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Post by laserbolt on Jun 16, 2014 1:20:08 GMT
Wavelength set down in a clearing at the edge of town, scorching the sod as his engines slowed to a whine and shut off. He checked over Laserbolt's armor and helped him to get it moving again while investigating for hardware damage. "I doubt I'm owed an explanation, but it sure would be nice... 'cause no, I don't have a banished clue who we're up against. I ain't from around here, remember?" As they stood in the grass lit up by each others' headlights without the mirrors and broken glass all around, Laserbolt could finally see Wavelength's armor. His own was made of some manner of crystal, but Wavelength's was a painted metal alloy... and the scratches really showed. His armor had taken on a ghostly silver-white shade from all the places the paint had been carved off. Laserbolt made a mental note to try and bring back some of that metal to the real world, if he could. Who knows what he could make from it... but first for that explanation. "Well, Wave, firstly, that was the Mirror Mare. She uses glass and reflections as weapons. I don't quite remember all the specifics, but I know she's sort of like the Bloody Marey, uses mirrors as portals and the like. Her back story is that she was created when Fillisecond chased this two-bit villain through a funhouse. The villain isn't important, but what he had was. It was a staff that could take somepony's image, and project it somewhere else. Now, by itself, that isn't too bad. But with the combination of that, a house of mirrors, a bath of radiation, and Fillisecond's super speed, it made a bit of an impression. While the villain was being carted away, something was born in the funhouse. Something that looked exactly like Fillisecond, but that had the mind of a killer." Here, Laser stopped to catch his breath, and he seemed flush, and... a little frightened. "And that's why I know who's playing her. You see, Pinkie.. you know Pinkie, right?" He didn't stop talking long enough for Wave to answer. "Of course you do, sweet mare that works at Sugar Cube Corner in Ponyville, wonderful girl. But she has this little... other side, locked away in her head. I found it when she asked if I could find one of her memories. It's a special kind of magic called mindscaping, very time-consuming. But, while I was in there, I was attacked by somepony exactly like Pinkie. Except her coat was smeared with blood, and she was carrying a knife. That is who the Mirror Mare is. The dark side of Pinkie. I've... also met her a couple times in alternate universes. Nasty customer. Does that explain it?" Laser finally stopped talking long enough for Wave to respond.
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Post by Wavelength on Jun 16, 2014 7:08:30 GMT
Wavelength blinked. "Uh... the psycho side of a two-headed mare made into another being by magic? ...Who happened to come out wanting to kill everything? Sounds a might odd, but I think I got it. What's she want anyway? Just get rid of everything that moves?" he asked as he succeeded in freeing another of Laserbolt's joints.
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Post by laserbolt on Jun 16, 2014 12:05:15 GMT
"Preeeeeetty much. I'm pretty sure they're both just mentally unstable, so... yeah. Not exactly fun." Laserbolt's system was finally almost done with the lockdown. "Again, thanks for the help."
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Post by Wavelength on Jun 16, 2014 16:11:17 GMT
"Not a problem. Just doing what needs to be done. ...Speaking of what needs to be done, isn't there anything we can do to stop her? We regrouped to come up with a proper plan of attack... the only thing I can think of that would eliminate this mare would probably only keep her from attacking us and it would cause even more collateral damage than she already did... and we don't even know where the city's population is at this time." Wavelength sat still, fiddling with one of the locked joints for a moment before freezing in place. "...Oh, that'd be a painful surprise... Heheheheh... never mind, I might have something. Hopefully a few other ideas will spring off of this. Don't worry about it, let's get you moving again."
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jun 16, 2014 19:25:22 GMT
The mare smiled politely.
My employer has information regarding its passage into and through this world. The League may not be the most imaginative when it comes to names, nor the most accurate, but believe me when I say we have contacts everywhere. As you know, fear and desire are powerful motivators when it comes to information and loyalty. Now, I would not be so rash as to claim to know the exact location, currently, myself. But my employer, as I have said, will have information I could not guess at just yet. You would be surprised where viruses and bacteria show up, sometimes.
She was now reflected in a mirror a polite distance from him, seated across from him at a "table".
So, Nightwing. What do you say to an alliance? These starry-eyed, naive little ponies only care for their own agendas, and most of them are completely clueless in this world. Not so the League. And where, unlike you or I, these self-proclaimed "heroes" have this paranoid aversion to all things morally questionable, even when it could further their cause or save a life, we have no such limitations. And neither do we delude ourselves as to the state of the world, and both the dangers and opportunities within. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, no?
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jun 16, 2014 21:56:40 GMT
"Connecting to Lady Amber. Please stand by."
"Greetings, Care. Careina said it was urgent?"
"Medi-Knight file accessed and ready for playback."
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Post by Midnight_Aurora on Jun 16, 2014 22:14:17 GMT
Care says, "What have you heard on the one called Medi-Knight? I know for a fact not everything The Vanishing Caretaker has done was good. But it seams Careina has found something of use to us. Careina send file labeled Mirror Mare to Lady Amber. Then stand by for playback. We encountered this mare while trying to get to our destinations. Nightwing hasn't responded to com calls and I am thinking the worst."
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Post by Asterian Starfall on Jun 16, 2014 23:14:12 GMT
She was now reflected in a mirror a polite distance from him, seated across from him at a "table". So, Nightwing. What do you say to an alliance? These starry-eyed, naive little ponies only care for their own agendas, and most of them are completely clueless in this world. Not so the League. And where, unlike you or I, these self-proclaimed "heroes" have this paranoid aversion to all things morally questionable, even when it could further their cause or save a life, we have no such limitations. And neither do we delude ourselves as to the state of the world, and both the dangers and opportunities within. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, no?Nocturne nodded as he gave a violent yell, forcefully returning back to his original form as Nightwing. As the ethereal blades along his fore-legs vanished, he looked at the mare with a smile. Not a sly one; not a hostile, conniving one; a true smile. " I was trained for one thing, Mirror Mare, and that was to complete the mission. Disregard personal sacrifice.
I am lead to assume your illusions are as real as you want them to be, as are my own." He tapped at a nearby shard of glass to prove his point, and to him the tip of his hoof merely passed through it. " I know precisely what you are talking about. I have seen ponies at their best and their worst. I have seen the true effect of the saying 'the pen is mightier than the sword'. The shadows are not to be feared; indeed it is in the shadows you learn the most." His smile grew to show a hint of excitement as he said, " Where to first?"
(( I'll put this here for the hay of it. )) Allegiance: From Neutral to Thug**Heroes believe Nightwing is a friendly**
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Post by laserbolt on Jun 17, 2014 0:22:21 GMT
"LOCKDOWN LIFTED" Laserbolt grinned as the suit's mechanical voice confirmed what he already knew. "I think I'm good, now." He felt it warm up, "remembering" the last source of energy, thermal. "Do you know what happens to glass at high heats, Wave?"
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Post by Wavelength on Jun 17, 2014 3:26:33 GMT
Wavelength chuckled. "Charred black slag doesn't reflect light." He looked down to the side. "...but what about the mare herself? We gotta find her and do something about all this... In hindsight, my idea might not work, depending on the nature of her power."
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Post by laserbolt on Jun 17, 2014 17:54:19 GMT
"Depends on the plan. You mind telling me?" Laser looked at Wave, and started transferring power to weapons reserves, rather than mobility.
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Post by Wavelength on Jun 17, 2014 18:28:18 GMT
Wavelength shrugged. "Flashbang grenade. Thought the light of that might give 'er a hard time, but I think that presumes 'er eyes are physically connected to 'er power--which I don't believe for a second, given its nature. I thought about burning everything to slag, but that would involve droppin' napalm in the streets of a city. I'm not prepared to do that unless the whole place was evacuated and there was a big angry alien infestation." He fell silent for a moment, staring straight ahead at nothing with a dilated sense of uncertainty showing in the violet eyes behind his scratched visor. "Er... where did Care say she was off to? She stayed behind to protect that enchantress mare, right?"
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jun 18, 2014 4:47:42 GMT
There was silence on the other end as the enchantress carefully chose her next words. "The Medi-Knight was a powerful and skilled villain," she replied slowly. "She worked for my brother, Plague, and used her encyclopedic knowledge of medicine to maim, torture and kill for information and to enforce loyalty in informants of the League. She was not as omnipresent as Shadownaught, nor as quick as Mirror Mare, and she didn't have an army like Plague. But she was ruthless and efficient. Cunning. Cold."
There was another pause. "Then something changed. She had been racing against Matterhorn for an object of surpassing cosmic power, and as fate would have it, the two of them reached the chamber of the labyrinth at the same time. She learned things in there that she would never forget, and in that moment...
"She became you."
Mirror Mare grinned.
Welcome to the League, Mr. Nightwing. Our first trade will be preliminary information. The briefcase arrived in this world in the hooves of a minor neutral party known as Pack Rat. He was last seen disappearing down a manhole at the intersection of Mane Street and First. Your turn. What do you know of the Vanishing Caretaker's Orb?
Cracking bones and ripping tendons accompanied the entrance of a skinless stallion-like creature as he came before a still pool of glowing ichor. He stopped at the top of a staircase of flesh leading from the edge of the liquid, contemplating his own reflection.
I'm working, Plague.
The creature grinned. "And?"
The image of a pink mare stepped out from behind his own reflection, a satisfied grin on her face.
It seems the ponies who replaced our two neutral parties have needs and desires we can satisfy.
Plague stroked his chin with a sticky hoof.
"Indeed?"
Pack Rat took a briefcase into the sewers.
"And we know what happened to it."
I would hope so, Plague. I'm a sadistic sociopath, but I keep my contracts. So does The Demoness.
The stallion grinned. "Do you doubt me?"
No. Don't give me a reason to.
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Post by Midnight_Aurora on Jun 18, 2014 5:39:13 GMT
Care nods and says, "That is what is commonly known. medi-knight was a dual type being. She loved to heal, but her military training had toned her as a killing machine. By day, she was a doctor and by night, she was The greatest medical assassin Lord Plague ever knew. Careina begin Medi-knight file playback. within this file should be the reason Catrina left the league of evil and is violently protecting Careina. As far as I know Careina is the claimed daughter of Catrina Careheart, but something has been nagging at me sense I remembered Careina. It feels as if I have a more motherly connection to her then I may have originally thought. This file may hold the key to understanding that." Care begins to watch the file playback on Medi-Knight.
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Post by laserbolt on Jun 18, 2014 11:45:00 GMT
Laserbolt blinked, though Wave couldn't see it under the helmet, and Laser turned to him. "Enchantress?" he said, clearly confused. Then he shook his head. "The hippie, right? Yeah, I think so." He stepped a little closer. "As to your plan... you ever notice that nopony's actually here? With the exception of us, a couple of 'plot-important elements', like whoever gave the Duo the file, and the villains, I'm pretty sure no one actually exists. That's how comics work. Of course, if we were to bomb the streets, there'd be implied carnage, and you'd probably go into a slump." Laser went silent for a bit, then said something that worried Wave. "I could do it. After all, this is a fictional world. Nothing here matters, except for the real ponies trapped here."
((I like the karma thing Asterian's got goin' on, so I'm stealing it.)) Morality: Hero to.... Hero?
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