Isabel muttered something unrepeatable under her breath as both her blasts missed. There had been no warning shot - she'd been honestly trying to hit him with both, but her aim was apparently a little off. Still, no problems so big they can't be solved. To that end she opened up on him again, a trio of energetic projectiles screaming towards him. The third in the barrage was explosive too, so even if it missed him he'd probably get hit anyway when it detonated against the wall.
She would have really loved to throw a few more his way, but a half a dozen soldiers had other ideas, probably something along the lines of revenge for her attack upon their friend, who was still picking himself up over on the other side of the street. Lifting into the air as a bullet pinged off the pavement near her she followed Zeo's advice and went over to stand behind the big tanker, using him as a shield while she lobbed projectiles over his head in ballistic arcs to land on or near the various forces arrayed against them. "I don't tend to do surrender either", she commented offhandedly, as though she wasn't currently in a fight for her life. "I do 'if I'm going down, I'm taking you all with me' instead."
-----------
[ QUOTE ]
"Your plan has gone down the drain and with it all reason to keep you alive."
[/ QUOTE ]
Upon hearing that, Valerie stood up and aimed her rifle square at the robot's chest but didn't fire. All it would take was one word from Kruger though, she hadn't trusted Toy from the start and would honestly be glad for a reason to shoot him.
(( Also I have a question for you all. If I was to give Isabel a substantially more powerful Nova than the average energy blaster, would you still consider it balanced if I also added the disadvantage that it also affects friendlies within the radius? ))
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
"I'm not the dictator here, just the guy with the badge," said Burning. The energy blasts came then, prompting the VB official to activate his teleport spell. The flash was concealed by one of flames, giving the appearance that he was suddenly consumed by them.
A few yards behind them he reappeared and gave the signal. "Move in, capture is a priority."
Ten pillars of fire suddenly rose in a circle around Isabel and Zeo, each eight feet tall. They vanished as quickly as they came, revealing their occupants: men and women dressed in black VB uniforms with a red pattern crossing their chests. On the arms of their uniforms, a single green and black flame was printed.
As one they let loose a fireball for the pair. It was certain to sting if they didn't find a way out. On the rooftop just behind the action, Burning watched with apprehension. His 'special ops' team hadn't exactly had a lot of field tests. The first few went well enough, and their coordination was good so far.
It was good to be funded.
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
Apparently the special ops did not know about Egregore, having specifically surrounded Zeo and Isabel but not him. Shrugging, he made his chain-blade mace materialize and went about trying to separate the nearest newly arrived operative's body from his head...
Glancing at Valerie with a look of derision, the disguised Dispenser snorted before turning back to watch the fight. He recognized Burning Brawler, one of the newer but well proven VB agents. Without Egregore watching him for signs of communication, he was able to subtley get in touch with the main database and access all of Brawler's files. It took some complex electronic dodging to not give himself away while doing so, but he managed it.
So it was that he knew what was going on when the pillars of flame surrounded Zeo and Isabel. He figured the two metas and that cyborg could handle the specialized agents, but it would take too much time and carried too high a risk of failure. The only option was to enter combat himself even though what he could do was severely circumscribed as he had no desire to be found out.
With an annoyed grunt, Dispenser suddenly dashed forward into the crowd. He wasn't moving nearly as fast as Zeo, but still his outline seemed to blur a little as he leapt through the air feet first, slamming into the back of one of Brawler's agents. Both the agent and Dispenser went flying for about a dozen feet, skidding into another agent along the way and knocking him to the side. Once they finally stopped moving, he bent down and smoothly snapped the man's neck.
A regular army trooper came at him then, rifle held properly and trained on his center of mass, but one glance at the frightened soldier's eyes told that he wasn't quite willing to open fire just yet.
"This is an annoyance," muttered the android as he stepped into the ground of panicking civilians, fading out of sight and maneuvering to strike again.
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.
((Sure thing. And fine by me. I just make hard lines for my own stuff. The rest is up to you. 
))
Kruger had been about to ask Toy just what he meant with that, but when things got hot on the other side of the dumpster, the Krieger made that his priority instead. Unfortunate, really. He'd also wanted to ask the android another rather important question...
What if they surrenedered and were captured? Could Toy get them out? Maybe taken right into the Sovereign's center of power - the State Weapons Factory?
Curse it! No time now.
Motioning to a pair of infantrymen down the alley, he moved the two up with silent order, then opened fire on the flame-wielding VB officers, using the dumpster as cover.
The three employed single shot, knowing burst to be far too dangerous to use with friendlies potentially in the line of fire, and thus fired with great accuracy, hopefully taking Burning Brawler's squad out in quick succession. Generally, the body armor of a VB officer, though rather decent, didn't hold up to the rebels' armor-piercing rounds, and these guys certainly weren't wearing ZUB Gerlach, giving Kruger's expectations good chances.
Back on the street, the soldier had indeed been quite frightened though more by the combination of detonations, gas, and everything else about him than by solely Toy's actions; though they of course contributed, as well as the order to get out of the hot zone. By now, the road itself had been mostly cleared out, everyone who didn't have a gas mask falling back - well, if they were even still on their feet, that was. Egregore's induced chaos combined with what Zeo had done earlier had neutralized just about the whole parade.
The APTH-1, however, was fairly weatherproof, and as the Kazbek-armored soldiers with it got their downed comrades out of the hot zone, the tank gradually got a path toward the alley. Still, it would take a little longer - even though the Gerlach-armored VB officers that a pair of SWAT-van-like vehicles now kicked out after arriving on the scene split off roughly a third to help.
The rest created a perimeter, partially using the armored vehicles as cover, and in part just taking a knee. They had decent confidence in their ZUBs, and for good reason - though the Gerlach had a lot less of it than the more advanced Slavkov and Kazbek models, it still employed MPDAS armor. Combined with the expanded-band vision and sensor suites in their helmets, their Gerlachs allowed the VB officers to sit right there in the thick of the gas, yet retain all oversight they would've had in the clear, their ZUBs' self-contained environments compensating well.
Still, they knew they'd likely be no match against a squad of supervillains, and thus left it at there until ordered to move in. Burning Brawler's special operations unit probably had much better chances anyway...
--------------------
"Escort shmescort!" Vlasta yelled back through the open glass door that led from his bedroom onto the balcony when he heard Archlich outside while he laced up his second boot, "I'm going to go Darth Vader on their [butts], just you wait!"
On the ground floor, Wolfgang by now opened the door, shrugging to Archlich with open palms in a 'what ya gonna do?' manner. He'd already slung his own rifle over shoulder, adding its strap to the belt that held his pistol in the category of clothing worn. Teivos, on the other hand, grumbled down the stairs in the same wardrobe as his stand-in in Paragon City.
The called-for Molvia arrived right about then as well, setting down right in the street and tossing loose little things in every direction. The Sovereign's neighbors didn't even acknowledge it though, by now used to this happening every now and again - well, except the old crotchety fisherman across the street screaming that the music was too loud. Just what sort of music he heard the chopper as, however, was truly anybody's guess.
"Waiting on you now." Vlasta's gait was quick and determined in departure, boarding the Molvia with speed and making his way to the cockpit, "Wheels up, let's go."
"So," he turned to Archlich and the robots, by now in the back with Wolfgang and his unit, "what's the occasion...?"
--------------------
Somewhere in China
Ryuu Hotaka gave an interested nod upon the completion of the sorcerer's story. He couldn't help but chuckle on the inside. Sun Tzu had been right. This Jiang kid was good - really good, in fact - with his sorcery, and his heart was in the right place (namely with his land; or so he told Hotaka), but his attitude left a few things to be desired. It was probably a good thing Xu Guan wasn't in charge here. His impulsive nature would've no doubt rushed the CPSR into en early grave.
Still, he'd given the dragon in the form of a tall, old man the rest of the information he'd needed to make himself a picture of this world - of course, from the view of the CPSR, from which it was truly a horror unto itself. Yes, it was about time someone did something about that.
Thus he sought out Sun Tzu. Xu Guan had told him of a parade to commemorate the Sovereign's first year as generally unchallenged ruler of the world, and Hotaka wanted to have a look at that. Maybe he'd even catch this President Evil himself there, have a chat perhaps. Moreover, it was being held in Paragon City - and that was a place the changes of which Hotaka truly wanted to see...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
(...uh...I think work may have sapped me again...uh..gods my brain..Think I'll park Max for a little....move him if need be, just no killing or serious injury to him or his crew )
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
((Wait wait. Who's what where?))
"It was nothing!" War cut in as soon as he was thanked.
"Actually, it was something." Famine shook his head. "See Griff, we were what you would call 'in good' with the established organization of power around these parts for all of ten minutes. Then War decides we're the [censored] Rescue Rangers and instead of seeing what was going on with you, like he was ordered, he decided to go in guns akimbo and frag your way out of the hospital. Now, understand that you've cost us quite a bit. But I think I know how you can make it up to us."
"Tell me everything you know about 'Vlasta.'"
Flashpoint Zeo glanced left and right, taking in the new arrivals. Then, without warning, he moved, a blurred rush that abruptly tightened in and spiralled around one of the newcomers, one sword out to slice into their armour.
It was showy, impractical, and next to useless in actual combat, but against a foe who wasn't already engaged, and who tended to freeze for the split-second needed, the psychological impact of suddenly having your armour peeled like an onion (and your gun melted to a nub) could be devastating.
Whatever the results, the big tank turned his attention briefly to the soldier next to the one he'd just tried to peel, delivering a stinging swat to the side of the helmet that would leave the soldier in a stunned, smouldering heap if it connected, and resumed his original position.
"To be waiting for what?" he asked. If his initial attacks had connected, this would be around the time the loops of armour would fall off and the soldier he'd smacked would bounce the first time.
He repeated the hand gesture, only this time, he pushed a bit of magic into the challenge. Any attackers would find themselves hard-pressed to focus on anyone or anything other than him for the next forty seconds or so, urged to reckless attacking and a burning desire to close distance with the giant by the small spell he had just released.
------
Sun Tzu frowned at Hotaka's request, uncertain of exactly how to deal with it; Hotaka was not acting properly draconic, in the eyes of the cunning old sorceror. He smoothed his moustaches and gazed into the eyes of the other, seeing little in those dark orbs.
"While it is true that we are able to enter that city covertly, I am not convinced that it is wise to bring your eminence there; it is well fortified and our diviners have uncovered definite indications that the Dark Sovereign has an interest in... acquiring... a dragon for himself." Sun Tzu said eventually, his lips twisting in distaste at the idea that anyone could 'own', or even claim rulership over, a dragon.
"Still, perhaps you have the right of it. I will gather a coterie of our best, and then yourself, I, and Yinglong will lead them. Bailong and Xuanlong will remain here; hopefully that will lead to the restoration of some balance if a strong source of Yang is removed for a time."
The old strategist gave a faint, evil smile. "I believe Xu Guan shall be joining us as well; he has been desiring to cover himself with glory, and who am I to deny ambition?"
With that, he faded from sight, a far smoother teleport than the flashing affairs of the lower-ranked Sorcerors.
((Bailong is the female white dragon, Yinglong is the female black dragon, and Xuanlong is the male black dragon, for the record))
"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"
[ QUOTE ]
Ten pillars of fire suddenly rose in a circle around Isabel and Zeo, each eight feet tall. They vanished as quickly as they came, revealing their occupants: men and women dressed in black VB uniforms with a red pattern crossing their chests. On the arms of their uniforms, a single green and black flame was printed.
[/ QUOTE ]
Isabel almost laughed. Ten guys? Against three superhe- well, against two superheroes and a mercenary cyborg but still. They were as good as dead. "Like I said, I don't do surrender", she commented. "Don't do captured either", she added before flinging a wave of energetic destruction at the nearest pair, who were standing just close enough together that the torrent of energy would hit them both unless they did something to evade it very quickly. Not stopping there, she turned and fired upon a third and then a fourth, energy blasts flying from both hands in seperate directions as she did her very best to eliminate every single hostile she could see. Fortunately for the other six, the big tanker she was standing behind was blocking her view of them.
Of course, he wasn't blocking Valerie's view of them though. From her hiding place a short distance back into the trees, she settled into a sniper's position and started taking shots at them as quickly as she could aim them, making sure to not fire when there was a chance of hitting noncombatants.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
Griffin couldn't help but give a confused look at this. He'd expected them to go further in the same direction, like asking who'd shot him or why he'd said he'd wanted it, but instead now they wanted to know about someone who he plain-old had no idea who it even was.
"Um...I don't know any Vlasta..." he told Famine truthfully, looking rather disappointed. After all, they had gotten him away from those creatons sticking needles in his head, and even holding him at gunpoint didn't just cancel that out. He really did want to help, "Was he somebody at the hospital...?"
--------------------
Hotaka gave a shrug as Sun Tzu jumped away. He would've preferred to go alone, having means to expertly conceal his presence, but the strategist probably knew his own world better than he did by a long shot. He probably knew what he was doing.
Still, one thing wouldn't leave Hotaka's head. This Teivos wanted to own a dragon? Now there was just about the silliest thing he'd ever heard. However, it presented an opportunity he might be able to exploit later.
After all, what Hotaka really wanted was to get an up-close look at this Dark Sovereign...and if he wanted a dragon...well, why not give him one...?
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"The threads of fate are converging," muttered Archlich to Wolfgang. "I intend to be there to witness the event. But if required, I shall also halt it."
Sweeping his gaze around the hold, his blazing blue eye alighting on each living creature for a fraction of a moment, the mage stalked over to a corner and began tracing his hand through the air in quick, flowing gestures born of long practice. Actinc blue light formed where his fingers passed, burning in the air as they crystalized into arcane sigils and runes. These runes spiraled around Archlich's form several times before flickering through the air to attatch to points all over the inside of the Molvia. But despite the brightness of the magical runes and the sheer number of them they did not give off any light, or at least no light that anyone here could see.
"So what are you doing now?" asked Wolfgang cautiously, unused to this style of magic, or any magic for that matter, being cast in front of him.
"An invisibility spell," replied the Overmagus over his shoulder, the rictus of his skull seeming to be of actual mirth for once. "While the image of this construct appearing above the battlefield and disgorging troops is doubtlessly a glorious one, it is highly impractical when one's enemies will find it simply an overlarge target."
"It'd be like hitting the broad side of a barn," added Combat Toy's rumbling voice as the pitch black mechanoid moved through the Kazbek armored guard, giving them all a personnal inspection.
Mini Bot trailed along behind the larger assault bot like an attentive child, though its razor-tentacles quivered in anticipation. The little drone looked as though he was eager to take revenge on the metahumans which had destroyed it before. Toy Bot and Small Toy, the latter finally returned from its inspection of the captured rebel base, lingered in back to perform weapons checks. Large Toy stuck near Wolfgang while Block Bot lingered near the cockpit entrance, muttering something about trigger happy meglomaniacs getting them all killed.
"The spell is complete," said Archlich as the last rune drifted through the air to its space on the back of the co-pilot's chair. "As far as the outside world is concerned, we do not exist. You may begin."
****************
Dispenser blinked in annoyance as Zeo sped around, dispatching soldiers with apparent ease. Even the highly trained VB agents were getting tossed about like ragdolls. But no matter, the less of them around the better. Smiling thinly to himself, he mentally switched to the rebels' much hidden channel and tapped into their communications. Kruger hadn't exactly given permission for him to do this, but time was of the essence and he needed to contact everyone at once. He just opened the extra-dimensional metahumans had remembered to equip the comm. devices Kruger gave them.
"Attention all rebel forces," said Dispenser with a wry tone to his voice. "There will be an incoming teleport soon. That will be our ride out of here. There will be only one prompt, so do not miss or resist it. If you are left behind you will be killed or captured. That is all, Dispenser out."
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.
"He doesn't even know!" Famine spat suddenly at War. "He doesn't even know!!" War quickly rose to his feet. At this point, both of the mercenaries were stepping towards him. Their guns were away but they now stood on opposite sides of him, circling slowly around.
"Okay, let's back up, amigo." War nodded to Griff, "Who got you in the hospital. Who shot you. Who do you work for. Who are you friends with. How long have you been here. Why did you get sent here. Why did they want to experiment on you. And why the hell are you half-griffin."
He had said it all (Save the last bit) in such a non-confrontational, almost encouraging manner, and yet the entire time both of them looked ready to close to melee and beat him down. Griffin would definitely notice that the Mercs went from extreme to extreme rather regularly.
[ QUOTE ]
"Attention all rebel forces," said Dispenser with a wry tone to his voice. "There will be an incoming teleport soon. That will be our ride out of here. There will be only one prompt, so do not miss or resist it. If you are left behind you will be killed or captured. That is all, Dispenser out."
[/ QUOTE ]
Isabel considered it a moment, in between hurling death at the soldiers who were still standing. Getting away from here would be good, they were doing alright now but she knew she at least couldn't hold out forever. Eventually, someone would get a lucky shot or she'd not notice one, and that would be that. Besides, wasn't like she couldn't turn the area where they arrived into a glassed-over crater anyway if it did turn out to be a trap.
Valerie's thought process was much simpler. If her sister went, she'd go. If not, she'd stay. Simple as that. Until then she kept firing, trying to put down as many of the Sovereign's forces as possible whilst still remaining unseen until the promised teleport arrived.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
"In a moment." Vlasta returned with a grateful nod, "Much as I appreciate this, we still have a few things to pick up at tátna Zbrojovka. I'm not about to take on who-knows-how-many of the Reichsmann's supers without some serious firepower."
His tone more than indicated what he meant with that. He hadn't been very happy with Toy's failure the night before, but at least the story his entourage and Teivos' own guard had brought back, the Tsaigon had been able to make himself a good picture of who the rebels had been working with. That they were in turn from Primal Earth, under command of the wayward Reichsman had been agreed upon beyond a doubt.
Moreover, Zeo's blur on the news had matched the description of the earlier encounter perfectly. In short, the Sovereign felt he knew exactly whom he was dealing with here - and just what he'd need to take care of them...
--------------------
tátna Zbrojovka
Main Elevator
Regions of orange light passed slowly by as the massive circular platform ascended, bathing its cargo in an eerie staccato of dark and light. Shadows slid over long cannon barrels time and again, slinking across the chasses below and onto the floor, never making contact with anything between. Between and beneath the gray-beige plates of armor glowed the pale blue of force, small rings casting their own luminance on the platform in stark contrast to the alternating orange and black, their soft glow constant and unchanging. There were three of them, floating in the air with no apparent effort, suspended by forces beyond this realm and held steady by the very same.
M7A7s.
With a ratch and a clack, the platform ground to rest, and the Caldok officers standing atop the lead vehicle in light uniform swept his arm forward. The three set into motion for the open main runway gates, two Molvias ready and waiting on the retractable main air launch platform of the State Weapons Factory, the third approaching just as they silently hovered over the thick yellow line of demarcation that signified the location of the nearly three-meter-thick blast gate when closed.
Touching down in reverse, the third helicopter opened its large rear ramp in tandem with the others, the tank trio splitting to take one each, even the bulky choppers capable of fitting but a single one. But from this aircraft came with the ramp Vlasta Teivos, his step in direct course with the lead tank and the officer upon it, the Caldok picking up the travel bag beside him and jumping off his vehicle upon the encounter.
"Ready to go, Sir." he gave the Sovereign a firm salute, which Tevios reciprocated, then presented him the olive-drab bag, "They are ready. All requested modifications have been completed."
Vlasta gave a satisfied nod, taking the bag over his shoulder and reaching into it to produce what looked like a rather ordinary plasma rifle, though the barrel had a slightly wider bore, a more canister-like look to it, "Performance?"
"One hundred over one hundred." the officer reported, then added before Teivos got a chance to ask, "The programs have already been uploaded. We are still adapting the reworked code to standard issue systems, but the Kazbeks should have no trouble handling it."
"Excellent work." Vlasta put the rifle back, and gave another nod to the officer, "Get in. We're leaving."
The man quickly did as told, boarding the Molvia Teivos had come from with him and climbing into his tank, the chopper's ramp closing after everyone had been taken aboard and secured. Within seconds, they were in the air again, flanked by the other two transports.
"So," Vlasta smiled to Archlich, wanting to know, "ever done an airdrop from five hundred meters...?"
--------------------
Griffin had sat down before a rack filled with pants in the meantime, figuring it might placate the mercenaries enough to stop pointing the guns at him. To his relief, it seemed to work, though now that they came toward him like that, he wasn't so sure that had been a good idea anymore, a wide-eyed twitch to move back only letting him know there was something blocking his way now.
Thankfully, they seemed to calm down again almost right away (wow, these guys sure went from extreme to extreme with speed), War questioning him in a surprisingly calm manner - though the suddenly added harshness of the last sentence did elicit another twitch.
"Okay, okay..." he held up a hand, a gesture requesting a moment while he looked at the floor, trying to focus his still fairly scrambled thoughts better, "Let me think...I remember we were in the lab. No, we were leaving the lab..."
"Whose lab?" interjected at this, earning a direct look from the griffin, who then glanced down again with a glum sigh.
"...the lab of a madman...who I used to think was the coolest guy in the world. I was such a fool..."
At the request that he continue, he looked up again, "...we were leaving the lab, and I thought everything was over, but I guess there was something in my head I didn't know about because right then I felt like my brain was going to explode. No, make that exploding. I...I can't even really describe it. I guess...the madman did it so he could get one back on us. I don't really know. All I know was it hurt more than anything I'd ever felt before, and it was killing me - but so slowly and..."
He actually shuddered, thinking back at this, "Somehow, I remembered Babe had a gun, and I latched onto that thought. It was all I could think about anymore. I screamed at him that he should shoot me...or at least I think I did. I know I wanted to, that if I was going to die, I didn't want it to be with that much pain."
"Next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital with all these strange..." he tried to make some kind of indicating motion with his hands, but couldn't quite get anything across, "...people around, and they're talking all slurry and weird and I can't understand a word. So then I notice I'm not dead...and remember that the last thing I felt was a huge fire in my head. I...well, frankly I panicked, and I think they put me out again after that."
"There's some stuff after that, but it's too fuzzy to make out any details." he shook his head, then looked to War again, "I think my body was trying to shake off the sedative, but didn't get it all the way, so everything just went blurry and heavy, and I couldn't make heads or tails of anything they said. And when I finally was able to again...well, there was a needle sticking out of my head and people telling me to calm down. Seriously, calm down? There's a needle. In my brain. That freaks me out just a little bit."
"I think they were trying to do something with my chips." he added, rather uncertain, "Or...put another one in, I don't know. Either way, I didn't like it, so thanks for grabbing me. I'm...really sorry it got you into trouble. Please don't take me back to try and smooth things over...I kind of like having my head to myself."
"Oh, and I'm not half-griffin." he added, seeming a good deal more comfortable with that subject, "I'm...well, just a griffin. I can even change forms now. Well...kind of. I've only done it...once..."
A self-conscious grin crossed his face as he said this, "...so I'm not very good at it yet. Um, let's see...I'm from Britain, near London...I work for...I work for..."
No dice. He couldn't remember his boss' name, nor the place of his employment, his searching eyes clear evidence of that, "...I can't remember his name. I know I work as a bodyguard, though...if they haven't fired me for not showing up to work. My sense of time's all messed up right now..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Egregore also waited for the incoming teleport, but in a different manner of sorts. Toy Dispenser had been very careful indeed about his first transmission. But Egregore had caught the second one, and frankly he had not trusted the android from the begining. So when everyone started to port, Egregore would follow suot, but to a more naturally secure location and not into what he suspected was a huge trap. And hey, he was leaving Legion with Kruger, so if everything worked out he could simply return with a second port if necessary.
As the Molvia touched down, Archlich's eyes flickered slightly in irritation. When Teivos immidiately strode out to meet with the tank commander, the lich rounded on Wolfgang.
"Time is of the essence," he rasped out. "We have no need for these siege weapons. My might alone would be enough to squash these interlopers."
If he was intimidated at all by the Overmagus talking to him like that Wolfgang didn't show it, instead giving an apolegetic shrug.
"Better to have them and not need them then need them and not have them," he said. "Which is not to insult your abilities, but Teivos didn't get where he is by taking unnecessary risks."
Archlich just stared at the cyborg for a few seconds.
Eventually Wolfgang's serious expression cracked and he snickered loudly to himself. Archlich just kept staring until his snickers died due to a severe case of dry throat. The Overmagus might have been a five foot tall skeleton in medieval armor, but something about him scared the crap out of even a hardened soldier like Wolfgang. It seemed worse that the bone-head could call up the fear on command.
"No, I have never dropped that far through the air, Teivos," said Archlich as he turned in response to the Sovereign's question. "Normally I just teleport. You do realize that the element of surprise will be ruined by the addition of your reinforcements, do you not?"
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.
"Believe it is time for new set of lies." Flashpoint Zeo commented. "Capture minor inconvenience at moment... trapped in stupid dimension anyways, restricted mobility within of lesser difficulty."
The giant worked a shrug into the whirling dance of flaming pain he was performing in the midst of the Sovereign's troops. Unlikely as it might have seemed, his control was precise enough that thus far no injuries worse than broken bones, mild concussions, and the occasional third-degree burn had been sustained by the troopers opposing him. "Will be staying here. Wish word with Dark Sovereign. Or possibly sword, depending on plans for Primal Earth. Others welcome to come or go as desired."
"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"
Things seemed pretty grim for the ops team. They functioned as a unit, like clockwork, yet the invaders were moving through them like tissue paper. Burning shook his head as one had his neck snapped and crumbled to the ground. Luckily, a tackling dive managed to save another from losing his head.
He watched as the downed soldier disappeared. Those familiar with the Medport systems probably wouldn't give the occurence a second glance. Burning's worked a little differently however. He had a facility of his own for his men to recover.
Seeing a second and then a third get teleported to safety, Burning knew he would have to intervene. If his men weren't able to handle this, there was no chance the 'normal' soldiers would survive.
He swooped over the fight, dropping a fireball down on top of the one who was throwing the energy blasts. Hopefully the explosion would do something to her fiery friend in the process. "Torcher! Pyra!" he called. "Divide and conquer!"
Two officers broke away from the circle, the remaining five flamethrowers doing the same. Some took to the air while others moved for a defensible position behind a car or just inside a building.
Pyra leapt forward, wrapped in her own shields of flame for the Tanker, aiming to distract him. The one referred to as Torcher teleported to a rooftop and immediately began to teleport Egregore above him in the open air. After that, hopefully he'd have time to let loose another fireball.
As for the rest of the squad, they were taking potshots, not making any intense stand when approached.
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 counting on it." Vlasta replied with a steadfast chill in his tone, and there wasn't a chance Archlich wouldn't take that resolve to mean exactly what it did: that Teivos had a plan.
"From what I've seen, these guys are very fond of teleportation as well." the Sovereign explained, handing one of the rifles to Wolfgang, whose metal jaws seemed to actually smile excitedly, the cyborg shaking off the feeling of being covered in jell-o that Archlich had given him, "So we're going to use that against them. Three tanks dropping out of the sky is a scary thing. I'm betting they'll jump away. And when they do..."
Teivos closed a fist with force, "Checkmate."
He didn't tell the skeleton what he meant by this, assuming Archlich already knew: since a certain high-ranking VB officer and his personal unit kept the rebels busy, the officers that had established a perimeter about the site had been completely free to set up a sort of security force field. Unlike the ones on Primal Earth, however, this kind had neither a blue shimmer nor did it exist entirely in this continuum. In short: it wasn't solid, nor entirely there (which in turn rendered it nigh-impossible to detect from this world), and couldn't even prevent people from walking through it; but it could snag teleporters.
And not just snag them. Hammer them. Even a matter transmission through overordered space slamming against that shield received such a shock that the subject rematerialized unconscious over 90% of the time. Those that didn't were nearly always heavily stunned, and received a murderous migraine and respectable loss of motor control on top of that - a rather logical consequence of near-total nervous system overload.
"Synch timers to the automatics." Teivos commanded as he followed Wolfgang and his personal guard onto the hovertank, "I want deployment the second we arrive."
"Understood, Sir." came the characteristic radio-electronic response from the cockpit, the pilots setting to work on the, "Knights Two, Three, heading one one niner, deploy at mark plus one, synch to automatic control. Jump in five."
"Knight Two, one one niner, synched and locked." came the reply from the second Molvia almost instantly, the first following a snap after that, all three choppers matching their jump and deployment times via their computers.
Teivos knew well that just about any teleportation tended to be disorienting for an organic being's senses, even if it was but a tad, and he didn't want to leave anything to chance. Machines didn't obey those rules, and this Vlasta used to his advantage: exactly one second after the Molvias had teleported into the skies above the battle in Perez Park, the M7A7s they carried would automatically be released.
"Jump in two...one...now..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Okay, before you guys jump to another extreme, I really don't think the griffin wants to go back. I ain't forcing, though I do wanna go back home. Boys." the older man spoke, his men turning to face him as he stood. "Here's an idea. Anyway we could, you know, fake em out? Take the cahs and goods, find a way home and get Griffin outta this dump?" The biker said standing while crossing his arms.
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
(( If you guys are waiting for me, I'm waiting for Devious's tanks to land. ))
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
((nope, far as I know, we're waiting on Khellendrosic))
"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"
((Affirmative. Khell conveyed to me something that would happen once the lead chopper jumped, but since Teivos picked up more stuff between then and now, I have to give him the chance to decide how to proceed with it. 
))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Flashpoint Zeo gave the faux-Teivos an annoyed glance, then blurred for a moment, plonking him next to the SFX crew where presumably they would get him clear. This accomplished, the Tanker resumed his original position. "Not hostage. Is clear. Not surrendering, either." he announced.
))
Then he manifested his two gigantic flaming scimitars. "Too many lies. As honoured grandfather used to say, 'When being buried in... lies.., stir up [censored] until truth floats to top."
Another fiery blur, and the giant was parked in the middle of the street, flaming scimitars akimbo. "Apocalypse, Egg-whatever, with me or get clear. Likely to get extremely ugly extremely quickly. Dictators typically unhappy when made to look silly."
With that, he held out a hand, palm up, and bent his fingers in the time-honoured challenge to the world at large. "To be bringing it."
((As to Sun Tzu, I really don't have a lot to work with; unless you're planning on hauling us all off to China, Devious, any actions he takes there are likely to be largely irrelevant to the rest of the plot until such a time as he goes after/interacts with any of the other characters. If you really want movement on that front, either have the dragons find something out about Hotaka or else have the man himself seek out some of the various CPSR rebels.
As a random aside, Flashpoint is such fun to write dialogue for
"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"