DeviousMe

"Oh, I see." Acid smiled back, "Yeah, don't confuse the Council and the Concile. The Nictus-club's small game compared to the big guys. But you're better off not knowing about them, trust me."

He smirked in thought for a moment, "Guess that means Kosunn's in another rim sector. Concile doesn't go there much nowadays."

Maybe because we started dropping spaceports on 'em, Acid added in thought.

Oh yes, that had been quite the operation - dropping an orbital plate onto the city below. Mihkalo had been literally crushed, and the rest of the planet had stood still for three days.

And of course, GNN had broadcast the story for a good month. It had rattled the Concile's high horse, and anything that did that was big news - including the mysterious computer virus that had paralyzed the city and stopped anyone from entering it some time before. Vern really had a gift for software.

"Alright guys, this is getting old." Acid fell into the debacle over Essex, "Geez, just ask her who she wants to room with already..."

"Hehehe, just like old times." Acid chuckled, "You guys haven't changed one bit. Any of ya."

Morsko had already disappeared into the house, scouting about for any potential threats - in his own way, of course...

Acid laughed heartiy, and Mosrko seemed just plain old confused.

Hmph, there he goes with 'experiment' again...why do I suddenly feel the need to blow something up...?

But Acid decided now wasn't the time for it. Instead, he'd much rather catch up with everyone. It'd been a while since he'd seen them last - seeing how he wasn't exactly on Terra much - and he really wanted to know what Toy, Rosie, Essex, and Hallucinogen had been up to in particular.

"So then," he began, speaking as he walked towards them from his spot on the wall, "here we are again, hm? Gotta say, nice place to see yall again."

He turned to Tomanton, "Culture shock, eh? Yeah, I can see where you're coming from."

For a moment, Acid looked intently upon Morsko, smiling knowingly, "But there's quite a lot of that. What are you two here for, anyway? The Concile been making trouble...?"

Acid chuckled. He was liking this already...

"Acid Zero." Acid nodded, leaning against the wall, "That's what they call me."

Damn it, Jack, you didn't say anything about a research firm! Just wait 'till I geT my hands on you!

A long black tail wrapping around his leg gave him the attentiveness to quickly continue, "Oh, and this is Morsko. And you were probably expecting someone else, but yeah...long story. But seeing how I'm here now, what can one win...?"

[ QUOTE ]
"What the hell did you mean, teleporting me into the freaking laundry room? It took me five god damned minutes to wade out of that crap! I'm about this close to blowing-!"

"Shut it, Combat Toy," Toy said coldly. "We're not blowing anything to smithereens. Got it? Now either sit down and cram it or you can go back to base and oversee the rest of the upgrades."

[/ QUOTE ]
"Heh heh heh." Acid smiled broadly as he entered the mansion, bag slung over his shoulder, Morsko at his side, "Doesn't that sound familiar."

Apparently, he was late - not surprising, given the state of things. He could have sworn that tabe had been bolted to the floor, but the Doc had managed to prove otherwise.

Oh well, here he was, and to his great delight, he saw people he knew - make that cool people who didn't want to kill him soon as lay eyes on him.

And yes, Toy and Rosie most definetely counted as people in Acid's book - in fact, just about everyone counted as a person, no matter their physical form...or lack thereof...

[ QUOTE ]
"I see Rikti," Ryuji said, manifesting an ice spike on his arm, "But I don't hear Rikti screams, what's the plan?"

[/ QUOTE ]
"I sense quite a few strong feelings there." Hotaka mumbled. Did Ryuji have a history with the Rikit? Perhaps even fought in the Rikti War?

Well, it was of little consequnce either way. The mages on the 'metal tombstones' were what really interested him right now.

"My plan's to free the Chain guys, kill the soul-stealers, maybe carve up that Shaman too, and then make a mess of whatever the Rikti are doing. That good or does someone have a better idea?"

"We still need to get out hones back, Sensei." Waziri added.

"Oh yes. For some odd reason, they stole our cell phones. If you find them, we'd appreciate if you told us..."

"Tell me again why I let you talk me into this? And give me a good reason, otherwise I'll hang up right now."

"Because you still owe me a favor from World 15, not to mention your public image could use a bit of brushing up."

"My 'public image' is just fine and dandy, thank you very much."

"Aw, stop being so grumpy about it. Just take it as a vacation."

"My idea of a vacation is jumping into a lava pit and not coming out for three days. That or a tropical beach. Not somewhere cold, like here. Atlantic ocean my foot - should be called the arctic."

"That's just your grump talking. Now drop it or I'll put on my Freud beard and ask you about your mother."

"You know I don't have a mother."

"I reject your reality and subsitude my own."

"I'm going with Ace on this one. No Freud beard for you."

"Awww...but I was having fun."

"Doesn't matter. You told me to protect him from any harm, and that includes the emotional distress you tend to dispense."

"Heh, on second thought, this might be amusing after all..."

---------------------

If anybody cared to look, they would see a night-black Ferrari Testarossa storm onto the mansion's driveway - or, at least, something that looked very much like one.

A few notable differences included the fully mirrored windows, ensuring no one could see inside the car, no matter day or night, not to mention angle, and the fact that there were no exhausts.

The most notable thing, however, was that instead of roaring onto the scene, the vehicle was almost silent, only the sound of tires on road accompanying the car as it swerved in a right angle and skidded to a stop sideways in front of the garage.

"Hey, I said I was gonna have fun." a voice said as the driver's door popped open, "I just happen to like driving recklessly. I don't get to do it often enough, anyway."

And with that, two black boots hit the ground, followed by the rest of a humanoid reptilian, leathery hide deep-green, and dressed in his usual outfit of white T-shirt and black jacket with matching pants and boots.

"I will." Acid Zero seemed to be speaking with the watch on his left wrist, "No, I won't promise I won't blow anything up. But I'll do my best not to. Oh, and one more thing, Doc - if I don't like this, you don't get to test anything on me for a month. Capiche...? I thought so."

With that, the conversation was over, and the trunk popped open, allowing him to retrieve the simple silver-gray sports bag from the car.

This one, he opened the passenger door, and a sleek black form instantly leaped out, seeming very happy to be in the fresh air again.

Indeed, Morko was delighted, taking a moment to roll down a grassy hill before returning to Acid's side. Though he walked on all fours, an observant person would notice several marks of a biped on the dark creature, which upright would probably have reached the same height as Acid, about two meters from head to toe.

However, that and the shape of the skull was about where the similarity ended. Unlike Acid's leathery hide, Morko's seemed perfectly smooth and didn't bother reflecting the sun much at all - not to mention the bone plate attached to the rear of his skull, making the thing almost twice as long. It was proably designed for protection of the neck, as it was too thin to house anything but bone.

"Alright then, let's go." Acid decided with a sigh, and the car's doors slammed shut again as he and Morsko wandered up to the entrance...

((Haha, yeah, same with me. Decided too late I guess. Yalls have fun now. ))

((Yeah, funny thing, that's about all you need. The sewers look all the same and are just repeated over and over at different angles. The only thing I changed was hat the doors to the abandoned section are now guarded by stuff - and 2 of those doors now seem to be clear.))

((Oh, my bad. I'm trying to let people take as much control of their characters' path as I can. At least until...well, you'll find out. Anyway, I'll add this if you like: ))

The roars and slurps of Hydra came at Widler and Svetlana, but they seemed to be interested in something completely different, charging right by and milling about aimlessly before lumbering off again.

Something was putting them into a strange state, and that something could very well be associated with the humming that seemed to come from below...

((So feel free to meet up with Guapo or anyone else running around down there right now. There's a lot of unexplored paths in the sewers, and probably quite a few short cuts. ))

As Wielder came around the door, the Painpipe found only an empty ragged robe.

'Pariah' had vanished into thin air - lootless, but very much escaped...

---------------------

((Very well. I was hoping for more people, but I don't want to draw the actual story out any longer. Time for .))

The abandoned sewer network seemed to be sewers no longer. More and more tech lined the walls as the group descended, finally arriving in a small room with a row of windows lining one side while a door was present to the left.

The wondows overlooked a massive room with the dimensions of a 747 manufacturing plant.

And the floor bore that resemblance.

All around, machines hummed and piping gurgled, the floork vibrating with the rythm of the electronics embedded in it.

Every now and then, a cloud of fog shot from somewhere, obscuring the view for a moment and generally making the window hazy.

But anyone who looked closely enough could see the slowly turning rings of a giant portal mechanism in the back of the hall. In front of it stood a cannon-like apparatus, at least half the height of the portal mechanism, which spanned a good twenty meters.

Fog rolled off the cannon in a constant stream, covering the floor in its wafting waves, creating an eerie and spooky atmosphere. The thing had to be coolded something fierce to emtit that much cold air.

And around the cannon, almost in a perfect circle, stood thirteen structures that looked like giant metal tombstones, pulsing with pale-green energies. Stuck to them bo some force were mages of various groups, from the Circle of Thorns to the Legacy Chain. They were clearly in agony.

And on the floor itself milled its owners.

Rikti.

Clad in suits of cold armor, weapons at the ready, they were preparing...

---------------------

"Well..." Hotaka commented, almost whispering, his breath fogging up the window from the cold on the other side, "Rikti stealing cell phones and tying up mystics. That's a new one..."

"Ph." Hotaka huffed, "I may kill when I deem it deserved, but I'm certainly not for hire. What others do with what I teach is entirely up to them. And I do resent being called evil. Just because I think your laws are in desperate need of a change doesn't mean I'm some sort of big bad thug."

Ryuu didn't notice Pariku's probing. But the mage probably didn't find what he was looking for - if it really was compared to a book, the binding sprang upon Pariku as a wall of fire, stirring shadows beaneath it. One was large and long, the other smaller and more human. And the smaller shadow constantly stabbed something at the larger, seeming only to make it madder and madder.

Then the fire swallowed the picture up entirely...

((Haha, isn't anyone going to do the stereotypical "An' who are youse supposed ta be?" to Hotaka? He is classified as a villain, after all. ))

Svetlana's electron haze hit its mark, sending 'Pariah' sprawling backwards and causing him to lose his grip on his goodie-bag, which spilled its contents onto a walkway.

Cell phones, pagers, and PDAs?

This wasn't going well. Now he had to deal with two heroes - and he'd spilled his objective all over the place.

Thankfully, there were many more gathering these things as well, so the loss wasn't too great.

'Pariah' stood back up, sending a paralyzing wave of mental energies at both heroes, then rushed inot one of the all-too-familiar open doors one finds in Paragon's sewer system...

---------------------

"They're right, you know." Hotaka smiled knowingly to Darkvapor, "The world's got a way of doing things. Been that way for a long, long time. SHouldn;t be changed. No, not at all..."

The last part was more of a ramble to no one in particular.

"That's the spirit." he laughed at Ryuji's commentary, "Everything's good for something..."

((Ph, no idea, all I know is that we have 2 students still at Tempest - although if we really want a Mountain vs. Tempest match, I could conjure up Ryuu's Genin right quick. They may be spazoids, but considering they'll kick anything he tells them to, they should be pretty good at soccer. ))

((Time moves in circles - hence why clocks are round.

And if everyone's OK with it, I'm gonna let go of that second hand now and let it tick to tomorrow. ))

"Young man, you might want to look into your current relationships before you start thinking about your love life." Hotaka recommended to Reginald, walking on as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Though he was quite surprised as Darkvapor's zombies turned and headed for another group of Hydra when they had been taking point just a second before.

"Kids these days." he sighed, Waziri and Katashi at his side, as he entered the door and started past the humming machines. He didn't care about their function - he cared about the purpose of the one running them...

---------------------

'Pariah' had no chance of getting away from Wielder and Svetlana. Not unless...

No, it was too early for that. He had to elude them somehow else.

Sleeeeeeeep...

The mental command was almost vocal, so overpowering it was as it burrowed into Wielder's mind. 'Pariah' only hoped it worked before the charging man slammed into him nevertheless. Sleeping or not, the lunatic looked like he had a lot of momentum going there...

((Sorry DV, but we're trying to turn DOWN the random acts of violence in this thread, remember? Your attack on TE and Plague's psychotic holy man vs. Legion of Science devil was already enough. We don't need any more for now.

Also, Malta + floating base...as anyone will tell you (especially Soviet ), that don't mix. Malta are sneaky, covert, blackmailing, kidnapping kind of villains. They only fight when they absolutely have to.))

Tharmoar yawned as he stepped from his car, slowly waking to his house overlooking a good amopunt of Rockwell's nighttime ambience.

Yes, the hill was nice, and though the house wasn't a mansion - it didn't need to be, as far as Howard was concerned - almost everyone in town knew that Tharomar's Hill was a very scenic spot...

((Weeeeell, I got stuck waiting for Dr...I mean you-know-who's reaction to losing contact to te Mark I. Don't know where our hero troop dropped.))

((My apologies, Khel, I seem to keep forgetting you. ))

[ QUOTE ]
Spinning around, Wielder noticed the Pariah attempting to escape into the sewers. Charging forward and pointing his pipe at the villain, Wielder shouted, "HALT EVIL VILLAIN AND FACE JUSTICE!"

[/ QUOTE ]
'Pariah' had no intention of having his skull beaned in by a raving lunatic. tearing ope the sewer gate, he scrambled inside, hoping to escape before the madman got to him...

---------------------

"HMM?" Hotaka comented, a bit flustered as the group just moved on, "Well, how do you like that? Not even a thank you. Kids today..."

"We should be going anyway, Sensei." Katashi replied, "They do not seem welcoming at all."

"Nonsense. I'm still the boss here, and if you want e to teach you, you'll do what I say. And I say we find out why te damn Lost stole our cellphones in the first place."

"As you command." the Jounin sighed...

---------------------

The door to the abandones sewer network - indeed, ANY door that led there - revealed the way to something completely unexpected:

The sewer walls had been partially reinforced by exotic metals, sprayed on in a cold-working process few humans understood. Everywhere, strange machines hummed and pulsed.

Rikti machines.

And there was quite a bit of noise from up ahead...

((I doubt there would be just two trolls remaining from the gang that busted into the warehouse. ))

Hotaka smiled as the Kraken froze, slowly but surely, hos oins keeping the thing from regenerating for now.

He nodded to Katashi, who nodded back before charging in, taking Waziri's place.

The second Jounin's powerful blows of the martial arts shattered into the Kraken, doing much more damage then the masamune's slicing could have.

With all the effors pouring inot the Kreaken, it went down soon after, spluttering to the ground and shatterng into a million pieces.

"Well, that's that." Hotaka smiled, looking at the heroes, though he made sure to keep the rim of his coolie below his eyes.

He didn't want them to see he had no pupils quite yet...

---------------------

((Sigh...I guess MissDemeanor really did leave. ))

One of the detectives didn't go for cover, instead lurching for the grenade.

With a kick that would have made any proessional soccer player proud, he sent the thing sailing off into a dumpster, blowing the large trashcan to pieces spectacularly...

---------------------

The Tanker ekpt taunting Pain Killah as the Eagles took off, firing from the tech store's roof and from mid-air.

He may have been unable to tangle with the big boys himself, but with a ood support squad, the Warden was a force to be reckoned with.

Especially as he wound up a KO Blow...

Hahaha, I know what you mean. When you DON'T want them to spawn the suckers, they manage to, and when you DO want the engy's to call 'em, they never do.

Getting that badge was a PAIN...

Hahaha, you're all weakings! The Malta are my favorite opponents. Gunslingers are funny as hell:

Tango Black Something-or-Other: "Hey, Acid Zero, guess what? I'm all outta bubblegum!"

The Slinger: "C'mere, ya varmints!"

Random TacOp: "Confirmed MHI! We have a confirmed MHI!"
Golden Silver 4-4-4: "Stop yellin' an' shoot already!"

So yeah, Gunslingers are probably my favorite bosses in the entire game, not only because I like them as a challenge, but also because they spit those lines all over.

Sappers...they go either first or last. Since Acid and Kayman are resistant to holds AND stuns AND end drain, the Sapper takes lowest priority. Schwarzherz and Spion, on the other hand, will go for them first.

Schwarzherz: spam hold, fear, immob, another hold...there, that should do. Now shoot the guy.

Spion: tpfoe into trip mines. Done.

Yes, you are. She's making a tribute to Soviet by using her Malta alias.

((Oh come on, haven't you ever seen a grenade before? It's not like it's sticky or anything, just shiny and beepy. ))