continued from theultimatexmen.proboards26.com/index.cgi?board=asia&action=display&thread=1191019317&page=1

Getting of the plane, Hades paused and breathed deeply, he had not been back for a very long, yes, it had been too long since he set foot in this country. He ordered a cab to take him and his luggage to a hotel nearest to the lab. After getting of, he looked around and set of confidently towards the lab with great strides.
“The path has overgrown; in fact it is hardly recognizable. Though that still doesn’t hide that fact that this lab is sacred, and all that come here must pay the price.”
Deciding that, Hades went to the site of the old lab, after phasing through the now ruined entrance, muttering something about clearing the doorway to welcome the guests. Upon reaching the control panel, he promptly entered the initialization sequence and was pleased when 4 of the ten generators came online instantly.
Orders came thick and fast,
“Activate Drones.” “Repair generators.”
“Computer, bring up schematics of the lab.”
“Now that I have the plans, let me see how I can best welcome my guests. Hmmm. Technologically advanced, so let me set some primitive ones… No, no,no,no lets not limit myself, after all this place is a large warehouse, why not go crazy and inventive, tehehehehehe!” (Even though what the scientists had invented then was far advanced, i.e. a fusion cell 40 years ahead of its time, plasma cannons when the world was struggling to efficiently create plasma, Gauss rifles and a smaller tripod version when rail guns had npot even been thought up, the world had caught up. This however DID NOT mean that Hades and his evil minions [in thins case his droids and drones] could not use them)
Hades chuckled evilly, rubbing his hands with child like glee, and with a gleam in his eye, Hades
“First let’s start at the entrance. A couple of Vulcans and Rapid firing pulse machine guns, and four batteries of ground to air and ground to ground short range ,isles should do. Then again Gatling rocket machine gun would do as well but no put that at the first corner, so that the rockets if they miss will fly through the entrance. Then line the door with flamethrowers and the hallway with swinging vertical and horizontal guillotine blades. Now, what next? They would next come to a big room, the floor shall be like an Othello board, with the black squares being stone columns rising from the floor and the while tiles represent stone columns descending from the ceiling. After that the door will be lined with laser conducting wire, so that when someone pushes the door open they will then disappear inside it.

Then what, oh blah blah blah, scatter random rock falls and stone rams that either drop from the ceiling smashing you against the floor, shoot up from the floor to smash you against the ceiling, or shoot from one wall to smash you against another. Wonderful, not bat for a hundred year old man, keep this up and I just might go back fifty years!

Hmm next room shall be the chaos room, first holes in the walls so that sharpened javelins made of rock will shoot from one side to the other and random intervals, as will flaming rocks randomly catapult around the room, now comes the fun bit, line the floor every square inch of it with launchers, I don’t care if it is plasma launcher, pulse gun, laser cannon, a short range Gauss cannon, Vulcan gun, just pack it full, and make every inch of the metal floor that hides such goodies a pressure trap, so the floor is activated by pressure trap, and since the room is long, lets setup long range motion detectors to activate the walls.”

Laser the doors, and the metal floor in the next room corridor with the cutoff switch around the bend. Next around the next corner, pack the wall with ICVA (Instant Circular Velocity Accelerator) machine guns and set the air so the projectiles curve around the corner, so when they are half way through the randomly laserized floor and walls hight speed adamantiun circular saw blades spinning at around match one will come randomly whizzing around the bend. Oh that will be so much fun.

Ummmm, what else, ah yes a mine room, a laser room, a guns room…” and the list went on and on. After almost 24 hours of solid planning and working out the power needed to power his “welcome toys” Hades was thoroughly exhausted, and after setting the droids to work he promptly went into a happy sleep where he chuckled in his dreams.

When he woke up in the morning, Hades was pleased to see that the construction was going well. He knew he should start work on other stuff but he had one final trap to set before he went about his work and training program. The trap was as follows: A circular room and a cage within it fitting flush with the walls. The walls are studded with alcoves that may or may not be doors. The cadge is made of titanium Adamantium alloy, and will only have one opening at any one time. The trap is activated when a person/persons step into the middle of the room, the floor will then start rotating, the entrance will seal shut, random obstacles will appear from the floor and the room will start rapidly filling with quick sand. Openings will randomly appear around points in the cadge. If you enter an alcove that turns out not to be a door, the entrance to the cage will have closed and so you will drown in quick sand. If however you find the correct door, congratulations, you have passed the death trap.

Then seeing that all would be ready and in order, Hades returned to the command center and issued orders for the bulk of all items stored in the underground vaults be moved, including all the vaults containing prototypes, all papers, computer equipment, everything.

The equipment would be moved to a nearby collection of underground caves near the complex and then from there, a transport company that he had major shares in would secretly come and pick up the items and move them discretely to an undisclosed location (another of Hades hideouts). Hades was a cautious man, and thus he had many hideouts hidden away here and there.

The equipment taken care of, Hades proceeded to enter a vigorous, harsh and cruelly grueling training session. First he would test and push his phasing strength (how many objects he can phase with him) his phasing speed (how fast he can phase in and out of objects) and his phasing power (how dense/ thick objects he could phase through).
He would also train his attack, and movement speed, his poison skills.

After the first 6 hours, Hades was exhausted. His progress was small, but he was those few milliseconds faster, his attack and control was that little bit better.

Before he retired that day he first checked on the progress of the welcome arrangements, he then arranged for transport from Germany to Russia…

He continued his training but he also started to incorporate his newly retrieved Vengeance and Rage set weapons.

Training session
Focus, focus was everything, focus your poison, focus your body, calm, focus, and focus your rage, focus your anger, concentrate on what is your core, what is your essence, and from that essence be clear headed and certain of what you are… that was what his master had told him long time ago, when he went off to learn the ancient arts, a form of martial arts that was considered so deadly that few people knew of it let alone knew it. To learn that art he had suffered much, and he still bore the scars, those that people rarely saw.

So focus he did, and he his hands started glowing, he seemed to become more solid, he started moving, smoothly, gracefully, like a dance, but one of death. He seemed to flit around the room like a ghost always moving to the most unexpected places, sometimes fast sometimes slow. He then started to work and train with his scythe one that was special that had the big blade at one end and could have a sword extend from the other one.

To test his martial arts his master used to station people around the room with huge buckets of water and when ever Hades came closer the would hurl the water at him, the test was to use the wind of the weapon and foot work to only defend so that at the end when all the pails were empty there could be a single drop on Hades, if there was, it was back to training for Hades. So that is what Hades did. After the scathe it was with the two special blades that he had created for himself. Picture a baton but instead of wood all except the handle is a blade of metal and you get The blades of death, perfect for varied range attack and defense. When extended that could be as an attack or defense and when the retracted (which could be done by the flick of the wrist) they were perfect for close in combat).

Hades also trained with all the weapons, a jagged edged whip, double whips, quarter staff, butterfly knives, blades, throwing knives… the list went on and on.

When some armed men moved into the area Hades was alerted 0.2 seconds after they set foot in the detection Zone that Hades had setup. He immediately activated his scanning system, and soon had the model, make and firepower of every weapon and vehicle; he also had a rough estimate of the strength of the amour worn by the soldiers. At first he thought it was a raiding party, but soon from the maneuvers and marches that hey were doing, it seemed like some random army drill. “Still” He mused, “they seem rather well armed, exceptionally well armed, for a drill.” He satisfied himself that they were not mounting an attack but he was still rather suspicious. Things were getting rather close for comfort. His indiscretion in Mongolia, the event at the airport, after that the area wide surveillance of all the areas that he had looked at through military satellites, a tap on all major sources of information in the area, “test runs” of an experimental thermal satellite in regions near the Himalayas, the information tap leading back to the ever mysterious MonDragon Labs, where the Multimillionaire Norton Buckley of which little was known about, the failure of his virus to infiltrate the lab, the slight increase in internet traffic in this region… the list went on and on. All these events could be easily explained away on their own. If the average person tried to reason through these things, the list would seem so overwhelming that it would take days, for Hades it took less than a minute, Hades mind was super fast, linking up events, analyzing, comparing them, sorting them, weighting possibilities all the a matter of seconds. He was uneasy, yes rather uneasy indeed.
Hades concluded that he was probably being watched, and most likely by someone at MonDragon Labs, the fact that the Labs had people who could actually corner his virus made him wonder if MonDragon was a TJ lab in its own right. He decided that it was time to prepare for the worst; one could never go wrong by preparing for the worst.

First he remotely contacted Annwn on a secret secure channel and browsed all the projects that were in the vaults. He considered the pseudo-Organic supercomputer, but that fact that it would take weeks to purchase, grow and gather all the needed materials, not to mention 2 weeks to test and complete made it not feasible. The list failed to provide anything more, Hades began to think. Hades was a lateral thinker, where people saw a locked door, Hades saw many windows.

It was time to activate some of his assets, he had many frozen one place or another. He renewed contact with the maker of top grade satellites (they were eternally grateful after he and his team had helped them create a super efficient satellite, and he was pleased to find that they still used a component and program that he had custom made for them. Hades being who he was had ultimately now gotten a legal way to get live satellite feed) Hades then checked his investments and hideaways. Hades was an all rounded genius, able to quickly absorb and use and store new information, he was also a extremely fast thinker, but he had made a few areas his specialty, and probably knew more about those areas than any human alive, one of these was genetics and organic and inorganic material engineering.

He activated some of his accounts, pleased with the interest that they had earned offer the last 80 or so years. Next he gathered all he could find about MonDragon Labs, any reports, records, photos of employees, list of directors, etc soon he had a big fat report lying on is table.

In all this Hades hoped that he was being overcautious, but it never hurt to prepare for the worst. So after he had read the report and memorized all useful information, Hades went back to training.

The private jet landed smoothly and the four passengers along with their various equipment were transferred to a military helicopter. It was the fasted way to reach the assembled troops, who were out in the guise of a German army unit performing exercises in the field.

Their visit was listed as a commander checking on the troops, which was not untrue. Hunter was going to inspect the men before commencing the assault on the laboratory. Strapping himself in he waited for the others to board. The flight had been uneventful, and his mind was currently focused on what was to come.

Hades satellite detected the helicopter coming, and immediately cross-referenced it to find its make and the flight plan and log. So it was some pompous general coming to see his well armed crack troops.

At the sight of the Helicpoter, the company seemed to be stop their manovers and move over to stand at attention by the landing area, as if they were waiting for a stirring speech. Hades ignored all of them, and instead concentrated on sharpening his weapons and repairing them from training. If people were after him, at least they would have to get through that platoon(pompous or not that general and his troops would act as a good shield), so he was safe for now, all the same he wanted to be ready so he went over all his weapons. Through training the amount of stuff that he could phase with him had increased and at a push he may even be able to phase something around his size through, but Hades was not ready to push that limit just yet. So he went back to sharpening and cleaning his weapons with the loving tender care that only a craftsman had for his creations.

Nox's gaze rested upon the sea of clouds beneath them as it loomed closer and closer as they gently made their descent. Her eyes had rarely left the window pane throughout the flight. It was a mix between enjoying letting her mind wander in the emptiness of the sky, and being that bit closer to the sun. Her eyes fixated upon the white orb in the sky, unnaturally she didn't need to blink even when the powerful rays fell directly upon her irises. Patches of green, and blue were beginning to appear beneath the plane, the little Lego blocks were houses, and the green patch work quilt were the regular field of agriculture, which Europe was seldom without.

As they approached the ground she could make out a small run way, not quite up to international airport standards, but then a private jet doesn’t land in a public space unless it wants to attract attention, which they certainly didn't. She paused for a moment before following Hunter over to a military helicopter, clearly they hadn't quite reached their destination. She entered and once more took a window seat, for without it her journey would be much more arduous. Waiting, I’m once again waiting. The modern world relies on waiting, in order that it retains symmetry, and pattern while nature flourishes in chaos. If only we allowed ourselves more chaos, life would be more…interesting. Her thoughts trailed off as she waited for them to take off.

Back in the lab, to take a break from training Hades out of interest idly ammused himself by tracking the helicopter in 3D writing the program on the fly. "wonder what type of wafflyBack in the lab, to take a break from training Hades out of interest idly ammused himself by tracking the helicopter in 3D writing the program on the fly. "Wonder what type of waffly speech this general will make” mused Hades. He also spent time dreaming up new devices that he could invent and create. Annwn is going well, hmm, things seemed to have cooled down somewhat. But I cannot let my guard down no, not while that info tap is still going on. But I can not be too up tight either. The disadvantage of having a ultra fast brain and being a lateral thinker w2as that you often saw both sides of an argument and had difficulty balancing them. Having finished his cleaning and re-crafting of his weapons, with a few symbols he sent all the related equipment back into vaults and whisked away, leaving one machine to tinker with, the ICVA, he was still trying to improve the efficiency which was at around 60%, which was good for typical weapons, but was nowhere near good enough for Hades.

Shogun didn't speak to anyone on the trip, and kept to himself. He wasn't interested in the view, as the windows were pretty much the same as walls, and no more see through. So he lleant back, and closed his eyes behind the blindfold, and tried to guess what the others were thinking. He could feel that Nox was enjoying herself; the sun was a very strong image in almost all cultures and languages, so where she thought of it it was easier to pick up than more obscure icons and imagery. Antonescu remained the usual, inpentrable dark cloud. A cloud that was slowly spreading, reaching outwards with black tendrils, impossibly black, blacker than that without light. Shogun's face contoted, but he forced himself to overcome it, and it straightened out again into the expressionless mask. Antonescu was evil, of that there was no doubt, but that evil wasn't being directed at him. He had to learn to overcome it.

When they landed, Shogun thought they had arrived, but then Nox and the other girl seemed to have ideas of flying again, and sure enough they were headed for a helicopter. Shogun followed, after making sure that the cases of his armour and the few weapons were being brought along. He had his knife on him, but hadn't told anyone that. Better to just keep it secret, so that he would have the advantage if anything went wrong. They got onto the helicopter, and Nox immidiatly took a window seat. The girl seemed too pleased about being up, something about the sun, though he couldn't make out what. No matter, she was unimportant. He looked again to Antonescu, at the cloud, and it again started to engulf the vehicle... But Shogun fought back. He had been practising mental disciplines for decades, and now used them to overcome the darkness. Fortunately, Shogun was sat a fair distance away from Antonescu, so it was easier to fend off the darkness. He spent the entire trip practising, so that he if he needed to move closer, he could do so without worry. He started to develope techniques to stop the cloud, and they were working. He had no idea what effect these mind games were having on Antonescu, but it didn't matter he was far too engrossed in quelling the evil that was spreading toward him.

TJ quickly realized that none of her companions on the trip were up to talking. Nox was preocupied by the scenery, Shogun looked as if he might be nervous or ingrossed in his thoughts, and Hunter...was Hunter. The man probably had too many things going on in his head. In a way, it was part of the reason she respected and worked for him, someone with an overactive mind like her own.

Apart from her laptop and briefcase, which seemed a bit too large for her small frame, she hadn't brought too much. Of course her idea of 'too much' may have been different than some other people's. Specialy made clothes for herself, to help her deal with varying degrees of temperature and different weather, custom created scanners, goggles, tools and other such things, as well as a set of special kevlar armor with a type of ring mail mesh woven into it. Not that it would protect her bones from breaking if she was hit hard or stop bruising, but would stop a bullet or a blade.

Though her lab was miles and miles away, she still had her notes. Along the flight she wrote formulas and tried to do a bit more work on her biosuit design. Beyond the nervous system problem, she had most of it worked out. The active camo would be a bit difficult to pull off, but she was confident she'd figure it out, given enough time.

Time, time, time was a fun subject to think about. Did it stay one constant speed, or did it change it's pace. Was it relative to each person? Could it be warped and manipulated, or perhaps even stoped? She knew cells withered and died, stoped replicating correctly after so long.

When they landed, she decided to set her biosuit work aside for the moment as Time took over her thoughts. She followed without any words to the hellicopter, taking an empty seat wherever the other three hadn't. Could she slow her time, her aging? Perhaps even stop it and be immortal? <Would I want to?> That was the biggest question on that subject, concerning her personally at least. She pointedly looked at Hunter, knowing he was just that, Immortal.

Setting the subject of Time aside she thought of Hunter's ability to absorb another Mutant's abilities, even though only for a short ammount of time. <I wonder....Could I impart myself with another Mutant's powers, perminantly?> A smile crossed her face as she brought up her DNA research, focusing on the Xgene and how to manipulate it. She began to humm an up beat tune as she worked, her head bobbing slightly all the while.

The helicopter landed and Hunter disembarked to face the arrayed troops. “I assume they’ve been briefed Colonel?” he asked the man to his right with a greying moustache. The colonel nodded conformation that everyone knew what to expect. “Very good. Alpha squad, front and centre.”

A dozen huge men moved to stand directly in front of Hunter. None of them saw shorter than six foot three, and all were very heavily muscles. Each carried a heavy weapon of some description, ranging from machines guns, to rocket launchers to flame throwers.

“Your duty is to protect Gearhead,” he said, indicating the frail looking woman behind him, “Ensure that you each give your lives before harm reaches her.” In response the men immediately took up defensive positions around Gearhead, watchful for anything or anyone who could harm her.

“Battle formation,” Hunter called as he began to march forward. Like a well oiled machine the men fanned out and took up fighting positions. “First platoon, advance.” Under the cover of the rest of the force, the first platoon of soldiers headed towards the lab entrance. Hunter stood atop a hill looking down on the entrance and watched his men advance into battle.

The first wave of soldiers reached the switch, and as they marched over it in that instant, time seemed to slow down, *the switch triggered the circuit, the power hummed down the lines towards the gun emplacements. The slight humm as each of the guns powered up from their concealed locations. 5 guns, all auto tracking, one chain gun, two vulcan machine guns, two rapid fire pulse cannons all took aim, none of the above were noticed by the troops, as they marched on blissfully unaware of their impending doom.*
Then all hell broke loose as all of the guns fired at the same time, sweaping swaths through the ranks. The guns were programmed some to fiire in short controlled bursts, some in long continuous bursts but all with one objective to kill as many people as possible and protect the entrance off the lab.
At the firs wave oof soldiers went down others rolled out of the way into the bushes, and returned fire.

At the same time Hades was tinkering with one of his machines, trying to test it. he saw a light go on on the the display board and knew that it ment only one thing, the guns had powered up. "what?" he was surrprised but not unduly concerned. He engaged the satellite picture and the longrange cameras, and stood there stunned, stock still frozen in shock for a few seconds. WHAT?? he gripped the nearest sloid surface, triggering a small explosion as the ICVA powered up in ways it should not have done.

Hades was flung across the room in hte blink of an eye, and only his reflexes made him phase otherwise he would have experienced what happens when ribs move forward outsiede the skin, not that he had anytime to process this. He was still in shock, not only was the buffer he had counted on gone, they were the ones who were attacking his base. he heard and saw some explosions, and then the light went out, not green (standby) not red(firing/allert) but it went out, zip, zilch there was no power flowing in the circuits. He double checked on the sat photos and noticed that his gun emplacements seemed to be obsecured by dust, that is when he realised that there were more troops than there were before. *Drat, they must have been camoed so that the sad did not pick them up* he pressed the fire controls in the control room but nothing happened, "Fire drat you FIRE" but there was still no responce. then his sensors told him the bad news, someone had entered the grounds.

Hades calmed himself and smoothed his robes. well at least they will have more than enough to accupy themselves with, and he programmed so that when tey reached a certain stage in the lab, the loudspeaker would welcome them with a recorede message "Welcome to the hall of the dead. I am Hades. Enjoy your stay...."
My traps should keep them. he thought to himself

The first platoon didn’t know about the guns until they fired, but their reactions were well honed. Instead of breaking and panicking like most soldiers would do under such heavy fire they all dove for the nearest available cover, greatly limiting the damage inflicted.

While first platoon hunkered down the rest of the company wasn’t sitting on its hunches. Heat seeking rocket launchers were hefted into firing positions and locked onto the turrets. The weapons fires, destroying the obstacles in a single volley. “First platoon report,” said Hunter over the radio.

“Twelve casualties sir,” came the response, “five dead, severn seriously wounded.”

“Understood,” Hunter responded, quickly planning a response, “second platoon, move to support, medics extract the wounded. Once the wounded are clear first platoon are to resume their advance and enter the compound.” The men moved to see his orders done. Hunter remained atop the hill, willing to let the soldiers go in first and find out what he was up against.

As they stepped out of the helicopter, Shogun recognised the brusque orderliness that could only be an army. They were armed with an array of weapons, none of which Shogun properly understood, and when they were told to protect the girl, whose name apparently was Gearhead, they moved as one. He looked deeper into their souls, and they all seemed connected. These men were a true team, almost as though they were born to work together, and they had the focus that was required of them. Impressive.

Unsure what to do, Shogun took up a position near Antonescu. He was about to say something, when gunfire erupted from nearby. Antonescu gave out orders over a radio, and the gunfire was soon silenced. Without turning, Shogun asked, "What is it you want me to do?" He paid attention to the men below, particularly the injured ones, and he found that they weren't far enough away so as to become indisguinshable. He could tell the exact nature of the injuries suffered by Antonescu's men, and because they dead ones were only newly dead, he could tell their injuries too. He could also feel their souls slipping away, slipping out of existence. It reminded him of when his grandfather died, when he felt the oh so familiar essence leaving the house. He could still feel it there, which reassured him, but now he had left Japan, and was about as far away from it as he could get. He was thankful that he had brought along his knife, as it had belonged to his grandfather for so long that his soul was permanently clinging to. He was thankful to have his grandfather's wisdom with him, should he end up in a similar firestorm to the one experienced by the men below.

She stepped out of the helicopter and heard Hunter commanding his men, clearly she wasn’t needed yet, and until called for she decided to take up a position somewhat off to Hunter’ right on top of the conveniently positioned hill. Her gaze critically fell upon the scene in front of her. The ranks marched forwards, she had never worked with troops before, and she quickly concluded it wasn't for her. She much prefered to do all the work herself, and not send men off to trigger all the traps for you. It wasn’t their deaths that she minded, clearly they were dispensable and they meant nothing to her, she reasoned as gunshot broke the tranquillity of the forest, it was… it was the watching. She detested viewing from the sideline when she could be there in the thick of it. Oh well.

The men had walked into the unknown, with their leader wisely standing back, without the inclination of fear or the thought of breaking ranks, and now, having seen what awaited them, they were about to try again. Impressive. She had never herself been exposed to leadership qualities, since she had never been lead into action, she presumed, however, from the scene below that it, in addition to excellent training, was what held the men together. It somewhat amused her, their unquestionable obedience - they gladly put their lives at stake, for what? Honour? Pride? Loyalty? There were aware of no better good involved in their slaughter. No fight to save their loved ones. They just acted, thoughtlessly. She knew she too had followed demands or orders, but it had always been purposeful; she knew why she did everything, otherwise, otherwise she would have been no better then them. Her mind was dragged back by the warrior’s question, and listened for the answer, since hopefully it might mean they would get a chance to do something, practically anything would do, just something.

Hunter turned to Shogun and Nox as the first platoon began advancing again. “You two are going to be a specialised strike force,” he explained, “Out here in the open the soldiers have the edge, they can utilise their numbers and tactics. Once inside the facility it will become to cramped to do that.”

He began to walk down the hill towards the entrance. First platoon had already entered. Reaching the entrance he followed after first platoon with second right on his heels. Up ahead he heard some screams of pain, followed by the dull thump of an explosion. “Report,” Hunter asked, heading further into the lab.

“Three dead, two seriously wounded,” came the reply, “Moving floor and ceiling, crushed them. Destroyed with grenades. Continuing to advance.”

Moments later a loud voice boomed through the lab. Turning to Gearhead he asked, “Do you think you can alter the intercom to allow me to send a message back to whoever sent this one?” Hunter intended to let whoever was here know that he wasn’t messing around.

(OOC: Nox, Shogun, don’t worry, there are some traps coming up that only you two can defeat, either together or singularly)

Shogun nodded at Antonescu's reasoning, and followed him down the hill. He could sense no nearby threat as the made their way to the building, but he hadn't sensed the weapons that had attacked the first wave of soldiers, so he was still wary. He followed Antonescu through the main doors, and marvelled at the ease with which the men moved in formation. He could sense those dieing ahead, and those that were injured, but he couldn't reason what had done it. A nearby soldier explained to Antonescu, so now Shogun knew. Moving walls? What was this place? A voice boomed through the halls, but Shogun could sense that there wasn't actually anyone else nearby. Antonescu noticed this too, and immediatly wanted to find a way to contact the voice's owner. Shogun followed wordlessly, keeping his distance so as not to be engulfed by the shroud.