Kruger's eyes nearly came out of their sockets. He didn't quite believe his ears. What had the android just said?!
He didn't even know how to respond to that. Not that he stood upon the viewpoint of it being such an obvious trap that the android had to be kidding - after all, Toy Dispenser had no need to lure anyone into a trap here; he still had the upper hand, and both he and the rebels knew it - it was just so...well frankly, the Krieger didn't know what to call it.
Eventually, he did manage a reply, but it didn't amount to much more than a truly incredulous, "What...?!"
--------------------
Wolfgang's hand was the first to the receiver as the car phone in the rear center console rang again, the cyborg swiftly answering and then looking to Teivos on the other seat, handing the thing to him, "It's for you."
"Yes?" Vlasta wanted to know once he'd put the phone to his ear, and listened to the news, "You have? He has? That's...nevermind that now. Get Combat Toy on this, please."
Once the assault bot reported in on the other end of the line, Teivos proceeded to inquire, "Has he done anything like this before? What are the chances of this being part of some plan of his?"
Candidly, Vlasta was worried, but not with respect to anything sinister. His concern was for the android. The rebels knew how dangerous he was, and thus knew better than to try and capture him - so the loss of his signal may well have meant his termination.
On the other hand, a long time ago Teivos himself had become stuck behind enemy lines and cut all his signals to lessen the chance of being detected by hostile forces. The Molvia's pilot had informed him that the rebels had gotten away. Did this mean Toy may have been with them aboard their train, hiding for reasons Teivos couldn't currently see?
He certainly hoped so. He very much disliked the idea of Toy being dead. He may have been a mechanoid, but to Vlasta being made of metal didn't make one any less alive...
--------------------
Xu Guan's anxiety gradually ebbed away as he approached the shape in the mist. More and more, the obscuring vapors cleared with his proximity, and the closer he got the more the shape looked like a dragon. The sorcerer couldn't help but tremble. Had he done it? Had it actually worked? Had-?
The sudden crack of something against his nose and forehead chased away all such thoughts as but flitting phantoms, and before he even knew it Xu Guan found his butt sitting on the ground with his hands behind him, preventing the sorcerer from falling over flat.
Sadly, that didn't do anything to diminish the frightful countenance of the unusually tall, satin-robed, elderly-looking bald man that now stood before him, for the towering fellow brandished a scowl so piercing beneath his gray fu manchu beard that Xu Guan's blood ran cold. The fact that the man's bamboo coolie hid his eyes completely in no way added anything reassuring to that sight.
"Don't even think about it." the old man practically hissed, keeping his tone in a whisper, the gnarled wooden staff in his right hand wobbling about threateningly. Xu Guan quickly realized that had been what struck him, "You have no idea of the effort I went through to finally get that beast to sleep. Undo that, and I'm going to shove this thing so far up your rear that your descendants will have perfect posture for generations to come."
Xu Guan blinked in surprise. Sleep? What was this guy talking about? Wait...
He tilted his head to look around the man, and sure enough there it was: a sizeable dragon with fire-red scales and silver-black plates running down its throat and belly. It looked to be the western sort, its body not very serpentine, and each foot holding but three claws, also of that intriguing silverish, lustery black hue.
Combined with the large wings whose velvet-brown flight skins connected to the dragon's side from upper shoulders to tail's base, not to mention the long line of crimson spikes that ran down from atop its head over neck, back, and tail - connected by a majestic silver membrane, no less - all this probably would've been added up to quite the impressive sight if the creature hadn't been laying there on its side like a very large and very lazy-looking cat.
Indeed, even the long pair of horns that started over the eyebrows and jutted rearward from its head (in the same silver-black, of course), nor the like-hued smaller set of plates atop its snout could detract from that look. The towering old man spoke true: that dragon was very much asleep.
So now what? Xu Guan knew well that waking sleeping dragons was generally a bad idea - even just saying the phrase sounded bad; seriously, 'wake the sleeping dragon' didn't quite roll off one's tongue with ease, even if one put a 'don't' in front of it - and he didn't really like the old man's proposition much either. Where was someone of higher rank when you really needed them?
"Well, are you going to tell me what you want or not?" the towering elder broke the silence with his whisper once more, "Or do you not speak English?"
"I...I do." the sorcerer hushed back, not quite sure if he was more or less surprised now as he got back up, "What...what do you mean tell you what I want?"
"Ai-yah, you simpleton." the old man huffed, throwing a hand into the air, "You just used a scroll of summoning dragon, didn't you? Well, here I am. What did you call me for? And it had better be important. No 'clean up my garage' business, you got that?"
Xu Guan nodded hastily. Now really now what? Was this guy really a dragon? He sure sounded forceful enough. So maybe the sorcerer had still succeeded. Only now what was he supposed to do? Come to think of it, he hadn't really thought of that beforehand. This was the first time he'd tried to summon a dragon, after all. He hadn't much considered what he'd say to one if it actually came.
So he thought. What should he say? Of course, he just as much wished someone else would come and take charge of the situation, but he knew he couldn't on that. So unless someone came...what should he say...?
((Okay Cham, in case you didn't catch it, that's your cue. 
))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"This unit has indeed ceased all detectable emissions." Legion said. "But how do we know that we are not being watched even now? Any sufficiently organized regime will have masters of the arcane in its employ, and our sources can list a number of very simple yet effective scrying rituals undetectable by ourselves. And then, assuming we are in fact not being eavesdropped upon, we look forward to learning HOW exactly you intend to earn our trust."
Isabel floated down from the ceiling, the energy around her hands disappearing as she decided no one was going to start shooting here. "Why do I get the feeling that if I was to take a wild guess and say you're not originally from this dimension either, I'd have a fairly decent chance of being right?", she asked the robot.
Valerie gave her an odd glance at that, but going over everything she knew it did seem a fairly likely possibility. She kept quiet, waiting to see what the robot's answer would be.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
Rezyin only casually glanced at Max and the others before sitting down unceremoniously and producing a medical syrange filled with an absolutely disgustingly electric-blue gel-like substance, which he rather forcibly jammed into the nerve cluster at the back of his neck and injected himself with.
---
War appeared again next to Famine.
"Plans? Plans?!" He asked impatiently, looking around ravenously for their marks.
"Let's go for the dead men walking first."
"Thought our orders were to take them alive?" War grunted, miffed about the stipulation.
"I'd certainly hate it if we had no choice but to put them down, wouldn't you?" Famine shrugged. "Besides. I have a plan. I think our little buddy in the hospital is-"
"A huge trap bro."
"?"
"Dude, who would trust extra-dimensional mercenaries with that kind of info? I bet the whole thing is one huge-[censored] Xanatos Roulette." War knowingly cautioned.
"But what if us assuming he was lying to us is the whole point?" Famine quickly shot back, reloading his double-drum magazines.
"[censored]! Ugh never mind." Okay, we do it right, maybe just this once." War nodded. "We'll investigate his friend more later."
"What if there ISN'T a later?"
"Ugh you disagreeable little [censored]! Fine, tell you what. You go after the targets - I'll go after the patient!" The Swordsman snapped.
"Sounds like a plan." The Demolitionist nodded in agreement, splitting from the Warrior once again and stalking his way across the street in pursuit of his original targets.
War, on the other hand, faded to a literally undetectably huge plume of his teleporting form and drifted into the hospital, where his mist increased in density and sped through the vents of the facility, stopping once every so often to come back together completely so that War could listen in on the possible whereabouts of this important patient...
Flashpoint Zeo waved a hand over Toy, flames briefly tracing strange, arcane shapes. "Is clean." he rumbled. While the huge tank was hardly a master mystic, he had considerable raw power at his command, and this particular trick was a simple one- a thin, 'skin'-tight barrier around Toy that would scream bloody murder if the faintest trace of mystical energy of any sort crossed over it in either direction. And potentially blow up the train, but Zeo decided not to mention that- it was an unfortunate side effect of substituting brute force for actual knowledge.
A hand the size of a shovel blade waved at Toy. "Wind-up here is sentient? Not just pre-programmed to lie?" he asked, both caution and irritation in his tone. "If not, taking chances on speed and resistance and removing head right now." he finished, blurring briefly across the car to illustrate his point, moving so fast in the confined space that he appeared to have teleported.
------
((not 100% sure what you want me to do with this, Devious, but gonna run with it))
"Feel free to ignore Xu Guan." a new voice said impatiently. "A good enough boy, but a trifle simple, I'm afraid." A rather imposing figure entered the cave, resplendent in brilliant robes and a beard so long it reached past his belt buckle. A snap of his fingers warped space slightly, 'locking' the sleeping dragon in place and altering timeflow slightly, dropping it into a sort of stasis. Impressive though it might be, as far as the CPSR was concerned, it was nothing more than a large, dangerous animal. The chief strategist of the Chinese People's Socialist Revolutionary Forces, known only by his rather pretentious nom-de-guerre, 'Sun Tzu', had arrived, and he would prefer that the dragon not wake up, if possible.
While this latter-day Sun Tzu might not quite have the legendary cunning of his namesake, he was still clever enough to get by.
Assessing the old maybe-dragon with a glance, he announced "The Celestial Kingdom has languished under the heels of foreign invaders for many years now, cruel and unforgiving beasts of little civilization and no pity. If you would join us in casting them out, our gratitude would be both extensive and material; your name would be revered among the Ten Kingdoms and you would be rewarded with as much wealth as we could offer."
The master strategist bowed deeply and precisely; if this maybe-dragon were versed in the ways of the Chinese Imperial court, he would recognize the bow as the one offered to a lesser celestial being- one step below the gods themselves.
"Whom do I have the honour of addressing?" Sun Tzu inquired.
"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"
Kruger couldn't help but involuntarily copy Valerie's glance at Isabel. Unlike the woman's, however, it was more one in the manner of questioning the heroine's common sense, as he didn't quite get the context of the question. To him, Toy being form another world was understood. He worked for Teivos after all, whom everybody knew had been flung here from a different universe...
--------------------
War's romp through Chiron Medical Research Center indeed worked out just as planned, the facility's security systems unable to detect his form of 'teleportation'. Furthermore, he was of course smart enough to stay out of sight of both personnel and security cameras, though the latter ones seemed few and far between. Apparently, no one was really expecting any trouble here. This the conversations of VB officers and soldiers alike supported.
Furthermore, those of the former gradually revealed exactly what War wanted to know, the chatty humans more than curious about the new being that had joined their world. Sure, they'd gotten used to the different species from Teivos' homeworld by now, but this new patient was something different entirely. The doctors especially couldn't seem to stop bringing up theory over theory, and War heard it all, peeking around corners and furniture, observing those conversing near counters and vending machines, scribbling upon notepads and drinking little cups of coffee.
"...I still can't believe his physiology. Warm-blooded. Can you believe he doesn't overheat...?"
"...head took some kind of real beating. I'd hate to meet whatever did that kind of damage..."
"...probably why they moved him to the research center right away..."
"...all I know is that if I had wings like that, coming to work in the morning would be a whole lot easier..."
"...really doesn't seem to like us much..."
"...and the genetics don't make sense. You think he could be come kind of bioweapon...?"
"...all I know is the microchips have to be in really deep..."
"...well, he is from a place called Dragon Isle, isn't he...?"
"...didn't seem to like section 4 at all. Like it reminded him of something bad..."
"...open his head up and do some digging in there. But I'm not sure it should be done this soon..."
"...hope they know what they're doing. Those chips have been nothing but trouble..."
"...in the brain, yes. Don't ask me, I'm no neurosurgeon..."
"...going to need you to hold still! I can't emphasize that one enough. Just hold still a little longer, and it'll be over before you know it."
Wait - that last one had been some kind of speaker, and it had come from right next to the mercenary. No, not right next to. From the door just down the hall, the one with the porthole in it.
War looked about, quickly finding the labels he sought. Research wing, section 4. That was the place, alright. So behind that door had to be...
The mercenary smiled. Jackpot.
But after sneaking his way up to the door and taking a cautious look through the round window with one eye, that smile faded to make way for an entirely different expression in response to what he saw. A part of it he'd already expected, namely the blank-white clean room with the large window making up one wall, several doctors in the dark, control-room-looking chamber beyond, as well as the operating table that jutted from the floor in the center of the first room.
The collection of long, large robotic arms that hung below the ceiling wasn't such a great surprise either, nor the numerous surgical tools they terminated it. Heck, even that the creature they hung over, strapped by wrists and ankles to that table, wasn't human he'd expected. But heck, he'd already expected something scaly and monstrous, some kind of dragon.
War blinked. That was definitely not a dragon. That was a griffin...well, something that resembled one, anyway. It had the head and the feathers at least, the latter in some kind of bronze-copper-brown hue, but its anatomy was a whole lot too human-y to conform to the norm there. It had plantigrade feet, no eagle claws or lion paws, and though the fire-red tail tip and like-hued head hair resembled the large cat well, this was positively no griffin like mythology had ever presented.
In fact, this thing looked a whole lot more like someone had gone wild and mashed a human and griffin together - some kind of chimera maybe? Was that why the doctors had speculated in regards to a bioweapon? The being's build was certainly very athletic, this stood plainly visible even through the slack hospital gown it had been dressed in, and though one couldn't describe it as overly muscular, there was certainly some healthy strength beneath that hide.
In any case, whether chimera or not, it had a set of molars behind its beak that pressed quite prodigiously against one another, in tandem with a very expressive pair of brown eyes conveying a distinct picture of fright and panic. It was no wonder either, as one of the robotic arms had extended a very long, ridiculously thin needle that it had pressed into the creature's forehead, and apparently to a fairly decent depth. Yeah, that was generally something to be nervous about.
"Please calm down." the voice said again through the speaker system in the operating room, one of the doctors behind the window in the darkened annex speaking into the connected microphone, "We're almost done. Just a little bit more. The more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt, so please. Do. Not. Move."
The creature didn't seem to like this idea at all, War clearly observing the swallowing of a lump in its throat, fingers having grasped the edges of the table as far as the restraints allowed, clinging fretfully to them. The being's eyes darted about, and in random chance locked with those of the mercenary for a mere instant - and then came to stay.
There could be no doubt about it: it had seen War spying through the porthole, and now looked directly at him. Moreover, however, that look in those eyes conveyed not surprise at his presence, but solely one word, one single, anxious plea.
Help...
--------------------
Xu Guan couldn't help but scowl at this superior's remarks. Sun Tzu may have outranked him in the CPSR, but what gave him the right to insut him - insult a Jiang?
"Careful with that, young man." the towering Oriental wagged a finger in a cautioning manner, leaning against his staff with his other arm in a crooked manner, "I call myself Ryuu Hotaka these days. I would appreciate you address me as thus. Now then..."
He turned to Xu Guan again briefly, poking the man up to stand with his staff, "Didn't I say no 'clean my garage' business? What is this fight people nonsense?"
"Honorable Sir, he speaks his heart." the sorcerer placed the palms of his hands together as he spoke with a curt bow, "This is no mere garage. It..."
"Yes yes, Celestial Kingdom, I got that." Hotaka preempted the man, looking to Sun Tzu again, "From the look of you, I'm guessing China, not the Mormon third heaven...which is...odd..."
He turned to look nowhere in particular, musing a little more quietly to himself, "...who the heck could start a fight with China and not get overrun?"
"Very well, you have my attention." he focused back on Sun Tzu, "Please, tell me more. Or better yet: show me..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
((Alright, time to flex the ol' fingers))
It wasn't that he hated them.
"Sir, I beg of you, look at what has become of our way of life!"
It wasn't that he believed this is what they deserved.
"Only fools follow the Sovereign. Reject him!"
It certaintly wasn't that he pitied them.
"We will not bow before you, or your damned Sovereign. Heil der Reichsma-"
But he didn't sympathize with them either.
He walked through the halls of the large, government building, several unconcious men in uniforms resembling those of the rebellion hovering along behind him. His gaze stayed straight ahead, his expression firm, and betraying no emotion. His dress resembled that of a general or perhaps a sargeant of different times, a black military hat hiding blonde hair, a neatly pressed, gray tunic-like top and pants. Black, leather boots came up to his knees, just as a pair of similarly made gloves came half-way up his forearm. He would be indistinguishable from any other officer, if not for the red glow that emanated from his eyesockets.
"Another batch of rebels planning to bomb an outpost, it seemed. I brought the ones that seemed to be in charge and disposed of the rest."
Another, older officer chuckled, shaking his head. "You know there are others who could be doing all this for you."
"Old habits die hard, harder than their men anyway."
The two shared a grim laugh.
"Well, no harder death than the one these men will be receiving, I assure you."
The younger man nodded, expecting no less. The hovering prisoners dropped to the ground, already cuffed and being carried away as they groggily began to mutter protests and curses. "My next assignment?"
"Herr Brawler, surely you should rest?"
The smirk on the man's face drew a chuckle from the old man who shook his head as he began to access the network. But what assignment could he have for one of the regime's most loyal and active VB field officers?
((I hope that was a correct interpretation, Devious. Now gimme a place to go. ))
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
((Ask and you shall receive. 
))
The old man he knew as Meier, or just Klaus when they felt informal for a change, didn't spend much time at all online, his upgraded SLI nabbing the information he requested quickly and efficiently, and sending it to the laptop on the desk before him so others could see it as well.
"A little while ago, we received a call from a patrol in the north of the Citizens' District." he elaborated on the displayed map of what someone from Primal Earth's Paragon City would've easily identified as Atlas Park, "Seems a group of gangbangers came out of nowhere and attacked them. One of them pretended to be on fire, and when they tried to help..."
He recounted the events as they had taken place, though of course his account stopped when the CANINE unit had been destroyed. True, the car still sent a fine signal, but its camera didn't pivot, and nothing had happened in front of the vehicle since the mercenaries had struck.
"...and they believe they are from that world the Reichsmann got to." Klaus recalled what the regional commander had told him when he'd called the man, and asked for information as to why VB had been ordered to do nothing more than secure a perimeter and keep an eye out of the aggressors, "Technically, I suppose we really should let the military handle this, buuut they are a little slow when it comes to picking up evidence."
"Besides, those two mercenaries from who-knows-where?" he shrugged in a mockingly offended manner, "Even one of us could catch those guys at least twice as fast as they could, ja? So, sound challenging enough for you...?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Sounds pretty easy if you ask me," said Burning with a light chuckle. "But you know me, I can't refuse a good job. I'll be there in..." He hesitated for a moment. "Five minutes."
He waited until he had stepped outside the building before kicking off into the sky. It was rude to fly indoors in a government building, unless saving that particular office. He couldn't remember who had decided this or why, but it was like putting your elbows on the table. Didn't make sense that it was rude, but you still followed the rules of your mother. Or commanding officer. All the same, really, when it gets down to the nagging.
True to his word, Burning Brawler soon found himself flying above the stolen car, its tracking device like a shining beacon. He was careful to remain concealed both magically and from plain sight, not wishing to give himself away. There was a chance these criminals could be taken alive, even if they had somehow managed to bring down a CANINE.
That in mind, he decided being careful would pay off. Brawler grimaced to see the criminals had gained some new accomplices, ones not mentioned in the report. Protocol says they should all be brought in. A peaceful surrender seemed unlikely, given the circumstances of the hijacking and destruction of government property...
'These are visitors. It would be better to reason with them first...' He sent out a call for some backup to remain on standby. There was of course the perimeter already set, but it never hurt to hold the advantage.
Burning dropped down from the rooftop, a spell on his lips as he dropped his cloaking spell and stepped into plain sight of the criminals. "Gentlemen, by order of The Dark Sovereign, I place you under arrest. Come peacefully, and there will be no need for violence."
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
The instant Brawler stepped through the door there was a blade at his throat and a gun barrel inches away from his face. Rezyzin and Solid might not have detected the officer coming in, but they were both professionals with reflexes built up against stealth types. Of course, it helped that the door was the only way into the back of the shop.
"Actually, why don't you put your hands behind your head and get down on the ground," ordered Solid as an almost invisible ripple of energy swept over his body, his grey armor turning black once again. "Seeing as if you make a wrong move you'll be getting some head rennovations."
*****************
"Sir," rumbled Combat Toy over the secure link, his armored bulk straightening up a bit reflexively.
"Has he done anything like this before? What are the chances of this being part of some plan of his?" inquired Teivos as Sombal remained silent.
"Negative, sir. Highly probable, sir," answered CT somewhat curtly as though unused to talking directly to someone without Toy Dispenser there.
"Do you have any idea what he could be planning?"
"Negative, sir. None of us are getting anything over our intranet and that's never happened before."
"He's still there," broke in Large Toy, seamlessly hopping into the phone line even as it was busy effecting emergency repairs to the Kazbeks. "He's not transmitting or receiving, but he's still there."
"You all would know best," mused Teivos. "Very well, we'll just have to trust that he knows what he's doing. If you get back in contact, let me know."
"Yes sir," replied Combat Toy with a glance at Large Toy as the link went dead. The protector bot looked up from the suit it was repairing to meet CT's gaze, shaking its head minutely as if in response to some unspoken question.
********************
Toy Dispenser glanced at Kruger after the man uttered his incredulity, giving him an almost smug look. Regardless how things turned out, it was clear the mechanoid was going to enjoy this moment as much as it could.
"Of course I am extra-dimensional," said Dispenser as he turned his blank faceplate on Isabel, being of the same opinion as Kruger on this matter. "The vast majority of Teivos' forces are. But your ignorance is understandable, seeing as how you too are not native to this world."
He paused as Zeo performed his spell, seeming to bristle a little at the dragonman's insult.
"I am as sentient as you are," grated the android, his voice slightly more distorted than usual. "And as for the matter of trust I shall tell you now two things. First, there is a traitor aboard this train by the name of Donald Hastings. He has been working for the Sovereign for two months now. We had been planning on destroying your small outpost as soon as he brought himself to transmit the location."
Dispenser snorted a little, a surprisingly accurate human-like sound that was somewhat out of place.
"You beat us to the chase, however. Question him about his family. He would have told you that they were killed by my hand, of all people, but he is lying. The Sovereign has them as hostages in exchange for his continued cooperation," he continued, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "Secondly, I shall inform you of Teivos' plan to destroy the home dimension of these new arrivals. He calls it Operation Coconut and it has likely begun even now."
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.
Isabel sighed quietly to herself. "Should have been more specific. I meant from a specific dimension, namely the one we came from", she indicated Flashpoint, Egregore and herself, "But I guess I'm jumping to premature conclusions again. Ignore me, forget I said anything." She turned away and went to look out what remained of the train's windows, her face slightly red from embarrassment.
When Toy mentioned a plot to destroy her home dimension however, she looked back around at him. "And how do we know any of what you're telling us is accurate, that you're not just leading us all into a trap? Especially with the supposed traitor, it's your word against his and honestly I don't think anyone here would take yours."
Valerie simply listened, her hands absently fiddling with the rifle that lay across her knees as she watched events unfold around her.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
Burning's glowing eyes narrowed at the weapons leveled at him, hardly getting through his arrest statement. He sighed, remembering the times Rebels declared the Sovereign as the monster, yet here was a peaceable solution being spat back in his face. Oh well, things were always more fun this way...
"Alright, whatever you ask. I mean you all no harm." He obediently placed his hands behind his head and went to his knees as Solid asked. Soon as his head had bowed, he blew a great gout of flame that bounded from the ground to cover him. He was already in a good position to tuck and roll from any blind strike, coming out with hands ablaze. The swordsman would be one to watch, he knew, as a shield of flames wrapped around him. He leapt over the pillar of flame, half rolling, half flying as he let loose a quick flurry of blasts at the android, not landing but instead continuing his flight upward. Hopefully the combat would trigger the arrival of the reinforcements, but they could take a few moments...
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
"That's it?" Legion replied coldly to Toy Dispenser. "You think you can earn our trust with words alone? Words are fragile things. You may speak the truth, but even so, any information you give us is either irrelevant or useless. We would not care even if you could tell us how to effectively square a circle on a flat plane without rounding. Allow us to rephrase our earlier sentiments:
What do you plan to DO to directly aid us to make us trust you, given that there is nothing you can SAY which can do so?"
Flashpoint Zeo folded his arms and shrugged, armour plates shifting. He'd said his piece regarding Toy Dispenser, and would rather have tossed the robot off the train and be done with it rather than try and have him prove himself or whatever.
Of course, if Toy did anything stupid, he'd find himself ten miles behind the train with a flaming sword in his sinus cavity before he had time to blink... or whatever it was he did to keep his visual sensors clean.
After a moment, though, he stirred. "If Hastings only working under duress, perhaps wisdom would dictate removing source of duress?"
------
Sun Tzu gave Xu Guan a look that said 'I know exactly what you're thinking. I also know that you didn't stop wetting your bed until you were fourteen. Don't cross me.' It was a remarkably succinct look.
He turned his attention to the dragon(?) when the latter turned back to him and nodded. "Very well, honoured Ryuu Hotaka." he said smoothly, although inwardly, he had become very, very wary at mention of the being's name; a Japanese name did not bode well after the treatment all of China had received at the hands of the Empire of the Rising Sun.
A twitch of a bony wrist, and abruptly, they were elsewhere... or at least their senses were. For whatever reason, Xu Guan had come along for the magical mystery tour with Sun Tzu and Ryuu Hotaka.
"The year of the Brown Earth Rat ((1948 for the uninitiated )); the Empire of the Rising Sun had prosecuted their war against us for more than ten years by that point. But that was the year that Beijing fell, and the beginning of the Years of Long Night. Traders from the lands beyond the Great Wall ceased coming shortly before that, and there were rumours that the group of foreign devils the others called "Germans"- the Hunnish tribes- had overtaken the others."
Around them, the Forbidden city burned in nuclear fire. "The Nipponese had acquired a weapon... none know from where... of terrible destructive force, and used it almost immediately, a bomb that reduced the Imperial Capital to dust and ash between one heartbeat and the next. From there, our surrender was simply assumed; the high command and all the government were dead, and any resistance was met with butchery and barbarism, or the more merciful eradication by their terrible bombs." Around them, 'camps' and mass graves streamed by, an endless parade of the dead and dying flickering past almost too fast to see and punctuated by the occasional mushroom cloud.
"For sixty years, this went on without relief." The stream of ugly images sped by in silence for a time.
"Then he came. They call him the Dark Sovereign; the Celestial Kingdom was merely a stepping stone for him on his tour of world conquest, subjugated as an easier launching point for his invasion of the home isles." Sun Tzu's mouth twisted in a bitter line as he realized he had unconsciously used the Japanese name for their lands rather than the Chinese one, but he didn't comment. "At first, we cheered him as a liberator, but those cheers faded quickly when it became obvious that he had no intention of either leaving or ruling us any more gently than the Nipponese."
A brief flash of the Dark Sovereign's armies marching through, then a blurry image of his palace. "We seek his death, or at the very least removal back to whatever hell he came from, and for that, we need aid."
"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"
"You're worried." Wolfgang concluded matter-of-factly after his charge had clicked the receiver back into the seat's center console.
"Can't help it." Teivos smirked a tad unhappily, looking out the car's rear window at the passing streetlights, "Bad habit of mine."
"Well, now you have a slight idea what I feel like when you run off." the cyborg presented with an indicative motion of a hand, "Maybe this will teach you a lesson."
Vlasta grinned at his reflection in the window, "Don't count on it."
And the limo proceeded further through the streets. It would still take the vehicle a few minutes to Chiron MRC...
--------------------
"We know because he does not need to." Kruger answered Isabel's question in a clearly unsatisfied, logical tone, not taking his eyes off the android, "If he wanted us dead, it would be a waste of his time to set up a trap. He has access to simpler means of killing us."
The Kommandant left open just what that meant, but considering that Toy had just warped in earlier with a small army, it was fairly obvious what it did.
"Get us Private Hastings." he turned to Valerie a moment, suspecting that she was probably the only one of his troops that could be trusted not to shoot an accused traitor on sight right now, then looked back into the round, specifically to Zeo, "If it is true, you would be right. As for Operation Coconut, we know of it, though not by name. We also thought it had been crippled. This presents some urgency...if it is true. Creating a sense of urgency to move a decision along is reason to lie."
He took a seat as well, staring at Toy intently, "But I do not know of a way to determine so at this time...which makes the question of the hour: what is your reason for telling us this, for coming here like this, now of all times? What do you seek of us, and why...?"
--------------------
"Aeh, you talk swollen." was Hotaka's first comment, in quite the wry tone, "Just because I'm 800 years old doesn't mean you can't speak normally with me, you know."
"So..." he became serious once more, "I'm having a little trouble piecing this together, so stop me if I'm wrong: this is your world, not mine, another Earth from my point of view, and here history went another way and Hitler...no, Hirohito managed to get the atomic bomb first. Or at least use it on China first. Interesting. I would've thought America would be the first target."
Stepping out of his thoughts again, he continued to postulate, "And then this Dark Sovereign character comes along and takes China, Japan, and eventually the world. The world? Seriously? Someone actually managed to take over the entire planet? Hm...as scary as that is, I find myself impressed. Where I come from, people who are trying to rule the world are a dime a dozen, and none of them have even come close."
"Very well, you've sold me." he tossed his staff up in the air a little and caught it with a firm grasp before it could ascend more than a few centimeters, a gesture to mean he was prepared to move, "Normally, I try to stay out of the affairs of humans, but this character I want to have a word with. If you're going to rule the world, you can't just turn it into a horror land."
"Oh, and just to clear up." he mentioned as an aside, after what Sun Tzu had shown him having gotten the idea that the people here probably didn't like the sound of his name much, "I am not Japanese. I'm not really anything. Countries are something of your peoples' creation. Dragons...well, we don't really care about political boundaries..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
[ QUOTE ]
Pausing a moment to check his rifle over, Solid gave the thugs to introduce themselves if they wanted then continued.
[/ QUOTE ]
The three standing to the left of Max and the two heroes, pistols ready, piped up. "Name's Axel, pal." the first one said, the city accent heavy. "Yeah, mon, Syxx be my name" the second, with a strange accent, jovily replyed. "Um...My name's Ash. Hi." said the smallest guy in the room.
The hankerchief wearing man nodded without taking his eyes off of the door. " Eddie the Blade. And this smiling hombre is Timmy the Tooth. He not so talkative...Just smiles and laughs. Mucho creepy." the lation said, flicking a thumb at the other Enforcer.
The largest man in the room grunted. "Bear. Nuff said."
[ QUOTE ]
"Ok, just so we all know, the only thing keeping me from turning the lot of you into the authorities right now is cause the authorities are all Nazis. And we're in the wrong dimension. So I mostly just helped save your [censored] cause I figured a gang of nine stands a better chance to take on the Nazi hordes than just the two of us capes, badass though we might be," Solid rattled off, pausing a moment to poke his head out the door and look around, continuing after he pulled back in. "Anyway, ask your questions now, but hurry up and know that I've been here like ten minutes longer than you guys. That and I want to go raid that hospital before the police cordon gets us. Oh, and my name's Solid Shot. Solid will do. No, I'm not a guy in a suit. I'm a robot."
[/ QUOTE ]
"Woah, there hero. You probably would try to take us down, but calm yourself, son. We ain't really all that bad compared to some of them. I mean, The Council, Malta, Arachnos, hell even Crey are our main targets. We don't go around hurtin' random people. We're not boy scouts either, but I doubt you guys are. Only reason I'm even a "villain" is well, robbing banks isn't exactly nice, you know."
[ QUOTE ]
Burning dropped down from the rooftop, a spell on his lips as he dropped his cloaking spell and stepped into plain sight of the.....etc
[/ QUOTE ]
The gang also had their guns trained on he man before he went into his tatics. Though, a problem. Bear. Somewhat tucked to one of the corners ready for action was Bear. As the man flew towards the sky, the brute tore a piece of the ground up and flung it towards him.
The other men were not idle either. The rest, with the execption of Max, opened fire on the burning man. Uzis, pistols and even a few flaming bottles were unloaded towards their target.
Max, on the other hand, had to dive out of the way of the fireballs launched at Solid. He slid under a turned over desk, convientlay placed. He whipped out his custom pistols, only to find the man above him.
"Ah, crap." Max said under his breath. He desperatly raised his guns to level with the man. He only hoped that he had enough time to actually fire them.
Self-Proclaimed Number one Fanboi of the RP Forums and it's writers.
Me: How about "Zeus, The Pimp God"?
A friend: It'd be too hard to dress him up like a bull
((*Poke* I think I killed it. 
))
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
((I'm starting to suspect that you're right... Rebel_Scum, Khell, Sovs, and Bwerp all seem to have dropped off the face of the Earth.
... by the way, am I the only one who sees the irony of 'Rebel_Scum' participating in this thread?))
"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"
(( Nope I'm still here. Was waiting for Khell. ))
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
OOC:
I am here. What am I supposed to respond to? Khell's amazing silent treatment?
((Still here. Also waiting. Think I'm waiting on Khell and BB and BB might be waiting on Khell....so....yeah))
Self-Proclaimed Number one Fanboi of the RP Forums and it's writers.
Me: How about "Zeus, The Pimp God"?
A friend: It'd be too hard to dress him up like a bull
[ QUOTE ]
((Still here. Also waiting. Think I'm waiting on Khell and BB and BB might be waiting on Khell....so....yeah))
[/ QUOTE ]
((Bingo))
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
((Hm...alright, I guess if Khell doesn't post by tomorrow, I'll move things along. I do really want to take the direction of his story here, but it'll have been a week then, and I understand it very well myself that being stuck isn't very fun. If I do this (still holding out for a Khellpost for now ), it may require me moving the timeline and/or people's characters. Would you guys be okay with that? Please send me your answers in PM.))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
((It's like the Gods conspire against me at every turn.))
"Finally, action!" Rezyin growled almost heinously as his rocket-boots sparked to life and he rapidly made his ascent after Brawler, gathering momentum (And building up his concentration) for a Headsplitting strike.
---
"Do it dont do it do it dont do it do it dont do it do it dont do it--"
"Ahh, [censored] it."
War looked back into the porthole.
"Don't. Move." He mouthed slowly before calmly and collectedly crushing the door hinges with his hands and kicking the door in. In one smooth motion, his energy blade snapped to life and he dramatically swung it into the needle's base, neatly severing it without moving the needle already in the creature's head a millimeter. The energy blades whirred as he slashed off the restraints on the creature, and just as suddenly as they had activated the cracked back into an inert state as War whipped out his TMPs and pointed them at the doctor behind the glass.
"Move and I ventilate you." He yelled. With his eyes and guns still on the scientists, he instructed the strange creature. "Take what's left of the needle out. If you can't move, wait for me to. Try and sit up. I'm getting you out of this hole, and you're gonna owe me for it like you don't even know."
---
Famine heard Brawler's opening volley.
"Promising." He grunted to himself, hastening his journey to the fight...
OOC: Ah, yes, thanks you Devious. I totally would have figured out something to do without your help, though.
BIC: Solid's black coloring slowly faded back to its normal gray as his limited stealth function cut out. The targeting eye of his standard cyclopix-pattern headset whirred slightly as it assessed Max and his thugs, the droid tapping idley on the ventilator covering the lower half of his face.
"Was wondering what'd take you so long," replied Solid as Rezyzin came in before he pointed at Max. "This is Max. Max, this is Rezyzin. He's a Russian with a sword, so don't piss him off."
Pausing a moment to check his rifle over, Solid gave the thugs to introduce themselves if they wanted then continued.
"Ok, just so we all know, the only thing keeping me from turning the lot of you into the authorities right now is cause the authorities are all Nazis. And we're in the wrong dimension. So I mostly just helped save your [censored] cause I figured a gang of nine stands a better chance to take on the Nazi hordes than just the two of us capes, badass though we might be," Solid rattled off, pausing a moment to poke his head out the door and look around, continuing after he pulled back in. "Anyway, ask your questions now, but hurry up and know that I've been here like ten minutes longer than you guys. That and I want to go raid that hospital before the police cordon gets us. Oh, and my name's Solid Shot. Solid will do. No, I'm not a guy in a suit. I'm a robot."
***************
Toy Dispenser glanced at Legion again at the mention of nuclear blast modules before turning back toward Zeo and Kruger.
"By all means, feel free to collapse the tunnel behind you. It will prove redundant however, as the small armored detatchment has already turned back due to a tunnel collapse brought on by the implosion of the CPSR dragon," he said. "As for being tracked, have your probe here scan me for any emitted frequencies, I have deactivated my trackers."
He nodded at Legion and then leaned forward, steepling his fingers and looking up at the assembled group.
"Simply put, I have a business arrangement for you all. Your enemy is my enemy, in the long run of things, and quite frankly you will need someone on the inside to defeat the Sovereign. He is very good at getting what he wants."
**************
At the same moment Dispenser mentioned that his tracker was cut off, the Molvia did indeed lose the signal. Toy Bot acknowledged that he had also lost his connection to his master as well and that none of the other drones could raise him.
"Hold position and contact Teivos," rumbled Combat Toy as Large Toy and the put together Block Bot moved about fixing things and people in the background. "Let him know the boss has gone silent."
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.