Caleb nodded to the doctor as he seated himself, "Yeah Monarch, that's right. We plan on raiding their base. We have encountered two problems though. One: The Close Squad is seriously under staffed (Only Marty and I are left), Two: Bastion is becoming low on supplies, and we must see to the needs of our people before we can attack."
Marty chuckled, "Yeah we leave and the only people left to defend this place are the kids and the old men."
Marty had just found the forgotten pill bottle in his pocket. Because of his inability to keep track of events, he had forgotten where he had gotten the bottle and what the bottle was. Since he usually carried caffeine pills on him at all times, he assumed that was what the bottle was.
He gripped the bottle in his left hand and after several attempts at opening it he stuck the cap in his mouth and began to bite down hard muttering, "Gar Gamn Kild Poof Capfs!"
Justice annoyedly jerked the pill bottle out of his friends mouth and tossed it at the garbage can, missing it rolled across the floor and came to rest at the leg of a table. "Stop acting like a child."
"Stop acting like my mom! Ha! Your face dude priceless," Marty shouted good naturedly as he noticed the increasing color of Caleb's cheeks.
Yeah these two were brothers, by time rather than blood. "We could use a few more hands Doc. You're welcome to join, we just need a couple more." Caleb said as Marty made a few choice hand gestures.
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
((I actually prefer the idea of retconning around Auto-Man's post. If it's okay with Diov, that is?))
((No problems here. Just lemme make a repost of that event.))
"Hey Cape!" Shouted a voice behind Experiment 2.0, A.K.A. Mender Ballard.
It appeared to be a small group of Family. The criminal organization had flourishing with the downfall of Paragon as more and more young twenty-something men desperately looked for a way to stay suave. The Family was often the answer to all their problems.
This appeared to be a standard group of them. Five button men, a hitman, and an Underboss.
"Want some o' tha newest goods? We got cheap Tombstone."
Ballard turned to the voice- Drug-peddlers? Good.
He'd heard of these new drugs offhand, but never encountered them. Up until a few days earlier, he was glad. These substances seemed to mutate the users, not only physically, but mentally- Their minds, in most cases, seemed to be turned either to mush, or the practical reincarnation of chaos.
When John heard of these, he decided to try and halt some trafficking in a warehouse he had gotten a tip on. Never before had the Tsoo hurt him so badly. He was forced to retreat- No information, no nothing.
Now was his chance to find out just who was manufacturing this stuff, or at least, who KNEW who was manufacturing this stuff.
Turning the the Family, Experiment straightened up, his grim face never even twitching. "Tombstone? I've heard of the stuff... What does it do, exactly?"
The Underboss smiled innocently. The thoughts of a prospective buyer in his mind.
"Why, it grants super-powers if ya don' already ave em, and if ya do, it enhances what ya already got. Also makes ya faster an stronger an all the bells and whistles. I havn't had the chance to test it out meself, but I've seen people juicin up on it. They become walking engines of destruction, I tell ya. Least until the stuff wears off. Three pills lasts about half an owah."
He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a clear nalgene bottle filled with dozens of dark grey pills. The bottle had an Empowerment Symbol plastered onto it, and below that, an almost cartoonish Tombstone that radiated with purple light.
"An as I said, it's cheap." The Underboss said, a huge smile on his face. His companions were rather tense, however. All of them had hands on their weapons.
((Th3or3m, Target was right behind the arrow- he fired and then flew behind it to launch a lightning cone at you, then continued to fly in order to slap you with some Electric Melee- dunno if I made that clear in the first post of the fight. Oh- and Target is an Electrical Manipulator, so he's not gonna get fried just by being in the Lightning Field))
Target worked a shrug into his hurtling flight, slamming a Havok Punch at Fenrir's jaw as the Brute was talking. Without bothering to wait and see if it connected- electrically charged or not, Fenrir should feel some effects from the powerful blow, either being violently repelled by like charges, or having it bypass his defenses entirely by being an unlike charge- Target did a flip in midair, pushing off from Fenrir's chest to grab sky.
Bringing his bow to bear once more when he had gained some height, he launched a fistful of explosive arrows at Fenrir, filing the street with fire and thunder. A quick reorientation, and suddenly it was raining arrows.
Energon X, seated comfortably on a broken bit of rubble near the exit of The Gap under a slight overhang, waved a negligent hand. "Nah, nah... my nephew's having fun. If you manage to drop him, then I'll splat ya, but in the interim, I'm just going to enjoy the show." A pause. "Of course, if you kill him... do you remember what happened to Dr. Aeon? You won't even be a stain."
"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"
Scarlet Eye chuckled harshly. Cry's response to being unable to overwhelm him with sheer power was to unleash still more power? "Ah, sweet innocence of youth..." the voice echoed across the mindscape as the Scarlet Eye slid out of Cry's grasp like a fistful of razorblades.
He 'watched' for a moment as the infant flailed about, a giant trying to see ants as psychic power that could level mountains bludgeoned across the landscape with barely enough refinement to even see unprotected minds, much less the machinations of an immortal.
Then he struck like a cobra, flowing into Cry's mindscape, the center of the Eye... and manifested himself physically on the psychic plane, vanishing completely from the storm of violence in the infant's nursery.
Another raspy chuckle, echoing strangely in the mindscape, as Scarlet Eye took in Cry's shock at this apparent impossibility. "You are... for all your... power... a creature of... Order, child. Of... rules." The elemental spat the last word as a curse. "I..? I am... chaos..." the sentence trailed off as the Scarlet Eye shattered, becoming a million million razor shards that spun in a terrible vortex that broadened... so diffuse that even a master telepath would have had trouble detecting it, much less gathering or stopping it... dancing a trail of destruction through Cry's mind. "Chaos... incarnate..."
((Project_M- what I'm trying to say here is that Cry, while massively powerful, can't just grab and squish the Scarlet Eye. Cry's only, what, fifteen months old? Maybe two years? The Scarlet Eye has been doing this for a very, very long time, and he's got a deep bag of tricks.))
"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 sheer kinetic force had moved Fenrir a good 2 meters backwards, but he was relatively unfazed. Suddenly, looking upwards, he saw a bunch of arrows hurtling towards him. He unleashed a substantial electric field, triggering the explosions. "So I guess you aren't the kind who likes to play around," he said, grunting, "But when push comes to shove, neither am I." "At first, I had expected you guys were people dumb enough to be out here unprepared, but now knowing you did that to Aeon, I have some more respect for ya'." "Well either way, if you're prepared to fight to the death, I'll be their, fighting back," he said launching himself into the air forming a stone mallet in his grip. Even if the weapon didn't get him, Fenrir had a backup plan.
__________________________________________________ ______________
"Well, please remember to inform me of any progress, because I would love to show those villains what's coming to them," Monarch said, his tone sharp and precise. "I guess I should also shack up for the night, I haven't slept in 2 days," he confessed, a bit of embarrassment in his eyes. He then walked to his room, 121, and entered his code. There's always tomorrow. There's always tommorow, he thought melodicly.
Justice and Marty waved at the retreating Monarch's back. After a few seconds the blood brothers stood. Justice walked down the long hallway to his room, 181, and dissabled the locking mechanism on his door. He closed the door behind him, the walls were sound proofed blocking all noise from the outside.
The walls of his room contained recovered scrolls from all parts of the world that Caleb had scavenged from the four corners of Paragon. It contained everything from Buddhist Mantras to seals from Japanese demon summoners.
The seals surved a dual purpose, the first was decoration, and the second was evident when Caleb removed his suite. Normally people were armor to protect them from attacks. It was the exact opposite with the scrapper, his armor was to protect those he faught from his power.
As Caleb removed his mask the barometric pressure in the air seemed to increase to the point of being almost tangible, the walls began to do a weird pulsing as if a monstrous heart beat from somewhere within. He pulled off the rest of his suit and lay on his simple bed. He could rest easy now that Marty was safely back within the walls of Bastion where all were safe.
-----------------------------------
Marty sat at the stainless steel cafeteria table, his eighth cup of coffee in fifteen minutes had already been drank. He scratched his chin as he looked across at Wolffe, "Well Cap. looks like everyone else is either packing in or getting ready for the night shift. You gonna need any help getting the younguns bedded down for the night?"
He stood from his seat and picked up the pill bottle from the ground. If he wanted to get any sleep tonight he was going to have to burn the caffeine out of his circulatory system.
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
His eyes skipped over everything- The scenery, the drugs, the Family, everything that could be a hindrance or an aid. First of all, the main threat was the Underboss- The others had weapons, all fine and good, he could deal with bullets, not too hard. Strength beyond even above-human standards was a problem.
And the drugs.
If he made a move and that Underboss swallowed those pills, he'd have more trouble than he'd be able to handle on a split-second's notice.
Not only that, if the reports were true, these pills messed up the user's mental state. Even if temporary, that would ruin any chance of Ballard taking down the Underboss conscious, and totally destroy any chance of finding out where their supplier was.
The only useful one to interrogate would be the Underboss, too- He was the highest ranking member, and therefore, would undoubtedly know the most. Sadly, this meant two more dangers- First, he was stronger. If he went for full-on breakage, the Underboss wouldn't give out so easily.
The second was loyalty- The Family was rather tight-knit for a group of thugs, and being that high up, this guy would want even less to give up his 'brothers' than to get thrown off a roof.
Experiment took a step closer, but his smirk was not one of mockery- More one of good humor and disarmament. "Your boys don't trust me- I suppose for good reason, but still- So lets get this over with quickly and be on our way, hm? How much for the whole bottle?"
Target's arm was a blur as he lobbed another great fistful of arrows at Fenrir, then blasted another rain of arrows into the sky to fill the local airspace with pointy death.
Then he simply hovered, firing at Fenrir as he came, a mixture of flaming arrows, grenade-tipped arrows, regular arrows, and the occasional cone of lightning, and readying a thunderstrike of electrical power to try and knock Fenrir away, trusting in his own electrical armour to protect him from the mallet, at least enough to survive, should Fenrir get through.
((so, Target's doing his best to prove the old adage "The best defense is an overwhelming offense", and mixing in a bit of control/knockback there to try and keep Fenrir away. If you decide to punch through all that, feel free to auto the mallet bouncing Target through a wall or whatever, although I'd prefer you didn't claim to have broken his ribs or anything >.>
)
"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"
((Hm...looks like there goes Blood's and my participation in the initial conversation. Guess I'll have to think of something else. 
))
--------------------
The Dark Rover's trail was hard to miss, the practical trenches its massive treads had cut into the landscape of Baumton standing as quite the easy trail to follow.
They led on for a fair distance, then stopped dead where the monstrosity had appeared, said area now bearing more resemblance to ground zero of a titanic tornado than anything else. The air had calmed once more, however, and nothing plainly visible offered any clues as to the vehicle's arrival.
Still, that didn't go to say there weren't any.
If the peacebringer could sense these things (or had some other mans of detection, be they arcane, electronic, et cetera), she could perhaps pick up on the large concentration of dark energy - the real stuff, not what people around here generally termed 'dark energy blasts' and such - that still hung in the air. The stuff was in the process of dissipating, flowing where it should naturally now, but someone had definitely gathered a frightening amount in this one location not long ago.
In addition, there seemed to be a greater presence of time, though the peacebringer would of course need a means to detect this fundamental component as well. If such eluded her, however, there remained a chance she'd pick up on the interactions of thus and this continuum, a process humans almost always misnomered as 'manifestation of temporal energy'...
--------------------
Groul's eyes had given a minute twitch as the words 'villain base' fell, though he kept the rest of his body under masterful control. Not a single muscle moved in relation to the uttered verbiage, and even the twinge of his oculae had been barely noticeable, only susceptible to the wiles of a truly keen observer.
The motionless visage of Danger's armorsuit of course let through no clues as to the expression beneath, though the mutterings of frustration that resulted from finding only 'prefabbed' meals in the fridge certainly made themselves known, even as he stalked toward the kitchen itself.
Stepping closer to the table Groul wrapped the tip of his tail about the legs of the nearby frame of a chair, pulling the seat around and allowing the Field Commander to sit without too much trouble. Still, his towering frame in the - for him - rather small seat looked quite comical, even though hed turned the thing about to avoid any complications the backrest may have given his tail.
Though he would've preferred inclusion in the ongoing discussion, he had to admit this was likely the norm around here. He'd read up on humans, and they'd always been described as extremely xenophobic. They often feared what they didn't understand, and considering Groul's appearance, it didn't take much imagination to surmise they'd rather pretend he wasn't here at all.
When Monarch and Caleb departed without a word to the Field Commander, however, Groul opted to take a more direct approach. Manners seemed to be a luxury here, the draconic being inquiring of Wolffe and Marty, but of course more specifically of the latter, "Well then, I couldn't help overhearing you are plotting some manner of strike. Against whom? And for what reason? Do excuse my naïveté, but thus far, no one's even bothered to explain to us just where we are and what's happening."
The crash of a raw leg of beef against the surface of the table pre-empted any immediate response, the Specialist having returned with his catch from the meat locker. Adding to his compatriots concerns, Danger staunchly agreed as he commanded his suit to its knees, "Yes, that's more than a little annoying. Do indulge...erg...one moment."
As he told them this, the armorsuit's chest plating had come flush with the table's edge, and just as Groul's head earlier, the panels now retracted into one another. This time, however, the retreat remained confined to the lower thorax, and the being that emerged from this suit was quite unlike the Field Commander.
Compared to the two point eight meters of the red-scaled Groul's towering height, Danger stood practically miniscule. Even compared to a human, he was downright tiny, no taller than twelve centimeters to be sure. The Specialist was humanoid however, his body's structure much resembling that of a Terran. Indeed, had it not been for his diminutive stature and ultramarine skin tone, Danger might very well haven't elicited a second glance from a human.
The Specialist wore his cobalt blue hair slicked back - naturally so to boot - and the slate gray outfit that resembled some manner of stealth suit definitely fit the guy. Apparently, whatever organization these two stood as part of retained a deft affinity for this hue of cool gray. A duo of pistols that looked decidedly alien and sci-fi-ish dangled from his belt, and the left boot held the plainly visible sheath of a knife. Like Groul, Danger's shins and forearms sat protected behind finely crafted guards, though his seemed firmly grafted to the material of his uniform.
"As I was saying," Danger went on, his hazel eyes having not lost the tiniest bit of the attitude he'd presented so far - though his voice had certainly lost volume - "please do indulge us."
With the Specialist having returned, Groul opted to make himself as unnoticeable as possible, hoping the more humanoid Danger would elicit a more accepting response from the humans if they weren't focused on acting as if he weren't around. The Field Commander's clawed fingers curled silently about the leg of beef, though the bone sent a deft crack echoing into the room as Groul's teeth-armed jaws snapped it in twain...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Marty shrugged a little at the interruption and sat down in a seat facing the saurian. "See, the villains have occupied the city. As of yet we only have a vague idea of where the villain base is located. As for where you are, this once was Paragon City one of the main defenses of our planet against the forces of evil. It's a shadow of it's former self, but we are trying to change that."
"Myself and Caleb have been planing to assault the base for awhile now. Our only problems so far have been the defense of Bastion in our absense, finding enough supplies to keep Bastion while we are away, finding the villain base, and setting up a temporary camp to gather intel somewhere in it's viscinity." Marty was twiddling his thumbs.
"As you can see we have some problems. We are in dire need of help, and our students are getting restless. It seems every day that I hear one say that they want to attack the villains. If we don't do something fast we may have a few less." Marty was searching the saurians face for any signs, it was hard. The bloke wasn't even human, and if you have ever tried to figure out what a cat was thinking just by looking in its face you'll know what I mean. . .except this cat could break a man in two at a whim and had very sharp teeth.
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
Cry couldn't win he would have to negotiate. "You have won this time Scarlet Eye, but neither of us shall take today as a victory." Cry stopped squirming and closed his eyes, his body became transparent and intangible. Cry neutralized his own physic energy and that of Scarlets negating both of their efforts to win. He had created a physic blackout in the area, leaving a good amount of Night Widows and others blind.
"If you shall retreat I will do to, but do not awaken the inner conscience that is my weapon." Cry grimaced at the thought of losing, though he reassured himself that he was young and that as before many of Daddy's servants had retreated and come back.
The Night Widow was guided by Cry through the door into the spreading hallway and then down a elevator carefully eclipsing his retreat. "I didn't lose did I?"
The Night Widow looked down and shaked her head no. "I didn't think so, he was strong, too strong. I want to make sure he doesn't listen on to Daddy's big plans, but I want to learn from him. His physic mastery is at its fullest and mine has only just begun, I can't reach my potential until my mind develops!"
Luckily the mallet had done some damage. As an array of arrows connected with his armors, and weapons, loud explosions rung throughout the air. As he hit the man's chest head-on the guy was sent flying backwards, just stopping short of crashing through the wall, but he also had been hit, knocking the wind out of him.
"This hardly seems fair," said a voice from above. Suddenly a man hovered down into the crater. "Yeh see," he continued, "I always was good at math and know, two is greater than one, and knowing that you are the one who devastated Aeon," he said, looking towards the non-combatant, "I might as well even the odds." "Sorry, how crude of me to not introduce myself." "My name is Salazar, and that is my brother you're fighting, and if you plan on fighting to the death, he's ready, as am I."
The members of the Family group visibly relaxed as they saw Experiment's expression. Hands were still on their weapons, but in a much more lax way.
"Well, as I was sayin, they're cheap. A cupa Formyuluh Thirteen would cost ya over 25 grand, and get ya small results. I'll sell ya this whole bottle with its 75 pills for just 10 grand." The Underboss said.
He was trying to rip Experiment off. He had gotten five bottles of the stuff earlier for just that much. Rumors had it that the original wave had been entirely free. The Underboss doubted that, but there was probably some truth to the rumor.
"And I'd be much appreciatin if ya would pay that to my associate here." He added, gesturing for the hitman to take a few steps forward. "I'll rollya the bottle. Not to be disrespectin, but we have been crossed cruelly by your kind before."
((Just a note to say Happy Thanksgiving. I will be coming back to this thread later. I have a wedding to attend on Friday. I'm the best man so I have a lot to do.))
((*Pokes Sovs with a heated metal stick* :3))
((Good luck at the wedding Blood, don't get so drunk that you screw up your speach. . .trust me on that one, it ain't a pretty sight.))
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
((Eh? You responded to Colin, not me.))
((Because I'm waiting on the Sky Raider commander, and if any other Sky Raiders want to charge Jake.
... Don't tell me you already responded and I look like an idiot. >.>)
The Scarlet Eye stifled a gasp as he was forcibly ejected from Cry's mind. Intangibility was not something he had expected. He hovered in astral form for a moment, watching the battle, then solidified. If he could not reach the target of his immediate anger, killing Cry's thralls would, at the very least, offer some measure of amusement.
He deftly inserted himself into the minds the Cry had vacated, psychic defenses already shattered by the infant's immense power, and took control of the remaining ex-heroes and the handful of Arachnos that had been under Cry's direct control. Then, with a chuckle like someone choking on a mouthful of gravel, he sent them all searching out Black Scorpion, baying like hunting hounds as they sought the cyborg.
After all, in terms of the chaos generated, the death of one Lieutenant was just as good as that of another. Failing that, at least Cry would need to find some new puppets. And, best of all... Cry's psychic 'imprint' was stamped so heavily onto these puppets that even a fairly thorough post-mortem of them would indicate that they had been under the infant's control all along...
((Would anyone mind taking command of Black Scorpion for the duration of this little excercise? I'm not really expecting to kill him, although it will be amusing to try 
EDIT... oookay, Black Scorpion's not there. Tweaking post appropriately.))
"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"
((er... Th3or3m, I thought we were actually in Talos now, not in Founders Crater- the whole thing is basically just a big, glass-smooth bowl right up to the walls, not really conducive for fighting in))
"Actually, I had no particular plans on fighting you at all." Energon X returned mildly, as Target hovered and gasped for a moment. "I tend to avoid fights to the death, since last time I died..." he waved an arm back through The Gap "that happened."
Above, Target recovered and launched himself forwards. Arrows seemed to be doing little to his irritating foe, so perhaps a test of electrical mastery was in order. He rocketed over his foe's head at speed, flipping at the last second to try for an overhead grapple, hands already ablaze with lightning.
Should the maneuver work, he would begin drawing his enemy's power out, sucking him dry in a matter of moments, and, hopefully, leaving him significantly more vulnerable to attack.
Energon X watched this with an attitude rather more casual than the situation warranted. "By the way... is there any special reason you're accosting random strangers in duels to the death?" He shrugged. "Not that it really matters, mind. But I do prefer to know why people are trying to kill me."
"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"
Currently Shadow was beating through Arachnos troops,slicing them down,shooting them,you name it, he was in a furied attack position each time he landed one. He then came to the room where his daughter was...
ShadowWings said,"Oh...you moronic Arachnos will pay!" His daughter,Tereka was chained up to the wall and was limp,luckily she was asleep but she looked like crap.
Shadow gathered all electricty he could to his katana and then,before the Mu Strikers and Adepts could attack,he blasted the lightning from the katana,knocking all the Arachnos to the floor,leaving them there,staticly charged and not able to move.
Shadow freed his daughter and whispered,"Don't worry Tereka, Daddy is here." He then shot off, putting away his weapons. Shadow was now moving twords the Hero base he had figured would be where it was....he was growling slightly
ARC seemed to be forgetting he was facing not one, but six opponents at the time. Running away simply wasn't an option, not when one has half a dozen killer mechanoids ready to keep you locked down.
Which, coincidentaly enough, happened to be the plan agreed upon in the .0000000007 of a second Jake's minions took to spawn one. Both Protector Bots, N0-013 and 1-14X, teleported to either side of ARC, each almost simultaneously encasing him in what most know as a Detention Field. This would keep ARC locked down for as long as they cared to keep him down, which, in this case, happened to be about seven and a half seconds.
Of course, the amount of time they took wasn't nearly so much as important as the events that would take place within this time. The four remaining minions, including W0-07 and the three Battle Drones, surrounded ARC yet again, this time charging their lasers for a devastating blow. Each of them would deliver a blast almost equal in power to that of what ARC attempted, giving the ever-witty Model W0-07 yet another one liner.
"Witty Remark Found: File Directory, Internet Fad: 'I'M CHARGIN MAH LAZERS!'"
If ARC did nothing, he would be released from his prison the millisecond the robots fired their weapons.
But, hey. That's a pretty cool way to go.