ic Incursion: Science Team Go!

[Gizmo]

December 25, 2014

Walking about the Dubai International Convention Centre and mingling, Amir al-Misri would have been well within his rights to congratulate himself on a very successfully hosted conference. The science and technology summit - his PR people had come up with a more pompous title but it had sounded a little too obviously designed by committee to stick in the billionaire philanthropist's mind - had drawn experts in civic engineering, clean energy initiatives, information networking and a few dozen other equally impressive fields from around the globe. The chance to compare notes and show off the latest prototypes had been incentive enough but the sizable grant money being offered by his firm to the most impressive projects hadn't hurt, either.

He wasn't left to bask in satisfaction for long, however, as one of his aides rushed over, his colouring pallid with stress, and shoved a tablet into Amir's hands. "Sir! Sir, you have to see this," the uncharacteristically disheveled man insisted, running a hand through his neat beard. "Some sort of weapon just made groundfall in the Rub' al Khali! It looks like- the data suggests it was launched from orbit. The payload... we don't have any idea what we're looking at, sir." The thermal satellite image on the tablet showed an aerial view of the Empty Quarter with a small, strangely cool blotch at the site of the impact. A blotch that was slowly but noticeably spreading outward.

[Vahnyu]

Earth. Such a small planet. Certainly, in the grand cosmos, there have been smaller planets, barren planets, satelite planetoids teeming with life, gas giants, colonized meteorites... All of them put together still amounted to but a spec of a spec, in relation to the vast expansive universe. And compared to those, Earth was smaller still. And yet...

 

Here was Hronos. Bound to a small planet. A random planet. A planet of little seeming significance, and yet, a planet holding immense importance to the very fabric of reality. For here was a planet of heroes and villains, a planet of ordinary folk struggling through their everyday lives, a planet where danger loomed in every corner, a planet where hope shone through. A planet like every other planet. So similar and small from afar, yet up close different and immense. Hronos, for the first year since he had awakened, stayed close to the point of his awakening, the land that was known by the planet's inhabitants as the Freedom City's Liberty Park, slowly working his way to knowing the people of the land and their culture. Barring the odd travel to remote locales every now and then, Hronos generally operated close to Freedom City. Ever since the last year, however, that changed.

 

The Mechanodynamis made a habbit of scouring the Earth, looking for any troublesome event that would warrant his attention. From Ivory Coast to Thailand, to Switzerland, to Cameroon, and even Nepal and Brazil, Hronos traveled in search of Time Ripples, in order to close them, and the occasional criminal to cross his path. His latest escapade had brought him to Yemen, south of Saudi Arabia and South-East of Oman. He had just finished closing a Temporal Bleed(a spot which generated uncontrolled Chronal Energy that if left unattended could infect everything it came into contact with, creating causality paradoxes, speeding, slowing, or reversing one's lifespan, making materials to experience rapid oxydation, and so on), when he noticed a spec of an object falling from the sky.

 

It took little time for Hronos to realise that this was neither a comet, nor an ordinary phenomenon, and even less time to determine its relative tranjectory and velocity. Hronos' ability to analyze and compute data was superb, and the metallic guardian of Time flew with all haste for what he estimated to be the landing site. If my recollection is correct, the object should land in the area known as Rub 'al Khali. Further data suggests that the impact will be contained inside the uninhabited area. However, I should still investigate the object. It might be a manned vehicle, which would mean that the people operating the object may be in need of assistance.

[Avenger Assembled]

The sentient AI had been one of the primary attractions of the tech show - the electronic superhero Citizen now wearing an armored humanoid frame designed and built by the German-American hypertech firm Archetech. Looking more like Baymax than Galatea, the bulky-framed robot had been left to run the booth with his mentor (and widely-rumored programmer) away helping the Earth with the current interstellar crisis. For his part, Sharl was in an ill humor. He had badly wanted to go on the space mission with Miss Americana and nearly been exiled to Freedom City with the Claremont students before he and Gina had reached an understanding - being down here when the Communion was up there was gnawing at him in a deep, profound ache. But he'd done his duty as best he could, and from all he'd overhead from listening into the wireless in the building, the "Fat Robot" was a big hit. (He still wasn't sure why Gina had called the frame he was currently inhabiting that, since of course as a robot it had no body fat, but as smart as his mentor was, sometimes her logic escaped him) 

 

Besides, it would be stupid to fight with Gina after she'd made him this body! (or repurposed an old Miss Americana unit for him, albeit one she'd been reluctant to admit even existed). He'd tested "Mecha-Citizen" (as Koshiro might have called it) around Freedom City and found it a joyful experience; it wasn't the same as being real the way he was in Tronik, but it was satisfying to get a tactile response that wasn't dependent on lights and magnetism, to be solid without constantly having to concentrate (even just a little) on maintaining a body that wasn't even real. I should pick Gina up something while I'm here. There's got to be something touristy around here that she doesn't have in that house...

 

All thoughts of that left him, though, when he picked up the rapidly-transmitted signals in and around the building - a payload launched from space, a falling projectile that had struck the ground nearby, and an energy signature he recognized with sudden, heart-wrenching clarity. Because he'd seen it before, on the dash sensors of a Lor aircar, as it desperately raced towards the Vox above the streets of murdered Lor-Van. "They're here!" The giant robot burst to its feet and actually leaped out of the booth, sailing over the heads of convention-goers. Careful, don't dent the floor - good thing you've got wide feet...He almost yelled it again, but the superhero overruled the survivor; there was no sense causing a panic. Instead, turning around, his head over the crowd, he sought out the leader of the section - the only other superhero he'd recognized while he was there. 

 

And so it was that, just a second or two after his aide spoke with him, a robot taller and broader than a man ran up behind Asad. "We're being attacked by aliens." the robot intoned in a deep, gravelly voice without bothering to introduce himself, the wireless symbol glowing a bright blue on his rounded steel chest. "Do you know of any other superheroes at the conference?"

[Geez3r]

Cassandra had always loved these international scientific conferences.  It was always wonderful to see the different cultures and perspectives coming together under a common banner of learned and progress.  Now she just had to do something about those long international flights...  Heroes that can fly have it easy. mused the still a little jet-lagged Cassandra as she made her way through the summit.  Grant Conglomerates had not be officially invited to the conference, there still being an international misunderstanding in regards to an industrial accident in one of their facilities in India, but Cassandra had scored an invitation due to some of her third party connections.  

 

It was for that reason that when her work tablet began receiving an encrypted message, she was quite puzzled.  

 

 

********************************

Class One Priority Transmission 

 

Confidential Information Inbound

 

Receive Message:  [Y] / [N]

********************************

 

Cassandra had been trained to expect these type of messages at some point, but had never actually received them.  Grant Co. only sent out these missions when something truly strange was happening and only if there were only a handful people in the area to respond to a time-sensitive crisis of sorts.  Intrigued as to what it could be, Cassandra found a secluded area and input her credentials getting the full message:

 

 

********************************

Object of Unknown Origin made touchdown in Rub' Al Khali.  Likely alien device.  

 

Satellite imagery suggests contamination.  

 

Mission Objectives:

1. Investigate

2. Obtain a sample

3. Report findings

4. Eliminate threat

********************************

 

Cassandra was simply dumbfounded at the news.  The new which appeared to be spreading as more than a few people across the conference had the same ash white face.  Cassandra saw the giant robot that was on display making its way over to the summit organizer and super-hero Asad.  That's a cue if I ever saw one.  Thought Cassandra as she ducked out of sight into a nearby closet before Maxing out, being quite glad she was able to sneak her costume through customs.  

 

Maxima strode into the hall standing head, shoulders and elbows taller than nearby everyone else in the hall, making a B-line directly to Asad and the robot.  "I assume the two of you heard about what's going on?  I'm here to lend a hand anyway I can."

[EternalPhoenix]

Samantha Carson was profoundly bored. She’d read about the contents of this conference online. Because everything gets leaked beforehand these days. Everything. Seeing it in person? Nope, didn’t care. Had all the info already, thank you very much. But her best friend and MIT’s science department head, Dr. Benjamin Beardly, had all but begged her to go after he caught the flu. Networking or some such. So, here she was, listening to the most boring Arabian scientist who’d ever lived, giving her one those “hungry dog eyes†she’d learned to spot before she’d grown breasts. Were Asian-American women really that rare in the sciences? Or was it that she was so young? Did he think she was some easily impressed sorority girl? Or was it that this guy simply had a fetish? Oh, sure. Seeing Citizen in person was interesting enough, but a robot was a robot. It was his programming that fascinated her, and that could not be seen on the outside. Hold on. They’re here? And with such panicked actions. With a few quick, razor sharp words she silenced the man who was both ogling and speaking to her. Leaving him stunned at the turn from generally pleasant young woman to hellcat, she vanished into the crowd. As always, her battlesuit was in her bag. She had scouted out a good place to change upon arriving today, and now she slipped quietly there. Off came the civvies. On went the suit and the belt. And the wonderful longcoat. It just made her feel so badass, you know?

Terrifica seemed to emerge out of nowhere near Asad, Citizen, and Maxima. She answered the robot man’s question for Asad. “You never know. Another one could just pop up without warning.†She’d seen the news on the way by, processing the images with her usual impressive cognitive speed. “I don’t have enough information to be sure, but anything that spreads with that kind of speed and provokes that kind of reaction from you, Citizen, has to be a problem. I’m an expert problem solver, among a legion of other things.†She paused for just a moment, and ditched the smug self assurance. “Tell me, what did you see? What are we dealing with?â€

[Avenger Assembled]

The big robot stared up at the ceiling, metal face nearly impassive, before it looked back at the others. "I can't reach the Moon or the Lighthouse," said Citizen disconsolately. "They must be right here in Earth's atmosphere..." Sharl didn't know these people personally, though he'd heard about some of them through reputation. "It's the Communion. They're a race of cybernetic monsters that have been rampaging across the quadrant for months - they've already wiped out at least...at least one whole planet already." But this can't be the same thing, or we'd have heard about a battle in space! He opened and closed his big clunky hands a few times, mastering himself, before he said, "We need to get out to that bombing site right away.  I saw them drop weapons on Lor-Van that they used to hijack the planet's defense systems. I don't know what's out here," he admitted, "but there must be something they want." 

[TheAbsurdist]

 

 

Amir was never overly congratulatory, in private. Of course, if someone asked about the dichotomy between those two lives he'd likely be more inclined to identify it as coming from being a businessman and him being the scion of a wealthy family, more than a cultural thing.  Still there was much much the distinction between public and private face, and it played here very well, even if he was dealing with people who's views normally made him sick.  So in public he gladhanded, and smooth talked, and preened rather visibly, because it was expected by everyone.

 

Of course, Amir was familiar with several business types here, because he went to school with some of them.  Or friends of friends.  Realistically even at the higher levels of economics it was still very much an 'old boys' type thing, though he never loaned out money to friends without a viable business plan.  He wasn't crazy.

 

And he was in the middle of getting praises from old friends, and representatives from the Emir that governed Dubai, when one of the aids he had to bring came staggering up to him.  He would have brought Ana, but realistically she was not the person to take to a society that was... less than conservative when it came to a woman's rights in the world around her.  Plus, it was simply a tech expo/symposium, which would have board her to tears.

 

He frowned then, and sighed as he heard the news.  He knew this event wasn't going to go too smoothly, but something hitting the Empty Quarter, from space, that his assets could see?  That was big.  "You've called UNISON and AEGIS correct?  Has anyone talked to the Sauds?"  Referring patently to ruling house of Saudi Arabia.  He started to loosen his tie then, and then a Robot came up behind him, and he turned towards him, still working on starting to loosen his clothes, and then he started to say something before Maxima stode up.

 

"I would say, then, that you answer is there... Citizen, right?  We have at least one more, I would wager there are a couple others."  Looking back to his aide then, "Get word to Ana, immediately, we need to get communication to the powers that be.  Immediately, go with what Citizen said.  And the data we have.  They may all know already, but I need every single Government getting a warning.  Now.  Run.  Ana has every one on speed dial that is needed."  He thrust his phone and a couple other things into the aides hand for a moment.

 

Glancing back to the others for a moment, he offered them a small smile and stepped away from them, "Pardon my a moment."  He turned off the containment unit, and he felt it spread out over his form into the suit.  As he reached down and turned on his powers.  The gold starting to gleam, right before there was a whirring sound, that carried with it a weight charge feel.  Then the flickering blue flame of the Charnekov radiation that he gave off burned off his clothes.  

 

Glancing back to his dumbfounded aid, he plucked back the commlink, and put the earpiece in.  "Go.  Now."  And then he was addressing the other three heroes.  "When Ana gets that information she is going to kick it out...  There is nothing out there though.  That is why it is called the Empty Quarter.  It is the largest sand desert on the planet, and not even good for silica.  Unless someone thought it was wise to build an installation out there, but that is idiot, the logistics alone is a nightmare.  I can throw a call to my contacts and see if someone was that crazy..."

[Geez3r]

Maxima sported a bit of a frown as Terrifica made her appearance Why do I have a feeling we're going to be butting heads in the near future? she thought grimmly to herself.  She didn't speak her reservations lest it be a self-fulfilling prophecy, and she had enough bad first impressions under her belt to know biting her tongue was usually her best bet.  Citizen on the other hand seemed to know quite a good deal, which was a relief. Asad also seemed to be quite well connected on this side of the world, and Maxima knew that keeping the population at large informed of the details of this event was sure to be crucial. 

 

"Ok, so we've established that whatever this phenominon is, it's extra-terrestrial in origin.  From Citizen's description of the Communion, it seems like that organization assimilates technology it desires from targeted worlds.  By striking at an unoccupied region, we can infer that one of three scenarios is likely:

• One: There is a secret facility or other technological installation in that area that we are unaware of that is the target of this assimilation.
•   Two: The region was selected as the target zone for its qualities, possibly to help catalyze whatever systems are necessary for the technology to operate, or to help its systems reach critical mass faster so it is able to encapsulate the Earth in the minimal amount of time.
• Three: The target zone was done at random either due to a malfuction in the weapon's systems, or that this phenominon is not related to the Communion at all and is an incursion by some third party.

In all scenarios, the fact remains that at its present rate of expansion, it will not be long before this even reaches a population center.  I reccomend we make haste to the target zone so that we are able to analyze this phenominon, and create an actionable plan to counter its effects on our biosphere.  On a related note, I will require assistance to reach the target zone in a timely fashion, my overland speed leaves much to be desired."  Aliens Maxima knew nothing about, but this was science, and that she could handle.

[Avenger Assembled]

"It doesn't just assimilate. It kills worlds. Billions of people died in less than half an hour on Lor-Van. We can't take any chances - and there's no time to wait." He led the way outside, his bulky metal body just fitting through the metal exit doors that led them out to the parking lot outside the expo, the cool desert night surrounding them on all sides. It certainly didn't look like they were being invaded by aliens - but then it usually didn't. "Let's go." His robotic body turned out to contain several built-in handholds and footrests for carrying human passengers. "Hang on," he warned Terrifica and Maxima, "this is the first time I've actually used these systems." And with that cheerful warning, he took off into the desert night, the compressed air of his bootjets roaring as they rushed off across the desert towards the Empty Quarter. 

[Gizmo]

Asad's aide had just enough time to report that satellite communications were being disrupted and that reaching anyone on the consequently overtaxed landlines was going to take longer than the grim half hour window Citizen had described before the bulky robot had turned himself into a rotund propulsion system and rocketed away with the pair of similarly codenamed super-scientists. Whatever was going on in the Empty Quarter, they were going to have to handle it themselves; the rest of the planet had its collective hands full already.
 

* * * * *

 
With his head start, it didn't take long for Hronos to reach the impact crater by air. Or rather the impact mountain; what he found was a jagged crystalline mound of smooth, dark green already the size of a two storey building and visibly growing even as he watched. For more than two kilometers all around the central outcropping the blasted sand of the Rub' al Khali was being transformed into the same glassy green substance, shot through with ribbons of gold that branched out like veins or perhaps circuit boards.
 
As if in response to the Mechanodynamis' arrival, a new, smaller mound protruded from the mountain and broke itself free, quickly solidifying into something with the vague proportions of a jackal save for its exaggeratedly powerful limbs, tipped with long claw and a head comprised entirely of vicious jaws. The green artificial beast took a few steps forward, turning to watch Hronos warily even if he could not spot any obvious eyes on its form and after a few seconds a second attack dog emerged with the same sound of  cracking crystal and harsh, mechanical growl. After the same interval, two new beasts joined them and the mountain continued to grow. Without further preamble the creatures leapt toward Hronos, jaws gnashing!
 

* * * * *

 
As the heroes from the summit reached the edge of the affected area, Citizen recognized the alien substance reaching out to cover and consume the barren landscape not from his ordeal on Lor-Van but from Young Freedom's battle against the Curator: computronium.

[Geez3r]

The flight to the site was... unique.  Due to Maxima's great size and mass, it was difficult finding a flying position on Citizen where he could fly without practically red-lining one of his stabilizers and not squashing Terrifica if they hit turbulence.  Thankfully they managed the flight without major incident, and Maxima gave the other heroes her radio frequency so they could keep in touch in case they got split up, which was likely in a containment scenario.  When they arrived on scene, Maxima bailed off the flying robot while they were still quite high up in the air, landing on a rocky outcropping (and promptly turning it into rubble from the force of the impact).  Take off had been enough of an ordeal, and she didn't want to hazard a guess as to how Citizen would fare at trying to land with a 4 ton gorilla on his back. 

 

"Welp, that's alien technology if I ever saw it." summed up Maxima rather obviously.  Not content with her vantage point, Maxima made her way closer to the green growing crystal glass, pulling out some tools from her belt as she went.  Lets see what we're dealing with here.

[Vahnyu]

When Hronos witnessed the crater when he arrived at the impact site, he had feared the worse had come to pass; He rushed to investigate the crystaline object, in case there were any survivors. Instead of shipwrecked castaways or locals, though, what had  greeted Hronos was a small squad of hostile creatures, intent on shredding him with their powerful jaws. Hronos had almost had no time to react, and the beasts managed to sunk their teeth firmly into the Mechanodynamis' chasis. However, the ancient protector of time's body was entirely too hard for them, and aside from some superficial bitemarks, Hronos felt no discomfort at all. Shaking the monsters off of him, Hronos opened up his chest, revealing the Essence of Time that had been stored inside him. The Essence pulsated inside him, as he unleashed a purple-hued energy that covered the entire area around him. The blast wasn't damaging, but rather, anything caught in it became time-locked, unable to experience its own personal time. The jackal-like creatures laid frozen in time mid-air. Unfortunately, no sooner Hronos had put a stop on the creatures, that a new batch appeared to form. It was at this time that Hronos realised that the mountainous object had been expanding. "It would appear that this is not a mere shipwrecked vehicle."

[EternalPhoenix]

Terrifica remained on Citizen, electing for the safer aerial surveillance route. I think I know this material from somewhere. Her brain sped around through the voluminous material stored within it, search for that one obscure reference that linked the disparate memory segments together. Despite the overall excellence of her memory and brain, Terrifica remained human. Memories that remained unused for long stretches of time could be misfiled, or temporarily lost. It wasn’t that she forgot anything, it was just that her memories could…wander away, if left untended for long stretches. Unfortunately, this was one of them. Picture a mini-Terrifica ransacking a massive library for one book that was moved without permission, and you’d have the general idea. “I do appreciate not being squashed, but that landing lacked anything approaching subtlety. You’ve likely gotten us noticed. While that may be fine for the androids and super strong behemoths of the group, I am only flesh and blood.†Ah, there is it. What was it doing with 17th century Russian poetry? I swear, I have no idea how people with unenhanced brains ever find anything. “And if this is what it looks like, I’d have really rather not been noticed.â€

[Gizmo]

This time three of the compu-jackals emerged from the mountain at once, the steadily increasing rate of production not lost on Hronos as they spread out to face him from multiple angles. Before the mechanical steward of time could deal with them as he had their fellows they leapt into the air with tremendous power! One caught the hero's right shoulder in its jaws from behind while another bit deeply into his left ankle. The third attacked from the front, claws tearing into the housing on Hrons' chest, apparently attempting to reach the Essence within. The vicious attack left him little time to reflect that even with the previous batch dealt with the newer iterations had apparently learned and adapted their tactics based on his performance so far!

[Avenger Assembled]

"This is computronium," said Citizen, Sharl Tulink recognizing this substance as he would the skyways of Tronik. "It's a type of exotic matter that's been manipulated on the quantum level to be the ultimate computational matrix." The fact that it was completely beyond the reach of Terran science to replicate, and barely theoretical even for the Lor (except where it could be observed) didn't bear any mention just then. "They must be using nanite transformation to do it, which means there has to be a central processor around here somewhere!" He twitched his fingers, a gesture that would have been snapping them in his normal hands.

 

Muttering a curse, he waved his wrist and said, "We have to get over the central mass and find what's directing this. Nanites are just simple machines, if you take out the brain, they're powerless. Don't let it touch you," he urged the humans in the group (who evidently had no problem with mobility) as he flew up to try and look for the central processor of the nanite swarm. "It'll take you apart and reconfigure you on the molecular level." He wasn't safe either, but this was no time to whine. 

[Vahnyu]

The Compu-Jackals were proving surprisingly annoying and persistant, leaving Hronos with barely any time to recover from using the Essence to stop Time. Though once again he shook them off, he had no doubt that he wouldn't remain as lucky for long, as their combined attack proved a serious enough threat to give him pause to reconsider his tactics. I do not seem to gain any advantage on the hostile creatures while remaining close to the ground. he pondered, as he turned his gaze into the sky. The logical course of action left to me would be to increase the distance between myself and the hostiles, in order to escape their attack range. Taking flight, the stout robot gained altitude in a rapid rate, until the bodies of the Compu-Jackals started shrinking a bit in his perception. At 700 feet altitude, Hronos stoped his ascension, and quickly turned around to face his earthbound foes. Indeed, the preferrence of the hostiles to attempt and tackle me would suggest that they do not possess any ranged combat capabilities.

 

With a single thought, Hronos' mechanical arm reconfigured into a handcannon, and he wasted no time targeting one of the Compu-Jackals on the ground. Whereas I am perfectly capable of sniping the hostiles from this range. Firing his handcannon, Hronos let loose of a powerful Chronal Particle beam that met the Compu-Jackal in its stomach. The beam infused the creature's molecules in the stomach area with chronal energy, which alternated between rapidly accelerating them and deccelerating them, until the molecules were forced to completely disperse, leaving a hole where once the unnatural creature's stomach was. The Compu-Jackal writhed with pain, before finally succumbing to its wounds. Hronos would not be able to rest in his metaphorical laurels yet, though, as it was becoming increasingly obvious that the enemy was very adaptive...

[TheAbsurdist]

On the flight over he had kept quiet, not really having much to say.  Aliens.  End of the world.  He supposed there was some bit of humor given the date, worst Christmas present ever.  Or something.  Either case, he needed to charge up, and more importantly he had no idea how to deal with computronium.  Sounded like something out of a bad late night science gone wild monster movie.  Except he could quite rightly see it.  

 

So he did the only option he had, or the only option he could see that he had.  He cut away from the others as they landed, going straight up, before he reversed course sharply.  Coming back down like a hammerblow, feet first into the ground near Terrifica and Maxima.  It was simple math, he needed to fuel his powers with something, and he tried not to really consider the whole fission chips prospect.  The containment suit keyed in, the channels and core starting to glow.  He had no idea how to beat this stuff, so he figured he was going to have be the distraction and the heavy hitter.

 

So he aimed to distract.  "As-salamu alaykum!, you bastards!"  Shouted, as he moved away from the two grounded allies, hoping to divide the attention of the... stuff.  Goop.  Computronium.  Mass of a******* from space.  

Edited January 14, 2015 by TheAbsurdist

[Geez3r]

Well this certainly poses a problem.  mused Maxima as she took stock of the situation.  Like Citizen said, this is most definitely computronium.  We've only got a few hours before this reaches a populated area.  If Citizen is right, we need to dismantle the brain of this thing if we're going to stop it.  And if he's right, I can't touch the stuff either.  The density of my cells might provide some protection, but I won't know for certain until it's too late.  I need to get a baseline rate for its conversation rate before I make any decisions.  

 

"I'm going to try something.  I need to gather some more data before I can figure out a plan of attack."  said Maxima over her comm link.  She lept over closer to the edge of the computronium border, kicking up a huge plume of sand as she thudded down to the ground again.  She used her momentum from the leap as she clapped her hands together, sending a rippling shockwave towards the incursion area.  The damage that would be caused to the computronium area was a bonus, the real point of this maneuver was to scatter the sands of the desert onto the computronium to see how long the conversion process would take.  With luck, it would take long enough that this method could be used as part of a walk-way across the surface.  

[EternalPhoenix]

Those nanobots are shifting everything down there into a giant computer matrix. It’s…beautiful, in a way. Elegant. And the computational power will, if it doesn’t already, outstrip my own. Terrifica smiled, disturbingly pleased considering the situation. Where did these come from, and where can I get a small amount to play with? Then she sighed. Unfortunately, this neither the time nor the place. Two hours, perhaps a little less, before this gets somewhere that has people. She shifted around to speak into Citizen’s…ear, one supposed? “You find the center and deal with the inevitable resistance once we get there. I’ll shut this…processor down.†Well, once I understand how it works at any rate. Two hours is plenty of time. Shouldn’t need even a tenth of it.

[Avenger Assembled]

Great, now I look like I'm taking her orders, thought Citizen as he took off into the air, his jetboots roaring as he went. "It's an undifferentiated mass as far as I can see. Blast it, is it buried under the impact site?" That would make their job tougher, but not impossible - even if the central processor had defenses, it would be far easier to blast through even solid computronium than it would be to blast through an active swarm of semi-Drexlerian nanites. And I should know, I've done it before. Casting his eyes around the fringes of the spreading mass, trying to judge its speed, his enhanced gaze let him make out a series of flashes that (on closer inspection, at high speed) turned out to be another cybernetic champion engaged in combat against the swarm. 

 

"I've got another hero taking hits down there!" he called, radios crackling to life beneath him as he spoke to the heroes below directly on their commlinks. "He's gonna get eaten if he keeps it up!" And with that, he rocketed over to join Hronos, landing next to the steely temporal sentinel. "Hey, Hronos! You're not gonna stop nanite constructs like that!"

[EternalPhoenix]

The only thing Terrifica could do was roll her eyes and step off of Citizen. I know I’m lighter than Miss Grayscale, but honestly…it’s rather insulting to be forgotten. “Then I suggest you tell both of us how to do it properly. Being turned into a computer could end up being a fascinating experience, but I very much doubt even I could turn it to my advantage. Besides, I do not require more processing power. I already have more than enough.†She glanced around at…what were those, anyway? Jackals? Made by or for this…computronium? Oh, now I need a small sample. It’s virtually a sentient material. Quality decision making, highly adaptive…oh the things I could do with it. After the rigorous testing, of course. I will not rush and make the same mistakes of others. I am not a fool. “In fact, I think we are vastly outnumbered, even if they cannot all be seen at the moment.â€

[Gizmo]

Citizen felt it first as his robot body's feet touched down on the glassy surface of the computronium: an insistent and intensifying stinging sensation like a hundred billion tiny pinpricks all melding into one painful sensation. While nowhere near as aggressive as the outer edge of the effected area there were still active nanites here as well, eager to use his mechanical shell and the soles of Terrifica's boots as more raw materials!

 

The heroes soon had quite literally larger things to deal with, however, as the remaining pair of beastly constructs bore down on Citizen with surprising speed. The agility of the cumbersome looking chassis caught them off guard, defeating a combined effort to slip past his defenses but they clearly had no intention of giving up. The units circled slowly with harsh, electronic growls, probing for any sign of weakness.

 

Meanwhile another five of the computronium mound's defenders broke themselves free from the jagged pile with concerning speed, the rate of their production increasing once again. More disturbing, this new pack soon spread wings of translucent green supported by protruding spines like bat wings or lizard frills before launching themselves up into the air to match Hronos' increased altitude. Their claws and teeth sought out the protector of time with savage determination, one going for each of his limbs while the last snapped its jaws at his face!

[Avenger Assembled]

"Don't engage the constructs!" Citizen called up to Hronos, wondering if there was something wrong with the robot's auditory receptors. "Terrifica!" he called urgently, "don't stand on the construct material, there's still enough here to eat human flesh!" And robot too, if he wasn't careful. If there's that density of active nanites here in the body of the swarm, the matrix itself must be super-dense. It'll probably crack open a city if it hits it..."Hronos, listen!" He rocketed up into the air and grabbed one of the constructs bedeviling the other machine and proceeded to use it as a battering ram and baseball bat, battering apart the other nanite-made constructs in percussive punctuation to his instructions. 

 

"Fly around and keep hitting them; keep engaging the nanite swarm and force it to waste mass attacking you! Terrifica and I will work on the center mass and try and disable the central processor!" And with that, heedless of any further constructs produced by the swarm, he turned around and roared towards that mound in the middle of the 'lake' of nanites, his jet boots roaring as compressed air rushed out the bottom!  

[Geez3r]

There was a time for caution and careful planning, but in every great endeavor, there comes a time where you have to take a great risk and hope it all works out for the best.  Maxima had no aversion to those courses of action, working on the cutting edge of science meant always making leaps of faith, she just hated when a leap of faith was plan A.  She jogged back a bit to one of the nearby sand dunes before taking a measure of the terrain.  A little bit of mental arithmatic later, she had a pretty good idea of where abouts the brain of this contagion was, now it was only a matter of getting there.  In truth Maxima could jump a whole heck of a lot farther than she did normally, she just tended to damage whatever she was landing on if she jumped too far, but in this instance, that particular detail was a feature and not a bug. 

 

"Here goes nothing." muttered Maxima to herself before she took a few steadying breaths before running back towards the computronium, leaping high into the air... and staying there for quite some time. 

[Vahnyu]

By the time Citizen arrived, Hronos was getting overwhelmed, fast. While he was managing to repel them for the time being, Hronos had no doubt that unless he tried something drastic, these things would continue to swarm him until he was reduced to scrap, and Citizen's timely intervention was greatly appreciated. Though the fact that the holographic hero knew who Hronos was gave pause to the Mechanodynamis, he quickly regained his focus. "That is understood, and I appreciate your assistance." Hronos replied in his ever mechanical voice and punctually formal tone. Swooping closer to one of the ground-bound jackal robots, Hronos unleashed a well placed chronal blast through his arm-cannon, making a U-Turn in the process and returning back to the air. "I will ensure drawing their attention to me, as you have suggested." he confirmed, as he flew back to Citizen. "Having said that, I would advise against nearing the immobilized hostiles. Although they are currently locked in time, they might become able to escape their chronal bonds if they are not approached with proper caution."