“I want to thank all you wonderful dregs of Under-Town for helping me rid myself of some baggage.” Cog gloated as his eerie glowing blue face hung in the air.
“You know what they say: If your are going to throw something out, then why not give it to the less fortunate? So I bequeath unto you all, my former failings. They served the old me rather well, but as you can see, I’m a brand new me now.”
Cog twisted his face left and right, giving those watching a clear view of his new, younger face. Shaggy ducked another diving Cat-bot and kept one eye on the yapping head of Cog as he ran. Old bastard still loved to hear himself talk. Shaggy had stopped momentarily to grab some pants from an unfortunate civilian. But he still wanted to get back to the bar as fast as he could. Unfortunately, Cog may have started to monologue again, but that didn’t mean his damn bots had stopped wreaking havoc.
“For those of you who lack the brain cells to identify your intellectual betters, I am Cog. Roboticist, mastermind, and future ruler of the world. You are no doubt wondering how my illustrious self has come to recapture my youth. But that is a tale for another time, also it is probably a tale better saved for those who can appreciate it. Anyway, I wanted to let you all know that this little Spring Cleaning episode was brought to you by me.”
Shaggy skidded to a stop in the street as a few Omegas ahead of him turned and started marching toward him. He ducked into an alley and headed east for a block before he curved northward again. Glancing at Cog, he noticed some people had taken to firing whatever weaponry they could at the tiny robots that made up the screen. Cog either didn’t notice or care that his image was slowly being chipped away as he went right on talking.
“As for why I chose your particular location, well, that was several things. I recently came into contact with a few of Under-Town’s finest and we had a lovely time. So I figured where better to dump my refuse than the garbage fire of a...town, that is Under-Town? My new friends can play with my old toys and I can deliver this message to your… ha, Big Five.” Cog snorted a laugh as he derided the Denizens of Under-Town.
Shaggy glanced at the cavern walls, checking how the Sword-bots were coming along. They had been slowly climbing down the walls since this whole thing began. Now that the Omegas were almost gone, their speedier sword-wielding brothers would be marching through the streets. At least the damn things were far more flimsy than the hulking Omegas. Shaggy thought he could he see the clear square where the bar was located up ahead. The sounds of gunfire still resounded through the streets. But Cog’s voice still boomed through the cavern.
“And that message is: Stay in your little hole. Austin is going through some changes right now, and I don’t want any low-tier garbage getting in my way. Once I am in charge, we can meet and maybe discuss your continued existence. But for now, play with my old toys, lick your wounds, and STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MY CITY!”
Cog punctuated the end of his message with a scream that echoed throughout Under-Town. More and more of the holo-projecting robots he was using to cast his image fell from the sky as more people fired up into Cog’s projected face. Cog’s glaring image started to deteriorate and fall to the ground as someone finally brought out the big guns. Magic and rocket fire slammed into Cog’s face as the mad inventor finally cut the projection. The small silver robots whirled around and then dove into the Arena Square. Shaggy was sure he could hear screams and gunfire echoing through the entire city as those little silver bots went to work. He didn’t know what they could do, and he didn’t want to find out.
As he passed another flattened house and rushed into the square in front of the bar, Shaggy had to skid to a stop. Two very unlikely people were making scrap metal out of the few Omegas that still wandered around. The old-man NPC that smelled like motor-oil and plastic, Obadiah, was ripping the arm off an Omega and using the wrecking ball to bludgeon another large robot. Nearby, Vance was in his beast-man form, cutting through various robots like they were little more than leaves. Shaggy stared incredulously as he noticed most of his crew were in front of the bar, taking the odd pot-shot at nearby robots and drinking beer.
Slink was outside the bar talking to an excited Dave as civilians and Lackeys milled about the place. A few people were monitoring the Sword-bots crawling the walls, but they seemed relaxed. Frank and his crew were still rapidly trying to build the bar with whatever pieces they could find. Ren and Tinsel were nowhere to be seen, but surprisingly, Vlad was standing at the entrance to the bar, talking to Leslie. The biker woman looked a little worn down, but unharmed. Shaggy blew out a breath as he walked over.
“What the hell? Is it break time? How come no one told me?!”
Slink turned away from a wildly gesticulating Dave and smiled widely. “Holy shit, I thought for sure you were dead.”
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Vlad said goodbye to Leslie and moved to join them. Shaggy grabbed a shitty wooden mug and poured himself some water from a nearby jug. He nodded at Dave and Slink before he raised an eyebrow at Vlad. The vampire was topside when all this went down. Shaggy wondered what that must have looked liked.
Vlad grimaced and said. “It’s a damn madhouse up there. Vigilante Supers are flying every which way as the HLO guys try to pin them down. The player base is not happy with all the bureaucracy of the game and they are making themselves heard. Then you have this complete fiasco. Cog threw his old stuff at us, but topside got the cream of the crop. Seven foot high silver metal skeletons wandering around the streets killing anyone who gets in their way, Ants the size of bobcats roaming the streets outside of downtown. Then you have the Supers trying to put a stop to it.”
Shaggy gulped down his water. “Least you made it out.”
“Nope.” Vlad said, shaking his head. “Damn nanite swarm flew into my face while I was running away and clogged up my mouth and nose. Suffocated to death right there. Lucky the Supes had an Emergency Station outside of downtown. I Rezzed there and slipped away. But still, getting down here was a bitch.”
Shaggy grimaced as Dave's excited voice almost yelled. “Nanties! Wicked! Although suffocating had to suck. Or not suck…”
They all stared at Dave as the grin fell off his face. Eventually, he coughed into his hand and waved for them to continue. Vlad just shook his head and glanced around. Obadiah and Vance were cleaning up the last of the Omegas. The pair of them had an Omega between them and they were almost gleefully tearing the thing apart by its arms and feet. Shaggy raised an eyebrow as Vlad explained.
“Obadiah was checking on the Brute Clan. But they were doing fine, so he turned here. I don’t know the other guy... uh... wolf.”
“Werewolf Sensei.” Shaggy grinned. “But where’s Ren and Tinsel? They get ghosted?”
Slink shook his head. “They are inside with Rashi. She’s healing up the Civvies. They both took a beating from the damn Omegas.”
“Bruisers.” Obadiah said, as he walked over and wiped the dust from his hands. “The Supes and HLO call them Bruisers. The smaller ones are called Bladelings, if I recall. Never met those flying cats, though. But it’s also been a while since I was in the HLO.”
Shaggy shrugged. “I guess Bladeling sounds better than sword-bot. But Cog himself called the big ones Omegas. So I’m going to stick with that.”
“What you need to do is stop worrying about what you call the damn things and get out of here. The next wave is coming and your boys ain’t exactly the best of the bunch.” Vance growled as he transformed back into his human form.
“They got it where it counts.” Shaggy grumbled back as he walked into the bar.
Frank and his guys were rapidly nailing bits of sheet metal into the frame of the building they had created. It didn’t look pretty and probably wouldn’t last very long, but anything between them and the enemy was a good thing. Ren and Tinsel were standing near the Needle sisters, helping move the old and young citizens of Under-Town to and from Rashi. Rashi was treating people on top of the one good table they had. Jabbing her long thin needles into their skin and using whatever power she had to seal up their wounds. Shaggy wasn’t sure how long she had been at it, but he could already see sweat pouring down her face.
Flora was up and about delivering water to random people. Both Lackey and civilian alike. Chromia was watching over Rashi with an increasingly distressed look. One that changed to incredulity as Shaggy and his friends walked in.
“You killed him!?” Chromia shouted, unaware of how jumpy everyone else in the room was.
Those in the room that could, jumped up from their chairs. Some grabbed weapons, while others looked like they wanted to hide. Shaggy rubbed the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. Rashi and Vera started berating an embarrassed Chromia as April drug her away from the designated healing area. Chromia continued to look embarrassed until she caught Shaggy’s eye again and then she glared hatefully at him.
Shaggy put his hands up in front of him and cackled. He waved for Ren to meet them behind the bar, away from the mass of people and Lackeys. Chromia followed heatedly, obviously wanting to give Shaggy a piece of her mind. Obadiah moved to help wherever he could, but Vance remained outside. Shaggy remembered idly that the old werewolf didn’t like crowds. Shaggy waved to Mr. Blue, who was standing next to the bar and talking to a few similar looking aliens. They moved away as his group approached and Shaggy raised an eyebrow.
“So what happened with Tillani.” Slink interrupted his thoughts as the others all gathered around him near the bar.
Shaggy shook his head. “Oh yeah, so after I ran into him I — WHAT THE FUCK!”
The others all jumped back, as did several NPCs in the room, as Shaggy stared at the glowing blue panel that had appeared in front of him.
Congratulations
You have five members and the required Lackeys within a decent structure. Would you like to create a Legion at this time? A Legion is a group of Villains who work out of a particular structure and commit nefarious acts. Creating a Legion will unlock certain Lair benefits and will also allow for a communal pool of Lackeys. The highest Loyalty for each Lackey shall be taken and shared among all founding Legion Members. Please access the nearby terminal to create your Legion.