Veiled Malice

Daisuke watched in something akin to awe as the insect beast flowed towards him like a flood. At the last possible moment, he smashed the top of the hydrant he stood over, and shaped the resulting water jet into a liquid laser with his hands, which unfortunately missed the fast-moving monster by a mile. Unfortunately, at the same time, thousands of bugs flew out of the amophous blob, slamming into his chest and injuring him slightly. "Ite!" he cried out in pain and surprise, more the latter than the former. He didn't expect and bug bullet could hurt him. In rataliation, he took a swing at it, missing yet again.

Okay, real simple action for Nanowire this turn. All he's doing is checking out if the little bugger has the nanotech he wants. With a 23, I'm not sure if that'll happen, but it's worth a shot.

Now in possession of his very own spider bot, Nanowire examined it closely, trying to figure out if it was possessed of the same nanotech that it's parent also seemed to command. He didn't hold out much hope for that, however. The little thing might in fact be using the technology Nanowire sought, but he doubted he'd be able to determine it just by a cursory examination. He'd need to crack it open and scan the insides closely. And he seriously doubted the Sentinel or Vanguard would let him have that kind of time.

Okay, I figure we can wrap this up in a couple more posts. Velocity victorious! Yays! :)

Robert appeared surprised that Velocity was planning on escorting him all the way to his new home, but he didn't make a fuss. After a short cab trip in which Velocity got some odd looks from other motorists, they arrived at their destination. "1609 Caniff Rd... apartment... 139! There it is," Robert said, mostly to himself, as he read off the address. The place was nice, Velocity noted. A first-floor walk up barely ten minute's walk from the city center. Most people would kill to get a place in Riverside, let alone be put up there for the indefinite future. Of course, Robert was more or less a prisoner, albeit a very nice prison. The apartment itself had already been furnished, although without personal touches, it felt strangely empty and cold. Robert, however, didn't seem disappointed by that. It was all he could do to keep his jaw off the floor as he gazed about his new digs. "Wooow..." he said in awe. "This is huge! Lookit the living room! It's the size of my old house! And that TV!" He disappeared around a corner for a second before Velocity heard, "Oh my god! It's got a loft! This place is so cool!"

Okay, this riddle is freaking hard, even I'll admit it. There's like three levels of meaning in there from what I've seen, so I'll be giving you some help if you need it. First, both of you give me an INT check. Add in any ranks you have for Knowledge: History or any other scientific disciplines. (Which I don't think either of you have. Sorry. :oops: ) Also, use Google to look up the hints. It should help.

Before Nightrival can make much headway in feeling out the shapes on the floors, the hatch in the ceiling slams shut, plunging the room into total darkness. Not even Grimalkin's keen eyes can pick up anything anymore, not without some light with which to see. The dead silence didn't last long. All of a sudden, the entire room seemed to move. The sensation one gets while going down an elevator filled the two heroes, but fortunately, it seemed to be moving fairly slowly. Still, it was fairly disconcerting, especially when their tormentor came back on the PA system. "Ah, you're making good time! I thought I'd take this opportunity to speak to the two of you a bit about a topic of mutual interest. Specifically, crime." As he spoke, Grimalkin, with her hypersensitive ears, realized she couldn't localize the sound being created. It seemed to be coming from all around them. Not a good thing, considering all it would take was turning up the gain to the requisite level, and it would burst their eardrums. "I know we differ quite a bit on philosophies on how to deal with criminals. But what you must realize is that you do neither yourself nor the people you supposedly protect any favors by sending scum to the weak prisons of today. They are only in place to coddle the very vermin you throw in until they invariably break out and wreak their vengeance. Criminals must be controlled, molded back into productive members of society - by any means necessary." Finally, the room reached it's terminating point, and clicked into place. Lights blazed to life, temporarily blinding the trapped heroes with it's relative brilliance. When they could see again, both saw that the shapes Grimalkin had seen before were now glowing, shining with some sort of inner brilliance. They were numbers, oddly enough, and like Grimalkin had seen, eight were on each side of their current prison, with the hatch in the middle of each surface taking up the room for the ninth. All the numbers on each wall were the same, starting with 1, then 1 again, then 2, then 3, then 5, then 7, then 13, then 21. Each hatch had a number as well, with the one of the ceiling being 1, 2 through 5 on the walls around them, and finally 6 on the floor. "Good. You're now in position. The room you now occupy was not originally meant for you, Nightrival, I'll admit. The addition of your sidekick gains you little, though. Neither of you has the intellectual fortitude to devise the true meaning behind my motives, and so to it goes for the exit to this room." "There is only one hatch that leads to safety. The rest lead to certain death by a verity of nasty means. There is no time limit to this challenge, besides the ever-present need for oxygen, which I assume both of you require. I suppose you could simply choose one hatch at random, but a one in six chance of survival isn't all that good." "Since I know you'll never figure it out on your own, I leave you with this hint: combine the original inventor of the helicopter with the leaning tower, and you'll have your answer. Ciao!" The Warden's mocking laughter faded, leaving the two alone in the harshly-lit room.

Sorry for the delay - I've been lazy. I'll get to posting directly.

Been there, but haven't posted as of yet. I've heard... stories... of their nightmare tag usage and formatting restrictions.

Indeed, it is on this day that Dr Archeville celebrates the date of his birth! Congratulations! Your impending fate as your body wears out grows ever closer! :twisted:

The cab showed up in short order, though they did have to walk a little farther than anticipated to get out of the staging area for the human swap meet. Robert said little during that time, but Velocity could feel his eyes traveling to her face every so often, before he quickly looked away again. The boy stepped up to the taxi, then glanced back at Velocity, a look of indecision on his face. "Hey, I... I just wanted to say thanks. This is a lot more than I expected, more than I would have gotten back where I'm from." A brilliant smile graced his features, making him look a little bit more personable. "So... thank you. Thank you for everything."

Bullets whizzed through the wooden facade of the building, prompting Nanowire to run faster. Although he now had an inkling they may not be as powerful as he'd feared, he wasn't about to chance taking an errant burst. Which helped to explain why he was carrying one of the powered suits with him, wearer still occupying it, furiously struggling impotently against his vastly superior strength. "You know, you'd make this a lot simpler if you'd stop flailing around!" he yelled as he smashed through another wall, stringing his pursuers along further into the compound. A blur of motion from the right made attracted his attention. There was the roar of rushing air and a tremendous crash, then Nanowire felt himself get catapulted out of the fake building via explosive relocation. He managed to get his feet underneath him as he skidded backwards, away from the dust cloud ruin of what used to be his main source of cover, which was now nothing more than plywood scraps and nails. He all of a sudden noticed that he wasn't supporting the weight of his captive anymore. In the chaos of his unscheduled flight, he had dropped the man along the way. His radar pinpointed him a moment later, or rather, what was left of him. From his condition, it was blatantly obvious the armor was not rated to withstand the weaponry it carried. If Nanowire could have turned off that particular sensory apparatus at the moment, he would have, but as it was, the scene of that man, spread out there under the ruins of a concrete pillar, filled Nanowire with revulsion... ...And rage. "You still alive, boy?!" the harsh voice of his pursuer called out over the sound of settling debris. "Yes," Nanowire said quietly, getting back to his feet and looking out across the massive structure at his adversaries. "And I am going to make you pay."

Considering how best to go about figuring out which criminal organization Nanowire had infiltrated, Daisuke took his spiral notebook out of his bag and started making notes. There were only so many bad guys worthy of being hunted down by the coolest superhero ever, so listing them shouldn't take too long. "" His answer in writing in front of him, Daisuke began considering how he'd go about looking in on his big brother. He couldn't just drop in on The Foundry, of course. Not only did he not know where they were based out of, it would totally blow Nanowire's cover when he had to rescue him. No, that wouldn't work. He might have to wait until Nanowire resurfaced, victorious in his mission to destroy the Foundry from within. Daisuke jotted a couple more things down in his notebook before looking up, an expression of consternation on his face. What was that noise? It had been there for a little while, but it seemed to be getting louder now. It almost sounded like... "Gunfire!" Daisuke hopped to his feet, his mission to find Nanowire temporally forgotten. He stuffed all his gear in his pack before taking off towards the disturbance. "Ready or not, bad guys, here comes Mashin-kun!"

Ren regarded the door separating him and his girlfriend for a couple moments, then sighed pitiably. "Of all the superpowers I have, why couldn't X-ray vision be one of them?" he muttered to himself half-jokingly, then started preparing himself for bed. He stripped off his shoes and pants, leaving him in just his shirt and boxers. Anything less might not go over well with Lynn, and she was still mostly running the show here. Stacking his clothing neatly at the foot of the bed, Ren happened to look under it and see the "children" huddled in the corner by the wall. He felt bad. It was their place, after all; their "mother" he was stealing. "Hey, guys," he said in a soothing tone. "Sorry about horning in on your territory here. It's... it's not really like I'm taking her anywhere, though." He stopped and considered his words for a moment. "Okay, I did ask her to move in, but she said no. And it's not like you wouldn't be going with her even if she did go somewhere. I really think you'd like it there. Lots of room, places for you climb... I think one of my neighbors has cats too, but that might not be a bonus for you guys, huh?"" The cats still seemed wary of him, but one had started ambling towards the edge of the bed where Ren was crouched down. With glacial slowness borne of not having organic muscles, he reached out and offered his hand for examination. The curious one sniffed at the proffered limb, backed up slightly, then approached from a different angle and repeated the process. This is why I like dogs, Ren thought You never have to go out of your way to get a dog to show affection.

Gotcha. I'll take over the kiddies if necessary. Mashin-kun is holding for the time being, but will take his action if Maggot gets within ten feet of him. I know this won't even phase her, but I'm doing the whole "hero thing". You know, being generally stupid. :)

Skidding to a stop near his objective, Daisuke hunkered down and awaited the arrival of his foe. He had to stop himself from smiling at the thought of facing an actual bad guy after so long! Well, maybe it wasn't a guy... more of a insect blob. But it was definitely bad, of that he was sure. And Mashin-kun was going to stop it!

From the journal of Renichi Sonada - November 15th, 2007 [recording begins] Something has actually gone right since I've been in this cursed city! As one might be able to tell from my voice, I am actually happy, which is rare enough these days to accord extraordinary circumstances to. I'm recording this on the same day as my previous entry, as I believe finally finding a permanent place of residence warrants special attention. It was after my ill-advised plummet from the very rooftop that now houses me that I stumbled across it. Let me start from the point of my impact... actually, hold on... you know what? I'll let that stand for now, even though these entries are beginning to sound more like a comedy routine rather than a villainous tirade. (Aside: I have now come to accept that Omega has likely never had days like this, but I can live with that.) I had awoken in an alley behind the tenement block to discover that several individuals were rifling through my pockets - in search of valuables, I assume. Now, in human form I might not be exceptionally strong, but I am inhumanly durable, which they discovered, much to their chagrin. After showing the two the error of their ways, (Aside: I beat them like drums!) one of them let slip that a man in the very building I now stand inside had put them up to rob me as I lay unconscious. Angered, I marched into the building to show this individual how very wrong he was to think he could threaten me. I will admit this might have been inadvisable, but I was really angry at the time - too much so to think about the possible consequences. My short conversation with "TJ" earned me two neat holes in my shirt courtesy of a low caliber pistol and a new (if incomplete) understanding of "Ebonics." I revenged myself upon his person by kicking his "stank ass" through a window, prompting a hilarious exclamation of surprise from the man right up until his cranium bounced off the pavement a couple floors below. I can't imagine the fall did too much for his mental faculties, but from the brief time I knew him, he never had much in the way of those to begin with. On quick and anonymous call to the police, and TJ was picked up for illegal possession of a handgun. I don't expect to see him anytime soon, so I have moved into his place and taken it for my own. All I have to do is talk to the super, and I should be all set. [sounds of a scuffle, yelling in the background] Hold on... [door slamming open] You dead, fo! [gunfire] [continuing gunfire] [heavy sigh] I might need to move apartments. Apparently, the American justice system is insufficient to hold criminals for any amount of time - *squark* [sharp thud] Hey! I need that! [sounds of fighting echo in the background] [end recording]

From the journal of Renichi Sonoda - November 15th, 2007 [recording begins] I'm not currently in prison, which is about the only thing that went to plan tonight. Having finally learned my lesson from the previous two entries, I am sitting atop a rather large building as I dictate my glorious first foray into the world of crime. Or perhaps "glorious" is wrong word. Disastrous? Horrendous? Ruinous? Those might be more substantive adjectives after the debacle tonight. As one might imagine from my discourse thus far, things did not go entirely to plan. Initially, this was not my fault. For some unknown reason, Heavy placed the staging point for our robbery in the middle of Riverside Park, a heavily trafficked and highly visible area. One might imagine this to be a less than intelligent move, but when you consider that both of us were outfitted in enough metal to build an Infantry Fighting Vehicle, it becomes downright imbecilic. (Aside: maybe it was his first heist? I should probably find out. I hear Wikipedia is chronicling the various exploits of supervillains these days... with accuracy typical of only the finest in populist websites. Nevermind.) Once out of our botanical rendezvous, we made towards the Museum (Aside: I should have known before then that something was up. Who in their right mind would rob a museum?) where we made good inroads towards not screwing the pooch so hard it would need to lock itself away with a tube of soothing cream for a couple days. After which, not so much. Stymied by something as simple as a laser array guarding an exhibit, I made the decision to create a distraction utilizing my innate control over machines, the front door of the museum, and America's predilection for automobiles that would need to loose several tons in order to qualify as Urban Assault Vehicles anywhere else on Earth. I will admit, this deviation from the plan might have been made in haste and aggravation over something so pathetic holding up two people that could have otherwise torn the building in half like a phonebook, but it should have worked. In any other place that was not continuously patrolled by no less than several dozen super powered beings at any one time, that is. At the risk of sounding petty, is it too much to ask that I might be let free to rob a place of business - or learning, but the place takes donations - without being accosted by testosterone junkies wielding powers that would be regulated in any rational society? The fact that both individuals were female and thus mostly devoid of the former makes no difference. We were on our way out when the two confronted us and started spouting off about justice and the American way and apple pies or some such nonsense - I wasn't paying much attention, honestly. After a short scuffle, by which I mean there were a grand total of perhaps three or four punches thrown, I managed to transform the entryway of the museum into splinters via the introduction of about 1000 hyper velocity flechettes fired at point blank range. Fortunately, no one was hurt, (Aside: is it too much to ask that someone got grazed by them? That attack is so cool!) and in the confusion of seeing a hollowed hall of erudite introspection turned into so much kindling, Heavy and I escaped through another portal. Handy, those. Although we accomplished our objectives, I feel we, rather I, have failed on several levels. First, I failed to plan for contingencies. It's not like I could have anticipated the museum would possess security measures that could foil me so completely, but still, I have to "expect the unexpected", or some other meaningless catch phrase that unduly smug people like to rattle off when they hear about these kinds of things. Second, I should always depend on the interference of metahumans in all my future activities. No matter how mundane the crime, it seems these people have nothing better to do. In the future, I shall endeavour to do just that. I'm still starting out, after all, and I can't be expected to know everything... [sound of a doorknob rattling] Oh, are you kidding me... [sound of a doorknob rattling violently] Kuso! [sound of impact against metal] [heavy sigh] Though in retrospect, I suppose I should have anticipated that the roof-level access door would be locked... I wonder if I can remain conscious after a fall from this height... [recording ends]

Which, in today's America, makes your family a bunch of freaks. :)

Ren was unprepared for the blast that smashed into his chest, nearly sending him head over heels from it's power. He realized he couldn't be of any use here, not without his powers, so he made for the nearest burned-out hulk to absorb it. Almost slipping on the water puddle present in the alleyway, Ren hurled himself at the beat up Chevy, which might have been a nice vehicle at some point. Silvery lines of nanomachines quickly began breaking it down for use, but he prioritized his immediate needs and armored himself before anything else.

Okay, Daisuke's making for the nearest fire hydrant, however far away that is. He's also in a defensive posture, so that's a +2 to his Defense.

Narrowly dodging out of the way of the clump's bug-arm, Daisuke gave himself a pat on the back for at least diverting whatever this thing was's attention from the boy it had been attacking before. Of course, now it had him squarely in it's... sights, if it did indeed have that kind of thing. It seemed to be at least partly aware of it's environment, which meant it might be aware of other things. "Hey, over here, y'big buggy goon! Come and get the metal boy!" With that bit of improvisational taunting, (genius stuff, really) Daisuke made off for the nearest fire hydrant. Maybe the thing would be more vulnerable to water.

Er... I've written a couple of Ranma 1/2 fanfics, does that count? But no, I haven't written anything professionally.

The cube remained silent and dark; utterly unmoved, it seemed, now that it had an inhabitant. From her new vantage point, Grimalkin could see that there were numerous markings on the floor, walls and ceiling. Though there still wasn't enough light to see for a normal human, she could make out that they were dividing lines. Each surface had been divvied up into nine even sections, just like a tic-tac-toe board, with the hatches taking up the center. There were further markings on each section, but there were too indistinct, even for Grimalkin's enhanced eyes.

Ren managed not to blush at that, or at least, he managed to look away thoughtfully before he embarrassed himself. Pressuring her into sleeping with him was the last thing on his mind when he brought it up, but now that he had the time to think objectively on what happened, that was really the only way she could have taken his diatribe. Still and all, this was an adult relationship. There would be rocky parts, but if they were strong enough, they'd muddle through and emerge all the stronger for it. "Don't worry about my sleeping patterns," he said after she'd brought it up. "I'll find some way to entertain myself." Maybe I should tell her about being able to access the Internet with my brain..., he thought as he helped her clean up the rest of the food and silverware. He blinked as she pointed out the various books in her apartment. Perhaps he wouldn't have to scroll over the same message board for the hundredth time tonight. "No, I never have." He scanned the cover art, noting that it seemed to be fairly dated for this point in time. "They made a movie out of these, right? I heard something about flying monkeys..." "Hey, what about the children?" He asked, pointing towards the door the cats were still presumably behind. "Don't they usually sleep in here? I don't mind, as long as the two that attempted to eviscerate me keep their claws sheathed."