Battleworld 2.0

Prowl put a hand to his chin, his expression shifting slightly in contemplation of the little organic before him. Of all those gathered at the moment, she was certainly one of the quieter ones. And the more sensible heads around such a meeting, the better.

"Where we Autobots came from isn't easily answered. Even we're not sure of the details of the first beings of Cybertron 10 billion stellar cycles ago. But our lives as individuals come from a powerful force of living energy and consciousness called the Allspark. Whether we have any actual "creator" is anyone's guess."

Meanwhile, Optimus continued his rather terse dialogue with the leader of the Decepticons. He kept his expression composed, not wanting to let the 'Con get too comfortable, but at the same time not too eager to shut down a potentially critical source of information in such a strange turn of events.

"Alright then, Steeljaw. If we're going to be on speaking terms... you can call me Optimus Prime."

Sundowner turned to the woman who spoke to him. "Ah, good question, missy! You see, Desperado is not your average PMC. Our operatives possess state of the art cybernetic enhancements, stuff you won't see anywhere else. Now, we only have 4 of our top level men available for use at the moment, including me. Seems whoever brought us here didn't bring our men with us, and my attempts to call headquarters on the CODEC for reinforcements have failed. Apparently only local comms are working at the moment. But rest assured, they can handle whatever work you got for us."

As Sundowner continued his pitch, those in the room would see another group enter. This one was lead by a very◊ angry looking woman. She did not have any weapons of note, but was holding a black box that one could easily identify as a bomb detonator. What this was connected to was made clear as two others followed behind her. One appeared to be some gigantic man/crocodile hybrid, while the other◊ was a woman in a red and white jester outfit, who was holding a very large hammer. Both of them had explosive collars on (Croc's being significantly larger then quinn's and packed with about 3 times the explosives). The woman clearly in charge made no move to approach any one of the others at the table, nor did she waste time asking stupid questions, instead just standing back and observing with her arms crossed, while Croc sniffed the air and Quinn looked around at the assembled people.

"The origin of you machines should be obvious. After all, machines were made by men. I suppose you could have outlived your creator." said Eifer in a very matter-of-fact tone.

Iris's curiosity certainly piqued at this point "Unless... There are no humans in your world?"

This one questioning did draw Pamela's attention to the discussion, though she still refrained from chiming in.

edited 18th Aug '15 8:55:16 PM by FullMoon

Roy merely smiled a toothy smile at Kitana, pulling down his shades for a moment to wink at her, revealing his bright red eyes.

And then he noticed the latest entrants. More specifically, he noticed the woman in the clown outfit.

"I've heard of scary clowns, but hot clowns? That's a new one on me."

"Gonna have to consider changing up my collar." Bowser mused, noting the different collars around her and the croc-man's necks. "They actually pull a non-spiked one off pretty well."

"Who's - yaaawn - pulling my what off?" Morton rubbed his eyes as he woke up.

"No one's pulling your tail off, moron. We're talking about those cool collars they're wearing." Roy said, pointing out Harley Quinn and Killer Croc.

"Huh. They do look kinda cool. Think we could get some?"

"Oh yeah. We can all get ones like there's, 'cept for Junior, so he'll be totally jealous."

Bowser merely rolled his eyes as the two Koopalings snickered to themselves.

edited 18th Aug '15 9:15:13 PM by kagescorpionakki

The Common Room

It was at about this time that the wolf-pack began to start doing things with there presence in the room, with the exception of Nyx who sat off in the corner.

Echo watched the discussions of mercenaries for a few minutes, before taking and holding her palm open a small drone floating in her hand. "Ghost where are we" she asked the small machine only for it to quickly reply, "Where every we are it is not on any known map of space and time".

"About getting back to the tower?", Echo continued her queries also responded to rapidly "Not possible at this time, I am not able to contact your jumpships, and even if I could I have no idea where we are". After that reply, Echo closed her hand, and the drone dissapeared. "understood"

"In that case, I would also like it to be known that the members of fire team wolf are also taking contracts" Echo declared, deciding that there was not much else they could do.

Lightning meanwhile watched Eifer's conversation intently, waiting for a while, and then speaking up. "Being made by men is about as worthwhile as an explanation of origin for a machine as forming out of self replicating proteins is for man, it is a solution to the problem that neither answers purpose or why they were made in the first place"

edited 18th Aug '15 9:13:23 PM by Imca

"Maybe. Would you care to explain?"

Huffing, puffing out a small cloud of smoke.

Watching, as others bickers and chat in equal measure.

Echo's announcement drew the attention of Sundowner. "Oh, whats this now? We gots us some competition. Who the hell are you, and why should anyone hire you rather then us?"

Waller, meanwhile, hearing the comments of the Koopas, turned her angry glare to them. "Those are not toys to be handed out to you and your mutant children." She said. "These are dangerous criminals, and those are explosive collars, set to explode if they disobey my orders." Meanwhile, Quinn walked over next to Croc and pointed at them.

"Oh, hey, those guys kinda look like you, if you had a big spiky shell!" Croc only grunted at this, now staring down the Koopa King as he sized him up.

The Common Room

"Fire team wolf, professional anomaly crushers and god slayers" , Echo rapidly responded a tone of pride enveloped the machines statements, the kind of pride that did not indicate a lie. "I doubt your men could say they have been into the depths of the vault of glass, nor did you feed Crota his own sword... but beyond that I doubt this is even a competition, just take a look around you and count the number of people here, plenty of clients to go around"

"Vault of Glass?" Sundowner asked with clear confusion. "That don't make any kinda sense! And who the hell's Crota?"

"Does it really matter?" Mistral asked with exasperation.

"Yes, it does! I think these assholes are name dropping to make themselves sound impressive when they ain't!"

Meanwhile, Dante took notice of Echo when he mentioned god slaying, while still occasionally waving to Carmilla to come over. "No kidding? I've killed a couple of so called 'gods' myself. They never really live up to all the hype." He shruged. "Ah well, anyway, I'm for hire too. But I'm not a 'take any kinda job' guy like those two are. I only handle....special jobs, if you know what I mean."

"I don't think they know what you mean, Dante." The black haired woman said. "And why are you being all coy about it? It's obvious that we've been kidnapped by some demon lord or something, and as usual, I got dragged into it because apparently I didn't have anything better to do." She shook her head. "Anyway, we're devil hunters. And I'd like to make it very clear that I do not work for him." She said, pointing at Dante. "I work alone."

"Ouch, that hurts Lady. And I thought we were such good friends?"

"If you're such a good friend, then you won't mind covering my lost wages for the job I was on before I got dragged into your mess?"

"I'll....see what I can do." Dante said with another shrug. "Anyway, devil hunter, like she said. I'm not interested in other kinda work."

edited 18th Aug '15 9:54:02 PM by Meanken

The Common Room

The trio from Akihbara soon foundt themselves being inquired by what appeared to be a t-shirt and baseball cap wearing monkey with a dispensation for the human tongue. Though by no means the weirdest thing that they've been subjected to in their own foray, it was still pretty out there by standards. With Shiroe looking particularly squinty eyed and shifty and Akatsuki too busy hiding and playing ninja, Naostugu took it upon himself to answer back. And besides, he was rather good with kids, even if they were monkeys.

"Yo, we're what you could be called Adventurers. Our job is to basically go around helping Landers, or native inhabitants of the world fight off giant monsters and stuff. Maybe pick up a bit of loot and drops from the felled things afterwards if it's servicable. But man, this is the second time we've been transported to another world... and this time we don't know much about it..."

Frowning for a bit at that piece of bad news, he then went back into his jovial self, burying the anxiety for the moment. "Anyways, I'm Naotsugu and that's Shiroe." Affable though he may be, the man knew better than to reveal everything right off the bat to strangers of unknown intent. That and he'd probably get kneed in the face if he splashed cold water on her ninja roleplaying. "But yeah, that's us in a nutshell. Regular folks whose day jobs are to go out and slay monsters."

It always surprised Henry how much this place changes. A few short years ago you would be forgiven thinking Santa Destroy was a ghost town while passing through. Now look at it, a right and proper city complete with skyscraper skylines and twits blaring their car horn at all times a day.

"You really should think about joining the UAA. Its a legit business now, and you will make way more money~"

Henry turned from the window to the blonde vixen sitting at the desk, Sylvia Christel. The divorce was nasty business, but they were professionals and you get used to working with people you despise in this kind of work.

"Not my cup of tea, love. You know that. I am just here for the contracts you promised."

She shrugged, disappointed but not surprised by the answer, then slid the first profile across the desk for him to look at.

"Alice Twilight. Inside is what we have on her tactics, weapons, whereabouts as well as what we are willing to pay. Don't even think of asking for more. We are being generous as is, and I know you don't come to see me unless you already exhausted all other options."

"Alice Twilight? Ain't that your number two? What she do to piss you guys off?"

"Dose it matter? She is now worth more to the UAA dead then she is alive, its as simple as that. The second contract is for a Margret Moonlight. This contract depends entirely on her actions, but if we get the call to execute, it would be best that you have already done your homework."

Henry began flipping through the folders, skim reading certain parts. Sylvia tapped the last folder with her finger, hesitating for a second before sliding that one to over to Henry as well.

"And lastly, the final contract is for one Travis Touchdown"

While the name caught him off guard, all Henry could do was chuckle.

"Travis!? My baby brother? How is that old moron anyway?"

"I wouldn't know. We haven't spoken in years."

"Really now? And after you two had gotten so close and cuddly, such a shame."

Sylvia just glared at him,

"Do you want the contract or not?"

"You kidding? I would kill Travis pro bono, course since you are already offering, I will be taken the cash. What did the dumb bastard do though? Don't think he has been in the game for a couple years now."

"He hasn't. His fight with you was the last one. It seems he hurt some people last time though, and they are still harboring a grudge. Speaking of which, there are some from last time who still remember you as well. I will give you twenty four hours to do your job before I will inform them. Don't give me that look, it is my job as their agent. Clocks ticking."

"You really are a fucking bitch. You always were a slave driver you know that? But before I go, I got one last question. What's the kid doing here?"

"School is out for the summer. So rather then pay some senile old hag to watch her, I brought her to work with me."

"You brought her here? The UAA building? The place perhaps most frequented by psychopaths and killers in the entire country?"

"But ofcourse. Where else is she safer? No one would dare fuck with the UAA. And how is she supposed to avoid psychopaths and killers when we are her parents? Be sure to talk to her on your way out. You shouldn't let her forget her father's face."

He was actually tempted to simply slip out. With his time constraints, he really did not have time to be wasting on this. Funny enough, it was that exact thought which convinced him to see the girl. The kid was in the waiting room reading some magazine that been there for years. A blonde little girl in a white dress looking like an angel, made him wonder how something so pure looking came out such a sleeazy slut bag of a mother.

"Hey there Jeane."

"Hello poppa"

She put down the magazine and looked up at him with her big blue eyes. They haven't seen each other in months, but her tone and body language screamed a complete lack of excitement. It wasn't hostile either, just indifferent. He reached out and put his hand on her head.

"You been good?"

"Yes."

"Been taking care of your mother? Doing your school work?"

"Yes."

"Atta girl."

"Will you be here long?"

"Afraid not princess, just here on business then I got to get the hell out of dodge."

"I see."

"It was nice seeing you Jeane."

"Good bye poppa..."

And with that it was time to get back to business. Twenty four hours for three kills, what was that bitch thinking? It seemed they wanted Alice as priority, so it would be best to sta-

Sylvia's eyes shot open and she quickly picked herself off the ground. She had her clothes and seemed to have no wounds so she was off to a good start. She moved to her desk and pulled out the gun she kept from a drawer. Everything was quiet. Outside, the city seemed a bit more lively then usual, but here in the offices nothing seemed to be happening. The complete lack of a culprit was unnerving. She just passed out mid day and had no idea why. Then a thought crossed her mind.

"Jeane!"

She took off in a mad dash. A small voice told her to play it safe and make sure the coast was clear of any dangers, but that voice was heavily drowned out by a maternal instinct. She was willing to take the risk if it meant getting there that much faster. She knows what can happen to kids in this city, she has seen what can happen kids in this city.

She arrived at the waiting room out of breath. There Jeane was, simply taking a nap right next to her father. She couldn't help but laugh. She was so afraid, and all for nothing. She slumped to the ground chuckling to herself, wiped away a tear or two, then got back up and walked over to the two. They looked cute together, reminded her of how things once were. The white of the letter in Henry's hand caught her eye. It was nothing she had given him in the office. It sparked her curiosity and she leaned over and took it from his hand. Surely no one could fault her if she decided to take a peak.

Fuck. Did he really fall asleep? How many hours did he lose? He was going to have to haul ass if he wanted to make up...

"Huh."

When Henry opened his eyes he saw that a good dozen or so men in suits were now in the waiting room, all pointing their guns at him. A quick glance told him that both Jeane and his Cross Sword were gone. Scanning the people gathered, he saw his ex wife waving at him while holding his missing weapon. At least that solved that mystery, and considering that she was not troubled herself, it meant that Jeane should be somewhere safe at the very least. It was just his ass on the hotplate.

Then some runt with most atrocious sense of fashion stepped forward. He began reading from a letter, some rubbish about a new world and a get together.

"Hahaha. I would have dismissed this as some chain letter bull shit any other day. A stupid prank. But when I look out my tower to see the world as we know it gone, it becomes alot less funny."

"...I'm sorry, but can some one explain who the fuck this dwarf is?"

Pain exploded across Henry's face as one of the thugs stepped forward to give him a proper right hook.

"That is Mr. Jasper Batt Jr. He owns city, the mob, and now you. So you best learn some respect ya dumb Irish fairy."

The annoying runt just smiled smugly, then continued.

"I don't know why you had this letter, but since you did, you are now working for me. The lady has informed me you you have worked with us before, so I don't need to explain what happens if you fail us do I? If you need a refresher just read this mornings obituary. So your job is simple. Go to this meeting, find out who is responsible, teach him what happens when you fuck with me. Simple right? So simple even a dumb Irish fairy like your self should manage. I will be sending two of my own to accompany you."

Jasper snapped his fingers and a large black rapper stood up in the back of the room. He walked over and stood over Henry, looking down at him before smiling and revealing a silver grill sharpened like shark teeth.

"The names Nathan Copeland. Couldn't help but hear you are a fellow countrymen. What part of Ireland you from brother?"

Henry just looked at him confused before leaning to look around him at Jasper.

"So who's the other?"

"Why me of course silly."

He recognized the french accent of his ex wife, and turned to look at Sylvia.

"You? Why you?"

"Because I can speak with some authority and understand how this city works. Also, the UAA is always on the look out for new talent~"

Jasper clapped his hand to get everyone's attention.

"So if that's all settled, get to fucking work."

The people in the Common room would finally see a trio from Santa Destroy appear. A well dressed man in a grey long coat, a large rapper carrying a techy boom box, and a blond french woman who looked liked she walked out a spy flick with the trench coat sunglasses get up. As the large rapper approached the seating, the well dressed man pulled the woman aside and whispered something in her ear. She then whispered something back.

"You left her with fucking corpse cleaners!?"

"But of course, Talbot and Weller get along great with Jeane."

"How the fuck did you get custody..."

Meanwhile the rapper slammed his boom box onto the table, which seemed to turn it on as it started blaring out loud rap music. He leaned back in his seat kicked his feat up on the table.

"I don't suppose any of you fine lot can point me to our gracious host. We have business, he and I."

The Common Room

Carmilla got up from her chair and moved slowly and seductively towards where Dante was sitting. She soon chose to sit in the chair to the right of Dante, crossing her legs in the process.

"My name's Carmilla," Carmilla smirked at Dante.

Meanwhile Dracula looked over the others' failure at attacking other there, and figured there must be something in this place blocking attacks. In addition, more groups had appeared. The talking monkeys seem to have a grudge against the talking spiked turtles and seemed to mentioned someone named Mario who they both seemed to have a grudge against. It also seemed like a few of the giant robots disliked each other. The only possible additional threats were the half-metal and full-metal people who had just entered as well as the lizard creature that the relatively normal looking woman seems to have put an explosive collar on along with doing the same to a very attractive human jester. However, Dracula also noticed one of the humans staring at him.

"What are you looking at?" Dracula said to Rei, as he scanned over the rotating globe on the table, learning from what information the globe offered. After all, he was going to take advantage of the forced ceasefire to learn more about what has happened.

edited 19th Aug '15 1:10:54 AM by GameGuruGG

The forest was still. A peaceful horizon, Caesar thought.

To think it's been ten years since the hell he'd raised to free ape-kind. Long ago his world was with Will and his human family, a comfortable life no doubt, but it made for a weak Caesar, an ape unsure of himself. Then came the cage, the ape shelter, they called it. An ape prison, more like it.

Now? The only world Caesar was familiar with was the forest. How times have changed.

It had been years since the last sighted human. The curious part of Caesar's mind wondered if any were still out there, if any had managed to survive the madness that was the Simian Flu. The last he'd heard of humans, they were tearing themselves apart from riots, unending plagues of death and hatred. He wouldn't have been surprised to hear they'd died out completely.

As for him, what had he to worry about? He and his community of apes lived peacefully, learning every day, and bonding every day.

Caesar sat at the top of his hut, overseeing his flock. The apes of Home were finishing their daily businesses. Some sat and enjoyed their meals together. Others conversed the night away, their howling cheers and laughs ringing in the night, bringing an air of relaxed happiness. He spotted Maurice speaking with a few chimpanzees and one other orangutan, probably his students. Caesar recognized the younger orangutan as Maurice's star pupil.

Yes, 'Home is where the heart is' indeed. Caesar thought of the human expression vividly, it was one of the few things about the human world he genuinely cherished.

The sound of footsteps approached Caesar. A dark furred bonobo had arrived, and took a seat next to Caesar. Funny, Koba wasn't usually the type to sit and watch the view with him.

<Peaceful, isn't it?>

Caesar's hands showed themselves to Koba and formed the many intricate shapes of sign language, the primary language of the apes. Koba sighed and responded in kind.

<I'm not used to peace like this.>

Caesar smirked a little in mock surprise.

<Really? After all these years?>

Koba grunted.

<Humans still out there, maybe. It bothers me.>

Caesar's smirk vanished. Talking about humans around Koba was treading a dangerous thread.

<It shouldn't. Even if they're out there, we won't be involved with them.>

An uneasy silence. Caesar knew he had to reassure his friend.

<Listen. Peace is upon us. You should relax, my friend.>

Relax.

Heh, wouldn't that be nice?

Caesar awoke. Groggy at first, but confused the next second. Hadn't he just been conversing with Koba? Speaking of Koba, he was shaking Caesar awake.

"Caesar!"

Koba was speaking aloud this time, a skill the apes rarely used. The fact meant that something was probably wrong.

Caesar stood up, Koba helping him up, lifting him by his shoulders.

He resumed his view of his home.

The pleasant peace was replaced with uneasy confusion.

From what he'd gathered from the rest of the Council, the apes of Home had inexplicably fallen unconscious. Some were still in the forest when this had happened, and when they'd returned, they brought grave news.

The landscape had changed. There was still forest, but around it was unfamiliar territory.

It was not long until Caesar himself received the parchment.

He gasped to himself.

("Human language....")

A human did this, no doubt. How? He didn't know. He'd never known any humans with technology capable of transporting their entire home somewhere else.

After brief deliberation with the Council, Caesar decided he'd attend this meeting. Rocket and Maurice were to follow him. Koba protested being left behind, but Caesar knew that he'd have been the most likely to turn this meeting upside down, that is, if it were to involved other humans. Before he left, he sent scouts to scour the areas around the forest, and put Luca and the rest of the Gorilla Guardians on high alert. Cornelia, Caesar's wife, was simply told to rest. She was deep into her pregnancy, this was the last thing she needed.

With their plans down and clear, Caesar had begun to leave.

A young chimpanzee, with eyes like the ocean, stopped him.

<Father, let me come with you.>

The chimpanzee, named Blue Eyes, Caesar's son and heir, was naturally worried for his father. Caesar had put this into consideration, a meeting with other species could be a learning experience for his son.

<Too dangerous. You stay here, protect your Mother.>

No learning experience was worth the danger of the unknown. Blue Eyes huffed, and continued to protest. Caesar would have none of it. Blue Eyes had stopped at some point, but had said his goodbyes with a brief, angry howl. Caesar tried his best to brush it off. One day, Blue Eyes would understand the ramifications of things like this.

While Caesar and Rocket had covered themselves in their traditional war paint, Maurice refrained from doing so. They needed at least one non-intimidating looking presence there, he thought. With that, they slung their spears onto their shoulders and mounted their horses, approaching the portal.

The Meeting Room

Whereupon they were greeted with the oddest bunch of beings he'd ever laid eyes on. Strange lizards, giant metal men, even other apes. Among them, however, as the most numerous race in this gathering, were humans.

("Of course.") Caesar thought.

Caesar dismounted his horse, seeing a chair with his name on it and taking his seat. He'd left his spear with Rocket, who stood guard over the horses. Maurice stayed close to Caesar and the meeting table, seating himself on the floor. He grunted, he'd never really liked riding the horses.

Caesar eyed the humans suspiciously. Were these humans fellow victims? Or conspirators?

Whatever the case, they'd just seen three apes ride into the room on horseback, covered head to toe in fearsome war paint (excluding the orangutan) and bearing a distrustful disposition.

What would they think of this sight, Caesar wondered. If he hadn't seen them in years, the opposite was probably true too.

"They explode too? That's awesome." Roy said.

"Maybe we should give one to Junior after all." Morton snickered, and Roy soon joined him in snickering once again.

Bowser, meanwhile, stared back at his fellow reptile, pointedly ignoring the rap music, though it made him wish they could fight in here. He didn't quite see the resemblance between himself and Killer Croc, beyond their scaly nature.

John was about to continue when he was taken aback by the sight of Caesar entering the room, it was one thing to have several large apes enter and talk, but at the very least they moved like apes.

As for Caesar, he entered on Horseback and walked like a human... somewhat. This was going to be a unusual meeting.

Of course with everything else it was already unusual.

"...Apes?"

The Captain mused. This is some guest they are treated the sight to. Wondering whether they will act as they look, or perhaps...

They can be civil? Who knows.

"I'm afraid there's not much to explain," November noted. Thanks to the rap music now introduced, he had to raise his voice to be heard over it. "Although from what I can gather from the other guests, joining forces against the host may prove more effective than killing each other for his entertainment. If that's truly what we've been brought here to do."

Hei would've responded to the vampire, but three war apes on horseback distracted him. He saw nothing about them that suggested a serious threat, but it was definitely not what he was expecting. But considering all the other colorful characters assembled in the room, he ought to have been ready for anything. Hei suddenly felt grateful that he was wearing a mask to hide his surprise, even if his body language gave a bit of it away.

Misaki had shifted her attention to the newcomers, quietly waiting to hear the name that could become the most important to Tokyo's survival: Shiroe. According to the globe, he was the rep for the territory bordering her own.

She finally heard it and caught a glimpse of an armored man pointing to a younger man in glasses. Misaki felt a little disappointed; she was hoping Akihabara belonged to one of the cybernetic people, not some high fantasy kid's show. She suddenly wished Otsuka had run through the portal instead; she loved this kind of fan-fictiony stuff.

"Excuse me, did you say Shiroe?" Misaki asked the man in armor. "I'm detective Misaki Kirihara, chief of Tokyo's foreign affairs, section 4. Judging from this map, it looks like we'll be neighbors for however long this thing lasts."

She offered a small but sincere smile. "I hope we can find a way to help each other."

Upon hearing Lightning speak up, Eifer turned to her "I don't believe you were invited into this conversation" she acidly replied.

"Be polite, Eifer. Now is not the time to make enemies." Pamela finally spoke up, giving Eifer a reprimanding look.

"Tch..." Eifer replied, gritting her teeth.

It was truly a sight to see those two interact, oh how much Eifer must hate being bossed around by that worthless captain, how much hate must have been boiling down inside of her just waiting for a chance to be released? Iris was able to find the whole thing quite entertaining, if only because it showed her quite well just how devoted her pawn was to her, even being willing to put up with someone who thinks she actually has any sort of authority over her.

Even more entertaining was the new arrivals to the meeting. Apes. Apes that walked like humans. Apes that were riding horses. It was all such an absurd prospect that she couldn't help herself and giggle.

"Apes on horseback?" she asked no one in particular as she giggled innocently once more.

"That's true too. But—Who is to say that he is not counting on us doing just that...?"

Huffs, and flicks cigarette ash into an ash tray.

"It is wholly possible that he wants us to do just—that."

"You're quite the strategist, my friend." November smiled. "I like that.

"I'll admit there's a chance that we were always gathered together to combat our summoner (or summoners), but if this is the case how should we explain the complete transportation of entire cities? I know nothing about your homeworld, or even your territory on this map, but I'm willing to wager that not everyone from it is combat ready. Not even the robots or the vampires can afford to be so Spartanesque, assuming they were in relative peace prior to abduction. So what does a large collection of noncombatants benefit our host if they intend to combat us? The only conclusion I can think of is a supply of resources for an extended engagement, such as a war.

"But that conclusion works just as well for the battle royale scenario we've been discussing. It may work even more given how our host has provided a map of the territories in this so-called Battleworld, assuming of course that this globe is accurate. What better way to prepare for a war amongst ourselves than to forge alliances and rivalries in a parlay before the host arrives?"

edited 19th Aug '15 9:05:52 AM by TheodoreHastings

He nods back to November, as if he's smiling.

"Well—Would you want to make alliance with little old me then...?"

As he sits back on his chair, putting his leg on the table and hands behind his head.

"Besides, no one in my place can be relied on to not shoot anyone anyway. All of us are soldiers."

November smiled and removed his sunglasses to look at the Captain with his naked ice blue eyes.

"Then it looks like you have an ally, my friend. You may call me November 11. I'm an agent from MI 6 currently deployed in Tokyo. Judging from the map we're in the Northeast corner."

"I have no idea where that is, what that organisation is, nor who you are."

As the Captain leans over and pats November at the shoulder.

"But I like you~! So, we are in...down south."

Putting a hand to his chin, in thought.

"...We need a way to communicate, don't we?"

Dozens of soldiers slash crew busily mill about Hangar 7, as the ORV containing Satellite 67-01 prepares to liftoff, away from the familiarity and hostility of Helghan soil, towards an alien sky. As it prepares to ignite its engine, powered by refined petrusite, a countdown is initiated by Chief Engineer Gunnar.

10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Lift-off.

And with a roar, the small dump truck sized hunk of machine and fuel streaks into the sky, braving snowstorms and buffeting wind. And it breaks through the atmosphere. And into sub-orbit. And finally, Battleworld's orbit.

There, it releases its cargo of the small drab grey satellite, as it unfurls its antennae array and solar panels, before performing a re-entry towards the Outpost.

In his quarters, the Sergeant is reviewing the order from the Captain before he left. Reconnoiter the place. Send satellite for communication and navigation. Establish research department goals. Bake cookies.

"..."

Aside from the last one, he got all of them in the pocket.

Shao Kahn simply shook his head as he saw the apes on horseback. Bad enough he had to deal with Earthrealmers, but now they were bringing their pets with them? Even worse, he could not effectively threaten to crush whichever fool brought them due to the interference of whatever magic was stopping him from attacking. He fumed on his chair as he waited for the host to arrive so he could....do something. Probably involving copious amounts of yelling.

Dante grinned as he saw the woman sit next to him. "Heh, knew you'd come around. I'm irresistible, I know. Just let me get a good look at you, beautiful." He said as he looked the woman over. After a few moments, without taking his eyes off of her, he motioned behind him. "Trish?" he asked.

"Well, She's no demon, I don't think. But she's not human, that much I can say." Trish said.

"Good enough for me." Lady said as she attempted to draw a gun, before failing and promptly scowling.

"Well then. I'm assuming that nether of us can attack each other right now, so how about we have a nice chat?" He said, leaning back casually. "So, not a human. But not a demon. Given the pale skin, the whole seductress angle you're trying to go for, that hungry look in your eyes, I'm going to guess...vampire? Would be a first for me if so." Then he pointed over at Dracula. "And who's the other guy you came with? Same as you, I'm guessing?"

Waller, guessing the Koopa's possessed the IQ of an ant or something really stupid, shook her head and turned away, spotting the chair with her name on it.She got into it and motioned for Quinn and Croc to join her. Croc was momentary halted by the fact that his chair was much too small for him to get into, until it suddenly grew, increasing in size until he could sit in it. He stared at the thing for a good moment before shrugging and getting into it.

Meanwhile, yet another group entered. This one, after the weirdness of the apes, would not raise any eyebrows. one was a man in military garb, who was carrying an assault rifle, and he was with a woman◊ who had blue hair, strange looking tattoos, and who was carrying an SMG.

"Alright." The man said. "Giant robots, big dragon looking things, hot babes, now this looks like fun!"

"How about we focus on the job? We're trying to find the asshole that brought us here and put some bullets in their head, remember?" The woman asked with an eyeroll.

"I know, I know." he said as he took a seat with his name on it, the woman sitting next to him. Those with the ability to detect stealth fields and such may also notice a presence standing quietly near a corner, doing its best to remain unnoticed. Meanwhile, those paying attention might notice that all the seats at the table had now been accounted for.

It's hard to surprise a Decepticon. Yet when the red-and-blue 'bot declared himself to be Optimus Prime- without a shred of irony in his voice- Steeljaw blinked in surprise and momentarily looked taken aback.

Was this some kind of terminal end-stage of primus apotheosis? Where the poor addled Autobot literally thought that they were Optimus Prime? That clinched it- he was probably some low-ranking Autobot grunt who hadn't even heard that the war was over. He'd probably been stationed on some backwater planet for so long his brain module had blown a gasket. On the one hand, it would be interesting to see what his reaction would be if he learned that Optimus was dead and had been that way for the past few stellar cycles. On the other hand, this poor broken bot was of far more use to Steeljaw if he played along. A few well-placed words and a bit of subterfuge and "Optimus" could very well be the bot who handed over the keys to Iacon.

"Ah, of course," he said, mimicking the traditional Autobot salute when addressing a high-ranking officer. "It's an honor to meet you, Optimus Prime. I hope that we can put our... difficult pasts behind us. Don't you?"

After all, putting your past behind you meant that you could easily lay claim to the future.

edited 19th Aug '15 3:48:03 PM by Locoman