"Crossward puzzles..." She looked around. "Check the end of the isles. There's maps and other stuff there, should be some there."
--------
"There's not many of the supers left at all since Alharzed came to power." The peacebringer sighed. "This is all we have. There might be a few more coming, but this is all we have at this time."
The cocky youth that had called out Jager just moments before ported in to Ouroborus in a brilliant flash of light, a scowl still darkening his face. He almost stomped to the motley crew of supers now gathering, stopping a good ten feet before coming into talking distance with them, crossing his arms and gazing at the 'inferior' group of metas before him, hero and villain alike.
Moments later, Jake joined him on his right side, gazing bemused at his partner's obvious contempt. "Aw, c'mon, lighten up, Nate."
"It's Nathaniel, you cretin. Just because you shorten your given name doesn't mean I have to." He shot his gaze in Jake's direction, his eyes like daggers.
Jake only chuckled. "Whatever. I'm just saying that you need to lighten up."
Nathaniel only sighed, shaking his head and forcing his gaze to the ground. "Jacob..."
"Jake."
"Jacob," He continued, glaring at Jake once again. "I respect your skill, but you take work much too lightly. It will cost you your life one day."
The white haired youth almost seemed to not be listening, his hands in his pockets and his gaze dead set on the pool of water in the center of the area. In fact, if it weren't for his immediate reply, he probably would have been yelled at. "And I say you take it too seriously, in addition to treating everyone you meet like crap."
Again, Nathaniel sighed, shaking his head as if to imply that no one other than him got it. "Well, as you say, whatever."
The two continued to analyze the group in silence, each thinking their own thoughts.
As the man appeared in the meeting area, his feet were floating several inches off the ground. He was not speaking, but mentally recording every thing said, from whispers to shouts. He still found particular intrest in the young boy and his charge, especially intrigued in the 'work' they so talked about. He also couldn't help but smile at the young one's impatience compared to the older's relaxiveness.
His eyes were closed, although he was taking mental snapshots of them, and finding out their personalities, either by hearing, or more of a 'agressive' way. He made sure to mark the heroes from the villains, should the case arise.
He kept silent, not wanting to play any cards this early.
Lofty took a quick look at the back of the isles as the shop owner had instructed. He couldn't help but give interest to all the various wares though, and contemplated trying to sneak some of them back. But no, that wouldn't work. Crosswords were pretty much the only thing he was allowed to get away with. So he reluctantly pried his eyes away from what he deemed to be very wonderous indeed and settled instead for a book with crossword puzzles within.
One problem at a time. Lofty mentally sighed with relief once he picked up the book. Onto the next problem. How to get out of the shop without paying...
"Uh. Shopkeep?" He asked to the owner. "You appear to have a gas leak over here..." And he spoke the truth, because along the wall cracks had suddenly formed, causing paint to crickle and fall to the ground. A tiny pin-[censored] hole in the center of the cracks unleashing a low hissing noise of rushing air and what was presumably 'gas...'
"I don't smell anything." She then turned around and saw the crack. "Ohshi--" She hit the panic alarm and rushed him out of the building.
"Careful, watch your step, don't trip and don't drop that book." She was not too able to walk fast, but she could still walk at a good pace. She rushed out of the shop, pushing Lofty out with her.
--------
"It's almost time for the briefing." Kamarov said to himself. He wouldn't work with Yosef anymore -- he didn't work with cowards who said they weren't supers. He didn't say anything and he wouldn't care about it. If they were paired up, he would eliminate the targets himself after killing his real target.
--------
"Then there's another option, follow me and you will not be harmed."
"H-how did you get in here?"
"Window."
There was silence followed by a crash and rushing footsteps.
"Oh [censored]."
The shadowy figure smiled and held out a gun. "Take it, and with it you will be unstoppable."
"Are you MAD?"
"No. I'm quite sane. The question is: are you?" It began to laugh at the terror in the man's eyes. Humans, they were so easy to trick but yet so fun to trick. "Act now or you will die."
There was a click and then a very cold metal-like barrel placed at the base of his neck. "Turn around and you're a dead man."
"What did I do wrong?"
"Not my place to say." With his free hand, the officer brought his baton up with enough force to knock several teeth out and made direct contact with the side of the man's head, causing him to bleed on his freshly installed carpet.
He fell to the ground where he was met with several kicks to the side and a few more baton blows to various limbs -- specifically his legs in order to break them.
While the officer was distracted, the shadowy man had managed to recede back into the shadows. Another life... ruined....
"Wha-yea-oops-" Lofty murmled in response to the lady. "Ah...dropped the book. Sorry." He said sheepishly, and for all the lady knew he had. He had stumbled when she first started pushing and from her angle it looked like he had dropped what he had been holding. It really went beneath his jacket.
Bladewing walked from the portal on the Uroboros base, katana on his back, and a grin on his face. Alharzed had become the most powerful dictator in the world, and had killed quite a few of the draconian's friends, and this outfit looked like it would get him closest to the mad dictator.
Spying Horowitz to one side, Bladewing strode over and clapped the Jaeger on the back.
"Hey Horowitz! good to see you again."
"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
Horowitz nearly went over the edge as someone pounded him on the back, and spun to his feet, ready to smack them one. Then, a huge, delighted grin spread across the Jager's face, and he returned the backslap with a friendly blow to the shoulder that would have launched most people halfway to the floating islands. "Bladeving!" he roared. "I should haff known dot de booky-boyz couldn't get hyu."
"So... vot haff hyu been up to? Me, I haff been vorking for Dr. Aeon. It iz... homelike. And de doctor keepz on promising he'll find a vay to gets me home." The Jagermonster paused, then shrugged. "Uff course, de machinez, dey alvays explode, but den, dey say dot any experiment dot leaves a crater iz a success!" he finished with a grin.
"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"
"Ah so that explains all those booms ive been hearing."
"As for me, well I have also been doing the usual, slaughtering people who get in my way, sending demons to hell for the fun of it, massacreing alien scum and extradimensional beings."
Scratching his chin, Bladewing suddenly had a reccolection.
"Oh did you know that on an alternate earth I ended up being the ruler of the world, but everyone else banded together to kill me? It makes me thankful that there are paralell worlds...i can find out what will and wont work without dieing for it."
"So ready for some all out carnage?"
"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
[ QUOTE ]
"So ready for some all out carnage?"
[/ QUOTE ]
The Jager just stared at Bladewing for a moment. Then he roared with laughter. "HAH! A fonny choke indeed. For a moment, I thought dot hyu couldn't be de Bladeving I knew... after all, dere's no call to be asking de Jagerkin questions like dot von." Then he shrugged, and clapped Bladewing on the shoulder again. "Und ruling de vorld takes all de fon out uff life- dey vants you to do all de schmot-guy schtoff, und never lets you have any fights. Pfft. Vat's de point?" He paused, then grinned as his gaze wandered over to where Nate and Jake were brooding at the crowd.
"Hyu know, I think I'z going to tweak de tail uff de cute leedle newbies. Maybe den I ken get a bit uff a fight vitout wrecking dis place- und hyu knowz dot dot's vot vould happen if hyu und me tried to varm up here." With a little wave to Bladewing, Horowitz moved off.
Popping up behind Nate and Jake- the Jager moved amazingly stealthily for three hundred-some-odd pounds of genetweaked monster- he draped companionable arms over their shoulders. "So, leedle vuns. Hyu thinks hyu is ready to tek on de big, bad booky-boyz?" he asked with a grinful of three-inch fangs. This, up close, was probably more than a little disconcerting. "Dey say dey are de product uff madness und magic, vicked dreams valking de day to steal avay all who haff displeased de mad king." The predatory grin widened. "It hass been a vhile since I had a really goot fight. Maybe a few hondred booky-boyz ken giff me a vorthy brawl."
"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 man registered the new villain, Bladewing, and kept a mental tab of him, and how he was associated with the big, green, German monster. He laughed at the obvious discomfort of the younger one as the German talked to them. The man, who was only floating several feet away, dropped out of his hovering state and walked over. Although his eyes were closed, as was his mouth, and they usually stayed that way, he could still observe them and talk.
"Don't underestimate those 'booky-boyz', some can be tougher to fight then they look". He smiled, but it must have been un-nerving to talk to someone whle their lips or tongue didn't move. One of his foremost stratigies. Intimidation.
"Name's Jack".
Loudspeakers boomed and all the heroes and villains were told to enter to the meeting room and to gather around the Menders gathered.
Yosef and Kamarov walked next to eachother, exchanging pushes and shoves that appeared to be accidents.
----------
Within minutes, the fire department had arrived at the store. Which seemed much longer to both Lofty and the woman as the sirens could be heard coming at them for a good minute.
Several men went inside and found...
The cracked portion of the wall spewing out a very thin stream of air. Not gas. Plain air.
"Well, I am sorry about your store." Lofty said apologetically to the shop keeper. "But I need to go now." He waved politely and turned to walk away down the street.
Assuming he wasn't stopped for some reason, then eventually he would encounter...
Nate wasted no time in pulling himself out from under the Jager's arm, muttering something under his breath as he hastily walked to the meeting point. Jake could only spare a chuckle, politely moving out from underneath the monster's arm as well, however, giving a friendly wave and apologizing for his partner as he walked away.
"He's bitter, what can I say?" Smirking and shrugging, he continued on his way, stowing his hands in his pockets and observing Nate as he continued his speedy departure.
Ceus hovered near the meeting area, eyeing the vocal youth, Nate? Nathaniel? there was some question of what his prefered name was, but he had quickly escaped the grasp of the Jager, "Short of a fight, I think, you gave him what he wanted."
Infinity
Sam Varden 50 MA/Reg Scrap
Doomtastic 50 SS/Inv Brute
Ceus 50 Eng/Kin Corr
Cinderstorm 50 Fire/Fire Blaster
((sorry, everyone- I'm out of town for a couple of days, and almost guaranteed to be too busy to post- I'll catch up as best I can once I'm back))
"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"
((That's cool.))
"There's several ways we could start the offensive on Alharzed's front. We could start from within or we could start from the outsides and push our way to his front yard -- literally." Black Scorpion began he paced around. "I will lead any offense that we plan and it will be successful."
"We could start by slowly taking out outer bases and creating somewhat of a ripple effect. If we can destroy his source of income, we can slowly destroy his empire due to civil unrest." Skjebene brought up a laptop. "We also could attack at several points. I would say that we do what I suggested."
"That makes sense, Doctor. What do all of you think?"
Yosef and Kamarov didn't mind and kept silent.
-------
"Lady, that's just air."
"Oh."
-------
Lofty ran into what appeared to be several men dressed in black carrying out a struggling sack that had a nasty blood stain. They didn't pay him any mind until they dropped the sack on the cold hard asphalt.
"Little help?"
"Sawwy." Lofty said to the struggling sack, stepping around it and continuing down the street. "This place has rules. Not innocent? I can't help you."
He did this with an ironic smile on his face. He was filling in the first page of his crossword book. He took little notice of the men in black-It was much more effective to just look for the biggest building there was and work from there. If he found something like a police station or something, now THAT was something he could use right about now...
Seraphimel stood off to the side of the meeting area, arms crossed above his chest. So far, two plans had been suggested, although no one seemed to have made any commitments to either of them (excluding their proprietors), and Dorian wasn't about to change that.
The tall, devilish man kept silent, and waited for more ideas to be laid out.
Global - @El D
Servers - Protector
I'm inclined to attack his economy first, actually... Jake thought, thinking over both of the proposed strategies. They say that the economy runs the government, and I'm pretty sure that if we take those down, the rest will crumble on their own. Granted, it'll take a while, but it's the most sure-fire way.
Nate, on the other hand, was reluctant to agree.
"What do you mean attack from within?" He inquired, moving his arms over his chest and crossing them. "As in, just port in right on top of his head?"
"Because if that's the case, that seems the most obvious choice. If we could just rush in and take out the head, it would be the fastest and surest way to destroy his empire."
"Think, idiot." Jake commented, turning his attention to his partner. "We don't even know if it's one guy, let alone what his defenses are like. Besides, someone with his power is bound to have plans for if he kicks it." He spoke matter of factly and with no arrogance. (Barring his use of the term 'idiot'.)
Nate glared back at him, refusing to admit his oversight. "We have more than enough man-power here to compensate for any defenses he may have, and if he does have plans, well, we'll just make sure they're not put into motion."
"You can't underestimate the enemy, Nate."
"Nathaniel."
"Does it matter?"
"Very much so!"
The argument essentially devolved into the two of them discussing the merits of a nickname, occasionally delving back into the topic at hand. After roughly fifteen seconds of this, the two of them remembered where they were, Nathaniel muttering an apology and Jake simply coughing into his hand.
"Um, regardless," Jake continued, "I believe we should attack his economy. No revenue means no support, and no support means no power. It may take a while longer than a blitz, but I guarantee that it'll be more effective." After which he gazed downward, sticking his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth. Both of them were quire embarassed to have shown their childishness in public in such a way, which probably goes without saying.
Jack watched as the two boys walked away, totally ignoring him. The green man was just standing there, so he took a couple steps back. He listened to the two boys, and wondered how they could get work done while they bickered so often. "No need to get at each other's throats now, boys" he said flatly, then looked back at the patrons. "No matter what we do, we'll need to know what we're getting into".
"Scouts" Jack cleared, then explained "If we're going to attack head-on, we obviously need scouts for their defences, staff, choke-points, all that. If we were to attack his economy, we would to know his greates imports and exports, where they are, who his contacts are, all that as well". He took a deep breath before continuing.
"The economy plan is the most sure-fire way to bring Alharzed down, although it would take considerably longer, time we don't know if we have. Brute force would certainly be quicker, but again, we don't know how well he's stocked with protection. In short" he said, this part meant for the likes of the green oaf "I propose we should scout on both fronts, and see which would be easier and more profitable in the long run. Of course, a double-fronted attack would not be out of the question".
He finished his proposal and crossed his arms, waiting to see if anyone else had ideas.
"A brute force attack would be advantageous to the scouts, because if we break more stuff the guards will converge on us, making myself and Horowitz here as happy as clams, and giving you a chance to do all your sneaky stuff."
In his head, Bladewing began going over various assault plans he had constructed for various occasions, matching them to the few buildings he knew Alharzed owned and operated.
"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
After listening to the various suggestions that had been put forth, Ceus finally entered her opinion
"Why are you all treating this like a conventional war against a conventional regime? This man supposedly wields the power of the Necronomicon. A tome so powerful his will is made reality. And given what he has accomplished so far without being stopped, That's a large check in the 'probably' column."
"You want to attack the economy of a man who can transmutate the elements? Kill the soldiers of a man who raises the dead? The power of that book can turn even the lowest guttersnipe into a god."
"Sheer overwhelming force against him in a surprise attack might work..." she nodded to Nathaniel, " only if you could find him. The man is not our foe, the book that powers him is. Take that and you have in your hand godhood and the reins to his empire. The Necronomicon cares little for who uses it, just as long as its used."
Having wound herself up to sound like the mystical crackpots she always hated working for, Ceus paused. Finally seeing she still had everyone's attention she pointed at the Ouroboros emblem inlaid in the ground, "Or we take advantage of our hosts unique architecture and Kill him before he ever touches it. Babies don't fight back."
Infinity
Sam Varden 50 MA/Reg Scrap
Doomtastic 50 SS/Inv Brute
Ceus 50 Eng/Kin Corr
Cinderstorm 50 Fire/Fire Blaster
Noble Intent listened to the arguments presented for a moment, and then spoke up.
"I agree with some method of attack that forcibly removes Alharzed. An economic attack is a long-term enough plan that as I might as well wait for the man to die. Besides, removing him from his political postion does not negate his power as an individual. That is, to my knowledge, an equally, if not even more powerful threat."
Ceus, still hovering a few inches off the ground, eyed the mismatched group of heroes. Their auras were powerful yes, but there was so few.
She turned to her fellow neer'do'wells and spoke clearly to make sure the heroes overheard, "So Recluse brings his inner circle, and the heroes bring a grab bag of talent? I'd ask what the world was coming to, but this is a little silly. Outsourcing heroics..."
Infinity
Sam Varden 50 MA/Reg Scrap
Doomtastic 50 SS/Inv Brute
Ceus 50 Eng/Kin Corr
Cinderstorm 50 Fire/Fire Blaster