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.

Hello? Is this Thing On?

I'm transmitting this into the blind via my ZR Aegis Transponder. I have no idea when or if this record will reach my terminal at the ARAD Lab. I am displaced from our current time-space continuum and only by the grace of Mender Silos and his Team am I making head or tail of this.

It started with the discovery of a strange mystical portal in Cap Au Diable, not far from the Black Market. After donning a ZR Thaumaturgical Haz-Suit (Arbiter Model) I went to investigate. The reading matched that of the mysterious time travellers I identified in September and after ascertaining it was safe for human "travel" I activated a Personal Forcefield and stepped into the breach.

Upon the other side I was in a strange intra-dimensional space. Speaking to those gathered - other citizens of the Isles and the mysterious inhabitants of the area I discovered I had been "entrusted with a secret". It seems the travellers are a secret society called the "Menders" who believe themselves the self appointed guardians of time - travelling backwards and forwards to nudge the timeline down "beneficial" paths.

Of course, that remains to be seen - but it appears that they are not the only ones messing with the timeline of the past. Under the guidance of their Menders I have been hard at work correcting my initial breakout from the Zig, and stopping the invasion of Shivans into Paragon City.

The problem is, their method of timetravel is outside of what I have experienced with Project DESTINY. It is arcane in nature using "Pillars of Ice and Flame". I can not control my entrance and exit points. Hopefully this message is directed back to ARAD Computers....

... Activate Retrieval Protocol Tango One!

Foiling More "Heroes"

Gah, even when Vanguard has some heroes tied up in the War Zone, some still find their way in to the Rogue Isles to cause havoc. Seems that one of our Crey Labs is being investigated by Synapse. His little lackey Mynx was in attendence, though myself and Ares MkII (seen here in the midst of Power Surge mode) made short work of her.

My contact Tavish Bell seems keen to shut them down, and while I'm happy to take any opportunity to show "Paragon's Finest" the true power of my genius... I am not best pleased with Crey's demon merging experiments.

Thaumaturgy and Technology should. Not. Mix.

Halloween Treats

Well, with it being Halloween here in the heart of the Rogue Isles I took a little time off the serious business of thwarting the enemies of Arachnos (with science!) and the Rikti War, to work on a little side technology.

The ZR Holosuit! Alas, the technology was less stable than I had originally hoped for and I am going to be unable to put it into mass production for the infiltration work I designed it for - the moment you move it is readily apparent it is a projection, and hence even neanderthal heroes with only half a braincell can spot it.

Still, it was fun loading up the different images - see attached image!

In other news - one of my more... nefarious... contacts in Pargon City managed to swipe one of those damned PPD Hardsuits from Faultline this week and ship it out to me in Grandville.

For all the PPD managed to steal my early technology, it seems they were wholly unable to modify or improve it. It is simply a spray-painted Drone ZR exoskeleton. And an early beta version at that! My ZR Aegis Transponder's energy shielding is entirely more effective - I'm safer in my lab coat than I was in this trash.

I'm really not so angry at the PPD now.

Further Vanguard Operations

Vanguard have sent me into Portal Corp today, to shut down some minor dimensional portals back to the Rikti Homeworld. Seems like the Rikti are trying to attack our ability to get back to their dimension.

Damn shame that time was of the essence, I could have done with spending more time looking over Portal technology without "heroes" breathing down my neck.

Strange, these new portals didn't look like that much - I was expecting... more. Still, my children made short work of the Rikti standing guard while I admired some more of the Vanguard Impervium armour. I STILL can't get Lady Grey to release a suit to me.

Maybe next month!

Time Travellers Unknown

Gah! What is it? The energy signal doesn't match any known thaumautalogical, biological or technological source. It's not Circle, Phalanx, Portal Corps, Vanguard or Arachnos. It's not even Dr Aeon! Who does it belong to? What's it for?!

I've had a full research team working on it for months now and nothing. NOTHING!

Maybe I should have Doctor Rob or Professor Ross have a look at it...

Everyone has a Hobby...

.. and mine is science. Kind of a busmans holiday really. I took time away from my weapons research in order to assist Vanguard with their Rikti autopsies.

Yes, I know... yesterday I sure for peace and today I'm dissecting their brethren. Such is life!

The improved armour appears to be merely cosmetic, but the biology of the creatures is fascinating - most especially their enhanced psionic capabilities. I expect I can probably devise something to shield myself from the effects if I give it a little work...

... ZR Mind Shielding... yes...

Peace in our time? I doubt...

I'm glad that the Traditionalist Faction continues to petition us for peace. The last thing I need is the constant war impinging on my research. I've lost too many prototypes so far during these brief few weeks of war - my first attempt at co-opting Vanguard HVAS technology and my prototype Impervium Armoured Suit to name but two.

I guess my previous experience with Ambassador Kuhr'Rekt means that Vanguard put me forward as the representative to the Rogue Isles during the recent peace negotiations. Cleared by Lord Recluse himself, by dint of my "Chosen One" status, I was given full diplomatic authority.

The Traditionalist Ambassador Il'los was most attentive to what I had to put forward, though more reticent about my attempts to "suggest" trade arrangements for the Rogue Isles.

I spent some time after the official talks to chat with a few of the Rikti and human dignitaries in attendance. It seems, unfortunately, that the Traditionalists are the minority faction here on Earth and while they seek peace the Restructionist faction wields the greater power.

Peace in our time? Perhaps not. But perhaps, we can redirect and calm hostilities (preferably towards Paragon City and away from the Rogue Isles!)

Setting them up the Bomb!

Well, this is the first time in a while I've had opportunity to leave an entry - the assaults on the Rogue Isles are nearly non-stop and I have barely slept. During the time I haven't been on the front lines, I have managed to craft a prototype rudimentary psychic shield from the remains of Rikti Assault Forces and also perfected the stealth field generation from the ZR Force Wing technology.

The only other thing of note is that trying to herd heroes is much akin to herding cats! I have been, on several occasions, asked by Vanguard to lead multiple assault teams on to the saucer in the Rikti War Zone to plant bombs and keep the damned thing grounded.

This means, destroying all the Rikti Pylons set up to maintain the ships' shielding and then blasting into a likely looking grate to plant the bomb. Of course, your average hero doesn't know a strategy if it comes up and bites them on their spandex-clad asses, so I've been shouting directions!

I've been fairly successful at placing the bombs - a combination of my Personal Forcefield and the prototype psychic shielding has worked a treat. Alas, on multiple occasions I and my assault teams have been faced off against the giant Rikti U'kon Gr'ai - their Master at Arms.

It seems that when he finds he can no longer keep us occupied, and he incapacitated form is teleported off the ship surface, Rikti repair systems re-establish the Pylons and shielding and force us off the hull.

We must work on a way to keep the shields down longer so we can do more damage to the invaders!

Lady Grey's Strikeforce

Well, it would seem that Vanguard know which way to turn when a dangerous task needs to be undertaken. I was contacted by Aero at the behest of Vanguard. They required three strike teams to try and penetrate the secrets of the Rikti's new portal and to stop what perhaps is best described as the Apocalypse.

Three teams set out - one completed the objectives first. I have no need to state my own teams supremacy here. My team was as pictured above. From left to right: Randel, Womble, Domenice, Myself, Lady Grey (remained at Vanguard Base to co-ordinate), Buzzsaw MGee, Navi and Dr Liah Phillips (unfortunately, while Doc Bot of ARAD joined us for the initial missions, we was recalled to Grandville to help coordinate Rikti Defense Forces).

It would appear the new portal technology that the Rikti have, unlike that of Arachnos, is unstable and they were attempting several alternate power sources to make it so - mainly psychics as we uncovered. First, they kidnapped some powerful hero psychic kid called Penelope Yin. This, unfortunately, meant that her paramour the Clockwork King came charging in to save her and we had to "liberate" both her and disable the King.

After this, destroying a few Rikti Assault Suits, a Rikti Commander, rescuing some further psychics and two members of the original Omega Team we had to face on of my personal horrors - the Hamidon. Yes, the Rikti were attempting to drain the Hamidon in order to fuel their portal.

While we stopped them in the act, we also had to set forth and destroy the weakened Hamidon nucleous. It was a very tough fight and I was incapacitated more than once until I began to send wave after wave of my own robots to destroy each of the remaining mitochondria before we turned our attention to the nucleous itself.

Finally, we struck at the portal and its generators directly - only to be confronted with something quite abominable. Hero One, who led the Omega Team, mutated into a Rikti and forced to do their bidding.

Still, I was gratified to see that my ZR Autonomous Combat Systems are more than up to the task of beating such a well regarded "hero" down.

Ack - all this saving the world lark is making me sound like a hero...

Armoured Suit Improvement

After a number of skirmishes with the Rikti forces, it has become apparent that the anti-gravity technology I am using for my flight is not sturdy enough for some of the more... intense engagements. As such, I have had to develop a more mechanical method of staying aloft.

And here is the fruits of my labours - ZR Force Wings. I've fitted them to my improved Bane Spider armour. I am also currently working on them further to see if I can induce the membrane field to provide a level of stealth generation like that on one of my other experiments - Assault ZR-Beta (an assassination bot, I must film him in action some time).

Source Identified

I have been contacted by one group I never thought I'd hear of in the limelight again - Vanguard. The UN Metahuman Force tasked with dealing with the Rikti during the first war. And, it seems, this one.

I have no idea how they constructed them so quickly, but Vanguard DPO's have popped up around the Isles and portals that teleport into the heart of the Rikti Crash Zone in Paragon City have been constructed. Perhaps we sould more accurately call it the Rikti War Zone now...

Regardless, I was introduced to the senior members of Vanguard and given a brief tour of their base in Paragon. I was particularly impressed by their robotics technology, even if they did not respond to my commands...

Meeting with Dark Watcher, the head of Vanguard Intelligence (or Helm as they call it), he briefed me on the situation - Vanguard are calling in all metahumans "good" and "evil" to help fight the Rikti.

It seems, according to patchy intelligence, War Leader Hro'Dtohz of the Rikti (intelligence photo attached) has managed to establish at least a partially stable portal back to their own dimension and have been porting in new forces and technology. The portal is located somewhere in the Rikti War Zone hence the "free access" from the Rogue Isles.

What else could I do? I've agreed to help Vanguard, in exchange for access to their research facilities.

On the Front Lines

It's taken me a few hours to get the laboratory in order - activating and developing defenses against Rikti teleportation technology, and scanning so that I may have a safe bolthole during the war. Somewhere for ARAD to regroup.

With that done, I set out to the rest of the Isles to find the invaders. It seems that Lord Recluse is issuing all frequency alerts tied to an early warning system so it was relatively easy to identify an assault on Port Oakes.

Transporting in via the Lab teleporters, I quickly teamed up with more citizens of the isles to create a defense force and began to repulse the Rikti invaders. I managed to capture the following image of some form of formidable Assault Suit the Rikti now have... looks like new technology is being shipped in from somewhere.

That said, we still saw them off with minimal structural damage to the island.

And So, War Begins

24th of July 2007. A day that will stand out in my memory for a long time to come. From all my exploits, achievements and failures, this is the date that will haunt me. I expect they'll call it the Second Rikti War.

I remember the first war - it was what drove me to robotics, to design tools that could fight for man, without man himself being in harms way. Willing tools of destruction, endless in their number the way the Rikti seemed to us during those terrible years before the Omega Team made their sacrifice. I had almost forgotten...

And the Rikti are back in force.

Oh, they never went away - small enclaves of them up and down Paragon City and I am sure around the world. We even had them here in the Rogue Isles where Lord Recluse tolerated them, and even allowed a Traditionalists Ambassador who I have worked with in the past. I have worked and fought alongside the Rikti - I have even liked them.

But now, the Restructurists have got reinforcements and new technology - there must be a new portal open... but where?

I must go, air raid sirens are calling the Rogue Isles to arms - for the weal of Arachnos, and the sake of our planet, I and Arachnos Research and Development must respond.

Released?!?!

NOOOOOOO!

Curse you Aeon! How did you do it? Robotic simulcra? Demonic illusion? No not quite your style even if you do harness the demon Bat'Zul... Time travel, yes! You fiend.

Arbiter Daos wouldn't listen though - oh how I pleaded with the man. Debased myself before him - if only to keep Aeon incarcerated, if they wouldn't let me slay him. All to no avail - the hack has been released.

Dr Aeon, I reaffirm my promise to you that some day, some time in some place I will end you. For this, and all your meddling!