The figure , bearing all the marks of a Magicker of the Hooded Serpent , rushed along the carpeted corridor and knocked upon the wooden door with a hurried lack of care , however before he could consider his gaff the door was opened and a hand beckoned him inwards .
The Magicker moved now with deference and humility to stand before the sofa bearing his master
oh Masterful Liege , the reading has come to pass , an accursed one has been reconstituted in to this realm , even now the magiks flows unto him , and his minions gather , the talons of kaos tighten , all as was foretold ..he is here now on this land .
From the reclined being on the sofa came a sofa giggle of pure delight , for near a minute the giggle lasted . Then with a wave of a gloved hand the Magicker was dismissed .
A voice made of boding and whispers replaced the giggle ...
Good , good soon we can begin the journey .....prepare my bath !
Hell Claw was busy taking out an Aachnos base when the transmission came on.
He stared at the surveillance screen, an Arachnos soldier squirming under his foot.
After the transmission ended, he chuckled to himself, "Looks like it's time to have some real fun."
He dug the claws on his foot into the soldier's chest and walked away.
Poison Mynx sat up from her sofa at the sound of her TV channel changing, she cursed quietly, thinking the power was out again- before she heard the voice, sighing she looked at the TV, listening to the this man rant on... and on, And on some more.
She began to watch the lab behind the seemingly insane man, her sensitize eyes looking for any kind of logo to give an idea of where this man was. After a few moments, she hopped out of her seat- wandering over to the clothes that were left abandoned on the floor, and getting dressed.
Half an hour later, Poison Mynx was out on the rooftops, leaping from one to another- scanning the area as she was on the phone, talking with a friend, who was doing his best to find out exactly where the broadcasting had originated from.
3:59AM - Steel Canyon, Infinicorp. HQ
In the darkness, two lidless eyes burnt bright blue. Motionless the figure stood. The screen in the corner of the room beeped once. The figure turned and the screen flickered on. Silently he watched.
As the broadcast drew to a close, the screen clicked off and the figure looked down from the monitor. Drawing his fists into a close, the figure grew brighter and brighter and then burst with an almighty flash. Standing in the same space was a gold and silver armour clad figure.
The door slid open and the figure strode out, leaving the room cold and dark once more.
Couple of days later
Edward was in his lab, having finally gotten together some replacement equipment. He saw down at his workbench and begun work on the holo-emitter belt. With this device complete he could pretend to be anyone or anything as long as he had three dimensional scans of them...of course convincing people enough to stand still so he could get three dimensional scans was going to be a problem...perhaps secretly installing it in the one Council bases shower rooms might do it...on second thoughts...perhaps a better plan was in order...
He continued to tinker somewhat with the device, humming as he worked.
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The Reader finished , his creaking voice fading away , the available histories of Dr Edward Johnson, aka Dr Mechano , had take some time to recite and had left the Readers throat dry , well dryer that normal .The Readers fear of his patron was fairly clear to all, the nervous hand twitches , the sweat dampen forehead , the dryness of his mouth .
The gathering of wealth and decadence had done little to blunt the monstrous nature of Blood Ghoul , event now when he paid the top rates to his servants , he would still treat them as prey if they lost his favour .
oh Masterful Liege.. intoned the Reader this person seems to take great care to hide away , there are no reports of his current location . more sweat strained the Readers face as he passed across this piece of bad news .
From the sofa where he lay , Blood Ghoul studied the Reader , savouring his fear for a moment .
Excellent work , this Doctor would seem to be a most suitable agent of Kaos , we may well be able to feed on the fallout of his deeds with a wave the Reader was dismissed .
Send work to the Hole , I will want to see the Disciples of the Whispered Death at noon tomorrow. A minion sped from the chamber .
I want two Watchers on this Doctor from now onwards . people moved with haste to comply .
Hell Claw had been asking around about the Doctor, but no one seemed to know who he really was.
He had called in a favour to trace the broadcast, but the Doctor had proved smarter than most Villains and had bounced the signal several places. Hell Claw's contact told him it would take weeks to find out where the Doctor really was.
For now he was keeping his ears open for any possible lead...
The Magicker of the Hooded Serpent tidied his robes as he waited , to be summoned at this hour was not too uncommon , still he fretted
The hangings parted and Blood Ghoul strode into the chamber , dressed in his street garb his features where hidden ..
Edward Johnson , Blood ghoul started I have observed him , and he appears little more that a villainous , anarchistic , prank playing , buffoon ..not the Weaver as foretold
he will have hidden depths , but we will need more to promote them
Yes , oh Masterful Liege , how may I server .. blurted out the Magicker ,in effort to fill the silent , pointed , pause .
Blood Ghoul turned , and let his eyes capture the Magicker ,
recast his chart , the Paragon court record confirm his birth date , reread his horoscope , and consult the three oracles again, also make use of that lithomancer and the Xylomancer , their work seem useful ,do it at once , we must be ready .
The Magicker rushed from the chamber , there was a lot of work to be done ..
Blood Ghoul giggles , as was his way
little point in having power if there is no where to enjoy it ..he whispered a small charm , hoping Edward Johnson would not disappoint .
2am, May the 6th
The tv screens flickered once more, the skull within a cog logo appears on the screens. Edward appeared, grinning like a maniac as he begun to address the people of Paragon and the Rogue Isles.
"Welcome one and all, now don't worry your pretty little heads, chaos is not going to be unleashed just yet...oh no...why should I be the only one to have fun..."
Edward chuckled, "Consider this an offer, all scum, villains and thugs, to take the chance to join a glorious alliance and teach those villains who play shadow games and hide in the darkness, afraid that some hero will make an end of them if they discover their frail little plans, how it's REALLY done, you hear me Bathory and Pistol, you hear what I'm saying, your days of hiding are done, nobody will fear you anymore!"
"If you are dedicated to the cause of chaos and anarchy throughout Paragon and the Rogue Isles, contact me, if you are really dedicated, I'm sure you'll find a way to find me...once we all gather together, then the fun shall truly begin...live in fear Paragon, an army of darkness shall descend upon you..."
The TV screens flickered and returned to their regular programming.
"It is done, let us see how many people we get..."
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In a lead lined basement, somewhere in Port Oakes, a figure picked up a modified Arachnos helmet, and placed it over their head. The figure turned back to the screen and replayed the recorded transmission.
Hell Claw smiled to himself, "This is getting more fun by the minute. Guess I should call in another "favour"."
Hell Claw leaped off the balcony he had perched on to watch the broadcast and sped off to his contact
Somewhere off the coast of Sharhead..
The transmission ended, the horrific Villain who calls himself Spruk laughed. "YAAANYAHAHAHAAHAHAA! Good show Doc, this will be fun.." The structure surrounding the villain creaked as a storm raged outside, the mutant carried on with his work, the TV blaring in the background.
I am the Blaster, I have filled the role of Tank, Controller and Defender
Sometimes all at once.
Union EU player! Pip pip, tally ho, top hats and tea etc etc
Inside one of the lower buildings of Grandville.
Glowing red eyes viewed the TV silently as Mechanos message ended, The Cyborg/wairth/vampire hybrid known as lady or in her more pretentious times countess Leeches slowly uncurled her slender form and stood, as she did so bat like wings burst out of her back, "So the doctor want's an alliance with us, scum hah, we will see yes we will, Paragon must burn, it will burn". With that she took flight with shadows stuff whisping around her it was time to make a call, maybe even an appearance time would tell.
The end is just a new beginning, Goodbye all my coh friends and even the enemies, its been a blast I will miss you all. Thank you Paragon team, you gave me a home from home I will always appriciate it.
((Wanted to post a response but I can't unfortunately. Pistol being dead and all... again.))
The Reader finished recounting Doc Mechanos latest TV broadcast to Blood Ghoul , bowed and retired .
A taloned fist waved a summons to a servant , Send a message to this Edward Johnson , that I would consider it a .. privilege ..to be invited to his gathering , inquire location , times , and under what conditions , and agree to them
we have ..is it five now , possible contact who might pass the message , use them all for speeds sake .
the servant began to depart when Blood Ghoul added
and we will need the Eyes of the Hooded Serpent once more , more auguries to cast
see to it
The chamber fell to silence as Blood Ghoul sunk into deep thought .
Pious ...(( is Pistol real dead ie in the spirit realm ? as Blood Ghoul make use of a lot of receptive magicers who could recive spirit writings , or such like messages ..))
((It's alright. I got plans.))
Back in Cap Au Diable Elizabeth Bathory shared a personal get-to-gether with Arbiter Howe. He was one of her contacts between Arachnos and of high value. Wearing a sexy black dress she had a red wine and was sweet talking the man while getting as many Arachnos secrets she could get. Of course the arbiter only thought she was the human party animal she pretended to be.
The monitor screen at Howe's desk showed the feed from Paragon city... and even though she couldn't hear all that was said, they had turned the sound down, she immediatly noticed Edward. "Mechano...", she hissed trying hard to not make a sound.
"You said something dear?!", Howe responded...
Elizabeth looked up quickly, "No... nothing my handome man. But if you can excuse me... I have to make some phonecalls. I will be right back." She walked up to her purse and grabbed her blood-red cellphone. Then went up to the bathroom looking like she was also checking her make-up. In the bathroom she dialled Castle Bathory. Her man-servant Isamu took the phone.
"Isamu... listen... Mechano is back! I want to kow where he is, and what he is planning. And I want that info yesterday! Understood! I don't care who you have to kill for that.", she hissed through the phone. She hang up and checked the mirror making sure more decollette was shown.
Slowly she walked back to the halfdressed arbiter... "So tell me how youre month went while I give you a back massage sweetheart. And don't leave out any of the juicy detailes you hear!"
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My television flickered back to life, the regular broadcast illuminating the walls of my office with it's familiar, comforting glow. The message that had been on just before was a little less comforting. I might actually have to do some work for a change.
Felix Greene, retired detective, now gone private for personal investigation, tailing, stakeouts and most importantly... a bit of handy cash on the side. Police pensions just aren't what they used to be.
This 'Dr Mechano' guy had been on TV a few times, and I'm not talking about the normal prime time coverage. Mechano had obviously heard the phrase. Don't do the crime if you wanna stay off prime. Or... something like that. I forget.
I forget a lot of stuff lately. Which reminds me, before I do anything about this call to arms of super powered villainy and evil, I had something that I had to do.
Something that couldn't wait.
Something I'd been meaning to do for the last three days, and was now starting to punish my procrastination with a pungent aroma starting to settle in my office like the damp on the far wall.
I needed to do my laundry.
Sunday 10th. Mechano's Laboratory.
Seated in the middle of the large derelict lab was a suited man with the seal of the United States Secret Service sewn into his blazer. He waited patiently for the doctor to show up while adjusting his earpiece radio.
The Doctor return to his lab and smirked when he saw the gentleman sat there.
""ell congradulations on finding the location of my lab, unless you have something very important to say I suggest you leave quickly and quietly before I have my family deal with you..."
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The suited man stood up slowly and moved closer to the doctor. He reached into his inside pocket and produced a badge identifying him as Agent Philip Gray of the United States Secret Service. "With all due respect sir, we always knew where your broadcasts were coming from" said Gray. "Your chaos mongering has made us alot of profit Doctor Mechano and considering your latest city-wide message, we wish to make an offer. The kind that you cannot refuse, if you catch my drift." The agent added, a playful smile dancing on his lips.
Edward smirked, "hmm spill what the offer is and I may consider it...considering your a representation of law and order I can definitely say I might refuse you, you know I am an engine of divine chaos...I don't like things too orderly but I'm willing to hear you out..."
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The agent punched in a few keys on his gadget wristwatch and a beam of light energy materialised behind him. "Will you come with me, to an undisclosed location, we have something to show you." Asked the agent, moving towards the portal and ushering the doctor to follow him in.
2:30am
There were several brief flashes of light in the area just behind the movie theatre in Cap Au, growing in intensity with each growing second until a portal through time and space itself rent the air apart, energy arching off it, lashing out at any nearby surface, burning holes into the ground.
Out from this portal stepped someone who had seemingly disappeared without trace many months ago, plans and business left unfinished, nothing had been heard of him, his robotic minions had lain dormant, awaiting their fathers return.
Dr Edward Johnson aka the infamous Dr Mechano appeared in a hunched position with a smile as he drew in a long breath, "ah yes..dimensional power scaling, what cursed me in that other realm of the virtueverse is my boon here...Once again I am at my full power!"
Edward let out a maniacal chuckle and looked down to the assault rifle he had in his hands, "sorry Betsy but it's probably time to place you into storage..." He slung the rifle across his back. In the virtueverse he had been completely depowered, relying on the ammunition of his assault rifle and the forcefeedback of his cybernetics but here...
...here he was at his strongest, dark magic, demonic power and his robotic family lay here.
Edward flipped open the panel on his new mechanical hand, "This is Father One, broadcasting activation code Alfa, Oscar, Echo, Alfa, Tango, Tango, Alfa, Charlie, Kilo to all dormant units...awaiting respond..."
For a few moments there was nothing but silence and the smell of burnt ozone, finally a responds came though, a teenage voice, "activation code achknowledged, greetings Father one, we've missed you dad..."
"Good to hear your voice again Elise, judging by the readouts all the others have also come online, I trust Steve has been looking after the business?"
"We have been managing the finance and customers through phone services, Steve has been doing his usual face-to-face tactics...overall the company has made a ten percent loss as of close of business for the last tax year but not enough to substantially revoke research into other fields..."
"Get the lab equipment up and running, I want a television transmission within the hour, it is time to remind heroes that they've become complacent since my leaving..."
4am
Edward was mumbling to himself, the lab was exactly in a good state of repair, the place seemed to have been ransacked while he was gone, much of his research notes and tools were missing, no matter, a good bank robbery or two would replace the missing goods.
However the transmitter had been sabotage by Gold Brickers, parts stripped off, he had to make do with what he could, repairing it enough to get it up and running.
Now he took in a deep breath...it was time to go on the air...
Throughout Paragon and the Rogue Isles TV sets flickered form their regular broadcasting replaced with a symbol veteran heroes would know had always come to foretell chaos and anarchy, the symbol of a skull within the cog.
Edward was standing infront of the camera, to those with good eyesight, the ruins of the lab could be made out in the background.
"Greetings one and all, have you missed me Paragon?" Edward chuckled.
"It seems that due to a minor malfunction when saving your city from certain nuclear destruction by the hero known as Infinitron that a piece of equipment backfired, dispatching me to a nearby universe, much like this one...thankfully with my mighty intellect and a lot of time I was able to constuct my own portal back to the universe I know and love..."
Edward grinned, "Now I seem to remember my last broadcast being something about complacency among the heroes and villains of this world...well no doubt you have all gone complacent in my disappearance, I do not blame you, after all, who brought you the fun I did, on a city wide scale, nay on the global scale...nobody, nobody threatened you precious little Status Quo quite like I did..."
Edward looked down to his notes, lowering his reading glasses, "Now that I have returned I'm making the following announcements, one, heroes and villains will need to be on watch twenty four hours a day once more for when I decided it's time for the fun, after all, who knows what time is really fun time..."
"Big Als supermarket is having a sale on frozen Pizzas, two for the price of one, remember all other food places in the Isles are small time compared to Big Als..."
"And lastly...know this, those that have wronged me will have my vengeance, I have proven it once before that I can strike hard, fast and without warning, you will not know what hit you my friends, the sword of damocles hangs above your heads and know that at any moment it could drop to split you in twain, you shall curse the very day you were born as you scramble from the miserable wreckage that is your life..."
"On that note I think it's best to say goodbye for now and do stay tuned, coming up in the Rogue Isles is the early morning Arachnos educational slot, remember, knowledge is power and in Paragon City on channel twenty two you've got Magnum P.I., who doesn't love that moustached detective..."
Edward let out the laugh of a man unhinged as the transmission cut off, returning viewers to their normal early morning programs.
He was back...time to make some people remember him...
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