Drago didn't resist. He couldn't. His body had gone on the offensive against the Venom nanobots, and though it was making precious little progress, the conflict brought about some serious stress. Couple that with large, armor-piercing slug having entered your body, and one got some fairly debilitating pain...
--------------------
"Understood." returned the Sky Commander, then looked to Cher'tak while removing the fingers from the side of his head again, "I am heading to join her. See if the prisoners know anything."
With that, the draconian spread his wings and bent his knees, then shot off the floor like a coiled spring, out the hole in the roof not a second later. Once he'd gained some altitude, he too set course to pursue the tumbling van...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
[ QUOTE ]
A stray thought crossed her mind: What about the kid? ...THE KID!
"Millions!" she outbursted in her shock. "We left him on the corner!" She got up and quickly made her way to the door, apparently not as exhausted as she thought.
[/ QUOTE ]
Far too late.
As Lore rushed outside, barely a few meters in front of the entrance was the signs of a fight and/or struggle. The remains of one exploded agent were scattered about the vicinity, many pieces of pavement appeared to have been ripped apart by something or other, and there was roughly around two gallons of blood splattered about EVERYWHERE. A very suspiciously specific trail of it seemed to indicate somebody, bleeding heavily, had been dragged out to the street where the trail suddenly stopped at the edge of the pavement with no visible explanation as to why. Scraps of a torn suit were littered about the street at this point.
Good grief. There was nothing.
Looking around the remains of the Sedadyne warehouse interior, Dynamo Rose flipped over some tables, checked under the exploded remains of corpses for something--anything that could illuminate more about what was going on there.
And apparantly there wasn't a damn thing.
Glancing back at the Rikti by cages, Cassie and her Assault-bot working on the disembodied head, Rose cussed.
So. Swallow her pride and go over and help interview hostages, or fumble around in the wreckage and hope there was something she missed?
"F***, f***, f***. Dan always said my mouth would get me in trouble."
Taking a long loop around to the cages, Rose pulled up her files on the missing regens. If any of these blokes looked like them, she'd be able to tell.
Standing next to the cage, Rose began to scan their faces. She didn't speak to the Rikti, and hoped he wouldn't actually mention it.
Infinity
Sam Varden 50 MA/Reg Scrap
Doomtastic 50 SS/Inv Brute
Ceus 50 Eng/Kin Corr
Cinderstorm 50 Fire/Fire Blaster
((Hm, looks like this thread could use a kick.))
On a rather random street, a rather random man walked a rather random path, contemplating on the improbability of it all. From afar, he didn't look like much, of average stature and slim, almost skeletal build, though his garb may have caused him to stand out just a bit. After all, he wore a finely cut, jet-black tux, complemented by a snow-white shirt and cufflinks, his shoes carried the dark luster of black leather, and his oddly large top hat, of course in the same dark hue to mesh, sat just a tad crooked on his head.
Still, it wasn't until one got close that one really noticed the 'reaper' cloth that wrapped around his neck, not to mention the lower half of his head. Why was also not apparent until then, for though deathly pale, only proximity revealed the man's head was but a bleach-white skull.
This was Basil R. Jones, better known in Paragon City (and the Rogue Isles) as Gentleman Bones, an undead, self-declared necromancer and master of the dark arts, who at present fiddled with the black gloves that hid the fleshless bones that were his hands, having slipped a bit after needing to readjust his monocle just a few moments ago. Being a skeleton, he had no nose, which made the little devil though to keep on at times.
Needless to say, he hadn't expected to see a very odd-looking van mash the ground not far away at the stomp of his foot, upset at the ill-fitting glove. Jerking to attention, the monocle departed his left eye socket once again, the tiny dot of light inside just a little bigger than before, as was of course the other. Long story short, his 'eyes' snapped open wide...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Cassie's work with the cyborg head actually came pretty easily. The charred flesh peeled off like it had been wrapped around the steel and some blood slicked off the steel. The odd thing was that it seemed to be actual flesh and blood. However these machines pulled that one off was certainly a medical marvel.
Hacking the device, access turning out to be a concealed USB port under a door-like plate, revealed a diagnostic program and a set of directives and instructions contained on the hard drive. Most of them dealt with security protocols for "affiliated companies." Others were more specific, related to how the "agents" should behave in case of meta human intervention. According to the notes, they'd acted precisely as they were programmed. There was also a portion on the drive apparently dedicated to to the personality of the agent. There were files on the man's family, his birthday and even the day he died.
According to the files, the agents were on loan from a security company called "Ayre/Webber Strategic Security." According to the coordinates, the company was based in London.
Dynamo Rose's inspection of the list of regenerators that were missing brought up some interesting results. She had both "hero" and "rogue" names in her file, but the individuals in the cages only matched the descriptions of some of the missing heroes. Roughly two thirds were still missing, and some of the individuals didn't even match the names on the list.
One of the unknown ones narrowed his eyes at her.
"I've heard of you," he hissed, "You're from the Isles! What the hell are criminals doing here!?"
"You think that's crazy," the one called Oakhammer grumbled, "Take a look over here. We have a Rikti standing guard over us."
"Aye-ca-rumba!"
----------
The van smoldered on the street. As Pax descended on the wreckage and Gentleman Bones approached, there was a bright green flash from the cargo box. The driver door then smashed open and what looked to be a very angry man emerged with an assault rifle.
"Lousy freaks!" he shouted hoarsely, "You think I'm goin' to the Zig, you got another thing comin'!"
He started firing erratically at the two meta humans. Bullets streaked wildly through the air and the man pulled a grenade from his belt to hurl at Gentleman Bones. He seemed either crazed or drugged, probably both.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"Hostility: Expected," Cher'tak remarked to Arek before Pax's report came in and the draconian bounded off.
Thinking that the alien, however non-human he appeared, would have been able to question the captives more effectively than he could, Cher'tak questioned his choice of actions, but couldn't do anything about it. Arek was already gone and he certainly couldn't leave the hostages alone with these villains.
"Not all Rikti: Villains," the Warmaster said as he stepped over to the cage, ignoring Rose. He tapped the Vanguard symbol on his chest plate and looked the people over, recognizing several of the heroes. While he talked, he mentally directed his suit to interface with the city's records, comparing the unknown faces to hero and known villain IDs.
"Name: Cher'tak," he began. "Myself, others: Mission: Rescue yourselves, others: From: Unknown attackers. Query: Your names, aliases. Additionally: Memories: Kidnappers, time: captured."
Hopefully they wouldn't refuse to talk to him on principle.
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.
Rose double checked the list. Crap. She thought about repeating what the Rikti said, but that would probably annoy the heroes, and if she was being honest with herself, quite childish.
She had shared living quarters with mass murderers on jobs before, and she couldn't bring herself to talk to a soldier? Focusing on the job, and the free dental, Rose spoke to the Rikti, "None of mine are here." she said to Cher'tak.
Grabbing a small holoprojector from her belt, Rose transmitted her list of names and pictures to the device, offering it for the Rikti to see. "They're all blues."
There. Now her twisted mind would allow her to sleep at night, having offered what was the closest thing she had to an apology.
[ QUOTE ]
"Name: Cher'tak," he began. "Myself, others: Mission: Rescue yourselves, others: From: Unknown attackers. Query: Your names, aliases. Additionally: Memories: Kidnappers, time: captured."
[/ QUOTE ]
Rose nodded her head at the Rikti, "What he said. And if you've been moved about and where the rest of your fellow captives might be."
Infinity
Sam Varden 50 MA/Reg Scrap
Doomtastic 50 SS/Inv Brute
Ceus 50 Eng/Kin Corr
Cinderstorm 50 Fire/Fire Blaster
Dr. Lore had been standing in a corner, quiet and distraught. Her eyes would sometimes dart in different directions as though they were looking for something to focus on, something positive, something that didn't direct anger towards herself. The kid was gone... Gone... Probably dead...
And it's your fault! YOU ran off and left him! YOU wanted to fight! YOU didn't wanna look like the sissy you were back in St. Martial. YOU left the kid to die!
One hand covered her frantic eyes. Everything felt like it was falling apart. It started to feel more and more as if it was her fault. Was it? Was there truely something she could have done differently?
The voice of the Rikti pulled her out of her self pity and she looked around again at the wrecked warehouse. Most of the party, hero and villain, had left in persuit of the truck. The captives in the cage had come around and were talking.
No, not captives... Patients... They were patients...
Shaking her head slightly as if to clear it, she went back to the cage and started helping the captives out. To keep her mind further occupied, she checked them over once again to make sure there weren't any injuries.
Everyone was asking the questions that she was going to ask, so she remained silent. "..."
The Freedom Server Wallflower (shhh, sleepy)
Angelfish on DrunkDuck.com
Dr. Lore at HeroCon 2008
Arc 67690: Out For Blood
[ QUOTE ]
"Lousy freaks!" he shouted hoarsely, "You think I'm goin' to the Zig, you got another thing comin'!"
[/ QUOTE ]
"People never know when they're beaten in this city", Pax commented angrily, leaping back into the air so as to more easily dodge the shots even though they weren't that accurate to begin with. "Fine, if we absolutely must do it the hardest way possible..." She glowed brighter for a moment, three spheres of light detaching from her aura and flying towards the screaming man. But instead of simply detonating harmlessly against the ground in the event they missed, they'd circle around and come after him again. Photon Seekers were like that, amazingly persistent when they felt like it.
--------------
"Man, there's some really weird stuff in here", Cassie informed the others, reading the information off a holographic screen helpfuly provided by Mac. "Looks like these cyborg guys were hired from a company named Ayre/Webber Strategic Security.... based in London, apparently. Anyone have a really fast jet or something?" She got up, walking cautiously over to the Rikti. Though she did keep the forcefield generator powered up just in case so she could blast the alien away on a moment's notice if needed. "So... you're working with the heroes? Man, now I really have seen everything."
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
Gentleman Bones was quite surprised at the man's appearance, and in fact to such a degree he didn't even react until a shell whizzed right through him, the undead man staggering back a step with a cringe, a pair of gloved fingers immediately at the front of his sizeable hat to ensure it didn't fall.
"Uy!" the points of light in his dark eye sockets narrowed, the necromancer unused to anything being able to do him true harm, and though he quickly stretched his other hand toward his attacker, the shadowy blast gathering between his fingers never got a chance to leave them. The reason for this was fairly simple.
A Dragon suddenly plowed the gunman into the ground.
"I disagree." Arek stated in his deep, dry tone, standing on the man's back, and knocked the grenade away with a swipe of his force lance before locking the gun-wielding arm down with the staff-like weapon. The other he restrained with his own, keeping nearly his full weight on the man through his large, clawed feet, even though now he of course crouched.
Though not impossible to knock off, with the armored guards and other equipment, the Sky Commander easily weighed more than 200 kg, a significant load even for most metahumans...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Post deleted by Dulmaire
((Okay, now that was just plain odd.
Any further newcomers, I'd like to take this moment and point out that Gregory Manning in Nerva Archipelago and Henry Wong in Atlas Park are still the main contacts in this situation. If your characters are responding to the e-mail, they should at least converse with them first. If there are any special introductions to be had, please let me know through a PM first (as Ninjin did) so we may discuss it.))
The prisoners explained their identities, one-by-one. Oakhammer and Ripper Shredder were two of some importance, what with Oak's recent kidnapping just a week ago setting off the city-wide investigation and Ripper's association with Bronze Shield.
Most of the heroes were of the scrapper variety, many well below their twentieth security level. The few that weren't, such as Oakhammer and Ripper Shredder, all said they had some form of caveat to their regenerative capabilities.
"I'm plant-based," the green-hued man explained, "My body repairs and regenerates if I have ready access to water, sunlight... Fertilizer..."
"And I..." Ripper's eyes rolled, "I need blood. I don't know the process, or how my system filters out disease, but I need blood in contact with my skin before I can fix myself. If I'm in a fight, that's pretty easy. Those freaks almost killed me before I got a scalpel and hacked one of them open... Weird blood, though... I fixed up alright, but my vision got all warped... Things still look kind of funny and curvy..."
The rest all had similar stories. Apparently, the agents were subjecting the regenerators to a battery of tests. They were careful not to "kill" them, for critical injury would have resulted in the heroes being ported to the LaGrange Medical Center. However, the tests were excruciatingly painful, and a few of the newer or younger heroes passed out long before the tests were completed. Those who had passed were transferred out while the agents waited for further orders on what to do with the rest.
"An incinerator would have been the death of me," Oakhammer explained, "MedCom's great and all, but I doubt the beacon can survive nearly a thousand degrees Fahrenheit. I'm fairly certain whoever was leading these men would have looked for such a method to do away with us."
"It feels weird talking to a Rikti," Ripper muttered, "Or a criminal... But... You guys probably saved our bacon. I guess you're cool in my book. As far as the guys who kidnapped me, I recognized the voice of one of 'em. The guy's name is Clancy Stein, uses the alias of 'Wrecthaus'... He's got a grudge against one o' my buddies, Frank... Frank Wellman. Don't know what he's doing out here, though."
"Otherwise," Oakhammer finished, "You've dealt with the rest of the people who've been keeping us detained. I didn't even know about those shadow-wizard-ninja things. Hopefully, your associates will have subdued the fleeing vehicle."
----------
The van's driver laughed maniacally as Arek pinned him down. He still tried to push the dragon off, and had a little success in moving his limbs about, but it was simply too much weight. Still laughing, the man sneered as best he could at the beast upon him, ready to shout more obscenities.
Then the world disappeared in a flash of bright white light as Pax's Photon Seekers struck home. When the light cleared, a smoldering crater was all that remained of the peculiar lunatic.
------------
There was a resounding crash in the super group base where the two bumbling meta humans brought Drago. When Psycho13 looked up from the visor of his flying bike, he saw his brother holding the armored man aloft.
"I told you we were coming in too fast!" the brute shouted, "Now come on!"
They hurtled down the halls with their charge, shouting for anybody in the base who could help them probably should. After a couple turns, they brought the soldier to a medical room and plopped him on a bed. As Psycho13 rifled through a triage manual for information on how to deal with a gunshot wound, Rgaing James kept pressure on the wound.
"What the Hell?" they heard from the medical room's entrance.
"Mark!" Psycho13 tossed the book aside, "Dude, we need help! This guy's dying on us, man!"
"I can see that," the corrupter opened the backpack he'd brought with him and pulled out what looked to be a small black and gray pyramid, "You guys still shouldn't be bringing any random fool into the base... Especially when they're in Arachnos armor!"
Setting the machine next to the bed, he clicked a button and the pyramid's black trim started glowing green. The top of the device started spinning and a green wave wafted throughout the room. This would heighten the regeneration process of the injured man (but only in places where the Venom didn't already take hold!). Mark then grabbed a set of surgical instruments from his backpack and proceeded to inspect them. Once he was sure they were sterile enough (by dousing them in alcohol), he turned to the individual.
"You guys should have called ahead," he muttered as he pulled a paper mask over his face and looked for the device that indicated the operative's identity, "I could have been all ready for this... Senior Operative Drago..."
He blinked a little.
"Wow... Okay, no pressure... I just have to be extra careful... First, sir, I'm going to have to remove the bullet... To help, I'm going to activate your serum. With any luck, it will benumb your sense of pain while I work..."
Without waiting for permission, Mark Shadow pressed the button on Drago's armor to activate the serum. James nodded as he realized suddenly what the Crab Spider had intended to do earlier.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Vaugely irritated that she had been recognized despite having a new look and a face concealing visor, Dynamo Rose listened as best she could. Yeah, definately sounded like mad science of some sort.
Rose nodded at the heroes as she recorded the information they gave. She began to google 'Wrecthause' 'Clancy Stein' and this 'Frank Wellman'.
"They bring in any black hats? probably stalkers." Rose displayed the faces of the missing villains and showed them to the heroes, "I know you probably don't care what happens to them, but we do."
It wasn't a complete lie, after all, she was being paid to care.
While she waited a for a response, Rose began to ping the comm gear of the rest of team. She saw Cassie, Jack and Lore, but as to Millions, Stalhound, and Drago...she had no idea where they were. She especially wasn't going to update Manning with their Crey Rep missing.
Infinity
Sam Varden 50 MA/Reg Scrap
Doomtastic 50 SS/Inv Brute
Ceus 50 Eng/Kin Corr
Cinderstorm 50 Fire/Fire Blaster
Unfortunately, Drago was no regular Crab Spider. He wore the backpack, but none of the usually accompanying armor, choosing instead that of the Wolf Spider. The button on the pack was there still - it just wasn't hooked up to anything. That's why he'd tried to get at that injector earlier.
In addition, though chances were rather remote due to several inhibiting factors (such as the blood of the wound, and of course James' hand presently on it), by now someone might have taken note that instead of the soft, lightly hair-covered skin that one would've expected from a human's abdominal area, a tough, rigid material that could've been keratin lay in the hole the bullet had torn through Drago's armor. Indeed, the only main difference was that it wasn't mostly transparent, but rather opaque and of such a dark hue of blue that even the term midnight blue no longer described it.
Due to the hole's relatively small size, it of course wasn't immediately apparent whether or not this belonged to something like an insectoid exoskeleton, but lifting up that portion of the Wolf Spider armor would certainly reveal it to be a plate that wasn't very large, only spanning about enough area to cover the abdominal muscle that lay beneath. This it of course no longer accomplished, cracked and shattered by the bullet, exposing the bloody flesh beneath. The round had gone deep, this stood without a doubt.
Whatever he was though, this guy wasn't at all happy, shakily turning his head to Mark with the grated words, "Drrrropped...injector...gggeeet back..."
--------------------
((Gonna hold off with Arek and Gentleman Bones until Rebel posts in regard to the seekers.))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
[ QUOTE ]
Then the world disappeared in a flash of bright white light as Pax's Photon Seekers struck home. When the light cleared, a smoldering crater was all that remained of the peculiar lunatic.
[/ QUOTE ]
"...the hell?", Pax asked, looking slightly stunned. The Photon Seekers alone shouldn't have completely vaporised the guy, unless she'd gone way too far with them. "Umm, oops?", she said in that same stunned tone, looking around for Arek and hoping whatever had got the crazy guy hadn't gotten the dragon too.
(( Really Grey, if she'd been going for 'smoking crater' I'd have said so. ))
-------------
[ QUOTE ]
"Or a criminal... But... You guys probably saved our bacon. I guess you're cool in my book."
[/ QUOTE ]
"That's good", Cassie laughed, gesturing to her robot. "Be such a shame to have Mac here vaporise you after all the effort we went to in rescuing you 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!?!?
((I know, Rebel. The man's disappearance wasn't entirely the result of the photon seekers.))
A groan down the street alerted the heroes to the van's driver, who was lying facedown on the sidewalk. His outfit was badly burned and his skin seemed rather singed. Also, the fight seemed knocked right out of him, as he was moaning in pain and not doing much else.
"Beacon..." they could hear him murmuring over and over again.
----------
"Hold still, sir, we're trying to help you!" Mark shouted.
He shook his head and turned to his backpack again. Withdrawing a set of syringes, he removed one from the bunch and looked at the instructions written on it intently.
"Okay, Senior Operative... Since your serum's gone, I'm going to have to turn to something more conventional and probably a little more hazardous. Morphine. Rage, move your hand."
The brute moved and Mark applied the drug. As he did, he noted the strange flesh, and looked up at his friend.
"You guys do this to him somehow?"
"No," James replied, "I don't know what did that."
"Maybe the bullet?" Levi (Psycho13) offered.
"No... The stuff on me didn't make me blue and... Glossy..."
"Whatever, it doesn't change anything," Mark pushed Rage away, "Dammit, the Triage Beacon should be closing the wound from the inside out and squeezing the round out! I'm going to have to go in there myself..."
"Stop!" they heard from the entrance.
Turning, they saw a man in a green trench coat and a chest plate covered in glowing green circuitry. Normally, the man wore green shades or goggles of some kind, but he wasn't on patrol, so he didn't have his combat gear.
"You go in there with those instruments, you'll just do more harm than good."
"Cram it, Nester," Shadow grumbled, "Weird tech isn't working properly, so we gotta do things the old fashioned way."
"No we don't," the newcomer, Nester, reached under the bed and withdrew a peculiar glove, "Sheldon's been working on lower-power gloves... The non-combat applications of gravity manipulation haven't been lost on me, so we've been working on this..."
The glove started glowing and the young man gently pushed his friend aside. Mark stumbled backwards, unready as he was for the invisible force on him.
Placing his hand over the unusual wound, Nester set a dial on the glove as a holographic display indicated the depth he was dealing with. He found it odd that the image kept fizzling in and out with each sonar pulse, but he eventually got the depth of the bullet in the wound.
"Alright..." he whispered more to himself than to anyone, "This... This will feel really bad."
"He's on morphine right now, Nes."
The defender-class hero extended his fingers out and a wave issued out into the wound. A moment later, the bullet was dislodged from where it had sunk into Drago's flesh and smacked against the central plate. Nester clenched his fist around it and turned to the others.
"See?" he shouted triumphantly, "Noninvasive. His flesh remains undamaged any further and..."
He stopped as the glove suddenly stopped glowing. Opening his hand, he saw some strange green fluid dripping off of it.
"What the Hell?" he yelped as he shook his hand clean, "What was that stuff?"
"That," Rage pointed, "That's the stuff that got on me earlier!"
"What?"
As the strange dark fluid slicked off the glove, the machine reactivated. Unfortunately for Nester, he turned the palm to himself so he could look at it. A moment later, he smacked himself in the face and toppled to the floor, much to the laughter of the other meta humans.
"Argh!" Drammit! Marrk, starrt thre sruction..." the EMT muttered through his palm.
"Maybe if we get the gunk out of the wound, it'll regenerate under the Beacon's power easier," the corrupter-class rogue agreed and started applying the required apparatus.
Nester, in the meantime, crawled back to his feet and stumbled out of the medical room. He was making his way for the group's workshop and the inventor of the glove. Perhaps Sheldon would be able to shut it down.
-----------
"No idea about any rogues," Oakhammer replied to Dynamo, "They've been getting kidnapped too?"
"Makes sense, actually," another hero muttered, "Maybe they're being processed in another warehouse or facility..."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
[ QUOTE ]
"No idea about any rogues," Oakhammer replied to Dynamo, "They've been getting kidnapped too?"
"Makes sense, actually," another hero muttered, "Maybe they're being processed in another warehouse or facility..."
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, that does make sense...
Finally, Dr. Lore was relieved that there was something for her mind to process. Well, the logic was simple enough to her. If heroes were being experimented on and tortured in Paragon City, then perhaps there was a simliar laboratory in the Rogue Isles.
"Sounds like some of us better ship back to the Isles for the rogues." Dr. Lore concluded out loud. "Or if there's another warehouse here in Paragon City that is even less conspicuous..."
I kinda wish Operative Drago was here... No, no... Focus...
"Maybe we can find the information we need in the Sedadyne building itself." she suggested, pointing in the direction the main office was in.
The Freedom Server Wallflower (shhh, sleepy)
Angelfish on DrunkDuck.com
Dr. Lore at HeroCon 2008
Arc 67690: Out For Blood
Arek leaped off the man virtually the instant his own warp equipment's alarm went off, for as much as he desired some answers, he wasn't desperate enough to trust himself to human teleportation technology. Besides, he could just track the guy's jump and follow on his own, which carried a whole lot less risk to his person.
Imagine thus his surprise when the driver reappeared right down the street and on the sidewalk, making the draconian's previous thoughts more than just a little obsolete.
Gentleman Bones, however, reacted immediately, throwing a gloved hand in the downed man's direction and warping space-time about him in such a subtle fashion as to jam nearly all commonly used means of teleportation.
"My word." remarked the skeletal necromancer thereafter in his usual British accent, straightening his monocle again, "I do say, what's with all the sudden ruckus? That chap there some manner of archfiend? Doesn't really look the part, does he?"
"Debatable." the Sky Commander answered with a sideways glance as he walked, attention still visibly focused on the driver, his intent to lift the man up by his collar and get the answers he desired...
--------------------
"Trrryyying...fffffailing...wwwwould you..." Drago attempted to get out many a thing during the process, not to mention get away, but circumstances being, his efforts amounted to about nil.
Thankfully, the intrepid bumblers did at least remove the shell, and with the source of the Venom gone, his body no longer had to face the constant stream of reinforcements, so to speak. Regrettably, it had also labeled the concentrated dose of morphine under 'foreign contaminant', attacking it as well, but at least the drug couldn't really defend itself. Gradually, the pain ebbed to manageable levels, and Drago's high pain tolerance would allow him to soon regain enough coherence to figure out what was actually going on around him.
In the meantime...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Jack swore as his mental probe fell short, failing because of the range. "Dang..." he muttered, before and after seeing the the van crash to the ground. He floated there in the air for a moment before dropping to the ground and walking towards them slowly. As he arrived, he caught the giant flash of Photon Seekers and the crater it left. "Dang, that was actually pretty cool," he commented to Pax.
The mentalist froze. He looked back at Pax and frowned. "Don't I..." he started muttering, then stopped. "Nevermind," he said, then cocked his head slightly to the side when he saw Gentleman Bones. "Who are you?"
A horizontal line of green light shined in front of Henry Wong. It expanded vertically to reveal an emerald-moulded door with a brass handle. A small aura of green illuminated the door as the knob turned and the slab swung open. Malachite stepped through from a white background and let the door close on its own. Once it did, the frame reduced itself back to the original thin green line and vanished.
Malachite nodded to Henry Wong and adjusted his forest green tie, that habit he had whenever he would arrive almost anywhere. It officiated him. The persona was on. The tie covered the buttons of a long-sleeve black dress shirt that all laid underneath a tailor-made suit the same color as the tie.
Always green with you, The Hero Corps informant shook Agents hand.
Mr. Wong. Its been a long time. Which is a good thing, Malachite smiled.
Yes, it is. Good to see ready so soon. Henry Wong replied, I assume youve read all the case files to include Bronze shield, Oakhammer, and Ripper Shredder?
I have. Datas been uploaded, Malachite tapped his temple, "Anything else you can tell me before I go? I left somewhat abruptly once that van disappeared. Apparently, whatever tech it held was what kept anyone from picking me up.
Rose nodded at Dr. Lore. "Good idea. I'll let you gentlemen handle picking yourselves up and getting back fighting the good fight and whatnot." She said to the heroes as she started walking out the Garage door.
Halfway out the door, she turned and pointed to Cher'tak "I'll ping you guys if we find anymore of your blues."
Switching to the encrypted comm channel, Rose messaged, "I'm going to check out the Sedadyne HQ next door. I'll wait across the street for a minute if anyone else wants to come along."
As she walked back into the streets she checked on her searches of those names the captives mentioned.
Infinity
Sam Varden 50 MA/Reg Scrap
Doomtastic 50 SS/Inv Brute
Ceus 50 Eng/Kin Corr
Cinderstorm 50 Fire/Fire Blaster
"Oh, how rude of me." the skeletal man performed a curt bow, whipping his sizeable black top hat from his blank, bleached skull for a moment before putting it back just as crooked as before, "Gentleman Bones, necromancer and master of the dark arts..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
[ QUOTE ]
Gentleman Bones, however, reacted immediately, throwing a gloved hand in the downed man's direction and warping space-time about him in such a subtle fashion as to jam nearly all commonly used means of teleportation.
[/ QUOTE ]
Pax's response was somewhat less subtle, and far more overwhelming. Bones, Arek and herself suddenly felt the whole world lurch sideways as time itself abruptly shuddered to a halt. Of course only those three would be aware of that, to anyone looking they would simply seem to disappear and reappear as though they'd teleported or something.
Likewise, the Van driver's equipment, beacons, recall devices and pretty much everything else except the barest minimum of clothing necessary to keep him decent would seem to simply disappear, ending up in a pile well beyond easy grabbing distance as Pax sorted through it all.
(( If I'm stepping beyond bounds with this, lemme know and I'll edit. ))
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[ QUOTE ]
"Maybe we can find the information we need in the Sedadyne building itself."
[/ QUOTE ]
"Sounds like a good idea to me", Cassie agreed, handing what now barely resembled a cybernetic head at all to Mac, who stowed it in a small storage compartment that opened up on one of his legs before following Cassie outside with all the grace and subtlety that a half-ton robot could manage - none at 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!?!?
((I would say its perfectly legit since those are her powers, but...how do we interrogate a time-frozen man? 
Or did you mean to say 'four' there earlier, as in the driver's exempt from the freeze too?))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
[ QUOTE ]
"Perhaps not. I am unfamiliar with Terran technology. You are a roboticist, correct?"
[/ QUOTE ]
"Yeah...", Cassie answered, taking the severed robot head and studying it curiously. Pulling a screwdriver and prying a small panel off the side before sitting down against one of the cargo crates to tinker with her prize. Mac stomped after her, offering 'helpful' advice and generally being someone to bounce ideas off.
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"The van is down, repeat the van is down", came Pax's voice over the comm channel though only Arek and Cher'tak would hear it unless one of the villains had gotten into their channel somehow. The peacebringer rattled off a set of coordinates before following the crippled vehicle down, intending to make sure no one escaped before the others 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!?!?