Eric Mitchell aka Britanic's office, Sentinel Industries, Kings Row.
As the maniacal Doctor Mechano's image was replaced by static and then the regular TV programming the mutant powerhouse Britanic swore under his breath.
Since his return to his own reality from the nightmarish depths of the Netherworld he'd found it practically impossible to catch up on his life from before his accidental exile. What with an invasion of Zombies, discovery of weakened dimensional barriers, renewed Rikti aggression, and having to return to England to care for his ailing Father he'd been unable to find the time needed to re-establish himself within the Militia. Much worse than that his relationship with his beloved wife the White Vampyr was still suffering from his long absences caused by a multitude of problems that he thought only he could deal with.
As for Doctor Mechano?... Well he's another one of those things Britanic never got around to properly dealing with before his long exile. As crazy as Mechano was, Britanic knew all too well how dangerous he was, and that none of his threats should ever be taken lightly. It looked like Britanic would have to once again put off getting his life back on track in favour of dealing with a new crisis.
Britanic switched off the television and started to walk towards his large open office window. As he stepped onto the ledge he forced his mutant ability to manipulate ambient energies to agitate the wondrous shape changing particles of his Polymorphic Fibre Weave business suit and changed it into the more iconic red, white, and blue Britanic costume. He was about to step out of the window and take flight, but then stopped dead in his tracks.
You're a bloody ***** Eric! Why just go charging off when you can apply a little logic and save yourself some traipsing through the muck. In the past Mechano has often shown a preference for operating in Kings Row, and it's a fair assumption that's what he's done this time too. He also definitely mentioned the Lost, something the Kings Row sewage system has plenty of, so that also backs up that hypothesis.
Britanic walked over to a filing cabinet and started to pull out dozens of architectural drawings and plans. With single purpose he rifled through the mass of papers until he found the plan he wanted. Beaming with satisfaction he started to lay out a folded map onto his desk.
Kings Row sewage network with city overlay! Let's see if we can't narrow our search a little and focus on a few target zones. Knowing Mechano's twisted humour he's probably placed them bombs underneath places of special significance to the hero community. It's just a case of deciding exactly where...
Molly Longstaff's apartment, Galaxy City.
Molly stared at the HDTV deep in thought, gently tapping the remote against her crossed arms.
Erica.
Yes, Miss? The monotone yet cheery voice of Erica, Molly's ever-reliable robot butler answered the young genius' thoughts. Normally, she could be seen pottering on keeping the apartment in its best possible condition without complaint. However, she was long overdue a scheduled maintenance, and since Molly landed herself with a busy schedule, had been sent to Longstaff WarTech Rhode Island for the necessary checks and repairs.
What's the progress on those new drones on the 8th floor?
I'll ask right now, Miss.
Molly smiled as she tapped the Standby button on the remote and tossed in on the sofa. The TV let out a short chime and the current channel disappeared into darkness.
Apparently, Erica piped up again. There's a few bugs that still need ironing out, but all of them are trivial at best. Other than that, they're more or less ready for mass production.
Good. I'll only need a few.
Miss?
Have them ready to beam to the nearest sewer entrance in 10 minutes!
Molly immediately made a break for her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
And I hope somebody was tracing that signal!
On it!! several other voices barked in unison, all ringing in Molly head for a few seconds after. The network ops division she had assembled were as eager as the day they were offered their jobs.
"No need to shout..." the young hero chimed to herself, giggling quietly as she made her way to her bed and reached for the pink rifle beneath it. "One of these days, Mechano, one of us is going to bite you in the rear. Pray it's not me."
Sam: "My mind is a swirling miasma of scintillating thoughts and turgid ideas."
Max: "Me too."
Stuff
((All of the bombs are located in Kings Row, one is directly underneath the PPD HQ, one under the Police Precient where you meet your first detective, one underneath the statue of statue of Cyrus Thompson, so they're all fairly close together)).
16:31, Big Game's boat the Jelly Fish Dream, Darwins Landing, Mercy Island.
In the main cabin of the barely seaworthy Jelly Fish Dream wearing nothing more than his patented tiger-striped combats was mercenary turned monster hunter Big Game.
"C'mon ya freakin' pile junk, work will'ya!... Man I gotta steal myself some decent kit, I can't keep missing MacGyver like this." He said as he fiddled around with a real Frankenstein's monster of a jury rigged satellite decoder.
Just then, heralded with the buzz of static a picture flashed onto the TV screen. As the familiar face of Doctor Mechano came into focus Big Game chuckled as he waited to see what crazyness his old roommate had cooked up.
Mechano's message played out, but Big Game wasn't smiling anymore. Though he might have been a million miles away from being some sort of boyscout, even he had limits to the sort of stunts he'd pull. As usual Mechano had gone to far again.
"Mergin' freakin' realities! Geez Mechano has really lost it this time. I kinda resent this is probably gonna affect me too. Maybe I can slap some sense into the old geezer. Maybe show the capes how it's re..."
"'Gaaaaame! Come back to bed hun. I found that can of squirty cream!!"
Big Game looked back towards wherethe sultry woman's voice had come from. There on his bunk knealt a half naked athletic young blonde, shaking a can of squirty cream. Big Game looked again at the TV and grinned to himself.
"What the heck! Some freakin' cape's probably gonna hand Mechano his butt anyway, I might as well get on with dessert!..."
((Question: Since you're speaking of merging with the 'Virtueverse' does that mean all the bombs are in 'Unionverse'? Or would there be a matching set in the other?))
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
(( And why do I get the feeling this will prove successful, to provide an in character explanation for the forum merger? 
))
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
((oooh interesting idea...I'm going to go with yes, there is a set of bombs in the Virtueverse in exactly the same places, however Dr Mechano can only broadcast in the Unionverse, so feel free to have one of your heroes stumble into them in the virtueverse and Dr Mechano may be serious about what the bombs will do...or he may not...))
Virtueverse, Paragon City, King's Row, Sewer Sytem beneath the PPD Headquarters.
"Ok Dealers, listen up." The thug enforcer was resting rather casually atop one of Dr. Mechano's Virtueverse-side dimension bombs. "Our goal is to protect this bomb, orders are direct from Red Death. You may have noticed our group composition isn't exactly regulation..."
The five other thug enforcers nodded as one.
"And this is because of our unique skills. We are to pose as PPD officials, so get out your fake I.D.s and badges. We're here under the pretense of examination the bomb and conducting formal forensics analysis around it. Unfortunately, we cannot allow any heroes to contaminate the scene." As he spoke, the enforcers removed their bandanas, and put on the aforementioned badges. "We are only to use violence as a LAST RESORT." He finished firmly. "I want all of you to seal off the perimeter. Look official boys, and act friendly. But not too friendly, get it?"
((hmm decidely not much take up on this...boo to you people I say))
A couple of hours later...
Edward was annoyed...normally there would be a scurry of activity, it seemed the summer holidays had proven far too distracting for the heroes...atleast one of the bombs should have been attempted to be disarmed by now, looking at the viewing screen the status remained armed and untampered with.
"This is what I get for not getting people out of bed, people seem to prefer to rush around when they can get back to sleep afterwards...time to make a national address methinks..."
Edward begun hacking into the TV signal...
...Edward appeared on Paragon Cities TVs.
"I am DEEPLY disappointed in you people...not one of you has made the attempt to find or even disarm one of my bombs..in EITHER universe...so...as a lesson...I'm going to have to detonate one of them...it's your own fault people, I thought you heroes were proactive..."
Edward grinned, "hmm...how about the one underneath your precious Police headquarters...if the universe explodes it's your own fault people..."
Edward pressed a button, the bombs in both universes begun to whine and whirr as they built up energy.
"Now...hopefully we'll get some new friends across ahey..."
The TV screens flickered and returned to regular programming.
((Tak' it canny... >.>))
One and a half hours earlier...
The strange metallic spherical object in front of Molly let out a small hiss before suddenly snapping open into a strange quadruped form, each of its four sides forming a leg each and small cylindrical head looking up at the teen genius. Molly giggled when it gave out a synthetic "Coo-eee!" sound, as if saying hello.
"You know the drill, okay?" Molly asked the tiny drone, barely the height of The Pink One's knee, and watched it nod rapidy to confirm. "Okay, off you go!"
The drone immediately scuttled off into the sewer entrance, chirping what sounded like Hot Butter's "Popcorn" as is disappeared into its depths. Molly then turned her attention to the remaining five spheres behind her.
Now...
"Oh great," Molly muttered to herself as she was stopped dead in her tracks by the news of Mechano's latest message, ignoring the rat that way trying - and failing miserably - to gnaw away at her boot as she send out a message to her drones. "He's gonna play -this- little card now, is he?"
I need Drone A to get whatever passes for its rear end to the co-ordinates matching King's Row PPD Station NOW!
Sam: "My mind is a swirling miasma of scintillating thoughts and turgid ideas."
Max: "Me too."
Stuff
Virtueverse, Paragon City, King's Row, Sewer Sytem...
"Sir. The bomb has started to charge. I think its been armed." One of the undercover enforcers said to their leader, still sitting casually atop the device.
"...Yes. I figured as much. Anything else?" He asked.
The enforcer coughed. "Well, shouldn't we, ah...You know...run?"
"Nope." The head enforcer said. "Orders are from Red Death. Stay and guard it. Even if it detonates, we will be staying RIGHT here until we get the call. I have it on the highest authority that this bomb will either destroy all of reality or just create a localized dimensional portal. I imagine the boss wants the sole ownership of that should it happen."
"Oh. So its one of those theoretically "harmless" bombs, right?" The enforcer asked nervously. The head enforcer stared at him.
"Theoretically." He said softly, his voice tinged with annoyance. The inquisitive enforcer sheepishly went back to his post, and reminded himself never to ask for reassignment ever again if he got out of this.
((EDIT, crap.. I'm slow to post.. XD))
---sometime after the devices have been switched online.----
*The sounds of flame and explosions echo down the sewage ways in Virtueverse, deep beneath the Kings Row, Hyperstream was carving a path through the current "denizens" to investigate the strange anomaly her newly built sensor array detected.*
"Hyperstream to command base, log data. The subjects known as the Lost have proven difficult to reason with. However, I have pinpointed the energy spike detected earlier. Now approaching device and preparing analysis. Continue logging all vitals and energy readouts, command."
((Hyperstream will try to see if its possible to trace the device's origin and determine what risk it poses to the local area. And, if possible, Hijack the device to take her to where its master resides... at least to the "good doctor's" home dimension))
Quote:
((Hey, that's uncalled for. I'm a villain. Whaddaya want from me? Show up at Mechano's and bring the popcorn? |
Originally Posted by Dr_Mechano
((hmm decidely not much take up on this...boo to you people I say))
|
))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Hyperstream rounded the corner and came face to face with two of the undercover thug enforcers posing as PPD detectives.
"Hold it, lady, this is an official PPD crime scene." One of them said, presenting his police I.D. "I'm going to have to insist you leave the area immediately, we cannot allow you to contaminate the scene."
The other four enforcers suddenly went tense, resting their hands on their weapons around the next corner as they heard their comrade speak.
*Hyperstream pauses.. staring at the human.*
"... One day, you beings are going to learn to have energy signatures like any sensible lifeform." *she grumbles*
"That stated. I care not for your concern over contamination, as you do not appear to have the proper disposal equipment on hand at the moment, and the device may detonate at any moment. I merely request of the PPD to allow a proper scan so that I may attempt to trace its origin or locate similar devices. Quickly now, time is important! I'll leave the device to you for disposal afterwards." *she notes as an afterthought*
The bombs detonated but not in a large explosion, instead a rather unstable looking portal was formed, bridging the two universes, the edges of it ripped and cracked, thankfully the universe hadn't gone boom but now there was an unstable portal between dimensions located underneath PPD HQ...the truth be told Edward had only planted them at specific locations to get the heroes attentions, if they had been out in the middle of nowhere, someone would have just wandered by eventually...
Through each portal could be seen the exact same location but obviously within different universes.
((now you have several options here, cross over between the two dimensions, somehow stablize the portal allowing unfettered access between the two or wait until it eventually collapses which is about five hours)).
((Had problems posting so Mechano managed to sneak in first!))
The Unionverse, Kings Row Sewer Network, Near PPD HQ moments before detonation.
Britanic's idea of narrowing down possible bomb sites by analyzing sewer network plans, against a city map, and Mechano's own twisted sense of humour would of been perfect if not for other annoying variables. Having decided on a few likely bomb sites Britanic set up an emergency broadcast message for his Militia teammates before racing off to the sewers. However before he even managed to get underground he had the misfortune of getting caught up in a Paladin rampage. The battle with the Paladin was short and he would of still been making good time if he didnt stumble onto a Circle summoning as soon as he entered the sewer...
Two totally ill-timed battles later and the frustrated hero approached what he suspected to be one of the bomb sites. As he looked ahead into the darkness he could see a suspect device that was likely to be Mechano's bomb. Pleased that his hunch was right he allowed himself a smile.
Just then there was a whine, followed by a growing whirr...
Immediately Britanic's smile fell from his lips, and he simply thought BUGGER!
Just as the device detonated Britanic used his own mutant abilities to do his own dimensional slip to the Netherworld. As he passed into the darkness he was immediately set upon by the denizens of the darkness. Fearful of being once again being trapped in the darkness he used all his strength to resist their assault just long enough for what he'd thought was an explosion to pass. Then with the dark denizens still clawing at his body he slipped back into his own reality. With heavy breath and sweat pouring from him he shakily rose to his feet, amazed at the lack of destruction and the large swirling portal in front of him.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, and drawing energy into himself to revitalize his own power he stood defiant in front of the portal.
I don't know what sort of freakish horrors they have in this Virtueverse of Mechano's, but whatever piles through that portal is about to have a really bad day!
*Alerted by the sudden "detonation" of the device, Hyperstream used the confusion to quickly shove past the supposed "PPD operatives." She activated her flight system and rocketed forth, positioning herself before what now appears to be the portal, her weapons primed and humming... as she stares in some manner of disbelief at Britanic...*
"Well... thats just.. /prime/." *she utters... secretly relived that it wasn't a full on exsplosion.. tossing a glance at the others there.*
The head enforcer triumphantly surveyed the newly formed portal. He reached into his coat and pulled out a sattelite phone. He casually turned to the enforcers beside him, and uttered:
"Kill the hero."
All the other enforcers opened fire on Hyperstream with their uzis.
The head enforcer, in the meantime, backed a ways away and hit the speed-dial on his sattelite phone. "Hey boss. The portal is UP. Go ahead and send in the reinforcements. By this time tomorrow, Red Death will be in control of the ONLY portal between the Virtueverse and the Unionverse. Longbow has already received an anonymous tip on the whereabouts of the other two bombs. They should be disabled shortly. Over and out." He turned the sattelite phone off with satisfaction, and surveyed the newly formed portal, thoughts of the unspoiled and unsuspecting market on the other side. Oh yes, Red Death would do VERY well over there. Assuming everything went according to plan and the other two bombs didn't go off, that is.
Molly charged around the corner as she followed the drone to the PPD Station bomb, only to slip and fall on her behind when she finally caught sight of the portal.
"Oh, you -have- to be..." she piped up as she picked herself back up onto her feet. The drone itself started to make a somewhat repetitive "Uh-oh" sound a few times itself.
"Go help find the other bombs." Molly uttered to the drone. "And hurry."
The drone attempted to salute before learning the hard way that it couldn't stay balance on three legs for very long. It then decided instead to simply not and scuttle off. Molly herself decided to deal with the open portal itself. Quite how she was going to acheive that was anyone's guess, even hers, but she couldn't just leave it alone, the least she should do was get a few scans of this monster. Hooray for her augmentations, Molly thought to herself, getting all the data she could from the portal with her nanotech-enhanced eyes.
Erica. Get your swords, get down here, because this is gonna take a few extra hands on deck. And get one of the labs to make with a means to sew this portal up. I'm forwarding everything I'm picking up off this thing.
Yes, Miss, the robot butler responded. Right away.
Sam: "My mind is a swirling miasma of scintillating thoughts and turgid ideas."
Max: "Me too."
Stuff
*Surprised, Hyperstream shielded her face from the hail of bullets, and accelerated toward the only seemingly safe place there... that being the portal. She grunted as the hail of led rattled her armor, and begun to damage her internal systems... hopefully the guy on the other side has enough sense to duck!*
As Britanic stared into the portal he could start to make out forms on the other side. As it came into focus he could see what appeared to be a duplicate of the area where he was standing occupied by what looked like several PPD officers and an armoured figure who was charging towards the portal. Though he couldn't hear what was going on the other side he
could clearly see the PPD open fire on the armoured figure, and if the cops were shooting at it then it was reasonable to assume the armoured figure was the bad guy.
As the unknown armoured figure raced towards the portal Britanic thought to himself... My Paragon already has more than it's fair share of villains. There is no way im going to let another one slip in.
((Ye olde classic hero mistakes hero for villain scenario! 
))
((Sorry bout the overlong description I gave him but this is the first attempt at board RP and I haven't posted his description anywhere yet. Also if anyone missed it, he's Union based. Also, I kinda took it for granted most unionites have heard of Britanic and kinda know/think he's tough.))
Tramping around in the sewers was not Ashens idea of a good day out, doing so to look for explosives also wasn't a particularly good idea. The fact said explosives could potentially destroy the universe only mitigated his annoyance slightly as he dodged around what filth and detritus he could.
Pausing for a second he assessed his surroundings before turning his attention to his clothes. In retrospect a pair of suit trousers and a crisp white shirt were probably not the best clothes to have taken, both were stained now with various liquids none of which he wanted to ponder on their origins. His tie seemed to have survived the worst of it though, little compensation though that was. At least he didn't have to worry about his boots or gloves, metal was easy to wash, and his white mask was pretty much immune to stains.
"Good thing too I like this mask, be a shame to have to replace it. Kinda fond of that red X across my eyes and it's a pain to replicate shapes on the material"
But by far the worst, in his mind, was his trenchcoat.
"Black's great for hiding the stains, but I don't want to think what it'll smell like after this and bullet proof coats cost a fortune...."
His train of thought was interrupted by a rather loud, and rather odd noise for the sewers, massed gunfire. Not pausing to wonder who would be in the sewers in a group large enough to make that much noise he broke into a sprint, readying his gun on the way, an assault weapon that looked like it had been scavenged from parts found on the street.
Arriving at his destination he burst into a small area to what sounded like anarchy, but looked very much just like a larger than life hero standing in front of a....
"Sweet %&!* the crazy old man did it!"
Slowing only for a second he attempted to assess the situation, several thoughts flashing through his mind as he rolled to the ground besides Britanic.
"Gunfire's coming through the portal. Britanic's tough, he can probably take the punishment. Shoot to wound, not kill, wounds explained easier on first contact than deaths."
Coming up low to steady his aim and slightly behind Britanic for some cover he glared through the portal, only to see a rather rapidly moving flying object obscuring his shots.
"Meta. Primary target. Britanic's better suited to taking it out. Take out secondaries, clear the field. Then secure perimeter and call backup."
It only took him a split second to run through his train of thought as he lowered the gun slightly to fire underneath Hyperstream and started firing at the only parts of his enemies he could reliably see, the legs.
Friends are just enemies that haven't betrayed you yet.
16:31
The television screens around Paragon begun to flicker, breaking into static for a moment before being replaced by the symbol of a metal skull infront of a cog on a black background. Veteran heroes would know this symbol all to well however normally it would be something to rouse them for their slumber in the middle of the night, not in the middle of the afternoon.
The symbol was replaced by the elderly, grey skinned, white bushy bearded, lab coat wearing mad scientist known as Doctor Edward Johnson aka Doctor Mechano. A smile on his face, behind him was a scene recognisable from any 1950's sci fi, tubes bubbling with strangely coloured liquids, a Jacobs Ladder with electricity crackling between it, the Doc was all about the retro look when designing a lab.
"Greetings people of Paragon, how are you? I'm fine thank you incase you're wondering but now on to business..."
"Normally I don't appear during prime-time, the time slot is too expensive," Edward gives a chuckle,"but I think it's only fair that I give any of the new blood who don't crawl in the night a chance to take part in todays fun time exercise."
"I have hidden, within the sewer network, not the abandoned sewer network, that would be silly, with the Hydra, the Rikti and those tentacles....but the regular sewer network filled with Lost and the various other dregs of the criminal hierarchy...anyway rambling, my apology."
"I've hidden a series of explosives, well these aren't your regularly bomb strapped to a barrel of petrol explosives, oh no, these are much more fun...you see having returned from my portal hopping ways to a dimension known as the Virtueverse some time ago, I struck on an idea, why not make this dimension and that one and the same. These bombs will rip open dimensional portals between our world and theirs, of course the portal will be highly unstable and could destroy reality but there's not a big chance of that happening, I mean five percent risk is always worth it."
"Now you've got two hours to find all six of these bombs, don't worry I've clearly labelled an off switch on them for you less intelligent heroes...it's no fun if the ape can't figure out how to get the banana now is it..."
"Well....good luck and you'll hopefully see me in two hours, unless I see you first, in which case, look out!"
Edward gave a big grin and leaned back, spreading his arms wide, "LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"
The television signal returned to static and then back to the regularly programming...
Edward muttered to himself in his lab, "tick tock heroes, tick tock...."
((this is open RP available to everyone, it serves as a forum merger introduction to the mad schemes of Doctor Mechano...feel free to RP amongst yourself as you look for the bombs and please send me a PM when you find one))