forum Superhero Roleplay [Closed]

Started March 06, 2018 by @Imperfect_Autumn group

tune

Dylan sighed, wishing he hadn't put the gear in the truck, and started to follow Kaz. Kaz's eyes went wide.

"What do you see, Kaz?" He asked. There was a little bit of movement down the hall, but he couldn't tell what it was.

"He's in there working on the machine," Kaz said softly. "I know him, he used to make weapons for my dad. Maybe if I go in first, he won't panic," Kaz said as he took a few slow steps

Dylan let him go ahead, cloaking in behind him.

The stone was glowing, and felt like it was slightly enlarged compared to the last one.
Be sure to give that a wide berth, Dylan, he thought.

Vaughn glanced into the dark area, eyes flicking at the movement. “Be careful,” he mumbled to Kaz, jaw clenched a tad as he decided he would stay back with Avery at the moment.

Kaz nodded and walked forward, eyes widening at the sight of the person and machine. The machine itself was enormous, its top just barely clearing the top of the huge, vaulted ceiling. The stone was floating in its chest, and there were monitors everywhere. Xerces himself was standing on a platform near the stone, a tablet in hand as he typed. He was strange himself, humanoid in appearance but having much of his body made of metal. His thin tail was tipped with what looked like an injector of some sort, and his whole head save for his mouth was made of metal. He had a large screen for eyes, and the things he was typing flashed across it occasionally

(I’m back, sorry! I was out with my friend.)

Avery followed the men in cautiously. She kept her eyes and ears sharp, looking and listening for the slightest sign of danger. If anything went wrong, she wanted to know. Immediately.

(it's all good)

Kaz stopped at the end of the hallway before knocking on the metal, causing Xerces to flinch and look around quickly before spotting him. "Kaz? Kaz Vremenu?" he asked, typing in a few more things on his tablet before lowering the platform. Kaz seemed highly uncomfortable at the different last name, but didn't say anything yet. "What are you doing here? Finally find your old man's inheritance?" Xerces joked, the platform lowering enough that he could step off it.

"No, uh. Actually, I'm here with a few friends. We were interested in one of your projects you've got going," he said with a small, forced smile

Dylan didn't know whether to be curious or terrified of the metal human thing. It knew Kaz's name, but Kaz himself seemed apprehensive about the way he said it. Finding his own quiet corner of the room, he stayed out of the way and observed the scene before him.

"Really? What one? Right now, I'm only working on custom commissions, but I'm open to taking inspiration from one or two if you want," Xerces hummed, his tablet tucked in the crook of one arm. Kaz shook his head a bit.

"Actually, we're here because it looks like you were commissioned to make a machine powered by something of ours. And we kinda need it back," he said, gesturing towards the enormous machine in the room

Vaughn had stepped to Kaz’s side by that time. He looked at the other man, Xerces, but didn’t speak. He wasn’t there to talk, just to make sure Kaz would be alright and to get that stone.

Dylan uncloaked out of view, then stepped out into full view of the…. thing. It was impossible to come up with a good word for it.
He didn't know whether to try to appear threatening or not, so he decided instead to just stand straight and keep his eyes trained on Xerces in case he made a move.

Xerces looked around a little nervously, seeing that he had been quickly outnumbered. He didn't enjoy that, but he supposed he had no choice. "So…what do you want from me?" he asked. "This isn't a machine for a client, I just found the stone and started building around it. But it would be months of work lost."

Avery sighed as she stepped forward and gave the room a quick once-over. She turned her attention back to Kaz’s acquaintance, blinking once. This guy was certainly strange…

“Do you know what it is you’re building around?” she asked curiously, her ears twitching slightly. She had shortened them and hid them behind her hair again so that they wouldn’t be seen.

(Which stone should it be?)

(Quick, get Avery up in here before bullets fly.)

(Lol.)

(uhhh idk what stone we're on)

"This? I borrowed a prototype shell from a friend of mine to test how much the stone could power. It's amazing, really. No recharge time, and seemingly endless potential. I have it hooked up to almost five machines now," Xerces said, a nervous smile on his face. Kaz could sense that poor Xerces was getting nervous, so he took a step towards him.

"How about you show us some of the other stuff you've been working on, huh? I'm just a mechanic, but it's pretty cool to see you work," he said, smiling happily at the cyborg

Is that a threat? Dylan thought, It sounds like a threat.

He felt his muscles tense up, already expecting a fight, knowing that's not what was actually going to happen.

This guy had no idea what he was messing with.
If he had seen my sun-fury, or Kaon's prolonged appearance, he wouldn't be within a hundred miles of this place.

Dylan leaned back on a wall and tried not to appear too stiff.

"Yeah, y-yeah, um…The other machines hooked up to this one are all around us. I borrowed the prototypes from Murdock," Xerces said, gesturing to other machines tucked in the far corners of the room. They were all strange-looking animal ones, an old leopard covered in rust, something that looked like a dragon, a fish-like one, and two smaller versions of the large machine, all with a faint orange glow to them

"Are they for combat?" Dylan asked, glancing at the leopard, "They seem pretty robust, and kinda old….."

Dylan looked over the dragon one, and with a hesitant hand felt the surface.

The dragon's eyes flared, and it roared to life briefly before flickering and its head dropping again. Xerces startled when the machine was turned on, and he turned to Dylan. "Please don't touch any of the machines, especially not these ones! Half of them are still registered to activate on approach," he pleaded

Dylan backed up, startled, "Okaay…. got it. So, weapons then. Definitely weapons. Against what? These look too small to be for anything but fighting people…."

"Only two are fully processed machines. Or, well, w-were," Xerces explained, gesturing to the dragon and the leopard, which were bigger than the others. "The rest are prototypes, but they're all old. I'm just trying to test how much the stone can power since the older models were all heavy power users."

“Where did you say you got this stone again?” Avery wondered as she glanced around the room, the epitome of calm. At least, she was calm on the outside. If anyone could slip inside her mind, they would see that she was rather far from calm…

"One of my coworkers found it and gave it to me," Xerces said, keeping a careful eye on Kaz as he poked curiously at the fish machine, which he had discovered didn't turn on when approached

“Did he tell you where?” Avery wondered, turning back to the… man? Whatever he was…

"Said he got it off some old demon in a game," Xerces answered before squeaking when Kaz poked the fish, causing it to nearly topple over. He ran over to it, just barely catching it before propping it up again. Kaz gave him an apologetic look, deciding to just stick his hands in his pockets for the time being

Avery hummed and nodded slowly, her eyes trailing him before glancing around the room once more.

“And what, exactly, do the machines it’s powering do?” she asked, walking over to one and scrutinizing it.

"They're mostly old combat and rescue models. The guy I get them from for testing specializes in search and rescue machines, as well as defensive tech. The fish is for underwater rescue, the leopard is for mountain rescue, the dragon is for aerial, and the big guy and the two small ones are for combat," Xerces explained