[ACRO] GLoG 28: The People's Republic of Magtok

[Me.]

Ryu detaches his mental link and continues his Tai Chi undisturbed...

[Kaelaroth]

And so Czernov, sincerely hoping that something explosive isn't runed onto the note, attempts to give it a read.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok resists the urge to hiss at Marley, to slap him for making noise and threatening what could be the element of surprise. He quickly presses a finger against his lips, and then darts away silently on all fours. Yes, this particular clone has legs.

With an anti-gravity spine implant assisted him, Mag tries to ascend up a bookcase, out of sight, and then onto the ceiling, waiting there for an opening, for Astir to reach for a book. He'll try to zoom in on the book titles Astir seems so fascinated in, and quickly pull together a crude attack plan in his head.

[ThePhantom]

Marley looks at Magtok when he holds a finger to his lips, then gets it.

Astir is here, in this very room, right now.

Marley takes up a book, hands shaking, trying to give Magtok the chance to surprise Astir.

[Kaelaroth]

Astir's looking at some books, pleasantly intrigued. Are they about the terribly old-fashioned world-ending? Perhaps he's deciding how to construct some kind of gigantic nuclear weapon from Czernov's various manuals? Or, is he even searching for some kind of magical text with which he can purge his enemies!
... Nope. He's just pulled out a rather heavy book on advanced horticulture and various flowering flora, and, looking rather pleased with himself, is reading the blurb carefully.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok's thoughts jump to Poison Ivy, and then to Harley Quinn, and then Joker and Batman, and...GAH! More important matters at the moment! Whether it's a plan based on the biblical tree of knowledge or for growing some magnolias down by the Glass Citadel is really irrelevant to Mag right now. The baddie's probably done bad things, has worked with another baddie, and most importantly, is in his way.

With Astir's hands hopefully full, Magtok gives SuperCancer its first field use, sending a blue blast towards the ancient figure's neck. He's not expecting much from, seeing as this is an ancient magical thingamajig, but then again, so was Epoch. No reason not to try.

[Kaelaroth]

The beam does, indeed, connect with his neck, and the ancient entity winces, his blue eyes flickering, like dying lights, as the skin starts to bubble and swim.

[AmberVael]

The paper is of rather cheap stock, and the ink seems to have run a little, but the message is clear:

To those concerned-

Assuming a hero, first and foremost, must have some adversary or opponent to defeat or work against-

With the evidence that within the organization concerned (GLoG), that there are worthy adversaries and opponents-

Noting that the organization concerned (GLoG) has already begun to align themselves against my personage-

I take this opportunity to propose that a mutual agreement be reached, in which both parties may be satisfied and glorified by mutual adversity.

I propose that such an agreement be made with the understanding that I will seek no attempts to slay or permanently injure or disable any members of the organization who do or do not array themselves against me- and perhaps that the same be offered in return.

If there are those within the organization who wish to reject, accept, or otherwise discuss this offer, it is suggested that they do so in five days, presenting themselves outside of their organization.

-Glorious Serenity

P.S.- Well wishes to the man whose shoulder I broke. It is my hope that he recovers swiftly, so that we may do battle again soon.

[Lord Magtok]

Oh gods, YES! Success! At least for now. Not wanting to risk losing the weapon, Magtok quickly attempts to send it away back to the MagCave.

Deactivating the anti-gravity implant, Magtok tries to drop down on top of Astir, use his admittedly unimpressive, fragile frame to knock the man to the ground, probably breaking a rib or two of his own in the process.

[Kaelaroth]

Sadly, despite initial success, it seems Magtok is now doing somewhat worse in his assault. Landing on Astir's back, he may well find himself doing so damage; as he fails to knock the ancient entity to the ground. However, he may be more concerned with other matters, rather than killing Astir, such as self-preservation, for one as Astir's body bursts into bright, bright blue flames.

[ThePhantom]

Seeing the flare from the flame, Marley heads to the door of the library.
"Security drones, get in here now!"

[Lord Magtok]

Shoot. Oh well, he has plenty more bodies, suicidally charging here won't make a difference. He grits his teeth, tries to put out the flames by rolling away, and then tries to lift himself back up.

The people of Acro don't appreciate your meddling, Astir.

[The Bushranger]

And security drones come stampeding in!

Dani, having been awake and reading in bed in Sam's room for awhile, peeks out to see what all of the commotion is.

[Kaelaroth]

It is nice that you know my name. Astir says, gesturing crudely with one flaming hand. Magtok might feel like something's just punched him very, very hard in the face, almost as if someone's thrust an invisible wrecking ball at him, before Astir feels, his flames dying out, at his pulsing neck. How odd. He says, before he quickly chops out the chunk of his own neck, and starts to let himself bleed, albeit unnaturally. It's as if the blood wants to come out.
Eew.

Meanwhile, Czernov, raising one eyebrow, finishes reading the note, and starts to pace back and forward, trying to think.

[ThePhantom]

"Get Astir! And save Magtok, if he's still alive."
Marley orders the security drones.

[The Bushranger]

Grateful Acceptance: By Your Command!
And, with mind as one, the security drones spin.
Target.
Then rush Astir, opening fire!

[Me.]

Ryu then goes into room and deadtimes.

[Kaelaroth]

Bullets, blaster blasts, shells.. ricochet off Astir's skin, as he bleeds. And then, irritated, swats a hand; swathes of blue flames descending on said drones.

[Lord Magtok]

Urgh!

Oww. Something cracks. Several somethings make sickening snapping noises, all together at once. Magtok isn't entirely certain it's all biological bits and pieces, either. The painkiller system can't counteract the excruciating pain fast enough, and while he retains conciousness, the cyborg is wracked with agonizing pain.

His jaw isn't working, so no dramatic "My name is Magtok, prepare to die" sort of moment. His eyes are both squashed, his nose doesn't exist anymore, and another clone wouldn't be able to recognize that face as his own. But focus, miraculously, it's still there. Apparently all those AMEN deaths WERE good for something, as he raises the unbroken arm and tosses a magic-sapping frag grenade (It hurts like a regular grenade, AND it saps your mana! Available today at your nearest MagMart!) in Astir's general direction. It'll probably kill Maggy once it asplodes, but whether Astir is affected remains to be seen.

[ThePhantom]

Marley runs out the door.
"This is bad, this is bad, this is really bad."

[Kaelaroth]

Like a stream of.. disgustingly horrible bodily elements, the cancerous cells are dancing through the air out of Astir's body, bit by bit, humming their way into the big open world! Meanwhile, though, there's a strange device moving through the air towards him. How ve- BANG!
... Astir, mostly unharmed (but not totally unharmed; he's only human, after all), and seemingly not effected by the magic-sapping, strides towards Magtok, the wound from which he has drained the cancerous supercells healing into nothingness, the cells themselves burning into non-existence along with the cut.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok is alive. Barely. That grenade was supposed to kill him, why didn't it? He might be able to hear things, but they'd have to be louder than that harsh ringing in his ears. Other than that, all his senses are dead, he's a useless pile of flesh and shiny metals.

[Kaelaroth]

Oh, crud. Alek flashbacks.
Astir steps forwards, his eyes burning. And a forceful, angry, raging mind-probe is sent screaming into Magtok's memory. Let's find out everything about him, eh? Before we kill him.

[The Bushranger]

Drones are toasted.

Another wave of security drones sounds the bugle charge!
Firing anti-magic beams!

[ThePhantom]

Marley runs to his room, and locks the door.

"Got to hide, got to hide."

[Kaelaroth]

Anti-magic does very little to the entity who does not use magic. Astir, still mind-probing, merely telekinetically crushes the drones. Or tries to, anyway.

[The Bushranger]

Blam blam blamblamblam!

Exploding drones try to get close enough to deal damage while exploding.

[Kaelaroth]

And, whether he succeeds in pulling out mental information, or not, Astir will then hurl fire down upon Magtok's broken body, and, after a rather nasty burn from a nearby exploding drone, teleport away to avoid more.
((deadtime))

[The Bushranger]

Normal drones move in to clear up the mess.

Dani finally slips out of the room - and flees, directly to the pool!

[Lord Magtok]

Mag's mind is probed. Oh fudge.

Regina and the second floor of Trog's Tavern. AMEN. Vespe. Failure. Clones, and their many deaths. Mad babbling, who the hell is Dr. Malpractice?, Melody wasn't supposed to die, League Of Villainous Enterprises, Cynthia, Reinholdt is a damned nuisance, Epoch and the punch to the face, more failure, kidnapping, the last apocalypse, and what Magtok had for breakfast this morning.

As Astir left in a hurry, and with Magtok's memories split between both halves of his mind, the probe is limited to those areas, along with a few surface thoughts loudly cursing Astir and promising to return.