The Defenders IC Act Two: Nothing to Fear

"Second floor, next to the riot shields is a stealth cloaking device and a repair unit. The repair unit looks kinda like a floating oversized Roomba." 420 said nonchalantly before walking over to one of the weapons racks. He scanned around a bit, and finally decided on a silenced HK MP5 fitted with shredder rounds for that extra little pop. He then checked to make sure that he still had both of his Desert Eagle .44 magnums, and went over near the Exo who was sprawled out on the floor.

I'm going to pretend I didn't see you do that, Mr.Exo." 420 said, smiling as he browsed the racks of gadgets. He finally found what he was looking for; a silver Rolex wristwatch. 420 strapped the watch on, and hit a button on it's right side. An energy shield popped out, about the size of a riot shield, but circular (like the Jackal shield from Halo). Content, 420 deactivated the shield, and then walked over to Randi.

"Well I see you're getting along well for having woken up in a room miles from home." 420 said "Welcome to the ADER. I don't have much time to explain the mission now, but in a nutshell you're about to save the universe. You look tough, so I'm gonna put you in my group. Any questions?" Mr.Q, meanwhile, had decided to browse the armory's wide selection of pistols. He slowly walked down the line of holstered pistols, until he reached the end of the pistol section. His face lit up in a wave of childlike euphoria as Q grabbed a rather catoonish gun. It was slightly longer than a Desert Eagle .44 magnum, with a nickel finish and a custom leather quick draw holster. Mr.Q grabbed five extra magazines from a rack and walked over to Claymoor, gun in hand.

"Do you know what this is?" he said, intending to answer his own question "This is a Desert Eagle model 600, the most powerful handgun ever made. You could blow a hole in an elephant with this baby. The bullets are freaking expensive, though".

Myre, meanwhile, perused the assault weapon selection until he found a rather interesting-looking weapon. It was a long gun, about the size of your average assault rifle, with a barrel wide enough to fire a grenade out of. The gun was silver, and had what looked like a set of solar panels at the top of it. It was pump-action, with a ballistic sight with trajectory and other mathematical calculators on it. Myre grabbed the gun, and shouldered it, looking down the futuristic sight and toggling the optical zoom to make sure it worked.

"Blimey!" Jack said, walking up next to Myre "What the 'ell is that thing?"

"This is the most badass weapon ever made." Myre began "The Sonix 44-Z. It's a grenade launcher that fires deep-frozen crystals in which run a powerful laser. Basically, the cold and the crystals freeze the laser and trap it, making a laser grenade. It has a short hangtime, making the gun useful more-so in short-range situations, but I don't know too many things that can stand up to this gun".

Ketryn looked over at Exo when she heard the crash. She let out a dry laugh, though it was ment I be real. She note that everyone else was getting such high tech weapons, while she had the two guns. She didnt care, though- nothing could waver the decision. Ketryn did realize, however, that she would need a close combat weapon. She had been planning on fighting with fists- she was strong, after all, but then a fist against a sharp item... Not very good.

Ketryn walked upstairs and looked around. She didnt see anything of interest despite the many high tech weapons and gadgets. So Ketryn found a long dagger and placed it on her belt with he two gun holsters. It wasnt goin to be an actual weapon that would be used very much for her. She just wanted to feel more safe. Ketryn noticed Myre and Jack and looked over their shoulders to see what Myre had. She listened curiously as Myre explained the weapon. "That is very interesting," Ketryn said, despite her never being in the conversation in the first place. She said the sentence in a flat tone despite how Ashe actually had an interest in the conversation. Ketryn realized this and quickly added in, "That wasnt sarcasm, by the way. I truly am interested. Please excuse the lack of emotion, my wiring is a bit... Off." Ketryn had said this sentence many times before, but always felt awkward saying so.

What is an 'elafont'? Claymoor asked genuinely, his eyes still roving the room for extra gizmo's and gadgets. He grabbed a long range grappling hook gun off one of the racks and pushed it into his stomach, the gun disappeared with a sound like pulling a spoon out of peach cobbler.

"Well now that you told me what that is, do you know what this is?" He said pulling his sword from its scabbard without a sound. Claymoor presented it to Q while holding half of the handle. "dont touche the blade edge or the sides at all." He warned.

Roe gave a slight jump, plucking the white chainsaw off the wall of weapons. She steadied her hooves back on the ground, walking away from the wall with soft clops. Roe smiled down at the chainsaw she had chosen, testing its weight and shifting it from hand to hand. It was rather lightweight, muck to her delight, and seemed to move with little resistance. She wasn't even sure if it had any fuel or what it even used for fuel but she loved it anyway.

Roe chuckled, shutting her eyes and swinging the chainsaw around, not really checking to see if anyone was standing near her. In an almost childish action Roe began to add her own sound effects, blowing air out of her mouth to make the revving of the chainsaw.

Jenny nodded, but stayed to observe the others. "Unprofessional, but clever" she muttered at Exo's attempt to fry his nanobots. Meanwhile girl with goat legs, a wolf, and a lizard looking thing joined the party. Jenny's eyes followed their weapon choices with great interest. I hope they thought it through before choosing. She recalled Exo's earlier statement and determined it to be mostly accurate.

She planned stay out of everyone's business during their browsing. IGIA obviosuly wanted the team to outfit themselves. Jenny changed her mind when Mr. Q remarked on the latest deagle model. "Incorrect, but considering the limitations of the human body I'll give it you."

"Hmm well lets say i have a history with waking up in strange places from time to time at least this time the reason is better than most. Besides give me free access to this place anyday and ill do whatever you want me to."

"And mabye know of any good bars we can stop by along the way? or perhaps you know where i can find a fairly powerful electric shocky device that won't send a person flying into a weapons rack?" he chuckled.

"That was entirely premeditated." Exo commented in response to everyones laughter and snide remarks as it balanced on one foot and tried to untangle the other from the wires eventually freeing itself but tripping over a rather large gun in the process and face planting into the white linoleum floor a result.

It scrambled clumsily back up onto its feet, looking deliriously around at the damage it had caused still unaware of the fact that it still had the scorch marks from where it had touched the taser to its forearm.

"Well then... that was... a bit more painful... than I had anticipated..." Exo muttered as it stumbled out of the EMP aisle and towards where Myre was showing off what was probably going to become his next favorite weapon.

"I helped design those you know." It said, peering through a slot on the opposite side of the shelf that Myre had removed the weapon from so that it was looking directly at everyone who was currently examine the laser granade launcher.

The Engineer woke up in a white room. He had no idea where he was, but he heard people talking so he knew there was some life near the place he was in. Once his senses kicked in, he finally noticed he was on a table. He got off the table, and walked towards the direction the talking was coming from to investigate. When he walked into the room, he saw guns. LOTS of guns.

"Am I in heaven?" said The Engineer.

"You did?" Myre said, turning towards Exo. Well of course he did. Anything clever that has ever been made was probably designed by Exo to some extent. Freakin time machine. Myre slung the gun over his shoulder using a leather strap, and then examined a few of the gadgets in store. He found a pair of Helios boots (as the ADER had confiscated them when he entered the building), and checked to make sure his vacuum ray was functioning properly. It sucked a Saybre-tech Model 007 pistol out of its holster from across the room, and Myre caught it acrobatically.

"Perfect." he muttered under his breath.

"Tungsten and tantalum," 420 said upon hearing Kraid's question "I have no idea. You can look around".

It seemed as if Myre, 420, Mr.Q, and Jack (having summoned his weapon of choice from his time machine) were all finished with their weaponry. Now they just needed to wait for everyone else to finish up and the mission could proceed.

When 420 answered his question, Kraid moved and did a sweep of the second floor, and located a dispenser for the raw materials he needed. It is nice that they seem to have done their research on us he thought as he overloaded himself with metal and fuel. He came back downstairs and stood in front of 420 again. "Now I am ready. Let the mission begin." he said.

After having her fun with the chainsaw Roe held it by the handle and gave a good yank on the pull cord with the intent of starting it up. After a few tugs and no response from the weapon it dawned on Roe that it most likely didn't have any fuel. She hoisted the machine onto her shoulder, the blade dangerously close to her neck. She looked around the room, watching as the other members of this army thing got ready to go. Roe didn't know anything about any of these people. Not their names or ages or motives. Maybe they were all as clueless as she was.

She didn't want to lag behind and anger the other members of the party so getting the correct fuel as quickly as possible was her next step. Roe tried to hide the pained expression on her face as she looked around the room, having no idea where to start. At least one of the creatures in this room must have an idea on what to use. And Roe knew exactly who to ask.

She quickly set her eyes on Exo, the lizard guy or gal or...other. To be honest it was sorta hard to guess. It had been the one who crashed into the wall, but it also seemed to know a great deal about weapons. Roe, chainsaw in hand, began to walk towards Exo. She looked up at the much taller creature. "'cuse me" Roe said rather nonformally. "Do you think you could give me a hand in finding a power source for this chainsaw?"

"Yes, but um... are you going to have any form of long range weapon like a gun or something as well? I mean chain saws are fine for hacking the limbs off your victims and throwing their dismembered bodies into the Thames where no one will ever find them, but... if you are going to be killing things you're going to want something that can at least take out a shooter standing 50 feet out of range." Exo said slightly confused as to why this person had chosen a melee weapon over a long range one.

"Anyway, guns aside, I'd suggest finding something similar to a camel pack, you know, those plastic bags you put in your back pack to hold your drinking water for that day, fill it with fuel tie it to your back then connect it to the chain saw that way you've got probably 3-5 days of fuel on your person so long as it doesn't get hit with a projectile a leak. I believe you can find the fuel on the second floor where the robot guy Kraid just got back from, and the pack 2 aisles down from here with the replacement cartridges and containment units."

Exo would have gone off to look for its normal weapons of choice but knew that since they were custom made and above the allowed radiation potential for any machine manufactured weapon, Ie, everything here, it was not going to find any duplicates. So it would have to demand or steal them back if it ever wanted to see them again.

Claymoor was getting the feeling that he was not going to find any ice cream in here, "After all this is a taco factory" he said out loud by accident. He also decided to exchange his grappling gun for a spherical/dome energy shield projector, this looked like a miniature umbrella with no webbing.

Claymoor suddenly remembered someone saying something about teams. "Oh I LOVE capture the flag! Who's team am I on?"

Ketryn quickly grabbed a few extra magazines before walking to Mr. Q when it dawned on her that she needed to finish up. Ketryn nodded at him, her face as expressionless as ever, "I'm ready to whenever." Ketryn made sure everything she needed was where it should be. The guns were in their holsters and the long knife tucked between her belt and jeans. Everything was in order.

Ketryn heard Claymoor's statements and managed a dry laugh. That creature was amusing. She wondered whose team he was going to be on, considering the fellow would be quite fun to have on a mission. Such a personality really brightens the mood at times.

Jenny decided to browse the selection of weapon attachments. She choose some scopes, special magazines, an extended barrel for her metal storm, and a microwave emitter. After looking over the shelves once more she determined that was all she needed. The next thing on her mind was her armored stealth suit, but she wasn't sure if it'd be appropriate for her to grab it now. She moved towards the exit and stood by it, a clear sign that she was done here.

Kraid stood next to the others, waiting for them to leave. He checked all his systems again to make sure everything was in order, which it was, while he continued waiting for the others to be ready. "Claymore, your attitude suggests that you think this might be a game. It is not. I hope you are prepared to do some serious fighting." he said. Then he went silent again.

After having watched the conversation for a while, The Engineer decided to introduce himself, as nobody had noticed him. "Hello", said the Engineer.
'They better tell me where I am, or they'll be in big trouble' he thought.
((Sorry for the one-liner, not much time, don't want to be on here much longer until 8/25 to avoid my ban being lengthened))

Randi had been waiting there awhile and it was funny in a way that 420 was ignoring my questions. But it mattered non the less themore he waited the more he thought of different items that might help along the way. Now he couldn't help but think he should grab a few more items.

"Ehhh screw it ill be just another minute be back in a flash." he said to 420

Randi ran off in the direction of the silenser mods, grabed one and atached it to the sniper. Then he ran and grabed a few more things before returning to the center.

"Ok now im done got a backpack with lots of ammo and a few gadgets." He sighed and just kinda played with his rifle checking to make sure it was loaded and playing around with it and the scope waiting to get this show on the road. Hopeing they will stop by a bar along the way.

Roe answered Exo with a frown. "I don't really like using long range weapons, guns especially. I never really learned how to shoot, more just charge in and go." She looked around at the long distance weapons, her frown remaining on her face. "But I guess this war thing could be some sort of learning experience." She listened to its suggestion for a fuel holder and wished she had thought of it herself. It was a rather clever idea. She nodded, giving a mock salute as she began gathering the things Exo suggested.

She gathered a few camel packs in her arms, selecting a larger backpack to carry it all around in. She then clopped up the stairs, grabbing two jugs of fuel. She had no idea how much she needed, but this seemed like the right amount. After stuffing it all in the backpack she carried her supplies back down the stairs, joining the other finished creatures.

Exo who was already near the exit where everyone else was decided that it was best to confront 420 about the IGIA confiscating its 2 favored weapons. It didn't have a problem with the weapons in the warehouse, they were perfectly fine, except for the fact that they all had to conform to certain safety regulations involving firearms where as Exo's weapons were made from scratch and thus did not so were not located in the warehouse. And the weapons similar to the ones it had made were slightly less powerful as a result of conforming the the standard safety regulations.

So, it was reasonable that it would want those specific fire arms back.

So it walked up to 420 and stated in a matter of fact tone of voice;

"420, before we go, I would like to have my microwave gun and netgun back. Those weren't easy to construct and you don't carry modules like that here."

"Perhaps you should consider having your weapons built into you Exo, then you wouldn't have to worry about them being taken away" Kraid commented. "So are we going to just sit here wasting time or are we going to get the job done and get rid of some Mimics?" A small plasma flare came from his mouth to accent his point.

Seeing that everyone was done with their weapons selections, 420 dodged Exo's question and began to walk towards a sliding metal door at the end of the hall of weapons. He scanned his hand, and the door opened to reveal a large hangar with three silver spaceships in it which resembled jets. Upon receiving instruction from 420, the three groups split up and went to their respective spaceships. When everyone had boarded, the spaceships taxied down a long wide hallway in a straight line, and began to pick up speed. Outside on the surface, an entrance opened in the side of a tall red mountain. The three planes flew through the opening, and off into the sky. On the ship heading towards Europa, Myre sat in his seat, his feet kicked up and a glass of wine in his hand.

"This may take a while." he said boredly "Human faster-than-light speed travel is still in beta".


END OF ACT I

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Spoiler:

Location: Europa, a moon of Jupiter. August 26th, 2154.

A silver spaceship descended upon the frigidly cold surface of Europa. The entire surface of the planet was covered in a thick layer of ice, and it was so cold that no one could live on the surface. Luckily enough, however, the entire planet is covered in an enormous ocean. As the jet approached the planet's surface, a panel of the ice slid away, revealing a long access tunnel. The jet flew into the long metal tunnel, and soon found itself in a hangar under the ice, in a massive dome under the sea. The plane touched down in what appeared to be a gargantuan parking space. On board, Myre awoke from his nap, and got up. He looked out of one of the plane's portholes, and saw that they had finally arrived. He tapped Jenny on the shoulder, and said "hey, we're here".

"We have arrived at our destination." Athena said over the intercom "Please make sure that your tray tables are in their upright and locked position. You are now free to move about the cabin".

"I am not talking to you, Athena!" Myre snapped angrily "You could turn yourself off for two fricking days. Us biological organisms can't. Do you know how annoying Exo is on a two day plane ride through space?"

---

Spoiler:

Location: The Great Martian Desert, Mars. August 26th, 2154



420 awoke to a blinding flash of sunlight. He blinked a few times, and then attempted to rise from where he was laying. He was in a field of grain, about five feet high, with the long-distance sun beating down through the whitish foggy artificial atmosphere of Mars. 420 struggled to turn over onto his knees, and rose from the ground shakily. He grabbed his sunglasses, which were laying a few feet from where he had landed, and placed them on his face. By some miracle they weren't cracked. What happened? 420 thought as he put on his sunglasses and looked around. His memory was...fuzzy, at best. He began to wade through the grain field, looking for the rest of the team and signs of what had happened. He finally came to a clearing of red dust, where the jet laid, the right wing embedded in the earth and the left wing missing. 420 cursed under his breath, and ran to the jet. It must have crashed landed, and he must have been thrown from the plane's exterior in the crash. How he survived unwounded was a miracle. He grabbed the jet's door, and tugged as hard as he could; nothing. The door was jammed.

"Okay then," 420 said, pulling out his .44 magnum "We'll do this my way!" He took a few steps back, and fired three shots at the door. The roar was deafeningly loud, and the kickback from the gun was more than your average run-of-the-mill pistol. The gargantuan shredder bullets did their job, though; the door was blasted backwards into the back of the jet's airlock, broken clean in half. 420 ran to the airlock door, and opened it with ease, giving him the ability to access the inside of the plane. The inside was in shambles; the cockpit was completely destroyed, the dead pilot laying on the floor, his corpse on fire. Or, at least 420 hoped it was now a corpse. To his right was the entrance into the ship's mess hall/main room, where the rest of the team members would be. He grabbed the door handle tightly and tugged. Nothing. He took out the gun and fired at it, but the door stayed put and didn't budge. Something must have been leaning up against the door, keeping it from opening.

All of a sudden, 420 stopped dead. He listened very closely to the world around him, and closed his eyes, allowing his above-average hearing to kick in. He knew that sound anywhere, even on Mars. There was a firefight nearby. He heard the distinct noise of a Jeep's engine revving, and the sound of the railguns was unmistakable. They had just flown into the middle of a warzone.

Spoiler:

Location: Ceres; a planetoid in the Asteroid belt. August 25th, 2154


The silver jet descended upon the cloudy atmosphere of planetoid Ceres slowly and carefully. They were cleared for a landing on one of the planet's landing pads; a small helicopter pad-like object the exact dimensions of the landing jet and hanging off of the side of an enormous skyscraper. The jet slowly descended until it reached the pad, and then turned around so that the jet's door was facing the entrance to the skyscraper. It opened up, and Mr.Q stepped out, the other members of the expedition not far behind. He was approached by two other men in suits, who nodded and stood at either side of the door. Q looked around cautiously, adjusted his hat, and walked towards the door into the building.

Inside, the massive building was absolutely incredible. It was nearly 700 stories tall, with offices and shops and apartments on the sides of the building facing inwards towards the center of the building. It looked much like a very futuristic mall inside of the building, with splendid glass balconies that bordered a massive 700-story drop. Q walked across one of the glass balconies and looked down, his hands resting on a smooth round metal railing that bordered the balcony. It was quite the drop. He was soon approached by one of the men in black, who directed him to a platform that jutted out into the abyss before him. He walked to the edge, and the entire center of the building lit up blue; a gravity elevator of sorts which allowed one to travel between the different floors. Q turned around and shouted to the other team members;

"This way!"


THE DEFENDERS ACT TWO: NOTHING TO FEAR

SYSTEM RESTART
Kraid awoke inside the crashed spaceship. He put his hands out and got up quickly, taking in the wrecked interior of the cabin. So we must've crashed he thought. He then heard shots fired outside. He went over to one of he windows and saw 420 shoot the exterior door off, and then heard the shots impact the door to the passenger area. This time however, he noted that the door remained shut. He must not be able to open it from out there. Perhaps I should give him a hand and Kraid went over to the door and cleared the debris from in front of it. When that was complete, he grabbed the door along the edges, sinking his fingers in around the door, and yanked the door off its hinges. He then threw if off to the side. "Hello 420"

Randi woke up inside the crashed space ship and was wondering what was going on. He then heard gun shots and scrabled to get his stuff together before Kraid opened the door. Once he gathered up all of his stuff he found Kraid and 420.

"Sup guys" he notices the blazing heat and sun bearing down on them and adds

"well looks like its sunny with a chance of a bulletstorm"

Ketryn followed Q to the doors silently. The trip had given her plenty of time to recharge, so she was prepared for just about anything now. When Ketryn saw the height of the building, she wasn't really surprised or awestruck. On her home planet such large buildings were common, as overpopulation had lead to such buildings. In fact, she used to live in a building like this. 683 stories high, and she lived in an apartment on floor 527. It was almost nostalgic. In an amusing sort of way.

Ketryn looked at the strange elevator and walked towards it. In truth, she was a bit nervous. First mission, the enemy could be anyone- who wouldn't be nervous? Ketryn shruged off the feeling as she turned to Q, "Then let's go."