The flames parted from the horse's "vision" and there stood the terrifying image of Randall Grey, his body seemingly unharmed by the assaults directed at it. The energy bolts were deflected or absorbed by the crystals, the fire absorbed by the magma growing out of his skin. The rockets seemed to impact on his body and he emerged from the cloud on a direct path for the offending machine. What force bolts did hit Randall did little to slow him down, as his rooted legs refused to let him fall away.
The piece of Warhulk he had went flying through the air at this point, aimed for the War Horse's head. Randall followed it, his face screwed up into a mask of rage, his hands balled up into fists bigger than most faces, and just as solid as granite.
Before he smashed into the machine with an uppercut, he let out his warcry...
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Binro got to his feet, his milky-white eyes glaring toward the War Horse. His armor glowed with heat from the melted doors, but he didn't seem to be in any great pain from it.
His mace crackled with white energy as he lept into the air, throwing the weapon and destroying two of the rockets with it. Binro twisted in the air, putting himself in front of a couple more. The explosion sent him flying backward, but he stayed on his feet, armored boots sparking a little as they skidded across the metal floor.
As the Warhorse came through the door, Toy had visibly flinched as his delicate sensors came within a hairs-breadth of overloading. Only the fact that he was built for command and control kept his bits in one piece, as they had been designed with much larger thresholds. As Grey entered some sort of berserker rage and rushed the Nemesis creation, Toy knew that their appointed leader wouldn't be able to lead.
"All melee types to the front, everyone else clear a path!" ordered Toy as he followed his own orders, slamming his back against the opposite wall and bringing up both hands. "Ranged types and heavy droids, file along the outer wall and get a shot in when you can! We've got enough force fields here to keep you covered if you can't dodge!"
To emphasize his point, Toy's wrists and hands flared white as his twin force field generators activated, throwing protective bubbles first over Binro and Grey, then over Combat Toy and Cher'tak, then Solid and Penny, then Jake and Penny's assault bot, and so on. Under orders, Small Toy fled further down the corridor to keep out of the way and also keep an eye out for any other surprises. The drone's sophisticated sensor suite, almost as powerful as Toy's, would alert the mastermind to any further threats. Combat Toy thundered past its boss and skidded to a halt on the far side of the door. It then spun around and took aim, trying to get a good shot with its chest mounted plasma cannons. The other drones fell back, clearing the way for other heavy hitters, as well as giving the two proc bots free reign to hit anyone with a burst of nanites. Block Bot actually took the time to do this, firing a green beam at Grey to keep him going. With the refined nanites Toy was using, it was possible for his proc bots to heal organic targets, though they were only about half as effected.
"This ought to be fun," said Solid as he looked over Penny at the scene of carnage she was literally holding in her hand.
Patting the girl on the shoulder, he dashed over to where Combat Toy was, ducking down under Toy's glowing hands just in case he might have blocked a shot. Once in place, he copied the larger assault bot by spinning around and lifting his rifle up to his eye. The targeting eye of his cyclopix vision array glowed bright red as it started setting up his sniper shot.
"Emotional state-change: Rage, Indignation!" Cher'tak shouted as the Warhorse appeared and started attacking. Here in front of him was an instrument of the man who wanted his people enslaved. The rage he had felt toward Hro'Dtohz, the Rikti responsible for exploiting the war on Earth, was nothing compared to how much his hatred for this half-human named Nemesis had grown since learning about the supervillain's plan. Normally his military discipline was more than enough to keep this rage in check, as was his nominal isolation from the Rikti mental network, but this was the first time to encounter a Nemesis automaton since he had learned the full extent of Nemesis's plans and his rage boiled over.
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh-!!!" Cher'tak roared, his translator breaking off in a loud crackle, unable to fully translate the Warmaster's cry of rage that would probably give Lk'Onik and Sah'Teece a bad headache and startle the heck out of Ce'Kelkah.
Thundering forward, Cher'tak slammed into the Warhorse's side at about the same time as Grey's punch connected with the machine's snout. Thrown off balance by the accidental one-two combo, the Warhorse wobbled on its thrusters and listed heavily to one side as it attempted to compensate.
OOC: ....I think I did alright. <_< For some reason I am incredibly self-conscious about this post. Wonder why.
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 Nemesis chasis smacked into the Warhorse's head, and bounced off harmlessly. Grey's and Cher'tak's one two-combo did indeed knock it slightly off balance, but the main atatcks themselves didn't seem toeven dent the armor. It was obviously strongly reinforced.
Then the Warhorse did something unexpected.
It CHARGED.
It's rear jets flamed even more brightly, rotated to point backwards, and it rushed forward like a N1 formula racer.
It crashed right into Grey, possibly knocking him aside or just causing him to latch onto its neck, bowled right past Cher'tak and the other tanker, and headed straight for Toy Dispenser and Solid Shot.
It powered up its weapons again and let loose a hgue volley mid-charge, screaming forward and unleashing a wide spread of utter destruction.
Plasma-hot flames spewed forth, rockets swirled and blared, the chain gun spat out hundreds upon hundreds of force-bolts almost in the blink of an eye, and the sharp battering-ram styled front bore down directly on Combat Toy, seeking to crush him from the impact.
Also, its front jets had changed color. They were belching greenish-yellow smoke. Nemesis Gas! The Warhorse was leaving a trail of Nemesis gas in its wake.
Ineffable reappeared.
He charged after the Warhorse, moving at about the same speed, quickly catching up with it easilly even though it moved at an insane speed already. He blew right through the Nemesis gas, seeming to completely ignore it.
The ground shattered whenever he put a foot on the floor.
He leapt, aiming to land on the Warhorse's seat and start to destabalize it. Unfortunately, at the curse it was making, he was going to land right on Solid Shot. The villain tried to twist his body to the side to avoid colliding with and therefore unintentionally disolving his own ally, but unless Solid shot also moved in time, collision was imminent.
And all that time, rockets, flames, gas, and force bolts were everywhere...
[ QUOTE ]
"All melee types to the front, everyone else clear a path!" ordered Toy as he followed his own orders, slamming his back against the opposite wall and bringing up both hands. "Ranged types and heavy droids, file along the outer wall and get a shot in when you can! We've got enough force fields here to keep you covered if you can't dodge!"
[/ QUOTE ]
For all that Penny Arcade looked as if she hadn't been ready... by the time Toy began shouting orders, her 'bots were already acting. It seemed, though, as if she and Toy had reached the same conclusions about what was necessary for the battle, as the actions of the bots exactly reflected his orders.
Perhaps she had not been at her best the last time she had been seen in Paragon City or, more likely, her 'bots had been commanded to use the absolute minimum of force possible. Here, however, there was no such need.
Penny Arcade's 'bots brought a staggering amount of firepower. It became immediately apparent how she had won the quantity of medals and badges which Vanguard had awarded her. Her team had lasers with considerable range and their targeting systems were extremely precise, allowing them to get in almost as many volleys as if they had been alone in the room with the horse, with no other combatants to be concerned about.
Quite fearlessly, Penny Arcade took leave of the others, and wove in among the combat, her rocket-boots maneuvering her with an arresting grace, and she darted to the warhorse itself, her hands moving. It was difficult to tell what she was doing, but a moment later, the telltale laser of a trip mine shot across the room, joined by others in seconds.
She had gotten within inches of the warhorse and now she paid the price: one of its return volleys took her straight in the chest, knocking her backwards into a wall.
The shot should have reduced her to jelly. It didn't. The glittery silver dress should have been shredded to tatters. It wasn't. Penny shook her head briefly, regaining her bearings, then swooped back in near the horse, setting up an acid mortar as if nothing had happened....
Binro waved the remaining smoke from around him to see the Horse charging about madly as Ineffable barely missed catching it and Penny began her assault.
The girl was much more durable than she looked, and Binro was quite impressed with her quick action and coordination of her own machines. When she was finally knocked aside, he made his own move.
The Knight sprinted across the floor, his mace flying to his hand as he went. Placing himself in the machine's path, Binro raised his mace. Some form of energy crackled around it as he held it high with both hands.
"Cursed machine," he growled at the advancing War Horse. "You shall FALL!!"
Binro roared the last word, bringing his mace down hard on the thing's head. It spun about wildly from the force of the blow, though it still seemed fully functional, slamming into Binro who raised his weapon again.
Unfortunately the Horse's wild firing paid off as two rockets impacted directly with the Knight's head. The resulting explosion was enough to knock him off his feet and send him skidding across the floor again.
Jake's bots, naturally, followed suit, taking up their position in the line and constantly shooting lasers and hot plasma at the horse.
This isn't working. This thing can take physical damage like nobody's business. What we need to do is to deactivate the thing.
"Penny!" He suddenly shouted, hoping that it could miraculously rise above the cacophony. "We can't beat this by physical means! Take this!" With that, he tossed a small device, not dissimilar in appearance to the devices he used to teleport in his 'bots.
This served a much different purpose however. This device was completely magnetic, allowing it to stick to the horse without much trouble. Now that alone wouldn't do much, but this was designed to release a fairly large amount of electricity upon being attached.
"It'll hopefully short the thing! Hurry!" He shouted as he pumped out forcefields onto people, hoping they'd realize how they should adjust their aim for the alteration in trajectory.
[ QUOTE ]
Jake's bots, naturally, followed suit, taking up their position in the line and constantly shooting lasers and hot plasma at the horse.
This isn't working. This thing can take physical damage like nobody's business. What we need to do is to deactivate the thing.
"Penny!" He suddenly shouted, hoping that it could miraculously rise above the cacophony. "We can't beat this by physical means! Take this!" With that, he tossed a small device, not dissimilar in appearance to the devices he used to teleport in his 'bots.
This served a much different purpose however. This device was completely magnetic, allowing it to stick to the horse without much trouble. Now that alone wouldn't do much, but this was designed to release a fairly large amount of electricity upon being attached.
"It'll hopefully short the thing! Hurry!" He shouted as he pumped out forcefields onto people, hoping they'd realize how they should adjust their aim for the alteration in trajectory.
[/ QUOTE ]
In the middle of battle, Penny Arcade threw back her head and laughed as she caught the device he threw her, briefly flashing one of her own. The two devices were completely different, but it seemed that they both had had ideas about deactivating the horse. It seemed that she felt his had more merit, however, for after a momentary look at his device, she pocketed her own, nodded at him to acknowledge that his was probably the superior, and moved to the horse.
In his ears, her voice sounded: [color= aqua] We have radios, remember? [/color]
It took her a couple of attempts; though the horse apparently had considerable trouble aiming at her, it could produce large explosions which were difficult to avoid. On her third try, however, she managed to get in range. [color= aqua] Ride 'em, Cowgirl,[/color] she said ruefully, and put out her hand to its flanks.
It whirled at once, but Penny stuck like glue - or, more probably, like the magnetic field which her suit was likely generating. She had had the sense to approach it on the side away from all the combat, using it as cover to avoid being hit herself.
Her bots responded immediately, sending such a burst of concentrated laser-fire into such a tiny area that it burned white-hot. [color= aqua] Help me punch through this thing, willya? [/color] She called to him.
Piercing its tough hide, on a scale large enough to shut it down, would be impossible. But Penny's bots had enough firepower to punch a small hole in the horse's carapace - a rather impressive achievement in itself. The electrical bomb could then be placed underneath, where it would be all but certain to short it out. But drilling such a hole, even a small one, would take time by herself. The horse was thrashing wildly and the battle was thick and Penny didn't want to delay any longer than was necessary. [color= aqua] And hurry, willya? [/color] From this angle, she could see behind the horse, through the hole it had come from. [color= aqua] I would like to have it down before its friends get here. [/color]
She gave him a significant look.
"Right..." He muttereed, ordering his minions to immediately start focusing fire on the hottest point on the thing, AKA, the spot that was burning white hot.
Damn. She's right. He thought as he positioned himself at a similar angle. He sighed. "Oh well, more for the slaughter." He smirked nad pulled out a few more devices identical to the one he had tossed to Penny.
Binro recovered almost immediatly from the rockets, but didn't head back into battle. The female human seemed to have some sort of plan.
Instead he turned his attention to the rockets streaking about the room, destroying them with his mace. His boot knocked against something on the floor and he looked down. A long staff was laying there, a large gear sitting at the top, its smaller cogs still turning.
Binro had seen a couple other heroes using something similar once. Shoving his foot underneath the staff, he kicked it upward into his hand. He could feel the power arcing through it and spun around, pointing the gears toward a distant rocket.
A bubble of translucent energy shot from the staff to intercept the rocket which exploded harmlessly in mid-air. Binro's mace continued to bring down the ones that got close enough while he destroyed a few more from a distance with the Nemesis staff.
Danica had been watching the battle for a moment, trying to get a feeling for how the group moved. As soon as the robots began moving in, she too charged.
With a forward flip, she brought both heels down onto the head of the Warhorse with a satisfying clang.
Thelth stayed in the back, watching. He had sent for a friend of his to join them. He should be arriving shortly.
----------------------
A man in a long, flowing robe stepped onto the grounds of Portal Corp. His face wore an open expression of welcome to those around him as he walked toward Unai and the others.
"Hello, I am Straum. I need access to assist my friend on the other side of this portal."
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
After Danica made her attack, Randall, gripping the neck of the War Horse, growled. The brass under his hands crinkled and he (again) rooted his feet to the ground.
This caused all forward momentum to stop.
"Now I'm [ticked]," he growled, "Let's try this again... the hard way."
Placing one hand on the "snout" of the machine and the other on its shoulder, he started to push the head back. His fingers continued to press into the brass armor, where it crinkled slowly with a low whine. The head bent back slower, largely because it was riveted together.
"This would be easier without the jets," he grumbled.
So, he took a hold of its neck again and smacked the shiny machine against a nearby wall. Since that wasn't nearly enough, he did it again. And again. And again...
The metal walls seemed to do a lot more damage than his bare hands.
It was still such slow going, though.
"Yo, armored guy..." he shouted at Binro, "Argh... I forgot your name... Still! Let's put this damn thing between a rock and a hard place!"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"I'd hoped you might have an answer to that." Unai Kemen sighed in retort to McGinty's question, handing the clipboard back to the technician, "I'm security, not IT. I never even figured out how to program my VCR at home, let alone get a supercomputer-gone-nuts back into line. If only Dr. Webb were still around..."
"Not sure what he'd do either, Sir." the technical specialist interjected, thumbing at the main campus building behind them, "We've got a whole SE team in there, and CS guys too, but the diagnostic's got them all locked out."
"Just keep trying." the Security Chief gave answer with a huff, trying to keep his composure, then turned back to Matt and Archlich, "Any ideas?"
His attention shifted from the two, however, as Straum appeared on the scene. With a nod requesting patience, Unai Kemen approached the newcomer with a warning.
"The portal's fully configured and will sedn you to them." he told the robed man, indicating the massive machine with an arm, "But I need you to understand that at present we have no way of getting them, or you, back. In addition, we know of no other way you might return by. So far, the Rikti are the only ones capable of penetrating the barrier between our worlds. If you fully comprehend the consequences of the actions you're about to take, you are free to enter the portal..."
--------------------
"Cover!" roared the Colonel to his unit, the Vanguard soldiers scattering behind whatever available debris would guard them from what they suspected would be incoming chain gun fire.
"Willie Petes!" came the second order, the operatives taking aim with WP rounds and letting loose. Sadly, Nemesis seemed to have counted on this, armoring the Warhorse up against extreme temperatures all over - not only near its rocket engines. The damage sustained form WP munitions could be reduced to superficial classification.
The opposite could not be said. Impervium may have been very hard to pierce through, and even the Warhorse's fire-based strikes weren't enough to melt it (the flame streams weren't really plasma-hot, otherwise they would have been plasma, something Nemesis did not employ), but things sure got hot inside armor built of it. Worse yet, blunt force trauma wasn't something armor could protect against - and the soldiers were still very much flesh and blood underneath.
While the rapidly fired force bolts didn't pack that enough of a punch (most of the time only stopping a soldier for the length of time it took him or her to take a knee), the sudden forward charge certainly did, catching the Colonel in a cover switch and ramming the man to the ground. The battering ram didn't penetrate, but as he lay there in spasms and gasping for breath, even the dimmest person knew he'd sustained heavy internal injuries.
Lk'Onik had been nearly paralyzed, the Warmaster's outburst of emotion into their small network bearing heavily on even the Psi-Scout, rendering him unable to join in the attack. He did, however, have the presence of mind to request immediate backup...
--------------------
Already perplexed of the muffled noises that trickled into the hastily established ops center, the Lady Grey regarding the open door with suspect glare, she wasn't very surprised when C'Kelkah suddenly informed her of Lk'Onik's situation report.
Though Sah'Teece seemed to be suffering from the unseen, the Rikti scientist's demeanor stood firm as granite, her mind cold and calculating as she rearranged her own emotional priorities to counter Cher'tak's outburst.
"Take Bravo team." Lady Grey gave a nod to another Colonel, "Their HVAS units should make quick work of that maniac's creation."
The officer returned salute, already ordering a squad assembled when the portal in the arrival chamber suddenly gave loud report, spitting out a hastened Dark Watcher.
"No!" the mysterious man in black shouted in warning, his pace at a run, "Don't send anyone else! There are traps!"
"Devon!" the Lady Grey exclaimed, "What are you doing here? I thought..."
"No time now." the Dark Watcher interrupted as he arrived at the group, reaching into his long trench coat to produce a stack of small, disc-like devices. Not wasting any time, he handed them off to the Colonel, "Place them on the HVAS units. Hurry, we've no time to lose."
As the officer hurried off to do as told, the cryptic hero rapidly dove into an explanation, "One of the new ones found plans for this thing in one of Nemesis' bases. One of its weapons can disable our equipment. Luckily, Gaussian was able to create these countermeasures in time. I've not arrived too late, have I?"
"No, no, it's alright." the Lady Grey assured her second-in-command, the Vanguard personnel placing the last of the devices onto their HVAS units, quickly continuing to distribute the countermeasures to as much equipment as they could, "Delta team is holding their own for now. But quickly, what are the other traps you spoke of?"
Lady Grey's eyes went wide with horror as she received the Dark Watcher's response - his fist to her gut, a jab that carried downright hydraulic force and sent her to the floor on her back.
"Wilcox!" she yelled in outrage, lifting herself onto her elbows, "What...?"
A moment later, however, the truth was already evident. Lady Grey's eyes narrowed, the woman grinding her teeth together as she spat at the automaton, "You're not Devon! Men, get those things o...!"
Too little, too late.
Without warning, the devices revealed themselves for what they truly were - the weapon the impostor had spoken of. Arcs of static flared throughout the ops center, sparks cascading from all manner of equipment as Nemesis' sabotage tech went to work, utterly disabling whatever it presently contacted by simply frying out its circuitry. The HVAS units collapsed in thunderous staccato.
"No, he is not." came a sinister, mechanical chuckle from the Nemesis that had just stepped from the portal, staff in hand and gear grinding ominously. One could never tell if these suits of steam-tech armor were fake or real, but that didn't seem to matter now. Nemesis was here. Whether in person or just in spirit, here he stood, this was certain.
"My dearest Lady Grey," the arch-villain mused, his immobile face conveying a smile most smug despite its frozen expression, "why oh why did you have to see through my plans? Everything had been going so very well. If only you hadn't interfered and not worried..."
"If you dare say that again," the Lady Grey lunged from the floor, assuming a combat stance as she spoke with a voice cold as ice and dark as the deepest night, "I'm going to personally remove your head and convert it into a very nasty, greasy smear."
"Fair enough." Nemesis replied, extending an open palm in a gesture of armistice, "I suppose I had that one coming. Now then, I don't take it I can convince you to just perhaps...leave?"
"You can try." the dark heroine stood her ground, cracking her knuckles, "I'll be sure to take you and that imposter apart piece by piece."
"We both know you don't have that kind of power." the mechanical madman snickered, "By now, my creation has likely already charged past your precious heroes and sealed their way back there with a powerful wall of force. They cannot come to your rescue. And without your entourage's many toys, you don't stand a ghost of a chance."
"We'll see." the woman huffed, "I'm not moving."
"Oh come now, don't be ridiculous." Nemesis performed a mocking gesture with his free arm, encompassing the room, "I knew exactly where you'd be and with what. My informants are most reliable, you see. Your portal has been tracked ever since you opened it. Ah, I see by your eyes that you thought your switch of destination would befool them. I am so very sorry to disappoint you."
"Shut up and let's get this over with." the Lady Grey called out her opponent.
"As you wish." Nemesis obliged, stretching his staff toward the head of Vanguard, "Dark Watcher - kill them all..."
--------------------
Bayside Docks
Peregrine Island
In the dark of night, the jet-black Ferrari blended into its background nearly without seam, the few lights around reflected brilliantly in its luster as the car rolled onto the wharf that sat by the southern beach.
Motor gurgling idly, the car stopped not far down the dock, in its headlights nothing but stacked crates of cargo and nets.
Until a SWAT van entered the scene.
Meshing with the night nearly as an equal, the van approached with all lights extinguished, siren nowhere to be heard. Whoever drove it attempted to be clandestine, this was sure.
It didn't take long for the larger vehicle to make its way toward the sports car, stopping at perhaps a dozen meters away. Neither vehicle killed its engine, both seeming intent on having the capability of quick escape should the situation require it.
For a few seconds, nothing changed, but then a man clad in the uniform of a PPD Psi Officer stepped from the SWAT van's passenger door and began to approach the Ferrari's left. In response, the driver-side window of the night-black car lowered with an automatic hum. All in all, it seemed Paragon's 'normal' protectors simply wanted to know what was going on.
Then again, a keen eye would've noticed several things very amiss. Not amongst the meeting, oh no, all looked as it should look there.
Around the meeting.
The Devouring Earth were nowhere to be found, nor were the Rikti or forces of the Nemesis Army. Sure, this could all be explained by effort of the zone's heroes, but the disparity of the area's normal criminal element seemed disturbing at the least.
Indeed, from across the small bay the separated the Docks from Poseidon Square, a sniper of Crey perched on one of that area's rather tall buildings. The scope of his rifle had been trained neatly this way. Even more suspicious still was the barely-visible trail of laser light that shone from his weapon, the beam just faintly capable of being seen whenever a few stray particles of bay fog wandered across its line of sight...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
[ QUOTE ]
"Yo, armored guy..." he shouted at Binro, "Argh... I forgot your name... Still! Let's put this damn thing between a rock and a hard place!"
[/ QUOTE ]
"My pleasure," Binro said, launching himself across the room. He slipped the Nemesis staff onto his back and grabbed the War Horse, wrenching it violently down to help still it's movements.
He brought the glowing mace down on the machine's side where Penny, Jake and Randall's assaults had already weakened the armor. A section of it broke away and the Horse gave another lurch, trying to free itself, but Binro kept a tight hold on his end of it.
The Warhorse went absolutely [censored].
If Toy Dispenser's energy readings had almost overloaded before, now they WERE overloading.
With a series of resounding cracks, Grey, Brino, and Penny were all tossed away from the Warhorse like dolls. Grey might have been surprised that his rooted feet did zero to save him, Penny probably equally surprised that her magnetic suit was overcome by whatever had done it.
The cause of the flinging faded away-some kind of yellowish wave of force-revealing the Warhorse/
The entire right half of the Warhorse's face was missing, revealing the mostly hollow innards. Most of it was just weaponry with a few steam-powered gear here and there. The hole that Penny's robots had burned through it suddenly glew with sparks and fire, as if the insides of the machine were burning. A torrent of steam emitted from its tail, and everywhere else on its body.
Not even pausing after flinging away its various attacks, the Warhourse's chest suddenly split and another weapon revealed itself.
It looked a great deal like a sapper rifle that glowed green...
Any greiger counters nearby would have suddenly gone into a frenzy.
And with a snap, a roaring beam of solid green corruptive radiation blazed forth, with all the power of an atomic bomb exploding. Missiles roared, flames spewed, force bolts fired, and a gigantic wave of radiation lurched forward like an all-consuming wave.
Unfortunately for all those who had taken refuge in the rather large collection of shields, they would find themselves somewhat...devestated by the radiation wave. The attributes of most radiation attacks had a habit of slipping through defenses naturally, and this giant wave was no exception. Indeed, it seemed even MORE likely to break through their defenses merely because there was so much of it.
Ineffable landed on the ground, which was reduced to fine powder that swarmed up into the air as he landed. It was a miracle he had missed Solid Shot, who must have been lost in the confusion and chaos somewhere...
He lurched out of the newly formed hole in the ground before it grew any deeper, took a single look at the advancing wave of missles, fire, force bolts, and radiation, and then he looked down to his feet.
The cracks that had been forming stopped growing.
He calmly took the time to smooth back his hair gently, wiped the dust off his leather coat, and checked his nails carefully.
A rocket hit him directly in the face.
When the smoke faded, Ineffable was still standing with not even a scratch, carefully rebukling a loose strap on his leather suit beneath his jacket.
Then, he marched forward.
He walked right past the defenses conjured by his various allies, past the huge swarm of rockets, past the force bolts, and calmly advanced towards the wave of radiation bearing down on all of them. On the way, an additional three rockets hit him, along with no less than fourty six force bolts, and at least sixteen streams of fire must have washed over him.
His hair wasn't even out of place.
Ineffable and the wave of radiation closed distance insanely fast, but Ineffable didn't break stride, walking forward like someone who would walk down the road on a sunny day...
He was swallowed by the wave of radiation. He vanished, presumably consumed by the immense amount and power of the roiling radiation, while it advanced all the more rapidly on everyone else.
--Peregrine Island--
Matt was halfway through a shrug when his eyes suddenly widened.
"Oh! Wait!'"
He plucked his communicator from his hip and dialed furiously.
"Hello? Who the Hell is this? Volde- GET A FRICKIN' IMAGINATION!"
Cursing to himself, he redialed, this time slower.
"SHELDON!"
There was a loud scream of "WHAT!?" on the other end, causing Matt to wince.
"Sorry," he muttered, "I'm a little agitated. Look, man, I need your hacker skills over here in Portal Corp. pronto!"
...
"What do you mean, no?"
Sheldon Wallace, Randall Grey's tech man and the inventor of his super group, was busy at his own computer, trying to figure out a complex algorithm that only got weirder and weirder as he wormed through it.
"Because I have no 'madd skillz,'" he replied as he tried unsuccessfully to hold the phone on his shoulder, "I'm not a hacker, Matt. I'm barely even a programmer, truth be told. It was an exceptional stroke of luck that enabled me to design the Ryat Source Code... A stroke of luck that seems to have become a double-edged sword as of late..."
"Dude!" Matt was suddenly enthusiastic again, "We could get the Ryats over here! Which of them would be better at tweaking around inside a computer? Sixty-Six, Ninety-Nine? Maybe one of the other hundred or so?"
...
"What the Hell man!? Why not!?"
"Because, Matt," he barked back as he typed furiously with his free hand, "I recently found out something bad about the Ryat code that needs to be dealt with promptly. I simply do NOT want them to be touching sensitive equipment at the moment..."
"Oh come on!"
"No, I will not acquiesce. It is simply too dangerous."
Muttering grim obscenities to himself, Matt hung up his communicator. Looking darkly to Unai, he shrugged.
"Sorry, man," he finally grunted, "I got nuth-"
Ryat66 trotted up next to Matt. He looked a little odd, not that his standard outer shell had changed, but he looked like he was drinking something...
"Hi Matt," he warbled, "What's going on over here?"
Matt rounded on the android, his eyes wide. Ryat66's posture changed to reflect surprise and distress.
"Matt... Don't look at me like that. Humans always have the most horrible ideas when they look like that..."
"Well, Sixty-Six, the only thing horrible here is that I'll be asking you to disobey an order from Sheldon..."
"You mean the one he's broadcasting to all the Ryats to not listen to you?"
"Hai."
"Hm..." the android rubbed it's chin (it was still drinking the oil as it conversed), "While the prospect of further aggravating him is intriguing, for now I must decline."
"Come on, man! You do this for me, you might just save the..."
He leaned over to Unai Kemen.
"Am I right in assuming the universe is at stake?"
Kemen nodded.
"YEAH! You might just save the universe here!"
Ryat66 rubbed his chin again, and finally gave a thumbs up.
"Alright!" Matt shouted, "Where's your USB hookup?"
The android pulled a small cord from a panel in his head and handed the connector to Matt.
"Where do we plug this bad boy in?" Matt asked the Security Chief.
He had that crazy look in his eyes that had oh so worried Ryat66...
----------
--Jade Moon--
((Diov... I apologize. It was rude of me to vent here. ))
Randall pushed himself off the ground and gave a (strangely) victorious whoop as he closed with and smashed his fist into the remains of the War Horse's head, leaving a nasty dent. From there, he gripped its neck again and smashed its upper body against the floor.
"I tell you, this is the life!" he shouted, "Nigh invulnerable, breaking stuff... Causing massive amounts of money to be wasted by a guy who didn't even deserve it anyway..."
He heard the explosions in the background. Arching his eyebrow as he held the machine's head down, he craned his neck to look back. A HVAS robot's head crashed just outside the door Ineffable had previously disintegrated and Randall had a bad feeling rumbling around in his gut.
Things were very wrong here.
"You!" he shouted at Binro, "Take point and take everybody who can move to check out what that was! If it's nasty, kill it."
He turned his attention to the struggling War Horse. Ineffable... He hoped that guy (if he was still "alive") was doing something crazy enough to finish this thing quickly, if not, he'd probably still be stuck here for a while.
"I'll take care of this little monstrosity."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
As the wave of radiation had swept over the group, Toy Dispenser had pulled his arms up to cover his face and chest and flared his generators, forming a nearly impenetrable shield between himself and the Warhorse. This saved him from the worst of the attack and freed him up to do something that he thought he should have done a few moments ago.
"We need a little breathing room, if you don't mind," Toy said as he refocused his energies, training them on the Warhorse instead of his allies. Almost immidately, a thick bubble encased the machine, protecting it from outside forces but also trapping it, and its attacks, inside the detention field.
Not even a metahuman of Statesman's strength could break through the detention field that Toy Dispenser had tossed up, though eventually it would run out of power and end on its own. It still gave everyone a few needed movements to pull things back together.
Mostly the masterminds, though, thought Toy as he saw Mini Bot and Toy Bot slumped unmoving on the ground, their main systems shorted out from the radiation wave.
"Sorry about this, everyone," Toy said outloud as the Warhorse raged inside its prison, the force bolts and missiles that had so troubled its opponents now richocheting off the field and impacting aginst its own hide. "But I figured those of us who are more squishy might need a second after that radiation thing. We've got twenty."
"What the hell, man!" shouted Solid from where he had taken cover behind Combat Toy, the assault bot's bulk protecting him from the radiation wave. "We were totally winning! Another half a minute and it would have crumbled!"
"Observation: Accurate," Cher'tak muttered as he leaned aginst the wall near to the trapped Warhorse. "However: Further Observation: Nemesis Target: Damaging Self. Outcome: Destruction: Near crippling."
And indeed as the party watched, one of the missiles rebounded off the interior of the field and blew a hole in the Warhorse's less damaged side.
"Fiiiiine..." Solid said as he rolled his head. "Let the nasty machine kill itself. But anyway, what was that that Grey was shouting about?"
***********************************************
"If the problem does not lie among the realms of the mystical, then there is nothing I can do," remarked Archlich to Kemen as he watched Matt speak to someone on his communicator. "Am I correct in assuming that the magical barrier erected by the original invasion force is still mostly in place?"
"So far as our sensors have told us, yes," replied Kemen, looking at bit irritated at Archlich's insult toward Hero-1's force of volunteers. "It could be providing some of the interference, though no one's mentioned that possibility to me yet."
"Regardless, I shall go through the portal and see what I can do there," said Archlich as he looked toward the portal. "By passing through I shall know whether the barrier is affecting the portal or not. If it isn't, then I shall be able to cross back on my own when I wish."
"Well, I can't stop you if you go-...wait, what was that about you being able to come back? Would it be possible for you to bring others back with you or to carry messages to and from?"
"This magic will work only on those who have mastered the styles that gave birth to it thousands of years ago. In other words, only I. As to acting as a messenger... We shall see."
Shrugging, Archlich brushed past the security chief and walked up to the portal. At the brink, he turned and looked over at Matt and the other metahuman.
"Come on then," he said, raising his voice to be heard over the sound of the portal. "I don't have all day."
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.
[ QUOTE ]
"You!" he shouted at Binro, "Take point and take everybody who can move to check out what that was! If it's nasty, kill it."
[/ QUOTE ]
Binro turned immediately and ran back down the corridor, some of the Vanguard soldiers toward the back breaking off to follow him. His mace was in hand once more as he skidded into the room where they had initially appeared.
"Lady Grey," he called as he turned the last corner. "Is everything all..."
The sentence was left unfinished at the scene that greeted him since things were most definitly NOT 'alright'.
--Portal Corp--
Ryat66 looked to Matt as he plugged his brain into the computer the tech guys were providing him.
"Sorry, Hoss," he chirped, "I'm needed elsewhere."
Matt shook his head at Archlich.
"If it turns out the interference is terrestrial, I'm gonna be the guy who goes and takes care of it. If not, well, there's enough guys who should know what they're doin' on the other end. Plus, being stuck in Grand Rikti Central isn't what comes to mind as a good idea."
----------
--Jade Moon--
Randall stared at the War Horse as it's body suddenly glowed green and his hands came away from the expanding orb with an electric jolt.
"Augh!"
He shook the pain out and turned to the rest of the crew.
"Next time somebody's going to go and do that, do you mind giving me a warning?"
Seeing Toy Dispenser's proffered finger, he gritted his teeth and shook his head. Suddenly, a massive growth of gray stone wrapped around him.
"You guys get to helping that other tank. Something bad's going on over there. Me... I'll stick around here and see if I can take the last whuppins... Lord knows, I stood up to a couple Kronos Titans in my time, I should be able to handle this..."
He turned to the green orb and waited for it to fade. Considering their luck, it was probably going to be much sooner than Toy Dispenser had said.
----------
--Peregrine Island: Across the bay from the Bayside Docks--
The Sniper's scope suddenly went dark. Looking up, he saw a dark-skinned man with red-dyed hair, glowing eyes, and some rather peculiar looking robes floating next to him with his palm on the other end of the scope. When he stood up, the wizard floated away slightly and raised his hands in a gesture of peace.
"Hello there," the strange man intoned to the sniper, "I see you're aiming in the vicinity of a vehicle that a friend of mine informed me of. Do you mind telling me what makes it so important?"
When the sniper aimed his rifle at the blaster, Cory wagged his finger at him, then pointed at the muzzle. It had a solid block of ice jammed inside it. It was as if it had just grown there...
"I also have a spell woven around me, Wind Armor... Not to mention my natural maneuverability while hovering here. Combined with the ice armor I usually conjure up, like so..." he snapped his fingers and ice started wrapping around himself, "it makes your actually harming me a slim chance. Please... I am not here to hurt or arrest you, I just require information. I had myself a long flight, I was flying over here to have a word with my friend, and I noticed you on my way. Strange coincidence, huh?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
When Archlich turned toward Straum however, he would see the man was already gone...
--------------
Jade Moon
A fireball flew across the room, smacking into the back of Nemesis's head with a dull thud. "Now, now. What would your mother think?" said a very confident Straum as he stepped forward, lightning crackling about his hands.
-------------
Danica stepped back from the Detention Field, grimacing. Anyone watching would notice how she bounced back and forth from foot to foot, anxious to get back into the fight.
Thelth however was still waiting in the background. His friend should have arrived by now, and the delay was troubling.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
The Dentention field gave way with a small pop. Fortunately, the radiation, rockets, and force bolts had also stopped screaming about everywhere.
The Warhorse had not done well for itself, so to speak. It looked like it had been mauled by professional car-strippers from New York. Like something had gone medieval on it, BIG TIME. Most of its armor had been completely stripped away, and what was left looked like charcoal.
The horse gave a gigantic screech as metal ground in what was left of its weapons systems, and...
No less than THREE of the huge radiation cannons popped out from its wrecked chasis and powe-
Ineffable calmly reappeared from thin air and stuck his hand into the Horse, rummaged around a little, and finally yanked out something that looked moderately important, which melted in his hand.
The Warhorse fell over with a loud thud.
"Hmmm." Ineffable pondered.
There was a beeping noise.
Clearly visible within the Warhorse's chasis was a little round redish sphere that had a timer on it, which read...
00:00:01
"Ah..." Ineffable began, taking half a step back, knowing perfectly well he'd never clear the blast radius in time.
Considering how much energy the Warhorse radiated, it was pretty obvious what was about to go down.
Roaring, Randall stripped himself of his rooting and charged forward. Placing his massive bulk between Ineffable and the War Horse was unlikely, but he had to try...
And Lord knew what was about to happen to him, but he'd already taken care of most of his affairs...
I'm sorry Charlene... But I had to try...
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Randall soon found himself running past his target. Thelth sighed from the back as an explosion outside rocked the room. "As touching as self sacrifice is, I believe my skill in teleportation magics was more suitable to this situation." There was a faint glow on Thelth's chest, but it dimmed quickly after.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
Toy Dispenser internally blinked as the scene suddenly shifted from a nearly exploded Nemesis automaton to a blank wall. The motley collection of metallic limbs around him let him know that his bots had also been pulled along in whatever teleport had just happened.
"Now that was a DAMN good idea," Solid said as the explosion from the Warhorse rippled around the corner to be held off by the combined dispersion fields of Jake, Toy, and Penny's independant force field generator.
The blaster slapped Thelth on the back as Toy directed his efforts toward getting his damaged minions back up and running. Cher'tak waited for the explosion to clear before stepping gingerly onto the steaming metal of the corridor and peering around the corner.
"Majority Missing: Wall, Floor. Pure Luck: Outer Wall: Intact," reported the Rikti. "Advise: Waiting: Floor: Cooling."
************************************************
Snorting to himself, Archlich turned and stepped through the portal.
The sight that greeted him was one that took even his arcane intellect a moment to comprehend. Vanguard HVASs lying disabled on the ground, Vanguard troops taking cover behind shattered bits of machinery, the Dark Watcher facing off against the Lady Grey, and the cloaked figure that had gone before him throwing a fireball at the towering form of the Prince of Brass.
"This seems to be a one sided fight," Archlich remarked to the metallic mastermind as bright blue runes began appearing in the air around him.
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.
They didn't need to have bothered opening the door, is suddenly collapsed on top of them and its occupant rushed through.
A Nemesis Warhorse charged into the corridor, barreling right over the two tankers, incinerating jets of plasma-hot fire rushing over them in the processing, which also slagged the door in a heart-beat and turned it into molten metal, that was conveniently over THEM.
Anybody who had any energy tracking/tracing/detection/sensing devices nearby would have noticed that said devices had either shattered or exploded.
The Warhorse did not pause to ponder the destruction it caused, it let loose.
Its bronze mouth slid aside and out came what looked like a chain gun. It's purpose wasn't far from one anyway. The gun fired a force bolt at Small Toy, his cloaking methods apparently useless against the Warhorse.
And then another force bolt.
And another...
And another...
And another...
It was a force bolt chain gun, essentially, firing dozen of force bolts a second at its target.
The Horse didn't stop there though. The panels covering its eyes slid aside, revealing an odd series of tubing, with there being four main barrels and four secondary and smaller barrels hocked on between the meeting joints of the other four.
No less than eight rockets streamed out, seeking a target somewhere to pulverize.
The eight secondary barrels let loose a continuous stream of BLUE fire, hot as plasma and spewing everywhere...