Billyboy

"You don't even know what you are?! Damn you!" the gem growled. "Still useless!"

The Stone stopped its inquiry and Midas stopped his wild search for equipment for the smallest moment as he took a glance at Keegan.

"Typical." both the scientist and the stone said at the precisely same time, in the exact same tone.

((OOC: AHHH! What have you done to Helper?! lolz!))

"Your father? You were born, then?" the Stone demanded. "You were naturally conceived and birthed in a strictly human manner?"

The Stone quieted.

"What's on your forehead?" it asked softly.

The Stone let out an outraged roar that failed to draw the attentio of Midas, who had expected yelling and was used to hearing his own screams in the first place.

"You impertinat little [censored]!" it cried out. "I don't have time to play games with you, I MUST know exactly how this came to be! If everyone has merely been transformed, then time hasn't been altered! Are you a human or not?!"

The Stone glowed and crackle dangerously, emitting small, harmless sparks as Essex began speaking to it.

“You’ve already proven how worthless you are, little construct!” the Stone spat back angrily. “Your actions and judgment are dictated through programming and code, as are all of the actions and judgment of all machines! Your creator has done nothing but a cruelty to others by creating an illusion of compassion and soul within an artificial little girl!”

The gem suddenly seemed to take a deep breath, the glow fading slightly, as though it were taken aback in surprise.

“You’re human!” the piece of consciousness cried out. “You’re an organic in this world! How can you be an organic if your other form is artificial?! This makes no sense; it’s baffling! How can you be a living thing in one world and only a representation in another?! What ARE you, child?!”

The Stone, oddly enough, seemed to scoff. “Don’t irritate me.” It scolded. “You have no idea how much stress I’m under right now. I’d tell you to just convince me to absorb me into his consciousness, but you’ll be wanting an explanation, won’t you?”

A sigh erupted from the gem, which seemed to glow brighter for a split second. “From our brief meeting, you’ll know that my power suit contained a glowing stone on its belt. It may have seemed mere potpourri, but it was the source of power that allowed such an advanced piece of equipment work so flawlessly. I used it as a kind of battery, though in all truth it is an ancient artifact channeling the abilities of a long dead hero of ancient Greece. There was a man adept at putting powers in these gems, you see. His name was the Philosopher, so they were dubbed the Philosopher’s Stones. This is merely one. I believe the most famous was his first, which contained the power of the fabled King Midas, who came begging to be rid of his power when he discovered everything he touched turned to gold.

“How this relates to us, however, is a different matter. After being ‘arrested’ by several teen ‘heroes’ I was sent to the Paragon City Ziggursky Maximum Security Prison. You’ll know of the famous breakout that occurred, at which point I was released and taken to the Rogue Isles, where I feuded with both Arachnos and Longbow in several famous and impacting campaigns that showed the world the true power of genius and proclaimed my course: the betterment of society through destruction of democracy and propagandist media. Eventually I met the mystic Scirocco, who offered me a full pardon of the treasonous crimes in exchange for beginning a rather intriguing partnership. He was of similar stuff as me, with moral ideals and a wish for the true betterment of the people and not just himself. I assisted him through a rather enormous trial, and he granted me a request.

”Scirocco had his Mu mystics channel their crimson lightning into the Philosopher’s Stone using a manuscript from a citadel in Europe. My power suit gained the ability to channel it into attacks, making me even more formidable in battle. Very useful.

“I’ll close that tangent quickly, there is something else you must know. When in battle for the love of my life, Cyba, I absorbed the power of the Philosopher’s Stone to defeat a psychotic maniac who had kidnapped her whilst I had been distracted by a matter of receiving my human form. I won’t bore you with the details of that. Sufficient to say, a necromancer who has quite an interest in my uncannily resilient soul and has followed me for the past year in an attempt to retrieve it to his master, the one time Philosopher, now known as Immortal, took it upon himself to return the power back into the Stone and attempted to pilfer it. I managed to kill him, yet again, with the help of my dearest Cyba, and all seemed well, though I must think differently now.

”It seemed that a bit of my essence, if only a small portion, had been transplanted into the Philosopher’s Stone when the power was ripped out of my body, similar to when my soul was transplanted from my body into Billyboy, then a robotic replacement. Either natural resistance or previous encounters with the enchantments of the Mallus Mundi seemed to have kept this portion of me from being warped as well. And a lucky thing, I do not wish to be a bumbling idiot, as this reality has set out for me.”

The Stone seemed to take a deep breath, pulsing several times.

“I have been patient with you and explained, if only out of respect. Now tell myself to absorb me!”

"You idiot, where have you been!?" a voice shouted at Midas as he and the group appeared. "There have been sirens! I sent your idiot excuses for robots out to find you before they started, I thought you'd gotten me killed! This kind of treatment is intolerable, now let me inhabit you so I can set this world right and stop this from happening!"

Midas ran to the Philosopher's Stone angrily and snatched it off the floor, throwing it to Acid. "Talk to him, he knows you." he growled.

"Vaguely, and for only about a day." the Stone said dryly. "He's more than likely just as incompetent as you!"

Midas tried to ignore his other self as he ran to his fallen robots and had them reboot as quickly as possible. They lurched up while the scientist was already collecting equipment, hastily shoving it into their arms in sacks and boxes. His most imporant items came first, such as projects he could carry out with him and showed some potential, as well as unique tools, his hard drive, and clothing. He ripped the entire clothing drawer off his workbench, in fact, setting it in Kibitzer's arms, who began proclaiming what an honor it was to be given the extreme honor of carrying the regal garb of the great and powerful Lord Midas.

The robotist swept up his blanket and tossed it to Essex. He couldn't do much better, but the blanket was bigger and warmer. He didn't have any children's clothes, though he dearly wished he could cover her bare feet.

((OOC: He's rushing around as Acid talks to the Stone, so I'll give you some time before I have him say he's ready.))

Midas did as he was told, concentrating as hard as he could on his bunker while holding the alien's hand, not feeling silly in the slightest, just desperate.

There is was. His bunker, the size of an average storage basement and in a worse state. The walls were dirty and dented, there were many small holes from armor piercing rounds that had been fired long before he had found his home. There was a bed against one of the walls with a rough wool blanket draped over the side and a folded shirt that functioned as a pillow. The mattress was pathetic, too small for the bedframe, which was practically falling apart. A workbench sat in the middle of the room. It formed a right angle, containing many drawers for parts and file. The desk was cluttered with lousy blueprints and tools, as well as half finished weapons and robotic appendages. One of the larger metal arms had fallen to the floor, scattering bolts all about. Half-finished projects were all about the room, begging to be finished by a more talented creator. Potential was everywhere, but there seemed to be no one to fill the shoes. There was also a small refridgerator, connected to a generator, and a cabinet that held the doctor's food and drink. The floor was covered in scorches and skid marks, as well as a few cracks and depressions where heavy objects, most likely disfunctional robots, had fallen.

The last object appeared with objection, as though Midas didn't wish to think of it. In the middle of the floor, closer to the workbench than the bed and near the stairs, rested the glowing red gem.

Home sweet home.

Midas looked extremely conflicted. He didn't want to have to make this decision. His bunker was his only home, all of his work since his defection. He didn't like the idea of leaving his life. He knew it was weak and stupid, but he wanted things to remain how they were. He needed his comfort, it was all he had, even if it wasn't very comfortable at all.

He closed his eyes, wetting his lips, and nodded. "Yes, so long as you have somewhere else for us to go. I can grab my things quickly and my robots can carry them. It isn't much, honestly."

It was hard saying it, but he knew his bunker would likely be found without tracking a teleport. It wasn't exactly concealed ingeniously. At all. It was a hatch in a warehouse under a crate. If someone were looking for him, they would find it. Which meant they had to beat them to it. The Philosopher's Stone couldn't fall into the wrong hands!

Midas paled as Essex asked for her father. He had been fearing that terribly, because there was no way he was going to keep a child when she had a parent and was asking to leave. It was wrong and sickening, his morals were all against.

"We'll take you to your father once we're safe, if you wish." the scientist told her softly. "We just need to get away from the bad men."

At Keegan's distraction announcement, the robotist roled his eyes. Always the altruists, those heroes, always pretending they were something special because they were lucky enough to be born with powers they don't deserve. He would be happy to take on an army if the cosmos had randomly decided to throw ultimate power into his lap. Heroes were nothing more than cheaters and charlatans. Villains were worse, admittedly, but at least they usually had to work for what they were doing.

"Let the 'hero' provide cover for us, his kind aren't good for anything but dying in the first place." Midas told Acid. "But you, get up to my bunker, I can't lose what I have inside! Damned with everything else, there's something important in there, and you're going to want to see it! It's the Midas Phillis you're familiar with!"

Midas stared blankly at Acid, entirely shocked by what he was saying. This stranger had appeared out of nowhere, claiming he knew him, despite not knowing him at all, and now his story seemed to match up with the irritated gem's proclamations well enough to be considered more than coincidence.

The Mallus Mundi. He had no memory of that at all, but the gem claimed it was a book. Leave it to magic to twist the strands of reality into a cat's cradle! He had to get back to the lab, something was amiss, and he wasn't stupid enough to ignore it! Too much had happened to him to do so!

"I have an underground bunker not far from here, if you can teleport us there, I'll let you stay until this is over!" Midas interrupted.

“You’d be paranoid as well, if everyone were out to get you!” Midas spat as he lifted off into the air, staying down at rooftop level as the two zoomed away and took refuge in a warehouse a few buildings down from his base. The concealed attic made a wonderful place to hide. He didn’t want to give his location away for followers.

He was also very upset about leaving his robots behind. They were all he had to defend himself and keep himself alive. They were the groundwork for his new army. If he couldn’t keep them long enough to begin improving them, his work would never bear any fruit. As his feet clapped onto the ground, tears began to form in his eyes. He shakily reached up and set Essex on the floor, trying not to whimper.

It became much harder to avoid bawling as the sirens began to blare throughout the streets, and the warning rang out. He sat down on his bottom, hard, wincing and letting a trembling curse pass his lips. This was his life, but it was all so wrong. This was too different from what he had expected to wake up to, but he knew that really shouldn’t be the case. That damned “Philosopher’s Stone” was more than likely hiking up his already tremendous levels of paranoia. Where had it come from, anyway? And why did it tell such an outrageous story?

He rubbed his eyes with his hands and wiped his tears away, entirely unsure of their next step. If the Secret Police found the Phillisbots, they could track his base, and find him. Plus, he would never know what the Stone actually was. His work would be gone, he would be made a priority to find, especially for causing this commotion, and the child would go down with him. He wiped his eyes again.

When his vision cleared, Acid was standing in front of him.

“ASSASSIN!” he howled as he threw himself back against the wall, reaching into his empty pocket for a weapon, despite knowledge that contradicted the foolish notion. He quickly scurried forward again and grabbed Essex, running back to the wall and setting her behind him protectively.

“For the last time, tell me what the hell you are and what your intentions are!” Midas demanded furiously, sounding as though he could actually back up his angry tone, though it was obvious he couldn’t.

Fracas, Kibitzer, and Imbroglio were on the ground, having lost power due to the EMP. The Old Grand Phillisbot Army, the good GPA, that is, was immune to such obvious tactics, but these new automatons weren’t nearly as… good.

Midas opened his mouth to retort, but was startled as a voice sounded out behind him. He spun, nearly toppling Essex, and stared at the runed boy for a moment before pointing a finger at him accusingly and running backwards.

“ASSASSIN!” he shouted, prompting all three of his robots to abandon their positions and charge the boy, axes spinning wildly, cannons aimed for his chest. “Destroy him before he reports our location!”

“Make a mess, boys!” Fracas shouted to the others, charging straight as the others split directions and flanked from either side, coming at the one-time Wiccan from three sides.

((Heh, gotta get posts in when I can! Once I get back from school tomorrow I just know I'm going to spend a good half hour reading just this thread!))

Midas had no idea what this creature could possibly mean. He was obviously metahuman, some kind of mutation made him look like a lizard, and that made him an automatic enemy. He'd spent years fighting metahumans, he'd faced off with commanders of their forces, and had taken it upon himself to know every important mutant figure by looks alone. But he didn't recognize this one. Yet, the lizard man knew him. Was he taunting him?

"Threatening positions, boys." Midas commanded, and at once Kibitzer and Imbroglio had positioned thier axes on opposite sides of Acid's neck, while their cannons aimed at his head.

The robotist squinted, turned his head, and hummed, but he could simply not recognize this man at all. And what was worse, his head hurt again. Damned headaches! The price of genius!

"Explain quickly, I have no love for you kind." Midas commanded roughly, accenting the point by running his hand along his longest, curving scar.

"I'm going to have to ask you to remove those knives from in you mouth before I'm forced to open fire and blow them out." Imbroglio said evenly.

"I don't think those are knives! He is yet another metahuman come to attempt at attack on the most valuable life of our precious Lord Midas!" Kibitzer spoke up.

"Lower your hood, sir." the other robot demanded. "Then we'll see your intentions."

If one took anything away from a meeting with Dr. Phillis, it was the fact that he wasn't twarted easily, mostly due to the fact that he never gave up. With Essex cheering him on and magical rejuvination running through his body, he wasn't nearly done yet!

Midas Phillis sprang to his feet, scooping up Essex and plopping her easily on his shoulders, holding onto one of her wrists to keep her balance with one hand while he used the other to point straight at John, a wild fire burning in his eyes.

“Fracas, eradicate that puppet of tyranny and liberate this girl!” he ordered his robot loudly and full of passion. It just felt like the right way to order robots to attack.

“You got it, boss!” the machine agreed, sounding delighted as it stomped forward, cannon firing off with a resounding bang. The cannonball whirred through the air with near flawless aim at John, the hard plastic ball containing a compressed amount of powder that would blow the man and a sizable amount of pavement into the next world.

He smirked at the other two automatons, looking at the grey cloaked man. “Imbroglio, Kibitzer, take that man prisoner!”

“Yes, most divine Lord Midas!” Kibitzer quipped. “Your will is law! All hail the Autopatron!”

“Lower yourself to the ground and forfeit all weaponry.” Imbroglio ordered the man menacingly. “Or be destroyed.”

Despite being a scientist, Midas was rather fit, something he had gained after commanding an army of cyberenhanced soldiers. His long strides came quickly and with a practiced perfection, feet hitting the ground perfectly to prevent tearing in the muscles in his feet. His lab coat swept out behind him; he hadn’t realized he hadn’t buttoned it in his hurry to get out of his bunker. As the cold night air whipped his exposed chest, he was glad he was carrying a blanket.

“Wha-wha-what are you doing?” Midas asked, his face paling as Essex magically enhanced his body, keeping him running. He sped faster, as though he had just begun, despite having run for over a minute now. Despite how afraid he was, however, he was also fascinated. Yes, this little girl was indeed special. Light as a feather and able to pump tangible endurance into others! Quite amazing!

No time to think about that, though, he was still being chased! Damn, the man behind him was fast! But of course he was, he was one of the Overmagus’s goons, an undercover agent! He’d learned all about these organizations while serving, albeit through illegal hacking means. Just one of the reasons he had deserted.

Another alley came into view, his lab was located on the other side. He needed to lose the follower through here and get down his hatch without notice. Or just lure the goon down and let the New Grand Phillisbot Army take care of him! Yes, now that he had a plan, he need only to turn the corner and-

“OUT OF MY WAY!” the robotist screamed as a man cloaked in grey stepped out of his target alley. Despite his demands, Midas wasn’t one to barrel through someone, so he lurched to the side, missing the alley and losing his balance entirely. With a shriek, he fell to the ground, purposefully landing on his back to keep Essex safe. He held the child above him as he hit, stopping her from getting hurt, though he still skidded across the concrete, his lab coat being ripped to shreds along with the skin on his back.

Damn it! This was it!

“OUT OF MY WAY!” a metallic voice called to the grey cloaked man. This time, however, instead falling over like Midas, the speaker simply attempted to knock him away, which would be quite easy, considering how large it was.

“Take a step closer to the Doc and I fill ya full of lead!” the robot called out as it leapt out of the alleyway, brandishing its arm, which formed a long cannon at the end. The other held a menacing electrified axe, which crackled as it twirled between clumsy metal fingers. It aimed the cannon arm at John, who was in plain view, while the gray cloaked figure found himself in a similarly bad position as two more of the robots took position. They were primitive looking, not the sleek, pristine models one would expect from a master robotist, but they were still damn intimidating to a normal man.

The New Grand Phillisbot Army had come to the rescue.

“Top notch timing, Fracas!” Midas groaned, his back bleeding all over the pavement.

“It’s hard to do when our creator doesn’t even activate us personally! You need to learn the correct voice commands if you’re going to use that new communicator, Doc!” Fracas answered zealously.

((OOC: Basically, I'm modeling these robots after this concept art I pulled from Warmachine.))

“Thank you, I’m glad you understand.” Midas said as his pace began to quicken. “I assure you, I don’t do this often. My home isn’t very far away.”

It was going better than expected. The girl was very agreeable, much more agreeable than he would have expected. Hell, if a strange man had picked him up and told him he was taking him home, he would have begun screaming like a madman. He nodded to himself, glad he had made this decision to follow his instinct.

His opinion inverted as his paranoia bore fruit.

”We’re being followed.” He said hoarsely, his voice trembling along with every part of his body. His steps began to quicken, he took a few erratic turns, but he knew the person was following them.

All at once and with a yelp, the scientist took off at pull speed, his feet slapping the cracked concrete noisily as he full-out sprinted toward the warehouse that housed his bunker, not too far away.

Very bad idea, very bad idea, very bad idea! Going to die, going to die, going to die! Midas Phillis repeated in his head over and over, paranoia taking him as he took quick strides back to his impromptu lab. Why did he pick the damned girl up? He could have just left her, she had parents somewhere! She had TOAST!

But his heart broke as the little girl snuggled against him for safety. The stark whiteness of her was enough to make him weep, she was surely unhealthy! Malnourished, to be certain. She was so damned small, and light! How could a child be so light?! He'd need to learn more about her, maybe perform a few tests, with her permission, of course.

"I'm going to escort you to my home, where I would like to discuss our predicament with you for a variable amount of time." Midas Phillis explained shakily, trying best not to scare Essex. "I mean you no inconvenience, but I think it would be in your best interest to join me for dinner. You look quite hungry, and I have a generous supply of food, as well as a few nutrients I think would be in your best interest to take."

Essex felt her feet leave the ground as Midas Phillis lifted her and cradled her in his arms, leaning over protectively, trying to obscure her as much as possible so it simple looked like he was carrying out his own child and not a stranger's. He didn't want the little girl to get hurt, and he felt that he needed to talk to her anyway. His head was beginning to hurt again.

He quickly followed the others out, carrying Essex protectively and doing his best to avoid doing anything obvious. He was a wanted man, a deserter. Not that any police force would bother looking for him, he was unsignificant and not worth an investigation with all the other things going on, and he knew it. But if he did get him self arrested, and his background was brought up, then he would most certainly join the ranks of the army of the dead. Essex would more than likely be killed as well for just being with him.

Which made him feel entirely guilty. He walked by easily and immediatly set a course for home, despite the gem that would most definately be waiting to scream at him. Oh, why couldn't these things just leave him alone! Wasn't life already bad enough!?

Midas Phillis stood up, staring at the little girl. Something in his head was screaming at him, he just didn't know why. Shrugging, he went to her and bent down to her level, tilting his head slightly and smiling warmly, though it would look strange coming from his scarred face.

"Hello, little girl." he said to her gently. "Enjoying your toast, are you? Tell me, where are your mommy and daddy?"

Midas woke up with a splitting headache. He identified the cause quite easily: the floor. He’d fainted and fallen backwards, creating a sizable bump on the back of his head. He needed to carpet this bunker.

Oh, good, it had all been a dream. All was well. He had honestly believed that a crystal had been talking to him! He chuckled and scratched his head.

Running a hand over his chin, the robotist realized that he hadn’t shaved this morning. He had a terrible fuzz growing. That had to go, he couldn’t stand having a furry face. His scar tissue made and attempt at facial hair quite bizarre.

“Done breaking down yet, or am I going to have to watch as you squirm on the floor and soil yourself again?” his own voice asked him from across the room.

“I soiled myself!?” Midas yelled, jumping up at feeling his briefs.

“I certainly hope not, I was merely exaggerating.” The gem responded with a sigh. “You’re not very smart, are you?”

“Yes, I am!” Midas answered indignantly. “Or is it no, I’m not? I’m a genius!”

“You certainly haven’t made it evident.” The crystal replied. “Now will you please get up and let me explain a few things to you?”

“I’d rather leave.” The robotist replied honestly.

“GET THE HELL OVER HERE, YOU PSYCOTIC, PATHETIC SHELL OF A MAN!”

Midas yelped and ran forward, taking the gem in his hand and clutching it tightly in both hands.

“That’s better.” The gem said smugly. “You aren’t entirely useless, though you shouldn’t be useless at all, taking into account that you’re just an alternate version of me. Tell me, at what point did you become an unstable bumbling idiot?”

The robotist looked confused. “Well, my inventions stopped working as well when the End Times stopped.” There was a sharp intake of breath. “And Reyna died.”

“Buck up, imbecile.” The gem commanded. “Reyna isn’t dead.”

“Really?” the scientist asked hopefully.

”Well, not in real time….” It continued. “Have I mentioned that your life is an elaborate lie created by an artifact I once tried to use myself, but instead decided to destroy?”

“How can an artifact create something if it’s destroyed?” Midas asked skeptically, right before his eyes widened. “Wait, which part of my life is a lie?!”

“The part after World War II, I believe.” The gem said in bored tones. “This would all be so much easier if you would just absorb the power of the Philosopher’s Stone and let me take over my body long enough to repair the damage done to Earth’s timestream.”

“No!” Midas yelled. “Wait… what?”

“Do I have to explain it in layman’s terms? Fine then. My world was changed by the power of the Mallus Mundi. Because of previous interactions with the artifact involving Scirocco and the Muvian magic imbedded in the Philosopher’s Stone by my one-time allies’ mystics, a piece of my consciousness remained intact and alive inside of the artifact I used as a ‘super villain’ to fight the hypocritical systems of government around the world. Though it was once used to power a suit of armor, you don’t seem to possess that same armor, so I’m going to have to ask you to absorb the power in this Stone so I can grant you the awareness and power to destroy the tyrant that ripped apart the fabric of reality. Now, will you please absorb me? You need to have an epiphany.”

“I think I’m going to get a drink.” Midas answered dully as he set the Philosopher’s Stone down on his workbench and opened a drawer, retrieving a pair of pants and a lab coat. “It may help me become less crazy.”

“I’M NOT MAD, DAMN YOU!” the gem shouted. “And therefore, you aren’t mad! You’ll understand it all if you just let me enter you! I’m just a form of your own consciousness! You’ll just gain the truth, I won’t be taking over!”

The robotist had slid on the pants and was shoving his arms down the sleeves of the lab coat.

“Don’t ignore me!” the Stone screamed. “Would you let the world decay and crumble because you’re too pathetic to take on the responsibility of protecting your people?! You [censored], get over here and- HEY! Don’t you walk away!”

Midas slipped on his shoes as quickly as he could and sprinted up the stairs, the screams up the gem following him until he had escaped out of his exit hatch and into the rundown warehouse it was concealed in. He slammed it quickly and ran, slowing only once he was several blocks away. Running was a suspicious practice and punishable by interrogation, but this was important.

“I need a drink.” Midas repeated to himself.

Luckily for the haggard man, there was a tavern just across the street. He warily walked toward it, egged on as he heard several gunshots from some distance away.

The place was smoky and filled with rough characters, but it was salvation to the terrified robotist, who gladly plopped himself down on a splintery wooden chair and ordered something strong. His leaned his chair back, pressing it against the edge of the stage. He liked having his back against something, so he had chosen his seat carefully and subconsciously. He did most things subconsciously these days.

His chair fell down with a clatter as a figure was tossed onto the stage. He nearly fell over from his surprise, but he got his balance by grabbing onto the table, which tipped and slopped the entire contents of his drink onto his hand.

With a sigh, he brushed off the back of his soppy hand and turned his attention to the stage, where a little girl had just begun singing.

The oddest thing was, he could swear he knew her. But from where? He squinted at her, leaning forward to see if he could spark the memory that was trying to force its way back into his brain.

Something is wrong.

Midas Phillis turned over in his sleep, his long dark red hair slipping off his face, aside from a few strands that had gotten caught between his cracked lips. He had several scars on his cheeks, and a prominent one that fell from the bridge of his nose, around his mouth, and under his chin. He was handsome, quite handsome, without them, but he was proud of them. He had earned every single one saving his people.

Scirocco? That son of a [censored]!

He had been a general in the End Times, a rogue general, but still a general nonetheless. He’d spent years creating automatic soldiers and recruiting the morally upright for cybernetic treatments. They’d fought the metahumans, the slimy bastards. He had always known it would come to that damned war. Their heroes had betrayed them, it was all so obvious from the beginning. They were the greatest of pretenders, and he had been the only one to see through it. His army had fought hard and well, but there were so many of the freaks. His machines had been reduced to scrap metal, and his men had been taken out in one fell swoop when his compound had been attacked. He had been the only one to get away, shoved into an escape ship by his lover, Reyna, as she fought to hold off the threat. He had tried to stop, but it had been on autopilot. He had heard her last moments on his communicator. She had told him that she loved him before letting out a scream and falling silent. He hadn’t heard from her since.

Not Scirocco. Who is Scirocco? I don’t even know that name.

When the Overmagus came and destroyed the metahumans, he had sworn fealty in an instant. Of course he did, the man’s ideas were his own. One nation, one power. But it had all turned sour. It wasn’t how he had wanted it to be. Dead soldiers. Propaganda. He’d run from his engineering position for the Army of Steel. He hadn’t even taken his makes with him when he left, but of course, it hadn’t been a planned departure, more of an outraged, impulsive one. Reyna had always told him he was too impulsive.

Overmagus? No, not the Overmagus. I don’t understand.

And so he was in hiding. He’d been lucky enough to find himself a nice underground bunker to convert into a lab, but there was still much left to be desired. Still, he’d managed to build a few clunky machines he had used to steal a bed and a few essentials. A man needed the essentials, even if he had to steal them. He felt terrible about it, but the people would forgive him when he saved them, he was sure.

“This isn’t your world, you ignorant, weak-minded, numbskulled, flabbergasted [censored]! Do the illusions of one pathetic, broken dead man truly contort your perspective enough to believe a lifetime of lies?! WAKE UP!”

“Cyba!” Midas screamed as he shot up in bed, tumbling from the mattress and landing on the floor with a loud thump. There was no one to answer his call, however. He let out a groan. He was alone.

No, not entirely alone, he knew as he looked over to the deactivated robots along his wall. There were three of them. Large, clunky, and impractical. Nothing like what he could have made with the right materials, but they had to do.

The shook his head and pushed himself to his feet, feeling a sincere uneasiness as he looked around the room. Long shadows were cast from every object, creating phantoms and specters in every corner of the room. The whole effect was rather eerie, but it wasn’t what was scaring him out of his mind.

He had turned every light off, including the bedside lamp. He shouldn’t be able to see.

The robotist let out an intense scream of terror as he ran at the source of light, a glowing gem on his workbench. It was red. No, clear, but with red lightning bouncing around the inside in such a dense pattern that it was nearly impossible to tell the difference without prior knowledge. Which he really shouldn’t know, he realized as he got closer and gave it a harsh slap with his hand.

The crystal went skidding across the floor and bumped into a wall, but didn’t shatter or explode, just yelled at him.

“What the hell was that even supposed to do?!” it roared at him in a voice he was sure was his own. “What scientific hypothesis prompts a man such as myself to scream and charge to backhand a strange magical object!? Do you have no sense of self-preservation, or am I just ignorant to the fact that this reality uses physical strikes as a miracle cure for all maladies?!”

Midas stared at the gem, which was pulsing angrily. His mouth opened in a silent shriek as he fell back on his behind, his vision of the object obscured by his desk, though the glow still radiated from all sides of it.

“Oh, wretched man! Now you’ve just fallen down and hidden behind a desk?” the gem shouted indignantly. “I find it hard to believe that even a reactant as powerful as the Mallus Mundi could warp my personality to this point! No weapons, no plans to retreat, no soldiers to send at me, just falling down? For hell’s sake, you unbelievable [censored], you have a battle group slumped against the walls, did you ever think of activating them instead of collapsing in a pathetic heap!?”

Midas Phillis stood up quickly and ran to the robots on the wall, sweating. “S-sorry!” he said, flipping switches.

“STOP!” the gem roared.

The robotist froze where he was standing, his knees shaking.

“I have a lot of work to do.” The Philosopher’s Stone muttered to itself, personifying the realtime spirit of the nefarious Dr. Phillis. “Get your clothes on, put me in your pocket, and let me tell you something.”

Well, in all seriousness, most of them pay commisions for their characters from just about everybody, so they aren't exactly "so good" that they get all the art. I know TA has probably spent somewhere in the thousands for all his pictures, it's insane! And if some people draw them some free art, they deserve it from all the money they spend! Several of them are artists themselves, anyway.

Wow, Roxstar looks awesome! Great pose there, you really pulled him off awesome!