Re: The Vivacious Deadlock: S3G6: Round One: Genreshift
09-04-2011, 03:34 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.
In one swift motion, Nalzaki lunged forward and seized Lieutenant Ryan by the collar, hoisting him up in the air and forcing him to release his grip on Ivan. Kanpeki swatted his weapon to the ground before he could retaliate against them. While Razaran glared daggers into Ryan's eyes, Nalyg glanced around for a moment. All around, panicking soldiers fled. A few had fallen to Razaran's brutal attacks, and several were in varying states of injury and maiming. A little violent for Nalyg's tastes, but such was war. Nalyg turned back to the disconcerted lieutenant.
"You won't be taking Matic's son prisoner, Lieutenant," he announced in an authoritative tone. "You wouldn't want to share in your soldiers' unfortunate ends, would you?"
"It... talks? Matic's never... never been able to..."
Ivan realized that for once he was at an advantage over the Lieutenant. Confident in his own safety, he scrambled back to his feet and approached the helpless officer.
"You think a scientist as brilliant as my father couldn't create something intelligent? You underestimate us." Ivan desperately hoped that the Lieutenant would buy it.
"I... I see. I'll... I'll call off the attack if you call off your beast. Deal?"
"How do I know you're not lying?"
"Because if he attacks us again, he won't be so lucky." All three of Nalzaki's heads continued to glare intimidatingly at Lieutenant Ryan.
Don't release him yet, Razaran, Kanpeki stated mentally. Nalyg, you could likely coerce him into giving us something beneficial. Perhaps information, or perhaps one of the Tome's bookmarks.
Agreed, Kanpeki, replied Nalyg.
"We'll let you go, but first, tell us what you know about the bookmarks, and anything else that could be relevant," Nalyg announced authoritatively.
"The bookmarks..." the Lieutenant nervously muttered. "Last I heard, the Fantasy bookmark is still held by what little remains of Lord Horrorshow's gang."
"Lord Horrorshow?"
"He used to practically rule the city. Now he's just a laughing-stock. He only has two minions left, which is probably why no one's bothered to finish him off. I don't know where any other bookmarks are, but it's likely you could get inforrmation from Dr. Matic. If you can manage to break into his castle and incapacitate him and his guards, that is."
"Very well. You and your men can go." Razaran obligingly dropped Ryan to the ground, keeping his glare fixed on the lieutenant. Ryan's platoon quickly dispersed into the city, the threat they posed gone for the time being.
"Ivan. Find this Lord Horrorshow, and retrieve the missing bookmark. Matic wants it, so it likely needs to be destroyed."
"I... alright. What about you?"
"We're going to go after the doctor. We've seen what these bookmarks can do in the wrong hands, and we need to prevent this. Be careful out there, Ivan."
"I'll be sure to." Ivan turned and began heading north, probably not knowing exactly where he was going.
Our objective is clear, then.
"At last, we're going to kill Dr. Matic," proclaimed the Center.
The gleaming, metallic spires of Dr. Matic's stronghold towered over the city, dwarfing the hydra with their sheer magnitude. There were few places in the city where the veritable fortress of science couldn't be seen, impenetrable to attacks from Matic's myriad enemies. A spacecraft drifted from an unseen bay, shooting off into the atmosphere in the blink of an eye. Thousands of automated plasma turrets cast their mechanical gaze around the perimeter, poised to obliterate any approaching threat at a moment's notice. Deadly force fields, capable of vaporizing anyone or anything unfortunate enough to contact them, formed an impenetrable dome around the base, save for a number of designated entrances. These designated entrances were heavily guarded, both by turrets and by a number of mass-produced defense drones - not the most durable of robots, but hundreds could be dispatched on a moment's notice. For any admittance to the fortress, a series of scans had to be performed to ensure that all organisms and materials were authorized for entry.
However, for every strength there is a weakness. Matic's external defenses were, as far as he could tell, completely impenetrable. None of his enemies had ever managed to so much as get inside of the fortress, let alone do any lasting damage. The only incident of note was the escape of what had come to be known only as "The Hydra", and that had been years ago. As such, the fortress's interior was much less fortified than the exterior. If an assailant could somehow make their way in, they could potentially do huge amounts of damage before being neutralized.
This was exactly what the Hydra had been planning for its entire absence. The biomechanical amalgamation was one of Matic's most dangerous experimental subjects, and its escape had caused dozens of deaths. External security measures had been greatly tightened after this, but unless Matic had instated new defense methods inside, the Hydra could easily decimate the stronghold and the laboratories within.
The question only remained now of how it would get inside. Fortunately, the Left had proven itself a supurb strategist, and they had formulated the perfect plan of attack. Radioactive waste was regularly poured out of the stronghold into the sprawling system of defunct sewers beneath the city, which had long since ceased to function as proper waste management. Though these sewers served as a hideout for another of Matic's enemies, the radioactive sludge vents were composed of metal alloys much too strong to be broken into by the sewer's inhabitants. This, coupled with hourly dumping from above, prevented any real threat of entry by attackers.
Or so the doctor thought. In an instant, the Hydra destroyed the weak barricade over the nearest sewer entrance and slipped in unnoticed. Into the dank, dimly-lit depths the Hydra dropped, landing heavily on a pair of mechanized legs. In an instant they were sprinting through the damp labyrinth of metal pipes, the Right cutting down any mutants in the way with its bladed arm. No time wasted, the Hydra came to a large, circular room, the walls largely covered with scribblings of occult symbols and incomprehensible murals. Both the Right and the Left deployed plasma cannons from their arms, firing in all directions with little pattern and forcing the mutants to flee for their lives.
Centered above the chamber was a massive aperture, labeled with a number of radioactive symbols. A metal blast door covered the circular opening above, normally only opened when it was actively spewing radioactive sludge. A quick high-yield explosive was more than enough to force the hatch to capitulate, however.
The Hydra's heads gazed up the dark tube in unison. In exactly thirty-eight minutes, it would be flooded with searing-hot radioactive waste, more than enough to kill the Hydra many times over. Fortunately, they had more than enough time to exit the chute within Matic's lab before that happened. The sewer pipes were small enough for the Hydra to easily climb into the chute, rapidly ascending with magnetized limbs.
Well on their way into the stronghold, however, a series of red lights lit up as deafening klaxons sounded all around.
"It's dumping now? There was another half-hour left!" growled the Right.
"That doesn't exactly help us now, does it? We've got about a minute until we're incinerated and irradiated at the same time," replied the Left.
The Center's eye implant displayed a detailed map of the vicinity as he hurriedly searched for an escape route. A single chamber lay near enough to the chute to be accessed - what appeared to be a large storage room (the map didn't cover the contents of the room).
"Right! There's only one way out before the waste gets here. Destroy the wall there!" The Center hurriedly transmitted the blast location to the Right's less advanced mechanical eye, overlaying a target on a section of the chute a few meters above. The Right's arm clicked once, before the chute was rocked by a missile explosion. The Hydra hastily scrambled for the newly-created hole as the tube quickly grew warmer and warmer, climbing through just in time to avoid an emergency forcefield whirring to life. A searing wave of heat burst from the opening, but, all things considered, it was little more than an annoyance.
But, as the nearby growling revealed, an annoyance was more than enough.
As if on cue, an uncaring mechanical voice crackled from the doctor's radio. "The Hydra is now entering Dr. Matic's stronghold. They appear to be intent on killing the doctor in a petty revenge plot. You will find them within. There are multiple defenses around the stronghold, but it shouldn't be a problem for you."
Dr. Scala grinned evilly. On one hand, she may have been relying on something so inferior as the machine, but on the other she would get to break her way into a heavily-protected fortress. The choice was obvious! Now situated directly above the stronghold, the mad scientist pulled from her coat pocket a small, perfectly smooth and round device. With a flourish, she tossed the gleaming sphere downward. With the push of a remote activator, the grid of invisible forcefields began sparkling and visibly rippling before tearing apart altogether.
She flipped into a dive-bomb toward Dr. Matic's base, righting herself at the last second to avoid becoming a splatter of goo on the roof. With a flick of the wrist, she retrieved a small, pen-shaped device from her sleeve. A click of a button on the device's end activated the superheated cutter on the other side, allowing her to effortlessly slice her way through the side of a tower and make her way in.
Dr. Scala sighed. It was always so easy.
The enclosure was a massive, steel-walled rectangular chamber, a small, heavily-reinforced door on one end. Fortunately for the Hydra, Matic hadn't thought it necessary to use force fields to restrain a simple biological specimen such as this one. Unfortunately for the Hydra, an angry, fifteen-meter dinosaur stood between them and the only viable exit.
The Left turned to face the Right and the Center, urgency flaring in its eyes. "Seven-beta," it quickly stated. The adjoining heads nodded in unison, and the Hydra sprung into action. Narrowly avoiding the swing of the behemoth's leg, it parried, to the left, then leaped onto the back wall and rapidly climbed. The Hydra faced their adversary at its eye level, lying in wait for it to make a move. The brute roared in rage, then swung its head, intent on goring the Hydra with its horns. At the last moment, the Hydra bounded from the wall and landed behind the monstrosity's head-plate, latching on with claws of steel.
With a unified movement, the Right launched a missile at the base of the beast's neck, decapitating it outright. With a thundering crash, the headless body collapsed to the floor, the Hydra safely beside it. Their path now unobstructed, the Hydra charged through the creature's crimson blood and melted through the door with multiple pulses of superheated plasma.
The long, brightly lit hallway outside of the chamber was completely empty, obviously not important enough to remain guarded at all times. The multiple doors along the walls were each identical in design to the one the Hydra had melted through, and doubtlessly held similar creatures. Though the Hydra at first thought to ignore these chambers outright, the Right hatched an idea.
"Be prepared to run," it stated, before a lone missile streaked through the corridor and obliterated one of the chamber locks.
The balding, bespectacled man swiveled in his armchair to face the new arrival in his office. He steepled his fingers as the light glinted off of his glasses, obscuring his eyes. "What is it, doctor?"
"The Hydra escaped the radiation chute, and it just killed subject DH-3-001, sir!"
Dr. Matic furrowed his brow. "I see. And is anything being done about it, doctor?"
The nervous, agitated scientist held his hand to his earpiece, then cursed under his breath.
"I asked you a question, doctor."
"Sir, we've got another problem on our hands. All of the DH-4 specimens have broken containment. The Raptordactyls are loose."
In one swift motion, Nalzaki lunged forward and seized Lieutenant Ryan by the collar, hoisting him up in the air and forcing him to release his grip on Ivan. Kanpeki swatted his weapon to the ground before he could retaliate against them. While Razaran glared daggers into Ryan's eyes, Nalyg glanced around for a moment. All around, panicking soldiers fled. A few had fallen to Razaran's brutal attacks, and several were in varying states of injury and maiming. A little violent for Nalyg's tastes, but such was war. Nalyg turned back to the disconcerted lieutenant.
"You won't be taking Matic's son prisoner, Lieutenant," he announced in an authoritative tone. "You wouldn't want to share in your soldiers' unfortunate ends, would you?"
"It... talks? Matic's never... never been able to..."
Ivan realized that for once he was at an advantage over the Lieutenant. Confident in his own safety, he scrambled back to his feet and approached the helpless officer.
"You think a scientist as brilliant as my father couldn't create something intelligent? You underestimate us." Ivan desperately hoped that the Lieutenant would buy it.
"I... I see. I'll... I'll call off the attack if you call off your beast. Deal?"
"How do I know you're not lying?"
"Because if he attacks us again, he won't be so lucky." All three of Nalzaki's heads continued to glare intimidatingly at Lieutenant Ryan.
Don't release him yet, Razaran, Kanpeki stated mentally. Nalyg, you could likely coerce him into giving us something beneficial. Perhaps information, or perhaps one of the Tome's bookmarks.
Agreed, Kanpeki, replied Nalyg.
"We'll let you go, but first, tell us what you know about the bookmarks, and anything else that could be relevant," Nalyg announced authoritatively.
"The bookmarks..." the Lieutenant nervously muttered. "Last I heard, the Fantasy bookmark is still held by what little remains of Lord Horrorshow's gang."
"Lord Horrorshow?"
"He used to practically rule the city. Now he's just a laughing-stock. He only has two minions left, which is probably why no one's bothered to finish him off. I don't know where any other bookmarks are, but it's likely you could get inforrmation from Dr. Matic. If you can manage to break into his castle and incapacitate him and his guards, that is."
"Very well. You and your men can go." Razaran obligingly dropped Ryan to the ground, keeping his glare fixed on the lieutenant. Ryan's platoon quickly dispersed into the city, the threat they posed gone for the time being.
"Ivan. Find this Lord Horrorshow, and retrieve the missing bookmark. Matic wants it, so it likely needs to be destroyed."
"I... alright. What about you?"
"We're going to go after the doctor. We've seen what these bookmarks can do in the wrong hands, and we need to prevent this. Be careful out there, Ivan."
"I'll be sure to." Ivan turned and began heading north, probably not knowing exactly where he was going.
Our objective is clear, then.
"At last, we're going to kill Dr. Matic," proclaimed the Center.
The gleaming, metallic spires of Dr. Matic's stronghold towered over the city, dwarfing the hydra with their sheer magnitude. There were few places in the city where the veritable fortress of science couldn't be seen, impenetrable to attacks from Matic's myriad enemies. A spacecraft drifted from an unseen bay, shooting off into the atmosphere in the blink of an eye. Thousands of automated plasma turrets cast their mechanical gaze around the perimeter, poised to obliterate any approaching threat at a moment's notice. Deadly force fields, capable of vaporizing anyone or anything unfortunate enough to contact them, formed an impenetrable dome around the base, save for a number of designated entrances. These designated entrances were heavily guarded, both by turrets and by a number of mass-produced defense drones - not the most durable of robots, but hundreds could be dispatched on a moment's notice. For any admittance to the fortress, a series of scans had to be performed to ensure that all organisms and materials were authorized for entry.
However, for every strength there is a weakness. Matic's external defenses were, as far as he could tell, completely impenetrable. None of his enemies had ever managed to so much as get inside of the fortress, let alone do any lasting damage. The only incident of note was the escape of what had come to be known only as "The Hydra", and that had been years ago. As such, the fortress's interior was much less fortified than the exterior. If an assailant could somehow make their way in, they could potentially do huge amounts of damage before being neutralized.
This was exactly what the Hydra had been planning for its entire absence. The biomechanical amalgamation was one of Matic's most dangerous experimental subjects, and its escape had caused dozens of deaths. External security measures had been greatly tightened after this, but unless Matic had instated new defense methods inside, the Hydra could easily decimate the stronghold and the laboratories within.
The question only remained now of how it would get inside. Fortunately, the Left had proven itself a supurb strategist, and they had formulated the perfect plan of attack. Radioactive waste was regularly poured out of the stronghold into the sprawling system of defunct sewers beneath the city, which had long since ceased to function as proper waste management. Though these sewers served as a hideout for another of Matic's enemies, the radioactive sludge vents were composed of metal alloys much too strong to be broken into by the sewer's inhabitants. This, coupled with hourly dumping from above, prevented any real threat of entry by attackers.
Or so the doctor thought. In an instant, the Hydra destroyed the weak barricade over the nearest sewer entrance and slipped in unnoticed. Into the dank, dimly-lit depths the Hydra dropped, landing heavily on a pair of mechanized legs. In an instant they were sprinting through the damp labyrinth of metal pipes, the Right cutting down any mutants in the way with its bladed arm. No time wasted, the Hydra came to a large, circular room, the walls largely covered with scribblings of occult symbols and incomprehensible murals. Both the Right and the Left deployed plasma cannons from their arms, firing in all directions with little pattern and forcing the mutants to flee for their lives.
Centered above the chamber was a massive aperture, labeled with a number of radioactive symbols. A metal blast door covered the circular opening above, normally only opened when it was actively spewing radioactive sludge. A quick high-yield explosive was more than enough to force the hatch to capitulate, however.
The Hydra's heads gazed up the dark tube in unison. In exactly thirty-eight minutes, it would be flooded with searing-hot radioactive waste, more than enough to kill the Hydra many times over. Fortunately, they had more than enough time to exit the chute within Matic's lab before that happened. The sewer pipes were small enough for the Hydra to easily climb into the chute, rapidly ascending with magnetized limbs.
Well on their way into the stronghold, however, a series of red lights lit up as deafening klaxons sounded all around.
"It's dumping now? There was another half-hour left!" growled the Right.
"That doesn't exactly help us now, does it? We've got about a minute until we're incinerated and irradiated at the same time," replied the Left.
The Center's eye implant displayed a detailed map of the vicinity as he hurriedly searched for an escape route. A single chamber lay near enough to the chute to be accessed - what appeared to be a large storage room (the map didn't cover the contents of the room).
"Right! There's only one way out before the waste gets here. Destroy the wall there!" The Center hurriedly transmitted the blast location to the Right's less advanced mechanical eye, overlaying a target on a section of the chute a few meters above. The Right's arm clicked once, before the chute was rocked by a missile explosion. The Hydra hastily scrambled for the newly-created hole as the tube quickly grew warmer and warmer, climbing through just in time to avoid an emergency forcefield whirring to life. A searing wave of heat burst from the opening, but, all things considered, it was little more than an annoyance.
But, as the nearby growling revealed, an annoyance was more than enough.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr. Cassandra Scala drifted on her jetpack through the increasingly-torrentous skies above the city, quietly laughing to herself. The weather machine was working perfectly, just as it always had. Soon, the city would be decimated by a massive hurricane, certainly killing all of her enemies within. But nonetheless, she thought she might see if she could take out the hydra before the entire city went down. She had been guided this far by that damned robot, why stop here?As if on cue, an uncaring mechanical voice crackled from the doctor's radio. "The Hydra is now entering Dr. Matic's stronghold. They appear to be intent on killing the doctor in a petty revenge plot. You will find them within. There are multiple defenses around the stronghold, but it shouldn't be a problem for you."
Dr. Scala grinned evilly. On one hand, she may have been relying on something so inferior as the machine, but on the other she would get to break her way into a heavily-protected fortress. The choice was obvious! Now situated directly above the stronghold, the mad scientist pulled from her coat pocket a small, perfectly smooth and round device. With a flourish, she tossed the gleaming sphere downward. With the push of a remote activator, the grid of invisible forcefields began sparkling and visibly rippling before tearing apart altogether.
She flipped into a dive-bomb toward Dr. Matic's base, righting herself at the last second to avoid becoming a splatter of goo on the roof. With a flick of the wrist, she retrieved a small, pen-shaped device from her sleeve. A click of a button on the device's end activated the superheated cutter on the other side, allowing her to effortlessly slice her way through the side of a tower and make her way in.
Dr. Scala sighed. It was always so easy.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Halfway across the enormous subterrainean chamber, a titanic beast shambled to its feet. A mountainous body was raised high in the air by what more resembled trees than legs. A massive neck extended from the front of the creature's body, ending in a three-horned reptilian head, an armored plate placed behind its eyes. The titanic lizard dwarfed the hydra that had had the misfortune of wandering into its enclosure, and made its displeasure clear with a deafening roar. It slowly limbered toward the hydra on its massive limbs, each percussive step shaking the ground violently.The enclosure was a massive, steel-walled rectangular chamber, a small, heavily-reinforced door on one end. Fortunately for the Hydra, Matic hadn't thought it necessary to use force fields to restrain a simple biological specimen such as this one. Unfortunately for the Hydra, an angry, fifteen-meter dinosaur stood between them and the only viable exit.
The Left turned to face the Right and the Center, urgency flaring in its eyes. "Seven-beta," it quickly stated. The adjoining heads nodded in unison, and the Hydra sprung into action. Narrowly avoiding the swing of the behemoth's leg, it parried, to the left, then leaped onto the back wall and rapidly climbed. The Hydra faced their adversary at its eye level, lying in wait for it to make a move. The brute roared in rage, then swung its head, intent on goring the Hydra with its horns. At the last moment, the Hydra bounded from the wall and landed behind the monstrosity's head-plate, latching on with claws of steel.
With a unified movement, the Right launched a missile at the base of the beast's neck, decapitating it outright. With a thundering crash, the headless body collapsed to the floor, the Hydra safely beside it. Their path now unobstructed, the Hydra charged through the creature's crimson blood and melted through the door with multiple pulses of superheated plasma.
The long, brightly lit hallway outside of the chamber was completely empty, obviously not important enough to remain guarded at all times. The multiple doors along the walls were each identical in design to the one the Hydra had melted through, and doubtlessly held similar creatures. Though the Hydra at first thought to ignore these chambers outright, the Right hatched an idea.
"Be prepared to run," it stated, before a lone missile streaked through the corridor and obliterated one of the chamber locks.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Sir!"The balding, bespectacled man swiveled in his armchair to face the new arrival in his office. He steepled his fingers as the light glinted off of his glasses, obscuring his eyes. "What is it, doctor?"
"The Hydra escaped the radiation chute, and it just killed subject DH-3-001, sir!"
Dr. Matic furrowed his brow. "I see. And is anything being done about it, doctor?"
The nervous, agitated scientist held his hand to his earpiece, then cursed under his breath.
"I asked you a question, doctor."
"Sir, we've got another problem on our hands. All of the DH-4 specimens have broken containment. The Raptordactyls are loose."
![[Image: raptordactyl.png]](https://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy62/hermitcat/raptordactyl.png)