Arachnos Rising

And so, it came down to it today. The Destiny Portal has been modified and I took my entourage (my esteemed colleagues Dr Darkespark, Twisted Metal, Operative Cobra and ouside contractor Terror Fish) through to an alternate universe to... defeat Lord Recluse. I managed to get some footage of the event, and I have produced the results here.

Unfortunately, my lab assistant has got to it first and has... modified it slightly. Alas, I have no other record and so it must stand.

Upon taking the evidence that I have defeated his alternate self to Lord Recluse he has finally decided to drop me from Project DESTINY as one of its targets and will instead put the full weight of Arachnos behind my work in his Research and Development team. Excellent.

Fifth Column - It's Back (in Time)

Those Nazis! Those damn dirty Nazis! Building giant robots! In the past! Sure, I thought I'd lend this Imperious a hand in Cimerora while testing my latest ZR Aegis Transponder modifications. I held my peace when the great lunk teamed me and a couple of my fellows (Major Goyer and Twisted Mind) up with a cadre of heroes (Kinetic Nova, Kev Ell, Erruption, Captain Holland and Slethis - your names have been noted!)

What I can't stand is the damned Fifth Column with its degenerate Kheldian-humping leader Requiem establishing "temporal fortresses" up and down my timeline. Arachnos' timeline! It's so on!

I also can't stand Ancient Heroes not telling me about the Fifth Column. Unless Requiem tries it on back here in Cimerora, I won't be back.

When in Rome!

Well, that was a chore.

I have finally exited the ARAD Lab using the might of the Pillar of Ice and Flame. The downside is... I found myself in the far ancient Mediterranean. Cimerora to be exact.

While being careful to leave my Personal Forcefield on at all times in an effort to ensure I do not succumb to some ancient strain of disease, my arrival was noted by the infamous Midnighters Club who scurried me off to their own Pillar so that I might return to my own time. Thus foolishly revealing where their facilities in the Rogue Isles are!

I have since fashioned myself some authentic looking Cimeroran garb so as not to startle the native unduly and am beginning to investigate the past. Of course, I rather this is slightly too far into the past to be of any interest to Arachnos.

I still haven't got the hang of this non-technological timetravel. I must work harder on my ZR Aegis Transponder for future forrays.

A Tiring Time

... and if I tweak this little... yes!

Okay, you should now be receiving my audio, if still no images for the time being. Oh, what tragedy has befell science.

I am currently unable to exit the Arachnos Research and Development laboratory due to a malfunction with the base teleporters. As soon as I sort out my hardware then I will finally be able to

Or perhaps.... yes... maybe I can harness the sample of the Pillar of Ice and Flame that was delivered to the lab before the accident.

A Plan! A Palpable Plan!

I've worked it out! I know how to stop Lord Recluse from destroying the bright future of Arachnos! I shall destroy him!

No, not like that - through the art of temporal manipulation. You see, if I defeat a future version of him I can discourage him from opposing me in future. Without me actually facing my Lord in the current timeline I leave his reputation unsullied and me free to serve him without him thinking me a threat.

Well, not a threat he can defeat anyhow! It's perfect. Perfect!

I managed to convince Operative Grillo to modify the Destiny Portal to my specifications, now all I need to do is assemble an elite team to take down Lord Recluse!

New Research Project

Gah, this issue with Lord Recluse is consuming me, and eating me up from the inside. I have to relax, so I've forced myself to take on a new project.

The improvement of the standard issue Crab and Bane Spider Armours. There must be a way to enhance them past their traditional power limitations and create something.... epic.

I shall continue my observations... why Lord Recluse? WHY?

Is this our (Project) DESTINY?

No. No... Noooooooooo! The world... it is destroyed. Lord Recluse... my... what have you done? No, clear thinking. In the name of Science, I will document and then stop this tragedy from coming to fruition.

My lab, luckily, must still have been in some state of repair as I was able to still use the ZR Aegis Transponder to summon my precious robots - still fully functional and deadly despite the aeons that must have passed for the future to get to this point. And what a horrible place the world has become!

This strange desolate version of Atlas Park was scattered with Arachnobots, Rikti and some Malta robotics. No humans, no survivors could be seen amongst the rubble of Atlas Park.

I found evidence that up until recently the Councils' robots had been engaged in some sort of struggle with whatever powers clashed here - this giant Mekman was standing amidst the destruction... powered down. If only I had a way to transport it back with me...

Alas, while I am correctly anchored to my own timeline now following my work with Dr Darksparke I could not fathom leaving until I got to the bottom of this. Science was with me - the lackey of Black Scorpion, one Silver Mantis, had survived this long with her cybernetic systems allowing her to co-exist with the mechanised denizens of the future and to outlive her more human compatriots.

She imparted to me the horrible story of this twisted future. Where Arachnos schismed under mine and Lord Recluse's leadership and the world has burned after this infighting left Arachnos unprepared to stem some external threat - she was unclear on this point. All that is left is this automated robotic life and some Rikti survivors - their dimension burned too, worse than our own.

I must find a way to stop Lord Recluse - I work for Arachnos willingly and would not see him put the future in jepardy like this. I must convince him.... or stop him.

Arachnos Surveillence Report Intercepted

Source: Arachnos Internal Secuirty Monitor - Project DESTINY
Clearance Level: Black - Lord Recluse's Eyes Only

Content: My Lord,

Our security cameras by the Project DESTINY portal have identified Destined One Candidate 21364 "Master Zaprobo" entering the portal, set to configuration Zeta 27-8-b (see attached report from Black Scorpion).

We believe that this configuration should fling him forward in time past the point of "Recluse's Victory" and nullify him from being a threat to your plans.

Unfortunately, it has come to light that previous encounters with time travel has made the Candidate wary and he may have prepared some device allowing him to freely travel back to our own timeline. This temporal manipulator is not linked to any of our own hardware and as such we were unable to nullify it before he transported out.

Be prepared, my Lord, and in your glorious future ensure you have gathered the might to crush this one should he truly be the Destined One.

In Your Name.

Mobile Crafting Now Available!

My increased level of field work recently is leaving me with less and less time to craft new components and inventions for the betterment of ARAD and Arachnos as a whole.

Today was time I did something about that. After an intensive few hours, working with Vanguard and ARAD scientists I have managed to perfect a portable workbench for creating Hypothetical Framework inventions.

Alas, the unit is smaller than I would have hoped and takes an excessive amount of time to repower once used but its better than I had previously! Science, for all!

New Armour: Vanguard Flight Variant

Finally! Vanguard have authorised me to have a suit of their Impervium Armour. As well they might since Gaussian wanted to send me in against some renegade Vanguard Sword (their black ops division) who had kidnapped Lady Grey herself.

Of course, I had to modify the base suit - it was far too.... limiting. Additions of some ZR Aegis Shielding and some ZR Force Wings made for my new Flight-capable Impervium Suit.

While somewhat inferior to my modified Bane Spider Armour it does enable me to move among "hero" society in a slightly more inconspicuous manner. Essential with all this "cooperation" that Vanguard force down my throat.

That aside, I was able to rescue the Lady Grey and with the assistance of her and her Dark Servant we extracted ourself from the area with maximum casualties. On their side.

Introducing: Dr Darkespark

Well, it seems that the creation of a device to anchor myself to my own timeline has proved more of a challenge than I first anticipated. So much so, that I have decided to draft one of my colleagues in on the project - Dr Darkespark - who I shall be taking on as my research assistant.

She joined Arachnos Research and Development during my time lost in the continuum but is an able nanotechnologist. Her nano-bot swarm technologies are in excess of mine - providing area effect repairs and movement impediments. My core robotics skills, of course, surpass hers and hence an exchange of ideas is in order!

Also, as she has seen little of ARAD field testing, I took her on a "tour" of a Crey Research Lab. For the outing I issued her a full complement of Drone ZR's. Their standard "Tank" Armours were on display and proved little effort for six Drone ZR's, two Protector ZR's and an Assault ZR-6.

I am looking forward to working with her in the coming months.

I Have Returned

Anchored! Finally! My own timeline. Thank Science that I had the foresight after being hijacked by Dr Aeon in the future to install some modifications into the Destiny Portal to pull me back from wherever I am in time and space.

The trick was getting a connection back to Spider City.

When am I? Have I gained or lost time? Ah, only a mere few months. I'm going to have to craft something for using an Ouroboros Portal in future so I can maintain a link to my home timeline. Will build it into the ZR Aegis Transponder - should only be a couple of hours of tinkering tonight.

Tomorrow, shall be back to Project DESTINY and the Rikti War. I've had quite enough of magical time travel for now.