((So... are we the last three participating in this thread? And Devious, China's going to have to wait for a bit- I don't want to hold up the thread, but I simply don't have the time or the creative energy to deal with peripheral storylines- I'm on crunch-time to finish editing down a novel for the rough-draft format and get it ready to hire somebody other than me to take a crack at editing it))
[ QUOTE ]
"But you're willing to at least check it out and confirm exactly which group has been lying to you, right." For his sake he'd better be. "Under the circumstances, probably as good as we're going to get. Though I still have to wonder why you believe them so easily but refuse to believe us..."
[/ QUOTE ]
"To be being fairly obvious- first information in line with preconceived notions; truth not in line with 'conventional wisdom', therefore considered unbelievable."
Flashpoint Zeo didn't comment on Rularuu- he hadn't been involved with the Midnight Club during their first confrontation with the Ravager, and didn't do much cross-dimensional work, which might have been part of the reason the big tank was so on-edge at the moment.
[ QUOTE ]
"If der Reichsmann's state is as you say, you've nothing to worry about."
[/ QUOTE ]
"If 'der Reichsmann' and badly-trained minor insurgency force considered so great a threat in present dimension, have nothing to worry about in any case." the tank noted drily.
[ QUOTE ]
He said this as casually as one might be discussing the recipe of that cake in the picture, the lax shrug of one hand underscoring the candor in his words, "Any further questions? Something regarding this world, maybe...?"
[/ QUOTE ]
"To be wondering what SSR is being, and why inclusion in same to be considered such wonderful thing, or even positive thing, for present dimension. To also be wondering as to persistent avoidance of question as to what all shiny toys to be aimed at, particularly in event of Reichsmann being indisposed. Generals are having distressing tendency to be becoming petulant when deprived of favourite potential war."
"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"
((Looks like it. And aiight, I guess I'll switch plot tracks to option 2 then.))
"Avoidance?" another Slavic-based tone queried with casual curiosity from behind the heroes, where the door to Teivos' office had come open to allow its owner entry. He once more donned his characteristic outfit, the same ensemble of clothing and armor he had in the pub where War and Famine had first encountered the Tsaigon, though this time a cape of oddly lackluster brown topped off the garb, connected to the chest plates at about the same spot as the shoulder guards.
To his right came Griffin, the supposedly mythical creature still looking just a bit dazed. A quick shake of his head in the manner of an owl brought back focus, but it also caused the white bandage in his fire-red hair to slip a little, revealing a smidge of freshly crusted blood on and just below his ears. If it bothered him at all though, the only evidence was a quickly scratched itch that may just as well have come from simply nerves.
"I don't recall Wolfgang avoiding any questions." Teivos went on, remaining standing there for now, "He told you our 'shiny toys' are aimed at your world, and that's exactly what they are. He also told you that if der Reichsmann is...heh heh...'indisposed', you've nothing to worry about. In that event, they'll just be used to destroy the last pockets of resistance here."
"As to Sväz Spojených Rás," he continued, turning up the palm of a hand toward the photos on the corresponding wall, "or League of United Races as would a crappy English translation look, it's exactly what is says. Aaand I don't think I'm going to tell you why it's a good thing because a) you're from a world that is really messed-up and about to tear itself apart in not one, but multiple wars, which leads me to think your standards are very different from ours, and b) you really need to take a very big 'chill pill', as a friend of mine says."
The metal Caldok couldn't help but chuckle at this, and even Griffin cracked a smile. He also waved a curt, low-key hello to Isabel, hiding halfway behind the Sovereign, though his reasons for either weren't very clear...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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[ QUOTE ]
"You really need to take a very big 'chill pill', as a friend of mine says."
[/ QUOTE ]
"Given that you have a considerable array of military hardware currently aimed at our world, I think we're perfectly entitled to be a least a little upset", Isabel pointed out. "And as for 'united races', are all races considered equal in that agreement? No offense, but I get the idea that this world wasn't exactly given the choice to join or not."
[ QUOTE ]
He also waved a curt, low-key hello to Isabel, hiding halfway behind the Sovereign, though his reasons for either weren't very clear...
[/ QUOTE ]
Ok... why was an alien she didn't know waving to her? Just when she thought this world couldn't get any weirder, suddenly people know her despite her never being here before.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
"To be awfully quick to be pointing fingers concerning wars... particularly immediately after declaring intent to 'destroy resistance' with massive military force." the big tank said with a sidelong glance at Teivos, angling his body very slightly so that he could cover both him and Wolfgang, although the motion was unobtrusive. "To be freely admitting to existence of conflict, although to be somewhat curious as to origins of intelligence, given that contact markedly absent for many years. To be pointing out, however, strong preference to personal liberty on part of humans; exchanging liberty for safety not considered desireable."
Griffin's small wave to Isabel was noted, but not reacted to. If body language was anything to go by, Flashpoint Zeo might as well have been discussing a minor point of etiquette at a high-class cocktail party. Flickering flames aside, he was apparently completely at ease.
The big tank shifted slightly, as if remembering something. "To be offering warning; dimensional incursions to Primal Earth... and to be sparing self look, did not name it... reacted to. Self would suggest refraining from massive show of force, since will all-but-inevitably result in confrontation to advantage of no-one. To be having too many trans-dimensional invaders over past several decades... and to be reminding, home plane is Earth to be considering putting Reichsmann on ice worth minimal notice... page three at best."
"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"
"Like Vlasta said: very different standards." Wolfgang replied to Isabel, getting back up out of the chair, "If we got upset over such things, we'd have to be going crazy at all the destructive stuff from your world...especially since it's not under your control."
Teivos chuckled at this, "Very. The scout team arrived just in time to witness some blue spy-looking-people disappear with a gate from your Portal Corporation. Such being, no offense, but your world's 'careful dimensional travel technology guarding' that you mentioned? Don't see it. And yes. Your internet is a fantastic tool for gathering intelligence."
"As to existence of conflict," he added with a smirk, "short of mind control, killing them is the only real way to be rid of terrorists. Is it ideal? No. But it works. If you discover a better way, however, feel free to call. Assuming your world's terror movements don't destroy it first. This Recluse man is sure trying. Personally, I feel not granting liberty to do things like him is a good idea."
"Me too." Griffin finally spoke up, though he still appeared uncomfortable in Zeo's presence, looking from side to side nervously, "That guy gives me the creeps."
"Different standards, my friend." Vlasta put a hand on his shoulder, "Different standards - and I sincerely hope your disregard of der Reichsmann will not come back to bite you. Now then, I should say it's time for you two to be going. Come along, we placed the portal in the Myjava."
He turned back toward the doors, motioning for them to follow.
"Oh, wait." he raised a hand, turning to the soldier to his left, "One more thing. Video of tier 5 please, spectral filter."
The armored man gave a nod and handed the Tsaigon a touchpad, which Vlasta in turn casually extended to the heroes in an offer to have a look at it, "This one is sitting on a rooftop with a rifle. Has not done much, so we are not sure: one of yours? Should we pick her up?"
The transmission now linked to the pad of course showed Valerie, which may or may not have been apparent to Zeo and Isabel due to it being a false-color image, which in turn resulted from her cloaking device. The camera could still get past it, but not without applying another part of the electromagnetic spectrum, resulting in the color shift...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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[ QUOTE ]
"Like Vlasta said: very different standards." Wolfgang replied to Isabel, getting back up out of the chair, "If we got upset over such things, we'd have to be going crazy at all the destructive stuff from your world...especially since it's not under your control."
[/ QUOTE ]
"Exactly. It's not. Not like here where the central authority of the planet is the one aiming the highly destructive hardware at us. With no significant opposition to them using it, from what I've seen", Isabel replied, feeling the need to point out that difference.
"And as for those Malta guys, I would go so far as to gaurantee they won't still have that portal tech in less than half an hour. An hour tops, depending on who Portal Corp gets to retrieve it. After all, there's a reason why they're always having to steal more. And yes I know, don't get my started on Portal Corp's security or rather their apparent lack thereof. I'm not claiming our world is perfect, in fact it's very far from it, but we're still not fond of staring down the barrels of loaded guns regardless of who's holding them."
[ QUOTE ]
The armored man gave a nod and handed the Tsaigon a touchpad, which Vlasta in turn casually extended to the heroes in an offer to have a look at it, "This one is sitting on a rooftop with a rifle. Has not done much, so we are not sure: one of yours? Should we pick her up?"
[/ QUOTE ]
Valerie had indeed not done much. There wasn't much she could do, apart from keep an eye on the building her sister was being held in and dodge the occasional patrol. Those watching might have noticed that the cloaking field she was under didn't seem to be coming entirely from the cloaking device. Rather, a good portion of it seemed to be coming from her directly, using some sort of energetic aura to bend light around herself and thus render herself invisible.
She didn't seem aware she was doing it, though, and it wasn't entirely impenetreble by any means. Far harder to detect than the average cloaking field, for sure, but still no real obstacle for the sophisticated scanning hardware being used. If anyone cared to run the appropriate tests, one might notice that the energies involved in forming her stealth field seemed to be of the same kind as what Isabel was so fond of throwing around.
-----------
Back in the office, Isabel looked at the screen for a bit, debating whether to tell them or not. Not doing so would likely make them simply kill that girl, and for some reason Isabel found herself not wanting them to do that. Thus...
"Yeah, we've seen her before. She was with those rebels we hooked up with. Seemed to know me somehow, kept staring at me when she thought I couldn't see.
[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 hope so." Teivos remarked casually at first, though his tone became a good bit more serious thereafter, "I would hate to have this come back and bite us. Last time I held off on an attack on humans, about a billion people were killed."
He gave a nod to Wolfgang while he added, "I regret not being able to make any 'if that happens' threat here since if I'm wrong, it will happen regardless, but I'm going to listen to Griffn. Now quit standing around and come..."
--------------------
Wolf3r: She is with them. Move in.
E. Korovinova: Affirmative.
The characteristic stereo clack of heavy feet making contact with the roof sounded from behind Valerie. The source was a certain Tsaiv woman, clad of metal, glowing-blue eyes apparently fixed upon her target as Sydonia advanced. She wasn't armed with anything more than what she carried on her belt, the only article of actual clothing on her silver-gray body.
"Hello." she told Valerie neutrally, "Please to come with me..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Flashpoint Zeo sighed. "Because playing god always to be giving such excellent results." he muttered a bit sourly. "Have been hearing tales of far too many worlds conquered 'for own good' by powerful idiots. Or exploding while powerful idiots attempted conquest 'for own good'."
He shook his hooded head. "To be suggesting that Malta probably coming here. Coincedence irritatingly rare in current lifestyle. To be likely wishing to steal any technology catching interest. If are coming here, likelihood of supers in pursuit also high. And, given last contact with present dimension involved dimension to be being full of psychotic fascists, violent conflict also presenting high probability."
He raised a scaly eyebrow. "To be suggesting further that Recluse to be being deranged megalomaniac posessing more power than sense, but to be also suggesting that is own worst enemy; thwarts self quite effectively, and to be likely being far more dangerous if presented with more coherent target than 'whole world'." The big tank, it could be seen, had little respect for many of the superpowered menaces that abounded on his world; while he treated them with as much caution as was necessary, he considered the majority of them to be morons at best. Dangerous morons, to be sure, but morons nonetheless. And that he considered free will significantly more important than whatever quasi-Orwellian utopia the SSR would bring.
"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 ]
"Last time I held off on an attack on humans, about a billion people were killed."
[/ QUOTE ]
"Oh...", Isabel trailed off, slightly stunned by that little announcement. "I guess that explains the prejudice against humans, at least..." Idly she had to wonder if that was half a billion innocent civilians, opposing military troops or a little of both. Killing enemy troops in a war was after all far different from slaughtering noncombatants.
[ QUOTE ]
Have been hearing tales of far too many worlds conquered 'for own good' by powerful idiots. Or exploding while powerful idiots attempted conquest 'for own good'.
[/ QUOTE ]
"He's got a point there", Isabel mused. "You don't even need to look at other worlds, a good half or more of the villains and other assorted crazies in Paragon think they're doing things for the greater good. Look at Doc Vahz, for example. He thinks he's trying to cure all diseases or some such. Admirable goal, wouldn't you think? And I won't even get started on Malta."
------------
[ QUOTE ]
"Hello." she told Valerie neutrally, "Please to come with me..."
[/ QUOTE ]
To say that Valerie was surprised would be an understatement. She hadn't thought that anyone had seen her, but apparently they were more crafty than they looked. She mentally kicked herself for being so careless even as she rolled over, her weapon coming up and discharging an EMP grenade in Sydonia's direction. Given what she knew of cyborgs she knew it wouldn't stop this one permanently, but with luck it'd disable her for long enough that Valerie could make a run for it with a decent chance of success.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
"Which is why from our point of view, your world is very messed-up." Vlasta remarked neutrally, letting out a sigh. He just wanted to be rid of these two already, "Granting people that much liberty sounds well, but doesn't work. There needs to be control, so that...why am I even saying this? I know you won't understand. Why do I bother?"
"Because you are stubborn to a fault." Wolfgang let out a light chuckle, "And you never change."
Teivos returned but a silent frown. He knew his friend was right. From what he'd gotten so far, Zeo (and Isabel too, perhaps) thought it casually amusing to 'thwart' the villains of their world - or apparently in some cases just watch them do it themselves - rather than stepping in and stopping them for good, and that was something he just had no sympathy for whatsoever.
"Face it," the cyborg added, "your skull is just as thick as the day you overthrew the old government on Esertos."
This time, the Tsaigon couldn't help but smirk, giving a defeated shrug, "Fair. Now the two of you come already. I'd like to get back to not conquering your world for its own good. Or do I need to kick you through the portal myself? Because I will..."
--------------------
As Sydonia crashed to the ground, or rather the roof, her backup mobilized. An M7A7 rose up over the edge, the hovertank's guns swiveling in on Valerie in tandem with the rifles of the troop it carried.
"Don't even try it." the vehicle's speaker system conveyed with a dry, volumous tone, "Put down your weapon and you will not be harmed."
As the metal Tsaiv pried her face off the roof surface, several more soldiers joined in from other directions...
"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 Teivos a cool glare, or at least as cool as could be managed with those blazing yellow eyes. "To not be wishing to paraphrase old politicians, but situation too appropriate not to; 'Societies that trade liberty for safety deserve neither and will lose both.' Humans incompatible with totalitarian rule." he said flatly.
"To be indicating location of portal, and self will pass through. Prior to said indicating, are welcome to attempt kicking, but will likely end badly." he added.
"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 ]
"Which is why from our point of view, your world is very messed-up."
[/ QUOTE ]
"No, I assure you it's very messed up from our point of view too", Isabel shot back, somewhat offended by the implication that she didn't care about the state of her world. "Thing is, Zeo there has a very valid point. Trying to forcibly impose control on humans, powers or not, will never work. They're simply too independent for it. The only kind of rule the majority will accept is one that the majority supports - your basic democracy, pretty much. And even then it's not perfect, you get all kinds of nutjobs saying their way is better, etc etc."
"But trying to go the other way, as you have here, doesn't fare any better. The last time someone tried it, the whole planet went to war. Well, almost the whole planet. Everyone with the resources to do it, at least. So tell me, what's better? An at times very dubious peace, or another world war?"
[ QUOTE ]
"I'd like to get back to not conquering your world for its own good. Or do I need to kick you through the portal myself? Because I will..."
[/ QUOTE ]
"Good. As long as it stays as not conquering, we'll have no further problems with you. I can't speak for everyone though. Just one request. If someone from our world does attack you for whatever stupid reason, just take vengeance on the ones responsible rather than the whole world ok? Rikti did that with Nemesis, and look where that got us."
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[ QUOTE ]
"Don't even try it." the vehicle's speaker system conveyed with a dry, volumous tone, "Put down your weapon and you will not be harmed."
[/ QUOTE ]
Of course. It never was that easy. "Fine", Valerie practically spat, slowly lowering her weapon to the ground and obviously not happy about being forced to do so. Where did they pull these tanks and choppers from, she wondered, every single time there was the slightest disturbance. They just seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Idly, she had to wonder what she'd done to deserve such a thing anyway. She'd been half expecting the cyborg to just shoot her in the back and be done with it as she tried to run.
[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 reiterate: different worlds, different standards." the Tsaigon couldn't help but facepalm, wondering just how his thoughts of Primal and 'Axis' Earth being too different for Zeo to understand hadn't come across yet. Of course, he was wrong to think so, but had no way of knowing that, "Yours might be. The ones here are not. If they were, I doubt they would've asked us to stay."
"Now..." he took a deep breath to prevent himself from shouting, "...just what about the word 'come' is so difficult for your understanding? Because if I have to say it a fourth time and still get no response from either of you...so fine, I have nothing. But I'd seriously like to stop repeating myself here because you are more dense than Vltava bulkhead."
He once more motioned toward the door. Why wouldn't these people just move already?!
"Oh, and to answer your question," he turned to Isabel a moment (hopefully while already heading toward the elevator), speaking normally once more, "Neither. I don't know enough about your world to be in a position to give it to you, but you need to find a third option. Your humanity will destroy itself if you let it continue as you have. I don't need detailed understanding of your society to know this. The conflict surrounding Israel alone..."
"Um, actually that's mine." Griffin interjected, causing Teivos to think a moment.
"Right." the Sovereign nodded, addressing the heroes again, "Wrong Earth, same problem. They haven't found their third solution either - and time is running out. Don't let it for your world. You have power. Make use of it. Change your world..."
--------------------
With a sound of compressed thunder, a soldier's launcher discharged, blasting a high-tension net over Valerie. The locking mechanisms sprang into action almost instantly, tightening the strands and taking her down.
She had indeed been shot in the back - but not by the cyborg.
"Take her to the Myjava." Sydonia did however once more give orders, even while she still cleared her head of the daze as she stood. She looked groggily to the human woman, complaining grumpily, "Was that really necessary?"
She didn't want for an answer though, the soldiers picking Valerie up and carrying her off toward the submarine pen...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Flashpoint Zeo had started to follow Teivos, but the man kept starting and stopping, to the point that the big tank had started to wonder if he was just doing some odd stutter-step variant on pacing around. "Human nature not changing much between worlds, according to what little self has seen. To be cautioning to rule with light hand; or problems likely once peace and safety restored." he suggested as Teivos took half a step towards the door yet again.
"As to 'change world'- to have neither temperament nor desire to rule, nor enforce rule. To be considering best current option to be preventing self-destruction until third option found. And to point out have been doing reasonable job of such so far; to be pointing out that 'different standards' holding true in other direction as well." he added.
Then, in a slightly exasperated tone, he added "To be following once are actually moving."
"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 ]
"Neither. I don't know enough about your world to be in a position to give it to you, but you need to find a third option. Your humanity will destroy itself if you let it continue as you have."
[/ QUOTE ]
Isabel nodded, she knew that already. "I know that. I'm not disagreeing with you, just saying you'd probably be better off leaving us to find said third option on our own rather than stepping in and imposing yours on us. All that'd get you would be an interdimensional war. One both sides would probably lose, considering the amounts of power likely to be thrown around in such a situation." With that, she made to follow the man, as she'd been doing all this time except for when he felt the need to stop to talk - apparently walking and talking at the same time wasn't within his capabilities.
-------------
[ QUOTE ]
She looked groggily to the human woman, complaining grumpily, "Was that really necessary?"
[/ QUOTE ]
"Yes, it was. Very", Valerie replied. "And I could ask the same of you regarding this net, I'd already surrendered and all."
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
Actually, Teivos had been walking and talking this entire time. Turning to speak to someone didn't require stopping to do so, after all. Why these two seemed incapable of seeing that was beyond him, so he just attributed it to them being from a different world again and left it at that.
He did the same in regard to their remarks. From his point of view, it was obvious neither of them was truly listening, one touting his own - and admittedly limited - experience as a basis to give advice to him regarding things he didn't understand, and the other parroting back exactly what he'd said less than a minute ago as if it was her own idea.
Arriving in the entry corridor to the submarine pen, they soon encountered a bickering bundle of net and cyborg, Sydonia huffily insisting that Valerie had tried to run, the second of course heavily protesting so. When Vlasta cleared his throat, the Tsaiv's end made room for jumping to attention.
"Let her out." the Tsaigon waved a dissatisfied hand toward the human woman, his order quickly obeyed. He leaned a bit over to Griffin, "She still feels the same, right? No tricks and such."
The 'mythological beast' gave a nod, looking from Isabel to Valerie in the process, "Yeah, she and her are the same. Well, not the same, but...uh..."
"We get it, Griff." Wolfgang comradely put an arm around the griffin, shaking the guy a bit, "You need to loosen up. When we get back to Esertos, I take you to my mother's restaurant. We'll show you a good time."
Teivos smiled, but didn't let it distract him from the matter at hand. He led the way further on, the corridor walls soon becoming transparent and freeing view into the sub pen proper - which more resembled a super-scaled underground hangar than anything else. There were docks, but the only thing of true note moored down here was the huge starship, alone the upper half of which took up most of the pen's volume.
Painted in a strange camouflage pattern that consisted of black, grays, and dark blues, the vessel reminded of a sleeker version of the Mon Calamari Cruiser Liberty from Star Wars. However, it was fairly obvious even to the untrained eye that this was no civilian craft retrofitted for combat. This was a warship. This was a HUL Myjava.
"We put the portal in the main hangar." the Sovereign explained curtly, and assuming there were no further interruptions would take them there to be sent back to Primal Earth...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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[ QUOTE ]
"We put the portal in the main hangar." the Sovereign explained curtly, and assuming there were no further interruptions would take them there to be sent back to Primal Earth...
[/ QUOTE ]
He wouldn't get any from Isabel, who'd decided to shut up since he didn't seem to be listening at all anyway. She did however have something to ask of Griffin, who she turned to as they walked along towards the portal. "What do you mean, the same?", she asked curiously.
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Upon being dropped in an unceremonious heap on the group, Valerie slowly untangled herself and got up. She threw venomous looks at both the cyborg and the soldier that'd netted her before begrudgingly following along with the group.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
Flashpoint Zeo took one look at the obdurate look on the Sovereign's face, sighed, and let the subject drop. It was clear the man had absolutely no interest in any viewpoint save his own rather draconian control-freak-ish one. Obviously, talking wouldn't save the day on this one.
He trailed after, glanced around at the hangar bay, and gave an unimpressed grunt at the super-ship-thing- even if it was a match for one of the titanic Rikti Motherships, the heroes of Primal Earth had handled that sort fo thing before. The big tank parked himself in front of the portal and waited.
"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"
((Happy birthday, Cham. 
))
"Well, go ahead." Teivos threw a hand toward the gateway, which while just as large as the ones Zeo was used to from Portal Corporation back home made significantly less ruckus. This may have come from the fact that its aperture filled the entire iris, the low (though wide) ramp before it having no other purpose than to make passage of the outer ring itself more comfortable.
Well, either that or just cause problems. A trio of Tsaiv engineers complained bitterly that the ship was unsuited to do this properly, grumbling questions as to whose bright idea it had been to take something this small instead of a 'real' battleship. The Tsaigon but cleared his throat, indicating a certain metal Coldok with the palm of a hand, which quieted them down.
"And don't come back." Wolfgang didn't care to get involved though, still focused on Zero, arms crossed, "Vlasta will be issuing a public statement after this to explain everything, but it'll take us a while to really convince people to vote again. You show up again and you'll scare a whole lot into not coming to election."
But while these three (and a few more) had gone ahead, some others had fallen behind, which had given Griffin a chance to answer Isabel's question out of their immediate earshot...well, in a somewhat roundabout way, but still coherently enough to get the idea across: namely, that he could perceive a good many things about the world that many other people couldn't, and that in that sense Valerie and Isabel 'looked' very alike. The logical conclusion for that, at least in Teivos' opinion, had to be that they were from the same world - which he of course assumed to be Primal Earth.
"So...why do you guys hate Teivos so much?" he wanted to know in return, finally overcoming his shy nature and getting the question out there, "I mean...I'm from a world a lot like yours. In mine though...well, people don't have superpowers. I know I can't speak for everyone...but a lot of us would like it if someone came and got rid of all the bad people. You...you don't like that...?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
((M'kay then, I guess it's about time to close this up. Was a fun idea, but I guess just not quite the right thing for here. Anyway, I had a good amount of fun, and hope everyone else did too. Cheers. 
))
"Griffin, we have no time for sidebar conversations." Vlasta waved a motion for the rest to head over to the gateway, "Remember, still much work to do with this, so we can't just keep it on their world all day."
The griffin accepted this uneasily enough, not truly feeling off edge again until the Esertosians had ushered Zeo, Isabel, and Valerie back through to their world, Wolfgang giving order to shut down the gate behind them.
He and Teivos still weren't so sure this had been the right decision, but as the machinery ceased operation, they had to admit it was probably the most practical. Maybe some day in the future, something could be done to remedy things on Primal Earth, but for now, they'd just have to wait and see. For now, they had a terrorist group to kill, an election to restart, a whole bunch more portal math to do, and a likely very ticked old fisherman of a neighbor to pacify.
Well alright, so the calculations they'd have people smart enough to do them work of course. Their neighbor though, him they'd have to take care of personally. Hopefully, Griffin could help by making big enough eyes - otherwise the consequences of having missed the old man's invitation to lunch could be disastrous. It was after all tradition...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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"Negative." Wolfgang slowly shook his head at Isabel's question regarding Rularuu, "Sounds like a bad case of intestinal infection..."
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"Hah, if only he was", Isabel replied somewhat belatedly, having gotten distracted by a certain picture of a flying birthday cake on Teivos' desk and wondering what the point of such a thing was. "Actually, for all intents and purposes, he's a god. As in, 'consumes entire universes on a whim' sort of power. Admittedly he's probably the most extreme example and technically he doesn't reside in our universe but we've tangled with him a few times. Not always ending in our favor, I might add." For that one, she actually could provide personal experience if required as she'd spent a significant amount of time in the Shard. For all the dangers, flinging oneself from island to island via gravity geyser was still exhilarating. Especially if, as Isabel could, you had your own flight to catch yourself with in the all too common event that they missed.
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"Yes, that means I still do not believe you"
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"But you're willing to at least check it out and confirm exactly which group has been lying to you, right." For his sake he'd better be. "Under the circumstances, probably as good as we're going to get. Though I still have to wonder why you believe them so easily but refuse to believe us..."
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?