((Dr. Mechan and Co. brought their own 'port taggers, but of course, these are for far smaller objects than the one in question.))
Breaker would be smiling right now if he could. He walked over to the massive generator, slapping one of the Doctor's teleport tags on it, and -WAZZAH- it was gone.
Fixer finally stood up, beginning to look around. "Dr. Mechan, over here," the Protector series bot motioned for the Doctor. "What, exactly, is a Temporal Mapping System?" it asked.
"That, Fixer, would be our main objective," Dr. Mechan said, his eyes widening upon seeing the device.
Dr. Mechan switched over to the team's frequency. "Objective is here. Might have a bit of problem extracting it, however," he sent out. "Got some kind of extraction and exit solution? Over," the comm device clicked off.
The General and his men stopped firing [censored] all Longbow dropped to the ground. "Good work, boys" The General remarked in that low voice. He heard the robot of this 'Dr. Mechan' say he had located the object, but needed a way of removing it. The General nodded to his Medic, and Sanchez trotted over to the table. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a tool, which looked like a dentist's instrument, except with a miniature saw on the end. He began cutting around the table, seeing if he could detach it.
OOC:
No table legs, the table is more of a cube fully built into the ground.
[ QUOTE ]
Dr. Mechan turned to the other mastermind, her robots being effected from the EMP burst. "I didn't get a doctorate from M.I.T. in quantum mechanics for nothing," he said, his mouth grinning with a twisted, metallic gleam to it. "You've probably never heard of me, and I like it like that. Dr. Mechan is what the people of Paragon City fear me as," he introduced himself to the General and the girl. "Longbow actually thinks I'm stupid enough to not shield my minions from their EMP grenades...hmmphh..."
[/ QUOTE ]
"I've been meaning to put some EMP shielding on mine but there always seems to be something more important to do, price of being wanted for a list of crimes longer than my arm I guess. Anyway, nice to meet you Doctor. I'm Cassandra, but everyone calls me Cassie. I don't care which you use, and I don't even remember what the heroes call me these days. No fancy degrees for me either, I more or less taught myself everything I know." As she spoke, her bots followed their normal programs and spread out, tagging everything that looked useful and wasn't already claimed for transport back to her warehouse in the Isles. A series of teleport flashes followed the bots around the room. One of the protectors activated a laser cutter and went to help the soldier detach the device they were here for from the floor. "What's a Temporal Mapping System anyway? Something to do with time I'm guessing", Cassie wondered aloud.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
Dr. Mechan looked at the two minions haphazardly trying to cut at the TMS (Acronyms! YAY!)
"Cease all actions," the Doctor bellowed out, at an incredibly high decible level (advantage of having a volume controlled voicebox!) "You're going to damage the device beyond repair if you continue. Anyone have any schematics on this building? We're going to have to deactivate and detach this device from its powersource, and quite possibly from the foundation of this building." he said this to Cassie and the General.
"Functionary, find an access terminal and pull up all schematics of this place. Fixer, tag whatever's left and get back over here. Warbots!" Again, his electronic voice shouted, but at a lower level. "There's been no comm activity from Nightshade or Mechanomorphic. Go out into the hallway and find out what's going on, immediately."
Each of Dr. Mechan's robots immediately began their duties, Breaker the only one returning to Dr. Mechan's side.
Dr. Mechan then looked over towards Cassie after she asked what the TMS was.
((Ok, Paradigm, what, exactly, is the TMS? Dr. Mechan is going to try and explain right ... now.))
"The Temporal Mapping System (TMS) is like a ... navigation system for the timeline. It can also be used to plot out the timeline in advance ... call it a future predicting machine, if you will."
((Of course, I the player am only speculating on this. However, Dr. Mechan, the character, would have a completely better grasp as to what this thing really is.))
Slash halted his movement at the Doctor's raised voice. He wouldn't outright obey the man's order, but he was programmed with more than enough intelligence to recognise additional relevant information when it was presented. He looked back at Cassie, awaiting her command. Cassie stood still for a moment, considering. Probably best to go along with the Doctor's orders at this point, since he seemed to understand the device far more than she did.
"Mac, drones, with them", Cassie ordered, gesturing to the departing Warbots. The two drones and the assault bot turned and followed them out of the room, weapons at the ready. "Hack, Slash, with me." The two protectors took up positions on either side of their mistress as she looked back at the Doctor. "I never got around to learning temporal mechanics so I'll take your word for it. Any idea what that Recycler dude wants it for?"
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
Dr. Mechan turned his head around in a three-hundred sixty degree turn, effectively facing Cassie now.
"I have no idea why he needs this device," Dr. Mechan told her. "However, it's our primary target, and the only reason why we're here. So, let's get to work!"
((OOC: Edited accordingly. Had to backtrack to the first post when I originally made this post, so I got a bit confused. Wasn't sure if your trio would've told anyone or not. Apparently not.))
OOC:
TMS is used to map time, past, present, future. Past and present are easy, but due to the intense amount of energy you need, it can only plot ten seconds into the future. As a mapping system, it remotely scans an area and pin-points all areas of chronological interest. It's primary use is as 'advanced surveilance,' although it can also, by complete coincidence, be used to piece together a time loop.
And how does Dr. Mechan know about the ring? Recycler-33 hasn't told him yet. 
((Just so you know, I fixed the previous post.))
Functionary ran over to the Doctor, newly acquired information now stored in his neural net. Fixer had also just finished up with the last of the tags, what little they could scavenge from the site would have to do.
The Warbots entered the hallway, and rounded the corner...
The General simply nodded at the two other Mastermind's introduction, and said "You can call me The General, what everyone else calls me". He glanced over at his Commando "Got any cigars?". Miers merely nodded and reached into a pocket, producing two, and stuck one in his own mouth. The Cammando produced a lighter from his belt, which seemed to hold everything, and lit up the tabbaco filled roll. He took a big puff, and almost dropped his cigar when Dr. Mechan shouted to stop.
He looked at Sanchez who had stopped, but was still near the table in case orders were to continue. He listened to the explanation, then jerked his head slightly, and the Medic put away his tool and walked over to his boss. He saw that some bots were going towards the way that the people who hired him were supposed to be. "Stern, O'Leary" he said simply, and the two men jogged off, following the bots. "So" The General said, taking another puff from his cigar "What's next?"
((Edited my last post a little))
For the most part Doomtastic ignored her radio when working with other people. It was rare for her to be in a group large enough to split up and take on multiple objectives.
Still she acknowledged the chatter that the inside team had found the MacGuffin so hopefully in a few minutes they'd be on the escape portion of the day's activities.
She backhanded the last standing Longbow flunkie. With a glance at the longbow at her feet, Doom checked the burning building where the remainder of the Longbow were still working on containment. Content to ignore them, she nudged the Officer whose hands she was sure would never be able to pull a trigger again.
As second takes went, it was okay. A little anti-climatic. Most of them toppled like a long game of Jenga. That last flamethrower had some spunk though. She only broke his leg and arms.
The emergency forcefield generator was quickly dispatched, allowing Jameson to drive up in a Wentworth's rig with tractor trailer.
The Arachnos assassin got out of the vehicle, "Not that this isn't fun, but I've got to get back."
Doom nodded and patted the assassin on the back, "I'll call if I need you."
"Don't." and she tossed down a small glass capsule, which exploded in a cloud of purple smoke. Before the smoke faded, Jameson was gone.
Walking over to Recycler she noted Grahn had temporarily relieved himself of Mr. Invincible.
"Look at that. A moment of piece and quiet. "So..." Doom put her arms behind her back and rocked on her heels, "How does Hitler tie his shoelaces?"
The perpetually cheery brute didn't even wait, she learned that most villains had no discernable appreciation of bad jokes, nor the inclination to humor her, "In little knotsies!"
Infinity
Sam Varden 50 MA/Reg Scrap
Doomtastic 50 SS/Inv Brute
Ceus 50 Eng/Kin Corr
Cinderstorm 50 Fire/Fire Blaster
Dr. Mechan accessed Functionary's files of the building, with no apparent physical contact of the robotic minion.
The Doctor's own neural network had established a link with the Protector, pulling up the schematics instantly, his mind pouring over the documents. There'd be very little information, if any at all, stored on a public access terminal about this device. However, Dr. Mechan could discern some variations that would have to be made due to the size of the device.
((Now, does this device go beyond this floor, or is it just limited to this floor? UGH - I keep thinking we're not on the ground floor - but from all the posts, none of us have really gone up to even the second floor! Hahahaha. Oh well. There's still a basement, and if this thing is built INTO the ground ... well it could extend down into the basement...))
(( Howdy Folks, Hope ya don't mind if I join in. BTW, Great read so far. Also, good job on editing previous Posts, it's very smooth. Anyway, here we go. I will be entering 2 Characters "Crestfallen" a Dark/Dark Scrapper and "Lui" MM/Poisons (Guns) Lui may require a bit of a forward. She is nuts... plain and simple. She is a fairly potent psyker.... however she doesn't know it. She has Psychic manifestations that appear as Street Tough bodyguards that fire made up guns, with real psychic power behind em. 
And she talks to her stuffed cat who responds accordingly. Now then if anyone has any good entrance points for another villain please share Was thinking maybe she was Confined in the DATA building to study. *shrug* ))
Crestfallen stood watching the havoc below trying to discern friendlies from targets. His small blue skinned frame was nearly transparent in the hazy black fog that surrounded him. Seeing a lone hero standing up to the staggering force he decided to leap into action. With a jump he aimed himself to land near the zombies.
((She could've been going to rob a bank, then saw the massive brawl and decided to join that instead, then end up helping to steal the device, getting payed and going back to Warburg, all that stuffs))
[ QUOTE ]
The perpetually cheery brute didn't even wait, she learned that most villains had no discernable appreciation of bad jokes, nor the inclination to humor her, "In little knotsies!"
[/ QUOTE ]
Grahn tired to repress the snort at the --really bad-- but well timed pun. He stood and again stretched his massive arms the thick cords of muscle moving underneath hsi skin like small animals.
For the moment it seemed he had divested them of Mr Invincible though he kept his eyes on the skys just in case the stubborn hero decided he wasnt done yet.
He smirked in Dooms direction but kept his commentary to himself. His transformation had not done much for his social skills. Instead he decided to wait quietly and see if a new challenger would appear or if the inside teams would hurry up.
When suddenly Crestfallen landed next to the zombies and the sword wielding cadavers which moved to surround the hero. Grahn smiled a decidedly evil smile.
"A little out of your league Hero arent we?" he taunted in that voice which carried the hollow doom laden tone of a bottomless well. The tendons of his massive knuckles creaked and popped as they closed into fists which could shatter mountains.
So you mean you'll put down your rock, and I'll put down my sword; and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?
Dubbed first knight of pep-istan by her majesty Queen Pepcat. first catmonaut to walk onna moon.
PENGUIN!!!...(^)>
...............C(...)D
.................m.m
OOC:
The table doesn't actually extend too far below the floor, just a bit where it has its power source. Really, it was just fused to the floor for some contrived form of convenience.
Mainly mine. 
BIC:
One of the Enlightened-A reanimated corpse with a blade of crystal Tiberium and more obvious cybernetics than its lesser Awakened counterpart-saw Crestfallen on his way down and covered his landing site, prepared to strike down the newcomer if it needed to. He was not identified as a friendly.
Identify. The Enlightened said in a monotone mechanical voice as the hero landed, which drew the attention of Recycler-33 and the rest of his small army, who were now looking at him expectantly.
***
The warbots rounded the corner to see Mechanomorphic trying to keep Valkyrie from eviscerating him with his cybernetic right arm-and to his credit, he was doing well. Just not well enough, he was obviously out of his league. All his drones lay in pieces, they had all obviously detonated at random intervals. Nightshade was unconscious, and his combat medic had apparently dragged him behind the chassis of a mostly intact exploded drone to try and stem the flood of purple blood coming from the stump of what HAD been his right arm. The rest of his men were lying around with various sword-related injuries.
Getting back up after we kill you aint fair. He groaned through gritted teeth as Valkyries blade ate into his metal arm. Could REALLY use some more gun bout now
***
The schematics for the building indicated the device was directly attached to a small power source directly underneath the floor, which could short out the system should it be removed without warning. However, logic held that one could simply turn the system off first before trying to remove it. Said instructions for manipulating the controls of the TMS were not listed, however. Where were the pencil-neck scientist hostages when you NEEDED them?
Of course, being the educated sort, Dr. Mechan could probably just burrow into the table for some quick rewiring to figure out the controls.
[ QUOTE ]
((She could've been going to rob a bank, then saw the massive brawl and decided to join that instead, then end up helping to steal the device, getting payed and going back to Warburg, all that stuffs))
[/ QUOTE ]
((Hey! That's my story, get your own! ))
---------------
[ QUOTE ]
Getting back up after we kill you aint fair. He groaned through gritted teeth as Valkyries blade ate into his metal arm. Could REALLY use some more gun bout now
[/ QUOTE ]
Mac and the two drones coming around the corner behind Mechan's warbots saw the situation and fully aggreed with Mechanomorphic's assessment. The big assault bot raised his plasma cannons, and the drones did the same with their smaller weapons. "More gun, coming right up", Mac commented as Valkryie found herself under fire from the side.
--------------
Back with Mechan, Cassie had an idea. "I'll go see if I can find one of the scientists that was working on this thing, there's probably one or two still lurking about somewhere." She and her two protectors turned to leave. Unfortunately the only exit was the hallway they'd entered through, thus they too ran straight into Valkryie. After hastily reshielding all her bots, Cassie pulled the pulse rifle back out and all three of them fired photon grenades.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
As The General was standing around, puffing on his cigar when he heard O'Leary's voice cackle over the radio "Sir! Valkeyrie is here, and she's making a pretty mess with our employers". The General swore, then said "Open fire on the Hero". "Position-Forward-Alpha" he commanded his troops, who dashed back the way his other two men had gone. Then General popped a new clip into his Desert Eagle, asking to the assembled Masterminds "You coming?". He glanced at them for a moment before walking into the hallway.
((Bah, sorry rebel))
Crestfallen quickly took stock of the situation. Unable to locate the other Hero he sprang into action, moving quickly to place the zombies between him and the hulking mutant. Finding his ground once again he said aloud. "I'm the one that's gonna have to wash your stench off for the next 3 days." And with that he dove forward, his fists wrapped in dark energy, moving at a blur towards the first minion.
Lui heard all the battle going on outside of her sealed chamber. She began pounding on the wall yelling at the top of her lungs about needing lunch. (( She is just down the corridor from where the Doctor, General and Cassi are. ))
The General saw Cassie come up the corridor behind him, attacking the Hero instantly. "Glad you could join us" he said gruffly, throwing off shots from his pistol. He reached his left hand into his belt and pulled out another small disc, and tossed it into the air. It expanded, then gave off a force field. Even if this lady was a Hero, getting fired on by so many people, lasers and regular bullets, not including the odd plasma grenade or grenade, was sure to go down soon.
Mechazoid sent a message via commlink back to the Doctor.
"Breaker, Fixer, Functionary, you guys get out there now," he commanded of the rest of his bots. Before they took off, he made sure to shield them best he could.
The Doctor turned back to the device, studying it intensly. Any panels on it, he would find, and then proceed to open them up. He would also search for any form of monitor linked to the device, as well as some sort of input device like a keyboard or something even more ridiculous.
To hurry this up a bit, Doctor Mechan discovers a way to turn the machine off without causing any undue damage to the machine. He then blasts a piece of the floor away, the schematics helping him discern where not to fire at. So long as he could get under the flooring panels and unplug the device, they'd be good to go.
Out in the hallway, the Warbots, now shielded again upon the arrival of the Protectors, unleash their claws and keep Valkyrie targetted.
Breaker, also shielded once again thanks to the Doctor and the Protectors, had Valkyrie in his sights as soon as he arrived, and unleashed a swarm of missiles at the hero and her group, then another salvo of incendiary missiles. After the missiles are away, he raises his arms up, firing dual plasma bursts at the hero.
Fixer and Functionary fire upon any remaining Longbow troops that tagged along with Valkyrie, only targetting Val should the Longbow be detected as "passive" from their bioscanners.
Said first minion dived and attempted to disembowl Crestfallen as he charged forward with his Tiberium blade, and even mid-way through his charge Crestfallen would realize that moving had suddenly become much harder due to the ground turning into Tiberium gel, courtesy of Recycler-33. While the solution was harmless due to the amount it had been diluted, it became incredibly sticky, and just as hard to traverse as quicksand while trace radiation also started poking microscopic holes in Crestfallen's body, resulting in lowered resistance, making him more receptive to incoming attacks.
That wasn't all though. With a little wave of his hand, Recycler-33 had a full storm of vaporized Tiberium going, which then started to swirl around Crestfallen as though it were sentient. Although it was too dilute to harm him, as was the gel, the specialized radiation from vaporized Tiberium was adapt at weakening the density of any material, making it slightly lighter, and in Crestfallen's case, weakening his blows. The green mist was also incredibly hard to see through, like the darkest night ever.
The dark servant proved to not be as dilute. The sentient mass of vaporized Tiberium charged Crestfallen, trying to expose him to its body and drastically reduce his combat effectiveness while at the same time converting his mass into more Tiberium upon contact.
And then, of course, there were the rest of Recycler-33s minions, who were all happy to show Crestfallen WHY exactly masterminds were renowned as one-man armies. The three Awakened zombies projectile-spat Tiberium-based toxins at him, the remaining Enlightened zombie conjuring a dark blast of vaporized Tiberium and launching it at him. The cultist did something a little different. He tried to siphon life away from Crestfallen but directly converting part of his mass into Tiberium from afar, ripping said mass out and then implanting the converted mass into itself in order to heal its own ailments.
***
Valkyrie wasnt a member of the Vindicators and Positrons sidekick for nothing. She was an absolute nightmare in combat, and villains having fought her before would be well wary of her habit of getting back up after being defeated, seemingly invincible and untouchable for a brief period of time.
The attacks launched at her simply splashed off or had no effect on her amazing armor and its accompanying nano-bots. She kicked Mechanomorphic in the gut, sending him into the wall while she turned to engage the new horde of enemies. She charged Breaker, sword drawn and glowing with a hellish amount of firepower. From the scene about, she had already ruined two masterminds days almost effortlessly, and the look on her face showed she expected a repeat performance
***
Dr. Mechan now stood over the device, neatly removed from the floor and on a plate to prevent the innards from spilling out. Now all he needs to do is transport it back to one of the trucks outside without it getting damaged by collateral damage.
Crestfallen slowed up as his feet began to stick to the thick goop beneath him. And then the barrage began, all at once he was waylaid by the minions attacks. He encased himself in yet another dark barrier and persevered against the vomit, and the green cloud. It wasn't until he felt himself being siphoned away did he pause. Looking to the minion who had siphoned him Crestfallen used his dark connections to drain his target and restoring him a bit. He then proceeded to yell, "This is what you get when the milkshake sucks back!" With that he drew into melee range of the first of the minions and concentrated his focus on creating a circle of dark shadows that aimed to drain lifeforce from those within it.
****
Lui continued to pound on the wall when briefly she heard a laugh. "Heh, Lui... you are as ignorant as you are pathetic." She glanced to the blue and yellow striped kitten on her shoulder and growled. "You shut up you!" With another laugh the kitten jumped off and passed through the wall, calling behind. "Once Again, I'll save your hide."
The kitten strode past the battle in the hallway, bits of debris falling through it and wandered into the Lab. It looked briefly around the room before hopping on top of what seemed to be the center of some very intense scrutiny and simply said. "Hello there."
Grahn watched the dark powered scrapper with a hint fo amusement. so far recyler wad holding out nicely in a fair fight the outcome might be somewhat questionable.
Grahn hated fair fights so he waited a little ways back but as swift as he was he could easilly close the distance. Instead he waited patiently for Crestfallen to make even the tiniest mistake.
Then the fight would become decidedly unfair. Then he would crush him as he had all others that he had faced.
That brought a very nasty smile to his monstrous face.
So you mean you'll put down your rock, and I'll put down my sword; and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?
Dubbed first knight of pep-istan by her majesty Queen Pepcat. first catmonaut to walk onna moon.
PENGUIN!!!...(^)>
...............C(...)D
.................m.m
Recycler-33 scowled as Doomtastic hugged him, and once contact ceased, he started dusting off his suit as if something filthy were covering it. Something then occured to him.
"Wait a second. Who's watching the door if we're out in the middle of the street and everyone else is inside...?"
***
Mechanomorphic and Nightshade reached the fork in the hallway the group had originally split at, only to run into an irrate Valkyrie and an entire squad of Longbow.
"Oh, that's just not FAIR. We don't have enough gun for this crap." Mechanomorphic pouted, stomping a foot against the ground almost childishly. "Parlay?"
"Sure." Valkyrie said. "How does, 'Drop weapons, deactivate drones, hands up, against the wall,' sound?"
A ball of adaptive acid smacked into her face. "REJECTED!" Nightshade howled triumphantly, the palm-nozzle of his suit still foaming with green chemicals. "KILL THEM ALL!" And that's when both sides opened fire...
***
Checking back in with Dr. Mechan's group, all opposition had been cleared. Now all one needed to do was find the device in question-It would probably be difficult, as their employers hadn't been very specific about what to grab. And none of them had been given coordinates for the base yet, in case one had been a Longbow spy. Tagging and teleporting equipment wasn't an option, they would have to drag whatever the trio was looking for with them. And the longer they stayed to haul everything out, the more they risked an army of heroes crushing them all like a tidal wave.
Or then again, they could have just read the labels. Right in the center of the alcove in the left wall was a square table with a projector surface, with the words "Temporal Mapping System" printed neatly on one side and a few controls on the other. The only problem was that the table had been built directly into the ground.
That was a big 'only.' If they weren't careful, they could destroy the device while trying to remove it.