"That's a good corpse stealer." Darkvapor said dryly. "Now where is the Council keeping her and to what end?"
-------------------------
Klaus shrieked with laughter as he finished freezing the Clockwork in his lab.
"Add another vone to mein scoreboard herr computer!"
"Shouldn't you be prepping the base for self destruct?"
"Ahh yes of course. First, help me carry zis Clockworksicle....clockworksicle...hahaa!" he cried. The computer dispatched two skeletal robots to help carry the frozen Clockwork trooper.
"Put it down on my operating table." he directed, pointing a nitrogen covered glove at the table in question. "I'll be with teh patient in a moment."
"What about the other ones master?"
"What do you think....SMASH THEM!" he bellowed with the ferocity of a mother bear. "SMASH them to a THOUSAND tiny liiiittle pieces!!!!" He cackled with uncontrollable laughter as the computer followed his command. A giant hammer affixed to the remains of one of those remote controlled bomb defusing robots whirred and gave a few beeps before coming to rest a few feet away from the nearest Clockwork-sicle.
The hammer rose....
And fell, shattering the clockwork drone into little pieces.
Klaus meanwhile tossed his nitrogen cannon aside and got to work on his "patient". After bolting the Assembler Duke down to the table he activated the heating lamp hovering a few inches above. The lamp would thaw the bot while Klaus set to work on the base self destruct.
His soul...
Dusan's face took on a very grave look, not quite going pale, but certainly giving him an edge to be runner-up in the 'Albino of the Year' Award.
He stumbled, but quickly regained his composure. The blood returned to his face, his jaw lifted itself off of the ground, and he glanced around to check if anyone's eyes were on him.
Of course, there was no one looking at him except for Dennis, who was giving half a look of 'You idiot, you're embarrassing both of us' fused with half a look of 'What's the matter?'
Needless to say, Dusan quietly walked over and spoke with Dennis about what he had just noticed, and his suspicions, making sure that only those two could hear.
"Dennis..." He started, looking at his deceased friend, "The Mortifactor's, that is, Karl's, soul just now, it did a complete one-eighty. He had nothing but contempt for us but a moment ago, not caring about his fate nor that of anyone else, but in a split second, it did a completely one-eighty, to the point of convincing him to help us."
"Dennis... That was done by an outside source. There's no way someone can convince themselves to that extent that quickly."
Damn! Dennis thought, his brow furrowing as he realized what Dusan was saying. "Was afraid of this..." He muttered. "Dusan, I think the one we're after, that is, the one who I believe possessed Cohen."
"You think he was-?"
"Yes, just let me finish." He said, a bit irritated that Dusan would interrupt him in the middle of an explanation.
"This guy's more than just your generic 'Take-over-the-world-and-mold-it-into-my-own-image' villain. He's above things like that, I'm guessing. He's trying to lead us somewhere, and if I'm right, the City Rep. is vital."
Martin couldn't describe what he'd just felt. It was as if the warmth of the world had fled for just a moment and resettled as if nothing had happened. Like something had come by then fled...
"What was..." he rubbed his temple, "I..."
He shook off the odd sensation that something bad had just happened and turned to Karl. Then the Mortificator told them to find Brighid with the Council. He knew immediately that the bad feeling he'd just experienced had something to do with that.
He knew of a few of the terrorist organization's bases... Some in the southeast corner of the Primer, and a few others in the Powderkeg... Despite his experiences in dealing with them (mostly fighting them during his refugee days), he had never found what would have been called "the" Council base of Boomtown.
"I guess I should have figured... It was what you said before hopping into your little box, there," Sanders grumbled, "Now, the shadowy man makes a good point... You wouldn't happen to know which..."
He peered into Karl's eyes. There was something there, but he wasn't good at reading subtle face gestures, just knowing they were there. Then it was gone. Karl was still being his bitter grumpy self, but he was compliant.
"Er... You wouldn't happen to know which Council base is holding her?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Ghoul frowned, his brow furrowing in confusion. Martin had looked as though someone had walked over his grave just a second ago and one of the two buddy capes had done something that Ghoul hadn't entirely seen at about the same time. The brute's eyes narrowed as he looked at Karl. This all had something to do with the mad doctor, he could feel it in his bones.
But there wasn't much he could do at the moment aside from standing around and looking menacing, so he did just that and bided his time.
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.
Great the Council, well at least I'll get to smash humans now. Dax thought as he turned back to the group.
For secrecy's sake, and not wanting to make Karl do anything stupid, the crystals in Dax's chest reorganized themselves to reflect the sunlight and spell out words: Something isn't kosher with this bloke. I say we take him with us, and at the first sign of any mumbo-jumbo crap we give him to Ghoul.
I do not know my reasons for posting, but post I must. ~~Build
"We can't stop here, this is bat country."
--Johnny Depp
"I ain't bi-curious, I'm a man. Why do you think I'm wearing this tight spandex and got all these muscles?" Meatwad
"Hmmmm the Council you say......I havent fought them in years, ah well time for a refresher."
Bladewing glanced at Dennis and Dusan, noting thier troubled looks.
"I wonder who rained on their parade?"
"You, dear sir, are a legend. "- nelly. "PIE DOESN'T HAVE TENTACLES!"
Bladewing Draconian lvl 30 KAT/SR scrapper
DarkNinjutsu lvl 50 DM/REG scrapper
Dajoji Hino lvl 50 elm/ela scrapper
Bloody Byakko lvl 20 claws/sr scrapper
There was a piercing shriek of feedback from the team's commlink, and then Energon X' artificial voice fought through the static. "... the [censored] was that?" he demanded.
"The entire sky flickered for a second- every wavelength of energy just distorted crazily. The only place I've ever seen anything similar was deep in Orabenga when they were trying to summon an ancient Demon Lord... a concentration of magic so powerful that it literally distorted the physical world while it was active." There was a pause, then the Blaster's voice returned. "I don't like it." he growled.
"I was on the ground when it hit, so all I can say for certain about the pulse is that it came from the West of me. Unfortunately, I'm standing next to the War Wall at the Eastern edge of Boomtown." the Blaster finished, giving an irritable grunt. "I'm headed back to you guys, unless anybody has any better ideas."
"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"
The Watcher smiled. With Martin in charge, things should be proceeding a nit more smoothly for the task force he'd been charged with observing.
On the other hand, he'd have to be even more careful now, just to make sure nobody managed to spot him. Hiding this close did entail some risk, after all. Still, he felt it would be worth it if things went according to plan...
--------------------
The Vanguard duo kept to themselves during the arguments, choosing not to participate. However, they seemed to agree that Martin would make a good leader.
Their focus stood presently on the Mortificator and his coffin, the two carefully analyzing the true nature of both. Their means stood varied, and in nearly endless combination. Given enough time, there wasn't a chance Karl's secrets wouldn't come to light. Still, they would need a few dozen seconds of uninterrupted time for this...
--------------------
Liberty Road
The Fuse
"Verdammt!" the Council-uniformed man cursed violently, hopping up and down on one foot while holding the other with both hands, "Habe ich euch Trotteln nicht gesagt: Passt auf wo ihr hinteleportiert?!"
"Verzeihung, Sir." another looked about sheepishly, "Diese dunklen Tore sind manchmal ein bisschen unberechenbar."
"English, gentlemen." a dark voice broke the chatter, tone cold as the chill of night. Its source seemed to be the abyss that reigned in the night-black hood of a caped man encased in a suit of powered armor - and though the cape carried the same shade as his hood (which seemed to be one piece of clothing) the armor's paint job sported a camo pattern of gray and Prussian blue.
Standing roughly two meters , the figure didn't look too imposing amongst the sometimes ridiculously tall soldiers about, at least not until one looked into his eyes.
They weren't there.
Only a pair of luminescent red orbs hovered in the vast blackness inside the hood of General Schwarzherz. He'd lost his humanity so very long ago, and by now bore the telltale marks of his 'condition'.
"Of course, General." one of the Council-uniformed soldiers replied with a quick salute and a heavy German accent, the troop of maybe a dozen (give or take) moving down Liberty Road with intent, "It will not happen again. Still, I agree - that gate was a bit...powerful. They may have picked it up."
"If they have, let that be my worry." Schwarzherz gave a chuckle, his own frigid voice most fluent and accentless, "Now move..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Yes..." Karl said slowly.
Odd, he thought to himself. I DON'T know...
Wait...
An Image flashed through his mind.
"It's in the Grenadier Village, along the Western Wall. Ever since the Clockwork started attacking they've sealed the main entrance and have disguised the secondary entrance as a cargo container. Last I saw the City Representative, she was heading inside along with two of those silver troops with the sonic weapons.
-----
Klaus would have found something interesting after studying the Clockwork.
There were no left-over mental energies in the thing. Which meant the Clockwork King hadn't been controlling it.
There were no electrical pulses in it, so these were not Clockwork who could operate by themselves.
But there was nothing else. Common sense said it should have been entirely impossible for them to operate.
-----
Why did Schwarzherz and his men feel like they were being watched?
Because they were.
Slowly, all around, in every direction, from seemingly everywhere at once, they rose.
The small troop was entirely surrounded by a literal sea of various Clockwork, all glaring at them with their lifeless green eyes.
-----
Not.
Part.
Of.
The.
Plan.
Die.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Dusan said, having one of his rare serious moments. "It feels like we're being lead there. I don't like it." Of course, this was only muttered to Dennis, but he had no plans of keeping it secret from the team for long.
Walking up to 'Hobo Ned', Dusan made clear his worries, with Dennis as a strong back-up.
"You're the newly proclaimed team leader, right?" He said, again, making sure no one else could hear. "Well, even though I don't do so well with authority, I think I should make clear some suspicions of mine..."
With that, he explained his thoughts in the past few minutes, explaining his unique abilities when appropriate to explain where he got his information.
"Dusan is rarely wrong, sir." Dennis said, standing firmly behind his buddy. "Well, at least, in these matters."
Before Dusan could say anything to him, Martin suddenly cursed. His eyes lost focus and for a brief moment, he saw what Karl saw, but couldn't make sense of it. The message wasn't for him. Not exactly.
Again, the light and life of the world had gone away. Again, his very soul felt something brush against it.
He had a strange feeling it wouldn't find purchase there.
He cursed again as the sensation passed after Karl told them where to find the Council. Not because of the location the Mortificator had told him, but because he suddenly had a deep sinking feeling...
He mulled over the information presented him and nodded. He paced and stroked his chin. Finally, he stepped up on a piece of wreckage and addressed the group.
"Leader, no. Boss, no," he finally grunted, "First thing's first. I'm a guide. I'll take final say in whatever the plan of action is, but I'm going to be open to discussion... The reason why they sent a group out here in the first place is because more heads can figure stuff out faster than just one... Still, nobody goes until we've decided on anything. Yes, I meant we. No more of this T-ball [dreck]."
He paused and looked to everybody to make sure they understood before continuing.
"Next... I'm guessing we're all getting really bad feelings about all of this. Right? Well, I'm open to any and all theories as to the true nature of our enemy... However, I'm getting a very bad feeling all of a sudden, and it has something to do with the Council base the Mort here just said... I say we get moving before the [dreck] hits the fan."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"Wait a second..." Darkvapor raised a hand to silence Martin. Seeing as he had just become leader this might have sounded like insubordination, but Darkvapor had his reasons.
His eyes flickered.
They suddenly glowed with a passionate intensity that no one had ever seen before.
"It's a trap." he said slowly.
He looked at the team around him.
"Can't you see it? The Clockwork, the strange energy, it's all connected. I think the Council base is nothing more than a-"
He stopped suddenly.
Eyes flickered again.
"Someone just opened some sort of portal." His grave tone was far more harsh than when he'd been speaking moments earlier.
"I can investigate the portal, you guys should probably carry on. If the city rep is alive she won't be for long...something tells me the Council has something in store for us."
Dark energy suddenly surrounded him like a fog.
His hands glowed and then he was gone.
He reappeared atop a building a block away from General Schwarez.
Remaining phase shifted Darkvapor watched the army of Clockwork surround the new arrival.
"And so another player enters the game..."
--------------------------
It was about then that Klaus heard a loud boom upstairs.
"Doctor, they have broken through the Boiler room door. They will reach us in...ETA 2 minutes and counting."
"I'm....working on something...."
"Scan complete," a second computer voice responded, "analyzing data."
"Forget it, send the data to my PDA. Computer, activate self destruct now."
"Yes sir."
Klaus ran over to the corner of the room and rumaged through a few containers before finding what he sought. Laughing triumphantly he grabbed the bag by the handle and set off at a good pace for the emergency exit.
"Self destruct in...One minute and thirty seconds..."
"Sending data...."
"One minute and ten seconds..."
"Data sent...."
[ QUOTE ]
"Wait a second..." Darkvapor raised a hand to silence Martin. Seeing as he had just become leader this might have sounded like insubordination, but Darkvapor had his reasons.
His eyes flickered.
They suddenly glowed with a passionate intensity that no one had ever seen before.
"It's a trap." he said slowly.
[/ QUOTE ]
"Well, I coulda told you that before. So much for being an almighty being." (He assumes, judging from his soul's state.) Dusan said a bit irritably. The rest of his statement, however, was news to him, and he listened with intent.
Energon X dropped lightly to the ground next to the group. "I caught most of that via the commlink."
He hesitated, and looked at each team-member in turn.
"This isn't going to be a popular suggestion, but the way I see it, we have pretty much two options; let the Clocks and the goose-steppers-from-space thin one another out, and mop up the remains, or just go balls to the wall and take both sides on. We don't have the coordination for 'subtle' right now, and there's no way we have time to get that coordination."
A shake of the head produced the now-familiar twin streaks of yellow fire.
"We've got the firepower to pull it off... maybe. But the first plan cuts it too close- if the City Rep gets killed, which she probably will in a battle that size, then we've lost the only solid lead we've been able to find. It keeps coming back to her. And the second plan is probably just my deathwish talking." he commented sourly. "But one way or another, we've got to do this thing. They say that when you've got a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. The Malleus Mundi could make that literal." he finished with a mirthless bark of laughter. He looked at Martin, waiting for a decision.
"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"
"hmmmm enemies whittling eachother down, or balls to the wall insane action......well I already used up all my peace and reason for a year or more so guess which option I pick?"
Grinning, Bladewing floated in sitting lotus, his fingers glowing with black energy as he used them to sharpen his No-Dachi from razor sharp to Insanely sharp.
"You, dear sir, are a legend. "- nelly. "PIE DOESN'T HAVE TENTACLES!"
Bladewing Draconian lvl 30 KAT/SR scrapper
DarkNinjutsu lvl 50 DM/REG scrapper
Dajoji Hino lvl 50 elm/ela scrapper
Bloody Byakko lvl 20 claws/sr scrapper
The Watcher tensed. What had that just been? It had felt like someone had put a glub to the gates of normal space-time and whacked merrily away like a Troll on a Dyne overdose.
Luckily, the presence in the air seemed quick to react, not to mention the task force didn't appear to pay it too much heed. That was good.
The arrivals and their plans, which his informant disclused to him, however, made the Watcher apprehensive again. This could ruin everything if the wrong pieces fell into place...
--------------------
"Well now, it seems someone doesn't like us crashing their party." Schwarzherz chuckled darkly, turning to the small troop, "Those thoughts weren't at all friendly. Seems we'll need to blast more than just a building to rubble here."
"Oh, that we can handle." came the response from an Archon uniform, the Council troop aiming multipurpose assault rifles all about, "But we'd rather not tip our hand just yet. Where are these men you spoke of?"
"Ah, but of course." the General nonchalantly drew a field radio, speaking into it, "Charle one three zero delta, come back. Confirming killbox foxtrot papa hotel quebec. Targets will be painted..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
The Clockwork sea swarmed forward.
An uncountable amount of electrical bolts blazed from every last imaginable direction, including from the air. Perfected Oscilators rose up and seemed to blot out the sky. Princes rushed forward to get into melee range, ball lightning was tossed about just as often as tesla fields...
And worse yet, the ground directly beneath the troop's feet began to crumble. The Clockwork were below them! A seemingly never-ending tide of princes from below tore away the ground and brought forth limb and electrical power...
-----
"So what now?" Karl asked.
Suddenly there was an enormous explosion.
An entire city block had suddenly been leveled.
Dust and debris blew away from the area almost immediately. A long plume of smoke visible for miles rose out of what had once been Klaus' base.
"I love the smell of anti-matter in the morning."
Klaus emerged from the sewer.
"Uh oh." he said as he stood in front of a rather dangerous looking group of heroes and villains.
He looked back at the smoking ruins of his base.
"Uhhh...hi."
Bladewing blinked as a man in a lab coat walked from the sewer grate next to him, and seconds later was met with a huge boom, as a nearby city block exploded in spectacular fashion.
"Okay, why was there a tremendous explosion? who are you? and do I need to cause you grievous bodily harm within the next minute or two? the third of these questions will be answered by your answers to the previous two."
"You, dear sir, are a legend. "- nelly. "PIE DOESN'T HAVE TENTACLES!"
Bladewing Draconian lvl 30 KAT/SR scrapper
DarkNinjutsu lvl 50 DM/REG scrapper
Dajoji Hino lvl 50 elm/ela scrapper
Bloody Byakko lvl 20 claws/sr scrapper
Klaus took a deep breath.
Take it easy, this guy's a moron...
"Well zat is a very long and complicated story...suffice to say, Anti-Matter is highly explosive.
"My name," Klaus gave a dramatic bow, "iz Doctor Klaus Gubbleheimer, but you may call me, Doctor Frostbite."
Really Klaus was no threat. His cryogenic battlesuit lay inside his duffel bag and no matter what items he might carry in his coat the heroes and villains would have him at a serious disadvantage.
"As for ze bodily harm, please forgive me, but I have a group of reprogrammed and highly destructive Clockwork chasing me, so I would appreciate it if I could find those stupid Council goons. I'm sure it's that terrible Archon whatever his name is' doing!"
"What now indeed," Martin grumbled as Klaus arrived, "As for you, Mort, run along. Some other hero who knows what he's doing is probably gonna cut you down. Us? We've got bigger fish to catch. Sorry about your ankle, but I couldn't just let you run off like that."
He walked over to the newcomer.
"Howdy there," he grunted, "You look worried, which tells me that you had something to do with that big explosion back there. Now, you tell us the details, and we'll determine whether or not that means we send you on your way with a boot imprint on your rear."
He turned to the rest of the group.
"Sounds fair, right?" then he turned back to Klaus, "Now, make it snappy. We're late to get our butts handed to us in an ambush somewhere down the road."
EDIT: Upon the end of Doctor Frostbite's explanation, Martin bit off a curse.
"Well, I guess that means we get to finish our fight... You know what? We should just start running."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"Wow I'm in the prescence of a living cliche." Dax said motioning toward the heavily accented scientist.
Dax yawned loudly, "So you're finally saying that I can cut loose? I'm not gonna get billed for any collateral damage? And I can finally go Bishop without anyone taking pot shots at me for causing a little meyhem? Goody, Goody, Goody!"
Soon as they say yes I activate the symbol and then that little boomer gets to see what balls to the wall really means. Dax thought as the symbol for the bishop from a chess set appeared on his left breast.
I do not know my reasons for posting, but post I must. ~~Build
"We can't stop here, this is bat country."
--Johnny Depp
"I ain't bi-curious, I'm a man. Why do you think I'm wearing this tight spandex and got all these muscles?" Meatwad
((muahahaha we think alike build...as soon as chameleon said the words death wish, and balls to the wall, I knew we were gonna have fun.))
"You, dear sir, are a legend. "- nelly. "PIE DOESN'T HAVE TENTACLES!"
Bladewing Draconian lvl 30 KAT/SR scrapper
DarkNinjutsu lvl 50 DM/REG scrapper
Dajoji Hino lvl 50 elm/ela scrapper
Bloody Byakko lvl 20 claws/sr scrapper
((He really shouldn't have said that, it's like giving the inmates the keys to the asylum, a book of matches, a lot of gasoline, a donkey, and some ice cubes. There's just no way this can end well.))
I do not know my reasons for posting, but post I must. ~~Build
"We can't stop here, this is bat country."
--Johnny Depp
"I ain't bi-curious, I'm a man. Why do you think I'm wearing this tight spandex and got all these muscles?" Meatwad
Karl thought very carefully.
He could resist torture. What he did to his own body daily, he did WITHOUT pain killers by now.
And while they claimed they could just kill him and get what they needed from his corpse? A brilliant plan. Except Karl wouldn't be leaving a corpse behind. Plenty of concealed concentrated acid capsules would make sure of that.
He wouldn't tell them anything. Let them do as they pleased. Let the world burn...
-----
No.
Obey.
Comply.
Speak.
Issue.
Goal.
-----
On the other hand, Karl suddenly thought, he could accomplish MUCH MORE in this world if he were still alive and had an intact body.
-----
"The Council have her." Karl said sourly.