"Alright!" Matt shouted as he drew his katana and started marching inside, "Another display of bad-guy-ginsu, on the way!"
"Remember," Ryat99 grabbed Matt before he could get through the doorway, "Sappers first. We don't need another case of feeling like crap when fighting these jerks..."
"Make no mistake," Kip concurred, "these guys, even the dumbest of these guys, are trained enough to be able to take advantage of any weakness we display."
"Well how are they going to do that," Matt kicked the door open, "When the only weakness we've shown so far is a predilection toward kicking their [butts]? Doesn't seem like there's a winning strategy there..."
"Not for them," Nester mused, "Perhaps we should have asked for Nemesis bases, too..."
"No way, nuh-uh," Kip said as he followed Matt in, "I'm not making anymore trips after this batch. We either find a way through to Randall by way of the Malta Group, or we go somewhere else. I'm not smashing my way through the Brass Horde."
"If we were just trying to get to Randall, I'd have hopped through the portal with Cory and Sixty-six," Matt snorted, "They got the portal fixed hours ago."
"Then what the [Hell] are we doing here!?"
"We're finding out what these guys have to do with the portal being damaged in the first place."
As Nester applied the proper nanite buffers and Kip tapped his foot, Ryat99 wound up making the decision.
"We're going ahead with our current plan," he rumbled, "If only because we know that tearing into the Malta Group is good for the world. Plenty of pick-up groups have been formed for the same reason. Besides, one of these bases is bound to have the information we need. I doubt Crimson and Indigo would string us along that badly..."
"Oh they would," Kip nodded vigorously, "I happen to know they would."
"Well we're going on, anyway. Matt's going because he doesn't know when to quit... I'm going because I promised not to let him get himself killed. Kip, you're going because you've committed yourself to this task, and you're like Matt, you don't know when to quit..."
"Why am I going?" Nester asked.
"You're going because we say so," the android finished, "Now, armor up, kick out the buffs, and let's get crackin'!"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"Well this was unexpected," said Large Toy during the brief second that the group of bots and the Malta Group operatives had stared at one another in shock.
Then the Gunslinger started cursing and each bot noticed the IFF tag on him. He was a Gunslinger known as Curtis, one of the more powerful members of the Malta Group. As such, it would be really stupid for them to sit around and wait to get shot. So they moved.
Without any further words - For who needs to talk when the game gets serious? - the drones sprung into action. Toy Bot leaped into the air, twisting around in midair to land feet-first on the ceiling. Digging in, the drone started scuttling forward and blasting at Curtis for the half second the Gunslinger was still there.
Mini Bot ran full-tilt at the Engineer, missiles launched by Combat Toy streaking over its head to blow the non-functioning assault bot the Maltan was cowering behind off its feet and onto the soldier. Not bothering to fire its weapons, Mini Bot instead powered up both buzzsaws and went right for the throat, literally.
Small Toy, already cloaked when the teleport had occured, simply faded back, trying to get far enough away to cover the rest of the crew. Unlike Toy Bot and Mini Bot, Small Toy hadn't backed far enough away to not be hit when Curtis teleported amidst the larger drones and opened fire in every which direction. Several bullets hit the sniper drone, forcing it to go prone to avoid any more damage.
Combat Toy, being the largest and the most dangerous, took the lion's share of hits. But since it was also the first drone to get double bubbled by the protector bots it took less damage than nay of the others would have. Eye strip lighting up all at once in silent anger, the assault bot snikked out its wrist sword and made a wide slash at the gunslinger. Both protector bots, holes in their upper chests, ducked and fired at the same time in a very choreographed motion.
The drones were more than capable of fighting without Toy Dispenser on hand but they tended to concentrate solely on the fight. That single mindedness would probably come back to bite them pretty soon.
------------------------
"WE GOT AN AV!" Solid shouted over the team link as he nimbly avoided the drone's explosion and witnessed Curtis' teleport attack through the hole in the wall. "Maltan Gunslinger just up the way! I'm moving to engage! Could use some back-up."
This last bit was directed at Cory but Solid didn't stick around to see if he was heeded, instead blasting off toward the hole that Curtis was almost framed in, the massive bulk of Combat Toy looming up over him from behind. Not willing to risk the shot, Solid swung wide and moved to take cover behind the remaining wall. He'd wait for the gunslinger to teleport again before attacking.
------------------------
Cher'tak was blown back by the plasma bolt burst, flying about ten feet until he slammed into the twisted wreckage of the dropship. Briefly stunned, Cher'tak was more occupied with pulling himself out of the tangle of metal than in watching Acid swing the titan around like a rag doll.
Toy, on the other hand, had little to do but watch and wasn't quite sure that he was seeing what he was seeing. Here was Acid, human-sized and human-strengthed Acid, flinging two or three tons of the most advanced example of human technology about with a freaking grapple beam like in that one video Solid Shot had shown him a few weeks ago. It was called Haloid, he remembered, loading it up in one corner of his vision and fast forwarding to the part where Samus was flinging the SPARTAN around through buildings exactly like Acid was doing... now...
Oh [censored]... thought Toy as he made the connection between Acid's response to his comment about Metroid and the Khelari's sudden supercharged state.
"Damn it, Acid!" Toy shouted as the electricity coursing over his body started speeding up and growing thicker, radiating out from his body at ever increasing distances. "If you tell me you got the inspiration for this from a [censored] Wii game...!"
Furious, Toy continued to charge energy in a fashion reminiscent of a popular children's anime (though he would punch you if you mentioned the similarity to him) and aimed both hands at the titan Grey was trying to hug to death.
"I hope you're grounded," Toy muttered to the tanker as his body reached the limit, unable to handle any more of the strange, arcane energy that he was generating.
What followed was something akin to several red lightning bolts hitting a lightning rod at the same time for the length of three seconds. The beam seemed to twist and curve about in midair as if it were alive but stayed perfectly connected between Toy and the titan. The mastermind had only used this attack once before in a dual with a future Lord Recluse. Both villains had been at the end of their ropes by that point and this blast had not only disentigrated the majority of Recluse's body but knocked Toy out for the majority of three days. It had been a miracle that he had managed to stumble back to the exit portal, prize in hand, alive and still in time as though only hours had passed.
Before he had passed out, Toy had calculated the power released to be akin to one or two 'Nova' class detonations that high powered blasters were so fond of using. The estimated back lash was also proportionatly higher but if Toy's hunch was right, he'd rather be out of it for a few minutes than what could happen to Acid.
OOC: *wonders how this is going to work out* 
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.
"You're too late!" The Engineer yelled before he was crushed by his own machine.
"You're...too...late..."
---
Curtis turned his head 180 degrees and caught the full spectrum of what was just about to hit him. Right before the attacks all came through, surely having the power to kill him, the Gunslinger jumped into the air and rotated into a back-flip, pistols extended, in what could be called a Bullet Time move for the ages.
Of course, to Curtis, the adrenalin blur really did have everything moving slowly. He watched the sword slice underneath his head as he was midway through the flip. He turned from one side to the other, scoping the sensitive sensor packages on the Protector's 'heads.'
Curtis fired one shot from each pistol right at the two 'bots, each round packing the electromagnetic wallop of an Electric Blaster hopped up on Rage.
At about this time, five Gunslingers came out of teleport in the area and began crisscrossing fire at practically all of the bots.
One Gunslinger, a Boss Class in his own right, landed standing on Small Toy's prone form. He fired a bullet from his .45 right at the 'bots head.
As would figure, however, another factor came into play before the scout drones could even make it out of the corridor. Though wide, space was still at a premium in this hallway, and one of the Arachnos soldiers accidentally brushed past the odd circuits of the wall panel in the dead end as he busied himself setting up his partition of equipment - and in doing so, touched the contact plate.
Before anyone could react, a transparent field of pale-blue energy projected itself across the corridor, severing the hallway at a distance from the dead end precisely equal to its width, resulting in a sealed-off area that resembled a bent square. Whoever had been in this area with the soldier was now of course trapped behind the field.
Whatever the Arachnos man had set off, however, didn't stop there. The ceiling above the contained area gave a click and a clack, then split into a complex pattern of interlocking, curved beams, each of which quickly ground into either the far or side walls, effectively eliminating the ceiling in less than two second.
Then the partition began to rise. It was en elevator.
Viewed from below, in the unsealed area of corridor, the mechanism wasn't much more than a pillar that conformed to the shape of its shaft, resulting in a solid wall as the energy field disappeared into the ceiling. However, this also meant no one could be crushed by the elevator platform descending once more once it had reached its apex.
Undeniably, this happened quite soon, the ascent only lasting a few seconds, after which the mechanism's motion arrested, depositing the Arachnos soldier and any who'd accompanied him on the level above.
And what a level it was.
The chamber seemed to encompass the tower's entire upper partition; large, cylindrical, and at least as tall was it was wide, if not even further. Darkness prevailed, as aside from the luminescent circuits of other panels strewn about here and there, no sources of illumination could be seen. However, this resulted not from absence of such, but rather deactivation.
From what could be gleamed in the gloom, the room sat mostly empty, a large pillar in its center rising to perhaps five or so meters in height, which incidentally was also its width. Aside from circuit panels, only large areas of some manner of scripture hung present on the walls, the same language as on the fiery beacons and monolith that stood outside on the docking platform.
And upon closer inspection, it would of course be found - a panel along the exterior wall alongside the elevator here contained an identical contact plate to the one below. Giving this a touch would send the platform back down...
--------------------
"Toy, I'm hurt!" Acid loudly chuckled back to the robotic mastermind in response to his remark, "Don't you remember...oh right, never mind!"
The reptilian cursed his shoddy memory once again. Of course the guy wouldn't have remembered this suit from whence they'd first met. After all, for Toy, his first meeting with the Khelari had been Acid's second with the sentient mechanoid - and he hadn't employed any of this stuff since said former first contact.
Well then, let's see if this sticks.
Delta 5, however, was feeling in no way cooperative. Using this minute distraction of its opponent to its advantage, the Titan managed to ignite a foot thruster just as the energetic grapple released, causing the mechanoid's trajectory to shift. Instead of slamming into the waiting arms of Randall Grey - a place that really didn't look fun - the Delta unit impacted just slightly above, ricocheting off the man's granite armor like a bullet gone wrong, and rather involuntarily charting a new course through the air, as evidenced by its madly flailing limbs.
Toy of course had the capability to compensate for this, his lightning arc striking true, propelling the Titan through the air even faster, not to mention heavily damaging the thing. The resulting ballistic arc of great velocity sent the Delta into the ground just behind the downed Drop Ship, causing the vessel to jitter slightly, though sadly not leap into the air.
Dangit...that would've been cool.
Ascend, however, the craft certainly did, and by none other than the force of Delta 5. Though visibly scorched and battered, the mechanoid wasn't finished yet. It had deployed plasma-wreathed blades from its wrists, stabbed them into the Drop Ship's hull, deactivated the plasma fields, and now lifted the whole vessel into the air like a forklift possessed by the Borg - or some-such techno-force with demonic likeness, anyway.
Throwing the thing at Acid did not come to be, however. Not half a second later, the Delta unit slumped to its knees, then bowled over forward, the ship still grasped in its 'hands' slamming to ground with thunderous applause.
Behind the downed Titan stood the reptilian, and this time it was the suit's right arm that had become a cannon. Outstretched toward where Delta 5's back had been before its collapse, the muzzle still glowed with venomous green - and the hissing hole of crystal in the back of the mechanoid showed quite visibly what had just happened.
Acid was a sucker for dramatics, but he wasn't stupid. When he saw an opening, he took it, and teleporting behind his opponent as it focused on something else had felt like the most natural thing in the world right then. Toy's assault had been the key element, forcing the Delta unit to the brink, and the Khelari wasn't foolish enough not to take advantage of this.
"Sorry, but time demands." the reptilian remarked as his right arm returned to just that from its cannon mode. He then turned to Grey, inquiring of him, "Everyone okay?"
It was a valid question. After all, the Drop Ship currently blocked his right to Toy, and he had no idea where the Warmaster had ended up either. More than likely, however, Cher'tak had managed to loose himself when Delta 5 had lifted the craft. If not, he'd probably be somewhat dazed right now, but not necessarily harmed.
Before anyone could answer, however, things went catastrophically awry. Scrounging together a last gasp attack, the Delta slumped onto its side and loosed a quad plasma blast at Acid's back, striking true and sending the reptilian into the closest wall like a luminous rocket. Rock and metal alike broke apart with cacophonous violence, the collision tossing a cloud of dust and debris into the impromptu arena.
Acid's battered form detached from the jagged impression his impact had created, several cracks of green iridescence plainly visible across the suit's entire backside. The reptilian hit the ground on hands and knees in instinct, even as his conscious mind still puzzled together what had just happened.
OVERCHARGE SHUTDOWN FAILURE. CONTAINMENT BREACH IMMINENT.
Launching to his feet, the Khelari swore in an alien tongue, then cast a nervous glance at Grey before trying to run in the first direction they weren't - as if he expected to get more than two steps out of it; a rather depressing thought.
Aw snap...this is gonna hurt.
Acid vanished in a violent detonation of luminescent green energy, the explosion cloud intermixed with crystal fragments of the same hue. However, these disintegrated rather quickly, absorbed by the discharge within fractions of a second. Thankfully at least, the detonation didn't grow any larger than a few meters in diameter.
The explosion lasted only a few moments, and as it dissipated into thin air, the resulting sight was likely quite the surprise for all about - including Acid, who still stood there facing towards the stone-armored Randall, arms brought up crosswise ahead of his saurian visage.
The armorsuit was gone, lying in fragments about the reptilian's feet, and his outfit had been shredded and tattered in a good many places (though as some said, this look was all the rage right now), but the Khelari himself didn't look any worse for the wear - and he seemed quite happy about this as he opened his eyes to cast a surprised glance around.
"Huh..." he remarked, lowering his arms again, then letting his hands pad gradually down his body to convince himself he wasn't hallucinating; that everything was indeed still where it should be, "That didn't hurt half as much as I thought it would. Awesome."
Upon reaching his back, however, the reptilian's slowly building smirk disappeared almost instantaneously. With a slight gargle came the words, "I was wrong..."
With that, Acid fell forward without so much as a warning, his eyes rolling back within their sockets as his body hit the ground. As he lay there motionless, clearly out cold, the cause now stood for all to see: a large collection of luminescent green crystals had embedded themselves into the scaleless hide of the reptilian's back...
--------------------
Solid Shot may have wished to reconsider his target, as the pair of battle drones present of course threw themselves into the brawl as well. While they couldn't just jump away from their position at the pillars, they certainly could take single shots of carefully aimed fire to support the elite Gunslinger and his experienced comrades.
This action of course meant they'd let Mini Bot pass unheeded, but it soon became apparent just why. Though the assault bot had been bowled over by the impacts of Combat Toy's missile barrage, it was far from offline. One of the mechanoid's back plates may have been unattached, but that certainly didn't render the machine non-functional. A check-up could be performed quite reasonably with systems powered up.
Thus being, Mini Bot may have been quite surprised as one of the mechanoid's arm cannons came up to greet it with force...
--------------------
Rikti Warship
The Jade Moon
On the bridge of the Vanguard-controlled discus, Acid's explanation of the astrogation console abruptly stopped in its tracks. A shudder ran through the reptilian's body, the twitch only more pronounced due to his sudden silence.
"Something's wrong..." the Khelari whispered, bolting over to the Colonel the Lady Grey had placed in charge of the warship. With swift words at normal volume, the reptilian left the bride to the woman, then shot to the nearest door fast as he could.
"Mr. Wallace, I may need a copilot." he stopped briefly at an intercom, speaking the phrase into the in-ship lines with great haste, "No time for questions, meet me in Hangar 2 ASAP..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
--Rikti Earth: Forgotten Sanctuary: Fighting Delta 5--
"Ah crap..." Grey grunted as he tossed aside the ravaged husk of the machine, slightly gripping it in such a way that it tore out a portion of the torso and left it wide open for pot shots. As he approached the battered body, he slapped his right arm against himself and it promptly disappeared, almost as if the stone had merged into itself.
"Come on, Acid, wake up," the tanker grunted, still in his stone form that wobbled back and form lazily as he rifled through his medication for something that might help, "I usually hang on to a Lazareen... Come on, where the Hell is it?"
----------
--Jade Moon: Rikti Warship--
Sheldon didn't answer the Khelari. He siphoned speed from his Aggressor one last time, tapped away at a datapad and bolted out of the room. The datapad he left behind had the diagnostics he had done, what he had found so far about his sector, and what was left to check. With any luck, the Vanguard crew that took his place would be able to pick up from there. He'd used U.S. Army administrative standards for his forms, so it shouldn't have been difficult for them.
Zipping down the hallways, he scanned the various signs and indicators that revealed to him where precisely he had to go. It was difficult at times, and he got lost infrequently (but it happened). Fortunately, he was able to correct himself accordingly before he'd gone too far down the wrong corridors, and he eventually found his way to Hangar 2.
Seeing that the Khelari had somehow beaten him, he quirked his head to the side, but didn't comment on it. He'd been beaten to plenty of locations, even when he knew from the get-go where he was going.
"Mr. Zero," he said as he approached (at normal speed), "I apologize if I gave the wrong impression, but my capabilities as a pilot are slim to none... I've read on the practice, but my actual experience is negligible. Certainly there are others on board who could assist you better than... Never mind. I just remembered Vanguard brought no helicopters with them, not that such experience would help you here..."
He made for the ship and took a deep breath.
"I have to inform you. Flight terrifies me. Space flight even more so..."
Oddly, his tone never changed.
"It won't affect my performance... Not until alarm klaxons start to blare... Which I've never had happen, it's just I don't know how I'm going to react when everything is out of control."
----------
--Rikti Earth: Hunting the Fleeing Drones--
Cory finished mumbling and Ryat66 appeared next to him.
"I'm here! What do you need me for, sir?"
Seeing the ensuing battle, he warbled an alarm and set his powerplant to standby for overdrive. Cory was, at the same time, casting enchantments to alter the air currents around them and focus their sight.
----------
--Paragon City: Crey's Folly: Second Malta Group Base--
It was a more established base than the last one. Below the trashed warehouse cover was a cold steel pristine environment. Kipland wondered vaguely as to why it was still clean after the considerable amount of debris that had to have occurred with the facility's construction. Not to mention the fact that these gun-toting goons couldn't have known how to weld the walls together with such perfect seams...
"Knock, knock, mother[censored]!" Kip shouted as he kicked a sapper's gun down the hall.
The weapon, set to overload, hit the floor and exploded. The energy draining blast caused the first patrol to clutch feebly at their weapons, and the momentary lapse in capability was enough to let the heroes get the drop on them. When the operatives we subdued, Matt took one who hadn't teleported away yet and set about questioning him.
"Alright, [diphead]," he spat, "I don't have time to be waiting for answers! This place looks like it's got some... Tell me what you know about the Slinger! Tell me what you know about his operations!"
"What are you talking about?" the operative shouted, "Slinger? What kind of meta name is that!?"
"Footsoldiers aren't likely to know anything, Mattock," Ryat99 stated, "I'm actually surprised he doesn't have a cyanide pill in a false tooth..."
"For your information, that tooth's impacted now and I can't move it," the operative said snidely, "Lousy dental plan..."
"Well, then we won't keep you around any longer," Kip said as he gave a sharp kick to the operative's forehead.
A moment later, the blue-uniformed man was gone, zapped to wherever it was Malta soldiers went when they were defeated. It certainly wasn't the Zig, otherwise more people would know about them.
"Alright, let's work our way, chamber to chamber, group to group... These guys like to pull tricks, let's not give them a chance to pull 'em off!" Kip explained, "Nester! Your machines in tip-top shape?"
"Systems are set and running smooth," the defender replied, "I'm as ready to go as I can be..."
"Alright... This door, then," Kip indicated the one they were next to, "I've been in these bases enough times to know they never station anybody down the hall... There's nothing there."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Toy Dispenser accidently paralleled the other mastermind as well, managing to land perfectly fine before suddenly toppling forward with a groan of overstressed metal. Or maybe he was actually groaning.
"I'm gonna feel this one in the morning," muttered the android as he lay face down on the ground, limbs splayed out as though all control had been lost.
"Don't worry about me," he said, speaking directly to Grey's team link. "I'll be up and about in a minute or so and I'll grab Acid then. Solid, your friends, and my bots need your help more than I or he does at this point."
Cher'tak, in the meantime, had indeed managed to jump clear of the dropship when Delta 5 had picked it up. He had been prepared to turn and finish the titan off himself when it suddenly toppled and he need to dodge the same falling hunk of metal he had just escaped from. He did so and then leaped back on top of it to finish the damn machine off. When Delta 5 managed to gather enough strength to turn over and blast Acid, Cher'tak was right there, stabbing his bladerifle into where the brain should be and firing multiple times.
"This time: Stay down," said the Warmaster disgustidly as he yanked his bladerifle out and looked over at Grey. "Query: Location, status: Other allies?"
--------------------------------
Block Bot's head snapped back, one side of it completely blasted off by Curtis' slug. Thick electric arcs coursed up and down its body, blowing out several parts and sending the dark blue protector bot tumbling to the ground. Large Toy was luckier though, the actual bullet was deflected away by its shield but the electric arcs still connected, shorting out several systems. Their back-ups activated cleanly, but it had been a close shave. Ducking down to one knee, the proc bot twisted around and hit Combat Toy with a wave of nanites, repairing the majority of the damage the big bot had taken from the first barrage. Two seeker drones also sprang forth from Large Toy's back and zipped directly for Curtis' face.
Mini Bot's head snapped back, just barely dodging the clumsy blow from the prone assault bot. Rolling across the machine's back, the battle drone reached around and shoved one fist deep into the other robot's guts through the open back panel. Rapid firing that arm's wrist laser, Mini Bot also grabbed a handfull of cords and yanked them out, hoping to disable something vital before the bot could get up and into the fight.
Toy Bot recoiled as several bullets passed right by it, the sheer surprise at finding something clinging to the ceiling protecting it from the first volley. But that surprise wasn't about to hold out, especially since Toy Bot fired at two different Gunslingers, each arm-gun aiming independantly of the other, while he jumped onto the head of an unlucky soldier who had teleported in right beneath the drone.
Small Toy was shot cleanly through the head and went slack, but not before it had fired at one of the two enemy battle drones just now getting into the fight.
"Combat Toy! Double Trouble!" shouted Solid Shot as he rolled from cover into the fight, blasting at Curtis with a wall of buckshot and then dashing at the Gunslinger standing atop Small Toy.
Eye strip flashing brighter for a moment, the assault bot took half a moment to twist and fire both plasma cannons at the unengaged drone before running after Solid. One Gunslinger was unlucky enough to get in the assault bot's way and recieved a fist to the face that knocked him into the wall.
"Nobody come into the hall for a sec!" Solid said into the team link as he and Combat Toy barreled down on the lone Gunslinger.
Just what the hell were they thinking?
------------------------
"Not that [censored] again..." Toy muttered to himself in despair.
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.
In addition to a few Arachnos Soldiers being brought up by the elevator, the Arbiter that had been brought here was brought up as well. Taking a quick, unbiased look around the room, (Or rather, what he could see of it), he ordered that lights be brought up at once.
Should this place prove to be non-hostile, than with a bit of tweaking, it should make an excellent temporary base of operations.
"Ace!" Essex cried from where she had been hiding. Hurriedly getting out and skimming to where her pseudoreptilian friend was being carried by Toy, she began to hover, fretting visibly.
"...These green shards must have some special qualities. I've never heard of anything hurting sir Acid this way." she said with a frown.
"Hold him steady, sir." she said to Toy directly as she analyzed the area around the shards. She wasn't incredibly adept at the Khelari's biochemistry, but...
"...I just need to know that, if I pull them out, will it make things worse or not. I know usually he would be able to regenerate himself rather quickly, but if these stones have some sort of enzyme to prevent that, I'd rather not unplug a large gaping wound..."
She silently prayed for Curtis' safety as she worked..
-----------------------------------
Rosie shoved her hands on her hips as she waited for Archlich to finish up in the temple.
"So if you don't need us, can we go to where all the interesting crap is?" she complained.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
((Eeeeexcellent. Now all we need is Sovs' reaction. Oh, and Ess - we're sort of being attacked by a giant War Golem or something. 
))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Curtis landed and immediately fired a shot at both seeker drones, detonating them brilliantly. Unfortunately, they had been way too close to completely stop, and the Gunslinger was instantly blinded. To add insult to injury, a rather significant amount of buckshot impacted Curtis' back armor. The material was powerful enough to absorb most of the shot, but Curtis was sure as hell that'd be leaving a big bruise.
"TARNATION!" He yelled, teleporting to his left to avoid further attack. Spinning back around without missing a beat, the Gunslinger once again tried to finish off the Protector 'Bots with a full salvo from his Pythons.
---
Toy Bot was definitely hitting the Gunslingers, but their composite mesh armor was absorbing a startling amount of its blasts. As for the soldier it had landed on, he was unfortunate enough to find that it was an engineer.
An engineer with a taser.
The Blackop immediately jammed the weapon up into Toy's workings, trying to fry something.
Essex was quite right, though of course first it came different, and second than one would expect. While the crystals looked quite solid to the touch, upon contact they'd once more break down into a cloud of formless green iridescence. This in itself wasn't a great cause for concern, but like the energies that had spawned it, a vicious caustic aura accompanied this stuff, and it would try to attack anything it could get a hold of.
Some things could of course set in place a barrier for the purpose of containment, such as Essex's nanite and Toy's force field generators, but the result wouldn't be more than a stalemate - if not a losing battle in the first place.
Whatever this gunk was, it seemed unwilling to relinquish its prey, and quite adamantly so. Still, even it seemed to be fighting to stay against the defenses of the Khelari's body, as evidenced by the shallow breaths that passed through Acid's clenched teeth...
--------------------
"I'm a teleporter, Mr. Wallace." Acid gave retort to the quirk of Sheldon's head, a toothy grin on his visage. He was rather relieved when the inventor arrived at the same conclusion he had not long ago.
"I just need someone who knows what he's doing in case I pass out." the Khelari elaborated, a clawed hand reaching toward Sheldon. No sooner had Acid made contact than he jumped, Wallace finding himself aboard the discus vessel's second Drop Ship, "The autopilot can handle the rest."
"Oh, and don't worry about that." the reptilian went on, quickly throwing himself into the pilot seat and starting ship operations, "This thing's got a good compensator. Not the best, but it'll keep ya steady."
That was the end of the matter for him. Acid had interpreted Sheldon's concerns as motion sickness when in flight, coming to the conclusion that it wouldn't even be relevant thanks to the Rikti craft's g-force compensator. Unless its tolerance was exceeded, the mechanism kept the vessel's passengers from feeling any sort of acceleration (aside from the nominal 'down' that kept their feet on the floor), and said tolerance exceeded the Drop Ship's maximum acceleration capability by a fair amount.
Acid wasted no time depressurizing the hangar and opening the bay doors, and out they were already, the gate frame shooting by without even the slightest sensation of motion. The star field swept sideways a few moments later, the reptilian setting course for the planet, and already the gleaming sphere that was the Rikti homeworld shot into the center of the panoramascreen.
The journey wouldn't take long...
--------------------
With cacophonous thunder, the assault bot's detonator went ballistic, the machine coming apart in a large fireball less than three milliseconds later. Apparently, Mini Bot's actions had been enough for the mechanoid's processor to classify itself as 'disabled', and therefore initiate its self-destruction.
Unlike its larger cousin, the battle drone stood firm, however. The smaller mechanoid managed to evade Small Toy's fire, the impulse delivered to its head having tilted the blast stream up just enough to allow for evasion.
Still, neither this nor the other drone made a motion to leave the corridor. If Solid intended to do what was thought, chances are they'd be blown away, ending their mechanical existence in the blazing explosions of their internal detonators...
--------------------
The location stood without opposition. While some of the rather tall statues that lined the walls could certainly frighten a human - one didn't see Rikti the size of five men surrounding one every day, after all - the dozen or less sculptures carried no open threat about them. Their eyes were of cold stone; unmoving and uncaring. Still, they were kind of creepy.
The towering scriptures surely didn't present any threat, and this was a fact. They were but words. The central pillar, upon closer inspection, would reveal its purpose to be a hologram projector - and a rather large one, to be sure. What it had once projected, however, remained a mystery for now. Age had caused several critical systems to fail, and even if the Arachnos troopers were skilled in today's Rikti technology, the pillar's 'mechanisms' were but unfeeling stone...
--------------------
Forgotten Sanctuary
Command and Control
With a series of soft clacks, a pair of ornate doors of stone and metal ground open and closed, releasing an Operations Officer into the darkened C&C chamber, laptop monitors and mobile servers the primary sources of illumination of the Malta Operatives' nerve center.
All about sat and stood black ops personnel clad in midnight blue uniforms, performing their duties with speed, but not haste. Alarm had been given, and this situation demanded handling, not panic - and Malta had become very good at handling.
"Well, what'd he say?" the first of a gathered group inquired of the Operations Officer, "What do we sic on 'em? Tac squads? A dreadnaught? C'mon man, spill it."
"The Commander said only one thing." the officer chuckled underneath his balaclava, and then balled a fist, "Crush them..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Don't worry, sir." Essex said quietly, resting a hand on Acid's arm and catching his eye with a soft smile. The next moment the smile was gone, and a light of determination had entered her eyes.
"This is what I do."
Essex's other hand rested on the wound, and she narrowed her eyes at the gunk. She charged the nanites into something of a firing line, moving frightfully quickly to get between the gunk and Acid's skin. Since the nanites worked on a nanometer scale, she strained to produce as many as possible until his arm wound glowed a bright green.
"You've protected me countless times."
The nanites built up the flesh frightfully quickly, while aiding the Khelari's natural defenses. However, they were serving a dual purpose -- additionally attempting to break down the gunk assaulting Acid. Essex didn't care if it obliterated the gunk. She was trying to change its chemical composition into something that Acid's natural biology could safely handle and reject...something that didn't have quite the hold it did on his particular composition.
"And I've been waiting for the opportunity to repay you, even a little."
The android bit her lip, suddenly releasing a nanite flood to try to overwhelm the microbial attacker all at once...
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
Roughly half an hour later, the entire chamber was lighted and filled with what looked to be high-tech Arachnos machinery. The Arbiter glanced around the room, satisfied; for the time being, anyway.
Truth be told, he was a bit worrisome. If there was one thing he had learned in his long line of service for Arachnos, it was that nothing this easy. Nothing. He proceeded with only a cautious optimism, nothing that scanners were picking up other small EM fields in the area, indicating another technological presence in the area.
"Damn that Walsh..." He muttered. This would be made much more difficult with the presence of an opposing faction.
But for the moment, at least, they outpost was secure.
--Rikti Earth: Forgotten Sanctuary: Rear Group--
"The others are further down the way," Randall muttered, "Those who came with us, anyway. Cory ported Ryat Sixty-six and Solid Shot to help chase those androids before they could give the alarm. They either didn't succeed, or this big thing isn't with Malta... Considering it doesn't have the same markings, I would say our chances are actually more toward option 'B' than 'A.'"
He flexed and the granite that had wrapped about his person crumbled away and settled back within his skin. He still didn't understand the stuff, but there wasn't any time to worry about it.
"Sorry, no Lazareen," he grumbled, "Not that it looks like the generic stuff's gonna help you anyway, Zero. Any clue as to what will?"
----------
--Rikti Earth: Forgotten Sanctuary: Forward Group--
"I'm not letting you rush to your death!" Cory shouted after the android, "Sixty-six, cover me!"
The wizard followed after the android and hurled fire into the first Malta Agents he saw. Behind him, a tiny android emerged that fired incandescent bursts into the enemy crowd as well, followed by a wave of energy that streaked across the floor and bowled over anyone in its path.
"Sorry," Ryat66 said sheepishly when Cory was flipped backwards by the wake of the blast, "Didn't know it would do that..."
"Please be more careful in the future, my friend, the safeguards in Paragon are not present here..."
----------
--Rikti Moon: Rikti Warship: Hangar 2--
Sheldon boarded the ship and strapped himself into the copilot's chair, mimicking the Khelari almost move for move. Much of the banal process was spent in complete silence, for many of the important duties were handled by the more knowledgeable reptilian. In fact, it wasn't until after they were bound for the planet that Sheldon forced himself to ask the question concerning him.
"If you pass out? What happened? You seem perfectly fine, and I would think that in order for one with your skull structure to suffer a concussion, you would need an injury that would at least cause bleeding, if not discoloration, but you look perfectly fine. I admit, my knowledge of medical sciences is exceptionally limited as well, but I did have to pick up some things when I was helping a friend build his healing equipment, and it seems you're in good health..."
----------
--Prime Earth: Paragon City: Crey's Folly: Malta Base--
"Okay guys," Kip grunted as they reached the tube-like elevators on the second floor, "The bad guys know we're here, now. Anybody have doubts that this base has the information we need?"
They all raised their hands, even Kip.
"Sonova..." the short scrapper sighed, "Alright, well, we've beaten up these guys, the computers Ninety-nine hacked into told us gibberish, but will probably make perfect sense to Indy and Red. All we gotta do now is finish off whoever's on the third floor."
"Can't we just head out and see if Indigo won't tell us where we need to go to find the Slinger?" his brother asked.
"No," Matt replied, "Even if we could, we gotta send a message to these [freaks] that they can't go around [freaking] with heroic attempts to save the world!"
Kip hit the "Up" button on the elevator.
"What he said," he grunted as the doors opened and he stepped inside, "This shouldn't take long. Just remember, Matt, Sappers first."
"What about the Engineers?"
"You let me handle them."
----------
--Paragon City: Undisclosed Location--
"Okay, boys, are you ready for this?" the muffled yet still high-toned voice asked.
Three men and a white haired girl stood before a teleportation machine. The one who'd asked was dressed in what appeared to be a Malta Group uniform. The tallest of the men was in a green armor and wore camouflage pants. The third man was of average height, and was clad in a hunting jacket and brown camouflage pants. The girl looked like she was ready to hit a club.
"I still think you need to change," the pudgier man said to the girl.
"I wear this outfit all the time when I go out... Oh! Wait... Felix! Katie! Ni! Come on guys..."
Three animals rounded a nearby corner and approached the group. One was bear-like. The other two were cat-like, though it was obvious the white one was not a cat, just cute like one.
"Okay, guys, I've given this a lot of thought, and I've decided to take Felix with me," the girl picked the bear up and placed him on her shoulder, "Wish us luck... Don't worry, we'll be okay."
"Are you sure you're ready?" the one dressed as a Malta Group agent asked again, doubt clear in his voice.
"Dude, you didn't see what our mom looked like," the tall one replied, "I'm not letting her down."
"Neither am I," the fat one growled.
"Nor am I," the girl narrowed her eyes at the Malta Group Agent, "And I-"
"Sarah!" a man in what appeared to be a modified SWAT uniform appeared in the base portal, "What are you doing!?"
"I'm rescuing my daddy!" Sarah Grey replied, "Just you try to stop me!"
"Well I'm coming, too," Joe unslung his assault rifle and walked up to Aaron Durj, "I don't care if it is the group you deal with. I'm not losing my fiance for even a second in this."
"Cedric, Roland," the Praetorian of Kipland Durj turned to the other two, "It's your call."
"I got no problems," they replied.
"Alright then, Sarah, key up the teleporter for Brickstown."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
The energy shields that Toy had deployed to his bots a short time ago saved Large Toy's life yet again, the rounds that Curtis fired hammering into the partially transparent bubble and falling harmlessly to the floor. It had also helped that the protector bot had hit the ground and that Curtis was still mostly blinded. The vast majority of the bullets that would have hit instead impacted against the wall or floor. From the floor, Large Toy aimed up at Curtis and fired a stunning photon grenade right into his face.
Toy Bot smoothly kicked the taser away just before the engineer could jab him with it. Four legs meant he always had one to spare for kicking something. But then, instead of pivoting down and opening fire on the Malta operative the battle drone began scuttling off to one side to take cover behind a sizeable chunk of rock. It looked as though it was trying to put the rock between it and Solid Shot.
Mini Bot was blown clear up into the air and hit the ceiling with a loud clang and crunch. It's shields taking most of the blow, Mini Bot's bright red armor was still badly stained with scarring and one arm was crushed from its impact with the ceiling. Landing in the crater left by the assault bot's detonation, the battle drone spat a few ruby bolts at the remaining enemy drone and then bounded over to take cover with Toy Bot.
"Get down!" shouted Solid Shot over the team link as he and Combat Toy reached Small Toy's corpse. The assault bot grabbed the startled Gunslinger and hurled him back at the center of the corridor.
The number of rounds being fired at the pair penetrated armor and ricocheted off shields as Solid jumped on top of Combat Toy's shoulders and rode the larger bot as he spun toward the Malta.
"Last chance to duck!" Solid shouted once more over the team link as he saw Cory and Ryat in the line of fire.
In the middle of his speech, Solid's body exploded with a nimbus of energy that normally heralded his use of a standard build up technique; though this time the energy didn't immidiately fade away and instead seeped down into Combat Toy as well. A damaging aura of electricity began emanating from the pair, reaching almost all of the way back toward the breach in its strength. Solid Shot and Combat Toy were about to perform a trick they had accidently discovered during the time Solid, Toy, and Cher'tak worked together in the Rikti War Zone that they called the Double Trouble. It involved Solid overcharging his Rikti-made electric chargers even more than he normally did and spreading that charge to Combat Toy through the normally hidden bits of exposed wiring just barely accessible if Solid shoved his feet under CT's missile racks. What resulted was a drastic power up for both participants as some energy from Combat Toy's more powerful generator leeched up into Solid at the same time as Solid's overcharge spread to Combat Toy. Toy Dispenser was still working out the physics of it himself.
"You guys are going to love this!" shouted Solid as he flicked the full auto switch on his rifle.
"Eat missiles!" shouted Combat Toy as it crouched and fired it's missiles, now temporarily wreathed in an electric field that increased their speed and damage. At the same time he fired his plasma cannons, which fired beams even wider and hotter than normal.
"Eat lead!" Solid roared at the same time as CT and his assault rifle joined him, chattering out all fifty of its rounds within seconds.
The entirety of the corridor was filled with death for a couple of seconds and only those hiding behind something or prone on the ground would escape injury. Hopefully Cory and Ryat had taken Solid's advice and skedaddled.
-----------------------------
Cher'tak hefted his bladerifle and started running off in the direction Randall had indicated, sparing no time to worry about the alien named Acid or Toy Dispenser. Cher'tak knew Toy knew what he was doing and he also trusted the smaller android knew her business as well as Cher'tak knew his.
Toy, able to do nothing but lie on the ground and monitor the situation from afar, sighed and reviewed the condition and positions of everyone on his team.
"Hey Grey," Toy said outloud after a moment. "Where did that kid go? The other mastermind type."
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 nanites didn't seem to be having any noticeable effect. If Essex, or anyone around, could see at the nanoscopic level, they'd noticed the intrepid machines fighting not one, but two relentless enemies.
The first was the intruder - the crystalline energy. Corrupting and viciously corrosive, the metamorphic invader picked apart the nanites molecule by molecule.
The second was the own defense system of the Khelari's body. It attacked both the material and immaterial perpetrators, vehement in its mission to burn out of the body what did not belong there - and it of course had no capability to differentiate between the two.
Still, the nanites did seem to be succeeding at one aspect: visibly at least, the reptilian wasn't getting any worse...
--------------------
The battle drones paid no heed to the antics of their opponents, firing their bursts in the same cold, calculating manner as always - as simple, soulless killing machines.
Mini Bot's fire tore ashen-black scars into the silvery paint of the targeted mechanoid, but did not succeed in destroying the mechanical adversary. Still, it had been enraged enough to get a little closer, its fire becoming less accurate in the sprint.
Then all hell broke loose.
The corridor suddenly filled with all manner of fire, blazing streaks in all colors of the rainbow thundering by like stars from a ship gone superluminal. The drones' silver hue turned black almost quicker than the human eye could see, scorched gouges suddenly multiplying across their armor, and flakes of paint vaporizing in the veritable hurricane of the combined assault.
The robots didn't stand a chance. Both gave up the ghost as their detonators went. Too bad they didn't have any targets close enough to harm...
--------------------
"That's because the body you're looking at is entirely robotic." Acid answered Sheldon with a toothy smirk, "Well, except for the brain. That's mostly bioplasma from the Thousand Sun World."
"Long story short, I don't follow the one place, one time rule." the reptilian tried to explain with a brief summation, "A long while ago, I actually couldn't. Those were an interesting few years. But my first body, my organic one, is still my favorite - and not only because it's great to enjoy food, sleep, and sex with. However, if said me is...well, I suppose you'd call it killed..."
The Khelari turned to the viewscreen once more, looking sternly ahead, "Let's just say terrible things happen."
"Right now, something's trying to sneak into that me." Acid further elaborated, "A contaminant, to put it lightly. I'm not especially afraid of that, as the physiology of a Khelari has a rather ingenious immune system. It's rather painful though, as one of the reactions is that my blood becomes molecular acid. Yeah, try having that stuff running through the capillaries in your brain. Not fun..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
((Oh thank God... Whatever God is, I thank YOU!
...
You speak lies, BWERP!))
--En Route to Rikti Earth--
Sheldon nodded at the Khelari's explanation. He suddenly wished he hadn't glossed over those biochemistry texts he'd used to mutate his pet. He disliked missing an opportunity to be fascinated.
Instead, he absorbed himself in memorizing Acid's work at the controls. He couldn't necessarily accomplish as expert piloting as the alien life form, but he wouldn't be completely lost if anything bad happened.
It beat remembering that there was a void out there that may or may not tear him apart should he wind up in it... It all relied on particular factors that always made him queasy to think about whenever he researched it. The only thing worse, in his mind, was drowning, but there was still a modicum of control there...
"I think I get what you're saying," he finally intoned, "About the 'One Place, One Time' rule. I'm not sure about how you accomplish it, though, and I guess, should you ever choose to, you'll explain when you're ready to."
----------
-Rikti Earth: The Forgotten Sanctuary: Chasing the Slinger's Androids--
Cory and Ryat66 hugged the ground, just like Solid Shot said. The android looked worriedly (as worriedly as he could, anyway) to his wizard companion, and wondered at the spell he was chanting.
"Just a little insurance policy," the wizard muttered as a blast of fire exploded out of his hand and streaked down the tunnel after the machines, "Nothing to worry about..."
When the battle ended, Ryat66 understood what Cory had done. Given the precocious nature of the android, Simmons had actually "hardened" the air over them so they couldn't stand up. It was only them that he did it to, so the area of effect was much smaller, but it did do a good job of bouncing laser blasts away from them.
"Unf!" the android grunted as it tried to push itself up, "You can... You can shut this thing down now, Cor..."
"Wait for the all-clear, my friend..." the warlock replied smoothly, "You never know when a nasty surprise is coming down the hall..."
"Yeah? What'll you do then?"
"I suppose I will do what any flesh-and-blood creature does when panicked..."
"Mess yourself?" Ryat66 asked confusedly.
"I was about to say 'go into a Fight-or-Flight panic,'" Cory grinned at his diminutive autonomous friend, "But I suppose your example would be the more immediate reaction, yes..."
----------
--Rikti Earth: The Forgotten Sanctuary: Rear Group, Over the Fallen Acid Zero--
"I admit, I didn't see where he went," Randall grunted to the android mastermind, "I was a bit focused on the situation at hand."
He looked around and cursed. It sounded like a bear growl.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about his disappearance?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
OOC: That would be me, Grey. *Smashes with Bwerp Hammer*
In fact, Jake had slipped away during the chaos. His primary objective to the Rikti Homeworld effectively finished, he had taken the oppurtunity to return to the small Arachnos encampment. After all, there was no point in remaining with the main group. They would only distract him. As of right now, his goal was to get Arachnos up and on to its feet in a strange and hostile environment, and it was much easier to do that when one was physically able to assist rather than simply ponder the fate of the group.
Groaning from the climb, he eventually made his way to the small hallway, barely catching the elevator as the last of the equipment was moved up and into the chamber.
[ QUOTE ]
"Damn that Walsh..."
[/ QUOTE ]
"Well, that's certainly not a kind way to speak of the one who made this whole thing possible." He spoke, smirking, his bots already having been teleported back to their warehouse on Prime Earth.
"We're not alone here. That's reason enough to speak that way." The Arbiter spat back, clearly disliking being spoken down to by a boy.
"Yeah, I figured that. I'd say Malta, from what I saw." He replied, the smirk being wiped from his face as he instinctively scratched the back of his head with his right arm.
"If nothing else, they'll certainly make things difficult. How are we on transportation from Prime Earth to Rikti Earth? Still stable?"
Acid allowed himself a generous laugh at this, answering Sheldon with a toss of the head back for a moment, "I'll be sure to do that the day I figure it out myself. Yep - I haven't got the slightest clue how I work. Twenty-one years, and I'm still no further on that than I was on day one."
The reptilian turned his gaze ahead again, his teeth coming a bit closer together, clawed fingers tightening upon the flight controls in his hands, "Hm...that sounds like a long time, now that I say it. And yeah, that means I'm no Khelari. At least not truly. But since I first found myself in this form, I've kind of grown attached to it. I do identify myself as one, because...well biologically, for all intents and purposes, I am one. With all the cool stuff, and of course the flaws, that come with it..."
--------------------
The gateway on the Jade Moon was certainly still active and stable, and thus by extension, so was Arachnos' ability to transport from one world to another by the method they had been employing.
This might of course change if Malta got the idea to rig up a few 'tp jammers', but since they didn't actually know of an Arachnos presence yet, it was far more likely that the BlackOps would just deal with things the old-fashioned way...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Toy could sense it before it happened.
A stream of incomprehensibility, ever-so subtly rippling through him. A light tug on the strands of space.
There was a bright blue light. There was something pressed against him before he heard the sound of the teleport.
"Reckon it's game over, pard." Curtis smiled, pulling the trigger of the .357.
----
There was a low rumble in a far corner of the Arachnos Encampment.
The camp power flickered and was gone.
When the emergency lights came on, they were already in the building.
"This is your one opportunity to stand down, Spiders!" Immortal Cobalt 8-4-8 yelled from behind a Hercules Titan. "I repeat, this is your single chance to lower your arms!"
"[censored]." The Arbiter muttered to himself, dropping his head. "[censored]-ing Walsh."
"You seem to underestimate us. We have many more encampments around the planet, all connected by a teleportation network. Force will prove to be pointless, as we'll have a small army here within seconds." He finished, tapping a button on the monitor, threateningly.
This was, of course, a lie.
"However, we are willing to compromise. If you would like to revise your demands, I'd suggest you do it now."
-----
Jake, however, slipped into the corner of the room, despite its inconspicuousness being questionable. Catching on quickly to the Arbiter's bluff, he pulled out his six-... No, wait, seven. Eight. Nine... Fifteen? He pulled fifteen small disks out of his trench coat pocket, ready to activate them at a moment's notice.
Anybody who'd even heard of Jake's exploits could guess correctly as to the destination of one half dozen of the teleportation beacons, but where exactly would the other nine lead?
((Huh. And now I'm not confused about how they relate to each other.))
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.