Straum looked at Solid as if he were the most annoying nuisance to walk the earth.
"Yes. Much more exciting than a quiet evening at home," said Thelth, his own lighter mood offsetting that of his friend.
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
It likely didn't take the group but a few minutes to reach the intersection where they'd intended to split, one team heading left in Small Toy's footsteps while the other headed right, forging ahead into the unknown.
The left group would find the same sights the specialized battle drone had, some of the fallen Gunmen obviously having been displaced from the bloody smears on the floor they'd originally collapsed in.
The missing bodies had been displaced, but not dragged. This was a visible fact. Indeed, everything pointed to the conclusion they'd been ripped right out of existence, reduced to nothing but thin air by some malevolent force.
The right passage didn't look much more promising, the corridor curving to the left as it left the corpses at the intersection behind. From what the right-bound group could see, this curve seemed to be clear of bodies, although visible damage still stained the wall's formerly artistic sections.
It was in one such partition the group discovered yet another blast door. It sat about the rounding to the left a tad, just a hair too far out of sight from the intersection for Small Toy to have picked up on it earlier.
But that wasn't the odd part.
The gate sat open a crack. Right down its center, the two massive armor plates that composed the halves of the door stood just slightly apart, the interlocking teeth of geometry on each side perhaps the width of a narrow human head from one another - the sort of space only a cat girl could squeeze through (after all, cats could supposedly squirm their way into any space large enough to poke their heads through).
Still, it was wide enough to easily see the other side. Not that there was much to see, that was. The corridor beyond lay dipped in murk, most lighting elements just beyond the door having fallen victim to what must have been a gruesome battle. A few flickering fires paid last respects to the fallen Rikti that lay on floors and had been propped against walls and one another, the deep-orange auras of the noisily crackling flames giving the unmoving Gunmen a ghostly facade.
No, not entirely. One still moved! The form could barely be made out due to the light just ahead of the blast door interfering with the absence beyond, but there was definite movement in the figure crouching over its fallen comrade, and...
That was no Gunman. That wasn't even a Rikti. The silhouette might have been unfamiliar, but it certainly wasn't a Rikti suit of armor - and considering the form sat hunched over the torn-open armorsuit of a real Gunman, it wasn't a tough guess as to what that arm was doing in the hole of the suit's chest plate...
--------------------
"Aren't you the curious one." the creature answered the Fool with a toothy smirk, "In this order: no, no, yes, the Doc's orders, and the Hundred-Year Plan."
Seeing the Fool's somewhat confused expression, the supercomputer's representation decided to explain a bit further, "Meaning you were right with your third guess of my form's origin. I'm a Pai'un 'Salic, from the Swarm. Actually, make that Swarm Four. Every Swarm is a little different. Don't worry about it. If things keep on track this time, it won't be back in this galaxy for another million years, so you'll probably never see it."
"As for my orders," the Pai'un 'Salic went on, "Like I said, I was created to help out the Doc. So if he tells me to do something, I do it if it's at all reasonable - and the Hundred-Year Plan calls for humanity to undergo a few changes before it can be assimilated...but I guess you don't need to worry about that either, at least not for a while yet. That's planning on a cosmic scale with a 7-dimensional rasterpattern. What you should be worrying about right now is helping the Rikti."
In the span of this conversation, the elevator had already taken them back up to the illusory cityscape, the path out of the supercomputer's outer workings clear and unobstructed ahead of the fool.
"Time to say goodbye." the denizen of the Swarm gave a polite nod to the Fool, "Oh, and I wouldn't talk about what you've learned here if I were you. And no, that's not a threat. Humanity's just a little backwards when it comes to things they can't 'rationally' explain. They'll probably decry you as crazy if you don't, maybe try to dismantle you or some such. They seem really afraid of intelligent machines in general..."
--------------------
The Zeus hummed stoically, bringing a cannon arm about with the speed and power of an industrial-grade pneumatic ram, attempting to strike Matt with a savage pummel.
Not caring whether this actually succeeded or not, the ominous hum was already a clue to its next strategic step. Not moments after the melee brawl, the Zeus Titan retracted the blast shields from its arms and made ready to unleash one of its most feared attacks: the quad plasma blast.
The TacOps Commander, however, now seemed to be ignoring the heroes, even though he had a good shot at both and his sidearm wasn't anything to be sneered at, even by a super. All he seemed to care about at the moment was the sniper rifle he'd dropped. What was so important about that thing...?
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
--Peregrine Island: Bay Area--
Whatever the reason, the TacOps Commander wasn't about to get a chance to get back to what he was about. His only warning was the air getting suddenly colder before Simmons unleashed an inferno at the man in a concentrated bar of white-hot heat.
Matt had just barely backflipped away from the armored smash when he righted himself to look into the barrels of the four cannons. He held his blade in front of himself, with the flat pointed at the weapons of the machine. They were light-energy weapons, after all... Perhaps a little deflection was in order.
As the unabsorbed heat returned to the air from which it came, Cory picked himself up, and cracked two gems in his fist. One was green, the other blue, and both produced matching auras that reinvigorated and re-energized the blaster as he turned his attention to the Zeus Class Titan. His friend was in a bad way.
As he muttered the Wind Armor spell, he snapped his fingers. A spark of flame erupted on his thumb and he tossed the ever-growing bolt into the remains of the TacOps Commander.
The air shimmered around the two heroes, and Cory walked up behind Matt, his hand wielding a ball of flame that he unceremoniously threw into the Zeus's sensor array.
He was tired of this fight, it was time to finish it.
----------
--Jade Moon--
Randall looked into the room, leaning up to the crack in the doorway as he peered in. He pulled his communicator from his hip and tried to call out, but noticed that the power source hat exploded inside of it.
"Damn," he muttered, "How am I supposed to get everybody over here, now?"
He looked back to see if Toy Dispenser had arrived yet. To save time, he'd gone "unrooted," but now that there was something to be found, he was definitely rooting to the ground.
((If anybody is nearby, Randall tells them to get in communication with whoever they can while he tries to work the door.))
----------
--Cyburbia--
"I wouldn't really count on anybody listening to me," the Fool shrugged, "I didn't pick this avatar, for instance."
"Before I go, I have a few things to mention, just some quips to impart, if you will. If I may point out one flaw to what you've hinted at with this Hundred Year Plan of your Fourth Swarm... Humanity is now ridiculously diverse and complex, what with cyborgs, mutants, magicians, and whatever odd and unusual aliens or aberrations may currently be operating in the planet. It may be a little difficult to properly plot the changes you require for such an endeavor. Not to mention you're operating under the theory that humanity is evolving... From what I've seen of humanity's history, they're not necessarily evolving, they just have better posture and more stuff. They continue to fight wars over this stuff, and in turn discover more stuff... A further argument against evolution, I'm afraid, is that (aside from a few freakish flukes), humanity doesn't seem to be getting any smarter. Just look at the election process, an excellent example of a yardstick of humanity's overall evolutionary understanding... Most people make a decision on a candidate for one tertiary, unimportant reason, like his or her looks or what banner he or she waves, and not any overall goal or plan. This is not behavior conducive to the common good, but is based solely off of greed and prejudice. The very few who make votes based off real issues are usually drowned out by those who don't."
He bobbed his head from side-to-side dismissively.
"Well, food for thought. As you said, even if you did relay this information, it's not likely you'll be able to convince your leaders to change policy, and I'm in no position to stand in your way."
The Fool rubbed his chin as he continued to ponder.
"Help the Rikti? Why would I help the Rikti? Aren't they the enemy? Haven't they been dropping bombs on Parag-"
There was a rush, and the Fool looked like he got yanked into the wild blue yonder.
----------
--Portal Corp Courtyard--
"-on City?" Ryat66 said as his visor flickered back to life.
He was staring into Sheldon Wallace's face.
"Welcome home," the stoic inventor said to him.
Wallace unplugged the USB cable from the console and fished it back into the android's cranium. With a little bit of dread, Ryat66 realized he was somewhat disassembled, well, decapitated. A trail of wires led to his head from his neck, keeping his hardware awake and alive.
"Heya, boss," Ryat66 chirped happily, his dread gone as he realized he was truly among friends, "Where's Matt or Mr. Kemen? I have some things I need to report."
"In good time," Sheldon replied as he started to fit the head back on the android's neck, "For now, let's get you ambulatory again."
"Matt said he had to take care of something," Kemen said as he approached from behind Wallace, "I trust you learned what is inhibiting us?"
"Yes sir... But I'm not sure how much of it even I understand. I guess I should start with where I began upon completing my upload..."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"I'm afraid that I cannot exist in two places at once, sadly." Grey heard Ineffable's bland voice. "I am only Omnipresent while immaterial."
He was standing behind the door, completely oblivious to the strange creature right behind him. Either he didn't know it was there or he just didn't care currently.
"But is there anything else you'd like me to do...?"
Neither Grey nor whatever thre thing probing the Rikti Gunner was had sensed his arrival. That probably meant he had teleported in, or used some other method.
Feride's quip was met with a short response. Any further comments were cut off as he directed her to Unai Kemen. The name sounded familiar, and in the time it took her to place it as Portal Corps security director, the man made an exclamation and moved away.
She looked back toward the group near the portal, and she noticed they were still working in mildly-restrained panic. Their attempts to access the system were being thwarted by something, and Feride had the feeling it was something darker than they imagined.
The hero sighed. Sometimes she really despised her sixth sense, as that was all she could call it. It wasnt ESP or seeing the future, per say, but it was enough. Often useful, times like this she found it maddeningly vague and unhelpful. Minerva had it, and she was convinced it was her sisters gift from beyond the grave.
However, it was this same sense that kept her from going through the portal. Feride stared hard at the blue monstrosity, as if that action would reveal more information, but none was forthcoming. Instead, she was pulled from her thoughts by a loud outburst from Kemen. The phrase reckless risks jumped out at her. In the resulting silence, she was unaware that she had uttered it aloud until a tech nearby said, Yeah. The portals only one-way. Cant figure why.
The warning about the portal clicked. She laughed silently. That had to be the part Mistress left out. She was sure of it. She could hear it now. 'Oh, no, I haven't heard from Feride recently. What? She's gone? I can't imagine why.' She gave a huff. Stupid villains.
The android that the hero-looking man had been pulling apart suddenly came back to life. She moved a little closer, trying not to be too obtrusive. She gathered he (it looked like a he) had been inside the system, and perhaps his account could shed some light on what her sixth sense was trying to tell her.
Champion: Feride Edain, Level 50 Vigilante Blaster; Quicksilver Cure, Level 33 Controller; Silent Gemini, Level 44 Tanker; Aisa Moirai, Level 19 Villain Dominator
Virtue: Aurora's Blaze, Level 50 Peacebringer; Atrytone, Level 50 Tanker
OOC: I'm not at my computer at the moment. Just kind of letting everyone know I'll edit this into an appropriate post once I get back to my dorm.
Dunno why I'm saying this. Just felt like it.
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
--Portal Corp Courtyard--
"My apologies for my rudeness," Sheldon explained to Feride, "I was, and am, a little concerned for my friend... Ryat66, please, explain the situation to the security chief while I put you back together again."
"Right-o," the android warbled, then the light in his visor turned to Kemen, "Al-righty, boss... From how I'm interpreting this, there is an outside force invading the system. I'm not sure as to the why or how, as their technology seems to be far more alien than mine or yours... However group involved doesn't seem to be wanting to disrupt the activities... I don't think they expected whatever errors they've caused to have happened. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have any inclination to stop or correct the problem. they're timeline seems to be different than ours, so immediate problems don't necessarily concern them."
The light blinked a little.
"Excuse me, Mr. Kemen, sir... But I was under the impression that the Rikti were the enemy. The avatar I ran into in there said we should be helping them, though. What's going on?"
"Never you mind that," Sheldon replied, "Just... Know this, the Rikti situation is a lot more complicated than just Us versus Them. Alright?"
"Okay. So, Shel, who's the pretty lady?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
OOC: Apparently I posted earlier just to make myself look like an [censored] when I take so long to actually post. Serves me right for being a [censored], I guess.
BIC: "Right behind you, boss," whispered Solid Shot from the rear as he took up a covering position at the corner. While the area was supposedly clear, Solid was taking no chances with another Nemesis ambush.
Moving as quietly as about a ton of metal could, Toy Dispenser and his five bots moved up in between Grey and Solid to anchor the line. The mastermind moved up next to Grey to look through the gap in the door and dialed up the magnification on his sensors to get a good look at the figure chewing on one of the Rikti.
When Ineffable appeared, Toy jerked back as though he had been punched and flicked the brute off. He dragged his other hand across his neck to indicate silence before beckoning the brute to join him and Grey on the other side of the door.
"No telling how sensitive it's hearing is, sir," remarked Large Toy quietly over the team link.
**********************************************
"Status: Ready: Willing: Able," Cher'tak said to Penny and Jake, obviously eager to get moving.
**********************************************
The runes floating around Archlich flashed out of existence at the same moment he stopped chanting. A faint nimbus of white energy surrounded the lich as he started moving toward the portal.
He paused for a moment to nod at Lady Grey and then resumed his unhurried walk straight into the malfunctioning portal and certain death. He stepped into the portal and vanished immidiately.
At the same instant, Archlich walked out of the portal back on Earth, seemingly untouched and with his protective aura quickly fading. The various technicians and scientists stared at the mage as he violated all of the laws that had lead them to believe that passage out of this side of the portal was fatal.
Used to such stares from the untalented, Archlich easily ignored them all and approached the Security Chief, Unai Kemen.
"Pay heed, Mr. Kemen," Archlich said as he walked over to the man. "I bring you news of what has transpired on the other side since the portal malfunctioned."
OOC: And thus do all you people on the other side know what's gone on with the rest of us. Cheers! 
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.
"Good to hear." Jake replied, obviously anxious. "Let's go." Making an unnecessarily over the top hand gesture as he pointed forward, marching onward into the (Not so much) unknown with his bots close in tow.
--Jade Moon--
"Unless we have some teleportation handy," Grey grumbled to the machines, "It's not really gonna matter how stealthy we are... Those doors will need to come open, and I bet dollars to diamonds that they're gonna make some noise."
He licked his lips, spat into his hands, rubbed his palms together and put his meaty paws to the crack in the door.
"Dispenser... If you can get a hold of everybody else and tell them to home in on our beacons and get the Hell over here, we can get started wrecking that... Thing in there. Is everybody else ready?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Feride nodded absently at the mans late apology. At this point, made no difference to her, one way or the other. It was the mans response about the Rikti, although not unexpected, that made her pause. He was intentionally leaving out information. Perhaps Mistress had left out other details than the portal problems.
Then the android, still partially disassembled, turned and said, "So, Shel, who's the pretty lady?" It had been quite a while since that term had been applied to her, especially as Feride. She raised her brows before responding.
A lady who can shoot your flatterin tongue outta your head, she said wryly. She turned to the man. Feride Edain. Just another hero. She shrugged with practiced and effortless nonchalance. Heard bout your project out here. Hopin you can get that portal fixed.
As she said this, a man stepped through the portal. He was surrounded by a glow that quickly faded. Many of those around her stopped to stare, and Feride gave a strange look at what seemed to be a shield. There were too many glowing things in magic. His words were appropriately long and formal, as if he were accustomed to inspiring awe in others.
Or maybe that portals on its way, she said quietly.
Champion: Feride Edain, Level 50 Vigilante Blaster; Quicksilver Cure, Level 33 Controller; Silent Gemini, Level 44 Tanker; Aisa Moirai, Level 19 Villain Dominator
Virtue: Aurora's Blaze, Level 50 Peacebringer; Atrytone, Level 50 Tanker
"I could fit through there," Mini said as it waved its hand at Grey. "I'll squeak a lot, but I bet I can move fast enough to tackle the lizard thing while the rest of you get the door open."
"We probably won't need their help," said Toy in response to Grey's order. "You and Combat Toy can open the door and I'm sure we'll have enough firepower to put it down or out if Mini Bot isn't able to immobilize it on his own."
"Could open the door myself," huffed the assault bot in irritation.
"Speaking of firepower, where's the wonder twins?" Solid asked, referring to Thelth and that other guy.
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 know..." Ineffable remarked, still from behind the door, leering at the group through it, (through the comm now though) "I can both teleport allies and plain just melt the door to slag if you really want through so badly."
The TacOps Commander vanished without a trace as his mediporter engaged, whisking the man away alive, albeit heavily burned. He'd spend the next few days in some manner of serious regeneration, this was sure.
The Zeus Titan, however, had no compassion for its master, dutifully obeying its hardwired protocols to the letter, carrying out orders without question. The fireball to its sensors may have blinded the machine for a few moments, but it nevertheless roared off the strike, sending the quad plasma blast at Matt McGinty's last known position.
Then protocols changed.
Originally, the Zeus had planned to follow up with a strike of concussion missiles, but a new set of orders came in a chopped transmission burst, causing the Titan to turn without warning, then begin a charge toward the sniper rifle...
--------------------
"I'm sorry, but that's simply not possible." Security Chief Kemen refuted the Ryat unit's argument, "There's no way anyone could've gotten into the supercomputer without us noticing something. Again, I'm not saying getting in is impossible, but nobody noticing anything certainly is."
"We have to agree there." a PPD officer of the department's Kheldian division supported the argument, "The PPD has all manner of folk stationed in support of Portal Corporation's security, including our psionics division. They and us combined form a sensor screen that simply can't be gotten around..."
--------------------
Of course, by now the group's discussion of plans had reached a moot point. Ineffable's presence - not to mention chatter - had tipped off the creature almost immediately, the thing making its move in only fractions of a second.
By the time Ineffable had finished his second word the being was gone. The silhouette had no more than given a slight twitch, then vanished into thin air along with the Rikti armorsuit it had been in contact with at the time. A moment later, the characteristic pop of air rushing into a suddenly crated vacuum reverberated from the screed walls of the corridor.
Oddly enough, although the creature had clearly teleported, there seemed to be no accompanying trace of such a warp aside from the noise. No flash of light, no build-up of extraspatial energies, not even a residual anything. The conclusions that could be drawn from this lay on hand - and none of them were very comforting.
Even more discomforting, however, was perhaps the sudden rumble that came from beyond the closed blast door on the opposite side of the hallway. It sounded like someone had accidentally rummaged too far into a gym equipment locker, and not everything came tumbling down with cacophonous staccato.
The door itself sat closed, but from the echo it stood clear to reason that the room beyond had a lot of stuff and not much space to allow for it. The glyphs on the door confirmed this, translating roughly to, "Equipment chamber of limited volume. Do not overstock."
In any case, the door had not been locked, the keypad beside it home to only two contact plates; one yellow, one blue. Presently, the blue one sported illumination, therefore standing to reason that it signified the door to be closed.
Indeed, Sah'Teece would confirm this. By now, he'd also caught up with this group. Having seen what they had, he'd wasted no time in dropping a line to Warmaster Cher'tak to bring him news of their discovery...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
--Jade Moon--
"Sonovabi-" Randall grumped when the creature disappeared, "Eff, you handle that door... I'm going to open this one."
He pressed the switches of the devices on his hip, radiating matrices designed to enhance a group's strength, defense and accuracy. He then flexed and various growths of rock armor protruded from his skin.
"Alright... Still, Toy, I'd like you to call in a cavalry... Never know when you'll need it."
----------
--Portal Corp. Courtyard--
Ryat66 warbled a little chuckle at Feride.
"In order for your to cut my tongue out, I'd have to have one."
"I could take out your speakers," Sheldon offered.
"But then I wouldn't be able to deliver my reports," the android retorted before Kemen shot down his explanation, "Sir! I may have some level of naivety, but I am by far not a liar. Also, for several things you are describing, there is still plenty of room for an adequate Artificial Intelligence to break through the system's defenses. For the very first, the Psychic screen can easily be bypassed by a unit that does not possess what humans would call a mind."
"It's true," Sheldon sighed, "Grey's Army's psychic can't get a thing out of Sixty-six and his brothers."
"And sisters, sir..." Ryat66 added, "In any case... The police department themselves would be able to detect standard attacks, like viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, and so forth... But this... Thing... It treats the system as if it owns it... Like it made it. Like it was always there."
Sheldon finally fastened the head completely, the bolts sliding in as the nanites within the android's body pulled them in place. Ryat66 stood carefully, his body slow to regain its balance.
"I don't claim to understand the why," the android concluded, "I just know the what."
----------
--Peregrine Island: Bay Area--
Matt didn't take the sudden ignorance well. He disliked being considered a "second rate hero."
"Hey!" he shouted at the machine's back, "Come back here!"
He hamstrung the mech's leg while Cory flew to the side. While McGinty was usually obsessed with the fight, Simmons was actually rather concerned with why such a normally single-minded war machine would turn and focus on a piece of his group's technology.
Flapping his wings furiously, he dove in front of the machine and snatched the sniper rifle away. Spinning in the air and holding the weapon behind his back with his right hand, he gestured with his left and ice started to form around the cyborg's feet.
The ice didn't hold. It never did with machines like that. However, that wasn't the point. The other effect of the frost sticking to the machine and its moving parts was that it slowed the Titan down.
Cory gestured with his left hand again and threw a gob of fire at the machine, impacting its chest at the same moment Matt hacked into its back. Amazingly, the blade actually cut through the armor plating, but did little lasting damage. The point however, was that damage had been done. So, Matt continued with a relentless assault, carving away at the machine's armor.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Archlich huffed slightly when he was ignored in favor of the dissassembled construct. But figuring that the machine would have something of importance to relate if Kemen was ignoring Archlich, the mage decided to listen in and see what was up.
"One could always check to see if something supernatural has allowed this 'Thing' to usurp control of your machinery," Archlich said after Ryatt had finished speaking. "Generally a practitioner does not mix magic with technology, but there have been exceptions over the years."
When everyone turned to look at him, the lich simply shrugged.
"Or perhaps it is even simpler than that and the construct's boogeyman was put into place at the formation of your machine. Considering the time when it may have been created, security protocals regarding odd bits of..." Archlich paused briefly as he sifted through his memory for conversations with Toy Dispenser. "Odd bits of code, yes. Things might have been a bit more lax back then."
Shrugging once more and with a very false sense of humility, Archlich added, "But then again I don't deal with these kinds of phenomena. I have others on hand that are far more well versed with technology."
***********************************************
"I got the other side," Combat Toy said as it stepped forward and grabbed onto the other edge of the partially open door. "Just give me the word and I'll break this scrap heap open."
"I'll call them up," Toy said curtly as he backed off and let Combat Toy through.
Placing one hand on his satt link, Toy mentally dialed through various channels until he locked onto the signal that his team was using. After putting it on quick dial, he called up Jake, Penny, Binro, and Cher'tak.
"Team 2, this is Toy Dispenser. Grey is calling off the dual search and wants you all over at the right intersection on the double. If you have any questions, call me back or ask Small Toy," he said before shutting off the link.
While he was speaking, the hand that wasn't on his 'ear' had crept down to his hip and started rapping its fingers against the armor there. Aside from his curtness, this was the only outward sign that Toy gave to show he was pissed. Solid, being another sentient android, recognized the signs and faded back to keep an eye on the rear.
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.
Ineffable, who was going to melt the door, simply shrugged when Toy Dispenser's bots dug in.
"Suit yourself. I'm going to go search for our friend."
He vanished. No flash, no vacuum of rushing air, nada. There one minute, gone the next.
Combat Toy looked at where Ineffable had been and then looked back at Grey.
"Funny. Didn't you tell him to burn through that other door there?" the assault bot asked. "Talk about insubordinate [censored]."
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.
"Sonova... Yeah. Yeah I did."
Randall reached over and wrenched the right side of the partially open door away. There was a rusty grinding sound as it pulled wide. It was now about large enough for an average person to get through. Grey started rubbing his left pectoral muscle and scowled.
"I swear, it's like having to keep track of my boys..." he turned back to the other door and started to press the yellow panel, reaching his left arm out to ensure that whatever was inside, it would come after him first, "Simple instructions, then they get all hissy when they think somebody insulted them. Then the work doesn't get done."
He heard the tapping of metal on metal.
"You okay?" he asked Toy Dispenser as he looked over his shoulder, "Don't worry, I'm sure there's more than enough fighting to go around."
His finger touched the yellow panel and it glowed.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"Dammit..." Jake muttered as he got the message.
I'm never going to get this done, am I?
Masking his frustration, he curtly, but urgently, replied, "Roger that. We're on our way." Jake turned around and halted the group, again. "We're needed down the right passage. Seems they've run into a bit of difficulty." With that, he nonchalantly began to walk in the other direction, seeming to have no urgency whatsoever, and if one looked close, it would even appear that his minions were sharing his emotion, or lack thereof.
"Guys, I don't think you get it." Unai Kemen kept up his argument, trying to get his point across, "I'm not saying nothing could've gotten in. There's just no way we wouldn't know about it. MAGI might stink at keeping their stuff, but their detection wards are top-notch. You notice how they're always sending heroes right to the places the stolen junk's kept? Well, the ones we got here are even better."
"But tell me more," he requested of Ryat66, "I've got a suspicion. Dr. Webb programmed that thing himself. Yes, the whole supercomputer. He might've been an expert at the stuff, but there's still more code in there than we can wrap our heads around, and he was still just one man. If he made a mistake all those years ago..."
Kemen kept talking, elaborating on standard programming practices, but in the android's head a little red flag ran up. Quantum computing hadn't even been around back when Brian Webb had created Portal Court - hell, it still hadn't been cracked by humanity's smartest minds, let alone progressed far enough to enable the building of a quantum supercomputer!
Even more puzzling was something else. Hadn't the Pai'un 'Salic said something about 'the Doc's orders'...?
--------------------
Sadly, Cory's plan didn't come to terms with the speed of the Titan. His intentions to slow the mechanoid remained utterly fruitless. Indeed, forming ice around the charging Zeus' feet even had some effects not accounted for.
The thing slipped.
Frantically flailing its arms in a futile attempt to regain balance, the monstrous Titan was first shoved one way by the fireball's impact, then another by the scrapper stabbing it in the back. It processor overloaded with variables and false sensory data (due to the fireball's heat and brightness), the Zeus unit skidded rapidly toward the suddenly very nearby edge of the roof.
In addition, if Simmons had taken note of such things yet, the sniper rifle he'd snatched seemed unusually light. A check of the chamber would quickly reveal why: the darn thing was empty! But why? Who carried around an empty sniper weapon?
The answer stood clear as day. The TacOps Commander had even let it slip out when he'd said he'd just bee listening - the heavy-duty laser sight of such a weapon could also double as a laser microphone in skilled hands.
The USB drive attached to a port inside said scope was an all-too-evident mark that's exactly what the Malta Operatives had been doing up here...
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The blast door hissed open without any trouble, the halves rapidly lurching into the wall as their edges ground on the hermetically sealed floor strip. No sooner had this occurred than two small avalanches of Rikti maintenance equipment rolled out of the chamber, one on each side.
The surprised look of the storage room's one occupant (there simply wasn't room for any more), however, was probably what drew the bulk of the group's attention.
With a clawed hand at the rim of jagged hole in a Rikti armorsuit's chest plate crouched a creature already very familiar to a few members of the group.
The being was of reptilian ancestry, the telltale bone structure of its skull that resembled a velocirapor's giving this away regardless of the scaleless, deep-green hide of leathery texture. Complete with a set of vicious teeth that clearly belonged to a carnivore, a set of amber, slitted pupils, and a long, whiplike tail in addition to the five-fingered clawed hands, the appearance of the somewhat slim Khelari left no doubt of a very predatory lineage.
Still, the eyes betrayed a high level of intelligence, as did the ensemble of night-black cargo pants, loose jacket, large work boots, and a white T-shirt thrown in underneath the open jacket just for good measure. The weapon holster on the Khelari's back also spoke volumes, the architecture of the three rifle-like armaments it carried utterly alien in nature despite the ordinary seeming of metalwork.
And while realization may or may not have dawned quickly on Grey, Toy Dispenser's photographic memory spit out the Khelari's name in shor succession: the synthetically constructed moniker Acid Zero, who at present seemed at an utter lack of words.
Indeed, the Khelari's eyes darted back and forth rapidly, as if trying to affirm that what they saw was really there. After a moment or two, Acid drew in air through his teeth for a long three seconds, exhaling with, "...wow...awkward...um...this isn't what it looks like..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
((I can't help but feel that Jake is alone. >.>
)
--Jade Moon--
"Jurassic Park?" Randall grunted at the individual, "So, this is what happens after you learn how to open doors, huh?"
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--Peregrine Island: Bay Area--
"Yee-hah!" Matt shouted as he ran over to the Zeus Titan and gave it one good kick over the edge, then looked over to watch it fall, "I... Ah, geez! Right on my bike!"
"Imitation Dragon Scale?" Cory asked as he looked over the weapon.
"Yeah," Matt grumbled as he sheathed his blade, "It can take it. Split some of the Titan's body apart... Ammunition's spilled all over, a couple batteries look split. Ope! Here comes a Police Drone to handle the wreckage... And the charges went off... Huh, they burst blue."
Cory, however, wasn't really paying attention. He was busy setting the rifle up. Despite being a magician, he wasn't one to ignore technology. It was one of the chief lessons his father had taught him. It's alright to live differently from the world, so long as you remain a part of it.
Sheldon and Cedric had explained and demonstrated enough about weapons technology that Cory was able to fumble his way through the machine's workings and set it back up.
"Mattock," he intoned, "Come here for a moment... I think it's an electric ear..."
"That makes no sense," the impatient scrapper replied.
"Aimed at the Lamborghini you told me to look for."
"Oh."
"If we had a proper USB device, we could try to remotely listen in on their conversation."
Matt arched an eyebrow at the blaster. Simmons sighed and hefted the rifle again, now slinging it over his shoulder as his wings folded into his back and a trench coat appeared from the shadows to cover most of his body.
"Let's go say hello," he whispered as he started making his way off the edge of the roof.
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--Portal Corp Courtyard--
Ryat66's visor blinked.
"Mistake? No... The avatar in there mentioned something called the 'One Hundred Year Plan,' and that it was designed to assist the 'Good Doctor.' Perhaps Webb needed help, and whatever he made contact with out there," he waved to nowhere in particular, "provided him the necessary programming to automate the equations so all he had to do was cycle a few numbers to 'aim' his portals or... make his coffee... I don't know; mad scientists don't always have the best rationale."
Sheldon Wallace didn't do anything cliche like pull on his collar and chuckle nervously, but his breath rate did increase slightly. He straightened his posture and straightened his trench coat, but that was about it. Ryat66 rubbed his faceplate.
"Just because you don't understand doesn't mean it doesn't work. I don't mean to insult, but the thing warned me that you would likely not believe me. It's some kind of over-reaching evolution conspiracy (that I feel is doomed from the get-go, but that's me), and they think that right now, the best course of action is to focus on the Rikti. Doesn't explain why they [frig]ed with the portal, and I didn't get a chance to ask him to fix it."
He kicked the ground suddenly, almost in an "aw shucks" manner.
"Dang, I bet that would've worked, too... They might not even know that they've messed with it."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
OOC: Jake got called by Toy to come over to the rest of the group where Grey is. If he's alone, it's only cause you missed something. 
BIC: "Well there's something you don't see everyday," Combat Toy remarked at the same time Toy Dispenser shouted, "Acid!?!"
"What the hell are you doing here?" Toy continued as he stepped forward, pulse rifle hanging at his side. "Unai told me we were the first group that got sent through!"
"And more importantly," added Toy Bot as it clattered around to get a look at things. "What exactly are you doing to that cadaver?"
*********************************************
"Advice: Rejoin: Main Party," said Cher'tak to Jake, Penny, and Binro after Toy had finished talking. "Follow orders: Soldier's Duty."
"I'll take rear guard," Small Toy said quietly. "I'll probably notice things faster than you all."
The little battle drone faded back, literally, as it activated its cloaking field and almost completely vanished from sight. It would watch their back trail with its additional sensors deployed and make sure nothing crept up on them without Small Toy knowing.
*********************************************
"What the hell is going on up there?" asked Solid Shot of Block Bot as he craned his head to see past the still partially closed blast doors. "We find whatever was eating those Rikti?"
"No," sighed Block Bot. "Just another wild factor that'll end up biting us in the [censored] come D-Day."
Solid looked at Block Bot for a moment before shaking his head and heading up front to see what the problem was himself.
*************************************************
Archlich decided to remain quiet at this juncture. There was little he could add to this discussion that he hadn't already and so no point in talking at the moment.
But while the others discussed, Archlich was searching back through his mind for a spell that might prove useful. Surely there had to be something that he had learned during his long years of study and quiet watching?
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 Warmaster's coming? Jake thought suddenly stopping in his tracks. "Hold up, sounds as if someone else is being assigned to our group." He said, sub-consciously holding up his flat palm as a hand signal to stop.