Valerie paid little attention to the Kommandant's explanation of their world's recent history, not unsurprisingly since she'd lived through it same as he had. Isabel on the other hand turned away from her watch of the tracks behind them and listened. Her response was much the same as Flashpoint's, Portal Corp were the very best when it came to interdimensional anything. And even if they couldn't stop the invasion before it even got there, the sheer number of metahumans hanging around not only Paragon but most other major cities would stop them dead in their tracks through overwhelming numbers if nothing else.
Flashpoint said it better than she could though, so she merely nodded her agreement and returned to watching their rear.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
"If I may intrude upon the conversation..."
The little red power drone that had, until recently, been buzzing around Egregore's prone body, floated into the room.
"You mentioned that you wanted us to help you in your goal of helping the Dark Sovereign to shuck the mortal coil. You have not yet told us your short or long term goals which would naturally pertain to your desired eventual outcome. In addition, if this world has been cut off from ours in addition to multiple others, then what caused the recent incursion?"
War turned to face the newcomer with little surprise. He'd worked with plenty of alien forces before when the Horsemen were hired by the Russian government, after all.
"Yeah, man. Had a bit of a run-in with an exploding portal, got dropped here, you know. Next thing we know we're working for the government, or what I sincerely hope is the strongest faction in these parts, anyway."
"Funny how these things go." Famine nodded from the other side of his armored comrade as he flicked a training balisong quietly between his his hands. "You sign up to this hell for merc work? What's your story?" He asked of the alien, only slightly frowning as he clumsily let the trainer close around a finger.
"Your word in God's ear." the Kommandant answered Zeo with genuine concern, what he'd heard from the soldiers that had brought these people here not inspiring the greatest confidence. He truly hoped he was wrong.
"As for an aftermath...to be frank, we have not given it much thought." Kruger chuckled in a dark manner, "Fighting to survive each day changes your priorities. Limits them. Command could probably tell you...if they are still alive. They have not responded in three weeks. Generally, that means someone is either dead or in the process of getting there in a slow and painful manner."
"All I know is that it has to stop." he looked intently at Flashpoint, then shook his head, "Obey or die, this is not a way for human beings to live."
"And I am afraid that to your question,,." he turned to Egregore's drone, stopping once he'd gotten a good look at it. He blinked, taken aback, but remembered the many modules on the cyborg that somewhat resembled this thing as he inquired of Flashpoint with a finger pointed at the machine, "...is...that him? The real him? Is that body just a suit...?"
--------------------
"You don't say?" the orange being gave War a brief smirk. That, however, disappeared once more as his drink arrived, the brown eyes between the implant staring gravely into the container's contents, "Is a small world. Or worlds. And my story? My story is that one of my best friends is in the hospital and I can do nothing to bloody well help because the thrice-damned doctors won't even let me near him."
It seemed to take him a moment to realize just how he'd said that, as it was only then that the frustrated visage became one of self-consciousness, the orange being glanced sideways at War and Famine in that fashion.
"My apologies." his eyes closed while he let out a brief sigh, "I shouldn't greet new faces with my burdens. Where are my manners today?"
He turned his barstool to face extending a hand to War with a light smile, "Vlasta. Always a pleasure to meet new people. Welcome to this world; though I do resent that hell comment a little..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
OOC:
Egregore is still in argue mode with the E.E. 
Legion, the little red power drone, is the one present.
((Edited.))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Flashpoint Zeo stood, still unruffled. "Is perhaps time to begin thinking of aftermath. Leaving end to chance close to guaranteeing chaos and bloodbath worse than anything Dark Sovereign manages. Tyrant usually likes to have kingdom left at end of day, limits options for carnage somewhat." The massive tank glanced out the window of the train, watching the tunnel walls rush by.
He glanced at the little drone when it spoke. "Think have missed part of conversation." he said, not particularly perturbed that a small red drone was speaking to him. In nearly two decades as a super, he'd certainly seen odder. "Technology, rather than contact, lost. Technology recently reinvented, recovered, whatever. Incursion caused to try and retrieve crazy [censored] evil Statesman popsicle to stop even worse crazy [censored] evil. Unsure of logic, but not my world." he said with a shrug.
He glanced back at the Kommandant at the man's question. "Supposed to know how? Ask thing, guaranteed more reliable answer then." he said offhandedly. Given that the thing didn't seem inclined to try and kill him, the tank rather doubted it was the 'real' Egregore, but, lacking any further information, didn't feel like guessing.
"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"
"Everything's hell to my associate here, buddy." War grinned, shaking Vlasta's hand firmly. "Name's War, as far as everybody knows. Raging War'd be my Title. I'm what you'd call a hired gun. This here's Bleak Famine, my friend and coworker, who you'd call a hired bomb."
"I do what I can." Famine nodded behind his ally.
"It actually seems like a nice enough place." War shrugged, glancing around again almost as though he was making sure he wasn't lying to himself. "Besides the whole being spilled here through a hellish vortex."
"War, you teleport all the [censored] time, don't be such an [censored] to our new friend here." Famine snarled, "Sorry, pal, we really do get along when it's down to the wire, honest. So, what's the deal with your friend over in the triage? Doc's doin' some kind of delicate surgery?"
"That is easy to say." the Kommandant folded his hands over the table, placing the sentence's emphasis on the last word, "At this point, it is a fairly basic game: whoever kills the other first wins. We hesitate, we lose. We lose, we die. Makes for little incentive to think of 'what if' scenarios later. Like I said, Command may have an answer - but you would need to find them first..."
--------------------
Vlasta couldn't help a brief, hearty chuckle at War's comment during the handshake, not to mention Famine's return to his comrade after. He knew more than one duo like these guys, but before he could retort, the mercenary brought the subject of his friend up again.
"I don't know." he retorted with a concerned shrug of his shoulders, glancing at his glass again, "They won't even let me near him. Heck, they didn't want to let me off the Molvia. Good thing I can be sneaky when I want to be. But they already had him in the ambulance, and when I tried to get on, they came up with all this garbage to keep me away. I mean, I understand why, but..."
He sighed again, "...I'm just not used to running into problems that large enough force can't fix. Thing is, lately the universe seems to disagree with me on that..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"No." The power drone replied to the Kommandant. "In the meantime, would it be possible to move said body further down the train? Preferably the last one? He has been sent into a code black hostility protocol, and we are trying to reason with his external source. It is proving stubborn, and should we fail to placate it the cyborg will fly into a suicidal rampage. As a last resort we can either toss him overboard before he becomes active, or possibly even disconnect the last car."
"It's obvious you're not using enough force." War nodded wisely to his new acquaintance. "But maybe there's a better way to go about this."
Famine looked past War again. "War's right. We haven't ironed out the fine print of our contract with these guys yet. Chances are we won't until we've met with their rep again. We might be able to convince them to fill us in on this guy as part of our deal with them, if you think it'd be worth a shot..."
"Of course," War interjected again, "As much as we love making friends, chances are if they agree we'd be giving something else up. So we may require some sort of reimbursement..."
"It is not." the Krieger retorted to Legion, a motion of his hand indicating Isabel standing at the rear of the car, keeping watch on the tracks behind them through the windows of the connector door, "But according to description...if worse comes to worse, I...think we could take him. Not sure. What is his story anyway? Why is he like this...?"
--------------------
"Right, you said you'd hired on with the government." Vlasta recalled, the earlier remark having slipped his mind in the changing subjects, "So you haven't finalized the terms yet, hm?"
"I see." he couldn't help but smile, "Well, allow me to help with that. You s-"
Before he could finish, the front door crashed open, whipping his head about to look at the metal Caldok that now entered the building - the same cyborg War and Famine had seen by the helicopter at the research institute (or at least the same model), glowing, sapphire-blue eyes glaring daggers at their orange new friend.
Behind him followed several VB officers, their overcoats trailing in swift step. Interestingly enough, these weren't armed with the high-tech-looking weapons from before, but rather a more traditional form of armament: the Steyr AUG. The cyborg, on the other hand, carried only a pistol on the holster of his belt, the one article of clothing he wore on his full-metal body. Akin to a police officer's, it also held several other pockets and loops. Still, he was clearly the most lightly armed of them all - though that didn't take any force out of his glare.
"Uh-oh, I'm in trouble." Vlasta in turn mentioned in a mumble out the side of his mouth, then glanced to the mercenaries without turning his head toward them, "If you value your sanity, come with me. I will run now."
The bartender seemed to already be ahead of his patron, the door to the kitchen open long before Vlasta leaped from his stool and over the bar, making a break for it...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"I will not bore you with the intricate details. That is for him to tell you." Legion said. "But rest assured, I have no doubt you could take him with some assistance from your new super-powered friends. The self-destruct sequence afterwards, maybe not. You were not far off the mark when you asked if his body was only a shell. He is, in fact, himself. He has a personality and free will. But he is never alone, and even he must bow to the will of Others, nearby or within. Hence why him even being present is a danger to us all. If he wakes up, there will be trouble. If we kill him, there will be trouble. I may be able to calm down the exterior source, but if not...We will give you a warning. It is advisable he be removed from the transport if we should."
"I did not mean killing him, but I see your point." the Kommandant nodded with understanding, wondering briefly if everyone from Primal Earth was this violent.
And they say they haven't been conquered by the Reichsman? Hard to believe.
Then again, the one who had introduced himself as Flashpoint Zeo had pointed out that they had rather easily defeated the Amerika Korps, and didn't really seem to consider anything a threat. Kruger had to admit, a philosophy of resorting to immediate force would produce highly skilled warriors, no doubt about it. He would have to inquire further about this later.
"In any case, you say this exterior source can control him?" the Krieger queried, wanting to know, "Can we cut it off from him? Jam its signal somehow? If so, what effect would this have...?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
((Just a small post containing nothing much of anything, to prove I'm still here ))
Isabel just kept quiet while the others discussed the cyborg's future, or possible lack thereof. Were it up to her he'd be a smoking corpse already, but it wasn't up to her and thus she had nothing much to add to the discussion that hadn't already been said. She did however keep one eye on Egregore while continuing to watch the tracks behind them, just in case. She was also aware of the soldier's continued stare. "What?", she finally demanded.
Valerie almost jumped, she hadn't thought Isabel was aware of her what with being focused on the tracks and all. "You... look like someone I knew, once...", she replied, though it was fairly clear she'd originally intended to say something else.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
"Would prefer to avoid random murder, if possible." Flashpoint interjected, sounding a bit pained. "Limits future options, and is... distatestful. Judging by craziness of idiot when triggered, though, not-killing possibly not option."
"Would not suggest jamming signal- if are sufficiently paranoid to cause 'boom' when cyborg defeated, are likely sufficiently paranoid to cause boom when signal stops also." he added.
Then he turned thoughtful. "Triggered..." he mused. "Attack focussed on self; cause known to you?" he asked the drone, facing it directly for the first time, rather than staring out the windows.
"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"
"Oh no." Legion said in response to the Kommandant, the drone's genderless monotone voice faltering for the first time as it displayed a possible emotion: Humor. "We knew you did not intend to kill him. It is standard protocol to detonate before capture. The only exception to this is stasis lock, which only initiates in certain conditions. Last time, it was assumed all objectives were completed, thus no explosive end. If the cyborg were to be rendered unconscious before he has rationalized his objective is complete...Well."
[ QUOTE ]
"Would not suggest jamming signal- if are sufficiently paranoid to cause 'boom' when cyborg defeated, are likely sufficiently paranoid to cause boom when signal stops also." he added.
[/ QUOTE ]
"That is a very astute observation." Legion praised the fiery tanker.
[ QUOTE ]
Then he turned thoughtful. "Triggered..." he mused. "Attack focussed on self; cause known to you?" he asked the drone, facing it directly for the first time, rather than staring out the windows.
[/ QUOTE ]
"There are three listed situations in which his prime directive can be modified by the exterior source. If the exterior source is threatened, another reason not usually disclosed to outsiders, and finally if the cyborg detects the source code language of the interior source. The language is, as I just suggested, a source code of sorts. It serves as a code to translate...Well, we are not at liberty to say. It is important enough to warrant the destruction of whatever can speak it aside from the cyborg."
The drone's four red lights buzzed a little brighter than they had been moments before.
"Play-backs of the earlier fight reveal that his audio sensors perceived you speaking in the correct fashion to initiate a code black hostility termination primary directive. Due to the nature of the language, it tends to manifest very obvious signs around those who speak it. Since none of these signs have manifested, one can conclude that you are using some manner of trickery...as it were."
"Trickery not involved." the Tanker said, sounding faintly amused. "Is related to nature of speech pattern and workings of human brain."
He waved a huge gauntlet at the various passengers on the train. "Am speaking what language?" he asked the traincar at large.
((So, as a reminder- anybody (human... or genetically engineered by humans, as their brain architecture would likely be at least partially based on humans) listening to Flashpoint Zeo would hear him speaking their native language, no matter how obscure. There are a handful of exceptions, but I don't think anyone currently near him qualifies...))
"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"
((Aye, we know. And speaking of reminders; Rebel, you do recall me saying this thread would depend on people being proactive? Well, that doesn't mean just your characters. Want an attack on the train to happen? Write one. I'll run with it. Want it to arrive somewhere? Same idea. Come to a stop, mysterious blockage of tracks? All plausible. I'm more than willing to share control here, as the only thing specified is actually Teivos and the original ZBV cyborgs. Any number of other things can happen here. 
))
--------------------
Those in the car of course retorted with various declarations of English and German, though some other nationalities had been thrown in as well. In any case, Zeo's point was very much proven by example.
"You say his...audio sensors perceived the correct fashion to be spoken?" the Kommandant meanwhile queried of the floating drone, "Is there any chance they could be damaged? If not, could we add a pass?"
Legion would of course know that Kruger meant by pass: a filter program or band-pass subset function that differentiated between the true source code and things that just seemed very close to it, but were in fact simple coincidence. Such a filter could then establish whether an exact match was given or not, depending on the variation of its residual...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"His audio sensors were uplifted just a few days previously. They are in working order. And we are afraid a pass would be impossible, simply because even a slightly coincidental variation would manifest some noticeable changes. As a very primitive example, if a source code language was based upon any normal sound or series of sounds, no matter how rarely encountered, then it suddenly can be translated into other languages as well as being triggered every time that sound occurs. Hence, this language is not based on any kind or type of noise or communication that any of us here, excluding the cyborg, can produce. This is why his prime directive is automatically modified if he registers even the barest beginnings of the source code being used."
Legion turned to Flashpoint.
"You did bring up a potential solution, however. You said that your method of speaking is related to the workings of the human brain. Removal of such from the cyborg should therefore be sufficient. Unfortunately, there is no way to simply make his technological components forget what he heard in the first place. The only thing we can do at present is wait and see if the exterior source can be pacified."
((Actually Devious, no I didn't until you mentioned it.))
Sighing quietly to herself, Isabel got up and came back over to the others. "Somehow I think if they were going to catch us they would have done so", she commented by way of explanation. She seemed almost disappointed, as if she'd been hoping for a fight. Be more interesting than this endless discussion of the cyborg at least.
As she sat down, she realised something. "Why are we slowing down?", she asked with a small hint of alarm. "We're not there yet are we?" If one was to look outside, they would notice that the tunnel wall was indeed passing by the windows more slowly.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
((you may regret this, Devious >.>)
Flashpoint Zeo gave the cyborg a dubious look. If this 'outside source' were in constant contact, that meant that he had at least a tenuous thread back to Primal Earth, or at least someplace that had the capability to get there... a useful bit of information to know.
"Are in contact with outside source?" he asked the drone. "If only place 'source code' is heard is inside head of idiot, would suggest is time for outside source to remove stick..." this last with a surprisingly eloquent gesture, despite being rendered by hands swathed in several inches of steel... "and get on with things."
Then his head snapped up. He didn't even hear Isabel's question about them slowing, but held up an authorative hand. "To be holding on to something." he snapped. Then the train jerked as if it had just been derailed... or as if something very large and/or strong had just latched on and begun pulling.
The train jerked again, and a huge, vaguely transparent boot flashed past the window to disappear again. Then ghostly fingers the size of bananas appeared through the ceiling. They solidified with a shower of sparks and shriek of wrenching metal, then peeled back like that cheap plastic you can never quite get off slices of processed cheese.
The huge ghost thus revealed ignored the passengers and slid inside the traincar, grabbing the floor and hauling on it, heaving against the force of the engine. It was easily four or five meters tall, and bore at least a vague resemblance to the Tsoo's Ancestor Spirits, although, aside from being much larger, it also looked far more heavily armoured, and glints here and there suggested recessed blades.
Ahead, two more ghosts were holding grimly on to the train, while two more were coming up from behind. The tunnel was filling rapidly with otherworldly mist, and stacatto chanting in Cantonese could dimly be heard, strengthening as the mist got thicker.
"Guessing China not fully pacified by Dark Sovereign." Flashpoint commented drily as he picked himself up off the floor. The big tank was now one of the strongest illumination sources in the area, all other lights seeming oddly muffled and far away.
"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"
"Hey man where ya going?" Famine frowned. "These are the good guys..."
"Deal with them." War shrugged to Famine. "I'll go see what's up."
Just like that, War exploded into a viscous cloud of vaporous blood which proceeded to sweep its way across the bar and through the kitchen.
"Jesus I hate his stupid Bloodport. Hey gents, how can I help you...?"
[ QUOTE ]
"Guessing China not fully pacified by Dark Sovereign."
[/ QUOTE ]
"I'd be more inclined to think they're on his side, since they're attacking us...", Isabel commented. Regardless, they were unquestionably hostile either to the rebels or to those from Primal Earth, so she raised both hands and blasted them. The Tsoo Ancestor Spirits of her dimension she knew to be somewhat weak to energy-based attacks, and these things bore more than a passing resemblance so it stood to reason they would share that weakness.
Valerie meanwhile aimed her rifle at the.... whatever they were..., but didn't fire until the commanding officers gave the order.
((I'm pretty sure the Ancestor Spirits ingame actually are weak to energy, correct me if I'm wrong.))
[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 had listened to the brief history of the Dark Sovereign impassively, his body language almost perfectly still and his cowled face giving away nothing of what he thought. "Am not worried about Primal Earth. Portal Corps very, very good at job; have cut off large number of unwanted dimensional intrusions without trouble." he started. "World here different story. What happens when otherworldly warmonger gets boot?" the burning giant asked.
That their small team could do it he had little doubt; the superhuman residents of Paragon City did the impossible so routinely that they got rather dangerously blase about it. The situation here was unquestionably grave, but after Rularuu, Praetorian Earth, the Rikti, Nemesis, the Malta Group, Arachnos, the Nictus and the Council, the Carnival of Shadows, the Tsoo, the Family, the Freakshow, the Psychic Clockworks, the Crey Corporation... it was easy to see why a dimension-full of ultra-tech cyborg supersoldiers and war machines kind of got a 'been there, done that' reaction from the long-time super.
Of course, none of this was evident in his voice or stance, merely quiet confidence.
"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"