Cry Havok! IC

[angrydurf]

Phalanx drifted across the floor careful not to disturb the scene as much as he could. "So the missing students are safe? Good to hear." he said with relief he had been uncertain of the fate of his classmates who had been replaced. "Do the robots look like anything you've seen before?" he asked looking between Archeville and Gossamer.

As the Doctor investigated the remains he could see to his disappointment that the communication and control chips had a self destruct mechanism to prevent their control signals from being back tracked. However the could access some of the functions of the internal computing and that might at least reveal something.

[Gizmo]

An ear piece built into Midnight's featureless mask crackled to life over a secure channel, pitched so only the black clad youth could hear it. "Trevor," his grandfather's 'work voice' intoned, "the transport I was using to transfer an early prototype of the midnight mist gun was hijacked on its way to the super museum."

Midnight's eyes narrowed behind the faintly glowing red lenses. "Robots?" he asked.

"Hard to say. Appears the drivers were waylaid and replaced. Working on something related?

Concealed in the shadowy corners of the lab he considered. Fear Master's gasses and Luna Moth's pheromones, Archeville said... A modified midnight mist pistol would make a superb delivery system for either. "Could be."

"Keep following it, then," Travis instructed. "I'm heading over to investigate. More when I look at the scene."

"Be careful," Trevor cautioned. His grandfather was, as far as he was concerned, the best there ever was, but the original Midnight was now well into his nineties.

The earpiece briefly crackled, "You too, son," before shutting down.

[Dr Archeville]

"Hello? Hell-ooo, computer?" Archeville was peering inside one of the robot's heads, then tossed it aside and picked up another. He poked around in it, tossed it aside, then took up a third and examined it. "Alright, either Havok uses some non-standard designs, or...."

He tossed the head aside as he zipped over to examine a torso, one Mike had torn apart with his bare hands. "My, my, my... dese are horribly cheap. No real brain, just a complex set of pre-programmed responses und counter-responses, slaved to a hivemind system, presumably in Havok's armor. Ah-HA! De Maestro's subsonic control frequency I detected on de video feed at de fence: dat must be how Havok controls dem! Und de vay dese ozher pieces are incorporated... oh, Havok, you must be Scrounge's soul-mate."

By Tesla, these things are pathetic!

Well, the energy weapons and morphic cloaking field are top notch.

Pfaugh! It's insulting that I must help on this case!

Oh, come now -- I am sure the praise you get once this is done will assuage your bruised ego.

He looked up to the assembled students and security officers, and waved them over. "Come, come, kids, time for a real science lesson! See dat bulky ding gere? Mit all de vires running off it? Dat vould normally be a power generator, but Havok vas too cheap for dat, so instead he used some high capacity batteries. Und dat bit, dere, is part of de computer control system, dough de antenna...." He reached over and retrieved one of the heads, "is in here. Und dat is about all dat is in here. Everyding is fairly basic, except de energy veaponry und de holographic field. You can see some of de emitters for de morphic field, here," he continued as he ran his finger along a series of tiny lenses spaced evenly around the robot's torso, "und from de vay dey are actually built in to de chasis, I vould say Havok has enough knowledge of how to use de technology, but not how to truly repair or create it himself. He is imitative, not innovative."

"Vhich brings us back to vhat he is doing mit al de dings he has collected." The Doktor rose from his crouched position, and began pacing about the room, occasionally going up a wall thanks to his gravity-defying belt. "Dink, Archeville, dink! Fear Master's gases und Luna Moth's pheromones are both psychoactives mit very fast onsets. Dey could be combined, mit a bit of tweaking, to create a hypnagogic compound, vhich vould place a victim in a highly suggestive state. Vhich vould make Maestro's subsonic mind control signals even more effective... oh! OH!"

He flipped down form a wall, in front of Gossamer, and grabbed her by the shoulders. "De encoding control module! Und de antenna array! Dey vere designed to hijack multiple media formats mit a single signal! It can seize control of any tv, radio, or cell phone.. any device mit a wireless receiver und speakers! He can use it to broadcast de mind control signal across a vide area!"

Cut it out! You are scaring her!

Bah! She chose the field of science, she should be used to a little mad ranting!

"But," he released and turned from Gossamer, and moved along the lineup of Claremont students, "how to disperse de hypnagogic compound? It vould need to be dispersed videly, qvickly, und.. ah! Of course! De spacecraft components! He is going to use it as a... a crop duster! Do he vould still need a vay of rapidly putting de gas into a high volume aerosol suspension... und he vould still need a powerful broadcast antenna to vork from... such as de GBN Tower in Parkside!"

[Gizmo]

As Archeville finished his explanation, the room's occupants gradually noticed the inky black cloud slowly spreading along the floor, hovering around ankle height. Turning to look at the mist's source, they found a dark clad figure stepping into view against a backdrop of light consuming gloom. "Can answer that," Midnight intoned, glowing red eyes narrowed to slits. "Prototype midnight mist pistol just stolen. Being investigated."

[angrydurf]

Phalanx nodded face creased with concern, "So he had all he needs then." he intoned direly. He looked to Archeville, "How long would it take him to assemble this device?" he asked knowing already it would be all too soon. The chances of them catching him before he tried to put his plan in motion seemed slim to none. "We need to know where he'll try to transmit from."

[Dr Archeville]

Whoa! Where did he come from?

I'll handle this.

"Ah, Herr Midnight," Archeville said, without missing a beat, "I vondered if you vould return. I knew you vere here because of the thin but even layer of hydrocarbon residue spread out over de area, too evenly-spread to be de result of wrecked robots und more matching de pattern of a cloud-like effect. Und since no von here appears to be suffering any ill effects, I know it vas not from a gas attack, so it had to haff been from a simple sight-obscuring cloud. I see no arrows, so dat rules out Arrowhawk und his smoke-arrows, und I see no immortal fops nor green-clad teens, so dat rules out Ace Danger und Geckoman und their smoke grenades. Vhich leaves you."

"Und dis is very troubling news -- not only vould your gas gun be a most effective component in de delivery system, but de 'Midnight Mist' itself vould probably make a good binding agent for de two compounds."

"Less time dan ve should like," he turned to Mike and Estelle...

Feh, such idealistic do-gooders!

I would think you would like Midnight, at least. And we know all about Mike.

Midnight is easier for me to stomach than most, yes, and Palanx makes a good wrecking ball.

Well... it is a start... and I am sure the praise you get once this is done will assuage your bruised ego.

"vhich is vhy ve must find him now. De GBN Tower in Parkside is, I believe, de best bet, but..." He held forth his techno-wand again, attached one end to his Belt via a retractable cable, confired the other into a small radio dish, and waved it at the hole Havok left in the wall. "No vapor trails, so not using any sort of rocket fuel for flight... electromagnetic signals, but not von I am familiar mit... ach! Dey split off, in four directions, north, south, east und vest!"

"Doctor de Havilland, does ASTRO Labs haff a pair of jetpacks ve could borrow?"

[Gizmo]

One of Midnight's softly glowing red lenses narrowed as Archeville expounded on his deductive capabilities while opposite eyebrow rose in a look which conveyed vague bemusement even through the featureless black mask. The black clad figure shook his head slightly before turning his attention elsewhere. The meaning was clear: Midnight knew the doctor was bluffing and simply didn't care enough either way to bring it to the others' attention.

[Heritage]

"Doctor de Havilland, does ASTRO Labs haff a pair of jetpacks ve could borrow?"

Estelle cocked an elegant eyebrow, then pursed her lips in thought. "As a matter of fact, I think I could get some; let me make a quick phone call." She flipped open her cell and hit speed dial.

"Yes, hello, is this Rudy? It's Doctor de Havilland...yes, it's Estelle...well I'm doing fine, except for that fact that we had a break-in downstairs and-...no, I assure you, I'm fine...yes...just a few bumps and bruises..."

Somewhat embarrassed, she turned her back to the rest of the group, and started twisting a lock of hair around her finger as her voice got just a little huskier.

"So listen, Rudy, I was wondering if if you could do me a little favor...Oh good, that's just what I wanted to hear! Um, I need to borrow some jetpacks...well, they don't have to be actual jetpacks; anti-gravity belts, atomic pogosticks or anything of that sort would do fine, as long as they're fast and we can get them right away...Yes, I need a pair of them; we can mix and match the technology, as long as they can both make good speed...Really? That's just wonderful! Dinner? Uh, well, yes...yes...okay, when?...That's fine...I'll see you then...Thank you, Rudy! You're a dear!"

Snapping her phone closed, Gossamer sighed deeply. "Well we've got flying devices of some kind on the way, and I have dinner plans for Friday night. So that's that."

[angrydurf]

Date with the most eligible bachelorette at ASTRO Labs secured the devices were delivered in no time. Rudy even put in a personal appearance to stare dreamily at Gossamer and stammer out the basic operating instructions for the pair of personal flight packs he had brought with him. That done he paused in the corner watching the heroes until security suggested he get back to his own projects and ushered him out.

Phalanx looked down at the device the Doctor had used to detect the invisible trails then out of the hole in the wall to see if he could make out anything of use but saw nothing. "False trails? How will we know which one to follow?" he inquired curiously of the doctor though it was clear from his order of the flight devices he expected them all to take part in the chase.

[Dr Archeville]

"Dey could all be false," Archeville responded, "dere are no sufficiently large antenna directly north, south, east, or vest of here. GBN Tower is northeast, und-"

Hey! Dummy! Why not just 'port over to GBN and see if Havok's there now?

Well, I... that is...

"Von moment, please," the Doktor suddenly said, adjusting controls on his Gravimetric Belt. He looked up to Phalanx, "if I am not back in six seconds, get to de GBN Tower as fast as possible."

A protective sheathe of blue-gray light sprang into existence around the Doktor, then everyone felt the tiniest bit of vertigo while gravity warped and spacetime folded in on itself as he used his wormhole-generating Belt to teleport himself to the top of the GBN Tower.

[angrydurf]

Phalanx opened his mouth to argue but the doctor was gone before he was able to make a sound, He beckoned the others over to the hole in the side of the lab, "I can get us there faster than those packs." he said simply and motioned for them to take his hands as he prepared to get them to GBN as quickly as he could, He peered out the hole to the Northeast for sighs of trouble.

***

As Doctor Archeville arrived at the GBN building nothing immediately stood out in fact he was about to make his return when he noticed motion near one of the antennas and saw a crew of three workmen doing some kind of maintenance on the antenna feed. As He noticed them they closed and locked the maintenance panel they had been working on and began to pack their tools. There was not however time to confront them before his self imposed time limit ran out.

[Gizmo]

Midnight gave Phalanx a long, flat look, grimacing behind his mask. Earth-bound heroes had known for decades that there was absolutely no way to remain dignified while being carried by a flier, whether one was being carried by one arm, under the armpits, over a shoulder or any other position. Had time been less of a factor, the fedora wearing vigilante would have much rather used one of the jet packs Dr. de Havilland had procured, but with the technology behind the his grandfather's midnight mist pistol in the hands of a dangerous felon, he couldn't afford to cater to appearances. With a grumble, he took the paragon's proffered hand.

[Heritage]

"I can get us there faster than those packs."

At this statement, Estelle's jaw dropped in shock. "You can? Then why did Viktor-" The sudden implications of the now-completely unnecessary sacrifice she'd made sank in, for now her dinner with Rudy served no practical purpose other than to test her social skills to their very limit. Under her breath, she muttered:

"You couldn't have mentioned that sooner?"

With a sigh, she took Phalanx's outstretched hand, then she used her hair to create harnesses for both herself and Midnight for added safety.

"Let's be off, then."

The things she did for this city... :roll:

[Dr Archeville]

Oh no! Those could be legitimate maintenance men, or they could be Havok's holomorphed robots! But if we stay here much longer, the others will think we are in combat and come charging, and if this is not them, then that is more time wasted in not finding the true Havok! But if we go back now, and it is them, then- wait, where are we going?

You think too much.

"Achtung! You three!" the Doktor commanded out as he floated closer to them. "Tell me vhat you are doing here, now!"

[angrydurf]

Phalanx took each of their hands as he headed for the hole in the wall, "I didn't know how fast your packs could go." he explained with a shrug, "And figured we'd be splitting up to track down Havok but now we gotta catch up with the Doctor." he explained as the Doctors time ran out and he took a final step out and into the sky.

***

At the Tower the maintenance men all stopped at the doctors command and looked up at him standing all too still as they watched him silently. As he made the adjustments to verify their organic nature they as one tilted their heads as if in confusion and then bolted for cover as he brought the device to bear revealing them to be disguised HAVOK bots.

[angrydurf]

"Hold onto your hat." Phalanx advised and stepped out into the open air accelerating to many times the speed of sound in a fraction of a second to race across the city skyline towards GBN Tower his passengers held close in his iron grip.

Back at the Tower the Bots disguises flickered out of existence as they raised their weapons when suddenly HAVOK himself appeared out of nowhere next to the doctor. "AH HAHAHHAH!" he laughed maniacally, "You fool. I knew you'd come alone." he said confidently and lunged for the doctor his armored hand closing around the Doctors amazing Elektromagnetischer Schraubenzieher as he struggled awkwardly to wrest it from the doctors grasp and claim the powerful device for his own. "It will be MINE!"

[Dr Archeville]

Awkward as the grab was, the sheer strength of Havok's suit won out over Archeville's un-enhanced grasp!

The Precious! NO!

... did you just call the Elektromag-

Silence! Now I must fix what your weakness has lost us! Cloak us, now!

... I do so only because I cannot leave him unattended.

The Doktor let out a "Nein!", then disappeared.

Let me guess: you think he believes we teleported away, and will rant and monologue some, letting his defenses down enough for us to reclaim the Schraubenzieher?

First, distract target. Then block his blind jab, counter with cross to left power feed. Discombobulate -- double palm-strike to twin sensor bundles. Dazed, will attempt wild area shot with flamethrower. Evade; employ body shot. Evade feral micro-munitions, weaken flamethrower fuel line... Now, sever. Cross fuel and power lines, traumatise repulsorlift system, dislocate sensor bundle entirely, heel kick to weapons pod. In summary: ears ringing, sensor feeds inoperative, weapons pod cracked, flamethrower fuel pack primed to explode when flamethrower or particle cannon is used, core processors overloading from damage registration. Physical recovery: six weeks. Full psychological recovery: six months. Capacity to steal from me: neutralized.

... whoa.

[angrydurf]

The hidden speakers on Havoks suit replayed his amused laughter as the Doctor vanished, "Ever predictable doctor." he murmured and swooped down to the antenna array and attaching the screwdriver to whatever device the bots had been installing. "Soon all your secrets will be mine fool." he said to himself as he entered the final sequence to start the assault on all of the databanks linked to the screwdriver, with this much bandwidth at his disposal it wouldn't take long to transfer that data wherever he liked.

[Dr Archeville]

Ha! The fool fell for it, he thinks we've left!

Well, that is one thing going for us, at least.

The cloaked Archeville zipped over behind Havok and delivered a precise blow to one of his armor's power feeds, causing a painful feedback in his systems! But not painful or damaging enough, for the madman barely faltered in his nefarious task!

Bah! Your hesitation almost made me miss!

I do not want to damage his armor so badly his repulsorlift system fails and he plummets to his death!

Weakling! This is no time for second-guessing -- he is preparing to sap everyone's will, and-

and that is your job?

Who would you rather have in control of the world: the devil you know, or the devil you don't?

...

[angrydurf]

The suit had been damaged by the precision blow but it was of surprisingly sturdy construction and HAVOK remained quite active. The HAVOKbots moved as one to crouch behind cover and one by one shimmered out of sight as they activated their cloaking fields the last thing the doctor saw was them readying their blasters and scanning the skys for any sign of the doctor or his cohorts who would be arriving any moment if they listened to the doctors request.

HAVOK himself spun rapidly trying to gain a bearing on where the Doctor was hiding himself and activated a second switch on the device which immediately started to humm as it drew more power. The doctor however had little time to concern himself with such things as panels along HAVOKs shoulders, thighs and chest popped open to reveal hidden micro missiles. "SHOW YOURSELF COWARD!" he called out and in a flash of light the rockets ignited and spun off in all directions only to spin and explode all around HAVOK leaving himself and the device unharmed by the detonations the good doktor however was directly in the path of one of the explosive rockets.

[Dr Archeville]

Fine. You want out, take him.

You should've done this hours ago.

But no killing!

Oh, killing him would be the least I could do....

Archeville deactivated the audio masking portion of his cloaking field. He wanted Havok to hear him.

"" Havok suddenly heard, right as another precise strike jostled his armor's sensor bundles. "" Another precise shot, severing the flamethrower's fuel line. ""

While focused on keeping the repulsorlift system functional (so he did not plummet), Havok was unaware that Archeville had fed his flamethrower's fuel line into his particle cannon's current regulator. "" the Doktor hissed.

And then he twisted Havok's arm in such a way that it tripped the trigger for his particle cannon, when sent a a few sparks up the flamethrower fuel line and ignited the small tank of fuel. A spectacular explosion followed, though it was largely contained inside Havok's armor.

No! I said no killing!

He's not dead... but he's going to wish he was.

And you do realize there is a chance he did not understand a word you said, right?

An inability to speak and understand a civilized tongue is but one more thing to add to his large list of shortcomings...

[angrydurf]

There was a scorching gout of flame as the Doctors devastating blows and expert manipulation of the suits systems led to catastrophic failure as HAVOK crashed to the roof sparks and smoke spouting from the ruined armor.

Moments later Phalanx swooped out of the sky to artfully deposit his passengers on the rooftop. As soon as they had a clear shot however the concealed bots revealed themselves with a withering barrage of laser fire, but the blasts lacked the power to bring him any harm as he stood stalwart before the assault.

It seemed the battle was won almost before it started but the dim shapes of additional HAVOK bots appeared streaking towards the roof top as a high pitched whine suddenly screeched from the device and on roof tops all around the heroes could make out citizens march almost mechanically to the edge of the buildings lingering there as if waiting for some command. A small speaker concealed within the case sparked to life, "Fools, you can't stop me, you can't outwit me, every step of the way I have been one step ahead of you." taunted HAVOKs voice which must have been from a prerecorded message, "I'm long gone by now but if you attempt again to pursue me they will all jump." before fading into maniacal laughter.

[Dr Archeville]

"Phalanx!" Archeville called out, though he was still invisible to the Terminus Teen's eyes. "Keep an eye on dose people, let me know if dey make any moves! Gossamer, Midnight, I need cover vhile I vork to dismantle dis contraption!"

Aww, you're making the deadweights feel useful!

Gossamer and Midnight are hardly- oh, never mind! Do you want your "Precious" back or not?

"Und make sure Havok does not escape!," he added, pointing to the armored man... and realizing he was still cloaked and they couldn't see his gesture.

[Heritage]

Gossamer hit the ground running, keeping low to avoid incoming fire.

"Phalanx!" Archeville called out, though he was still invisible to the Terminus Teen's eyes. "Keep an eye on dose people, let me know if dey make any moves! Gossamer, Midnight, I need cover vhile I vork to dismantle dis contraption!"

She heard the good doctor's voice, and could make out some sort of advanced technology nearby.

Like a moth to the flame... :roll:

Estelle ran to what she seriously hoped was Archeville's current position.

"Hello Viktor, nice to not see you again! Watch your head!"

The blonde heroine spread her hair up and out, the fibers stretching to their limit as they wove themselves into a tightly-knit shell with an almost crystalline structure, forming a golden dome some twenty feet across.

"There, that should be able to stop just about anything those annoying androids send our way. Now keep you mind on your work, and we'll take care of the rest."

[Gizmo]

Rolling to his feet as Phalanx deposited him on the rooftop, Midnight's hands were already at his utility belt before he finished straightening. Priority is the civilians. Pheromones are already disseminated, physical restraint on that scale's unworkable, he considered calmly as he ran through his options at lightning speed. Producing the same device he'd used to broadcast the counter signal which had prevented Havok's robots from self-destructing in the lab, the shadowy hero pulled out a slender transmission booster and deftly slotted the modular devices together. Can't disarm the gun, disarm the trigger. Sliding the pair of controls to their very limits, Midnight pointed the resulting matte black rod of circuitry at the radio tower and let loose a powerful jamming signal, effectively whiting out the airwaves in the vicinity.