Tales of the Tattooverse: SiaSP Part 10

[Tattooedman]

Greetings and welcome to the Tattooverse.

This place serves as the outlet for some various ideas I've had for original stories as well as stories based on game groups I've GMed.

Most of the game based stories will be set in the world of the Alliance which is the main world of the Tattooverse, but it has been proven that there are other dimensions....


The Alliance:
A group of men and women with super abilities that were brought together originally by the man known as Blackstone to help him stop the plans of Mendron the Black Mage. At the end of that adventure the group decided that they needed to continue to work together to better deal with superhuman crimes and activities.

Since that time the members of the Alliance have went from being an independent group to having gained the backing of the American government as officers of law, as well as being granted special policing privileges from the United Nations that allows them to operate in member countries. They have also been able to establish connections among the other superhumans of the U.S., and though they aren't members they are willing to come to their aid at a moments notice. Yet even with all these demanding responsibilities the members still manage to keep their own home cities safe as well.

These are their stories....


Scandalous Crimes: The Scandalous 7 have turned up again and this time the robberies make no sense. Can the Alliance figure out what the connection between the different thefts?

Part 1: Wrong place at the right time
Part 2: A little help from my friends
Part 3: Rookie mistakes
Part 4: How the other half is doing
Part 5: The other in my head (part I)
Part 6: Under the sea
Part 7: What did we miss??
Part 8: The other in my head (part II)
Part 9: Back at home
Part 10: The rest of the story
Part 11: Alone in the dark
Part 12: Under the Gun
Part 13: How to not fight quitely
Part 14: Bad joke
Part 15: Secrets of a criminal
Part 16: Sneaking round ain't easy...



Good Friends....Gone Bad?: Several allies of the Alliance have started to commit crimes! What has brought on these sudden changes and can the Alliance stop them before it's too late?

Opening: Making up is hard to do
Part 1: With Friends like these...
Part 2: Not a joke this time
interlude 1: Sentry at the bank
interlude 2: Sentry's phone call
interlude 3: Sentry's talk with Ashmoore
Part 3: Memories
Part 4: Another one goes bad
Part 5: WHO had that idea?!?!
Part 6: Support your local Menatlist
Part 7: Through another's eyes
Part 8: The rematch
Part 9: Standoff
Part 10: Nice detective work



A Night at the Museum: The Curator has returned and this time he's trying to steal various pieces of history. With several members otherwise occupied, can only 3 members of the Alliance be enough to stop him?
Part 1: Kids!
Part 2: How far?
Part 3: Did the Earth move for you too?
Part 4: Distracted
Part 5: Help?
Part 6: Tag Teaming
Part 7 Vanishing Act
Part 8 At the Zoo (part I)
Part 9 At the Zoo (part II)
Part 10 All the Info
Part 11 Choices
Part 12 Answers
Part 13 LOST!

Stranger in a Strang Place: Following Vega after his being forced into a dimentional teleporter. Can he manage to survive in a new world that has no idea what kind of hero he is?
Part 1 The Trip
Part 2 Freedoms
Part 3 Trust
Part 4 Questions
Part 5: Making Friends
Part 6: Ex-Cons
Part 7: The Angry Man
Part 8: Bad Company
Interlude Fade to Black
Part 9: Witchy Woman

[Tattooedman]

Scandalous Crimes: Part 1

As he ran down the block towards the bank weaving in-between people on the sidewalk Jon Armstrong thought to himself.

"Man!!! I knew that I should've gotten the money last night when I got off work, but no I wanted to watch the DVR of the Undertaker beating the dogsnot outta Big Daddy V right away. Well now there is no way I'll be on time for my date with Jessica."

He grimaced as he thought about the talk Jessica had given him at the end of their last date just as he way inside the bank and realized that there was no way he was going to be on time.

"Hell!! I forgot it was the beginning of the month!! Anyone and everyone that gets some kind of government check is here trying to get it cashed!!! Crap, I'm screwed!!!!"

With his thoughts souring as they turned to the talk he knew that Jessica was going to blister his ears with he looked around at all the people in front of him and wondered if she would actually yell at him inside the restaurant or wait until they were in the cab on the way home when he noticed something odd about one of the customers.

"That guy up there, he seems to be sweating alot for being inside the air conditioning of the bank...Hang on a friggin' minute!!! Thats Tide!!! Crap what the hell is he doing here and where the hell is his sister at?!?! They never are far apart!!!"

Jon strained his neck looking around the bank for Tide's sister the villainess Quicksand while trying to look like a person who is very bored with having to wait for the line to move. He began to get very nervous when he couldn't spot her right away.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap!!! Where is she?!?! I know she has got to be here somewhere!! These two can't let a whole room be between them for more than five minutes so I know theres no way that Tide is here alone."

Jon took a minute to stop his line of thought and take a couple of deep breaths and then looked over the room again taking his time now.

"Okay now, Sentry is always telling me that criminals always have a pattern they follow. So what is the pattern that Tide and Quicksand use?? Man, I knew I should've spent more time reading the profiles that Technus makes for us. Think, think, think. First off I've got to call for some backup cause I know drip-dry over there isn't here alone and I can't take both of them on by myself. I need someplace quiet to make that call, where, where, where....AHHA!! Got it!! The bathroom!!!"

Quickly making his way out of the line Jon made his way towards the public bathroom. Once he made it inside the stall he pulled out the com-link and put it to his throat.

"Alert. This is a Vega calling the manor. I'm in the 3rd National Bank and about to engage Tide and Quicksand as well as possible other members of the Scandalous 7. Requesting aid immediately, whoever is closest cause its gonna go down soon."

The answer came back as soon as Jon finished his last word.

""Alert received. Calling out now for locations expect 'em anytime." Was the response from Blackstone.

"Acknowledged. Thanks Alexis." Jon responded.

"Sorry I can't help but I'm on monitor detail." Alexis pouted.

"We can't all get the glory." Jon teased as he triggered the coversion of his street clothes to his costume.

"Yeah right. Remind me to shoot a shadow blast at whoever came with this rotating detail idea would ya?" Alexis said.

"Aim it at the closest mirror you can find. I gotta work now, talk to ya later." Jon commented grinning just a bit as he thought about how Alexis was kinda an action junkie and it really bothered her a bit to not be involved in a scrap with the bad guys. As Jon got to the exit of the bathroom he heard the voice he was waiting on.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE!!! This is a robbery, so nobody act the hero and we'll take the money and nobody gets hurt. Sound fair?" A female voice called out to everyone within hearing.

The sounds of people starting to clamor was all that Jon needed to hear to know that a large part of them were making their way towards the doors to get out. Suddenly a thunderous boom sound and a large, loud crashing followed with several people screaming in response.

"Crap!! That was Electra!!! Got to go now to see if the people are alright with all that noise thats being made out there, that witch can get crazy with her electric blasts. No time to see who is backing me up." Jon braced himself and willed himself into the air. He took a deep breath to steady himself and flew at full force through the door to try and gain some surprise on Tide and whatever other members of the Scandalous 7 were there to rob the bank.


To be continued....
Next time: Vega holds on for the backup.

[Michuru81]

I've been anxious for this to pick up and it was well worth the wait.

It's nice to see this side of the ATT getting a breath of life again. Keep it up and keep them coming, Tattooedman!

[Tattooedman]

.....

5 minutes later.

Wow, thanks Michuru. That means alot coming from my favorite writer on the ATT. I shall try to keep it following as best as I can.

[Libra]

Keep up the good work, old boy!

[Tattooedman]

Scandalous Crimes: Part 2

As the debris of the door and parts of the wall crumbled around him as he crashed through Vega was able to see the causes of all the noises he had heard just only moments ago. Electra had used a lightning blast to cause one of the giant pillars on the side of the entrance to fall over, blocking any chance for the customers or employees to escape. Realizing that he needed to act before Tide, Electra or Quicksand took advantage of the endless choices of potential hostages Vega angled himself up towards the ceiling to get a better view of the entire room to locate the members of the Scandalous 7 that were here and hope that his help would be there very soon.

"Lets see..... Yep, theres Tide, and Electra there is heading towards the vault can't let those two team up on me."

With less than five full seconds passing since his entrance the young hero aimed himself at Tide and went as fast as he was able to in the short distance between them.

"I hope this idea works!! Its not like Dripdry there has a normal person's body structure when he is in liquid form... Crap this is gonna suck!"

Tide had barely registered Vega's appearance on the scene when he started to comment.

"Why is it I can't commit a crime without you trying to WHAT THE HEL "

Was all he could get said before Vega hit him and spread a few hundred pounds of water around a 40 foot area.

Vega grinned to himself as he turned around to face off against Electra next. "At least its gonna take 'ol Dripdry a few minutes to pull himself together. So at least I won't have to hear any of his lip for that long, I'll take whatever breaks I can at this point. I wish I knew where Sandtrap is hiding herself, I'm getting worried I can't find her."

At that moment a 50lb sack of coins flies up and explodes against Vega's chest sending him to the floor, rattling his senses for a moment as the sound of laughter fills his ears.

"Hahahah!! You stupid heroes!! Always so wrapped up in coming up with a snappy line to impress the drooling masses with that you leave yourselves open every time!! Hahahahahah!"

"Great critizism from the whackjob." Vega thought. "Just what I always need, like Sentry doesn't ride me enough."

While the young hero faces off against the the high voltage villainess, he doesn't notice a 3 foot wide strip of sand as it moves from inside the vault and has started to move bags of money towards the closest teller window.

"I hated to let Jack take that hit from Vega, but I know it only stunned him to be scattered like that." Quicksand thought. "He'll pull himself back together in a minute while Electra holds Vega off so I can move the cash to Looking Glass's portal in the teller window."

At that moment the image a very attractive redhead with short cut hair wearing a tight black leather outfit appeared in the reflection off the glass of the teller's window making motions with her arms to hurry up.

From the flowing sand on the floor a female head forms to respond.
"You think its so easy to carry all the money this way?!?! Then you do it! Oh wait! You can't! Thats why its my job to move it to you!! Hang on, this isn't as easy as it looks!" With that said the head simply crumbled back into the rest of the sand and the money that was being carried was tossed with a whip-like motion towards the teller window.

Many of the people trapped in the bank were surprised to see that the bags of money didn't break the window as they thought it would but instead passed through the window with an odd shimmer and then the redhead in the leather was holding several of the bags in her arms smiling as she moved from out of view of the window.

Meanwhile the crowd is fighting to stay out of range of the energies of Electra as she rains down bolt after bolt on Vega keeping him busy staying away from the actual robbery.

"You should've waited on a couple of your little friends to show up before you tried to take us on Vega! At some point you're gonna get tired and slow up and then I'm gonna fry you like KFC's chicken!!" Electra taunted.

Vega was too busy trying to stay ahead of the electrical bolts and away from the crowd to keep them safe while he tried to gain ground. He focused his thoughts.

"O.K. now, miss 50 watt here is keeping me busy while Quicksand loads out the cash to Looking Glass. CRAP!! where is the help?? I've got no choice but to start going hard at them if I'm gonna have a chance of stopping them on my own!!"

With that Vega channels the energy inside him outwards and he feels as it builds behind his eyes and everything starts to take on a reddish coloring to it. Out of the corner of his eye he notices another tendril-like thing of sand except it is black coming from under the collapsed pillar, Vega smiles knowing that his backup just arrived and who it is.

"What the hell do you have to smile about you frickin' moron?!? We're getting away with the cash and theres nothing you can do to stop us." Electra yelled, becoming agrivated by the sudden change in Vega's face.

A voice behind her startled her as it answered. "Lady, do you realize just how stinkin' annoying the sound of your voice is? And just to let you know, my buddy up there isn't the only one here to stop you. I'm here now."

Before she had a chance to turn completely around Ashmoore shot a tendril of soot out and knocked the villainess 15 feet back into the stationary island where dozens of slips of paper fly into the air upon her impact.

"Think you can handle her now that I've done you're hard work?" Ashmoore tilted his head as he spoke, so he could keep an eye on the other members of the Scandalous 7.

"Yeah, I can manage now that I've got someone to here to help. What took you so long?" Vega said as he took to the air following after Electra.

"What can I say, charity lunch with the Daughters of Liberty. Clearly those ladies idea of an emergency is waaayyy different than ours. I got here as fast as I could." As he spoke Ashmoore's body began to crumble into soot and worm its way towards the sand tendril that was carrying another load of money towards the teller window.


to be continued....
Next Time: Can Ashmoore be enough backup?

[Tattooedman]

Scandalous Crimes: Part 3

"I've got to end this with her now before she starts to try and threaten one of the people trapped in here." As Vega finished that thought his eyes were glowing with the energy he had summoned and he unleashed it upon her as she was starting to get up from the rubble that used to be the stationary island.

Electra didn't even have time to register his attack before the ruby red energy slammed into her and forced her back into the rubble and even further into the ground. When the energy faded away Electra was left unconscious in a small crater that was about two feet deep.

Smiling as he moved on Vega though to himself. "Now to take care of that pillar so the people can get outta here like they've been wanting to for the last couple minutes." He made sure to check on his teammate to be sure he wasn't leaving him in a bad situation, but from the looks of the tangle of the soot and sand he wasn't sure what he could do to help. "Well Ash, you're on your own for now." Was his last thought as he landed and started to find a grip on the pillar.

Meanwhile Ashmoore's thoughts were focused much more on his own fight.
"Got you where I want you to be ya witch!" You thought we'd mix it up in our grain-like forms, baby do I have a surprise for you!!"

With that Ashmoore sent the mental impulse to change his form to something more solid than it currently was. At first he noted Quicksand's hesitation to his action, then he mentally smiled as his body became fully solid and then chemically reacted with the oxygen in the air and combustion occured.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!" That was the only reaction Quicksand could have managed before the intense heat caused the reaction Ashmoore wanted. Her sand particles quickly overheated and changed into that of glass from the blast furnance like condition he was exposing her too.

"Whats the matter baby? Am I too hot for ya to handle?" With his little jab finished Ashmoore shifted back to soot form to untangle himself from the remains of Quicksand and then shifted to his solid coal form.

"Now where did Witch 40-watt go to?" He said as he looked around.

Just as Ashmoore had set his eyes on Electra's unconscious body he was hit by a massive blast of water that wrapped around his head and started to force its way down his mouth and throat.

"YOU S.O.B.!!! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH FUSING HER BODY INTO GLASS HURTS HER?!?!?!? IT TAKES HER DAYS TO RECOVER!!!! DAYS!!! I'M GONNA DROWN YOU FOR THAT!!!!!" Tide screamed in his strange bubblely sounding voice.

"Kkkiizz miii " Was all that Ashmoore could gurgle out before his body began to shift to it's ignition form again.

Suddenly the mass of water covering Ashmoore's head fell away and moved around the bank gathering up the bodies of his fallen team within it's rushing wake.

"Screw this!! We got what we were supposed to plus a little extra for us. We are outta here now!! Looking Glass gimme a portal back to the big top!! Now!!"

The wave and it's fallen friends charged towards a large standing sign that told people to ask about the bank's super-low interest rates that also sported a nice reflective metallic sheen to it. The last thing anyone saw on the reflection once again was the redhead in the black leather after Tide and crew had disappeared into the sign making a single finger gesture to the pair of heroes who were left wondering what the hell had just happened.


"So you mean to tell me that the two of you were able to hold off about half of the Scandalous 7 without any civilians getting hurt? Although they did manage to steal whatever it was they were here to get plus an unknown amount of money as well. So yet somehow in your minds that makes a good Job??"

Sentry simply shook his head and counted to twenty before he spoke again. There were days like today that almost made him rethink his idea of not working for the government.

"O.k. honestly I'm very impressed you two managed to keep the people safe, but Vega you should have waited until Ashmoore contacted you he was outside and then worked out a quick plan not hot dog it alone until someone showed up."

"But I thought that with all the noise that was being..." Vega started to say.

The look Sentry gave him silenced him before he could finish.

"Now Ashmoore why didn't you check in to see who else was in route to help before going in?" Sentry asked. He honestly wanted to understand the thought process of the two young men before him so he could hopefully work with them more to develop their fighting tactics so that the bad guys didn't manage to get away with the money. He realized that these two had somewhat had the life of super heroic forced onto them, and that they could use all of the help and guidance he could give them.

"I heard all the noise comming from inside and figured out my soot form would fit through whatever was blocking the door so I stuck my nose in so to speak and saw Vega mixing it up with Electra while Quicksand was moving the money outta the vault to Looking Glass. I figured it was better to help him out with Electra real fast then move on to the pair doing the actual stealing."

"Alright fair enough, we'll go over this more later on back at the manor. Right now lets see if they left us anything to tell us where they have been recently or where they might have been going." Sentry said pointing to the places where Electra had been knocked out, the vault door as well as where Quicksand had been inside the vault.

"What about the cops though?" Vega mused. "Won't they get a little P.O.ed we're messing with the crime scene?"

"You know that we always have first crack at the crime scene after one of our members are involved in a fight." Sentry said with a stern look.

"oh." Was the only response Vega gave and he stayed quiet after that.

After twenty minutes Sentry gathered the two younger heroes to get ready to leave for the manor saying "We've gathered some samples of a kind of oil, now we need to analyze it and hopefully that will give us some idea of what the Scandalous 7 are up to now."

As the trio of heroes were just walking out the entrance of the bank their comm-links went off.

"Attention Sentry and team." Called out Blackstone.

"Go ahead Blackstone." Sentry answered.

"Echon has reported a sighting of members of the Scandalous 7 at the docks attacking a freighter ship. Technus is already in route and I thought I'd see if Vega would be interested in getting a second shot at them today." Blackstone quickly shared.

"Frickin' right I do!" Vega snapped. The look Sentry gave him made him quickly regret saying anything.

"Tell Echon and Technus Vega and I are in route to help them. Ashmoore will head to the manor with some evidence we've collected from here." Sentry said as he handed the plastic containers to Ashmoore. "Our ETA should only be a minute at most."

"Gotcha. I'll pass it on." Blackstone replied.

"So why do I get the crap job?" Ashmoore pouted as much as he could manage with his rock-like face.

"Because your ingnition form can be countered by the water in the area, and the weight of your solid form will be a threat to a fight for us on the docks being able to hold your weight in that form. Which would only leave you the options you have from your soot form which would be limited to a degree by the lack of area to move around in. Anything else you would like to question about my tactical descisions before you leave?"

Ashmoore realized at that point from how Sentry had just spoken to him that what patience the man had was at its limit and he shouldn't push his luck.

"No sir."

"Good. Now no using your ignition form, you'll destroy the sample so just get one of the officers to give you a ride to the manor. Blackstone is waiting on you."

"Yes sir." Looking a little downhearted he lumbered off towards one of the uniformed policemen to get his ride.

"Now, Vega grab one of my hands and lets get going. I want us to beat Technus to the docks."


to be continued
Next Time: Trouble at the Docks!!

[Tattooedman]

Scandalous Crimes: Part 4:

Echon was having a difficult time understanding some of the conflicting feeling he was suffering, so he did the only thing he could think to do.

"Systems analysis complete. All systems normal and functioning at full capacity." Chimed the internal computer that was part of his synthetic body.

"It appears that even a computer as advanced as mine cannot understand human emotions any better than the man who has them." Even as that thought faded Echon's eyes never left the men he was watching from the roof of the wharehouse.

It was clear there was nothing normal about the men; one wore a black suit that had wings going from under his ribs and out to his wrists and beyond to give him the wingspan needed to keep himself aloft in the air. He stayed in the air flying above them by only a few feet, but keep on them about how long they were taking. "Raptor, it seems he still has no patience."

The man, if you could honestly call him that, was at the huge hole that he had torn into the ship's hull. He was loading boxes out and passing them on by dropping them into the water. He stood just over eight feet tall with an amount of body hair that well past a little excessive and had a pair of tusks that ran from his upper jaw to just above his waist line. "Mammoth. Always the mook muscle for Raptor."

Even over the gentle rhythms of the waves as they beat upon the ship's hull, Echon could still hear Black Adder in the water below Mammoth.

"Hurry up ya yutz!! We ain't gonna have long before the Alliance shows up. You heard what Tide said, they're already on to us pulling some jobs!! I ain't interested in mixing it up with them goody-goodies!! I say the faster we get 'n go the better!!!

Raptor swooped down to the point where it looked like he was going to hit the dock face first until at the last minute he swung his torso upwards and placed his feet on the dock.

"I'm sorry Adder, would you care to tell me when I put you in charge of out group? I don't really care what you want right now, at this moment you are supposed to be herding those boxes to the spot where Looking Glass is maintaining a portal for us to move them to our base. Now cease you're blathering and do your actual job!! The sooner you do that the sooner you get to leave like you wish."

After weighing the tones used by criminals, Echon put a finger to the comm-link he wore. "Echon to Manor. Blackstone, who is in route and what is they're ETA? It looks that the members of the Scandalous 7 that are here shall be ready to leave in only a few moments."

Silence was his only answer for a few seconds, his computer told him so. He wished he could disable that particular mechanism quite often.

"Relax Echon. Sentry just got done telling me that he and Vega are now leaving the bank to join you and Technus should be there in about a minute at the most. He left when you first called." Blackstone answered. She had been a little harsher than she had meant to be, but sometimes the way Echon spoke to people really bothered her. "Look, just slow down the processor in your head and relax. Just give them about 45 seconds and you should have all of them there." With that Blackstone ended her audio link to Echon.

Echon spent about .002 seconds to realize Blackstone ended her transmit to him. Then he spent the next 15 seconds trying to figure out what he had said exactly that had made her be so short with him. "Clearly I shall have to again aplogize to her for my behavior."

As Echon adjusted his positioning on the roof his comm-link came on again.

"Technus calling. Where are you at Echon?"

"Third wharehouse from your left. You don't need to use the comm-link at this range, my enhanced hearing allows me to hear you fine."

"Fine, so you've got the best ears money can buy. Blackstone tell you Sentry and Vega are on the way?" Technus asked.

"Yes she had just finished a few seconds ago." Echon's head tilting as he remembered her curt sign off.

"We're here already." Sentry's voice cut through the awkward moment. "We're 3 bulidings down from you two. I can see Raptor, Mammoth on the docks. Is there anyone else with them?"

"Black Adder is in the water getting ready to move the stolen goods to a portal maintained by Looking Glass." Echon quickly shared.

"O.K. Heres the plan. Echon, you take Raptor in the air. Vega and I will keep Mammoth busy. Technus, that leaves you to handle Black Ader."

"Gimme a second to configure the Tek Pak into a S.C.U.B.A. setting." The inventor answered.

"Affrimative." Was all Echon answered with.

We go on my mark in 5.....4.....3.....2.....


to be continued
Next Time: Smoke on the water.

[Tattooedman]

What else can I say, but I've been a little busy lately. With various work demands on my time I've only really been able to post a character a day on the Roll Call part to this and nothing here. The way things are looking now I should be able to add a few more chapters to this story and hopefully have it finished in a week or so. Again sorry for the delays.

[Tattooedman]

Scandalous Crimes: Part 5

"Systems check done. Minor damage to unit, total system operating at 97%." The internal computer chimed to Echon.

"It is a good thing that my synthetic body is not affected by Raptor's toxin. Anyone of my allies would be vulnerable to it." The synthetic man thought as he readied a sonic blast.

"Give up Raptor. Your allies were defeated earlier by other members of the Alliance. As we shall defeat you." Echon said just before the sonic generator in his throat charged and released its burst of white noise.

The intended target easily looped around the forcused energy with a sneer on his face. "Defeated earlier?!!? Have you managed to losen some of the chips in your head finally? My people got what they were sent after plus some." As he spoke Raptor shifted his arms back, angling himself for a dive towards Echon. "We already have what we came for as it is, once we're done with you fools we'll have moved it to our base."

Raptor's power dive brought him closer to Echon the synthetic man quickly ran his situation through the computer in his mind.

"Target's velocity too great for unit to counter. Maximum possible damage is 9%. Recommended course of action, evasion." It quickly told him in it's unitone voice.

"As I thought." Echon mentally answered as he moved his body to avoid the attack of the winged terror. He couldn't understand why he felt the need to answer back to the computer, it just felt like he should. Most of his friends on the team didn't understand either, maybe thats why sometimes he felt like was why he spoke with the internal computer. It understood him to a point in a way that his friends couldn't.

"Perhaps I should try to attend those sessions with the counselor Technus had arranged before." Shaking his head as he fought Echon struggled to keep his focus on the fight he was in. "Stop this. Thoughts like these will only distract me and could lead to a mistake."

The internal computer chimmed; "Set aside current thought file and access combat systems?"

A small frown crossed his plasitc polymer lips for a moment as Echon debated.

"Proceed." He thought. As much as he hated to let the computer side of him have more control for the moment, his emotion files were making it too difficult for him to be of any real use to his teammates. Just as the targeting crosshair appeared in his view he thought; "I wonder if the others realize how often I allow the machine to do the fighting for me?"

Suddenly his mind could only focus on the mathmatics of the fight, angles and vectors of attacks he could use to direct the discharge of the white noise generator housed inside him and the thoughts of what his friends would think suddenly were forgotten.

Meanwhile Sentry and Vega were set to double team Mammoth. Sentry knew he couldn't really do any lasting damage to the manbeast, though he could help Vega by setting Mammoth up.

"Vega, maneuver A-7. Now!!" The masked sentinel put all his power behind the movement as he brought his shield behind him and flung it towards it's target.

Mammoth watched as the 4ft wide disk flew towards him, a laugh growing in his belly. He had taken hits from this weapon before and knew that it wouldn't hurt him, he laughed at his attackers. "Stupid little man. You should know by now your little toy won't hurt me. As he spoke, a crooked smile broke across his face as he spoke, mainly because of the enlarged teeth that protruded from his mouth and hung almost three feet down.

"Hey teether, didn't ya think that maybe by now he's figured a way to make you feel it?" Vega retorted. As he spoke the red energy flew from his eyes and hit the flying shield and increased it's momentum.

The crooked smile quickly faded from the manbeast's mouth as he realized that Vega's blasts alone hurt him a bit but to put together the two attacks... That may hurt more than a little.

Mammoth leaned down as much as he could to brace himself against the comming attack.

The resulting impact made a crash that reverberated to at least twenty feet away as the shield struck the villain and caused him to go flying backwards from so being struck so hard. He sailed through the air almost a full six feet in the air backwards, head first toward the end of the docks.

"Thats not all there is to that move either, fluffy." Vega said, a small smile on his face as he knew that Mammoth hated to have people say anything about the amount of body hair he had as a side effect of his powers.

Vega brought both of his arms together above his head and then slammed them into Mammoth's chest together as hard as he could. The resulting impact forced the air from the monsterous villain as his body began to instantly drop down to the dock. His landing was so forceful that Mammoth never even stopped, smashing through the solid wood and traveling below the water's surface.

Sentry watched on with a small, proud grin. "Finally. He is starting to get the idea of what I've been trying to teach him in the training room. He just might start to cut it in this work if he realizes theres more to being a hero than just hitting with his fists." Sentry quickly jogged to where his shield was resting after its monsterous impact on Mammoth. "Amazing how this takes all kinds of damage without ever showing any wear. I'll never know how I managed to get by without it as long as I did, I wouldn't know what to do without it nowadays."

Sentry turned to look around to see what Vega was doing now that Mammoth was dealt with for the moment. He was again impressed to see that the young hero had went to help Echon with his opponent since he was having trouble in his fight. "Well those two should be able to handle Raptor without me while I see what the Scandalous 7 wanted from this ship so badly." With that Sentry disappeared into the ship through the hole in it's side.

to be continued
Next Time: Technus' fight...

[Tattooedman]

Scandalous Crimes: Part 6

As Technus moved towards the spot the Tek Pak's sensors told him where Black Adder was he found himself wishing that the more serious Seahawk had been available to help. "As much as ol' 'Hawk gets on my nerves with his "save the fish" thing, his being here would have kept me dry and not having to worry about the Tek Pak taking too hard of a hit."

Technus' brow wrinkled a bit as he thought about the amounts of water he would end up drinking here if the Pak went off-line from taking too much damage. "Definately want to end this fast. Lets see.... riot rounds won't work well with the resistance of the water, the laser would suffer from refraction reduction, missiles won't travel as fast or as far, that leaves the ion gun and the up-close weapons. Not really my best option with my not being used to underwater combat and Adder being very good at it, I'll have to hope I can hit him with the ion gun then." With that thought the Tek Pak started to configure the ion gun. Metal slithered and flowed from his back down his shoulder and arm against the flow of water and covered his hand, turning it into a silvered, rounded stump with a large dimple in the center.

At that point a sharp sounded beeing began to sound in Technus' ear. "What?!? Sensors say that Adder's moving!! Hell!! How did he notice me from this far?? Why is he going down deeper?? Is he trying to get away somehow??!" Trying to make a chase on the villain, Technus began to swim after his aquatic enemy. He suddenly realized though that he shouldn't have as the sharp beeping began sounding again.

Black Adder smiled, showing all of his small pointed teeth as he rammed into Technus at full speed. "Stupid meatbag! Did you think you could sneak up on me in the water?!? I knew you were there almost as soon as you entered the water, all of your flailing around to get towards me let me know exactly where you were!"

Technus struggled to push Black Adder back so he could aim the ion gun but he couldn't compete physically against the stronger man. "Guess it's time to go melee already.... I was hoping to avoid this." At his mental command the end of the ion gun went from a dimpled stump to rounding outwards and several smaller sharp edges growing from it, taking the shape of buzz saw blade.

Black Adder realized what Technus was doing and suddenly he tightened his grib on the master inventor and began to spin around. "Lets see if you can handle this land walker."

With each circle completed, Technus fought to keep from getting sick. "Christ!! I've got to get him off me somehow! I'm about to puke inside the rebreather and then I won't have any air!"

The entire time Black Adder never lost his smile. "You should've never tried to cross me, especially in the water! You're supposed to be the genius, how smart was it for you to come in after me knowing that I hold my own against Seahawk! Moron!! You deserve this and more, but I've got to get the circuits to Looking Glass before they get damaged by the water pressure."

With that Black Adder suddenly stopped rotating around and let go of Technus. The momentum was enough to send the inventor deeper down than he had planed on going, he started to worry.

"Am I blacking out?!? What happened?? Wheres up??" Finally Technus closed his eyes and mentally ordered the Tek Pak to audio respond.
"Audio response engaged." it called back to him in it's cold unfeeling voice. "Instructions?" It asked.

"Track Black Adder and reform ion gun. Also figure out which way is up I'm too turned around still to figure it out." Technus thought at his machine.

"Compliance." It answered. "Tracking subject: Black Adder."
"Ion gun forming sequence begining."
"Surface is 38 feet above operator, and to reach it would require operator to turn 176 degress to the operator's left."

Technus frowned as he realized he was upside down. "Figures."

"Subject: Black Adder has disappeared from sensor range." The computer told him.

The frown became deeper on Technus' face. "Even better. I've managed to lose him and the parts they stole."

Suddenly a muffled crash sounded behind him and Technus reached out with the senors at his disposal to identify the form to determine if one of his friends needed his help.

"Subject's body mass and physical dimensions match with file designate: Mammoth." The computer said, the it followed with another piece of information. "Body reactions indicate that subject: Mammoth is uncosciousness."

"Then I'd better make sure the mook doesn't drown." Technus thought as he rightened himself toward the surface and began to swim his way towards the fallen manbeast.


to be continued
Next Time: Vega & Echon's fight....

[Tattooedman]

Scandalous Crimes: Part 7

"I don't care what your stupid sensors told you!! I could've took whatever shot he was planning fine!!" Vega was yelling almost as loud as he could only a few milimeters from Echon's face.

"My sensors indicated that Raptor's suit was generating a massive energy build-up that would have been capable of damaging even you." Echon calmly replied to his very agitated associate. He was having a difficult time understanding why Vega was so angered with him. The only option he that he had was to use his sonic generator to kcock Vega out of Raptor's line of motion. Echon was struggling to grasp why his actions had caused Vega to have this particular response.

"I'm half tempted to give you "a hand" in helping Technus get outta the bay bolt-head." As he spoke Vega brought his fist up and brought it back, readying himself to throw a punch.

"VEGA!! STAND DOWN!! NOW!!!" Came Senty's voice from the damaged freight ship.

Both Vega and Echon looked towards the sound of the voice of the leader of the Alliance as he made his way through the hole the members of the Scandalous 7 had made in the freight ship.

"I have no idea why you are acting like you are about to strike a TEAMMATE, but I'm sure it will make for a very interesting story back at the manor." As Sentry spoke his body language clearly displayed his anger, he was almost stomping with each step he took and the look in his eyes was something Vega had only seen on a very few occasions.

"Aw hell," the young man thought, "I'm already in the crap over how I handled the bank robbery, now I'm in deeper cause of this. Its just not my day today." The look on Vega's face clearly shown how much he was regretting the last few words he had said to Echon, but he kept quite.

"As of right now I want you back at the manor. Blackstone should be almost done processing the oil we found at the bank. Until I talk to you there you simply keep quite quite about this and we'll discuss what happened." As he spoke, Sentry's face relaxed a bit as he realized that part of his anger stemmed from the disapointment he felt in Vega. Sentry had no idea what happened between Vega and Echon while they fought Raptor, but Vega's response to hit Echon showed how much that Vega needed to grow up alot more before he would take this work seriously.

"Yes sir." Was all that Vega answered back before he took a few steps back and then suddenly took off into the air.

Sentry felt bad for how harsh he had been on Vega, but he knew that the younger man needed to learn how to control his anger.

"Now Echon, would you please explain to me what went on while I was inside the ship?"

to be continued...
Next Time: What happened

[Michuru81]

Sentry felt bad for how harsh he had been on Vega, but he knew that the younger man needed to learn how to control his anger.

Amen.

Another great post, TM! I'm always eager to see what comes next. :) Keep 'em coming.

[Tattooedman]

Scandalous Crimes: Part 8

As Raptor circled around the less agile Echon, a slight sneer covered his mouth.

"You're a fool to challenge me in the air alone robot. I'll take you apart piece by piece and rain the parts down on your friends below us."

Echon said nothing, instead he was allowing the on-board computer in his mind work the angles of attack that would disable the criminal.

"Probability of disabling target's energy supply is 37%."
"Probability of of disabling target's primary weapons is 42%."
"Probability of previous options increase by 15% if unit engages in melee assault on target." The computer had chimed in it's generic unitone voice.

"Add in if unit were to make use of feint tactics in conjunction with gaining ground on target to engage in melee assault." Echon thought back to the computer.

"Probability increases an additional 13%." The computer chimed again.

"Excute feint tactics leading target towards melee assault." Echon ordered.

"Compliance." The computer answered.

As Echon began to enact his plan Vega had just finished Mammoth and was moving on to help the synthetic man.

"Alrighty, now that Furface is done lets get Wing-ding finished off and then we can wait on Fishbait in the water to come out and we can nail 'em all. Then we can make 'em tell us what they're up to with these heists and maybe Sentry will cut me some slack for my screw up in the bank." With that thought Vega started to increase his flight speed, and a smile broke across his face.

As Vega came closer he watched as Echon feinted Raptor and proceeded to use his greater strength to pummel the winged villain into submission.
A hard right struck Raptor in the jaw, but he was able to roll with the blow and simpley flipped head over end and was able to put some distance between himself and Echon.

"Blast that robot!!!" Raptor cursed. "There is no way I can take another shot like that! With a simple mental command to his cybernetic suit he opened the comm-link to the Scandalous 7's base.

"Looking Glass, we need transport out of here. Now! The Alliance is here already and they have taken Mammoth out!" He ranted.

"I know." Looking Glass calmly answered. "Adder already got the parts we wanted and used the mirror I gave him to get out of his fight with Technus."

"Good, at least we can still get paid for these jobs." As Raptor spoke he began to grin as he thought of the few thousand dollars that was his cut of the payment for their work.

"I'm going to use the water of the bay as the focus for you to get out." Looking Glass' statement brought his mind from it's wondering.

"Where at?" He snapped

"You'll know where when you see it, you old buzzard." Her tone becoming rude as she was growing tired of Rapror's taking his frustrations out on her.

As Raptor took in his surroundings looking for where Looking Glass was going to make his portal he saw that Vega was now flying up behind the infernal robot to help.

"Hell! It's not like one of them is enough trouble, it's a good thing we already got what we came for!" His anger growing at their interference.

"Wait, I can at least make them feel something of the discomfort they have caused me." The winged villain grinned as he sent another command through the cybernetic suit he wore and angled his body into the beginnings of a power dive.

"Hey Echon, ready to double up on Wing-ding there?" Vega called out as he climbed higher into the air.

Echon made no response which irritated the young man, as he didn't realize that the synthetic man was lost in his silent conversing with the internal computer system held within him. Vega always tried to be friendly towards Echon, but sometimes he just was tired of trying when it seemed that Echon wasn't.

"So much for super-hearing powers." Vega said at a whispered tone just in case Echon was listening.

"Addition of ally designate: Vega increases probabilities by another 8%" The computer unitoned.

"Disingage combat systems and monitor unit stability." Echon silently ordered.

"Negative. Threats have not been negated, it is illogical for combat systems to deactivate." The computer argued.

"Master Override. Master system engage." Echon ordered agian, as he struggled to maintain his control over the computer inside him.

"Master system acceppted. Deactivation of combat systems begining." The computer finally answered.

Then Echon heard Vega's last sentence.

"That is not good, the computer is starting to fight me for control at times." A slight look of worry appeared across Echon's face as he pondered the possibilities of what that could lead to.

"I must not let the others know this is going on, they would possibily want to shut me down until they could figure out how to stop the problem. I shall have to create some kind of cover to explain to Vega why I did not answer him the first time." With that thought he turned to speak with Vega when the computer chimed in his head.

"Warning. Target Raptor is heading towards ally and target Raptor's suit is generating a large amount of energy that is unusual for it."

"There is no time to warn Vega of the danger, I have to help him. Computer, recomendations?" Echon asked of the other inside him.

"Discharge of the sonic generator at 87% would cause ally Vega to be forced back two yards out of target Raptor's intent." The computer unitoned.

"That is all I have time for, it must work." Echon thought as he began charging the white sound generator and faced Vega.

"What the hell are you doing Echon?!?" Vega called. "You didn't get uploaded with some kinda virus or something did ya?"

Echon could only think his response. "Sorry my friend if I hurt you doing this, but you should be able to take this better than what Raptor intends."

With that Echon released the built up white noise from his throat housing and the static-white beam struck Vega in the chest and sent him back almost 10 feet just as Raptor flew inbetween them, missing his intended target.

Raptor never stopped and continued his power dive to the water looking for the sign that Looking Glass had her portal ready. Then a hand the size of a small motor boat appearred on the water's surface and made a 'come here' gesture and Raptor simply smiled as he went head first into the portal and disappeared.

"That is what happened while you were inside the freighter Sentry. It is clear Vega took my actions as hostile at first and was overcome by anger. Clearly it was my fault." Echon finished.

"I can see why he may have thought that, but he needs to work on controlling that anger, left unchecked it can lead to sloppyness that could become hurtful to the rest of the team." Sentry said as he finished helping Echon load the still knocked out Mammoth onto the G.U.A.R.D. transport they had called for after the end of the fight.

After closing the doors Sentry turned to Echon and put his hand on his shoulder to make the synthetic man look him in the face. "I'll talk with Vega and see how it looked to him and then we may have to spend some time in the Chaos Chamber to work out some of the problems you two have with communication."


to be continued...
Next Time: What the S7 are doing....

[Tattooedman]

Sentry felt bad for how harsh he had been on Vega, but he knew that the younger man needed to learn how to control his anger.

Amen.

Another great post, TM! I'm always eager to see what comes next. Keep 'em coming.

Glad you're enjoying them, it's really a bit thrilling to me that people are reading my stuff, let alone being eager for the next parts. Now I've just got to get better at getting the new posts up on a more regular basis. Tonight was a rare thing for me to get two done as well as a couple of character posts.